Marriage at His Convenience

Lucas in a light-hearted mood was impossible to resist, and a reluctant smile parted her full lips. She could imagine Joe as a ladies’ man with no trouble. He had the good looks and easygoing charm, and the banter girls the world over fell for.

‘And of course you don’t,’ she mocked.

His hand reached out and caught hold of Amber’s, spreading her fingers as he threaded his own through hers. ‘No, I only want one.’ And the look he cast down was serious, his black eyes penetrating on her lovely face. ‘And I’ve got you,’ he murmured, leading her out of the lift. Amber was powerless to control the sudden acceleration in her pulse, or to deny his hand holding hers was oddly reassuring.

Twenty minutes later she stood in the centre of the elegantly furnished sitting room, and looked around in wide-eyed awe. ‘It’s magnificent, Lucas.’ She turned her beautiful face towards him and grinned. ‘It’s bigger than my cottage. I could live in here.’ He had just given her a tour of the suite. From the long balcony with magnificent views over the bay, through the stylish bedroom with a king-sized bed, from which she had hastily dashed out into the bathroom, with double shower and whirlpool bath all in the finest marble.

‘I’m glad you like it. My only regret is I cannot stop and share it with you now. But have patience, tomorrow will be a different story,’ he declared with all the arrogance of a supremely confident man. ‘And the experience will be all the more erotic for the anticipation, I promise.’

Amber flinched. After her performance in the car it was hardly surprising; he thought she was a pushover. But then Lucas was a typical alpha male, strikingly handsome, lethally sexy, wealthy, sophisticated, and great in bed, and the combination was irresistible. She doubted he’d ever met a woman in his life that would not be happy to fall into his arms at the first opportunity. But it galled her to think he thought she was one, and that he had to apologise for leaving!

She straightened her shoulders, her proud gaze narrowing on his face. ‘Providing I am still here. After all, there is nothing to stop me changing my mind, a woman’s prerogative and all that,’ Amber pointed out. That should give the arrogant devil something to worry about.

Tall and powerful even in casual clothes, Lucas watched her, not a flicker

of any emotion showing on his handsome, hard-boned face. ‘I’m sure you can leave,’ he said softly, moving swiftly across to where she stood. ‘But you won’t.’ Tilting her chin with one long finger, he added, ‘That is the second reason for your family’s attendance at the ceremony. You might want to walk out on me, but no way will you walk out on them…’ He shook his dark head. ‘Leaving them dependent on my hospitality. I know you too well, Amber.’

Amber squirmed at her own stupidity. She had actually bought his fairy story on the plane about her family. His second reason was much more believable. The devious devil—in that second she hated him. ‘You really are a swine,’ she hissed. The fact that his assumption was also correct did nothing for her temper.

His perfectly chiselled features froze into impassivity, but not before she saw the flare of anger in the depths of the hard black eyes that held hers.

‘It won’t work.’ Lucas’s fingers tightened slightly on her chin. ‘I told you earlier, I am not going to argue with you, so stop trying.’ His thumb traced along her full lower lip, and she could not repress the shiver that rippled through her.

‘You want me and I want you, so stop fighting it. With our history it is inevitable.’

‘No,’ she denied, but her body inexplicably swayed forward like a moth to a flame, her golden gaze captured by the simmering sensuality in his night-black eyes.

‘Yes.’ Lucas smiled a wry sexy twist to his firm lips. His hand dropped from her face. He ached for her with a hunger, a pain she had no knowledge of. But he dared not touch her again. Not yet! He’d made one mistake, and he was not about to risk making another until he had his ring safely on her finger. ‘But not now—I have some business to attend to in Athens, but I will be back to take you to dinner at nine. If you need anything, speak to Joe or Reception.’ Lucas bent and dropped a swift kiss on her full lips and left.

Tense and frustrated at her own inability to resist him, Amber paced the length of the room and back, her mind a seething mass of conflicting emotions. Was she a woman or a wimp? A few hours ago she’d been determined her marriage to Lucas would be in name only. But one touch and she melted like ice in a desert. And he, damn him, knew it!

By eight in the evening Amber was almost at boiling-point. The first shock had been Reception delivering a wedding dress to her room and a handful of bridesmaid dresses, closely followed by Julie and Mary and her daughters. Amber had stood in the middle of the room like a statue as the other two women had shoved the girls into masses of white froth while Julie had explained it had all been Lucas’s idea. He was such a considerate man, she had rhapsodised.

Apparently, he had explained, because it was a second marriage for him Amber was being stubborn and insisting on keeping it low-key—a simple suit had been mentioned. But he did not want to deprive Amber of a white wedding. So he’d asked Julie to choose the gowns for the occasion.

Any thought of depriving the young girls of being bridesmaids or of doing a bunk on Amber’s part had been quickly dispelled by the constant visitors to her room: her father, Mildred, everyone, and all in favour of the wedding.

Amber lay in the decadent marble bath, and steamed her temper as hot as the water. Finally she stepped out and, picking up a large fluffy towel, wrapped it around her naked body, and then, using the hair-dryer provided, she spent the next ten minutes drying her long hair. Walking back into the bedroom, she picked white lace briefs from the drawer and stepped into them. She didn’t have much time and she wanted to be ready before Lucas arrived. Amber did not want him in her room again; once was enough for one day.

Quickly she withdrew from the wardrobe a blue silk jersey halter-necked dress, and slipped it over her head. Turning, she glanced at her reflection in the wall mirror, smoothing the clinging fabric down over her slender hips. The skirt ended a few inches above her knee, and she adjusted the bodice over her firm breasts, eyeing the cleavage with a wry look. Either she was getting fatter or the dress had shrunk in the wash. With a toss of her head, she dismissed her worries and slipped her feet into matching blue open-toed sandals.

It took only minutes to apply moisturiser to her smooth skin, a touch of mascara to her long lashes, and a plain pink lipgloss completed her make-up. With the ease of long habit, she brushed her long hair back behind her ears and let it fall loose down her back. She fastened the gold Rolex watch, a present from her father, around her wrist. Five to nine, she made it, and, walking into the sitting room, she picked up her purse and left.

Luck was with her, a lift was waiting. Amber walked in and pressed the down button and seconds later she stepped out into the foyer. Julie and her husband and the whole crowd immediately surrounded her. Joe appeared and, heading straight for Amber, he took her arm. ‘You look sensational. Where’s Lucas?’

‘I don’t know,’ she told the truth. Then she did know, when a strong arm curved around her waist.

‘I’m here, Joe, you can unhand the lady now. I’ve got her.’

Amber tensed, her heart missing a beat. Slowly she turned her head. ‘Lucas,’ she greeted him.

‘Amber, darling, you couldn’t wait, you had to come down to meet me—how sweet.’ The devilish light in his dark eyes should have warned her. He curved her close into his hard body, crushing her up against him as his dark head swooped and his lips claimed hers.

Amber’s pulse went from normal to the speed of light, and then he lifted his head; though he still held her hard against him and she could not help but be aware of his instant, shameless arousal. ‘You’re sex mad,’ she muttered angrily. ‘And you had no right to get Julie to buy a wedding dress.’

He silenced her by claiming her mouth again in a long passionate kiss, and when he finally let her up for air she was boneless. It didn’t matter how often he touched her, it was always the same. There had always been a devastating chemical reaction between them, and that had not changed in the intervening years. ‘What do you think you are doing?’ she croaked.

‘Not what I want to be doing, that’s for sure,’ Lucas said bluntly in her ear, and then very slowly eased her away from him.