Marriage at His Convenience

As the weeks stretched into two months they developed an enviable lifestyle. They went swimming, sailed, ate together and slept together. They also talked, listened to music or sometimes simply sat companionably in the same room reading. The one thing they did not do was talk about their relationship and underpinning all their activities was the simmering desire for each other. Their lovemaking was great. They could not keep their hands off each other.

Amber wandered out onto the terrace and sat down on a conveniently placed lounger overlooking the gardens and the pool, and stared out at the sun-drenched blue of the sea beyond. Her marriage was working better than she had ever dreamed possible. She remembered their early-morning romp and a sensual smile curved her wide mouth. But was sex enough? she asked herself, chewing her bottom lip with her teeth. It was Monday and three weeks today she was supposed to return to England. She would have to go back anyway, because, although she could keep on top of her job as well from the island as England, her clients expected some personal contact, as did the other partners in the firm. She would miss this place, lazing around in only briefs and a cotton shirt, with the greatest lover in the world for company. What more could a woman want?

‘Hi, beautiful, waiting for me?’ Lucas leant over and brushed his lips lightly over her brow before sitting down on the lounger beside her, flicking open the buttons of his jacket and shrugging it off.

‘Yes. But I didn’t hear the helicopter.’ Amber glanced across at him, and watched as he unfastened the buttons of his shirt and lay back with a sigh. He had been in Athens today and he looked tired—sexy but tired.

With his eyes closed, his long lashes curled on high cheekbones, his firm lips curved in a smile. ‘That’s because I came back by boat. The helicopter is out of service until Saturday.’

‘But what about the rest of the week?’

Lucas dealt her a simmering look from half-closed eyes. ‘The rest of the week, I am going to stay here with you.’

Amber rose to her feet and, leaning over him, she murmured, ‘Promises, promises.’ She pressed her lips to his, probing his mouth with her tongue. Lucas responded by slipping his strong hands up under the soft shirt she was wearing to cup her full, firm breasts with his palms, and groaning. ‘This is what I came back for,’ he confided hoarsely, and moments later they were in the shuttered coolness of their bedroom.

Amber threw off her shirt, and watched utterly enslaved as Lucas stripped off his, and then with a husky growl tumbled her naked onto the bed.

A long powerful thigh nudged hers apart and she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his mouth, his eyes, his shoulder, anywhere she could reach.

His long fingers teased her nipples, traced over her stomach and parted the soft folds of velvety flesh between her thighs. Amber groaned out loud, heat flooding through her, and he took her hard and fast, and she was with him all the way until their mingled cries of release left them absolutely sated in each other’s arms.

‘Do you think the hot climate in Greece has anything to do with making people feel sexy?’ Amber asked lazily.

A great guffaw of laughter greeted her remark, and Lucas, propping himself up on one elbow, stared down at her. ‘You know what I l…’ And he stopped, an arrested expression in his black eyes. He focused on her flushed face, her swollen mouth, thick black lashes screening his gaze. ‘What I adore about you, Amber, for all your brains and beauty, you can be so naive.’

Amber forced a grin to her lips, but for a moment there she had been sure he was going to say he loved her. ‘Better naive than world-weary, like some I could mention.’

He didn’t rise to her teasing but looked at her for a long while with disturbing intensity. ‘You’re right.’ And, rolling off the bed, Lucas strolled over to the bathroom. ‘I need a shower.’

Ah, well! Amber sighed happily. They had the whole week together. But she was wrong…

After dinner Lucas retired to his study to make a few calls and Amber headed for bed. Fifteen minutes later, showered and wearing a peach-coloured satin negligée, Amber walked back into the bedroom, the material floating around her as she moved. Tiny shoestring straps supported the bodice—a delicately embroidered web of fine lace revealing tantalising glimpses of her full breasts and dusky nipples. Outrageously sexy, it had been chosen for her by Lucas and Amber felt great wearing it. She crossed to the dressing table, and, opening a drawer, withdrew the small box that held her contraceptive pills, a dreamy smile on her face. Lucas would be joining her soon. Flipping open the top of a delicately lacquered box, she picked up a pill and lifted her hand to her mouth.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ Lucas’s deep voice roared, and the box went flying through the air, pills cascading on the floor, and suddenly her wrist was caught in an iron grip. ‘Drop it. Drop it now,’ he said in a rough threatening voice, with menace in his dark eyes.

The single pill fell from her fingers, and Amber felt a frisson of fear run down her spine. She had never seen Lucas in such a violent temper.

He pulled her towards him, the strong dark planes of his face contorted with rage. ‘What are they?’ he demanded, fury in every line of his body. ‘Tell me, damn you.’

She opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out. The tension in him was so strong that she shivered at the impact of it. She stared at him, and the violence leaping in his eyes scared her witless. Amber told herself she had no reason to fear him, she had every right to take birth control pills.

‘Answer me, woman,’ he raged, his hand falling from her hair to curve around her throat, tipping her head back. ‘Tell me or so help me I’ll—’

‘You’re hurting me.’ She choked, the breath squeezed from her lungs.

Suddenly he released her, but he still held her wrist. She tried to jerk away, shaking from head to foot, but he forcibly pulled her closer.

‘Birth control pills,’ she muttered in a low, frightened voice.

‘Not amphetamines,’ Lucas grated between his teeth, some of the anger easing from his body. ‘You’re sure?’ His simmering black eyes fixed on her face.

Some opinion he had of her that he dared suggest she would take drugs. Anger tightened her mouth, and she returned his look with a hard, level stare. ‘They are my birth control pills,’ she reiterated.

‘My wife, and you—’

‘Thought I was a junkie,’ Amber cut in hardly.

She saw him stiffen ‘One cannot be too sure nowadays.’ His dark eyes were hooded and curiously blank when he added, ‘You’d better pick them up, as you seem to think you need them.’ Letting go of her wrist, he spun around and stalked off into the bathroom without another word.