Sale or Return Bride

Fleetingly she remembered that she’d resolved not to let him do this to her again, and then his skilled fingers stripped her naked and his mouth found the sensitive jut of her nipple and the thought vanished, obliterated in an explosion of sexual excitement so intense that she sobbed his name.

‘No woman has ever excited me the way you do,’ he asserted in a raw tone, as his clever fingers proceeded to plot an erotic path down her quivering, hopelessly sensitized body. ‘It is so hard to hold back.’

‘Then don’t,’ she breathed unsteadily, her blue eyes glazed as she collided with his burning dark gaze.

‘I don’t want to hurt you—’

She closed her eyes, suffocated by the building desire, needing him so badly that her whole body ached and shivered. ‘Sebastien, please—’

He gave a rough exclamation and rolled her under him in a swift, powerful movement, positioning himself between her thighs before he covered her mouth with his once more and took her.

The hot, hard strength of him deep inside her made her cry out in shameful abandon and he smothered the cry with his mouth, his own harsh grunt of male satisfaction mingling with her soft gasps.

He drove them both forward with powerful thrusts, smashing down any barriers that remained between them, an animal mating that culminated in explosive fulfilment for both of them.

In the aftermath Alesia lay with her eyes closed, waiting for him to release her, braced for his usual dismissive comment.

Instead he rolled on to his back, taking her with him, smoothing her tangled blonde hair away from her flushed cheeks with a hand that was far from steady.

‘That was amazing,’ he said hoarsely, studying her face. ‘You are amazing. We can make this marriage work, Alesia.’

She swallowed. ‘Because the sex is good—?’

‘Not just because of that, but of course that is one reason,’ he said, delivering a smile so sexy that she felt her whole body quiver. ‘But I am fast discovering more and more about you. And I like what I discover.’

Suddenly consumed by guilt at the enormity of her deception, Alesia tried to wriggle away from him but he held her firm.

‘No, this time I am not going to walk away. Nor will I say anything horrible. We are going to spend the night together. In the same bed. I believe that children deserve parents who are happy together.’ He dropped a lingering kiss on her mouth. ‘I believe that we can be happy together.’

Guilt shot through her with the force of a bullet.

They couldn’t be happy together. She couldn’t give him children, and when he found that out…How could she tell him?

‘You think I’m a gold-digger—’

He gave a dismissive shrug. ‘At least you were honest about it. I can respect honesty. And what we share in bed is nothing to do with money, agape mou—’

He respected honesty.

Alesia closed her eyes, sick with dread at the thought of him discovering the truth.

That she’d been anything but honest with him.

But did he really need to find out? a tiny voice murmured inside her. She wouldn’t be the first woman in the world who couldn’t have children. Maybe he wouldn’t discover that she’d always known…

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE week that followed was the most blissful time of Alesia’s life.

They made love for most of the night and much of the day and when they weren’t sleeping off the exhaustion induced by endless mind-blowing sex, they were talking or eating meals out on the terrace that overlooked the gentle curve of sand. And, to her surprise, Alesia discovered that she loved Greece. Even the constant view of the sea stretching into the distance couldn’t spoil her delight at waking every morning to blazing sunshine. She adored exploring the island, adored picking oranges fresh from the tree and loved the feel of the sun on her skin.

And she also discovered that she loved talking to Sebastien.

He was astonishingly entertaining company and for the first time in her life she experienced what it was like to be close to another human being and it felt amazing.

On one occasion they didn’t leave the bed but made love, slept and then just talked and talked while they lay wrapped around each other.

Sebastien proved to have a sharp wit, a brilliant mind and a good sense of humour as well as being astonishingly astute about the world. He was also charming and so incredibly sexy that Alesia found herself just gazing and gazing at his handsome face, unable to believe that this man was actually in bed with her.

Alone on the island, they were cocooned in their own sensual nest, protected from the interfering gaze of the outside world.

Protected from the looming clouds of reality.

Swamped with a quite unfamiliar feeling of happiness, Alesia drifted through each day on a cloud of pure bliss, dimly aware that this wasn’t real—that this idyllic life they were sharing couldn’t continue.