‘I saw the dress and I couldn’t help picturing you wearing it and I know it was high-handed of me but I was determined that you should have it,’ Sergios revealed.
She was touched by the admission that even before their wedding he had been attracted to her to that extent. ‘Yet we both thought that I was going to be more of an employee than a real wife.’
‘Even I can be stupid.’
Bee grinned with appreciation. ‘Hold on while I get a microphone and record that statement.’
‘Well, I was stupid about you. I was fighting what I felt for you right from the start.’
‘Your marriage to Krista hurt you a great deal,’ Bee commented softly, understanding that and willing to forgive the time it had taken for him to recognise his feelings for her.
‘I thought I would be happier living without a serious relationship in my life. You rewrote everything I thought I knew about myself. I wanted you. I wanted you in my bed, my home, involved in every aspect of my day.’ Sergios circled her mouth slowly, gently, with his. ‘I know I didn’t tell you that I’d finished with Melita but I didn’t see the need.’
‘I thought that maybe you thought you could still have both of us.’
Unexpectedly, Sergios laughed. ‘No, I was never that stupid. I knew that wasn’t an option but possibly I felt a little foolish about changing my mind so quickly and wanting the kind of marriage I said I definitely didn’t want.’
Bee brushed a high cheekbone with gentle fingertips, loving the new confidence powering her. ‘That aspect never occurred to me.’
‘It should’ve done. I thought I had our marriage all worked out and it blew up in my face because I couldn’t keep my hands off you.’
‘When I saw Melita I decided you only liked blondes…and for just a little while I actually considered getting my hair dyed. It was my lowest moment,’ Bee confided with a wince of shame.
Sergios groaned out loud, his long fingers feathering through her glossy dark hair. ‘I’m very grateful you didn’t do it. I love your hair the way it is—’
‘I might grow it longer for you,’ Bee proffered, feeling unusually generous.
Sergios pressed her back against the pillows and extracted a kiss that was full of hungry urgency. ‘Now that we’re here, we might as well take advantage.’
‘Oh, yes,’ Bee agreed, full pink lips swollen, eyes wide with desire as the tug of arousal pinched low in her tummy.
And the kissing shifted into a fairly wild bout of lovemaking. Afterwards, Bee lay in her husband’s arms, feeling loved and secure and boundlessly happy and grateful for what she had.
On the drive back to their London home that evening, Sergios dealt her a slightly embarrassed appraisal and said abruptly, ‘I thought that possibly in a few months’ time we might consider having a baby.’
‘On the grounds that we’ve got so many children we might as well have another?’ Bee prompted very drily.
Sergios grimaced. ‘I suppose I deserve that reminder but I’ve changed. I would like to have a child with you some day in the future.’
‘I can agree to that now you’ve got the right attitude,’ Bee told him chirpily and she flung herself into his arms with abandon and snuggled close. ‘And now I know that you love me, you had better get used to me doing stuff like this.’
His strong arms enfolded her and dark golden eyes rested on her animated face with tender appreciation. ‘And maybe I’ve even learned to like it, yineka mou.’
Bee relaxed and knew she could hug him to her heart’s content. From here on in there would be no more boundaries she feared to cross.
EPILOGUE
‘HOW do you feel?’ Sergios asked, his anxiety obvious.
‘Absolutely fine!’ Bee exclaimed, widening her bright eyes in reproach. ‘Stop fussing!’
But Bee was less than pleased with her reflection in the mirror. It was Nectarios’s eighty-third birthday and they were throwing a big party for the old
er man at their home on the island. She was wearing a beautiful evening gown in one of her favourite colours but, it had to be said, nothing, not even the fabulous diamonds glittering in her ears and at her throat, could make her elegant in her own eyes while she was heavily pregnant. At almost eight months pregnant with their first child, she felt like a ship in full sail.
Sergios drew her back against him, his hands splaying gently across her swollen abdomen, his fascination palpable as he felt the slight ripple of movement as their daughter kicked. A little girl, that was what they were having according to the most recent sonogram. Eleni was four years old and she was very excited about the baby sister who would soon be born. Bee had enjoyed furnishing a nursery and had frittered away many a happy hour choosing baby equipment and clothing.
Bee, however, could hardly believe that she and Sergios had been married for going on for three years. They had waited a little longer than they had originally planned to try for a baby but she had conceived quickly. There was not a single cloud in Bee’s sky. The previous year, Melita Thiarkis had sold her island property and set up permanent home in Milan with an Italian millionaire. Bee had never got involved with the charity Jon Townsend had worked with because he made her uncomfortable, but she had picked another charity, one that concentrated on disabled adults like her mother. When she was not running round after the children or travelling with Sergios, for they did not like to be kept apart for more than a couple of nights, she put in sterling work seeking out sponsors for the organisation and raising funds.