Claiming His Nine-Month Consequence

“You said you wanted to know me,” he said roughly. He searched her gaze. “Let me take you to the place where I was born.”

Staring at him, she gave a hesitant nod.

Triumph rushed through him. If the thought of marriage made him a little queasy inside, he firmly pushed the feeling away. It was the only way to keep her.

And he would. Dangerous or not. She belonged to him now. He’d been fooling himself to think he could send her away.

He would keep her. At any price.

CHAPTER TEN

THE HOT GREEK sun beat down on Ruby’s skin a few days later as she stretched lazily in the soft lounge chair. She blinked, yawning like a kitten. Beside her chair an infinity pool shimmered blue, with a sheer drop-off overlooking the bright blue Ionian Sea.

Behind her, the Kourakis house loomed.

House? Ruby shook her head, amused at herself for using such an ordinary word for a place as big as a fortress and fancier than a palace, in a compound on a private island. The enormous villa shone blindingly white beneath the bright blue sky. She had to put on sunglasses to look at it directly.

It had been built by his grandfather, the first shipping tycoon, Ares had told her. His grandfather had started the family business in Athens, and Aristedes, Ares’s father, had expanded it. But it had been Ares’s ruthless, single-minded focus on Kourakis Enterprises that had turned it into a global empire.

“That’s why I work so much,” he’d confided with a lazy grin yesterday, twirling a tendril of her hair, as both of them snuggled naked in bed. “I always have to win. Even against my own ancestors.”

She’d grinned back. Then her smile had faded. “You even compete against your own family?”

He’d stopped twirling her hair.

“Yes, Ruby,” he’d said quietly. “You know the myth about the Greek god Zeus?”

“The leader of the gods?”

“He only survived childhood because his mother hid him from his father before he could devour him, as he had the rest of Zeus’s siblings. Every generation competing against the next. That’s what family is to me. Win or die. Eat or be eaten.”

She’d tried to smile. “But not every family is like that. People usually love each other. Watch each other’s backs. Keep each other safe.”

His shoulders had relaxed, and he’d lowered his head to hers, whispering, “Maybe in your world…”

“So join my world,” she’d whispered against his lips, and he’d kissed her.

They’d made love in the villa’s master bedroom, near the open balcony overlooking the sea, as the waves crashed loudly below. He’d made her cry out so loudly with pleasure she’d blushed afterward, wondering if the staff of twelve that serviced the island might have heard her. Ares had snickered at her for being so concerned.

“They’re discreet. Believe me. Some of them have worked here decades, and my parents’ screaming at each other taught them to wear earplugs.”

She’d given him a quick, worried look. “Was I screaming?”

He’d grinned at her. “Don’t worry. Happy sounds will be a novelty for them.”

“But surely you’ve brought women here before.”

Shaking his head, he’d leaned forward, whispering, “You’re the first…”

And he’d kissed her softly, and a sensual hour later, made her cry out all over again.

Now Ruby stretched in the sun, wiggling her toes, which had been painted red by the team of stylists and masseuses that had visited the island yesterday. As distractions went, she thought, whisking a girl away via private jet to a private Greek island was a pretty solid choice.

Ruby bit her lip. But a distraction was all it was. Because what could Ares possibly show her here that would change things between them? What could possibly give her hope that they even had a future?

Pushing the depressing thought away, Ruby closed her eyes beneath her sunglasses, turning her face toward the sun, her fingertips trailing into the cool water of the pool.

A shadow fell over her. “Enjoying yourself?”

Looking up, she saw Ares standing beside her lounge chair. She lowered her sunglasses.

The sun was shining behind his head, casting his dark hair with gold. He looked overwhelmingly sexy, in a loose white linen shirt and dark board shorts slung low on his hips. “So you do wear shorts.”