A Ring for the Greek's Baby

She covered her clammy face with the cloth and then washed her face at the basin. She was acutely, intensely aware of him. Her bathroom was already on the phone-box-size side, but with him in there with her it shrank to the size of a tissue box.

Loukas placed his hands on the tops of her shoulders from behind, his hips close to her butt cheeks. If she moved half an inch she would come into intimate contact with him. The temptation to lean back into his fortress-like body was nothing short of overwhelming. She gripped the edge of the basin to stop herself from doing it. She met his gaze in the mirror and a jolt of something sharp and electric shot through her system. His hips brushed her from behind.

Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.

How could she be thinking about sex when a minute ago she’d been yodelling over the toilet?

‘Let me take care of you, Emily.’ His voice had a note of determination. The note that made her want to forget all about female emancipation, park herself behind a picket fence and don a pinafore and oven mitts.

Emily turned to face him, her teeth sinking into her lower lip. ‘Corfu does sound kind of nice...’

He tipped up her chin and for the first time she saw a glimmer of a smile tugging up the corners of his mouth. ‘That’s my girl.’

CHAPTER FOUR

LOUKAS WAS STAYING in Chelsea at one of the hotels Emily had never expected to go into for a drink, let alone stay the night in. Uniformed attendants with top hats greeted them when Loukas pulled into the bay in front of the stately entrance. The car doors were opened and she stepped out on to the strip of red carpet that led into the dazzling foyer. Her bag was whisked away and Loukas took her arm and looped it through his. ‘We’ll leave for Corfu after lunch tomorrow. I have a couple of things to see to first thing, but you can rest up here until it’s time to head to the airport.’

Emily’s eyes rounded to the size of dinner plates when she stepped into the hotel. Corinthian columns divided the foyer, sprouting out of a sea of black-and-white tiles. A central crystal chandelier hung from the impossibly high ceiling and other glittering lights were placed strategically upon the walls. An ornate gold-framed mirror the size of her bedroom hung above a marble fireplace where some classic sofas and wing chairs were nestled to create a cosy setting.

On the other side of the room was a black grand piano, so glossy the chandelier above was reflected in its surface in dozens of sparkles that looked like scattered diamonds. White-columned archways divided the massive space into sections and the reception was at the far end where more uniformed staff were in attendance. Loukas informed them Emily would be joining him in his suite and then led her to the bank of lifts through another archway.

He held her hand while they waited for the lift, glancing down at her. ‘How are you doing?’

Emily tried not to show how awestruck she was but she was pretty sure she was doing the kid-in-a-candy-store thing. Everywhere she looked was luxury beyond anything she had seen before. Even the lift call-button looked as though it was pure gold. ‘I’m fine, but I could do with something to eat.’

‘I’ll order some room service for you.’

* * *

A short time later, Emily sat propped up with several cloud-soft pillows on the acre of bed. She had a silver service meal on a tray table parked over her stretched out legs. Loukas was seeing to emails on his smart phone and had so far not touched his own meal set on a table beside him. She picked at her dinner, not wanting to overdo things in case she had another attack of nausea. In between cautious mouthfuls, Emily took the time to study him while he was preoccupied with business. His forehead was creased in a frown of concentration, his shoulders hunched forward as he scrolled through his messages. Evening stubble surrounded his nose and mouth and flared either side of his jaw in a rich, dark swathe that made her itch to run her fingertips over it.

She remembered how that bristly skin felt against her smoother skin. After that night in his bed, it had taken days for the marks to fade from her face. And other more secret places. She’d had to use concealer to disguise it on her face and, every time she’d applied it, her stomach would free fall as she remembered the way the marks had got there.

Loukas glanced up from his phone to catch her looking at him. ‘All done?’

Emily hoped she wasn’t blushing but it sure felt like it. At this rate she could have moonlighted as a bain-marie. No dinner could ever go cold balanced on her cheeks. ‘I’m done. Thanks, it was lovely.’

He rose from the chair and came over. When he leaned down to lift the tray off the bed, Emily put her hand on one of his arms and met his dark gaze. ‘You’re being awfully good about all this... I mean, this must be your worst nightmare, and here you are waiting on me and looking after me like I’m some sort of princess.’

His eyes moved between each of hers, then he glanced down at her mouth. Loukas took a steadying breath, lifted the tray away and placed it on the table next to his untouched meal. He stood with his back to her and pushed a hand up his face and over the back of his hair but, rather than straightening it, it made it even more sexily tousled. He turned back around but his expression was impossible to read. ‘You’d better get some sleep.’

‘Where are you going to sleep?’

He nodded towards the sitting room next door. ‘I’ll take the sofa.’

Emily rolled her lips together and began to fiddle with the edge of the sheet. ‘You don’t have to do that. I mean, this bed is practically bigger than my flat.’

‘Emily.’ The way he said her name in that stern schoolmaster tone made her feel like a child who’d been told she wasn’t allowed in the drawing room with the grown-ups.

She couldn’t hold his gaze and focussed on the hem of the sheet instead. ‘Right, well, goodnight, then.’

She saw his long trouser-clad legs appear beside the bed. He placed a gentle fingertip beneath her chin and elevated her gaze to meet his. ‘I shouldn’t have touched you in the first place,’ he said. ‘I was out of line. Way out of line.’

Emily couldn’t peel her eyes away from the dark intensity of his. ‘Why did you make the first move that night, after the wedding?’

His hand fell away from her face and he thrust both hands into the pockets of his trousers as if to keep them out of the way of temptation. ‘I was...on edge.’

‘On edge?’ Emily asked. ‘About what?’