The Greek Tycoon's Unexpected Wife

‘My father told me nothing, agapi mou. Only that you were determined to put as much distance as you could between us.’ Startled, she looked up to see the truth in his eyes. ‘The old man was so busy berating me for a fool that he didn’t have time for much else.’ Stavros paused and Tessa watched the convulsive working of his throat as he swallowed, felt his grip tighten on her.

‘When I found you gone I was devastated. Only then did I begin to realise what we’d had. And what I’d lost. It took that to make me question what I feel for you.’

‘I know what you feel,’ she murmured bitterly over the sour taste in her mouth. ‘I’m a convenient spouse. Just what a man needs to entertain his guests and warm his bed and bear his children.’

‘Don’t!’ The volume of his roar made her flinch, but she couldn’t pull back. His hold on her was gentle but unbreakable.

‘Don’t, agapi mou.’ This time his voice was a husky whisper. ‘I was a fool, an idiot, a biased, blind, bloody-minded bastard.’

Despite the string of emotions wound taut within her, almost to breaking point, Tessa’s mouth curved at his choice of words. ‘I couldn’t have put it better myself.’

A gleam of humour flared in his eyes and then was quenched. His mouth was grim, his face hard as steel. ‘You have every right to put it much more strongly. I treated you abominably and for that I apologise with all my heart.’

Her eyes flickered closed as he stroked her cheek and she gulped down on a knot of hot despair.

‘Don’t apologise. It’s over now.’ She couldn’t sit here through his apologies. This was pure torture, having him so near, so contrite, so tempting. But nothing had changed except that he’d guessed how she felt about him.

‘It will never be over, Tessa. Don’t you understand? I love you.’ Then suddenly his mouth was against hers, lightly brushing her lips as he spoke. ‘S’agapo, Tessa mou. S’agapo.’ His hands, strong and hard and incredibly tender, tilted her head, fingers threading through her hair.

Ecstasy was a fizz of brilliance in her bloodstream, a burst of golden light behind her closed eyelids. Yet still her mind couldn’t take it in.

His lips dropped to the column of her throat, pressing tiny, urgent kisses there.

‘It will never be over between us, Tessa. Even if you leave me now, if you catch the ferry to Athens then fly to Sydney, I’ll follow you. I’ll be there, wherever you are. I can’t let you walk out of my life and never see you again.’

His hands slid down past her shoulders to circle over the soft fabric that covered her back. She pressed into his embrace, giving him unfettered access.

‘You can’t?’ Something had happened to her brain. It wasn’t working properly. Not now, when he held her with desperate hands and told her what she’d so longed to hear.

‘Open your eyes, Tessa.’

No! If she opened her eyes, it would be over, the final shred of this wonderful fantasy. It couldn’t be true—

‘Open them, Tessa. Look at me.’

Reluctantly she slitted her eyes open then widened them as she saw his face. He looked ravaged, anguished. Grim lines slashed deep, bracketing his mouth, and there was desperation in his eyes.

‘I adore you. I want you to be with me because I can’t imagine life without you by my side.’ He drew a shuddering breath and for the first time she noticed the betraying tremor in the big hands at her back. She frowned.

Could it be true?

‘I thought romantic love was a fool’s fantasy. I thought a good solid marriage was built on…’ His words petered out as his voice thickened.

‘Logic,’ she said. ‘You thought it was about logic and careful planning.’

He nodded. ‘I had no idea. I didn’t understand that what I felt for you was so much more than desire. It wasn’t till you left me that I realised…that I saw what I’d done.’ His arms wrapped tight around her, pulling her close in his embrace. It felt like heaven.

‘I don’t deserve another chance after the way I treated you. I know that. But I’m not whole without you. That’s why I’ll follow you to Australia if need be and court you properly, as you deserve.’

‘There’s no need,’ she whispered through the tears that blurred her vision.

‘There’s every need. Hell! I’ve made you cry again. I wanted to make you happy. I even traced your grandparents for you, because I thought it would help to know you have your own family.’

‘My grandparents?’ Tessa shook her head, trying to grasp his words. She was on overload, unable to process so much.