‘Surely you must have appreciated that Gaetano only ever married rich women for what he could get out of them? He got no money from my mother solely because their beach wedding in South America wasn’t legal,’ Nik advanced with derision. ‘Helena deliberately neglected to file the right documents because she already suspected Gaetano of infidelity with Cristo’s mother. Once she had the proof of it, she got rid of him and he couldn’t claim a penny from her. How can you expect me to have any respect for a man that calculating and greedy?’
‘Well, hopefully Gaetano’s children by Belle’s mother will grow up into decent people. You shouldn’t hold their parentage against them. After all, you don’t hold it against Cristo or Zarif,’ she reminded him.
His mobile phone rang and she walked away, leaving him to answer it, and went out to the terrace. There she perched on a low wall to listen to the distant sound of the surf washing the shore beyond the trees while striving to breathe in deep and let her bad mood simply evaporate.
His unbuttoned shirt blowing back in the breeze, Nik strolled along the terrace talking on the phone in measured Greek. His strong shoulder muscles bunched and kicked back as he gave a languorous stretch, arching his long spine so that his washboard abs pulled tight into mouth-watering definition. Betsy couldn’t take her eyes off his spectacular body or the downy little furrow of hair that swam into view above his shorts as he breathed in, chest swelling, stomach tightening, causing the waistband to drop even lower on his lean brown hips. Heat flooded her face and her body and, half angry, half amused at her own behaviour, she tore her gaze from him and stared out into the darkness instead.
Considering that ‘later’ had never come around a week ago, looking was the only sensual pleasure she had, Betsy reflected, tensing at the thought and the feelings of hurt and rejection it evoked. For some reason, Nik had backed away from the idea of intimacy. Not only did he cart her up and downstairs with the detachment of a block of wood but he had also chosen to sleep in the bedroom next door. His retreat on that front had taken Betsy by surprise because Nik had always been very highly sexed. Even worse from her point of view, her body was awash with hormones and raring to go with an enthusiasm she had never experienced before.
She remembered that sexy little interlude on the evening of their arrival and breathed in deep and slow to cool her rising temperature. What had changed for Nik since that night? Did the very fact that she was pregnant make her less attractive on his terms? She supposed that was perfectly possible, particularly to a male who had never wanted children. Now that children were on the way, Nik might be ready to take responsibility as a parent but who was to say how he really felt about the development? A man wasn’t committed simply because he said and did the right things. It was even possible that her less than enthusiastic reaction to the offer of reconciliation had annoyed and offended him. Nik was a proud man. He had tried to build a bridge between them and she was still standing frozen in the middle of that bridge, moving neither forward nor back, paralysed by indecision and terrified of doing the wrong thing.
Yet he had given her every opportunity to discuss her insecurities. Only, when had deep, meaningful conversations ever worked with Nik? When he didn’t talk back it was a waste of her breath and when he brooded in silence she felt even worse. And when, as now, he might feel that for the sake of her health and peace of mind he had to tell her whatever she wanted to hear, how likely was it that he would feel that he could be honest? Throughout the week, Nik had displayed endless concern about her well-being. Fortunately her appetite had returned and she was sleeping soundly again, pleasantly tired after daily swimming sessions and walks on the beach. But the emergency, such as it had been, was over now and he needed to accept that and stop treating her like an invalid.
Tossing his phone down on the table, Nik came to a sudden halt in front of her. His wide, sensual mouth compressed. ‘Look, if Belle’s party is that important to you, we’ll leave tomorrow,’ he delivered grimly. ‘But I don’t agree with it—’
Surprise and pleasure darted through Betsy that he had given way. He might not understand the depth of her friendship with Cristo and Belle but he was trying to respect it. Without thinking about it, she stretched up on tiptoe to link her arms round his neck. ‘You’ll enjoy seeing Cristo, and Belle told me that Zarif is trying to clear his schedule to attend as well...’
The warmth of her smile lit up her heart-shaped face. It was relatively easy to make Betsy happy; Nik had realised that a long time ago but he had fallen out of the habit. But then in the early days he had had to negotiate a welter of misapprehensions before he had found the right path. It was not the cost of the gift that mattered but the thought and the effort behind it. It could be as simple as making a phone call, regardless of how busy he was, or of sharing the minutiae of his busy day to make her feel a part of it. Back then an unexpectedly sunny morning, the random kindness of a stranger or a casual compliment could leave Betsy wreathed in smiles.
‘Oh, joy, my brother the king with the big mouth,’ Nik derided as he looked down at her and slowly closed his arms round her slight body.
Betsy groaned out loud, having forgotten that complication. ‘I think Zarif did you a favour, so cut him some slack. I had to find out about the vasectomy at some stage,’ she pointed out ruefully. ‘You had backed yourself into a corner by not telling me about it and I don’t think you knew how to get out of it.’
Nik was genuinely stunned by that shrewd assessment of his behaviour. Ebony lashes shielded his reflective gaze but his thoughts were short-circuited by the soft, full mouth pressing to the corner of his with unstudied warmth. Betsy smelled of peaches and vanilla, and every barrier he had raised against temptation was washed away as if a tidal wave had engulfed him. His hands slid down to her delicately curved hips and he hoisted her up against him and brought his mouth crashing down on hers with hungry enthusiasm.
‘Why did I have to wait so long for that?’ Betsy moaned helplessly, strugglin
g to relocate her breath while every skin cell in her body erupted into sudden life.
Nik stiffened defensively at the question and then set her circumspectly down again. ‘Because if I can’t finish, I don’t want to start,’ he told her frankly.
Brow furrowing, Betsy stared up at him. ‘Why can’t you finish?’
Nik groaned. ‘You’re supposed to be resting, taking it easy—’
Betsy flushed. ‘But Mr Xenophon told me that making love would be OK.’
Nik froze in surprise. ‘And when did he tell you that?’
‘While I was getting dressed and you were in his office, because that’s when I asked him what I should be avoiding—’
‘Diavelos! Why didn’t you tell me?’ Nik suddenly demanded, studying her in disbelief.
‘Well, the first night here, you seemed perfectly comfortable—’
‘And then I came downstairs while you slept...’ Nik exclaimed, stretching out his arms in emphasis. ‘And I thought, what the hell am I doing here? Why am I assuming that a pregnant woman is in any fit state for a sexual marathon? That has to be the very last thing she needs in her current state of health!’
Betsy blinked, putting the facts together, amazed that she had been as foolish in her own way as he had been. He had assumed he should keep his distance and she had assumed that he simply didn’t want her enough. ‘We don’t talk enough,’ she murmured ruefully.
‘And we’re not going to talk very much tonight or indeed for the remainder of our stay,’ Nik forecast, a breathtaking smile of intent slashing his beautiful stubborn mouth as he scooped her up into his arms and headed straight for the stairs. ‘I have other plans.’
‘Extensive, I hope,’ Betsy encouraged, turquoise eyes locked to his lean, darkly handsome face, true energy leaping through her for the first time in days because the desire he couldn’t hide in his possessive gaze restored her battered self-esteem.
‘Very extensive,’ Nik promised, laying her down on her bed, pulling off her shoes, flipping her over to unzip her dress and flipping her back to trail her out of its concealing folds to leave her exposed in a lacy bra and panties set. ‘You look amazing—’
Betsy shifted uneasily. ‘No, I don’t... I’m losing my waist—’
‘You do look amazing. I don’t say anything I don’t mean.’ Nik shrugged off his shirt, loosed the button at the waist of his shorts. ‘I’ve hardly slept this week. It’s been so hot and the nights are very long when you have a hard-on that won’t quit...’