EPILOGUE
FOURYEARSLATER, Tansy sat on the beach on Rhodes, enjoying the sunshine while Posy and her little brother, Bay, built a sandcastle. Posy chattered incessantly, telling Bay what to do, groaning when his foot knocked a carefully built wall flying. Bay’s mouth compressed and he loosed a shout of frustration, kneeling down and striving to rebuild what he had ruined.
‘Let him have a go,’ Tansy urged Posy before she could take over and do it for him.
‘He can’t do it,’ Posy muttered in a long-suffering tone.
Tansy watched without surprise as her son carefully, clumsily patted the wall back into place. It was neither so neat nor so tall a wall as it had been, but it was a good effort for so young a child. He had phenomenal concentration for a toddler, and he preferred to build rather than destroy. Satisfied, he stepped back, watching Posy stick the plastic flag on top, and he beamed.
‘Daddy see,’ he said with decision.
Hearing voices, Tansy got up from the lounger she was on. She was slow because she was five months into her second pregnancy. Pulling on a beach dress, she heard the children yell, ‘Pappi!’ in excitement and race off to greet Isidore, who could always be depended on to visit with toys and treats.
Kerry, who had stayed in their employ, began shepherding the children back to the castle, but Bay was clinging like a leech to his father’s leg, determined that Jude should first admire his castle.
The little boy looked very like his father, but he had Tansy’s streaky light hair, though it was curly rather than wavy. Jude grinned at Tansy and performed the official sandcastle inspection for the kids, making acceptable noises of admiration. Isidore swept up Posy, who was chattering away to him.
Since Tansy and Jude had settled into a more permanent home in the UK, Isidore had become a frequent visitor. He loved to see his great-grandson and he did not make a difference between Bay and Posy, which had won over Tansy to his side. Jude had, however, had some difficult conversations with his grandfather about his mother and Isidore had acknowledged the part he had played in Clio’s breakdown, admitting that his punitive approach and his unhesitating support of his son had gone too far.
He had made a magnificent cash gift to the Villa Bardani gardens in an act of contrition but Clio had had to be persuaded to accept it. Jude and Tansy visited Clio in Italy, but she had yet to visit them because she refused to leave her garden. While fences were gradually being mended and a new spirit of openness was growing in the family, they had yet to persuade Clio and Isidore to occupy the same room at a family gathering. Even so, Clio had made tentative moves towards being friendlier with Tansy, and the older woman was unreservedly fond of her grandson, Bay. These days Jude was a little more relaxed in his mother’s company and she uttered fewer dire warnings about the likelihood of his continuing fidelity. Tansy was hoping that, for Clio, the past was finally staying in the past.
Her stepfather was still in prison. He had received a heavy sentence for his crimes in spite of the excellent defence that his lawyer had made for him in court. That he had embezzled the funds of a disabled client had counted heavily against him. He had, however, surrendered his paternal rights over his daughter and, eighteen months after his court case, Jude and Tansy had become Posy’s adoptive parents.
‘We’re dining on the yacht tonight, birthday girl,’ Jude reminded Tansy. ‘And you’re all sunburned and covered in sand.’
It was her twenty-seventh birthday. Tansy lowered her lashes and then looked up at the husband she adored with gleaming green eyes of innocence. ‘I suppose you’ll have to harass me into the shower. Maybe you should have married a more decorative woman, who makes more effort.’
‘But would she be as hot and willing in the shower with me?’ Jude husked in her ear.
Tansy went red. ‘Who can tell?’
‘I can,’ Jude purred, running a possessive hand down her slender spine as Isidore, the nanny and the children disappeared into the castle. ‘I choose the sex bomb every time.’
‘I don’t look like one of those right now,’ Tansy lamented. ‘I’m all tummy—’
‘That’s my baby in there…that’s wonderfully sexy,’ Jude insisted, pausing on the path to crush her ripe pink mouth under his, tugging her up against his lean, powerful body and sending her temperature rocketing sky-high.
In the bedroom he presented her with an eternity ring. ‘Eternity won’t be long enough for me with you,’ he swore.
Giggling helplessly at that high-flown assurance, Tansy headed for the bathroom, only to be scooped off her feet and taken there even quicker than her own feet could have carried her. Off came the beach wrap and the bikini beneath. Jude knelt at her feet, nuzzling against her swollen stomach while his deft and clever fingers made her writhe and gasp.
‘We’re heading out on a moonlight cruise, special dinner, all that jazz,’ he told her thickly as she moaned at the zenith of her climax and went limp against him. ‘I’m making you pay in advance in case you fall asleep early on me.’
‘Took a nap this afternoon. I love you,’ she whispered contentedly against his shoulder.
‘And I adore you, Mrs Alexandris. You’re the sun at the centre of my world,’ Jude swore with passionate certainty.