He nodded. ‘The results of the investigation only just came through. Your mother’s parents are alive and living some place unpronounceable in South Australia. You’ve also got two uncles, an aunt and at least a dozen cousins.’
Cousins? She had cousins?
‘When it’s time, I’ll arrange the flights so you can visit them in Australia.’
Tessa looked into the dear, arrogant, chastened features of the man she loved and suddenly all confusion fled.
‘So we can visit them.’
His whole body stiffened as if in shock. The only movement was the judder of his heartbeat beneath her palm as she reached out to touch him.
‘Couldn’t we travel together?’
‘You forgive me?’ His words echoed her own doubts of just a few minutes ago.
Tessa lifted her hands to his jaw. Eyes hot as embers held hers. She felt his uneven breathing on her face.
‘I love you, Stavros. Of course I forgive you.’
The next few minutes were a blur as he hauled her close and kissed her with a familiar passion that made her senses swim. But this time there was something different. Something strong and true and ineffably tender.
Love.
Finally they broke apart to gulp in much-needed oxygen. Tessa sighed against his chest, revelling in his tenderness as he tucked her in close against him.
‘You are a generous woman, agapi mou. So generous.’
She smiled, secure in his arms and in the knowledge that at last she’d come home. It hadn’t needed the news of newly found relatives to achieve that. Just the love of this one, special man.
‘But don’t expect I’ll make life easy for you.’
A rumble deep in his chest greeted her threat. ‘I’ll cope, sweetheart, so long as I have you. Already I’m growing accustomed to how hard things can be with you in my life.’ The deliberate thrust of his body against hers told her he was taking a typically masculine, purely physical view of things.
She tried to repress a smile but she was too happy to manage it.
‘I have plans,’ she announced. ‘I’d like to study.’
He nodded. ‘Whatever you like.’
‘And when I qualify I’ll want to work, too. If I can. If I’m not too busy—’
‘Looking after our family.’ There was unmistakable satisfaction in his voice. ‘Don’t worry, Tessa, I won’t try to keep you chained to the house.’ His hand slid up to her hip, to linger at her waist. ‘Though perhaps I’ll be able to induce you to spend some time at home, with me. I’ve decided I need to delegate more of my workload.’
More time with her husband. It sounded like paradise.
‘And I don’t want you offering me some huge allowance I could never spend,’ she added. His dismissive suggestion that she enjoy his generous pension as one of the perks of marriage still rankled.
‘Of course not. That’s all settled. I’ve already torn up that agreement you signed.’ He sat back, putting a little distance between them so he could look into her eyes. His own were warm and loving. ‘What’s mine is yours, Tessa. You’re entitled to half of all I possess.’
Her eyes rounded. He was serious. ‘I didn’t mean…I don’t want—’
‘I know you don’t, sweetheart. So we won’t discuss it again. After all, it’s just money.’
Just money! He was one of the wealthiest men in Europe.
‘Stavros, I—’
‘Don’t argue, agapi mou. It’s done.’ His hand slid down the T-shirt she wore right to its hem. Then slowly his fingers inched back up, this time along her bare thigh. Her breath hitched in her throat. ‘But on every other matter I’m open to negotiation.’
His broad smile and the light of tender passion in his eyes made her heart sing. He was hers. She was his. What more could she want?
His hand slid higher and her breathing faltered. She recognised that knowing look on his face. Time to remind her husband that her negotiation skills were every bit as powerful as his. She slipped her hand under his pullover, enjoying the arrested look on his face, the tremor pulling his muscles tight.
‘Perhaps I can persuade you otherwise,’ she murmured.
‘Perhaps.’ His smile was ragged as she trailed her hand over his chest. ‘Maybe you’d better detail your arguments slowly. One by one.’