Mediterranean Mavericks: Greeks - Кейт Хьюит Mills & Boon e-Book Collections

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was suffering a large dose of guilt for forcing the issue, she was glad they’d gone. Her understanding of the man she was going to marry was growing by the day.

      She spent the rest of the day mingling with their guests, some of whom she actually knew, lazing by the pool, playing cards, drinking non-alcoholic cocktails. It was fun, but she wished Christian could be there to enjoy it too. He worked so hard, just like her brother.

      Maybe he would kick back and relax when they went on their short honeymoon. She hoped so. He deserved it.

      She headed back to her suite late afternoon and had a long soak in the sunken bath, already looking forward to the evening meal which Christian had said he’d be back for.

      As she slipped into a red tunic dress, she realised that there hadn’t been a single minute when she hadn’t thought of him. The thought was like a jolt, enough to make her hands tremble, making it hard for her to apply her make-up.

      She’d just regained her equilibrium when there was a knock on her door.

      And there he stood, wearing the same suit she’d seen him change into that morning in his suite but with the tie removed and the top three buttons of his shirt undone, exposing the top of his bronzed chest.

      Finding him there sent a huge surge through her, making her heart pump and her pulses race. Dio, the man was divine. In all ways.

      ‘I thought I should let you know I’m going to New York,’ he said as he stepped into her suite.

      ‘Okay. When’s that?’

      ‘I’ll be leaving for the airport in a few minutes.’

      His words had the effect of making her heart sink to her knees. ‘Are you kidding with me? You’re leaving now?’

      Dio l’aiuti, was he getting cold feet?

      ‘It’s only for a couple of nights—I’ll be back Friday evening.’

      She forced her voice to remain calm. ‘We’re getting married on Saturday.’

      ‘I’ll be back in plenty of time.’

      A little distance was all Christian needed. Distance away from Alessandra, time to clear the coldness on his chest that still hadn’t shifted. Time to track her brother down and force him to listen.

      ‘I thought we were supposed to be putting on a united front?’

      ‘We have been. Our guests will understand.’

      ‘But these are our guests. I’ve completely rearranged my schedule to be here this week so we can entertain them together and convince them that we’re the real deal.’ The brightness of her welcome had cooled considerably.

      ‘This is my life, Alessandra. I warn you now, there will be plenty of occasions when I have to fly off at a moment’s notice.’

      She eyed him, lines appearing in her brow. ‘And what if I have to fly off at a moment’s notice? Will you show me the same latitude?’ The challenge was there, from the jut of her chin to the tone of her voice. ‘I have a career of my own too, remember?’

      ‘Our marriage is going to take time to shake down,’ he conceded, wishing he could be in his jet right now. He didn’t want to deal with her anger or acknowledge the suspicion emanating from her eyes. That was not what they were about. They were two individuals able to lead their lives to their own needs, not justify their whims and absences to each other. He shouldn’t feel any guilt. ‘We will find a path that suits us both.’

      She nodded slowly but when she spoke her voice was fractionally warmer. ‘So long as you don’t expect all the compromise and sacrifice to come from my end.’

      ‘I don’t expect that.’

      ‘Good.’ After a moment of silence, she jerked her head in another nod. ‘Have a safe trip.’

      He mimicked her movement. ‘I’ll see you at the chapel.’

       CHAPTER NINE

      ALESSANDRA STARED AT her reflection. She’d been primped and preened by an army of beauticians and now she was ready.

      Ready?

      She would never be ready. Not for this.

      But it had to be done.

      She had to marry Christian and she would do it alone.

      Sebastian and Zayed, who had arrived together the night before, had both offered to give her away. She’d been touched by the offers but had declined. They were there for Christian, not her.

      There were only two people she would have wanted to walk her down the aisle and one of those was dead. The other hadn’t even had the courtesy to respond to his invitation.

      She straightened her spine. It wasn’t as if this would be a real marriage. This wedding was going ahead for one reason and one reason only: their baby. That was what she needed to focus on. It was all she should focus on—not Christian or the way he’d flown off to New York at a moment’s notice. Or her suspicions that there was more to his impromptu trip than business. Or those horrible hours waiting for him to return while the cynical part of her brain had thrown taunts that he wouldn’t be coming back, that he’d abandoned her. Just like her father had.

      Do. Not. Trust.

      She had to trust him with regard to their child. She had to.

      Christian was not her father. And he hadn’t abandoned her. Right at that very moment he stood in the chapel waiting for her. Exactly as he’d said he would be.

      The relief she’d felt late last night when he’d called to say he was back in Athens had been so powerful it scared her to remember the physicality of her reaction.

      It was simply relief that he hadn’t humiliated her by standing her up, she insisted to herself. Nothing more than that. Nothing.

      She checked her watch. It was time. In approximately one hour she would be married. Christian would be her husband.

      She watched her reflected cheeks flush, her blood heating at the remembrances of their one night together, the night that had led to this very moment. Vivid memories of it played in her dreams every night, teasing her, haunting her.

      People always said you couldn’t miss what you’d never had and in the sexual aspect of her life that had held true. Now that she had tried it…

      But it wasn’t sex on its own that she wanted, that her body responded to. It was sex with Christian. Whether it was the alcohol loosening her inhibitions or something else undefined, he’d awoken her. He did things to her.

      Before she’d put her wedding dress on, she’d stepped into her lacy white knickers, imagining him sliding them off; had put her lacy white bra on, imagining him unclasping it; had rolled the silk white stockings up her legs, imagining his strong fingers trailing over her skin as he slid them off.

      Dio, how many times had she picked up her phone to call him before slamming it back down? Too many to count.

      He’d called her a couple of times, though, conversations that had left her feeling all knotted yet incredibly warm inside. There was something about his voice that set tiny little bolts darting through her skin…

      She hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that he was hiding something from her, though.

       Per favore, not another woman.

      Do. Not. Trust.

      How she could she trust him? She didn’t know how.

      She did know that she wanted to. She wanted to believe he would treat her with respect, that maybe one day…

      A rap on her door

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