LITMIR.BIZ

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renew our vows? You’ve actually arranged that?’ she exclaimed as her brain absorbed that incredible concept. ‘Oh, I like that. I like that idea very much…’

      ‘And then we’re going to fly out to Tuscany to spend Christmas with Vito and Holly.’

      All of a sudden, Pixie became a ball of energy. She whirled away from him, a slender vision in white lace underpinnings, and yanked the wedding dress off the wardrobe at speed. ‘I hope it fits.’

      ‘I told the designer you were pregnant and she made allowances.’

      Pixie wrenched off the bag and dived into the wedding gown as if her life depended on it and indeed at that moment it felt as if her life did depend on it. Apollo was making all her dreams come true at once. He was trying to rewrite their history and she adored him for that piece of unashamed sentimentality. He was, after all, offering her the white wedding dress and the church she had once dreamt of. He loved her. Could she truly believe that? The ruby sparkled enticingly on her finger and she heaved a happy sigh. When Apollo began organising church blessings and getting down on bended knee to propose, it was time to take him very seriously indeed, she thought happily.

      It was an exquisitely delicate and elegant lace dress and Apollo was fantastic at doing up hooks. Dainty pearlised shoes completed the ensemble and she dug her feet into them with a sigh. ‘You’ve thought of everything.’

      ‘I had to organise it all in advance even though I was scared you would say no. My first romantic scenario fell very flat,’ Apollo pointed out in his own defence. ‘Your bouquet is downstairs.’

      ‘What first romantic scenario?’ she prompted with a frown.

      ‘The one where I had the cover of your bodice-ripping paperback copied for our fancy dress costumes,’ Apollo extended. ‘The one where I dressed up as a stupid pirate and you were supposed to recognise the outfits from the book cover.’

      Pixie gasped and her grey eyes widened to their fullest extent. She recalled that sense of familiarity when she had seen the red dress he had had designed for her and she grinned. ‘It was the first romance I ever read. I bought it at a church jumble sale…but when I got older, I didn’t think it was realistic to believe I could ever meet a man as swoonworthy as the hero…and here you are, Apollo Metraxis, and you’re hotter than the fires of hell!’

      ‘Even so, you didn’t notice,’ he reminded her doggedly.

      ‘I definitely noticed how sexy you looked,’ she confided, her cheeks turning pink, and her heart literally sang at the image of Apollo going to so much trouble in an effort to be romantic and please her. ‘Breeches and knee boots are a great look on you, so maybe you’ll put that on again for me some day and I faithfully promise to demonstrate my appreciation. That night, I’m afraid I was too locked into the hurt of the Izzy business to notice. I’m sorry.’

      ‘And I’m sorry you were hurt,’ Apollo confided tenderly as he urged her back down the stairs, grabbed the bridal bouquet out of another room and planted it into her hands. ‘Let’s get to the church, Mrs Metraxis…’

      And the little ceremony was glorious and everything Pixie could have dreamt of it being. She could see the love in Apollo’s brilliant green eyes and when he actually paused afterwards on the church steps and posed with his arm round her for the paparazzi, he smiled with even greater brilliance and a level of happiness he had never known before.

      ‘What time are Vito and Holly expecting us?’ Pixie whispered as they climbed into the waiting car.

      ‘My social secretary rang them to let them know we wouldn’t be arriving until later,’ Apollo revealed. ‘I don’t want to share you just yet. I want a few hours to privately appreciate my very beautiful, pregnant-with-twins wife.’

      ‘And how do you feel about the babies?’

      ‘Over the moon now that we’ll be in London with the best possible medical care on the doorstep,’ Apollo told her, drawing her close, the heat of his big frame sending a little pulse of fiery awareness through her. ‘I was worrying far too much and your consultant reassured me. You’ll be in the best possible hands for the duration of your pregnancy.’

      ‘Your hands,’ Pixie muttered, pressing his palm against her cheek in a loving gesture. ‘You’ll look after me… I know you will.’

      ‘You’re my whole world and our children are part of us both. I can’t believe I ever thought I’d be able to walk away and take a back seat in their lives.’

      ‘Well, you won’t be walking away any place now,’ Pixie said cheerfully, resting shining eyes on him. ‘I love you, Apollo, and there’s no escape.’

      ‘And you’re the love I didn’t believe existed as well as the most amazing woman I’ve ever met,’ he growled, claiming her parted lips with his in a long, deep, hungry kiss of possession that thrilled her right down to her toes. ‘Where else will I find a woman insane enough to dive off the top of my yacht? And expect me to be pleased? Or threaten me with a miniature Arab Prince as a rival?’

       EPILOGUE

      AT SIXTEEN MONTHS OLD, Sofia Metraxis was a force to be reckoned with. She ran over to her brother, Tobias, swiped his toy truck off him and sat back to bat away his attempts to retrieve it.

      ‘That wasn’t nice,’ Pixie said, scooping up Tobias, who was crying over the loss of his favourite toy.

      ‘You don’t do nice, do you, Alpha baby?’ Apollo chuckled, lifting his daughter and exchanging the truck for another toy to return it to Tobias.

      ‘She’s just cheeky,’ Pixie contended.

      ‘And bossy…wonder where she gets that from,’ Apollo teased, watching Tobias stop crying to play with his truck. ‘I can’t get over how different they are.’

      And the twins were. Tobias was the quieter twin, clever and thoughtful and methodical even in play. Sofia was all bells and whistles and complaints and needed rather less sleep. Together the two children had transformed their parents’ lives, ensuring that Apollo and Pixie spent more time enjoying the wide open spaces and beaches available on Nexos than in their comfortable London town house.

      Pixie had spent all of her pregnancy in London. Only after the birth of the twins had Apollo admitted that his own mother had died in childbirth and that that was the main reason he had been so concerned about her. Luckily the twins had been born only a couple of weeks early by a C-section and neither they nor Pixie had had any health concerns. Her brother’s little boy had been born in the summer and Patrick and his little family now lived in Scotland where Apollo had found her brother a better-paying job. Patrick was still attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings regularly.

      Springing upright, Apollo closed a hand over Pixie’s and walked her out to the landing, leaving the twins in the care of their nannies. ‘I have a present for you,’ he proffered.

      ‘Now? But tomorrow is Christmas Day!’ she protested.

      ‘Every day feels like Christmas with you, agapi mou,’ Apollo traded. ‘And Vito and Holly will be arriving in a couple of hours.’

      ‘My goodness, is it that time already?’ Pixie asked in an anxious voice. ‘I should check the—’

      ‘No,’ Apollo stated firmly. ‘You don’t need to check anything. The house is decked out like a Christmas fair. The gifts are wrapped and our staff have mealtimes covered.’

      Pixie gazed down at her gorgeous sparkling Christmas tree in the hall and she slowly smiled. He was right. Everything was done. It had become a tradition that every year the two young families shared Christmas and this year it was Apollo and Pixie who were playing host because Holly was pregnant again with her third child and she wanted to take it easy and be a guest. And although Pixie and Holly didn’t compete over who could put on the best festive show, high expectations did add a certain inevitable

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