Jacqueline Baird - Mediterranean Tycoons

‘Oh, no …’ She was shaken by the bleakness of his tone, and wanted to reassure him. ‘You might be arrogant, and look and act like a ruthless tycoon sometimes—well, most of the time—but I would never ever compare you with that horrible man.’

‘Thank you—I think,’ he said wryly, and brushed his lips across hers in the briefest of kisses. ‘That is what Dimitri said a week ago, when he arrived in Athens to visit his parents and we had a drink together. It is thanks to him I am here. He told me I looked a wreck, and asked me what had happened. I’d had a bit to drink and told him the story of our relationship. He told me I was a coward. If I loved you I had to fight for you. Then he mentioned he had seen you leaving an airport in Rio with Antonio Soares as he was dashing to catch a flight to Greece. He also told me there was a picture of you and Soares in some geological magazine, taken in China a month ago, and if I had a grain of sense I wouldn’t waste any more time. Am I too late?’

Selina lifted wide amber eyes to his but his long lashes lowered, shielding his eyes. But they could not quite hide the unfamiliar vulnerability in their black depths.

‘Or can I hope?’

‘Antonio is a nice man.’

‘I know him. He came on a few diving expeditions with Dimitri and I, and I liked him … But I am not such a nice man …’

‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that. Antonio is a friend—nothing more. You were my lover.’

‘I don’t like the past tense.’

Should she take a chance and tell Rion the truth? Well, she had nothing to lose. ‘Remember when you suggested extending our cruise, I wanted to say yes.’

Rion tensed, his long fingers digging into her waist as his other hand moved to cup her chin. ‘You did? Then why …?’ There was confusion in the dark eyes that held hers, and something else that made her heart leap in her breast.

Selina took a deep breath. ‘Remember the night I left your bed and told you the next day it was because I had almost fallen out? Well, it wasn’t true. That was the night I realised I had fallen in love with you again. I also realised with our shared past it was hopeless. I saw no point in prolonging the trip for a few more days because that was all it could ever be. Plus I was frightened I’d let slip what Bratchet was really like, and I didn’t trust you not to tell him. Stupid, really. I ended up telling you anyway.’

‘You said you loved me?’ Rion stared fixedly at her and she was struck dumb at the emotion she saw in his eyes. ‘You humble me,’ he rasped. ‘I know I can’t expect you to still love me after the way I have behaved, and I can’t blame you for not trusting me—I have done precious little to earn your trust. But I swear if you will give me another chance and marry me I will spend every day for the rest of my life trying to win your love and trust.’ He kissed her lightly, almost reverently, on the lips, taking a step back to set her free.

Selina stood in the middle of the bedroom, emotion at his words blocking her throat. She swallowed hard and searched his face for the truth. The rigidity of his features was betrayed by a muscle pulsing under the tanned skin. Her golden eyes met his and she saw his heart in his eyes, the mask of arrogance stripped away to reveal the vulnerable man beneath. She believed him, and yet she was still nervous.

‘Are you really sure about this … us …?’

‘I was never more certain of anything in my life. And if you still don’t believe me—tough.’ The vulnerable penitent gone, he reached for her and swung her up in his arms and onto the bed, pinned her beneath him. ‘I will have to convince you—in my defence, I love you.’

‘Wait …’ But he bent his dark head and took her mouth with a hard, hungry kiss that sent liquid fire flowing through her veins, and Selina wrapped her arms around him and gave in to the inevitable magic of his touch.

‘I worship you, Selina,’ he groaned staring down into her wide, gleaming gold eyes. ‘Everything that you are—funny, caring, compassionate, with a heart like a lion, beautiful inside and out. My life is meaningless without you,’ he told her throatily, his mouth grazing hers again.

Between kisses and caresses he stripped off their clothes, and with his great body half covering her they kissed—a slow, deep kiss full of promises of love and passion that made Selina’s heart tremble. Lost in the wonder of his love, with eager hands she caressed his powerful body, her eyes closing in ecstasy as Rion worshipped every inch of her with hands and mouth and husky words of love, until finally they were one in every way—heart, body and soul.

Selina stirred happily in the protective curve of Rion’s arm and glanced around. Pulling herself up on one elbow, she looked down at him.

‘Do you really own this hotel or did you just say that to shut me up?’ she asked with a grin, stroking her hand across his broad chest.

Rion groaned and caught her hand in his. ‘Yes, I’d never lie to you. I own quite a few properties in the centres of major cities—they are a good investment.’

She hid a smile. The tycoon was talking. Then she remembered. ‘You told me that before. I should thank you for keeping quiet,’ she said seriously. ‘Bratchet did go back to Cambodia, and he was arrested, but he couldn’t bribe his way out of it this time and his trial is in a few months’ time in America.’

‘That’s great.’ Rion’s eyes hardened for an instant. He already knew. By contacting the right, if not the most law-abiding, people he had made sure of it. Where bribery was concerned there was always a higher bidder. It was not something he ever did, but with Bratchet he had made an exception. But with Selina, the woman he loved, sprawled naked over his chest he wasn’t about to tell her and spoil the moment. ‘I dropped out of the deal when you dropped out of my life.’

And, wrapping a hand around the back of her head, he kissed her and showed her all over again how much he loved her.

A long time later she opened her eyes to see Rion staring down at her, a wary expression on his handsome face. ‘What?’ she asked languorously.

‘You have not said yes, you will marry me.’

Selina burst out laughing. ‘I don’t think you ever asked. You simply told me.’

‘So will you marry me—again?’

‘Yes.’

He kissed her brow, a decidedly smug smile on his face, and smoothed back the tangled mass of hair from her face.

‘But I am thinking I don’t want to get married—’

‘What?’ Rion exclaimed.

‘Let me finish.’ She grinned. ‘I was going to say in Greece —because I had no luck last time. I would like it to be just the two of us at a registry office in England.’

‘Fine.’ Rion heaved a deep breath, his moment of panic over. ‘I will arrange it as soon as we get back—and this time will be different, I promise. No more working sixteen-hour days.’

Suddenly Selina wasn’t so sure she was doing the right thing. It had all happened so fast. And Rion had swept her off her feet once before.

‘I’ll believe that when I see it—and what about the other women?’ she blurted, memories of the past coming back to haunt her.

Rion’s mouth tightened. He was not accustomed to explaining his behaviour to anyone, but he realised if he had talked or listened to Selina in the beginning he would never have lost her, and if he wanted to win Selina’s trust again he had to be one-hundred-percent honest with her.

‘From the moment I set eyes on you I never looked at another woman until long after the divorce.’

‘I find that hard to believe. The night we met, you didn’t have a conference call—you had a date with a woman called Chloe. Iris showed me the picture. Though I’m surprised Chloe only gave you four out of ten for performance,’ she couldn’t help teasing.