Australia: Gorgeous Grooms. Trish Morey

ruthlessness to elevate him sharing equal prestige with some of the world’s known financial peers.

      Qualities that offered a different perspective to the man who’d taken on the husband role … in a business arrangement that, for her, was becoming increasingly personal with every passing day.

      Night, she corrected. For she couldn’t deny she found comfort as he held her through the night. To stir in sleep, and have him reach for her. The feel of his lips against the soft-beating pulse at the base of her throat. Just knowing he was there.

      And the sex … more, so much more than she’d ever dreamed possible. Wondrous, exciting, magical.

      But that’s all it is, she reminded herself. Good sex is just … good sex, and not to be confused with a deeper emotion.

      So … enjoy the ride and don’t question the motives?

      Fine, if you could separate the prosaic from the illusion.

      After all, what was she to him other than a partner in every legal sense?

      It was late afternoon when the Lear jet touched down in Athens, and they emerged to balmy sunshine, passed through Customs to be met by Loukas’ driver, Cristos, who transported them via limousine to suburban Kifissia where luxury homes surrounded by trees and beautiful gardens exuded wealth.

      Alesha’s eyes widened slightly as the limousine turned into a gated entrance and eased to a halt outside the entrance to a double-storeyed palatial mansion.

      ‘My home base,’ Loukas informed her as he led her into a large marble-tiled foyer where a middle-aged housekeeper, whom he introduced as Hera, greeted them. Cristos followed with their luggage.

      ‘It’s beautiful,’ she complimented simply. Elegant, she added silently as he led her upstairs to their bedroom suite. Rich furnishings, solid furniture, imposing mirrors and artwork adorning the walls.

      A very large home for one man, she perceived, although fitting given he headed the Andreou consortiums and doubtless entertained … business associates, as well intimate dinners à deux with women.

      Had any of his former mistresses shared his home?

      And what if they had? His past was his own.

      He’d vowed fidelity … the question had to be whether he intended to abide by it.

      Emotional introspection following a long international flight, comfortable though it had been, did not make for a good mix.

      What she needed was a leisurely shower, a change of clothes, dinner and a good night’s sleep … in that order.

      The spacious bedroom suite held one bed, albeit king-size, two walk-in robes with adjoining dressing rooms, two en suites.

      Alesha opened her bag, extracted fresh underwear, tailored trousers and a knit top, then she entered the en suite Loukas indicated as her own, ignored the temptation to linger overlong, and chose to sweep her hair into a careless knot atop her head, vetoed make-up with the exception of lip gloss and emerged some ten minutes later to discover Loukas in the process of pulling on a cotton shirt over chinos.

      Heeled sandals lent her height and aided confidence, she added silently as she slid them on.

      Hera had prepared a delicately flavoured moussaka, a greek salad, with fresh fruit to follow, and Alesha declined coffee in favour of tea, lingered over it and endeavoured to fend off an increasing weariness while experiencing envy of Loukas’ apparent vitality.

      How did he do that?

      ‘Why don’t you go up to bed? I have a few calls to make before I call it a night.’

      It was all too easy to acquiesce, and she cast him a musing smile as she rose to her feet. ‘Goodnight.’

      ‘Sleep well.’

      She did, almost as soon as her head touched the pillow, and she was unaware of Loukas’ presence as he slid in beside her, or that he curved her in close against him.

      Alesha murmured indistinctly as she slid into the dream, subconsciously aware the sound moved to a purr of pleasure as lips nuzzled the sensitive curve between her neck and her shoulder. Mmm, nice.

      So, too, was the gentle drift of fingers over the delicate slope of her breast, and her mouth relaxed into a winsome smile as the tender peak hardened beneath their touch.

      She shifted a little, unconsciously arching her body as the hand slid to her waist, explored the diamond pin at her navel, before tracing a pattern over her stomach.

      A husky sigh emerged from her throat as a mouth fastened over one breast and gently suckled, sending sensation spearing through her body, and she groaned softly in the need to beg for more … only to give a satisfied moan of pleasure as deft fingers slid to the apex between her thighs and found her throbbing clitoris.

      If this was a dream, she didn’t want it to end, for the pleasure was so acutely intense it almost transcended into reality.

      Afterwards she couldn’t pinpoint precisely when she became aware of emerging consciousness … only that she did, and she reached for him.

      ‘At last you wake, agape mou,’ Loukas murmured with a husky chuckle.

      ‘Uh-huh.’ She captured his head and framed it as she sought his mouth with her own in a piercingly sweet kiss that touched him more deeply than he thought possible.

      It unleashed a primitive hunger he fought to control as he shaped her body and entered her in one unrestrained thrust, absorbing her startled cry as her vaginal muscles gripped his hardened length.

      For several seemingly long seconds he remained still, gentling his mouth into an erotic supplication, then he began to move, slowly at first as he took her with him, her increasing urgency matching his own as they became consumed by electrifying passion.

      Incandescent, primal … she cried out with the force of it, and held onto him, almost afraid to let go in case she shattered into a thousand pieces.

      It was almost as if her whole body vibrated with the aftershock of sensation that was more than just sex.

      Dear heaven, she couldn’t even find the words to describe how she felt as she buried her mouth in the curve of his neck.

      She was barely aware of the soothing brush of his hand along her spine, or the touch of his fingers working a tactile massage at her nape.

      There was no sense of the passage of time … just the slowing of her ragged breathing as she became consumed by a sense of dreamy peace. Too emotionally spent to do more than close her eyes and drift easily to sleep.

      Loukas slid from the bed as the dawn lightened the sky, then showered; freshly shaven, he dressed in business attire and crossed to the bed and stood looking at his wife’s softened features.

      She slept curled to one side, a hand tucked beneath her cheek … rested, replete, her generous mouth slightly parted in the semblance of a smile.

      He felt his body stir, and he banked down the urge to take her mouth with his own.

      Except it wouldn’t stop there, and regrettably there wasn’t time. Cristos waited in the limousine to drive him into the city where he’d connect with Constantine, field a call from his mother, and attempt to vet the social activities Angelina had undoubtedly planned during his short visit.

      Beginning with this evening’s family dinner held in his parents’ home.

      Would Alesha recall he’d informed her of the invitation as she rested in his arms through the early morning hours?

      Possibly not. Rather than wake her, he’d leave a message with Hera, call between meetings, and issue Cristos with instructions to accompany her wherever she wanted to go.

      Alesha woke late, discovered she was alone, and gave a startled yelp as she checked the time.

      Nine? Half the morning gone … and where was Loukas?