Modern Romance August Books 1-4. Кейт Хьюит

      And Leo laughed and thought how shallow and empty his life had been before Grace and how much richer and more interesting it had become with her. As for Grace, she was much too busy getting Leo out of his shirt and admiring his muscular chest to think about anything.

      * * *

      Four years later, Grace stood on the deck of Hellenic Lady’s successor while her daughter Rosie played on deck with the family dog, a fluffy pug called Jonas. Grace was relaxed as she always was on such trips. She worked long hours as a doctor in the paediatrics department of a busy London hospital and cherished every day of her time off.

      ‘Daddy...Daddy!’ Grace spun round to watch her daughter throw herself boisterously at her father as he emerged from the main saloon.

      Leo looked amazing in swim shorts, his lean, powerful body well-honed by exercise, black hair blowing in the breeze. They had enjoyed an incredibly busy four years together. Raising Rosie without a team of nannies would have been impossible with the hours Grace had been working while she trained in various hospitals, but since then, having attained a more settled working day, she had had the time to become a more hands-on mum. Rosie had Grace’s red hair, Leo’s rich dark eyes and skin that didn’t burn in the sun the way her mother’s did. She was a lively, affectionate child, happily attending nursery school.

      Leo lowered his daughter to the deck and fought off the energetic advances of the dog. ‘We’ll be docking soon,’ he reminded her with a lazy grin, stunning eyes straying appreciatively over the lush curves Grace had showcased in a blue bikini.

      The heat of the Turkish sun was already beating down on Grace’s bare shoulders and she lifted a towel to drape it round her and cover her skin, which never took a tan. They were returning to Marmaris to celebrate her twenty-ninth birthday at the Fever nightclub where they had first met. Anatole and her father’s entire family were on board with them. She got on very well with her two adult half-brothers, who were students, and her little half-sister, who was still at school. From her stepmother, she had received the warm family acceptance that she had tried and failed to win from her uncle’s family.

      ‘I’ll go and get changed.’

      Leo banded an arm round her on the way down the stairs. ‘How much of a hurry are you in?’

      ‘It’ll take me more than an hour to do my hair and get ready.’

      Her husband dropped a kiss on the slope of her shoulder. ‘Do you have an hour for me?’

      Heat and anticipation shimmied through her. ‘I’ve always got time for you,’ she declared with an impish smile. ‘You’re a very demanding man.’

      ‘But you like that about me, agapi mou,’ Leo told her teasingly, closing the door of the master suite behind them.

      And Grace had to admit, she did like that about him. They were very well-matched in the bedroom department, she acknowledged as he claimed a lingering blatantly sexual kiss that made her body hum and her heart thump with awareness. Being married to Leo was never bland or boring. He was everything she had ever dreamt of in a husband and she was blissfully happy with him.

      ‘I was thinking...’ Leo purred, extracting her from her bikini with skill while pausing to worship her full breasts and the sleek curve of her hips. ‘Since we’re on holiday and you’re all mine night and day, do you think we should consider working on extending the family?’

      ‘Jonas would probably love some company.’

      Leo found the most ticklish spot on her entire body and punished her for that crack until she dissolved into laughter. ‘You know very well I wasn’t thinking of the dog!’

      ‘Well, maybe I don’t like you describing the conception of another child as work,’ Grace countered tartly.

      ‘Work I love, work I can never get enough of, you maddening woman,’ Leo groaned into the fall of her hair. ‘You know I’m crazy about you, don’t you?’

      Grace fingered the flawless diamond pendant at her throat, which he had given her for her birthday, and smiled. ‘The suspicion has crossed my mind once or twice.’

      ‘Rosie is like a mini you and I’d love another one.’

      ‘I’ll put my pills away,’ Grace murmured with amusement, linking her arms round his strong brown neck, appreciating his lean, darkly handsome features and his gorgeous eyes. ‘I love you, Leo.’

      ‘Nowhere near as much as I love you, agapi mou,’ Leo countered.

      ‘You’re always so competitive,’ she complained without great heat as she arched into the hard strength of his body and let her senses sing to the sensual magic of his demanding mouth.

      *****

      Read on for an extract from HIS SICILIAN CINDERELLA by Carol Marinelli.