Modern Romance November 2019 Books 5-8. Dani Collins

out. But, fortunately for you, your father is no longer in the picture. For one thing he can’t prove that you’ve been an absentee wife—unless you apprised him of your intentions?’

      ‘No, I didn’t,’ she muttered, her eyes not quite meeting mine.

      I’d long suspected that while she might have avoided contact with her father, her mother was a different story. But Iona Petras had remained resolutely closed-lipped about the whereabouts of her daughter.

      ‘Good—then the ball, as they say, is in my court.’

      She met my gaze boldly, read my clear intent and gasped. ‘You mean you have the power to give me a divorce but…?’ Her voice dried up, a telling little shiver racing through her body.

      ‘But I won’t, sweet Calypso. Not until a few things are set straight.’

      ‘What things?’

      ‘For starters, my PR company didn’t make all the problems go away. While I frustrated the news media enough to make them chase other headlines, my competitors and my business partners were another story. Your absence fuelled enough rumours about instability to stall my latest deal.’

      A peculiar expression that resembled hurt crossed her face. ‘So this is about stocks and shares again?’

      The disparaging note in her voice grated. ‘Why? Did you want it to be something more?’

      She stiffened. ‘No.’

      Her firm, swift denial rankled, but again I dismissed it. ‘There will be no divorce. Not until I’m completely satisfied that there will be no permanent fall-out from your actions. And not until we’ve thoroughly discussed the impact this will have on Andreos.’

      She stiffened. ‘Does it occur to you that I might be doing this for him? That this arrangement might not be the best environment for him?’

      ‘Then we will strive to make it so. You’ll get your divorce, if you wish it. It could be as early as a month from now or it could be the year you were supposed to give me. In that time, wherever I go, you and my son will go also. He will be your priority. But when called upon you will be at my side at public functions and you will play the role of a devoted wife. And you will do all of that without the smallest hint that there’s dissent between us.’

      Her sweet, stubborn chin lifted in a clear defiance. ‘And if I don’t? What’s to stop me giving the newspapers what they want? Telling them the true state of this so-called marriage?’

      Why did her rebellion fire me up so readily? In truth, very few people got to display such attitude towards me. Neo tried me at the best of times, but even he knew when to back down. The rest of my family fell in line, because ultimately I held the purse strings.

      But it seemed my errant wife’s fiery spirit turned me on. Made me want to burn in the fire of it.

      I caught her chin in my hand, my thumb moving almost of its own volition to slide over the dark rose swell of her lower lip. She shivered, this time unable to disguise her arousal. I intensified the caress, a little too eager to see how far she was truly affected. Blue eyes held mine for another handful of seconds before they dropped. But her breathing grew more erratic, her pulse hammering against the silken skin of her throat.

      I held still, my groin rudely awakening as the little eddy of lust whipped faster, threatened to turn into a cyclone.

      ‘You really wish to defy me? You think that now you and your family have received what they want they can simply sit back and enjoy the spoils of their ill-gotten gains? Do you think that I will let you get away with it?’

      She glared blue fire at me. ‘I won’t be ordered about, Axios. I won’t be dictated to like one of your minions!’

      ‘I would never mistake you for a minion. But a little hellcat, intent on sinking her claws into me? Definitely.’

      For a charged moment she returned my stare. Then her gaze dropped to my lips.

      A sort of madness took over. A breathless second later our lips met in a fiery clash, the hot little gasp she gave granting me access to the sharp tongue that seemed intent on creating havoc with my mood and my libido.

      Caught in the grip of hunger, I slicked my tongue against hers, took hold of one hip to hold her in place. She attempted to smother her moan, attempted not to squirm with the arousal I could already sense. I needed more. Needed confirmation of…something. Something that bore a hint of the torrid dreams that had plagued me almost nightly for a solid year. Something to take away the disarming hollowness that had resided in me since I’d got the call in New York that my wife had fled Agistros.

      My teeth grazed the tip of her tongue when it attempted to issue a challenge. This time she couldn’t hold back her moan. Couldn’t stop herself from straining against me, from gasping her need.

      And when she did I took. Savoured. Then devoured.

      Her moans fuelled my desire, and the scramble of her hands over my chest, then around to my back facilitated the urgent need to lay her on the sofa so I could slide over her, to once again experience the heady sensation of having Calypso beneath me.

      Her nails dug in deeper as I lowered myself over her, felt the heavy swell of her breasts press again my chest. The recollection that she’d borne my child, that she still nurtured him, was a powerful aphrodisiac that charged through me and hardened me in the most profoundly carnal way.

      Could I get any more primitive?

      Yes, my senses screamed.

      The deepening urge to claim and keep what was mine thundered harder through me, drawing me away from the naked temptation of her lips to the seductive smoothness of her throat, her vibrant pulse, the exquisite valley between her breasts.

      It took but a moment to slide the thin sleeve of her sundress off her shoulder, to release the front clasp and nudge aside the cup of her bra to bare her delicious flesh to my ravenous gaze. To mould the plump mound in anticipation of drawing that stiff, rosy peak into my mouth.

      Beneath me, Calypso’s breath caught. Her eyes turned a dark blue with the same fiery lust that was causing carnage within me, then snapped to mine and stayed there.

      Slowly, with an ultra-feminine arching of her back that held me deeply enthralled, she offered herself to me, somehow turning the tables on me. Because for all that this was supposed to be a punitive lesson, a way to remind her who held the power now, after her actions had swung the tide to my advantage, I was caught in a vortex of desire so voracious I couldn’t have stopped even if I’d wanted to.

      So I lowered my head and with a powerless groan sucked the bud into my mouth.

      Savage hunger exploded inside me, all my senses lost as her fingers locked in my hair and held me to my delightful task.

      ‘Oh… Theos mou,’ she gasped.

      The memory of our one night together, of her unreserved responsiveness and the unique way she’d expressed her pleasure, sharpened my hunger, sparking a desire to relive that experience. I slid one hand beneath her body, urged her even closer. She answered by arching higher, offering more of herself to me.

      ‘Tell me what you’re feeling,’ I urged thickly, aware that my voice was hoarse, barely intelligible.

      She froze, the eyes that had rolled shut mere seconds ago flying open.

      Watching her, I lazily caught that peak between my teeth, felt a carnal shudder unravel through her. ‘You taste exquisite.’

      Arousal and denial warred in her face, and then her fingers flew from my hair as small but effective hands pushed at my shoulders. ‘No! Stop!’

      For a moment I considered a different tactic. Negotiation. Talking her round to my way of thinking. Satisfying this need that dogged us both. But hadn’t my family and I given the Petrases enough in this lifetime? This was supposed to be the time to extract my pound of flesh after what they’d done to