The Greek’s Chosen Wife

‘What sort of plans?’

‘I want to…’ she hesitated and then pressed doggedly on, ‘…I want to have a baby.’

The tall, dark Greek went as still as a statue. ‘With whom?’

‘By myself. It’s not that unusual…I’ll go to a sperm bank,’ Prudence explained in a small, reluctant voice. ‘And yes, I have thought very deeply about this.’

For a count of thirty seconds Nik stared at her with brooding force, his golden eyes burning hot as the heart of a fire. ‘Over my dead body…and I mean that literally. That has to be the most disgusting idea that I’ve ever heard and I don’t want to hear it again. It’s freaky-’

‘It is not freaky…There’s nothing wrong with me wanting a child! It’s the most normal thing in the world. I’m twenty-seven-’

‘So? You can have one the normal way…but not that way.’ Pale beneath his bronzed skin, his fabulous, sculpted bone structure prominent, Nik could not restrain a shudder. ‘I suppose I could agree to a baby as well. Anything has to be better than a divorce and impregnation of my wife by a test-tube.’

Rigid with mortification and anger at his scornful and dismissive reaction, and outraged at his offer of that grudging concession on the child front, Prudence said tightly, ‘I think you should leave-’

‘Pudding-’

‘I used to think there was something cute about you calling me that…I’ve changed my mind.’

In a sudden movement that caught her unawares, Nik reached for her hands. ‘No, I’m not leaving. I can’t let this happen. This is not how we are together.’

Her throat thickened and closed over. She nodded in vigorous agreement, not trusting herself to speak.

‘This is not how it was meant to be between us,’ Nik intoned, almost crushing the life from her fingers.

Moisture shone in her eyes and slid down her cheeks. Nik groaned out loud. ‘Don’t…’

She gulped. ‘I’m sorry…go!’

‘No…’ Nik lowered his handsome dark head to kiss the tear from her smooth cheek. She had the scent of a peach: warm and ripe and ready to eat. For a fraction of a second he hesitated and then, recognising his moment, he went for it with all the ruthless, single-minded purpose which his business competitors feared.

Astonishment shrilled through Prudence when Nik captured her lips with a hungry urgency that rocked her down to her toes. Bemused, she began to pull away but he wound her hair round his fingers, tipped her head back and traced a path across her face with kisses as light and tantalising as butterflies. She liked it. Without meaning to, she shut her eyes and let her head fall back, extending her throat. He took instant advantage of that new expanse of territory. His mouth probed a tender spot below her ear and her pulses all leapt in concert. She gasped and shivered violently, her legs suddenly behaving like bendy twigs.

‘Still want me to leave?’ Nik asked soft and low.

In answer, Prudence gripped the lapels of his suit jacket and stretched up, wanting his mouth on hers again so badly she could taste it. He kissed her with a slow, sensual thoroughness that turned her bones to liquid and yet still filled her with screaming impatience. Her hands swept up over his shoulders, rejoicing in the strength of his powerful frame while her fingertips flirted with the luxuriant black hair brushing his shirt collar. She shifted against him and he caught her to him with a sensual growl low in his throat, his hands splaying across the curve of her hips to press her into energising contact with his bold arousal.

Her initial shock was followed by a giddy mixture of shy satisfaction and sudden triumph: Nik wanted her. Nik could find her attractive and worthy of desire. No man could fake his physical response to a woman. That knowledge filled her with a highly feminine sense of joyful achievement. He hoisted her up into his arms with a brute strength that thrilled her to the marrow. ‘You make me very hot,’ he whispered thickly, letting the tip of his tongue slide between her lips in a single lancing foray that set her every nerve-ending on fire.

Nik carried her into the bedroom and sank down on the bed with her. His lean, bronzed profile intent, he tugged loose the tantalising strings that shaped the neckline of her dress and buried his mouth hungrily in the deep cleavage formed by her lace-edged bra. A stifled sob of pent-up response was wrenched from Prudence. A heavy pulse of need had started to pound in her pelvis. She leant back into the support of his arm, her fingers spearing into the ebony depths of his hair. He flipped loose the hooks holding the satin cups in place, letting her firm, full breasts spill free.

‘You are magnificent,’ Nik told her raggedly, surveying the pouting silken swells with reverent appreciation and capturing the hands that she instinctively raised to cover herself from him. ‘No, don’t you dare try to hide yourself.’

Embarrassment and gratification at his response made her acquiesce. He massaged the stiff, rosy crests that crowned the creamy mounds of her breasts and she ran out of breath all at once. All of a sudden every part of her was taut and deliciously sensitised. Lowering his proud dark head, he used his mouth on the distended buds. A helpless moan broke from her, for the coil of heat unfurling low in her tummy merely intensified the tormenting ache between her thighs.

‘Nik…’ she gasped, amazed by the surging tide of sensation engulfing her inexperienced body.

‘I know. I feel it, too.’ Springing upright, he laid her down on the bed. He peeled off his jacket and let it fall where he stood. Smouldering dark golden eyes fixed to her, he yanked loose his tie and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a muscular, bronzed wedge of chest ornamented with crispy black whorls of hair. ‘We should have done this a long, long time ago.’

Her soft blue gaze was veiled, frantic thoughts consuming her and momentarily pulling her in opposing directions. What on earth was she doing? How could she have let things go so far? But she knew why. Her mind was as clear as a pane of glass on the fact that she wanted him. After all, she had wanted him for what felt like half a lifetime even though she knew it was senseless. She doubted that any other man would ever make her feel as he did. So why should she not finally go to bed with her own husband? Why should she not find out what sex was like before they divorced? She could live out a little harmless fantasy, a little voice whispered seductively in the back of her mind. It would be a risk-free venture that would cost her nothing but a little pride.

‘Prudence…’ Nik murmured huskily, saying it like a guy getting into practice, his Greek accent scissoring carefully round the syllables. ‘Don’t look so worried, pethi mou. There isn’t a problem in the world I can’t sort.’

He leant over her and drove her lips apart in an explosive kiss. It was as if a ball of energy had ignited inside her. Her heart thumped like crazy and she quivered as the sweet flood-tide of desire flared, making her achingly aware of every inch of her body. When he shaped her breasts she arched her spine to press the excruciatingly tender, rosy peaks into his palms. He laved the tortured tips with his tongue and she moaned with impassioned abandon while he proceeded with all the skill in his repertoire to dispose of her remaining garments without her noticing.

When he traced the delicate softness below the nest of curls at the apex of her thighs she trembled, mortified by the moist heat at the heart of her receptive body. The fierce surge of excitement that followed shattered her expectations. Suddenly, thought was no longer possible and she was writhing, her hips shifting on the bed as he tantalised the most sensitive spot of all with expert fingers and explored the slick wet heat of her.

‘Will I be the first?’ Nik husked, coiling back from her to strip off his trousers.

With difficulty she focused on him and she was shaken by her desire to tell him that no, he would not be, even if it would be the most awful lie.

As the silence lengthened, tension screamed through Nik’s big, powerful frame: had she been with someone else?

Her gaze locked to his lean darkly handsome face and her heartbeat raced. She discovered she could not lie to him on that score. ‘Yes…’

Raw relief drenched Nik in a rush of gratitude to the fates. Clad only in his shorts, he came back to her to curve long brown fingers to her cheekbone with an almost clumsy tenderness that was unfamiliar to her. ‘I had no right to expect or even to hope…but that you are a virgin will mean a great deal to me,’ he swore, speaking half in English, half in Greek.

‘Will it?’ She shut her eyes tight because they were prickling with tears.

‘Of course…you are my bride and you will know no other man,’ Nik rasped half under his breath.

As he eased back from her to finish undressing, Prudence did not let her attention stray from him for a second. Her breathing grew quick and shallow. From the steely contours of his shoulders to his long, powerful, hair- roughened thighs he looked spectacular. He had the broad, muscular chest, the sleek, iron-hard torso and the lean