The Greek’s Chosen Wife

his summer home in the Tuscan hills.

Prudence studied her reflection in the mirror. The generous swell of her bosom seemed to rise above the snugly fitting bodice and she grimaced. The dress was tighter than it had been a few weeks earlier. Was it the birth-control pills she was taking? she wondered ruefully. Her breasts had been rather sensitive of late as well. Could she be suffering from fluid retention? Or was she just refusing to face the obvious? Was she simply putting on weight as a result of the twin sins of sloth and overeating? Nik had had baklava flown in for her from Greece, and eating the honey-drenched pastries, thick with nuts, was not the road to take to being slim, Prudence conceded guiltily.

She tried on several other outfits. She was dismayed to register that virtually everything in a dressier mode was too tight for comfort at the bust. The mound of discards on the bed grew and her frustration increased because it was far too hot to be fussing over what she wore. With a sigh she put the sun dress back on, for it was comparatively loose and looked better on her than anything else had.

She walked out onto the sun-drenched terrace. ‘I’m getting fat,’ she told Nik morosely.

Sleek, dark and spectacular in a white shirt and beautifully cut chinos, Nik extended a lean brown hand and drew her to him. ‘Don’t stop eating,’ he urged huskily. ‘From this vantage point, I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven. More can only mean sexier.’

Registering that his shamelessly intent gaze was welded to the creamy prominence of her overly abundant bosom, she shot him a look of incredulity. ‘Nik!’

‘I can’t help it,’ Nik confessed with an earthy grin of appreciation that made her heart lurch, ‘I love your body. It’s wonderfully voluptuous.’

That fatal word made Prudence think of a woman of generous proportions in a Rubens painting, but she said nothing. If there was anything she had learned, it was that Nik genuinely could not keep his hands off her and that had done wonders for her self-esteem. Whenever a dangerous little voice in her subconscious tried to suggest that Nik’s over-active libido might explain her apparent irresistibility she refused to listen. She was determined to maintain a positive attitude. She decided that when she went home, however, she would quietly embark on a diet that would take her back down to her usual size again.

Nik curved his arms round her and pulled her back into the shelter of his big, powerful frame. Smiling, she rested back against him. The terrace had a fabulous view of the rolling hills. Dense woods of oak, cedar and black cypress gave way to lush green lines of fruitful vines and billowing fields of golden corn. The sky was a deep sapphire blue. Mellow terra-cotta roofs topped the ancient stone buildings that clung to a distant hilltop in the hauntingly lovely landscape.

‘Close your eyes,’ Nik instructed her huskily.

The sun was a warm caress on her face and another smile curved her generous mouth as he lifted her hand.

‘You can look now,’ he told her.

Feeling his tension, she gazed down in lively surprise at the ring that now adorned her wedding finger, and the diamond so dazzling it made her blink.

‘It’s an engagement ring…a proper one.’

‘Oh…’ Her throat convulsed, her eyes misted over. Once she had been a dreaming teenager who made a naive romantic statement out of the prosaic presentation of a family ring and lived to learn her mistake. For that reason the significance of Nik’s gift of a ring touched her to the heart, for it had been chosen especially for her and it was being given with sincerity.

‘I had it engraved with our names…and the date our marriage was blessed,’ Nik imparted.

‘It’s amazing…’

‘Let it mark our new beginning.’

She gazed up at his lean, dark, angular face, as always arrestingly aware of the strong, classic planes and hollows of his fabulous bone structure. He was so incredibly handsome but even while she fought the breathless sensation he always induced she felt moved to say gently, ‘You can’t rewrite the past-’

‘But we don’t need to go there,’ Nik incised in the same authoritative tone that he might have employed to teach a stubborn child a safety lesson. ‘You’re my wife now in every sense of the word, thespinis mou.’

Her tummy muscles tightened at the mere vibration of his rich, dark drawl and his words released a shocking tide of intimate memory. In every sense, she conceded, her mouth running dry as she acknowledged the extent of his power over her. Hot-blooded, passionate and unashamedly masculine as he was, Nik had broken down her every barrier and taught her to crave him like a drug. And in his strength was a hard core of bone-deep arrogance and obstinacy. Even as his intense charisma held her fast, she knew that he believed that he could rewrite history.

His brilliant gaze fully trained on her, Nik scored a provocative fingertip gently across her lush pink lower lip. ‘And you’re happy, aren’t you?’

‘Yes…’ The sensual spell he cast made her downright dizzy with longing.

‘The past…what came before doesn’t count now, thespinis mou,’ Nik drawled with immense satisfaction.

Her mobile phone buzzed and she tore her gaze from his to dig into her bag. It was Leo. ‘I’ve got the job…I’ve finally got a permanent job instead of a temporary contract!’

Prudence grinned. ‘Congratulations. I told you that you could do it. When will you be starting at the new school?’

‘Next month. When are you coming home?’

‘Tomorrow.’

‘I’m going to ask Stella to help me find somewhere to live in London.’

‘That’s a good idea.’

‘I’ll be able to see a lot more of Stella and the kids when I move to the city,’ Leo pronounced with satisfaction.

Prudence almost suggested that he try to find out how Stella would feel about that before he made assumptions, but decided that it would be wiser to mind her own business. Tucking her phone back in her bag, Prudence noticed that Nik’s dark gaze was resting on her. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘We’re running late for lunch at the Donnington’s.’

‘Oh, dear, my fault…I took ages getting dressed!’

‘No problem,’ Nik murmured in his dark, silken drawl. ‘Where’s Leo’s new school?’

‘London.’

Nik resisted the urge to comment on how convenient London was for Oakmere Abbey. After all, he knew that Leo was just a friend, a rather needy character, who discussed his every move in life with Prudence. Nik had decided that Leo was a wimp, whom his wife mothered. A baby would knock Leo’s current appeal stone dead, Nik thought cheerfully. Often the best solutions were the most basic and simple to execute…

CHAPTER SEVEN

A LINE OF very expensive vehicles lined the imposing approach to Robert Donnington’s palatial villa outside Florence.

‘I thought this was a casual lunch for just a few people,’ Prudence commented in dismay, horribly conscious that her sun dress could never hope to compete with the apparel of the guests who owned such cars. But she said nothing about the latter; it was hardly Nik’s fault that she had taken the word ‘casual’ too literally.

‘That is how the invitation was presented. But Robert’s daughter, Chantal, likes to party,’ Nik countered with a preoccupied air.

For an inescapable moment, Nik was thinking of the reality that Theo Demakis was currently lining up the big financial guns in an effort to bring him down. Theo had no idea that the marriage he had fostered had finally blossomed. Indeed, Nik had gone to great lengths to keep the fact a secret, because he was determined to keep Theo’s malign influence out of their lives. Even so, Nik was uneasily aware that he should have cut short their