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Non-negotiable. Like their agreement.
Of course. His concern wasn’t over her, but the possible child she might be carrying. The whole reason she was here in the first place.
‘I didn’t mean to jeopardise my position as your brood mare,’ she threw out, anguish tinging her voice with acid. ‘But I won’t be wrapped in cotton wool, so you’re going to have to accept that.’
He stiffened, but that flare of emotion in his eyes lingered, making her wonder if she’d read him wrong.
‘Strike a balance between those two extremes and we won’t need to have this conversation again,’ he said. ‘That includes taking out a supercar you can barely drive around an island with sharp bends and dangerous cliffs. Is that clear?’
It was maddeningly reasonable. She didn’t agree immediately, because she wanted to keep fighting. She was still looking for a sign that he saw her as more than just the incubator contracted to carry his children.
‘Odessa...?’
‘Yes, Ares. We’re clear.’ She rushed to her feet. ‘Can I go for a swim now? Or is that too dangerous, too?’
His expression relaxed, his hard edges easing a touch. ‘Not at all. I’ll join you. You taking risks on the road wasn’t exactly the welcome home I was hoping for. We can both do with cooling off.’
Half thinking he would insist on his baby-making rights once they were upstairs, Odessa was oddly disappointed when he strode off to his side of their suite without looking back.
They arrived at the pool to find they weren’t the only ones with cooling off in mind. Sergios was reclining on one of the loungers, peering over his bifocals at a car magazine. He set it aside when they approached, a smile breaking out when his gaze rested on her.
He said something to his son in Greek.
Ares glanced at her, amusement teasing at the corners of his mouth as he responded. Sergios laughed, then replied with something that made Ares’s gaze probe deeper.
Odessa headed for the lounger next to Sergios, trying not to watch Ares from the corner of her eye as he tugged off the white torso-hugging T-shirt he’d changed into.
‘You do know it’s rude to speak a language someone in your company doesn’t understand, right?’
Ares’s smile stretched in genuine humour. It was beautiful and devastating to witness, robbing her of breath.
‘That should be an incentive for you to learn my language quickly.’
She attempted a frown, to conceal the whirlpool of high emotions eddying through her. ‘What did you two say?’
‘My father said that the Greek sun agrees with you. I concurred and said you looked beautiful.’ He paused, his eyes raking her face as her colour rose. ‘And you grow even more enchanting when you blush,’ he added, his humour lessening as heat and another emotion she couldn’t quite fathom replaced it.
She reached for her sunscreen, just for something to do instead of gaping at him, and wondered at this dichotomy of hot and cold that set her senses spinning.
But was it hot and cold? Or hot and raw? Hot and savage? Hot and cynical? Hot and protective of his father and the baby she might be carrying? Was he staging a clever game, with the ultimate aim of ensuring he got the best of both worlds?
The uncertainty that had dogged her since she’d arrived, and was building with each day, threatened to smother her. She wasn’t even aware that the bottle was slipping from her hand until Ares jack-knifed up, catching it before it fell to the floor.
Eyeing her with frowning concern, he swung his legs to the ground, poured a glass of refreshing juice and held it out to her. ‘Hydrate,’ he said.
She took the glass and drank—again just for something to do while her brain spun like a leaf in a tornado. When she couldn’t settle her roiling emotions she stood, then threw off the thigh-length beach kimono that matched her caramel and gold bikini.
Stingingly aware of Ares’s eyes raking over her every curve, she strolled to the edge of the pool and dived in, hating herself a little for enjoying how much she liked his eyes on her. How much she’d missed his presence in the two long days he’d been away. How eagerly she anticipated—with arousal pounding within her—the thought of sharing his bed again tonight.
She had no idea whether she was pregnant or not. Her period wasn’t due for another few days. A simple pregnancy test while he was away might have solved the unknown, but she’d been reluctant to set the ball rolling.
Because she feared a positive result would mean the end of her presence in his bed?
Her heart lurched as the answer screamed in her head. Surfacing, she gasped in air—then jumped when firm hands closed on her waist.
‘I was concerned you would stay under for ever. Or you had turned into a mermaid,’ Ares drawled.
She turned, then lost her breath all over again when the very sight of him, with drops of water glinting off his bronzed perfection, destroyed her breathing.
