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Maribel stared at him in horror. ‘D-devastated?’
‘And then very angry with you because you’d walked out on me. I took it as a rejection and I wouldn’t let myself think about it because it hurt…’ That last word cost him such an effort to get out that it was almost whispered.
Tears were trickling down Maribel’s cheeks. ‘Oh, Leonidas…’
He removed the champagne glass from her fingers and set it aside so that he could pull her close and comfort her with a tenderness that made her cling to him for a few minutes. ‘Of course, I went to the memorial service looking for you without even admitting that to myself. And then when I did, telling myself that it was only because we’d had great sex.’
Maribel sniffed and stole a hanky off him. ‘If only I hadn’t had that accident,’ she sighed.
‘But we’re together now and I will never let you go.’ He admitted how nervous he had been on their wedding day over the bad publicity concerning the stag cruise. Maribel, who had thought he didn’t have nerves, was entranced by the idea that she had that much influence over him. When he confided that they had ended up on Zelos, rather than in Italy, because he had been afraid that she might try to leave him she broke down into helpless giggles.
Leonidas slid lean fingers into her chestnut hair and tipped her head back to scan her with steady dark golden eyes of appreciation. ‘I know, it’s hilarious. Loving you does fill my head with freaky thoughts and fears.’
Maribel stopped laughing. ‘Loving me?’ she parroted.
‘I really, really do love you,’ Leonidas declared huskily.
Maribel gazed up at him in wonderment.
‘I fought it hard. But there was no escaping it,’ Leonidas said ruefully. ‘You put me through an emotional wringer—telling me what a lousy father I would be and how irresponsible I was. That was a massive shock to my system and a challenge. I went haywire for a few weeks. Why do you think I engineered that story in the newspaper to expose our relationship? I was seriously jealous of your boyfriend.’
‘Sloan? You were jealous? We only had one date.’ But Maribel was thrilled that he had been roused to jealousy, for it made her feel wonderfully like a femme fatale. ‘You truly love me?’
‘Didn’t I marry you without demanding DNA tests for Elias? Or the safety net of a pre-nup? Didn’t you appreciate how much I had to trust and value you to do that?’ Leonidas gave her an appreciative appraisal, his dark eyes rich and mellow as honey. ‘And why do you think I let you blackmail me into marrying you?’
‘To get me back in bed?’
‘There is that angle,’ Leonidas was honest enough to acknowledge, a wolfish grin curving his handsome mouth. ‘But it is what I wanted too, so I let myself be blackmailed. I would have got around to asking you eventually, but you got in first. That allowed me to save face.’
Maribel couldn’t stop smiling and only just remembered that she had something to say too. ‘I was lying when I said I got over you. I’ve been in love with you for so long, you’re like a fixture in my heart.’
Leonidas had tensed. ‘You lied? You mean—’
‘Now don’t take it so personally. A girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do sometimes and, after all that stuff you talked about our marriage being a business arrangement and demanding sex up front, you didn’t really deserve a confession of true love.’ Maribel eased caressing hands of distraction beneath his shirt. ‘But I do love you very very much.’
‘Is that the truth?’
Maribel was touched by his uncertainty. ‘Yes. I love you.’
‘Your penance for withholding that information is that you don’t get to eat. We’re going to bed, agape mou.’ Leonidas took her ripe lips in a single hungry kiss of heated intent that left her breathless and with weak knees. Then he peeled her off him again and closed a hand over hers to urge her back indoors. She had absolutely no quarrel with his plan of action.
A long time later, Maribel lying comfortably wrapped in his arms and hand-fed with appetising nibbles and sips of wine to conserve her strength, Leonidas confessed that he was sad that he had missed out on the whole experience of her being pregnant, not to mention the first months of their son’s life.
‘We could have another baby,’ Maribel conceded.
‘I’d like that, agape mou.’
‘But not just yet.’ Maribel ran a possessive hand over his lean muscular torso and buried her cheek there. ‘When I’m pregnant, I spend most of the time wanting to sleep.’
‘Not just yet,’ Leonidas agreed with a ragged edge to his dark drawl.
