Wrong-footed by that unexpected salutation, Prudence went pink and worried that he a.s.sumed her visit meant surrender to his terms.
"Would you like a tour of the building?" Nik enquired smoothly, for it was her very first visit to his offices in Greece.
Prudence tensed. "Perhaps later. I came here because I have something important to tell-"
His slumberous gaze wandered from the moist fullness of her lips to the luscious curve of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and back up again in an act of bold appreciation. "I like the dress-"
"Please let me say what I have to say," Prudence cut in a touch unsteadily, liquid heat pooling in her pelvis and making her press her thighs together. It shook her that he could awaken desire in her so easily with a certain look or the dark resonance of his husky voice.
With a graceful movement of one hand that signified a.s.sent to her wish to talk, Nik leant back against his gla.s.s desk and regarded her with an intimidating level of expectancy.
"I place a very high value on our marriage," Prudence told him stiffly.
"That"s good."
"So if you don"t come back to me-"
Nik shifted long, graceful fingers. "But I haven"t gone anywhere-"
"Don"t interrupt me. If you destroy our marriage I will allow Demakis International to destroy your company," Prudence completed tightly and she was holding herself so rigidly that her knees began wobbling.
Nik studied her in fulminating silence, dark eyes shorn of gold and gleaming, his big, powerful frame motionless and still apparently relaxed.
"You think I won"t do it but I will!" she swore shakily. "We were very happy together and money shouldn"t be allowed to come between us."
"I should have known what I was doing when I blackmailed a Demakis into making our marriage real. You learn fast, pethi mou."
Prudence sucked in a steadying gust of oxygen, her nerves leaping like jumping beans. She had done it. She had threatened him just as he had once threatened her with the loss of all she held dear. But she was appalled at herself, sick inside, ashamed.
Dry-mouthed, she said, "So what do you say?"
"Bring on the big guns."
Her cheeks flamed, her tummy flipping. "That"s not a serious response."
Nik continued to regard her levelly. "It is. Coercion doesn"t work with me. Do you think Theo didn"t try it?" Her throat felt very tight. "So you"re saying...no?"
"I"m saying no."
She could feel the colour draining from her face. Suddenly the solid ground beneath her feet was vanishing, for she had backed herself into a corner from where there was nowhere else to go. But she lifted her head high, tilted her chin and shrugged as if his response was a matter of near indifference to her. Turning on her heel, she began to walk away.
"But if you were to ask me to be with you of my own free will," Nik murmured almost roughly, "I think we could work something out very easily."
Eyes glinting with tears, Prudence froze in her tracks.
"I missed you last night," he added gruffly.
She gulped and drew in a long, slow, shaky breath before she spun back to face him again. "
You...did?"
"I"ve got incredibly accustomed to being married."
"Have you?" There was a sob trapped in her throat. She had plunged from the heights down into the depths, and was now somewhere back in the middle, terrified of making a.s.sumptions.
"I acted like a jerk yesterday. I let Theo get to me."
Prudence was starting to breathe again. "I don"t blame you for being mad-"
"There was a special delivery waiting for me when I arrived in the office this morning. There were two copies of that film-"
"My goodness, Grandfather sent one to you as well?"
"Watching it again, I retrieved my sense of humour, thespinis mou. I took so much care to keep our reconciliation private and it was crazy to do that. It should not have mattered to me that doing what I wanted meant that I was also doing what Theo Demakis wanted me to do," Nik imparted wryly.
"That was always an obstacle between us."
"Ne...yes, when I was younger. But not any more. I like to think I"m grown up now." There was a rueful twist to his wide, sensual mouth. "Although I felt distinctly boyish last night when my romantic attempt to make a surprise visit on my wife was rudely concluded by a bunch of slavering, attacking dogs and over-zealous security guards."
Her soft blue eyes widened in astonishment as she recalled the late-night disturbance at the Demakis villa which had sent the dogs crazy, and she gasped, "That was you last night?"
"That was me," Nik confirmed.
She unfroze and launched herself forward to close her hands over his. "Why didn"t you say who you were?"
"It wouldn"t have been cool-"
"I so wanted you to come," Prudence framed in a wobbly voice. "If I"d known that you were out there, so close to me-"
"I had a very important meeting first thing today...then I was planning to drive over and make a conventional entrance-"
"If only I"d known that...I need never have come here-"
"But what a joy it is to me to know that you would fight for me, too, pethi mou," Nik slotted in, drawing her closer with lean, strong hands, his cla.s.sic bronzed features taut and serious.
"A joy?"
Dark golden eyes looked down into hers with a light that warmed her. "There is something that I should have said a long time ago, something I have never said to any other woman. I love you..."
Her full pink lips parted. "You mean it?"
"More than anything. For the s.p.a.ce of a moment yesterday I let my pride rule me and I acted like a jerk, but I never stopped loving you...and I don"t believe I ever could."
She was so tense she could barely inhale as she looked up at him, desperately striving to see the proof of his words in his lean, darkly handsome face. And there it was in his beautiful eyes: all the depth of emotion, affection and sincerity that she could ever have dreamt of seeing there. He found her mouth and the pa.s.sion that never failed to ignite blazed but this time it was laced with a new deep trust and affection that was no longer concealed.
"Let"s get out of here..." Nik said raggedly, linking her hand to his.
The city traffic was horrendous but it didn"t bother them too much, because they were too busy kissing to notice.
"When did you fall for me?" she finally asked, when she had to push him away to get some breath back into her lungs and held him at bay with a staying hand.
"I don"t know...I honestly don"t," Nik groaned, contenting his need for constant physical contact by lifting her hand to his mouth and lazily sucking on one finger at a time. "We were friends first. But there was always the barrier of not knowing what had gone wrong between us on our wedding night and that kept it strictly platonic-"
"I so wish I"d talked to you now...but I was hurt and embarra.s.sed and I honestly did think you"d got drunk because you were so unhappy at having to marry me-"
"No...I was not at all unhappy. In fact, at the altar I was struggling to suppress a l.u.s.t-fuelled fantasy about exactly how I would unveil my virginal bride"s lush body," Nik confessed, making her soft blue eyes widen in shock, and then laughing at her expression. "Sometimes you are so innocent..."
But, oddly enough, that frank admission did more than anything else to wipe out the old pain and insecurity that had long dogged her memories of that day. Well, she did remember the manner in which Nik"s smouldering dark gaze had travelled over her low-cut gown and, although hot colour warmed her complexion, she was pleased that even in those days she had roused his desire.
"And yet so s.e.xy," Nik growled, manhandling her with intent in the lift on the way up to his apartment. "I"m always desperate for you..."
Slight colour burnished his hard, slanted cheekbones as another pa.s.senger joined them and more circ.u.mspect behaviour was forced on them. Nik thrust the door of his apartment open, slammed it shut again and pinned her up against it to claim a hungry, driving kiss.
"We need somewhere with more privacy," he contended on the way to the bedroom.
"Not my grandfather"s villa...it wasn"t a happy place for me, so I think we should get rid of it and look for somewhere new where we can live when we"re over here..."
Between talking and kissing they made it down onto the bed. Discarding clothes in a frantic rush, they made explosive love, renewing their strong physical hold on each other with joyous satisfaction and relief.
Afterwards Nik cupped her face. "I love you," he said fiercely. "I love you so much. When I thought I might have lost you last night I felt sick...I couldn"t sleep. You have come to mean so much to me."
"I love you, too...I can"t believe I"ve never said that to you before-"
"You"ve never said it. Our marriage had too poor a start."
"Don"t look back," Prudence murmured adoringly. "You weren"t ready then for that amount of commitment."
"But I"m really committed now. When you said you wanted a divorce, it was some wake-up call. I went haywire; I didn"t know what was the matter with me, but suddenly I knew that I would do anything sooner than let you go. But you were so determined...and the sperm-bank idea really wiped me out-"
Prudence ran possessive fingertips down over his bronzed, muscular chest and smiled helplessly. " I must admit that you"ve been a lot more fun."
"You"re getting very bold, Mrs Angelis," Nik censured huskily, bending over her to circle her lips with his in a skilful foray. "I love bold..."
EPILOGUE.
TWO YEARS LATER, Nik called in at the veterinary surgery he had asked to look out for a dog for him. One of Prudence"s Labradors had recently pa.s.sed away and he had decided to look out for a potential replacement for her. Well acquainted as he was with her views, he knew that both puppies and pedigrees had the easiest time finding a home and that any animal he picked should fall outside those two categories.
"I waited until I had a choice of four gathered up for you," the vet told Nik, leading him out to the kennels. "It"ll be a very lucky dog that gets a home with Mrs Angelis."
"This is Doodle. He"s in good health but old." The vet grimaced. "His owner pa.s.sed away." A collie-type dog with a venerable greying muzzle wagged a genial tail from behind the wire.
"Milly was in an accident...she has only one eye." Nik studied the good-natured golden Labrador jumping up to offer him a welcome and smiled before moving on.
"Peanut was found tied to a skip." A small, shrinking terrier with frightened eyes was trying to efface himself from notice at the back of the kennel.
"And lastly we have Sausage, who lacks the wow factor..." Nik met the large, doleful brown eyes of a s.h.a.ggy dog with a big body grafted onto incongruously short, stumpy legs. "Of course, if there isn"t a suitable candidate in this lot, we"ll have another couple by next week."
"And these dogs here?" Nik queried.
The vet winced. "These are the no-hopers. The council will pick them up but they"re unlikely to find a home for any of them. I hang on to dogs like these for as long as I can."
Nik tensed and paled as comprehension sank in. He turned back to study the dogs with greater intensity. The rejects could well be facing the offer of a ticket to that great kennel in the sky, so he needed to make the wisest possible choice.
While Nik was making his selection, Prudence was twirling in front of a cheval mirror, admiring the fit and flow of the burgundy silk evening dress she had put on that bared her shoulders and emphasised her curves. It had taken some hard work to shed the extra pounds she had put on during her pregnancy but she was delighted with her sleek and shapely figure.
Tonight, she and Nik were celebrating their second anniversary since the marriage blessing. Diamonds sparkling at her ears and at her throat, she walked down the corridor towards the nursery. Life, she was reflecting, had been much better than good. Having waited a few months before trying for another baby, she had almost immediately fallen pregnant with twins. Although both she and Nik had been a little nervous during the early stages in case she suffered another miscarriage, everything had gone very well and their son and daughter had been born just a couple of weeks early. Nik had turned out to be a devoted father, who loved to spend time with his children.
Nik had eventually taken over Demakis International but only after Ca.s.sia"s father and his replacement had messed up as CEO. The board of directors had approached Nik and literally begged, and her grandfather"s empire was now mercifully sailing along peacefully with Nik at the helm. Nik had restructured the business and hired a stronger executive team, so that he would not be forced to put in the hours of a workaholic.
Although they necessarily spent more time now in Greece and often flew out at weekends and holidays, their daily lives were still firmly based at Oakmere Abbey, which had now been fully renovated to offer all the luxurious comfort Nik enjoyed. Prudence had been shaken and deeply touched when she found out Nik had signed his main a.s.set over to her when he had feared losing his business. The animal sanctuary had thrived and she had had to hire more staff to cope. She had become involved with local charities and fund-raising but she had cut down on those activities after the birth of the twins.
Now, when she looked into the cots in the nursery and saw her children, her heart simply jumped with happiness. Leo, who was finally dating Stella, had acted as a G.o.dparent at the twins" christening. At ten months old, Andreus was very much a little boy and his father"s son with jet-black curls. His sister, Leora, was smaller but very determined and incredibly pretty with creamy skin and enormous toffee-coloured eyes. Sleeping, they looked adorable and peaceful.
"What are you thinking?" Nik asked from the doorway.
Prudence shook her head, chestnut-brown hair rippling round her creamy shoulders, soft pink mouth curving. "That when you look at the twins asleep, you would never guess what little rips they are when they"re awake-"
"You were so proud when they started crawling," Nik teased, closing a hand over hers as he drew level with her. "They"re quite something, aren"t they?"
She hid a smile at the level of pride he could not hide.
"I can even feel a little sorry for Theo now. We have the next generation he always wanted," Nik commented.
"Your parents make wonderful grandparents," Prudence replied.
He tugged her to him. "I have a surprise for you, thespinis mou."
"But you already gave me this..." Prudence held out her hand to display the beautiful sapphire and diamond eternity ring that sparkled and caught the light.
"This surprise of mine seemed a good idea when I came up with it, but it may not have been as good an idea as I hoped." With that cryptic utterance, Nik escorted her downstairs. "I set out to get you a new pet dog."
Her eyes lit up in surprise. "You did?"
"It seemed so straightforward." He explained carefully how he had gone about the challenge.
The internal courtyard seemed at first glance to be full of dogs. Nik strode over to the wall and scooped up a small, shivering mongrel and petted it almost absent-mindedly. Looking a touch defensive, he swung back and began to introduce her by name to the four animals gambolling round her. "They"re all ours," he completed.
Even Prudence, the eternal dog lover, gaped at that news. "All...of them?"
Nik grimaced. "I couldn"t face leaving one behind."
"That is so sweet," she told him happily and gave him a huge hug. "You do such wonderful things for me."