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‘But I do give a damn and so I raise money anyway. But I don’t want this tied to that. This is my escape.’ Just as this island was his.
‘Then do it anonymously. We could find a dealer.’
‘Or I could just do them for myself.’ She sent him the stern look back. ‘For my own enjoyment.’
‘They’d bring joy to other people too,’ he said charmingly.
‘Flatterer.’ She mock slapped him as she walked away.
‘I have no need to flatter you when I already own your panties,’ he called after her.
She stopped and swivelled to send him a death stare that time. ‘Oh, that is—’
He threw back his head and laughed. ‘True. It’s true.’
* * *
Playing in the sea with Eleni was too much fun. She was so beautiful, lithe and, as he’d suspected that very first moment he’d seen her, strong. Now, as he sat on the sand beside her and let the sun dry his skin, satisfaction pooled within him. The same feeling that had crept up on him while she’d been seated beside him upstairs all morning.
But it was the quiet moments like these that unsettled him the most—when he felt too content.
Moments like these became too precious. And moments didn’t last. Nor did marriages.
He stood, needing some space for a second to get them back to that light teasing. He turned and tugged her to her feet. He only had to whisper a dare and they raced back to the house. Play came so easy with her now she was free.
‘How do you ever force yourself off this island?’ she asked, breathless as he caught her.
‘Actually we’re leaving in the morning,’ Damon muttered.
‘What?’ Her shocked query made him turn her in his arms so he could see her eyes.
‘It’s only twenty minutes by helicopter to the next island,’ Damon quickly explained. ‘There aren’t many shops but...’ He strode to a small cabinet in the lounge and retrieved a small purse that he tossed to her. ‘Here. You can go wild, practise counting out the right currency before you hit the big cities.’
She caught the bag neatly with one hand but wrinkled her pretty nose. ‘I don’t want your money.’
‘Well, until you earn your own I think you’re stuck with mine, because I’m your husband and apparently that makes me responsible.’ He sent her a deliberately patronising smile. ‘I can give you an allowance if you’d like.’
The nose-wrinkle morphed into a full-face frown.
Chuckling, he backed her up against the wall. ‘If our positions were reversed, you’d do the same for me,’ he whispered.
‘Don’t be so sure.’
‘Oh, I’m sure.’ Laughing, he kissed her.
But her lips parted and she didn’t just let him in, she pulled him closer, hooking her leg around his waist, her towel dropping in the process.
‘If you keep this up I’ll get you a credit card, so you don’t even have to count.’ He rolled his hips against her heat, giving into the irresistible desire she roused in him.
‘Payment for services rendered?’ she asked tartly. ‘Finally you’ve figured out I married you for your money.’
‘I knew it.’ He failed to claw back some semblance of sanity from the ultimate temptation she personified.
‘It certainly wasn’t for your charm.’ She glared at him.
‘Then spend every cent.’ He smiled, loving the sparks in her eyes. Those few shops mainly stocked bikinis. The thought made his mouth dry. ‘Meanwhile...’ he stepped back and unfastened his shorts ‘...I was thinking you might want me to model for you.’
‘You’re...’ Her gaze dropped and her words faded.
* * *
‘You’re not concerned about people taking photos?’
He shook his head as their helicopter descended. ‘The people here appreciate the privacy of their visitors.’
To be frank, the island was barely larger than Damon’s. There were only a few shops along the waterfront and, when Eleni saw this, her expressive features were a picture of mock outrage. He laughed, enjoying his little joke.
‘They sell bikinis.’ He held up his hands in surrender. ‘I thought you’d love it.’
‘You’re the biggest tease ever.’ She growled at him with a glint in her eye. ‘You’re the one who wants me to get the bikinis.’
‘Have you ever bought a bikini before? All by yourself?’
‘Actually I have. Online.’
‘In the privacy of the palace.’
‘Of course.’
‘Well, you can cruise the whole mall here.’
She rolled her eyes.
‘If you don’t want to shop for skimpy little swimsuits, why don’t you spend some coin and buy me an ice cream?’ He dared her.
‘Because you don’t deserve it.’
She flounced off to the bikini store and he lazily loitered outside, watching her through the wide open doors as she browsed the racks. In less than five seconds she lost that faux indignance and relaxed. As she chatted to the woman serving behind the counter she relaxed even more and that gorgeous vitality oozed from her skin. His gaze narrowed as it finally clicked—interaction with others was what gave her that luminescence. The ability she had to be able to talk to anyone, and to put them at ease, wasn’t just learned skill from being ‘the Princess’, it was a core part of who she was. Warm, compassionate. Interested. Caring.
So much more than him.
Now she’d stopped to talk to another couple of customers and she was positively glowing. One of the women was balancing a wriggling toddler in her arms. Damon watched as Eleni turned to talk to the child, who immediately stopped wriggling and smiled, entranced—as if Eleni was some damn baby whisperer. Of course she was—she had that effect on everyone, big and small. They stopped what they were doing and smiled when she came near. Because she was like a beautiful, sparkling light.
She was going to be such a great mother, given her truly genuine, generous nature. He narrowed his gaze as his imagination caught him unawares—slipping him a vision of how she was going to look when cradling their child in her arms. Primitive possessiveness clenched in his gut, sending a totally foreign kind of heat throughout his veins.
His woman. His baby. His world.
He blinked, breathing hard, bringing himself back to here, now, on the beach. Her body had yet to reveal its fertile secret—while her breasts were slightly fuller, her belly had barely a curve. But their baby was safe within her womb.
Despite the summer sun, a chill swept across his skin and he cocked his head to study her closer. The baby was safe, wasn’t it? And Eleni. She was slim but strong, right? But icy uncertainty dripped down his spine—slow at first, then in a rush as he suddenly realised what he’d been too full of lust and selfish haste to remember.
Eleni’s mother had lost her life in childbirth.
Damon felt as if some invisible giant had wrapped a fist around his chest and was squeezing it, making his blood pound and his lungs too tight to draw breath.
How could he have forgotten that? How could he have dragged her here to this remote island without seeing that damn doctor back in Palisades? He’d promised her brother that she’d get the best care, yet he’d been in too much of a hurry to escape his own demons to put her first. To put his child first.
He’d been thinking only of himself. His wants. His needs. His father had done that to Kassie and her mother. Now Damon was as guilty regarding Eleni and their unborn child.
How could he have neglected to tend to something so fundamental? He’d been so smug when he’d texted his assistant to find an obstetrician that day on the boat. As if he’d thought of everything—all in control and capable.
But he wasn’t either of those things. Turned out he was less than useless—to not even have a routine check done before flying for hours out to somewhere this isolated? What the hell kind of father did he think he was going to make anyway?
He’d failed before he’d even begun. Both his wife and child deserved better. H
e huffed out a strained breath. At least seeing the truth now cemented the perfection of his plan. They’d be better off apart from him. He’d always known that, hadn’t he? Wasn’t that why he’d insisted on his and Eleni’s separation in the first place?
This whole marriage and kids and happy-ever-after was never going to be for him.
Except, just for this little while on his island, he’d let himself pretend.
That he could have it all with her. Be it all for her.
But he couldn’t.
