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‘Don’t talk to me as if I’m a child,’ Maddie argued, only half beneath her breath.
His hard jawline clenched. ‘Then behave like an adult. This is our wedding, and you’re making it obvious that we’re having a disagreement.’
‘I dare say Krista would’ve behaved much better,’ Maddie snapped back.
‘Her behaviour in public is always impeccable,’ Giannis said drily.
Maddie, who had already been feeling bad for making a snide comment, was further punished by the swiftness with which he confirmed her worst expectations. She was a jealous cat, she thought painfully, and he was ashamed of her.
The remainder of the dance took place in silence, with Maddie wearing a small fixed smile, her wide eyes prickling as she studied the lapel of his jacket. She left the floor then, keen to find a private corner, and was within a few feet of leaving the vast ballroom when a walking stick fell in front of her.
Picking it up, Maddie passed it back to the tiny old lady seated in the alcove on her own. ‘Here you are…’
A thin, frail hand caught hers. ‘Come and sit by me. I’m your husband’s great-grandmother—Dorkas.’
After the briefest of hesitations, Maddie sat down
‘Giannis has always reminded me of my late husband Rodas,’ Dorkas confessed. ‘He’s obstinate, impatient, and too clever for his own good.’
Maddie gave her a disconcerted look, registering that those shrewd dark eyes must have spotted the tension between bride and groom. She went pink. ‘Yes.’
‘But while Rodas had the good luck to be born into a loving family, Giannis was less fortunate.’ Dorkas compressed her creased lips. ‘How much do you know about your husband’s background?’
‘He doesn’t like to talk about it.’
The old lady sighed. ‘His parents should never have had children. Every day was a party for them. Giannis was raised by servants. His mother became a drug addict, but it was covered up. Nobody wanted a scandal. Giannis never knew love or stability, or even kindness from them…’
Maddie was shaken by the bleak picture the old lady was painting. ‘I had no idea.’
‘When he was sixteen, the only person who had ever loved him in that household died, and he went a little crazy for a while. Happily, he found himself again. He is very strong,’ Dorkas Petrakos asserted with proud affection. ‘But he needs an equally strong wife who knows how to smooth away the rough edges and love him.’
Maddie was already recapturing her usual calm.
‘Rodas and I had many battles, but when anyone dared to say a word against me he was a lion in my defence,’ the old lady confided.
Maddie grinned. ‘You’ve heard about that newspaper story, haven’t you?’
The beady black eyes gleamed with ready humour. ‘I have a copy in my handbag.’
‘Could I see it?’
Dorkas passed a folded sheet of paper to her. It was a photocopy which she confided had been faxed from London by an old friend.
Maddie winced at the headline: Office temp steals Petrakos from heiress.
‘Giannis didn’t take such stealing, did he?’ Dorkas chuckled. ‘He wasn’t happy with Krista. As for the rest of it—hold your head up high. Love is not a sin, and children are a blessing to a warm heart. You’re a fine young woman—hardworking, and you were caring towards your elderly relatives. Few people here today could say as much.’
His astute dark eyes trained on Maddie and Dorkas, Giannis approached, amusement curving his expressive mouth. ‘What do you think of her?’ he asked his great-grandmother boldly.
A satisfied smile on her creased face, Dorkas patted Maddie’s knee. ‘This one is a treasure. Look after her.’
Giannis sat down to chat to the old lady for a while, and then the famous singer he’d had flown in for the reception put on a fabulous performance for them.
Night was falling when Giannis walked Maddie out on to a private terrace, screened from the more public areas by lush green vegetation. Gilded bronze eyes scanning her upturned face in possessive appraisal, he claimed a slow, sensual kiss that sent a shiver of reaction travelling down her slender spine.
‘There’s a staircase behind the door in the corner. Our suite is at the top of it. I’ll join you there in five minutes,’ he asserted.
‘But we can’t just vanish—’
‘Yes, we can,’ he told her, tasting her ripe pink mouth with even greater fervour. ‘This is our wedding night, agape mou.’
The huge, beautifully furnished bedroom was dimly lit and intimate. She was just breathing in the glorious scent of an arrangement of roses in a silver bowl when a knock sounded on the door. A maid passed her a phone with what sounded like an apology.
‘Hello…who am I speaking to?’ Maddie was frowning, feeling sure the call was not for her and that in two seconds flat someone would start chattering in Greek.
‘It’s Krista.’
Maddie’s skin turned clammy, her fingers tightening round the receiver in dismay. ‘Why are you calling me?’
‘It’s your wedding night, and I want you to appreciate that all we’ve done is swap roles,’ Krista murmured sweetly. ‘You were the mistress and now I am. Giannis has no intention of giving me up. Did you think he would? All that matters to him right now is keeping you happy because you’re expecting those precious twins. But I’m as much a part of his life as I’ve always been.’
On that poisonous note, the phone went dead. Maddie set it down with a clumsy hand. What a vindictive woman! Of course what Krista had said wasn’t true. It was just horrible nasty lies, designed to worry and wound. Krista wanted to upset her and cause trouble.
Maddie told herself that she was too sensible to pay heed to such claims. Her wedding day had been wonderful. She loved Giannis and she had to have faith in him. To doubt him on the word of an angry, spiteful woman would be to destroy what they did have.
CHAPTER TEN
GIANNIS strolled through the door and watched Maddie shimmy her curvaceous hips, sending her wedding gown down over them into a frothy wave of lace and silk round her ankles. She stood revealed in a low-cut bra, minuscule panties and lace hold-up stockings. A blue garter encircled one slender thigh as a finishing touch. He was enthralled.
‘Hold it there, pedhi mou,’ Giannis urged. ‘Let me take care of the rest.’
Maddie blushed, for she hadn’t heard him come in. It was so long since they had shared a bed that she felt wildly self-conscious. A charismatic smile on his lips, he shed his jacket and tie and unbuttoned his dress shirt. The entire time he watched her like a hawk. ‘Do you know?’ he murmured conversationally. ‘I’ve never gone so long without sex in my life.’
Taken aback by that admission, Maddie gave him a startled look, and then she started to giggle, all her tension dissolving.
Giannis scored long brown fingers through his luxuriant black hair. ‘I didn’t intend to say said that—’
‘Oh, I’m so glad that you did. I thought you didn’t want me any more,’ Maddie whispered, closing the space between them and stretching up on tiptoe to share that fear. She wondered how long it had been since he was with another woman. Just as quickly she squashed that thought. Because she was convinced that since the day he learned that she was pregnant, he had been true to her.
Giannis gave her an amused look and slowly shook his handsome dark head. ‘Where did you get that idea? Initially I thought restraint was a necessity. You looked so fragile.’ Lean hands anchoring to her narrow wrists, he drew her to him. Slowly, sexily, he backed her down onto the opulent bed behind her. ‘Then time became an issue. You deserved something more than a stolen hour. If I had been a different kind of guy, you might still have been a virgin tonight.’
‘You’re not that patient.’
‘Would you want me to be?’ He flicked loose the catch on her bra and peeled it away.
‘I should say yes…’ Her heart was already beating so fast with anticipation that she was breathless. ‘But I’d be lying.’
As the pale voluptuous mounds of her breasts spilled free, Giannis released his breath in a deeply appreciative hiss. He bent his handsome dark head to take immediate advantage of a quivering pink peak. Supersensitive there, she whimpered and let her head fall back over his arm, her hips squirming as he teased the tender buds until each was as ripe as a berry. He pulled her on to his lap and slid his tongue into the delicate interior of her mouth, probing with erotic mastery while he played with her swollen nipples.
