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He called out her name, his head thrown back, and gave himself to the power and the glory of the moment, feeling her body give one last, encompassing convulsion around him, taking him further than he had ever known, to lands and realms beyond, where only he and she existed …
Slowly, so slowly, their bodies eased, folding upon each other, lowering down upon the cool surface of the bed. Exhaustion came upon him, and a wake of emotion that swirled and eddied through him. He cradled her to him and she clung to him. He soothed her dampened hair, murmuring to her he knew not what, and she was boneless in his arms, her body still containing his, their limbs tumbled and entwined.
He felt the chill of the air around them now, and reaching for the coverlet drew it over them, still clutching her to him as if he would never let her go. Sleep was heavy upon him, exhaustion stilling him. He held her to him and, clasped in her arms, gave himself to sleep.
His last sliver of awareness was of her hands gentling him, her mouth tender at his lips, her voice murmuring his name.
It was all he wanted to hear in all the world.
Her voice murmuring his name …
CHAPTER TEN
‘WELL, what do you think?’ Leon’s voice was slightly hesitant. ‘I did warn you it wasn’t luxurious.’
Flavia gazed about her. The single-storey villa, built in a traditional Spanish style, with whitewashed walls and red roof tiles, was framed by pine trees and gave straight on to the beach.
‘It’s beautiful,’ she said.
Her eyes moved about, taking in the whole scene, as Leon lifted out the couple of suitcases from the Jeep he’d driven from the little quay on the far side of the island. Flavia walked forward. The low-lying ground was turfed and sandy, and she could see some goats a little way away, grazing near some bushes. There was the scent of sea in the air, and aromatic plants. And it was very hot—but the heat went with the land, and with the pale beach lapped with turquoise wavelets.
‘Fancy a swim?’ Leon grinned, seeing her longing glance towards the azure sea.
He carried the suitcases inside, and she followed him. The stone walls of the villa cooled the air, and the wood-shuttered windows made the atmosphere dim and shaded. Leon might have described the villa as ‘not luxurious’ but it was still beautifully decorated, in a rustic style with a simplicity about it that was immediately appealing to Flavia as she looked about in delight.
But then her whole world was a delight. A wonderful, entrancing delight that she had never before experienced. Her eyes rested on Leon, softening as she followed him along a tiled corridor into a large, cool bedroom and he deposited their suitcases on the wide bed. She felt her breath catch, as it did so often in these unforgettable days and nights since she had given herself to Leon.
They had spent all of the following day at Mereden. Leon had ruthlessly cancelled his business meetings to devote himself to her. They had stayed in bed till late in the morning, glorying in their unity of desire, then passed the rest of the morning exploring the beautiful grounds of the hotel, taking in a waterside lunch at the little Thameside marina the hotel provided for guests, followed by a leisurely, meandering cruise along the river in the hotel launch. They had moored under sweeping willow branches, and Leon had kissed her long and lingeringly.
‘Come away with me!’ he’d whispered to her. ‘Come to Santera with me. Be with me completely there. We can have at least a week there—maybe two.’
Flavia’s eyes had shone—then dimmed. Could she really leave her grandmother for a week or longer? Yet even while guilt had plucked at her she’d also known, with a heaviness she had long had to accept, that her grandmother would not really know how long she was away, that she would be in good hands with Mrs Stephens. And who knew? A burning longing had swept through her. Who knew how long Leon would want her? Who knew what the future might or might not hold? She could not tell and did not want to ask—wanted only to shut out everything except this bliss that was enveloping her. This joy and wonder.
A more practical objection had threaded into her mind, and as Leon had looked at her questioningly she’d said, ‘I haven’t got my passport.’
It didn’t faze him. ‘I’ll send a courier for it. It can be delivered to the airport directly, and we can fly straight off tomorrow morning.’
Flavia’s eyes widened. Could it really be that simple?
It was. A single phone call from the hotel’s front desk had done it. Flavia had spoken directly to the courier company, giving details of where to find her passport at Harford, while Leon had contacted his PA to clear his diary and arrange flights the next day. All Flavia had then had to do was phone Mrs Stephens and arrange for her to stay longer.
‘A holiday is just what you need,’ her grandmother’s carer had said approvingly. ‘I’m happy to stay on as long as need be. Your grandmother is as well as she can be, and there is no need at all to worry.’
Relief had filled Flavia, even if there had still been an undercurrent of anxiety, a fear that she was being selfish in heading off with Leon. But as he’d swept her into his arms, and she’d found all over again the magical bliss of being together with him, her anxious thoughts about her grandmother had been swept away as well. For now—for a little while—she would be with Leon, wherever he wanted her to be.
They had paused briefly in Palma on their way to Santera, to have lunch and give Flavia an hour or two to shop for beach clothes, but now their journey was ended—and an idyll awaited them, she knew. The past and the future were held at bay—she would not think of them, would let only this sunlit present surround her, give herself entirely to the moment.
Entirely to Leon.
And she would let nothing of her fears about her grandmother, her revulsion at her father, get in the way of that.
Leon was opening her suitcase, pulling out the bikinis she’d bought in Palma that day, holding them both up.
‘I can’t decide which one you’ll look more gorgeous in,’ he told her.
She whisked them both out of his hands. ‘I’ll surprise you.’ She laughed, and disappeared into the en suite bathroom she could see opening up from the bedroom.
‘You have already,’ murmured Leon, watching her go. His eyes were warm, his expression bemused.
