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Baby giggles filled the air as Nik chased his twin daughters across the beach. ‘Come back here!’ he yelled, finally acknowledging defeat.
From the picnic rug, Betsy waved baby cups of juice and Dido and Ione hurried back to claim them, little toddler legs moving fast and confidently. In the sunlight the diamond-studded eternity ring that Nik had presented her with when they became parents glittered on her wedding finger. Their daughters were almost two years old now and full of spirit. They were identical twins, rejoicing in black curls, olive skin and their mother’s blue eyes.
Rolling his eyes at the ease with which Betsy had contrived to recall the two little girls, Nik folded his long, lithe sun-bronzed body fluidly down on the rug beside his wife. ‘Why don’t they do what I tell them to?’ he demanded.
‘You spoil them and you never tell them off,’ Betsy pointed out as the toddlers arrived to claim their cups and drink thirstily from the plastic spouts.
Nik studied his daughters with a frown. If only he didn’t adore them, if only they didn’t remind him of Betsy at every turn, it would have been easier to play the disciplinarian. But the girls had inherited Betsy’s eyes and cuteness as well as her sense of mischief. Being a father was both more enjoyable and more demanding than he had expected but he wouldn’t have exchanged a day of their often chaotic, busy life for a day without their children.
Whenever they had a few days free they flew out to Vesos to stay at the villa and spend time together as a family. The girls loved the beach while Betsy simply enjoyed relaxing and having Nik all to herself. Nik rarely left Lavender Hall now for more than three days at a time. He had rigorously cut back on his business trips abroad. That lifestyle change had begun when Betsy was still pregnant because he hadn’t wanted to leave her, and had continued after the twins’ birth when he had soon realised that he wanted to be as fully involved in their daughters’ lives as Betsy was.
While the girls munched sandwiches, Betsy watched Nik’s lean, darkly handsome face soften as he appraised his daughters. She had never dreamt that she could be as happy as Nik had made her. With no secrets left between them and a great deal of love and mutual understanding, their lives had changed for the better, becoming richer and more absorbing. They still saw a lot of Belle and Cristo and the half-siblings the other couple had adopted. Thankfully, Nik and Cristo’s confrontation had not left lingering bad feelings on either side and the brothers were as close as ever. Sometimes they all got together to fly out to Zarif’s fantastically opulent palace and enjoy the desert sunshine. But more than anything else, Nik enjoyed being a father and enjoyed being at home.
Of course, not everything between them had been perfect, Betsy acknowledged wryly. Once Nik had appreciated the size of the business operation she was running at the back of their home he had been taken aback and had insisted that the farm shop and its attendant outlets be moved to another site. There had been several heated arguments on that score before that move finally took place to a neighbouring farm that Nik had purchased for the purpose. Now it took Betsy time to drive to work but she had had to concede that with access to the new site lying off a busy main road, business had increased exponentially. Thanks to his business acumen, Nik could really not be bettered as an invariably silent partner.
When they had all finished eating lunch, their daughters’ nanny came down to the beach to collect the toddlers and led them back up to the villa for their afternoon nap.
‘Adult time,’ Nik sighed with rich satisfaction, rolling over with alacrity to stare down at Betsy, who was sunbathing in a red bikini composed of three small triangles. ‘How long will it take you to remove that?’
‘I’m not taking it off. We could be seen from a passing fishing boat,’ Betsy pointed out, her cheeks warming at the thought and the risk.
Nik laughed out loud and tugged wickedly at the tie on the bikini bra to loosen it while stealing her breath with a hungry demanding kiss that made her toes curl shamelessly. ‘You may be beautiful and amazing but you can be a complete prude, Mrs Christakis—’
‘I admit it, but I do love you very much,’ Betsy said in her own favour while craving that wide, sexy mouth of his on hers again, fire dancing across her skin as his hand spread across her midriff, his long, elegant fingers tantalisingly close to her breasts.
‘I love you too,’ Nik husked, emerald-green eyes gleaming with appreciation as he gazed admiringly down at her. ‘For ever isn’t long enough to be with you.’
He kissed her again and delight and joy flared through her every skin cell. When he untied the bikini briefs she pretended not to notice, but it was a long, long time before they returned to the villa.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from CARRYING THE SHEIKH’S HEIR by Lynn Raye Harris.
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