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He trusted her! Oh, dear heaven, Billie thought in a maelstrom of anguish at his careless assurance, he trusted her! Yet if he knew that he had a son called Nicky, his trust would be destroyed. That awareness was like a stiletto knife in her heart, yet she was convinced that she dared not come clean with him at that moment.
A lean hand closed over hers to raise her from the bench and then splayed to the curve of her hips to tilt her against his strong muscular length. Alexei lowered his handsome dark head. ‘I want you—much more than you’ve ever appreciated, matakia mou.’
His lips covered hers and she literally stopped breathing, caught up in the moment of searing eroticism that pierced her body when his tongue plunged deep into the tender interior of her mouth. She shivered as if she were in the eye of a storm-force wind, hunger storming through her slight body with sudden fierce impatience, for having once tasted the heat of his passion she longed to feel it again.
The intensity of her response to a single kiss shook Alexei and aroused him even more. He backed off though, determined to take that aspect of their relationship slowly. He was convinced that he would be her first lover and was tantalised by the idea.
‘As I know you’re not experienced I won’t expect you to share my bed until we’re married,’ Alexei breathed huskily. ‘So, as I’m sure you will understand, I don’t want to wait long for the wedding.’
Billie almost shielded her gaze with defensive lashes. He had assumed she was still a virgin, had no idea that he had already ensured that she could no longer claim such innocence. He had no fear that she might refuse his proposal either. His arrogance infuriated her.
‘I might say no tomorrow,’ she pointed out stiffly.
Alexei hauled her even closer and kissed her again, long and hard and sexily. His lean hands smoothed over her ribcage, tantalisingly close to the swollen sensitivity of her full breasts. Emerging breathless from that heated embrace, Billie could barely focus or breathe, never mind think and reason. The very feel of his long, lean, aroused body pushing in demand against hers paralysed her brain and ignited her to a fierce fever pitch of longing.
That night she barely slept for excitement. He didn’t love her but she loved him and knew it would break her heart to stand by while he married someone else, as he inevitably would should she refuse him. Her heart ruled her, even though her head warned her that the path ahead would be twisty and stony. She joined him in his private dining room for breakfast.
‘Your answer?’ Alexei enquired silkily.
‘Yes, I will marry you,’ Billie pronounced, watching his wide sensual mouth curl with satisfaction. ‘Are you surprised?’
‘No, as I have already said, I have enormous faith in you, khriso mou,’ Alexei confided, sending a sharp pang of guilt and regret through Billie’s slender body. My gold, my treasure, he’d called her. But for how much longer would he see her in that idealised light?
Chapter Ten
TWO and a half weeks later, Billie studied the exquisite emerald engagement ring on her finger.
It was a slim elegant ring mounted with a deep green stone of surpassing beauty that complemented her small hand; Billie had to keep on checking it out to convince herself that she had not accidentally stepped into a dream. When she was holding onto so many secrets, how could planning her wedding feel real? First and foremost, Alexei respected her for her ability to tell the truth. Finding out that she had lied and lied again would be a very unpleasant surprise for him.
‘You have to tell him about Nicky before you marry him,’ Hilary pronounced without hesitation.
‘If I do, he won’t marry me,’ Billie muttered feverishly.
Unmoved by that view, Hilary shook her blonde head. ‘That’s a risk you have to take.’
But Billie’s courage had failed her on that score. Even two weeks after the proposal, wedding bells were still pealing inside her head. She finally had the magical right to hug the guy she had fallen in love with, although opportunities to do so had been few because he had hardly been around since the day he had proposed. Billie had stayed on Speros to organise the wedding while Alexei was abroad on business. Even so, her world had suddenly become a place of infinite promise and happiness, and confessing up to the deception of the year over their son, Nicky, had little appeal. Indeed her dishonesty hung over her like a giant black rain cloud that carried the threat of imminent doom.
Her face very pale, Billie murmured tautly, ‘Alexei might try to take Nicky away from me.’
Hilary frowned. ‘Why would he do something like that?’
/> ‘Because he’ll be so angry. He’s a control freak. I’ll have let him down, hidden the truth from him…and he hates lies. An illegitimate child will also embarrass his family. He’ll blame me.’
‘Of course she can’t tell Alexei about Nicky until she’s got that wedding ring safely on her finger!’ Lauren broke in, shooting her younger sister a look of angry derision that dismissed her advice. ‘He’s a Drakos and as slippery in the wedding stakes as a man can be. He’s very wary of marriage—of course he is…his father did have four wives! Give Alexei an excuse this big and he’ll call it off!’
As her mother voiced her daughter’s deepest fears Billie shifted uncomfortably in her seat because her conscience was absolutely writhing. It had proved impossible to keep the truth from Lauren once the wedding was being planned and, in some ways, her mother’s understanding of Billie’s predicament and mood was superior to Hilary’s, whose moral compass was less yielding. Lauren totally appreciated that Billie’s greatest apprehension was losing the chance to marry the man that she loved. At least if they were married, Billie thought fearfully, she would have the chance to work on the damage she had done to their relationship. Unmarried and living apart, what opportunity would she have to persuade Alexei to calm down and see her viewpoint?
In addition, Lauren saw no reason why her daughter should shoulder all the blame for the fallout caused by Alexei’s amnesia. That disastrous accident could not be laid at anyone’s door. But Alexei had then swiftly got tangled up with Calisto in what had appeared to be the romance of the century and it was for his sake rather than her own that Billie had remained silent. Her mother had deemed that decision ‘plain stupidity’.
‘Right now, Billie has to keep quiet and save her big announcement about Nicky for when they’re married,’ Lauren declared in a tone of flat conviction. ‘Having carried on the pretence this long, what do another few days matter?’
‘What matters is that Billie’s relationship with Alexei has changed beyond recognition since he proposed,’ Hilary argued vehemently. ‘And if she doesn’t tell him now, it’ll make her look calculating.’
Torn apart by the discussion, Billie went into her bedroom where the beautiful embroidered wedding gown she had purchased in Athens hung in readiness for her wedding day, which was now only forty-eight hours away. She had prayed that Alexei would recall the night they had spent together without her interference. While she had been in Athens she had even consulted a psychiatrist about Alexei’s amnesia. She had received cold comfort in response. Alexei’s memory had only misplaced a few hours of the very distressing day when he had buried his parents. Some day he might recall those hours or missing fragments of them, but the longer time went on, the less likely that would be. Furthermore, filling in that gap in his memory for him was unlikely to help him to recall events for himself.
In truth, Billie didn’t need anyone to tell her what she ought to do. She knew that with every day that passed she was sinking deeper into the quagmire of her own deception. She already knew what was right and what was wrong. She knew the difference. She had no fancy excuses to hide behind. Tell him, a little voice shrieked in her conscience, but she had seen very little of Alexei since he had asked her to marry him and what she had to say could scarcely be passed on during a phone conversation. He was due back at the villa for dinner that very evening. Once again Billie began mustering her courage in an effort to bite the bullet and confess all.
Garbed in a dark green knee-length strappy silk dress, Billie walked into the Drakos villa. Anatalya greeted her with warmth. While Billie was not quite as popular as an island girl born and bred on Speros would have been as Alexei’s future bride, she was the nearest equivalent and, as far as the locals were concerned, infinitely preferable to a stranger. Billie glanced at her reflection in a tall mirror. She had done a fair amount of shopping in Athens, recognising that Alexei expected her to dress up for her new role in his life. For a young woman who had once had no particular interest in fashion or her appearance, she had made a big effort. Her hair was trimmed into a more sleek style and her nails were manicured.
