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She let out her breath slowly. ‘I had a medical condition called scoliosis. Basically it’s a twist in the spine which causes the back and shoulders to be misaligned. I was eight when it was first noticed that I was standing awkwardly. Mum was always telling me not to slouch. The GP sent me for an X-ray which showed that my spine was curved, and for the next five years I wore a back brace for twenty-three hours a day.
‘That sounds grim. It must have affected your childhood.’
‘I couldn’t do many of the activities that my brother and sister were able to do.’ Eleanor sighed. ‘My parents struggled to cope with my condition. Dad was a famous show jumper and Mum had been a junior gymnast champion before she became a model. They had a glamorous lifestyle and I guess they were unprepared for having a child with a disability. When I was thirteen I had surgery to straighten my spine. The operation happened a few months after my parents died and they never knew that I was finally free of the body brace.’
The sadness in her voice twisted Jace’s insides. Eleanor’s childhood had been as tough as his own, albeit for different reasons. He had blamed Kostas for destroying his family, and still blamed him, Jace reminded himself.
The feud between his father and Kostas Pangalos had happened a long time ago. Of course he wanted to avenge his father’s death, but he regretted hurting Eleanor. He wished he could turn the clock back, and that the situation between them was different. Jace frowned. What was he thinking? He had shunned long-term relationships and commitment for most of his adult life. Oh, he’d soon got over Katerina. But he had decided that love—the lasting kind—wasn’t for him.
Eleanor’s breathing slowed as she fell asleep and her long lashes fanned on her cheeks. How had he thought she was uncomplicated? Jace thought ruefully. She was compassionate, courageous, irritatingly independent, and she fascinated him more than any woman ever had.
The truth was that he should ignore his hunger for her and keep their marriage to a business arrangement as he had originally planned. Except that his plan had been hijacked by his sexy wife. She rolled onto her side and tucked her hand beneath her cheek. Her lips were slightly parted, and he longed to kiss her. But he was not her prince, he reminded himself. He could not offer her the happy ever after he suspected she wanted. Eleanor was a beguiling mix of innocence and sensuality and Jace had no idea what he was going to do about her.
Eleanor leaned back in the plush leather seat on Jace’s private jet as the plane accelerated down the runway and lifted off the ground. She noticed that his fingers gripped the armrests at the moment of take-off.
‘Are you feeling any better?’ he asked her a few minutes later.
‘I feel fine, thank you.’
‘You’re a terrible liar.’ He sounded amused, almost indulgent, and she steeled her heart against his charisma. She winced when he removed the enormous pair of sunglasses that she’d worn to hide the evidence of her first, and she vowed last, hangover.
‘The stewardess will bring some food, and after you have eaten you can sleep off your headache.’ His smile did strange things to her insides. ‘Aren’t you curious to know where we are going for our honeymoon?’
‘I don’t care,’ she said stubbornly. ‘The only reason you sprung a honeymoon on me is to make your mother believe that our marriage is real.’ She snatched her sunglasses back and shoved them on her nose. ‘Anyway, I expect you would prefer to be jetting off with your attractive financial advisor. At the wedding reception, Angeliki dropped hints that you are interested in more than her numeracy skills.’
His soft laughter was like golden honey sliding over her, and for some reason Eleanor felt the ache of tears behind her eyelids. ‘There’s no need to be jealous,pouláki mou,’ he drawled.‘It’s a rule of mine not to mix business with pleasure and I am never tempted to cross the line between employer and staff.’
‘I’m not jealous,’ Eleanor snapped, thinking that Jace had not actually denied he was attracted to Angeliki. But, before she could press him further, the stewardess arrived and handed her a glass of orange juice. She drank it thirstily and managed to eat a couple of mouthfuls of croissant to satisfy Jace. She settled back in the seat, but her eyes flew open when a pair of strong arms scooped her up and held her against his chest.
‘You will be more comfortable in bed,’ Jace assured her, carrying her as if she weighed no more than a doll. He strode into the bedroom at the back of the plane. ‘We’ll be in the air for approximately eight hours. Perhaps you will be in a better mood when you wake up.’
‘Why did you spend last night in my room?’ She had been shocked to find him sprawled on the chair beside her bed in the morning.
‘I stayed in case you were sick again, or needed anything. I don’t think you have been drunk very often.’
‘It was my first time.’ She flushed, thinking of the other first time that she’d thought might happen on her wedding night. Maybe she was destined to remain a virgin for ever.
Jace sat on the edge of the bed and smoothed her hair back from her face. Apart from the thicker stubble on his jaw where his beard needed a trim, he was his usual urbane self and devastatingly sexy in pale jeans, cream polo shirt and a casual mid-blue blazer.
‘Would you like me to stay with you now?’ he murmured.
Her eyes locked with his and it would be so easy to melt in the heat of his gaze. The mysterious alchemy that was always there between them sizzled and she was intensely aware of him, and of her body’s reaction to him. Her nipples felt hot and tight beneath her bra, and molten heat pooled between her legs when she imagined him stretching out on the bed and lifting her skirt up to her thighs so that he could slip his hand inside her knickers.
Eleanor swallowed audibly and Jace’s eyes glittered when her tongue darted across her lower lip. It would be so easy to become spellbound by his magic. But afterwards what would become of her?
‘No, that won’t be necessary,’ she said stiffly and shut her eyes before she succumbed to the temptation that was always and only Jace. She heard him sigh softly and seconds later the click of the door closing. Only then did she allow her tears to slide silently down her face.
It was dark when they landed and immediately transferred to a four-by-four that whisked them away to an unknown destination. Eleanor’s headache had developed into a migraine and she barely noticed her surroundings. She was vaguely aware of Jace carrying her and laying her down on a soft bed.
‘These are painkillers.’ He gave her two tablets and held a glass of water to her lips. ‘You must eat something,matia mou.’ His voice was soft and low as if he knew that her head felt as if it might explode. ‘Take a bite of this,’ he urged.
She bit into a banana, swallowed and took another bite before she sank back on the pillows and into oblivion.
When she opened her eyes she had no idea how long she had been asleep, or where she was. Feeling disorientated, she cautiously sat up and was relieved that she no longer felt as if someone was drilling into her skull. In the shadowy half-light she made out the time on her watch. Five-thirty a.m. Her stomach growled. Wherever she was, she hoped they served breakfast early. She wondered where Jace was sleeping.
The silence was profound, but gradually she began to hear noises. Birdsong, but no birds that she recognised, and other unfamiliar sounds. And then it came. A deep growl that reverberated in the air and through her body. Primitive, awe-inspiring.
A door opened and Jace stepped into the room. ‘Good, you’re awake.’
