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‘Th-that was alion,’Eleanor stammered. ‘Wherearewe?’
‘Africa. Tanzania, to be precise, in the Serengeti National Park. How is your headache?’
‘Gone.’ She stared at him. He looked more gorgeous than ever in khaki chinos and a collarless white shirt. She was conscious that her hair was a tangled mess. ‘Jace...?’
‘You’ve got ten minutes to shower and get dressed before breakfast. We need to make an early start.’
‘Where are we going?’
‘You’ll see.’ His grin sent her heart into a tailspin. This was the Jace she had fallen in love with—which made him dangerous.
Half an hour later they were in the four-by-four, driving across the open plains. The sky had lightened to indigo and the sun was a band of gold on the horizon, against which broad acacia trees were silhouetted. Eleanor caught her breath when she saw a hot-air balloon being inflated by a couple of ground crew.
‘There’s our transport,’ Jace said as he helped her out of the vehicle. The gossamer curtain of an early morning mist was beginning to clear and the dawn was almost upon them.
‘This isn’t real, is it?’ Eleanor whispered. ‘I’m going to wake up and find it’s a dream.’
He gave an odd crooked smile, as if he felt pleased by her reaction. ‘We have a pilot who is also a guide to tell us about the wildlife we’ll hopefully see today. But another time you will be able to fly the balloon yourself, once the balloon company have checked that your pilot’s licence is valid.’
Eleanor climbed into the basket and watched Jace do the same. ‘But you dislike heights. You don’t have to come on the flight if you would rather not.’
‘I’m not letting you go up without me,pouláki mou.’
She told herself not to read anything into the possessiveness in his voice. Jace was a typical Greek male, she thought ruefully. She swallowed, trying, and failing, to control her emotions. ‘Why did you arrange such a wonderful surprise?’
He exhaled deeply. ‘I suppose I am trying to make amends.’ At her puzzled look, he continued. ‘From the age of fifteen my life was dominated by my hatred of your grandfather and everything Kostas represented, including his family.’
‘Me, in other words,’ Eleanor said flatly.
His jaw clenched. ‘I wanted revenge for my father’s death, and I was determined to claim my family’s share of the Pangalos. I didn’t care who I damaged along the way to achieving my goal.’
‘I understand. I do,’ she insisted when he frowned. It didn’t make it hurt any less, but she accepted that Jace had not acted with deliberate cruelty a year ago. ‘You didn’t think of me as a person. I was simply a pawn in your desire for vengeance.’
‘That’s not true.’ He raked his hand through his hair. ‘Even though you were the granddaughter of the man I despised, I found myself liking you. The connection between us was not part of some elaborate plan. And the attraction still exists now. You feel it the same as I do.’
She coloured. ‘That’s just sex.’
‘I’d like it to be,’ he said softly.
Eleanor was aware of her heart thudding painfully hard beneath her thin cotton shirt. ‘What are you saying, Jace?’
He captured her hand in his strong fingers and rubbed his thumb over the pulse beating frantically in her wrist. ‘I’d like to call a truce in our marriage for as long as it lasts. It would be pointless to deny that I want to make love to you when I’m turned on simply by looking at you,’ he said huskily. ‘I think you want me too,ómorfi gynaíka mou.’
The warmth blazing in Jace’s eyes when he called her his beautiful wife evoked a spurt of happiness inside Eleanor, and her heart refused to listen to the words of caution in her head. Her gaze locked with his dark eyes as he lifted her hand up to his mouth and pressed his lips against the new wedding band on her finger.
‘You’re not wearing your engagement ring,’ he commented.
‘I’m scared I’ll lose it. A diamond that size must be extremely valuable.’
‘But you don’t value things by their financial worth,’ he said musingly.
Their conversation could not continue over the roar of the burner as the pilot prepared for take-off. The ground crew let go of the tether ropes and the balloon rose gracefully into the air. Eleanor saw Jace’s knuckles whiten as he gripped the edge of the basket. He caught her gaze and his sheepish grin caused the bubble of happiness inside her to expand.
‘Ballooning is recognised as the safest form of aviation,’ she told him.
He gave her a sardonic look. ‘We are standing in a picnic basket suspended beneath an oversized tablecloth, and the balloon is powered by a glorified Bunsen burner. What part of that is safe?’
‘But look at the views.’ She caught her breath. ‘Look, down there...giraffes...do you see them? Oh, my goodness, there’s a baby one.’
