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Blondes.
Brunettes.
Though interestingly, no redheads.
Why had it hurt so much after all this time to realise he must have had lovers? When she stopped to think about it—why wouldn’t he? Unless she was daft enough to think that a rampantly alpha man like Theo would have behaved like a saint after his chubby bride had rejected him.
She had lulled herself into believing that she’d moved on with her promotion and her plans for the future. She’d convinced herself that she didn’t care what Theo did or didn’t do with his life. But she hadn’t moved on at all. Emotionally she had remained stuck in the past—and how was that going to change unless she did something about it? Mia shuddered as she caught a glimpse of the future which could be hers if she stayed locked in this weird kind of limbo. Never having a proper relationship because she never let any man close enough to kiss her—let alone have sex with her.
And she knew why.
Theo Aeton had proved an impossible act to follow, because their relationship had never been allowed to play itself out in a normal way. They were married but they’d never had sex. Their entire association had been underpinned by a deep sense of frustration and a lack of fulfilment. She had yearned for him during their engagement and the bitter truth was that she had yearned for him ever since. Hadn’t his harshly beautiful face haunted her dreams when she was least expecting it—usually when she’d been asked on a date by another man? It was as if her subconscious were determined to remind her that she was setting herself up for an evening of disappointment—which inevitably always came true. It was as if her husband had stamped his presence indelibly on her unconscious mind—and now she was worried she would never be free of his memory.
Unless...
Tilting her chin to survey him with a calmness she was far from feeling, she managed to keep her voice steady. ‘What kind of marriage did you have in mind, Theo?’
His expression was inexorable. ‘There is only one kind I will consider. A proper marriage.’
And in spite of everything, Mia’s heart leapt. She looked at him with breathless hope. Did that mean... Was he actually suggesting they start over? Forget the past and do it properly this time? She swallowed. ‘A real marriage?’ she echoed, wanting—no, needing—clarification.
‘Neh.’His black eyes glittered. ‘A marriage with sex. Enough sex so that I’ll be able to get you out of my head, once and for all.’
The younger Mia would have wept to have heard such a pitiless declaration, but she was older now. Maybe not much wiser, but certainly her vision was no longer distorted by rose-tinted spectacles. Because what if Theo’s vision was the right one? She wanted him and he still wanted her, didn’t he? That much was plain. A starving person satisfied their hunger by feeding it, didn’t they? So it followed that consummating their relationship, instead ofdreamingabout consummating it, would set her free.
Because she needed that. She really did. She needed to be free of him. And this time she would be no pushover. This time she would be his equal.
She held his gaze for a long moment—long enough to see a flicker of doubt enter his eyes—and then she smiled. ‘Okay,’ she said at last. ‘I’ll do it.’
He reached out to cup her face in the palm of his hand, his thumb tracing a slow line around the trembling outline of her lips. And that touch was like magic. Like wildfire. She could feel the instant tug of heat and the slug of her pulse. The molten sweetness at her thighs. Did he realise that already she was wet with need? She ached for him. She wanted him to take her now—with an urgency which might quieten some of this heated agitation. But somehow common sense prevailed and she shook her head, even though she could feel the shiver of her body’s indignant objection. ‘No,’ she said and then, with a little more fervour, ‘No.’
He stared at her with undisguised disbelief. ‘You’ve changed your mind?’
‘No, I haven’t changed my mind, but I’m not doing it here,’ she said, pointing to the fiery ball of the sun which was about to disappear into the sea in a blaze of gold and violet. ‘I’ve waited six long years to have sex with you, Theo Aeton, and it’s still light.’
‘What’s that got to do with anything?’ he growled.
‘We could be seen,’ she said in a low voice. ‘And I don’t want one of your staff finding us.’
‘Nobody will see us. The only other person who comes in here is my gardener—who will have knocked off work a couple of hours ago.’
‘I’m not remotely interested in hearing the details of your staff rota!’ she hissed. ‘I’m just telling you that I have no intention of making out in the open air and being discovered.’
‘Not a natural risk-taker, then, Mia?’ he probed mockingly.
Momentarily wrong-footed, because his question implied a lot more experience than he was about to discover she had, Mia sought refuge in evasion. ‘I couldn’t possibly say,’ she said carelessly.
He scowled at this, raking his long fingers back through the dark mane of his hair. ‘Then we’d better go inside and find ourselves a bedroom,’ he said roughly. ‘Now.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘CONSIDERINGYOU’VEWAITED“six long years”for this,’ quoted Theo softly as he began to unbutton his shirt, ‘you don’t look particularly excited.’
Mia opened her mouth to deny his accusation, but how could she when he’d touched on a raw nerve? Though it wasn’t a lack of excitement she was feeling. It was a sheer, primitive terror which seemed to have engulfed everything else. Because her scheme appeared to have backfired on her. She had resisted his kiss in the garden, primly insisting on going inside the house to have sex as if she made those kinds of decisions every minute of the day.
She’d been afraid of losing her virginity in a rapid and undignified way, by allowing herself to get carried away. What if she’d ended up leaning against some marble statue, or lying on an uncomfortable garden lounger which might leave unattractive basket-weave patterns on her bottom? She hadn’t said a word of this to Theo, of course, citing the fear of discovery as her reason for stalling. She licked her lips. The trouble was that now Theo obviously thought she was experienced, while nothing could be further from the truth.
He had shut the door of his bedroom quietly behind them and, after sliding the final shirt button from its confinement, was surveying her with a slow scrutiny which was making her heart race.
