Mediterranean Tycoons. JACQUELINE BAIRD
back to set her free.
Selina stood in the middle of the bedroom, emotion at his words blocking her throat. She swallowed hard and searched his face for the truth. The rigidity of his features was betrayed by a muscle pulsing under the tanned skin. Her golden eyes met his and she saw his heart in his eyes, the mask of arrogance stripped away to reveal the vulnerable man beneath. She believed him, and yet she was still nervous.
‘Are you really sure about this … us …?’
‘I was never more certain of anything in my life. And if you still don’t believe me—tough.’ The vulnerable penitent gone, he reached for her and swung her up in his arms and onto the bed, pinned her beneath him. ‘I will have to convince you—in my defence, I love you.’
‘Wait …’ But he bent his dark head and took her mouth with a hard, hungry kiss that sent liquid fire flowing through her veins, and Selina wrapped her arms around him and gave in to the inevitable magic of his touch.
‘I worship you, Selina,’ he groaned staring down into her wide, gleaming gold eyes. ‘Everything that you are—funny, caring, compassionate, with a heart like a lion, beautiful inside and out. My life is meaningless without you,’ he told her throatily, his mouth grazing hers again.
Between kisses and caresses he stripped off their clothes, and with his great body half covering her they kissed—a slow, deep kiss full of promises of love and passion that made Selina’s heart tremble. Lost in the wonder of his love, with eager hands she caressed his powerful body, her eyes closing in ecstasy as Rion worshipped every inch of her with hands and mouth and husky words of love, until finally they were one in every way—heart, body and soul.
Selina stirred happily in the protective curve of Rion’s arm and glanced around. Pulling herself up on one elbow, she looked down at him.
‘Do you really own this hotel or did you just say that to shut me up?’ she asked with a grin, stroking her hand across his broad chest.
Rion groaned and caught her hand in his. ‘Yes, I’d never lie to you. I own quite a few properties in the centres of major cities—they are a good investment.’
She hid a smile. The tycoon was talking. Then she remembered. ‘You told me that before. I should thank you for keeping quiet,’ she said seriously. ‘Bratchet did go back to Cambodia, and he was arrested, but he couldn’t bribe his way out of it this time and his trial is in a few months’ time in America.’
‘That’s great.’ Rion’s eyes hardened for an instant. He already knew. By contacting the right, if not the most law-abiding, people he had made sure of it. Where bribery was concerned there was always a higher bidder. It was not something he ever did, but with Bratchet he had made an exception. But with Selina, the woman he loved, sprawled naked over his chest he wasn’t about to tell her and spoil the moment. ‘I dropped out of the deal when you dropped out of my life.’
And, wrapping a hand around the back of her head, he kissed her and showed her all over again how much he loved her.
A long time later she opened her eyes to see Rion staring down at her, a wary expression on his handsome face. ‘What?’ she asked languorously.
‘You have not said yes, you will marry me.’
Selina burst out laughing. ‘I don’t think you ever asked. You simply told me.’
‘So will you marry me—again?’
‘Yes.’
He kissed her brow, a decidedly smug smile on his face, and smoothed back the tangled mass of hair from her face.
‘But I am thinking I don’t want to get married—’
‘What?’ Rion exclaimed.
‘Let me finish.’ She grinned. ‘I was going to say in Greece—because I had no luck last time. I would like it to be just the two of us at a registry office in England.’
‘Fine.’ Rion heaved a deep breath, his moment of panic over. ‘I will arrange it as soon as we get back—and this time will be different, I promise. No more working sixteen-hour days.’
Suddenly Selina wasn’t so sure she was doing the right thing. It had all happened so fast. And Rion had swept her off her feet once before.
‘I’ll believe that when I see it—and what about the other women?’ she blurted, memories of the past coming back to haunt her.
Rion’s mouth tightened. He was not accustomed to explaining his behaviour to anyone, but he realised if he had talked or listened to Selina in the beginning he would never have lost her, and if he wanted to win Selina’s trust again he had to be one-hundred-percent honest with her.
‘From the moment I set eyes on you I never looked at another woman until long after the divorce.’
‘I find that hard to believe. The night we met, you didn’t have a conference call—you had a date with a woman called Chloe. Iris showed me the picture. Though I’m surprised Chloe only gave you four out of ten for performance,’ she couldn’t help teasing.
‘Iris showed you too damn much,’ he snorted. ‘I did have a date with Chloe and I intended taking her to bed. Is that what you want to hear? But after I met you I took her to a club, took her home and left her at the door. She was angry because I didn’t take her to bed—a woman scorned … As for the others—I didn’t even know them. And the reason I worked so much when we were married was because your grandfather was a crafty old villain. The deal was my father’s, but after it went through my father took off on his cruise and asked me to sort it out. Stakis Shipping was in a much worse state than had been presented to him and it took me three months to save the damn thing from going bust.’
‘Oh no! Though, knowing my grandfather, I can believe that,’ she said. And with a questioning look she added, ‘But you did know about the deal, because you married me.’
‘Why are we talking about this now? Yes, my father asked me, and I gave him an emphatic no. But to humour him I went to the dinner, and you know the rest.’
‘Yes, you thought you’d got me pregnant.’
‘I took one look at you and wanted you, and after we made love I thought you might be pregnant. It only took one look six years later for me to want you just as badly—more so. In fact I think I loved you all along. But finding a man in your bed so enraged me I blocked you from my mind. It was the only way I could deal with the fury I felt. And I have carried on working sixteen-hour days ever since, so that should tell you something.’ He tightened his arm around Selina. He wasn’t going to lose her now.
‘What about Lydia? Iris said you were still in love with her?’
Rion chuckled. ‘You’re jealous—that is what this is all about—and trust me you have no need to be. You remember the woman Lydia was with when I introduced you? That is her lover—has been for years.’ He told Selina the whole story.
‘But she is married,’ Selina said, round-eyed with amazement.
‘You are still so naive in some ways.’ He chuckled. ‘Lydia would have married any man. There had been the odd rumour about her sexual preferences, and her parents are the strict high-society types. She could never come out as a lesbian. That is why she married Bastias. He is old enough and flattered enough to have got her and Lydia can get away with anything. She is a nice woman. I have known her since I was about twelve and we’ve stayed friends. The reason I was arguing with the paparazzi guy was that he was asking Lydia awkward questions about her girlfriend, who was actually standing behind us at the time.’
Selina laughed, feeling mightily relieved. ‘My, what a colourful life you lead, Rion.’
‘Well, you have heard about mine, but I won’t ask you about yours. It is enough to know you are mine now,’ Rion declared huskily.
‘You know all there is to tell. I have only had one lover—you.’
Rion