Marrying The Boss (31 page)

"
And yet it was you who said, you couldn't believe me if I
told you the truth." Spencer shook his head. "Do you still think
that, Kate?"

Believe him.
Kate inhaled.

She needed him. That was the truth. More
than she needed her next breath. But it was still so difficult to
admit the disturbing fact. Everything she had been through before
meeting this man had made her cautious. Her heart hammered into
overdrive. The distracting, sensual memory of his lovemaking came
flooding back to her with mind numbing force. She cast him a wary
look and bit back the truth. "What about your wife?"

"
Ex-wife." His eyes became locked with
hers, a dark smoky blue in the sunlight. He heaved a weary sounding
sigh. "Are you still intent on leaving me? Running away again,
Kate?"

"
Maybe." She swallowed. The gently chiding,
softly spoken question coiled through her senses. "Honestly, I have
no idea what I'm doing." She shook her head, somehow managing to
hold herself together, against the wanton desire to throw herself
headlong into his arms and hug him. "Not any more."

"
Trusting what's in your heart does take
some getting used to." Spencer began to laugh, a low, rippling
sound that echoed off the rocks around them. "Oh, Kate, my sweet,
beautiful Kate, you had me so worried you were actually going to go
through with leaving me. That I'd have to come after you. Find you,
no matter where you hid yourself."

Kate couldn't breathe. "I tried. I really
did, but I couldn't seem to go through with the idea of leaving you
and Jamie behind."

Spencer sobered. His darkened eyes held a
gleam she couldn't fathom. "She's gone away, Kate. Katerina has
left me and Jamie. Again. For good this time. She won't be
back."

"
Left you...?" Kate's heart skipped a beat.
"What do you mean, I don't understand."

"
Nic came over and collected her early this
morning. In his private helicopter no less. Jamie was very
impressed. Now it seems the results of a test Nic had done last
month were very encouraging. They've convinced him he could father
a child after all. He said he couldn't live without her anyway. She
made a play of resisting, but it didn't last. The man knows how to
play to her weaknesses and dangled some material incentives she
couldn't resist. You could say they were made for each
other."

He shook his head in
disbelief.
"They even invited me to the wedding."

Kate remembered seeing the black
helicopter flying overhead. She tried, but she couldn't take any of
it in. "And her baby?"

"
The baby isn't mine, Kate," Spencer
replied quietly. "If there is a baby. Katerina wouldn't let me
examine her. I guess she was working up to getting me to sleep with
her and then taking events from there. I never saw her in Sydney,
you must believe that, if nothing else. Now Nic has the chance to
be the man with all the answers. I doubt they made it beyond the
nearest five star hotel."

"
Oh," Kate stared at him. She couldn't
think of anything else to say.

"
I never had any intention of becoming
involved again with my ex-wife through any conscious choice. I've
been down that road once. It wasn't pleasant. But we had things we
needed to discuss. Jamie for one, after seeing she couldn't get me
back, she agreed to give up all claim to my son. No more court
battles or threatened custody suits. Once that was settled I came
up here to think. To make some decisions and find a way to get you
to take me back."

"
Oh," Kate said again, aware she sounded
inane, but she couldn't help it. "So, did I. But, where does that
leave us?"

"
What do you want, Kate?" Spencer answered
her question with one of his own. "I need to know. Whatever it is
I'll try and get it for you. Whatever you need,
remember?"

"
What do I want?" Kate felt happiness
flooding through her senses. "Oh, Spencer, what I want might be a
little more than you're prepared to give."

She saw him hesitate, then swallow,
uncertainty creasing his brow. "I could try," he muttered. "Tell
me."

"
You, Spencer Stelanos." Kate couldn't hold
back her smile. "You and only you. And Jamie. I could never want
anyone or anything else."

She saw him sag with relief. He came
closer. "And here's me thinking you were really set on leaving me
as well."

"
How could I leave, when all I want is
right here in front of me?"

"
I think, in the last few days, I lost ten
years of my life." Spencer gathered her close, folding her tight
against his chest. "Don't ever scare me like that
again."

"
You scared me." Kate kissed the firm line
of his darkened jaw. "You seemed so set on sending me away. I found
I couldn't let you do that. I was willing to take the risk that you
did love me. That I could have it all, with no regrets."

"
I do love you, but how could I ask you to
stay with Katerina determined to stir things up between us? I told
you I would never hurt you and I didn't want you to think I was
anything like Eric. I needed to be free before I could come to you.
Or come after you. I would have found you, Kate, if only to
convince you that I truly do love you. There could never be anyone
else. My ex-wife didn't want me, but she tried to make sure nobody
else did either."

"
I want you," Kate murmured. "I'll always
want you. I'd already decided to stay and fight."

"
I'm glad. I want you too, Kate Martin,
forever and always. Will that be long enough do you
think?"

"
I'll let you know," Kate reached to pull
his head down to hers. "Let's give it a few years and then we'll
see."

She stared up into his sinfully beautiful
eyes as a sudden thought assailed her. "Why did you take off your
wedding ring that night you asked me to marry you,
Spencer?"

Spencer shook his head. "I told you that
first day at the surgery that I'd never met a good enough reason to
take it of, until the first day I saw you. You gave me that reason.
I was so afraid to make a new commitment and open myself up to
being let down again. So it was easier to pretend I didn't need.
But I need you, Kate. And I love you so much I don't know what I
would do if I lost you again."

"
I'm glad." Kate smiled, all her love for
this man shining in her misty eyes. "I love you so
much."

Spencer released a long sigh, nibbling a
sensuous path along the line of her jaw. "Time to put this new
relationship of ours into recovery, Dr. Martin?"

"
Well past time, Dr. Stelanos." Kate pulled
his dark head closer to hers, taking his lips in a kiss that
promised everything she had kept hidden for so long.

After a while they went down the mountain
hand in hand and drove in convoy to Spencer's house to tell Jamie
their news. The little boy was so excited he could hardly speak.
Edith and Kevin were also there, looking after their small
charge.

"
I told you so," Edith said, giving Kate a
smug smile as she embraced her. "I wish you both every happiness.
You deserve it all."

After Jamie calmed down enough to tell Kate
he was glad she was going to be his mama, Edith and Kevin tactfully
took him away for the night, leaving Spencer and Kate alone to
talk.

He reached to fold her into his arms
holding her close. "Marry me, Kate? For the best possible reason
this time."

She kissed the arrogant jut of his chin.
"I thought you'd never ask again, Dr. Stelanos."

He growled, low in his throat. "Is that a yes this
time?"

Kate smiled at him. "Yes, Spencer, I will marry
you."

"
Good, because there's something I want to
do and I can't wait any longer." He gathered her up in his arms and
carried her into his bedroom, kicking the door closed behind
him.

Several hours later, Spencer
lifted his head from the pillow of his wide comfortable bed. So far
they
hadn't
gotten around to doing much talking.

Their intense emotional communication had
been without words. He reached to run the backs of his fingers
slowly down the length of Kate's spine. "Are you
asleep?"

"
Mmm." Kate shifted lazily along the side
of his chest, tucking herself more securely into him. "Yes, I'm
asleep."

Spencer grinned. "You realize my mother
will want to throw us the biggest wedding of the Melbourne social
year? There can be no escape."

Kate rolled sideways to push her leg through
his, winding her body closer. She lifted a hand to begin drawing
lazy patterns around his navel with her fingertip. His flesh flexed
beneath her touch as he caught his breath on a soft hiss of freshly
dawning need.

Kate smiled. "What's wrong with that? I'm
happy to let your mother organize everything."

"
Because I want you all to myself." Spencer
exhaled against the erotic circles being painted on his skin. "I
want to get married in the garden and invite only our closest
friends and family. If my mother has her way there will be flowers
and page boys and five hundred guests and parties both before and
afterwards that will go on for days."

Kate lifted her head, shifting her hands
so she was settled across him, her lips a whisper from the stubborn
point of his unshaven chin. "I don't care. I want to marry you.
Whatever it takes, I'll do it. Besides, I don't want to get off
side with my future mother-in-law. Not before the
ceremony."

"
Spoken like a true Greek wife," Spencer
teased. "Though you may change your mind once you meet the
Australian side of the family. They can take some getting used
to."

"
I'll love them just like I love you." Kate
lowered her mouth to his bronzed skin. "So much sometimes it
hurts."

She felt Spencer tense. His breathing
stopped. She ran the tip of her tongue teasingly along the rigid
line of his pectoral muscle, moving upwards slowly, leaving a trail
of hot little kisses in her wake.

"
I love you." She punctuated every word
with an open mouthed kiss. It took her breath away to have the
freedom just to be able to say those three small words. "Now and
for always."

"
And children?" Spencer questioned softly,
his fingers detailing the soft lines of her face, before tangling
in her hair, drawing her towards his mouth. "My mother will insist
on grandchildren."

"
Oh, at least ten." Kate teased lightly as
she rose over him.

"
Ten?" Spencer swallowed and blinked.

"
Well, maybe six." Kate chuckled at his
stunned expression. "Jamie needs company. It'll do him good to have
a few brothers and sisters to boss around. I hated being an only
child."

"
A few sounds good. I'm sure I could manage
a few." Spencer kissed her before rolling onto his side, pressing
her body into the soft mattress beneath them.

"
I will love you, and only you, forever and
always," Kate said very slowly, in her best Greek.

"
Not bad," Spencer approved, taking her
wrists to stretch her arms above her head. His look of love
speaking more to her heart than simple words could ever say.
"Later, much later, I'll teach you some more words. My father is
going to be very impressed."

Kate's
smile became teasing as she moved
sinuously against him. "So, what do you have in mind to do
now?"

"
Fool around some," Spencer growled softly,
lowering his mouth to hers. "If you want six children, we'd better
make a start. I'm not getting any younger."

"
I guess we have time..." Kate breathed
raggedly.

With the smile on her lips and no more
regrets shadowing her heart Kate moved deeper into Spencer's
sensual embrace as his body covered hers fully, knowing he would
take care for her, protect her, no matter where their life took
them. Their future would always be what they made of it,
together...

#####