The Helen Bianchin Collection (Mills & Boon E-Book Collections) (152 page)

T
HE
new day's dawn brought a sense of new beginnings, and Ana rose early,
showered and dressed, then participated in the morning's hospital routine.
The obstetrician called in, she ate a healthy breakfast, then she dealt with the
discharge process prior to Luc's arrival at nine to take her home.

Petros emerged from the front door as
Luc's Mercedes drew to a halt beneath the wide portico, and he opened the
passenger door as Luc slid out from behind the wheel.

‘It's good to have you home,
Ms—'

‘Ana,'
she interrupted firmly, the glint in her eyes
fearsome. ‘If you dare call me anything else, I'll
hit
you.'

‘Very well.'

She looked at him in silent askance.

‘Ms—'

‘Just…Ana,' she said
gently.

‘You've lost that particular
skirmish,' Luc declared as he preceded Petros indoors, and the older man
hid a faint smile.

‘So it would appear.'

‘Everything is in order?'

Petros inclined his head. ‘All that
remains is for Ana to pack a bag.'

She paused mid-stride at the foot of the
stairs. ‘What do you mean,
pack
?'

Luc curved an arm along the back of her
waist and urged her towards the upper floor. ‘We're spending a few
days at the beach house.'

‘Don't you have to go into the
office?'

‘The world won't stop if
I'm not there.'

No, it wouldn't. But Luc was a man who
kept a constant eye on the business ball.

They reached the bedroom, and she surveyed
the large suite, appreciating its familiarity. Two bags reposed on the long
stand at the foot of the bed. One closed, the other empty. His laptop rested on
the floor.

Luc turned her into his arms and lowered his
head down to hers. His mouth was incredibly gentle as it brushed her own, and
she linked both hands at his nape to hold him there as she deepened the
kiss.

His hands shifted, one slipping down to cup
her bottom while the other slid up to fist her hair.

Dear heaven, she needed this. The feel of
him, his touch, his male scent, and the warmth and heat of his embrace.

A faint groan rose and died in her throat as
he trailed a path along the edge of her jaw to linger close to the sensitive
hollow beneath her earlobe, then he followed the cord at the edge of her neck
and nuzzled there before slipping down to savour the
delicate arch of her throat.

With obvious reluctance he eased back and
pressed a light kiss to the edge of her mouth. His heart beat in tune with her
own, heavy and fast.

‘Go pack,
pedhi
mou
. Otherwise we won't be heading anywhere soon.'

It didn't help that he was right,
although she conceded they had time ahead of them. Consequently she slipped out
of his arms and collected a few clothes together, then she followed Luc down to
the car.

In less than an hour they reached the beach
house. Although
beach house
was hardly an adequate
description for the delightful double-storeyed home built only metres from the
sandy foreshore. The external walls comprised tempered tinted glass, and palm
trees and shrubbery lent privacy whilst providing tranquil views out over the
ocean.

Petros had rung ahead, for there were
provisions in the pantry, fresh milk and juice in the refrigerator, and the
house was spotlessly clean.

Ana crossed the lounge and stood close to
the huge expanse of glass, drinking in the deep blue waters of the Pacific
Ocean, clear today of any craft. She could almost smell the salt-spray and feel
the crunch of sand beneath her feet.

‘Feel like a walk along the
beach?'

She turned and took hold of Luc's
outstretched hand, then together they left the house and took the
short path through the palm trees and planted shrubbery to
the bank of white sand leading down to the water.

It was a beautiful day, warm with brilliant
sunshine and hardly a cloud in the sky.

The gently curved cove appeared isolated,
and Ana had the uncanny feeling they could have been alone in the world.

They strolled down to where the sand was
packed and damp from an outgoing tide, then they followed the tide-line towards
an outcrop of rocks in the distance.

There were questions she wanted to ask, but
she was hesitant to begin, and unsure if his answers would be what she wanted to
hear.

So much had happened in the past few months.
So many misunderstandings and misconceptions. Untruths and false
accusations.

One could never go back, she reflected
sadly, or undo the things said and done. There was only one direction, and that
was forward. Yet some things in the past could affect the future if they
weren't confronted and resolved. For only then was it possible to move
on.

And one of those things in the immediate
past was Celine.

Perhaps she could begin there.

‘Did Celine mean anything to
you?' Nothing like taking the bull by the horns!

Luc stopped walking and turned towards her.
His
eyes were dark, and she could almost sense the latent
anger that simmered beneath the surface of his control.

‘No. We shared a brief relationship
several years ago,' he reiterated quietly. ‘She wanted marriage, I
didn't. I moved on, and she married someone else.'

‘Yet you continued to see each
other,' Ana pursued, and glimpsed a muscle tense at the edge of his
jaw.

‘We lived in the same city, moved in
the same social circle.' His expression assumed wry cynicism. ‘We
observed a state of polite civility.'

‘Until her divorce.'

He slid his hands up her arms to cradle her
shoulders. ‘After her divorce,' he corrected. ‘Why would I
want to have anything to do with another woman, when I have
you
?'

Something stirred deep inside and began to
unfurl. Hope. Dared she begin to
hope
?

‘She embarked on a relentless
campaign,' Ana ventured, holding his gaze.

‘I've initiated legal action
against her.' His hands slid up to cup her face. ‘She'll pay,
and pay dearly. If she has any sense, she'll relocate to another city.
Preferably another country.'

As an enemy, he was ruthless. ‘I
see.'

‘Do you, Ana?' His eyes searched
hers, dark with passion and another emotion she couldn't define.

‘Emma—'

He placed a finger to her lips, closing
them.
‘Emma was my youth,' he said gently.
‘I mourned her loss. Not so much for myself, but for the too short a time
she spent on this earth.' His mouth curved into a warm smile. ‘She
was sunshine, laughter, and she was my best friend.' He traced the outline
of her lower lip. ‘But she could never be
you
.'

She felt her bones begin to melt, and her
eyes seemed to ache with suppressed emotion.

‘You stole my heart, and captured my
soul.'

She almost swayed on her feet. Was he saying
he
loved
her?

‘Luc—'

He didn't let her finish.
‘You're my life, my love. Everything.'

Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears, and
she blinked rapidly to stem their flow. Except one spilled over and trickled
slowly down her cheek.

He followed the trail with the pad of his
thumb, and his smile was almost her undoing.

‘How could you not know,
agape mou
? Each time I held you in my arms, whenever
we made love? Didn't you feel it in the beat of my heart, my
touch?'

Oh, God, she was going to cry. ‘You
never said the words.'

‘I'm going to have to teach you
Greek.'

‘I thought—'

He gave her a gentle shake. ‘I married
you for the convenience of having a woman in my bed, a social hostess?'
His eyes became dark. ‘If that's all I wanted, I would have
remarried years ago.'

She opened her mouth, then closed it
again.

‘I love you, Ana.
Love.
The
till death us do part
kind.
Without you, I wouldn't want to live.'

She wasn't capable of saying a word.
All this time she'd thought affection was the foundation of their
marriage. Now she was filled with a wondrous disbelief.

‘Celine worked her poison with
diabolical success,' Luc continued. ‘Worse, you chose to believe
her, and nothing I said seemed to convince you otherwise.'

Diabolical success? Yes, it had been that.
Celine had known which buttons to push and how to screw each one of them
down.

‘When you left for the Coast, I
thought a few days might help you reflect and gain some perspective. Instead, it
merely worked against me.'

He shaped her cheek, and let his thumb slip
down to linger at the edge of her mouth. ‘Do you have any idea how
terrified I was of losing you?'

Her lips parted, but anything she might have
said remained locked in her throat.

‘Or how I felt when I discovered you
were pregnant with our child?'

‘You used emotional
blackmail.'

‘It was the only weapon I
had.'

‘You wanted the
child—'

‘I wanted
you
.' He brought her close and tilted her chin. ‘Sweet
Ana. Our child is a wonderful bonus, a joy I rejoice in because it represents
life
. Yours,
mine,
ours
. But make no mistake.
You
are my reason for living. My heart. My soul.'

She reached up and pulled his head down to
hers.

‘I love you. I always have. Always
will. For the rest of my life.'

Then she kissed him, deeply, emotively with
great passion, and it was a while before they broke apart to draw breath.

‘How dedicated are you to walking
along the beach?'

Her eyes held an impish twinkle that matched
the laughter in her voice, and he chose to humour her.

‘Do you have a better idea?'

She held up her hand and began counting
options off on her fingers. ‘We could walk, and talk some more. Move up
onto dry sand, sit down, admire the ocean view and reflect on the spirituality
of
being
. We could engage in a discussion about how
much longer I'm going to work.'

‘You know how I feel about you
working.'

Her eyes were large pools of brilliant
sapphire, and deep enough for a man to drown in. And he was beginning to
sink…

‘Please.' She threaded her
fingers through his own, and brought them to her lips.
‘Mornings.'

‘Three days a week.'

‘Four,' Ana amended.

‘For another two months,' he
conceded.

‘Three.'

He slid his hands up to cup her face.
‘What in hell am I going to do with you, woman?'

‘Love me,' she said solemnly.
‘You do it very well.'

‘What hope will I have if we produce a
blonde-haired, blue-eyed little imp…your image in miniature?' he
groaned, bringing his mouth down to hers.

‘She'll twist you round her
little finger at the first blink of an eye.' She offered him a delighted
smile. ‘And you'll become her devoted slave for life.'

‘Without doubt.' The thought of
holding their child for the first time almost brought him undone.

‘Of course, it could be a
boy…' A dark-haired babe who'd grow tall and strong like his
father. She felt quite misty-eyed at the image.

‘Are we all talked out yet?' Luc
teased as he curved an arm over her shoulders.

‘We could go back to the
house…'

‘I guess that's an
option,' he acceded indolently, loving the soft chuckle that escaped her
lips.

‘And indulge each other?' Ana
pretended to consider. ‘Now, there's the thing. It's not even
lunchtime.'

He took pleasure in watching her play the
game. ‘Do you have a specific time in mind?'

‘Well,' she began carefully,
‘given that I'm slightly incapacitated,' she indicated the
dressing on one forearm, and her bandaged hand, ‘it would mean
you'll have to do most of the work. Perhaps you might like to rest
first?'

‘Minx.'

‘Of course, the foreplay needn't
be too…' she trailed to a delicate pause
‘…energetic.'

His deep, throaty laughter startled a
resting gull, and it flew into the air uttering a shrill squawk before circling
towards the rocky outcrop.

‘Let's just see whose energy is
depleted first, hmm?' He swept an arm beneath her knees and lifted her
high against his chest.

‘Put me down.' A delicious
chuckle found voice. ‘What if someone is watching? Whatever will they
think?'

‘That we're two people very much
in love.'

And they'd be right. Thank God.
‘Then it's OK.' She pressed a kiss to his temple. ‘But
please put me down.' Her eyes were level with his own, and for a moment it
seemed as if they each caught a glimpse into each other's soul. ‘I
want you to conserve your energy.'

Her smile melted his heart. ‘And
you're doubtful I will, if I carry you back to the house?'

‘Well, I wouldn't want you to be
diminished in any way.'

Luc let her slip carefully onto her feet,
then he looped an arm around her shoulders. ‘Home,
agape mou
. I need to hold you, touch, make love to you.'

She turned her head to look at him as they
began retracing their steps. ‘Ditto.'

It had been, Ana reflected much later as the
sun sank down below the horizon, the most perfect day.

Luc stood behind her, his arms curved round
her waist, and she leaned back against him, exulting in the feel of his lips as
he sought the sensitive hollow at the edge of her neck.