The Good Greek Wife? (14 page)

It didn't matter whether Zarek loved her or not. He wanted her and that was enough. She wouldn't ask for anything more. She couldn't ask for it, for fear that he would tell her what she already knew deep down was the darkest truth. That he had nothing to give her but his passion.

But if she could entice him back into her bed then perhaps she could keep him with her at least.

‘Penny?' Zarek's rough—voiced prompting told her that she had been standing there for too long without speaking. ‘What else is there?'

‘What else is there?' she echoed, looking into his face and knowing there was only one answer. If his passion was all he felt for her, all he would give her, then it would be enough. She had enough love for the both of them and she shared that blazing, burning physical passion too. Without it life was just
not worth living but with it she had Zarek and the wonderful, glorious excitement they could create between them.

She was not going to give up on that very easily.

‘What else? Well, to my mind there's only one thing worth bothering about. And that is—no…'

She caught herself up deliberately, tilted her head slightly to one side as she gazed deep into the darkness of his eyes. Slowly she slid her tongue out and slicked it across her bottom lip, smiling faintly as she watched his dark eyes drop down to follow the small movement.

‘No, I don't think I'll tell you—I'll show you.'

Leaning forward, she pressed her mouth to Zarek's, feeling the sudden tiny start of shock, the faint gasp of his breath in between his lips.

‘Show you exactly what I've learned since you were last here.'

And taking the two small steps it needed to be close up against the hard warmth of his lean body, she pressed herself to him, moulding her frame to his as she linked her arms around his neck, tangled her fingers in the dark slippery silk of his hair, and drew his head down to her so that she could deepen the embrace.

‘I've learned that
this
is the only thing that matters.'

I'
VE
learned that this is the only thing that matters.

There was something in that sentence that jarred, sticking a mental knife in just when Zarek least expected—or wanted—it. But he didn't have time or the inclination to stop and consider just what it was that nagged at him. Penny's lips were on his, the taste of her filling his mouth. The sweet scent of her body was all around him, the warmth of her skin against his.

This was what he'd longed for since his memory had come back. Before that, he had remembered her in his subconscious, in heated, yearning flashes, in hot, erotic dreams that had him tossing and turning through the night, awakening soaked in sweat, with his heart racing as if he had run the race of his life.

And the worst part of waking had been the hunger, the craving that had filled his sleep and that still lingered long after he had woken, even after he had drenched himself in the coldest shower possible. In his sleep he had reached out to the warm and willing woman that aroused his senses, only to find that when he opened his eyes there was no one there.

That was not going to happen this time.

This time the woman he remembered was safely in his arms, her mouth taking his, the swell of her breasts pressed
up against his chest. This time was no dream from which he had any fear of waking. It was real, it was hot, it was the fulfilment of his sensual fantasises and he was going to take full advantage of it.

In fact it was more than he had ever dreamed of. Because in those dreams, the woman he now knew as his wife had been warm and willing, but a little hesitant, almost softly shy as she responded to his touch, his kiss. She had been responsive but not proactive. He had been the one to initiate intimacy while she had been the giver, opening softly to him, welcoming him, but not taking the initiative.

The woman in his arms now was all forwardness and enticement, her actions coming close to demand. Her mouth took his with hunger, her tongue dancing with his in a wild, erotic provocation. Her rounded hips pressed against his hot and aching sex, making him groan aloud in barely controlled need in the same moments that her fingers tugged at the buttons on his shirt, ripping them open as if she couldn't wait to touch and taste his burning flesh. The moist pressure of her lips against his hardened nipple made him jolt sharply as if a sudden bolt of electricity had shot right through him.

‘Glikia mou…'
The words sounded rough and raw, coming from a throat that was tight with the tension of need. ‘Not so fast. This has been a long time coming and we have all the time in the world. Slow down.'

She didn't want to slow down, Penny told herself. She didn't want to give him, or herself, any time to think. They might have all the time in the world, but only if she could show him that they were meant to be together. If she could convince him that she was the woman he needed, the woman he couldn't live without.

And the way to do that was through the blazing passion
that had always fired between them in the past. A hunger so hot she had felt it might almost melt her bones in its furnace, bringing her to her knees before it. In the past, in their marriage bed, she had always been a little shy, always allowed him to take the lead, to be the seducer and she the seduced. But that had been when she had believed that their marriage would have time and space in which to grow, and deepen. Time that she had thought she had lost completely when he had gone missing. Time she no longer had now that he was home.

And so she pressed herself even closer up against him, almost pushing him backwards until he was hard up against the wall, his shirt ripped from his back, the golden planes of his chest exposed to the hungry attentions of her mouth and tongue.

‘I don't want to slow down,' she muttered, sighing, against his skin, inhaling the clean musky scent of him that sent her senses spiralling as if under the influence of some potent, intoxicating drug. ‘I want you now.'

‘And I…' Zarek managed before she closed his mouth again with hers, letting her hands take over from her lips, touching, stroking, teasing. She even let her nails score a delicate path down to his waist, making him jerk in wild, uncontrolled response.

‘Eisai o sizigos mou.'

From somewhere she dragged up one of the phrases in Greek that he had taught her.

‘You are my husband…you—
ise o adras mou
—you are my man. And I want my man—I want him now.'

‘Gamoto!'

Zarek's rough curse was forced out of him as she deliberately let her wandering hands slide down to where the heat and power of his erection strained against the zip on his
trousers, his choking moan making her smile with a new and very welcome sense of the power she had over him.

But as she fumbled with the buckle on his belt, tugging it free with a sense of impatience, Zarek suddenly changed the mood, the balance of the moment. No longer content to be the one who was under sensual assault, he shifted, changed position and became the one who was in control. Capturing her hands, her arms, he lifted her bodily from the floor and carried her across the room to where the long, low couch stood before the empty fireplace.

‘And I want my woman,' he muttered roughly, laying her down on the cushions and coming down beside her before she even had time to snatch in a much-needed, hungry breath.

He was much more efficient at dealing with her clothes than she had been with his and it was only moments before the tee shirt and jeans were tossed aside, her underwear following them. His own trousers were dropped to the floor as Zarek came over her naked, hungry body, crushing her into the yielding cushions with the force of his weight and strength.

His skin was hot against hers, his hands rousing her to even greater heights of hunger, and she urged him on with moaning, hungry cries that seemed to drive him to the edge of distraction. When she combined them with insistent, urgent, provocative caresses that had him almost snarling her name in a wild blend of need and encouragement, he lost control completely, pushing her legs wide apart with the forceful pressure of one knee and driving himself into her body with barely a heartbeat's pause.

But Penny hadn't wanted any pause. This wonderful, this total possession was all she had wanted and she arched herself against him with a cry of delight, raising her hips to meet him, to take him fully into her where she had wanted him so long and where she had feared she would never ever feel him again.

‘Zarek—yes!'

With her lips and her hands she encouraged him in the storm of sensual passion that had them both in its grip, fingers closing over the strength of his shoulders, digging into the tight hard muscles she found there, urging him on. Above her she saw his face, set in the hard, determined lines of passion, his eyes glazed with need, a sharp line of colour etched along his carved cheekbones.

‘Oh, Zarek—yes. My man—my husband and my—'

Somehow still retaining the tiniest bit of rational thought, but only just in time, she caught back the betraying final word my
love
. But even if she had let it escape, she doubted if he would have heard it. And a moment later she too was incapable of speech, of thought. She was flying, soaring, reaching for the sun, the stars, losing herself completely in the wonder of the fulfilment she had hungered for for so long.

The explosion of ecstasy was so powerful that she would have sworn she actually lost consciousness for a moment or two, holding onto Zarek by pure instinct, welcoming his powerful climax into her yielding body for as long as she possibly could. Only when he collapsed against her with a cry of satisfaction did she allow herself to let go, to fall back against the couch and let herself float on the heated golden waves of the aftermath of total pleasure.

She had no idea how long she lay there, drifting in and out of consciousness. It was only when some small sense of reality began to creep back into her world that she felt Zarek sigh and lift his head. A moment later he had rolled away from her, lying on his back beside her. Drawing in his breath in a rough, uneven sound, he reached up and raked both hands roughly through his hair, cursing in dark Greek phrases as he did so.

‘Zarek?' It was all that she could manage but a rush of
concern forced its way through the glowing haze that still throbbed inside her head. ‘What…?'

He moved again, stirring restlessly at her side.

‘We didn't use protection.'

If it was possible to freeze while her breath was still ragged and uneven, her chest still heaving, and her heart racing as if she had run the fastest marathon ever, then Penny froze. At least her thoughts did, her brain seeming to come to a complete halt as if under the effects of a powerful punch to her jaw. And in spite of the warmth of the morning, the sun that was streaming through the window, she suddenly felt as if she were sheathed in ice from head to toe, shivering violently as a result.

But it was the terrible sense of shock and horror that was making her tremble. The cold that was creeping through her body was created by a sense of horror and disbelief rather than any effect of the weather.

‘What…?'

She tried to ask a question but it seemed to evaporate on her tongue, leaving her mouth opening and closing until she felt she must look like a stranded fish, gasping for breath.

‘What did you say?' she managed at last, but her voice was little more than a croak and she could barely hear the words herself.

Zarek caught them though and he turned his dark head to glance at her briefly, coldly. Then almost immediately he looked away again, throwing his head back on the cushions as he stared up at the ceiling.

‘I think you heard me,' he drawled coldly. ‘But just to make certain—I realised that we didn't use any protection. I wasn't expecting…unless you're still on the pill?'

‘No, I'm not.'

It was as she said the words that the full implications of what she had said hit home. Suddenly finding that she could move, she flung herself upright on the settee, twisted round to stare at him.

‘No, I'm not!'

‘Then I think we could be in trouble here.'

A cynically mocking sideways glance from those dark, dark eyes challenged her, draining all the earlier heat from her body from her and leaving her with a devastating sensation of being totally bloodless, any strength fleeing from every nerve in the space of a shaken, wretched heartbeat. She knew that her skin must have lost all colour and that her own eyes were wide and staring, their blue colour probably clouded with the brutal sense of shock and disbelief.

Zarek by contrast looked totally relaxed and at his ease. Totally unconcerned by his nudity, his long body stretched out full length on the couch, narrow feet resting on the padded arm at the far end. His hands were linked behind his neck, supporting his head, heavy lids dropping down to conceal his brilliant jet eyes from her. Lying like this, he looked like nothing so much as a sleepy, sexually replete jungle cat relaxing in the sunshine. But Penny knew only too well that the appearance was deceptive. Make the wrong move—or say the wrong thing—and the contented pussycat would turn instantly into a powerful, predatory tiger hunting down his prey and determined to deliver a brutal retribution for the disturbing of his rest.

Just for a moment those hooded lids lifted, flashed one quick, coldly assessing glance in her direction…

‘One thing's for sure, there's no way you'll be able to use that desertion excuse for divorce now,' Zarek continued, the words practically a darkly dangerous purr. ‘The two-year separation you accused me of yesterday is well and truly over.'

She'd thought she'd been distressed enough yesterday. Thought that she was too afraid to go through with making love with Zarek when she felt she didn't know him well enough after his long absence and all she had learned about him in that time, to risk being intimate with him. Now she had given into the yearning hunger his touch awoke in her and look where it had led her.

Feeling suddenly very grubby and tainted, shamed and terribly used, Penny couldn't bear to stay beside him any longer. Pushing herself away from him with a force that carried her across the rug, to land uncomfortably in one of the big padded armchairs opposite, she curled up into a defensive bundle, wrapping her arms around herself to hold herself together, trying to stop the shaking that racked her body.

‘That's what it was all about!'

She couldn't keep the horror from her voice or disguise the disgust she felt at the way she'd been treated.

‘That's all it was—a way to keep me as your wife—trap me into sleeping with you so that you could… That was what this was about.'

‘Not at all,' Zarek told her calmly, easing himself into an upright position. ‘I wanted to remind you of what we had between us—but I should also point out to you that you were the one who started all this. You were the one who said that
“this is the only thing that matters”…
'

He echoed her words, her voice, with such devastating accuracy that Penny couldn't control a painful shudder of reaction at hearing what she had said. And hearing just how she had said it.

Had she really sounded so huskily seductive, so provocative? She had never dared to do anything like that in all the time they had been married. She had felt the passion, adored
making love with Zarek, but she had never had the real confidence to show it or take the initiative. At the beginning it had all been too new and she had felt so shy with this amazing man who seemed, unbelievably, to want her so much. And then when she had discovered that he only wanted her to provide him with an heir, shock and pain had made her withdraw from him, their lovemaking never the same again. The thought that she might have lost him for ever had changed all that. It was no wonder that Zarek believed she was different.

‘I thought that was what you wanted.'