Greek Tycoon, Wayward Wife(53)

‘Rion, I wanted to bring you the pleasure you brought me. I didn’t want to experience it alone; I wanted to experience it with you. I wanted to experience everything with you. That’s what marriage is about.’

Rion nodded with more than a hint of self-recrimination as he truly understood for the first time the damage he had done to his marriage all those nights he’d worked late, failing to see that she didn’t care about money, that she just wanted to be with him.

‘It took the thought of you leaving to make me realise that—to realise that you were right about me being obsessed with making it on my own. After Jason—’ His voice was thick with emotion. ‘After Jason’s death I was so determined not to waste one moment of the life he’d been denied—to become a success and to prove men like Spyros wrong, to make sure that I was giving you the life you deserved—that it didn’t occur to me that what really matters is sharing life’s experiences with someone you love.’

She gave a sad smile and nodded, trying to contain her soaring heart. ‘I bet if Jason could tell you what he missed the most it wouldn’t be not having all of this, but not being here by your side, to share it with you.’

He managed the smallest of laughs. ‘And trying to beat me at it.’ The glazed look in his eyes cleared. ‘I’m sorry I never let you share my life properly, Libby. I’m sorry I just assumed—so many things. And I wish…’ He raised the brochures still clutched in his right hand before dejectedly placing them on the windowsill. ‘I wish we could have lived out our dreams together.’

Libby looked up into his liquid brown eyes, and this time she let her heart soar. In doing so, all the wounds which had been inflicted upon it began to heal, as if it had been doused with a miracle cure. Hope returned. No—more than hope, faith. She wasn’t entirely sure how it was possible, but she knew it was real. She could feel it.

Slowly she pushed back against the door until the latch clicked behind her. This time the noise had never sounded better. Then she reached down into to the flat front pocket of her suitcase and pulled out the sheaf of divorce papers.

‘And I’m sorry that I wasn’t ready to share my life either, that I was so preoccupied with myself that I never tried to understand you. But I don’t see any reason why we can’t start now, do you?’ she whispered.

His eyes blazed with delight in exactly the way she’d been hoping, and it was the final confirmation she needed. He hadn’t signed the divorce petition because he’d wanted to. He’d signed it because he loved her, because he’d thought it was what she wanted. It wasn’t. This was what she wanted, what she’d always wanted, only it had taken them five years to be ready to open their hearts and cherish it. Frantically, elatedly, she took the divorce petition in her hands and tore it into tiny pieces, flinging them in the air so they rained down on them like confetti. Or snow.

Rion’s mouth slid into a wide, wide smile, and he reached his hands around her waist, closing the remaining distance between them.

‘Wait!’ she cried. ‘I have these to go as well.’ She reached down into the pocket of her suitcase again and produced a sheet of foiled pills.

Rion looked at her in shock and delight, but then his face grew sombre. ‘You know, nothing would please me more than having a child with you, Libby, but…do you mind if we wait just for a little while?

Libby’s expression faltered. ‘Oh?’

‘It’s just there are so many things I want us to do together first.’

‘Oh!’ This time the sound was pure ecstasy on her lips. ‘You mean we should research some Delikaris Experiences for two?’ Her eyes danced. ‘No, Rion, I don’t mind at all.’

‘You’re certain about that?’ He furrowed his brow in concern.

She snaked her arms around his neck and whispered in his ear. ‘I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.’

He drew back, just enough to look her in the eye, his voice deadly serious. ‘Then clearly I have a lot of work to do.’

Libby cocked one eyebrow. ‘Work?’

‘Indeed—because there’s one thing you should be more certain of than anything else in your life.’ He grinned, catching her wrists and gently pressing her against the wall. ‘And that’s that this is a whole lot more than a passing attraction. This is love, gineka mou. But don’t worry. I fully intend to spend the rest of my life convincing you of it.’

And with that he kissed her, with more passion than she’d ever dreamed possible. A passion that matched her own, and that was accompanied by the greatest sense of freedom Libby had ever known. The freedom of loving, and of truly being loved in return.