‘I suppose we should get up for dinner...or whatever they call it here,’ Jax mused hours later. ‘I’m being a very rude guest.’
‘No, I know my sisters and they know me. They’ll have tucked Bella into bed and gone on as normal. There’s no pressure, no expectations. Everyone’s family here and that’s just the way it is. I love it, especially because you’re here too now,’ Lucy confided, tucking a sleepy head into the crux of a strong brown shoulder and dreamily taking in the familiar scent of his skin, soothed by his proximity and the glorious high of knowing herself loved at last.
‘I love you,’ Jax muttered, easing her closer, marvelling at how easy it had become to say those words that he had refused to think about for so long.
‘Love you,’ Lucy whispered, dropping off to sleep, because she had lain awake sleepless while they were apart.
And Jax smiled in the darkness, recognising that for the first time in his life he was truly, joyously happy.
‘This place looks amazing,’ Polly carolled as she stood in the marble hall of the house on Tifnos and admired the fabulous Christmas decorations and the glittering tree. ‘It’s wonderful that you have a home big enough to take us all too, so we can get together like this to celebrate.’
‘You can thank my father-in-law, Heracles, for that. He built big.’
‘Was that the little man who kept on bowing to me?’ Polly whispered uneasily.
‘Yes, that was him, very subdued at being in the royal presence,’ Lucy remarked, stifling her amusement.
In the three years Lucy had been married to Jax a great deal had changed. Her father-in-law was a frequent visitor, their children providing a major draw. Lucy had warmed up to Heracles considerably once she’d realised that he genuinely adored children and his grandchildren most of all. Yes, she had had another baby, a little boy called Dmitri, who was almost two years old. Their lengthy unplanned holiday in Dharia after their reconciliation had extended the family. She had enjoyed her second pregnancy much more than the first because she had had Jax by her side and Jax had been scientifically fascinated by every change she had gone through on the road to producing his son. He had shared everything with her and supported her right through the nausea in the early stages to every medical appointment and finally the birth.
During those three years only Lucy’s son had been born but Polly was expecting again, freely admitting that she wanted a large family. Ellie had declared that two children would do her nicely but one never knew with Ellie, who could be prone to saying one thing and then quietly doing another. As for Lucy and Jax, they were still young and, while being quite happy with the children they had, they thought that some day they might plan a third child. Ellie had already lectured them hilariously about birth control, pointing out that two accidental conceptions was inexcusable, and her audience had only laughed.
Kreon and Iola were regular visitors on the island and Kreon and Heracles politely avoided each other at family gatherings. Her father had faced bankruptcy proceedings the year before and Jax had bought a small business for him and placed him in it, pointing out that Kreon needed to be kept occupied and independent. His kindness had almost reduced Lucy to tears and she was relieved that Jax had finally begun to see and understand Kreon’s essential good-heartedness.
‘He’s your father and you love him,’ Jax had said to Lucy. ‘We have to do our best for him. After all, you put up with my father and forgive his foibles.’
Jax was a wonderful husband in every way, Lucy reflected gratefully, feeling very blessed. After spending so many years of craving the feeling of being special to someone she had finally found a safe harbour.
Leaving Polly to get settled in with her children and explaining that Ellie had gone straight to bed after a hospital late night shift, Lucy went off to put Dmitri down for a nap because he got very cross and whiny when he got too tired and with all the children in the house and the excitement of the Christmas season, he needed more sleep. The little boy snuggled into his cot, clutching his toy elephant. He was as blonde as his mother, which had been a surprise to his parents, but he too had Jax’s green eyes and olive complexion.
Lucy looked out of the window and saw the older children down on the beach with Rashad and Rio. She could just make out four-year-old Bella in her yellow dress skipping through the surf with Polly’s younger son, Hassan, and Ellie’s Teresina. The cousins had all become fast friends and playmates, which made family get-togethers run more smoothly.
Recognising that she finally had the family circle she had dreamt of having all her life, Lucy vented a contented sigh and went to freshen up before dinner. She was in the shower when another body stepped in beside her and she spun round with a delighted smile of welcome.
‘Jax...thought you were going to be late tonight!’ she gasped.
‘No, I looked round my office, thought of you all here enjoying yourselves without me and decided I was needed at home. I saw the children down on the beach as we flew in.’
‘Dmitri’s having a nap. He was throwing tantrums all over the place,’ his mother confided ruefully.
‘I swear he’s got my mother’s temperament,’ Jax said worriedly.
‘No, don’t be silly,’ Lucy soothed, aware that he had that little fear that he might somehow pass on some troublesome gene. ‘He’s a toddler with a short temper and he hasn’t learned to control it yet. When he’s not tired he’s very good-natured. And, hey, did you join me in the shower to talk about the kids or—?’
‘Or, agapi mou,’ Jax chose, plastering her back against the shower wall and tasting her lush mouth with hungry urgency.
Lucy melted every time he called her his love. He was hot and wet and gorgeous and all hers. Excitement rippled through her in seductive sensual waves.
‘Birth control,’ Jax growled, lifting her out of the shower and throwing a heap of towels down on the tiled floor as he dug into a drawer for the necessary.
Lucy arranged herself on the towels and giggled like a drain. ‘Ellie really got to you with that lecture, didn’t she?’
‘Ellie knows how to make a man feel irresponsible,’ Jax responded. ‘And I will never be irresponsible with you again but don’t tell her that.’
‘I promise I won’t.’ Her amusement dying as they joined, Lucy lifted tender fingers to stroke his jaw line. ‘I love you, Jax Antonakos... I love you so much.’
He was too otherwise engaged to speak at that moment but his emerald eyes telegraphed love and passion and need and that was more than sufficient for Lucy, who knew a good man when she found one and held fast to him because he gave her so much happiness.