“Where did you learn such wickedness, Bella mou?” he asked as she snuggled
into the crook of his arm and he stroked his fingers over her shoulder.
She rose up, positioning her elbow underneath so she could look at him. “What do
you mean?”
“You were a virgin and yet you seduced me as thoroughly as someone with much
more experience.”
She laughed. “Theron, tell me you aren’t one of these men who thinks the
presence of a hymen equals complete ignorance on the woman’s part.”
But then given his antiquated views on honor, and the fact that he was marrying
her over that thing called a hymen, perhaps it wasn’t such a stretch to believe he thought
she should be ignorant of sex.
He looked uncomfortable as he grappled with his answer. “I suppose I thought it
unlikely that someone with no experience would be so…”
“Good?” she asked cheekily.
He gave her a look that suggested he wasn’t amused by her teasing.
“I never said I wasn’t experienced,” she said lightly.
He tensed and raised his head to stare at her. “What do you mean by this? Who do
you have experience with?”
She laid a hand on his chest. “Now, Theron, stop with the testosterone surge.
You’re the only man I’ve ever made love with. Experience can be gained without
participation you know.”
“As long as you don’t ever decide to participate with another man,” he said
gruffly. “I will teach you everything you need to know.”
She grinned. “And maybe as we’ve previously discussed, there are things I’ll
teach you, as well.”
He yanked her to him, and she landed with a soft thud, her lips a breath away
from his.
“Is this so? Well then, Bella mou, by all means teach me. I think you’ll find me a
willing pupil.”
Sixteen
T heron reached across the seat and buckled Isabella’s belt. She roused sleepily
and looked questioningly at him.
“We’ll be landing soon,” he said. “Then we’ll take a helicopter to the island.”
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THE TYCOON’S REBEL BRIDE
78
MAYA BANKS
SILHOUETTE DESIRE 1944
THE ANETAKIS TYCOONS
She yawned and nodded, trying to knock some of the sleep fog from her mind.
“I’m looking forward to meeting Piers, well officially. I’ve seen him but just once and we
didn’t speak,” she said as she shifted in her seat. “Though it’s been so long since I’ve
seen Chrysander, it will be like meeting him for the first time all over again. What’s he
like?” she asked.
He raised one eyebrow. “What’s who like, pethi mou?”
“Piers,” she said a little grumpily. “You know, the one I just said I hadn’t met.”
He smiled. “You’re not at your best when you first awaken.”
She yawned again and just frowned.
“To answer your question, Piers is…well, he’s Piers,” Theron said with a shrug.
“He travels the most of any of us now that Chrysander has settled on the island. He’s
flying in from Rio de Janeiro right now where he’s overseeing the building of our new
hotel.”
“Married or otherwise attached?”
Theron laughed. “Not Piers. He has an aversion to becoming entangled with any
female for more than the length of a casual affair.”
“Did your mother mistreat him?” Isabella asked dryly.
Theron shook his head. “You, Bella mou, have quite a smart wit about you. I’m
going to have to think of ways to keep that mouth of yours occupied.”
“And Marley?” she asked as the plane began its descent. Already she could see
tiny twinkling lights from the ground. “What’s she like? I admit, I find it hard to imagine
a woman who could so easily subdue a man like Chrysander. He always seemed
so…hard.”
“It wasn’t easy,” Theron said, his expression growing serious. “They went
through a lot together. Chrysander is lucky to have her.”
“So you like her?” Isabella prompted.
Theron nodded. “I like her very much. She’s good for him. Softens him just
enough.”
“She sounds…nice.”
“You have nothing to worry about,” he soothed. “You’ll like them, and they’ll
like you.”
She managed a stiff smile. What she really wanted to ask is whether they’d liked
Alannis more. How would they feel about the fact he was marrying someone else? She
didn’t know how it worked in Theron’s family, but would they have expected him to