The Billionaire Boss's Innocent Bride(30)

'Ah, if you're worried about my convent background-'

'Yes, I have wondered,' he broke in. 'I thought maybe matters of the   flesh-that's how I put it to myself for some reason-were a bit daunting   for you.'

Alex thought for a moment, then chuckled suddenly.

'I actually mentally undressed you only the third time I met you-that   was my green-room drama. Believe me-' she looked into his eyes, her   amazement still showing in hers as she remembered '-it came as quite a   shock.'

'I wish I'd known.'

'It was hard enough to handle without you knowing. So, yes, I'm   inexperienced, but not exactly daunted. And if you had problems with the   pink room, I came out of it after I twisted my ankle conscious of the   fact that what you did to me filled me with desire that was running  like  wildfire through my veins.'

He hugged her suddenly and fiercely. 'How could I have been such a fool?' he marvelled.

'But I was also convinced you weren't moved by me at all, that I must have imagined it.'

'On the contrary. I've had an enduring fantasy about you.' He ran his   fingers through her hair. 'Well, several. Finding myself wanting to run   my hands through your hair was one.'

'And the others?'

He paused and looked at her reflectively. 'I think I might wait until   just the right moment before I tell you that.' He bent his head and   kissed her lightly. 'So, how are we going to cope for the next six   weeks?'

'Plenty of this?' she suggested and snuggled up to him. 'I could quite happily stay like this for hours.'

'Alex,' he said in a suddenly different voice, pressing and a little   rough. She drew away and looked at him anxiously. 'What's wrong?'

He shook his head. 'I just can't seem to believe it. I don't know what I've done to deserve it.'

Alex couldn't doubt the urgency about him. She slipped out of his arms,   but only to kneel in front of the settee. 'Max,' she said with her  heart  in her eyes, 'believe it. I do and I never thought I would say  that to  anyone. Besides which-' her lips trembled, then she smiled that   unexpected smile that enchanted him so much '-

I've finally called you Max, Mr Goodwin! That's got to mean something.'

He growled her name, then pulled her back into his arms as if he'd never let her go.





CHAPTER TEN


THEY got married eight weeks later.

Some cameos of those eight weeks as she prepared for her wedding, Alex knew she would never forget.

Margaret Winston's delight was one.

'I knew you were the right one for him, Alex,' she said joyfully when presented with the news. 'I knew it right from the start!'

Alex blinked at her, but Max did more.

'I thought so,' he said. 'I got the distinct feeling that when she   turned up at the cocktail party looking so drop-dead gorgeous you might   have had a hand in it, Margaret!'

'I did. The minute I saw those legs and that lovely figure I decided to   make the best of it. Actually Alex was a bit of a hindrance there,' she   admitted. 'But what impressed me first was the way she stood up to you   at that interview.' She hugged Alex and kissed her warmly. 'Of course,   that's how I handle Mr Goodwin myself-I wish!' she added humorously.

'Mr Goodwin' looked slightly put out. 'I'm not that hard to handle, am I?'

'Yes,' his fiancée and his principal private secretary chorused.

'I'm not really,' he said to Alex that evening.

He'd taken her to dinner at Sanctuary Cove and they were leaning on a railing watching the million-dollar boats in the marina.

Alex was wearing her cocktail-party outfit and while she didn't know if   she looked a million dollars, she felt it. And the diamond on her   engagement finger sparkled with a mysterious blue fire beneath the   overhead lights of the walkway. She turned to him. 'Hard to handle? I'll   tell you, in ten years I'll either be worn to a shadow or blooming.'                       
       
           



       

He cupped her face and kissed her lightly. 'You're blooming now, Alex.'   He studied her. The lovely hair, her eyes, the figure he was little by   little coming to know beneath Margaret's inspired choice of clothes.

'I feel as if I am,' she told him and dropped her voice. 'Thanks to you, Max.'

He was assaulted by a powerful urge to lean her back over his encircling   arms and to kiss her witless. In deference to his back, and the good   citizens of Sanctuary Cove, he resorted to humour instead. 'Well, I   can't be so bad, then.'

'You can be awful,' she contradicted. 'The trouble is you can also be awfully nice-

Margaret would lay down her life for you. Should we go home?'

He raised an eyebrow at her. 'That sounds like a rather pointed-suggestion.'

'It is,' she said gravely. 'I'd like very much to be kissed but-in private.'

'My thoughts, entirely, Miss Hill,' he replied seriously, but he grinned then and kissed her, lightly, but all the same.

His sister Olivia provided another cameo, or rather his reaction to his   sister Olivia. He snapped his mobile shut after talking to her in the   UK, and swore. Alex, curled up in a basket chair on the lawn after a   lazy Sunday-morning breakfast, looked a question at him.

'She's all set to fly out and take over. Considering the fact that not   so long ago she told me I was mad not to be marrying Cathy, I find that   incredible.'

'Take over?'

'The wedding. You don't know my sister Olivia.' He stared moodily out over the Broadwater.

'I do. As a matter of fact I had the pleasure of her company at the dinner dance.'

'Oh. I forgot. What did you think of her?'

'Well, she didn't intimidate me, if that's what you're wondering.'

'Did she have a go?'

'Not really, but she was a bit surprised and put out to find out who I   was, Nicky's nanny, your PA, et cetera. But one thing I did notice about   her, Max. She seemed to be genuinely concerned about you. She seemed  to  read-do you remember what kind of mood you were in that night?' He   nodded after a moment. 'Well, she seemed to read it and I'm sure she was   really worried for you.'

He said nothing as he watched a bay cruiser steam past, then, 'Why do I get the feeling you'll even be able to handle Livvy?'

'I don't know.'

He reached over and took her hand. 'I do. You really think about other people, don't you?'

'I guess I do.'

'It's one of the things I love about you.'

Meeting Nicky again had been delightful.

He'd greeted her like a long-lost friend and told her please not to go away again, he didn't like it and neither did Nemo.

'Well, look at you, Nemo! Goodness me! You've grown!' she enthused.

'And he does tricks now. Watch this!'

Nicky made an imaginary gun of his hand and pointed it at the dog saying, 'Bang!

Bang!'

Nemo keeled over and played dead.

'I'm just so impressed,' Alex said through her laughter. 'Did you teach him that all on your own?'

'No. My dad did it. He used to have a dog when he was a kid like me,' Nicky said with unmistakable pride.

Alex had expected that meeting Cathy again for the first time would be difficult, but it had proved easier than expected.

'I should probably feel like scratching your eyes out,' Cathy said, 'but   some people are just so damn genuine you can't be annoyed with them.   What made him finally admit he couldn't live without you?' she asked   curiously.

'It was his birthday,' Alex replied, then looked a little embarrassed. 'That doesn't make much sense, probably.'

Cathy shrugged. 'So long as it does to you.'

Alex hesitated. 'How are you? I hope you'll forgive me for laying down the law the way I did the last time we met?'

'Yes,' Cathy said briefly, then sighed. 'Between you and my mother's   passing away, I got a wake-up call. I think I've got my priorities   sorted out now. And I have to say Max has-well, he's shown no desire to   use Nicky like a tool between us or to alienate him from me. Above all,   Nicky is happy, he's happy with me, he's happy with Max.' But she  looked  faintly troubled.

'Cathy, I will never try to take your place with Nicky, I swear,' Alex   said quietly. Cathy Spencer showed her own moment's hesitation, then she   put her hand over Alex's. 'Thanks.'

But the next cameo was harder to handle.                       
       
           



       

Since they'd found each other, Alex had resigned her job because the   thought of being apart was intolerable, but living together in the same   house, or the penthouse, while not sharing a bed, had its own strains.

And one evening when they'd been lying in each other's arms in the den,   listening to music, Alex detected tension in the air between them. It   was hard not to when he got up rather abruptly and said he was going out   for a breath of air. If he was sharing the same level of wildfire in   his veins as she was, she reasoned, if he was tingling with desire too,   under normal circumstances it wouldn't be unreasonable to make love.   They were engaged, it was three weeks to the wedding but, as it was, he   was still wearing a brace and had been specifically warned not to do   certain things. Sex was one of them.