against her softer flesh.
‘You take my breath away tonight—my lady in red,’ he murmured, his voice so low and husky
in her ear that it seemed to reverberate right through her. She could feel the faint abrasion of his cheek against her face and knew that if she turned her head a fraction their mouths would meet.
Her heartbeat quickened when he slid his hand into her hair, and when he exerted gentle pressure
she lifted her face to him and felt his breath warm her skin before his lips claimed hers in a deep, slow kiss—a sensual tasting that she was powerless to resist.
The other guests on the dance floor faded away and the music of the band seemed distant.
Nothing existed but Nikos: the strength of his arms holding her close against his chest, and the
languorous drift of his mouth moving over hers in a drugging kiss that seemed to last a lifetime.
Kitty responded to him helplessly, her wariness and insecurities forgotten as the fire inside her
flamed into urgent life, and she murmured her protest when at last he lifted his head.
‘Time to go home,’ he growled as he whisked her off the dance floor and headed determinedly
in the direction of their host.
It was on the tip of Kitty’s tongue to tell him that it would be impolite to leave halfway through
the party, but her brain seemed to have stopped functioning, and her body was burning up. In the
car on the way back across town she tried to remind herself of the reasons why she had held out
against making love with Nikos—but he no longer seemed the remote stranger he had been on
their wedding day. He had been a kind and charming companion for the past few days when he
had shown her around Athens, and she had found herself falling under his spell. As for her
worries that he could not really be attracted to her when he had previously dated beautiful blonde
models—he had only had eyes for her tonight, and his self-confessed jealousy when she had
chatted to the university lecturer had made her feel like a desirable woman.
She was a mass of confused emotions when the lift whisked them up to the apartment and she
dared not look at Nikos even though she knew he was staring at her with his dark, brooding gaze.
The tension between them was tangible, and she gasped when the lift doors opened and he
suddenly scooped her into his arms as if she weighed nothing.
‘What are you doing?’ She clutched his shoulders and looked into his face, her heart pounding
when she saw the determined glint in his eyes.
‘What I wanted to do when we first arrived here on our wedding day,’ he told her as he strode
down the hall and into the master bedroom, where the blinds were drawn and the room was
bathed in a soft apricot glow from the bedside lamps. ‘And what we both want now,’ he added as
he set her on her feet. ‘Your body has been sending out signals all night, agape .’ And for the past few days if she had but known it, Nikos brooded, recalling every shy smile she had given him,
the way she often moistened her lips with the tip of her pink tongue in an unconscious invitation
and the way she stared at him with her big brown eyes when she thought he wouldn’t notice. For
the past few nights he had lain awake aching with frustration, fighting the temptation to walk
through the connecting door and snatch her into his arms.
‘I want you to be my wife in every sense, Kitty,’ he said deeply, running his finger lightly down
her cheek and noting how her pupils had dilated so that her eyes seemed too big for her delicate
face. ‘I want to recapture the passion we once shared, and I dare you to deny that you want that
too.
‘Your body has already given you away, agape ,’ he growled when she made no reply.
Following his gaze, she looked down and saw the stiff peaks of her nipples straining against her
silk dress, and she caught her breath when he cupped her breasts and caressed them, brushing his
fingers across their swollen crests so that sensation pierced her. Her dress was an intolerable
barrier. She was desperate to feel his hands on her naked flesh, and suddenly nothing else
mattered except that he should appease the desire that was flooding through her in an
unstoppable torrent.
But she did not know what to say—how to tell him that she was ready to be his wife. Actions
seemed easier than words. Her heart was thudding painfully beneath her ribs as, eyes locked with
his, she reached behind her and drew the zip of her dress down from her neck to her waist. For a
second he did not react, and tension screamed between them before he brought his mouth down
on hers in a kiss of utter possession that told her clearer than any words that she had made her
decision and there would be no going back.