His black eyes had a laser-like quality as they examined her from the flowers on her head to the gold slippers on her feet. She saw desire in that all-encompassing gaze and almost fainted.
“You’ve been away, so I wanted to make your homecoming special. Tonight you’re going to stay with me or I’ll think you’ve forsaken me. Come and eat while I serve you. I have a special surprise.”
She heard him whisper her name, but he looked absolutely dazed. She loved him so much she could hardly stand it.
“Would you like your surprise first, or later?”
His hand passed over his chest. “I don’t think I could handle another one. The way you look tonight standing there like a vision from Mount Olympus, I’m having trouble breathing.”
Raina sent him a come-hither smile. “That’s more like it. I thought maybe you’d forgotten me.”
He started to look nervous. “Is there something wrong?” She could see an anxious expression in his eyes. It was sweet really. Her darling husband was so wonderful, she needed to put him out of his misery.
“Of course not. You’re always so generous and take such perfect care of me, can’t your lover do something special for you without you worrying?”
His chest rose and fell visibly, evidence that he needed an answer. Afraid to carry this charade any further without an explanation he could live with, she walked over to the flowerpot and pulled out the wrapped package.
“If you’ll sit down at the table with me, I’ll give this to you.”
Instead of the happiness she’d expected, he looked stricken. “It’s our six-week anniversary. I planned to give you your gift tonight while we were out to dinner in Athens. But I left it at the penthouse.”
“There’s plenty of time for you to give it to me. Right now why don’t you open yours.” She walked over to the table and put the present on top of his plate, then she sat down opposite him.
Akis moved slowly, like he was walking through water. Then he sank down in the chair stiffly and reached for it, but he kept looking at her. Why was he behaving like this? She couldn’t understand it.
When he pulled the baby book out of the wrapping, she thought he’d paled, but it was difficult to tell in the candle light. His black brows furrowed. “What kind of a joke is this?”
With that question, she finally understood how much he’d suffered because he thought he could never be a father.
“It’s no joke. I’ve been nauseated every morning for the last week. I asked Chloe to get me in to see her OB this morning in Athens. He took a blood test. I’m pregnant with your baby.”
His head reared. He stared at her. “But that’s impossible.”
“I told my doctor the same thing. He said that mumps for a certain percentage of men cause a drop in their sperm count. But research has come a long way since ten years ago when you came down with them. Since then, he says you’ve recovered.” She put a hand on his arm and squeezed it. “You had to have recovered because I’m pregnant.”
When the truth finally sank in, the chair scraped on the tile. He shot out of it and came around to pick her up in his arms, holding her like a bride. “We’re going to have a baby! Raina—”
He carried her through the house to their bedroom and followed her body down onto the bed. His mouth kissed her so long and hard, she could scarcely breathe. “My precious love.” Over and over he kissed every inch of her face and hair. The tie on her shoulder had come undone. She felt moisture on her skin. By now they were both in tears.
“I didn’t know it was possible I could be this happy, Akis.”
“I still can’t believe it.” His hand slid down her body to her stomach, sending darts of delight through her. He leaned over to kiss her through the chiffon. “Our baby is inside you.”
“Incredible, isn’t it. Do you want a boy or a girl?”
“Don’t ask me a question like that. I don’t care. I only know I want you to take care of yourself. I couldn’t bear to lose you.”
She hugged his head to her breast, kissing his black hair. “Please don’t be afraid for me. I’m not your mother. I won’t die after giving birth. I’m strong and in perfect health. The doctor has given me a prescription for nausea. I’ve had all day to consider names. I can’t think of a girl’s name yet, but I know what I want if we have a boy.”
He lifted his head. His eyes were filled with liquid. “Tell me,” he whispered, kissing her mouth.
“Patroklos Giannopoulos after your father. We can call him Klos for short. I looked up his name. It means glory of the father. It’s a perfect name to revere the man who fathered you and Vasso.”
“It might be a girl,” he murmured, kissing her neck to hide the emotions she knew were brimming out of him.
“Of course. But I draw the line at Phaiax.”
All of a sudden that delightful, rumbling sound of male laughter poured out of Akis. He rolled her on top of him. “My adorable Naiad nymph. If we have a daughter, we’ll name her Ginger after her earthly great-grandmother who raised you to be the superb woman you are.”
“Hmm.” Raina drew her finger across his lower lip. “Ginger Giannopoulos. I love it. Almost as much as I love my husband who has given me a priceless gift. Darling—I know what this news means to you. I also know that you and Vasso share everything. Go ahead and call him, then I’ll have your whole attention.”
A half smile broke the corner of his mouth. “Am I that transparent?”
“It’s a beautiful thing to see two brothers so devoted to each other. Your joy will be his. Here. Use my phone.” It was lying on the bedside table.
Their conversation was short and so touching, she teared up again. When he hung up, he crushed her in his arms. “Thank God my brother phoned you in the middle of the night.”
She clasped him to her. “I know now that Grandpa was inspired when he told me not to close off my heart. He knew something I didn’t. I love you so much. I’m the luckiest woman on earth. The doctor says I probably got pregnant on our wedding night.”
“Have you told Chloe?”
“No. I simply asked her to give me the name of her OB since I needed a prescription for birth control. I think news like mine should be reserved for the man who’s made me the happiest woman in the world.”
“We haven’t seen them since the wedding. Let’s invite them over on Sunday and tell them together.”
“I’d love it, but right now I want to concentrate on you. Do you want to eat first?”
“Not yet. I need to inspect my pregnant wife from head to toe.”
Heat swept into her cheeks. “You already did when you saw me standing on the patio.”
“I’ll never forget the sight of you in this gown with those flowers in your hair and the air fragrant with vanilla. But there are other sights meant for me and me alone. Come here to me, Raina.”
“I’m here. S’agapo, my wonderful, fantastic Akis.”
Read on for an extract from THE EARL’S CONVENIENT WIFE by Marion Lennox.
CHAPTER ONE
MARRY...
There was deathly silence in the magnificent library of the ancient castle of Duncairn. In specially built niches round the walls were the bottles of whisky Jeanie had scraped to afford. Weirdly, that was what she was focusing on. What a waste. How much whisky could she fit in a suitcase?
How many scores of fruitcakes would they make? There was no way she was leaving them behind. For him. For her prospective bridegroom?
What a joke.
She’d been clinging to the hope that she might keep her job. She knew the Lord of Duncairn didn’t like her, but she’d worked hard to give Duncairn Castle the reputation for hospitality it now enjoyed.
It didn’t matter. Her efforts were for nothing. This crazy will meant she was out on her ear.
‘This must be a joke.’ Alasdair McBride, the sixteenth Earl of Duncairn, sounded appalled. It was no wonder. She stood to lose her job. Alasdair stood to lose his...fiefdom?
‘A last will and testament is never a joke.’ Edward McCraig, of the prestigious law firm McCraig, McCraig & McFerry, had made the long journey from Edinburgh to be at today’s funeral for Eileen McBride—Alasdair’s grandmother and Jeanie’s employer. He’d sat behind Jeanie in the Duncairn Kirk and listened to the eulogies with an air of supressed impatience. He wished to catch the last ferry back to the mainland. He was now seated in one of the library’s opulent chairs, reading the old lady’s wishes to her only surviving grandson—and to the live-in help.
He shuffled his papers and pushed his glasses further down his nose, looking at neither of them. Crazy or not, Eileen’s will clearly made him uncomfortable.
Jeanie looked at Alasdair and then looked away. This might be a mess, but it had little to do with her, she decided. She went back to counting whisky bottles. Maybe three suitcases? She only had one, but there were crates in the castle cellars. If she was brave enough to face the dark and the spiders...
Could you sell whisky online?
She glanced back at Alasdair and found his gaze was following hers, along the line of whisky. With an oath—a mixture of fury and shock—he took three glasses from the sideboard and poured.