‘I’ve got news for you,’ Jake told her, kissing the tip of her nose, his hand stroking gently against her breast. ‘Next week the Woolerton Record has another sensational scoop to publish. The headlines will be “How Love Conquers All, or Nuclear Power Station Director and Wife are back together”.’
‘You mean you’ve told…’
‘I’ve told Barnes the truth, or at least enough of it to ensure that his exploitation of our supposed “relationship” dies with next week’s issue.’ He frowned and Kate saw the hesitation in his eyes. ‘You do want to come back to me, don’t you, Kate? I didn’t do it to force your hand, I promise you, although I must admit when I first arrived I was tempted to let it slip that we were married.’
‘You couldn’t stop me coming back to you now if you took a job on the moon with a hundred missiles pointing at the earth,’ Kate told him grimly. ‘I’m not going to pretend that I’m not glad that you’ve changed your job, but even if you hadn’t I’d still feel the same way about you, Jake. I love you more than I fear a nuclear war. If I died tomorrow and we’d had this, my life would have had some purpose. If I live to be a hundred and we’re apart, it would simply be a dreary wasteland of time with no meaning; no pleasure, no love…’ His mouth silenced her, the stroke of his hands along her body no longer gentle, and she abandoned herself to him totally without regret. It had taken her a long time to recognise what was the truth for her; the important thing in her life, but thank God she had recognised it before it was too late. She had Jake and their love…perhaps it was asking too much that she should expect life to come complete with a guarantee against fear as well.
‘Kate, I don’t know what you’re thinking about,’ Jake muttered, his mouth against her throat, ‘but…’
‘I’m not thinking about anything but you,’ she assured him, stroking her fingers through his hair and nuzzling the warm skin of his shoulder, and as he responded to her touch it was true. There was nothing more important than him. Not now—not ever.
* * * * *
If you enjoyed this story by
USA TODAY bestselling author
CAROLE MORTIMER,
you will love
Harlequin® Presents!
Do you want alpha males, decadent glamour and jet-set lifestyles? Step into the sensational, sophisticated world of Harlequin® Presents, where sinfully tempting heroes ignite a fierce and wickedly irresistible passion!
Look for eight new stories every month!
Recommended Reads for February 2017
Now, read on for a tantalizing excerpt of The Consequence of His Vengeance by USA Today bestselling author Jennie Lucas…
CHAPTER ONE
LETTY SPENCER HUNCHED her shoulders against the frosty February night as she pushed out of the Brooklyn diner, door swinging behind her. Her body was exhausted after her double shift, but not half as weary as her heart.
It had not been a good day.
Shivering in her threadbare coat, Letty lowered her head against the biting wind on the dark street. Snow flurries brushed against her exposed skin.
“Letitia.” The voice was low and husky behind her. Letty’s back snapped straight.
No one called her Letitia anymore, not even her father. Letitia Spencer had been the pampered heiress of Fairholme. Letty was just another New York waitress struggling to make ends meet for her family.
And that voice sounded like…
He sounded like…
Gripping her purse strap tight, she slowly turned around.
And lost her breath.
Darius Kyrillos stood against a glossy black sports car parked on the street. Dark-haired and dark-eyed, he was devastatingly handsome and powerful in his well-cut suit and black wool coat, standing beneath the softly falling snowfla
kes illuminated by a streetlight.
For a moment, Letty struggled to make sense of what her eyes were telling her. Darius? Here?
“Did you see this?” Her father had said excitedly that morning, spreading the newspaper across their tiny kitchen counter. “Darius Kyrillos sold his company for twenty billion dollars!” He looked up, his eyes unfocused with painkillers, his recently broken arm awkward in a sling. “You should call him, Letty. Make him love you again.”
After ten years, her father had said Darius’s name out loud. He’d broken the unspoken rule. She’d fled, mumbling that she’d be late for work.
But it had affected her all day, making her clumsily drop trays and forget orders. She’d even dumped a plate of eggs and bacon on a customer. It was a miracle she hadn’t been fired.
No, Letty thought, unable to breathe. This was the miracle. Right now.
Darius.
She took a step toward him on the sidewalk, her eyes wide.
“Darius?” she whispered. “Is it really you?”
He came forward like a dark angel. She could see his breath beneath the streetlight like white smoke in the icy night. He stopped, towering over her. The light frosted his dark hair, leaving his face in shadow. She half expected him to disappear if she tried to touch him. So she didn’t.
Then he touched her.
Reaching out, he stroked a dark tendril that had escaped her ponytail, twisted it around his finger. “You’re surprised?”
At the sound of that low, husky voice, lightly accented from his early childhood in Greece, a deep shiver sent a rush of prickles over her skin. And she knew he wasn’t a dream.
Her heart pounded. Darius. The man she’d tried not to crave for the last decade. The man she’d dreamed about against her will, night after night. Here. Now. She choked out a sob. “What are you doing here?”
His dark eyes ran over her hungrily. “I couldn’t resist.”
As he moved his head, the streetlight illuminated his face. He hadn’t changed at all, Letty thought in wonder. The same years that had nearly destroyed her hadn’t touched him. He was the same man she remembered, the one she’d once loved with all her innocent heart, back when she’d been a headstrong eighteen-year-old, caught up in a forbidden love affair. Before she’d sacrificed her own happiness to save his.