Loved her? Was it possible? She raised a hand to feel his brow and brushed back a stray lock of hair. ‘Are you ill? Have you got a fever or something?’ She didn’t dare to believe in a penitent, loving Rion.
‘Only a fever for you. When I think of how brutally I cut you out of my life, divorced you without a word, I’m appalled. Discovering that my own sister was too frightened of me to tell me the truth makes me cringe inside. I never considered myself a vengeful person, and yet I took advantage of your grandfather’s will on the day of his funeral and used your generous heart, your caring for Anna, to get you back in my bed.’
‘You’re a ruthless man when you want something,’ Selina said bluntly. Though her lips throbbed sensuously from his kiss, and his confession was balm to her wounded heart, she was still not prepared to believe the seismic change from outraged macho male to supplicant lover.
‘I know. It is my character, I guess, but I am working to change it.’
A hint of a smile twitched Selina’s lips.
‘I can’t help it—the same way I can’t help wanting you. I love you, but I can’t find the words to describe my feelings. I have never had to try before,’ Rion said with a touch of his usual arrogance, pressing her closer to his long body.
The heat and the strength of him enveloped her.
‘To say I love you sounds so tame in comparison to what I really feel. That last day in my office, when I realised you had never betrayed me and I asked you to marry me again, that was the moment I finally recognised the limitless depths of my feelings for you … that I loved you.’
Five times he had mentioned love, and Selina was beginning to believe him. ‘You don’t have to tell me this,’ she said gently, noticing the lines of tiredness etched about his eyes, his mouth. Lifting a finger, she traced the contours of his lean, harshly handsome face. He was either ill or he did love her, and she knew which she’d prefer.
‘Yes I do. For a few glorious moments I was euphoric. Then in less than a minute I was in hell. When you told me you didn’t like the company I kept and why, and I realised what you did with your money … the Taylor Foundation … I had never been so horrified or ashamed in my whole life. Then I realised from your parting statement that I had in one careless comment made you forever associate me with that monster, Bratchet, and I had to let you walk away.’
‘Oh, no …’ She was shaken by the bleakness of his tone, and wanted to reassure him. ‘You might be arrogant, and look and act like a ruthless tycoon sometimes—well, most of the time—but I would never ever compare you with that horrible man.’
‘Thank you—I think,’ he said wryly, and brushed his lips across hers in the briefest of kisses. ‘That is what Dimitri said a week ago, when he arrived in Athens to visit his parents and we had a drink together. It is thanks to him I am here. He told me I looked a wreck, and asked me what had happened. I’d had a bit to drink and told him the story of our relationship. He told me I was a coward. If I loved you I had to fight for you. Then he mentioned he had seen you leaving an airport in Rio with Antonio Soares as he was dashing to catch a flight to Greece. He also told me there was a picture of you and Soares in some geological magazine, taken in China a month ago, and if I had a grain of sense I wouldn’t waste any more time. Am I too late?’
Selina lifted wide amber eyes to his but his long lashes lowered, shielding his eyes. But they could not quite hide the unfamiliar vulnerability in their black depths.
‘Or can I hope?’
‘Antonio is a nice man.’
‘I know him. He came on a few diving expeditions with Dimitri and I, and I liked him … But I am not such a nice man …’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that. Antonio is a friend—nothing more. You were my lover.’
‘I don’t like the past tense.’
Should she take a chance and tell Rion the truth? Well, she had nothing to lose. ‘Remember when you suggested extending our cruise, I wanted to say yes.’
Rion tensed, his long fingers digging into her waist as his other hand moved to cup her chin. ‘You did? Then why …?’ There was confusion in the dark eyes that held hers, and something else that made her heart leap in her breast.
Selina took a deep breath. ‘Remember the night I left your bed and told you the next day it was because I had almost fallen out? Well, it wasn’t true. That was the night I realised I had fallen in love with you again. I also realised with our shared past it was hopeless. I saw no point in prolonging the trip for a few more days because that was all it could ever be. Plus I was frightened I’d let slip what Bratchet was really like, and I didn’t trust you not to tell him. Stupid, really. I ended up telling you anyway.’
‘You said you loved me?’ Rion stared fixedly at her and she was struck dumb at the emotion she saw in his eyes. ‘You humble me,’ he rasped. ‘I know I can’t expect you to still love me after the way I have behaved, and I can’t blame you for not trusting me—I have done precious little to earn your trust. But I swe
ar if you will give me another chance and marry me I will spend every day for the rest of my life trying to win your love and trust.’ He kissed her lightly, almost reverently, on the lips, taking a step back to set her free.
Selina stood in the middle of the bedroom, emotion at his words blocking her throat. She swallowed hard and searched his face for the truth. The rigidity of his features was betrayed by a muscle pulsing under the tanned skin. Her golden eyes met his and she saw his heart in his eyes, the mask of arrogance stripped away to reveal the vulnerable man beneath. She believed him, and yet she was still nervous.
‘Are you really sure about this … us …?’
‘I was never more certain of anything in my life. And if you still don’t believe me—tough.’ The vulnerable penitent gone, he reached for her and swung her up in his arms and onto the bed, pinned her beneath him. ‘I will have to convince you—in my defence, I love you.’
‘Wait …’ But he bent his dark head and took her mouth with a hard, hungry kiss that sent liquid fire flowing through her veins, and Selina wrapped her arms around him and gave in to the inevitable magic of his touch.
‘I worship you, Selina,’ he groaned staring down into her wide, gleaming gold eyes. ‘Everything that you are—funny, caring, compassionate, with a heart like a lion, beautiful inside and out. My life is meaningless without you,’ he told her throatily, his mouth grazing hers again.
Between kisses and caresses he stripped off their clothes, and with his great body half covering her they kissed—a slow, deep kiss full of promises of love and passion that made Selina’s heart tremble. Lost in the wonder of his love, with eager hands she caressed his powerful body, her eyes closing in ecstasy as Rion worshipped every inch of her with hands and mouth and husky words of love, until finally they were one in every way—heart, body and soul.
Selina stirred happily in the protective curve of Rion’s arm and glanced around. Pulling herself up on one elbow, she looked down at him.