But still he couldn’t speak.
‘I don’t know if you noticed or not, but I’ve just saved your business.’ She smiled and pulled his tie off with a swish. ‘You’re welcome.’
Suddenly, she slid off the table and onto his lap, straddling him, arms hooked around his neck. The black eyes he’d never believed would look at him again were gazing into his. ‘If you ever lie to me again, I’ll rip your heart out before I leave you.’
‘My heart’s already been ripped out,’ he said hoarsely.
‘Good.’ She slid her hands over his throat and opened the top button of his shirt. ‘You deserve it.’ More buttons were opened in quick succession until she spread his shirt apart and pressed her palm to his chest, right above his pounding heart.
He closed his eyes to the sensation, still struggling to believe what every one of his senses was telling him, that his Aphrodite had appeared before him on her pearl shell and that the warmth starting to unfreeze the coldness of his blood was the warmth from her light.
The warmth of her hands palmed his cheeks. The warmth of her breath danced over his mouth.
He opened his eyes and suddenly she was there, solid, real, his love, shining a love he didn’t deserve into him.
She washere…
‘Did I ever tell you how my parents met?’ she said quietly, bringing the tip of her nose to his. ‘Mum was a receptionist at Dad’s accountancy firm. I think her glamour temporarily blinded him. And that’s how I came to be made.
‘Dad was Georgios’s UK accountant. He did some clever accounting that saved Georgios millions in taxes. To thank him and to celebrate, Georgios insisted on taking the whole firm and their partners out to dinner.’
‘He stole your mother from him whilst thanking him?’ he whispered, finally bringing his hand to her face.
‘If I know my mum, she played an active part in this stealing and, I’m quite sure Dad was secretly glad when she went—I honestly cannot think of two people less compatible.’ Her beautiful mouth brushed against his, hands winding round to bury into his hair before she pulled her face back enough to look at him. ‘I didn’t fit in with either of them or their new families. I tried. I think they tried. But ultimately, my existence has been spent being pulled by fundamentally different parents from fundamentally different worlds. Neither of them wanted to see me as my own person but as an extension of themselves. You, my love, see me exactly as I am and you love me for it, and I fit in withyou. I belong with you, Thanasis, and if I don’t give us the chance we deserve to build something true with all our cards on the table and complete honesty between us, then I will spend the rest of my life regretting it. You are mine and I am yours. The lies you told, they weren’t selfish lies. Mum told me those lies for wicked, selfish reasons, because she’d rather destroy her own daughter than lose her lifestyle, but you didn’t—you did it for your family. Because you love them. And your guilt over it…’ She pressed another gentle kiss to his mouth and sighed. ‘I know you felt guilt. I’ve relived every minute of our time together and I know the lies were eating you up.’
There was a burning sensation in the backs of his eyes. ‘I love you, Lucie, and I am so sorry for everything.’
‘I know you do and I know you are, and I know in my heart that we both deserve another chance to find that happiness we were just beginning to create together. When I saw how close you were to losing everything… I couldn’t have lived with myself if I hadn’t done something. I wanted to save you, just as you’ve been trying to save everything for your family, because I loveyou.’
She did. He could see it so clearly. A love worth more than all the stars in the sky and all the billions in the world.
He gathered a bunch of soft black curls in his hand and shuddered at how close he’d come to never having touched them again. ‘I will never hurt you again. I swear. You are everything to me, Lucie. My whole world.’
Her smile was the sweetest, softest smile in the world. ‘I know. And you’re my world too.’
‘Never leave me.’
‘Never.’
And then her mouth fused to his in a kiss that sealed their hearts together for ever.
EPILOGUE
‘WHAT DO YOU THINK?’ Lucie asked, closely watching her husband and business partner’s reaction. Of all the interior designs she’d created since setting up her own business four years ago, this was the one she was most proud of, the one that made her heart sing nearly as loudly as the man holding her hand so possessively did.
‘It is incredible,’ he said, awe in his voice as well as his eyes before he cupped her chin and kissed her with the same passion he’d been kissing her for the past six years. ‘Your designs just get better and better. Our child will love it,’ he murmured when they came up for air, and as he said that, their baby tucked safely in her belly kicked its agreement, hard enough for Thanasis to feel it in his abdomen pressed against hers.
He smiled and then laughed. ‘It never feels less than miraculous, does it?’
She beamed, knowing exactly what he meant. The conception of their third child had the same magical feeling to it as her first two pregnancies. ‘Never.’
Lucie often felt their entire marriage was built on magic, and thought it was the same magic that had stopped her memories fully returning. She was happy for them to stay lost for ever, but if they ever did return then it didn’t matter. She had six years and counting of being loved and cherished to counter it. Six years and counting of utter bliss.
He kissed her again. ‘Shall we?’
‘Ready when you are.’
‘Then let’s go.’
They left their unborn child’s nursery and quietly checked on their sleeping daughter, Ellie, and their not-quite-sleeping-yet son, Lea, and then, satisfied all was well, left them under the supervision of the nanny and slipped out of the villa.
The golf buggy had been parked out front for them, a huge backpack filled with goodies placed on the back seat.
And then they were off, heading to the mountain to watch the sun set, the route to the summit having long been made safe for a heavily pregnant woman to manage. It was a private journey they never tired of making and a scene they never tired of witnessing, and one they would take together for the rest of their lives.
* * * * *
