Page 25 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

‘Dinner is at nine because the housekeeper didn’t know when we would like to eat, but evening meals are generally scheduled at a much earlier hour here,’ Lexy told him.

‘Evidently, you promise to be an invaluable resource,’ Nic remarked as he removed his suit jacket. ‘What do I wear tomorrow to this first business meeting?’

‘A black suit if you’ve brought one, accent on formal,’ she told him a little breathless at the sight of the biceps moving below the fine fabric, only drawing her attention to the narrow cut of his waist and the lean flare of his hips and long, strong legs.

They parted into separate bathrooms. There might be only one master suite, but it was of lavish proportions. Lexy’s clothing had already been hung in an equally separate dressing room and she selected a short, soft blue dress that was her version of casual formal.

Platonic—it was Nic’s new inner placard for marital harmony, and she appeared from the bathroom as he was about to leave their room, slender and lithe as some sort of woodland sprite, he reflected abstractedly. And totally lovely in that weird female way where very little make-up and a brush through the hair could still make her look like a million dollars. Averting his attention, he went down to dinner.

Over dinner they made very polite conversation because both of them were tired, jet lag kicking in. Lexy excused herself first after enjoying only a light meal, the abundance of what they were offered more than her tummy could handle after such a long journey. She donned silky pyjamas from her huge collection of couture clothing, gifted by Nic prior to their marriage. Sliding into the vast bed, she rested her weary head down on a soft pillow.

And then the light by the bed flicked on again and she lowered her eyelids, determined not to react to Nic’s proximity, because she was a big girl in terms of age and maturity and she wasn’t about to make a fuss about the necessity of sharing a bedroom when they were a married couple. The bed shifted and gave a little with Nic’s arrival. He doused the light. He was very quiet, very considerate of her presence, and for some reason it annoyed her, rather than soothing her.

‘Are you exhausted?’ she heard herself ask without any awareness that she was about to speak to him, which seemed impossible, but his existence in the same bed with her, even if she couldn’t feel it, struck her just then as utterly unforgivable. He was this guy she had dared to marry, who had sex without really thinking about it and she couldn’t forgive him for that. For the night before, the wedding night of her dreams, had turned into a fight instead.

‘Not really. I dozed during the flight,’ he admitted.

Gosh, wasn’t it great to be a seasoned long-haul private-jet traveller? she thought nastily, and she knew she was being snippy and couldn’t quell her tongue. ‘Great not to be looking after three babies, wasn’t it?’

‘You weren’t exclusively looking after our brood of babies either,’ Nic pointed out smoothly as she sat up in a sudden movement to look down at him in the moonlight. ‘That’s why I hired three nannies.’

‘I want to slap you right now,’ Lexy confided shakily.

Nic slowly, gracefully, with a fluidity of motion that set her teeth even more on edge, sat up as well, the sheet dropping to his lean waist, shadow glimmering over his hard, muscular chest, picking out the swells and the hollows, every one of them in exactly the right place to drive a woman to madness. ‘I get that, but I don’t understand why,’ he countered levelly.

‘You don’t understand why?’ Lexy gasped in a rage with knotted fists. ‘Last night you were in bed with me—’

‘I’m not about to forget that.’

‘Telling me that you dreamt of being with me like this, telling me that I was unbelievably sexy!’ she whipped back fiercely.

‘And it was all true,’ Nic delivered like a man with a death wish, and she wanted to kill him stone-dead where he sat. ‘One thing doesn’t change...no matterwhatyou say or do, Istillwant you.’

‘How dare you?’ she exclaimed, piling up his sins inside her brain like an avalanche ready to drown them both.

‘I always dare,’ Nic countered, stretching out a hand to smooth the tumbled hair from her cheekbone, to tuck it neatly behind one small ear, the brush of his very fingers setting up a chain of reaction through her body.

Her nipples strained and prickled under her light camisole, goose flesh sprang up on her exposed skin and her tummy danced with butterflies again while her lower regions, well, she didn’t even want to think about the receptive warmth gathering there. That she could be that weak,thatsusceptible to him, inflamed her.

‘Idare because you don’t even try,’ he murmured sibilantly.

And somehow it was either slap him or kiss him, and later she wouldn’t comprehend what made her lean forward and seek his wide, sensual, thoroughly annoying mouth for herself. Nonetheless, shedid. Warm lips brushing, a hand closing over her elbow to ease her closer, and she fell into that kiss like a snowflake on a summer day. Her anger melted into something else entirely, something that really didn’t seem to matter in the height of her overwhelming response of that moment.

He could kiss. Every time he kissed her, she forgot how good it was, even if only the night before had been the last time. And that wasn’t an excuse, because she was past making excuses when every fibre of her being urged her simply to connect with him again as though it had been months when it had been only hours. As his tongue took a subtle dance across the roof of her mouth before connecting with her own, she grabbed him with both hands and he closed both arms round her, tugging her closer until her breasts were crushed against his broad chest.

And then, in the midst of that passion, Nic pushed her back and gazed down at her with his stunning dark eyes glittering. ‘I need to be certain that this is whatyouwant.’

And that was it because all of a sudden she was back in her own head and body and just then it felt as though it would be yet another massive betrayal of pride and dignity to allow such closeness.

‘It’s not what I want,’ she lied without hesitation.

Lexy lay back down, her body humming and pulsing like an engine that had geared up for a race. She didn’t want to think, she refused to think beyond the reality that in the nicest possible way her husband had rejected her and she was back to wishing she could strike him stone dead.

Only that wasn’t what she truly wanted either, she registered in growing dismay. She really didn’t want anything bad to happen to Nic Diamandis. And why was that? As she mulled over that final thought, only exhaustion sent her to sleep.

CHAPTER EIGHT

ASNICANDLexy emerged from the lengthy business meeting, Nic was in a better mood with his bride. She had been a professional and businesslike interpreter for the duration and, while once or twice seeking clarity on some technical term from him, she had been confident and impressive. As they entered the lift together, he turned to her. ‘What were you chatting about to the chairman at the end? He seemed very pleased.’

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