Blinding rage filled him as the other man bent his wife back in a dip that brought their bodies into intimate contact and he strode down the stairs with Vito flying to keep pace with him.
‘He’s an Arab prince…don’t hit him and cause a scene!’ Vito warned.
Apollo’s powerful hands coiled into fists of fury. What the hell did Pixie think she was playing at? She was his wife and she wasn’t allowed to let any other man touch her body! He never ever lost his temper, he reminded himself fiercely, but there she was, twitching every inch of that lithe, dainty little body and the Arab Prince wasn’t the only one noticing that tight skirt and that fitted little top that showed the slope of her gorgeous breasts. In an almighty storm of rage Apollo acted in what for him was a very diplomatic manner. He stepped up behind Pixie and hauled her off her feet and threw her over his shoulder.
‘She’s my wife!’ he grated down at the startled Prince, who was the same size as Pixie in her heels, which wasn’t very tall, and with that clear announcement of his God-given right to interfere Apollo strode off for the exit.
It took several annoying seconds for Pixie to realise what was happening but she instantly recognised Apollo’s scent. She pounded his back with clenched fists and screamed at him full volume, ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing? Put me down right this minute!’
His bodyguards studiously not looking near either of them, Apollo stuffed his wife in the limo that would take them back to the harbour. Like a spitting cat, Pixie launched herself at him to try and get back out of the car again. ‘I want to go back and join Vito and Holly!’ she yelled.
Apollo drew in a deep shuddering breath and said as mildly as he could, ‘You’re going back to the yacht and if that’s how you intend to behave when I take you out it’ll be a long time before you get out again.’
‘You can forget that option!’ Pixie railed at him, frantically trying to get out of the other side of the car only to be foiled by the automatic locks. ‘Let me out!’
‘No,’ Apollo decreed, temper moderated by the simple fact that he had her back again where she should be. ‘You shouldn’t have let him touch you like that.’
‘Are you for real?’ Pixie screamed at him. ‘You’ve had women throwing themselves at you and pawing you all evening!’
Apollo shot her a riveting green glance of near wonderment. ‘That approach works on other women…what’s wrong with you?’
‘What’s right with me is that I’m not about to let you walk all over me!’ Pixie hissed back. ‘Anything you can do I can do too and I will. I’ll throw myself at every man in my radius if it annoys you enough… I hate you, Apollo… I hate you!’
Apollo watched her stalk like a miniature warrior onto the motorboat and sit down as far as she could get from him. Marriage promised to be a great deal more challenging than he had ever appreciated, he conceded, still light-headed from the sheer amount of rage that had flooded him when he’d seen the Prince put his hands on her. How dared he? He gritted his even white teeth while he fought the lingering pulses of fury.
With a flourish intended to convey sarcasm, Pixie whipped off her shoes before she boarded the yacht. ‘And we abandoned our guests on our night out,’ she remarked in a stinging tone. ‘Some hosts we make.’
‘If you think Holly and Vito want to come back and find themselves in the middle of a marital spat, you’re mental. They’ll stay out until dawn,’ Apollo forecast, grim-mouthed.
PIXIE SLUNG HER shoes across their stateroom in a gesture of frustrated fury. Apollo had acted like a total ass all evening and then somehow made a fool of her as if she were the one in the wrong? How was that fair? How was she supposed to forgive him for that? How was she supposed to cope with being married to such a maniac? So much for the business arrangement!
The door clicked open and Pixie spun. ‘I’m not sleeping in here with you tonight.’
Apollo simply depressed the lock and studied her. ‘You’re not sleeping anyplace else.’
‘You’ve got ten guest cabins. What is the matter with you?’ Pixie exclaimed furiously. ‘What do you want from me?’
Apollo surveyed her steadily, concealing his growing bewilderment at his own actions with difficulty. He had lost his head and he didn’t ever do that.
‘Are you going to answer me?’ Pixie asked impatiently, one hand planted on her hip while her foot tapped cheekily on the floor.
He just wanted her. Somehow she was like a missing puzzle piece he had to have at any price. The sex had been amazing. It was the fireworks and the sex that attracted him. She was having the weirdest effect on him. Problem solved and sorted, he told himself stubbornly.
‘Any time soon?’ Pixie prodded in frustration. ‘Like…tonight?’
Apollo unbuttoned his shirt for want of anything better to do. A knock sounded on the door and he answered it. Hector raced in, paused in horror at the sight of Apollo, gave him a very wide berth and shot trembling below the bed. Apollo locked the door again. ‘You’re my wife,’ he told her finally, and as far as he was concerned at that moment that covered everything he needed to say.
Pixie was perplexed by that response. ‘But not a real wife…’
‘We’re legally married, having sex and I’m trying to get you pregnant. How could it be any more real?’ Apollo enquired. ‘Tonight I felt married.’
Her smooth brow indented, grey eyes shimmering with indignation. ‘Well, if that’s how you behave when you’re married, I wouldn’t like to have been around when you were still single.’
‘I wasn’t expecting you to hit back,’ he admitted with startling abruptness, his beautiful wilful mouth curling with a sudden amusement that enraged her even more. ‘Clever move, koukla mou. Guaranteed to get a rise out of a guy as basic as me.’
Her breasts swelled temptingly over the top of the corset as she breathed in very, very deeply. ‘You think it was some kind of strategy to get your attention back?’ she shouted at him in disbelief.
‘It worked,’ Apollo pointed out drily. ‘So, presumably it was deliberate?’
‘No, it freakin’ well wasn’t deliberate!’ Pixie launched at him, bending to scoop up a shoe and hurl it at him in furious rebuttal of that conviction. ‘How dare you be so big-headed that you can think that?’
‘I’ll let it go this once,’ Apollo murmured silkily. ‘But if you ever let another guy touch you like that again you’ll pay for it.’
‘Threatening violence now?’ Pixie questioned, scooping the other shoe and holding it like a weapon.
‘No, you’re rather more violent than I am. You’ve already punched me once and now you’re throwing stuff at me,’ Apollo pointed out deadpan.
Pixie threw the second shoe but he was quick on his feet and she missed. Hector started to whine below the bed.
‘I can allow you to do a lot of things I haven’t
