and annoyance shot through Bastien, who had assumed that she would be more sentimental. ‘It felt real enough to me.’
‘It’s not real when you’ve already planned the divorce before you get married,’ Delilah told him with vehement conviction.
‘No man of my wealth marries without a pre-nup. And I won’t be divorcing you if you’re carrying my child,’ Bastien pointed out, lifting her up to seat her at the foot of the bed, while wishing she would stop talking about divorce.
‘I just don’t think that it’s very likely...that I’ll be pregnant,’ she extended, feeling insanely bare in her flimsy underwear while he remained fully dressed.
‘Time will tell,’ Bastien traded, easing off her silk sandals. ‘And I do have an entire week to concentrate on getting you pregnant.’
Her bright blue eyes flew wide. ‘What on earth do you mean?’
‘Now that we’re married it would be silly to start taking precautions again,’ Bastien pronounced.
‘Not to my way of thinking. If there is a decision still to be made on that score I don’t think I want to plan to have a baby with a womaniser,’ Lilah told him tartly.
Bastien shrugged free of his jacket and pitched it on to a chair before tugging at his tie. Whatever it took, he was determined to keep her. ‘If you give me a baby I can promise that you’ll be the only woman in my life.’
Lilah was hugely disconcerted by that offer, coming at her out of nowhere. ‘You want a baby that much?’
But only with her, Bastien completed inwardly. She had first-rate qualities which he had noticed from the first. She wasn’t greedy, dishonest or manipulative, like so many of the women he had known. In addition she was loyal, and kind to those she cared about, and she was a curiously attractive combination of downright old-fashioned sensible and mulishly spirited. Add in her looks and sex appeal and Delilah Moore-Zikos inhabited a class all of her own...
Not that he was planning to share that high opinion with her, though. Particularly not when she talked as though she was indifferent to both him and the prospect of a baby. But he didn’t believe that. Like him, Delilah tended to hold back, judging a situation before she bared her soul or committed to a path of action.
Having reached his decision at a speed which slightly stunned him, Bastien curved long fingers to her slim shoulders. ‘I want a baby with you.’
‘But that pre-nup—’
‘Thee mou...think outside the box,’ he urged. ‘I will settle down with you if you give me a child.’
Lilah went pink. ‘And why would you think that I would be interested in that outcome?’
Bastien elevated an ebony brow. ‘Aren’t you?’
‘Are we bargaining again, Bastien?’
Lilah was so tense she could hardly breathe. The unthinkable was happening: Bastien Zikos, the legendary womaniser, was offering her fidelity and a real marriage.
‘Negotiating?’ he countered.
‘I may not even be able to get pregnant,’ Lilah countered with quiet practicality.
‘If and when that happens we’ll deal with it, glikia mou,’ Bastien told her levelly. ‘I don’t expect an easy ride. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy.’
Her heart swelled like a balloon inside her chest at that forthright opinion, which perfectly matched her own. Tears lashed the back of her eyes and she blinked them back furiously to focus on the beautiful burnished golden shimmer of his gaze.
‘In that case, I’ll... I’ll give it a go,’ she responded jerkily, afraid of the way she was laying herself open to getting hurt again, but desperately wanting to give him another chance.
Another chance to smash her heart to smithereens? Another chance to walk away from her without a backward glance and console himself with other women? How likely was it that Bastien could settle down into marriage? Did she dare risk bringing a child into so potentially volatile a relationship? And why was she even considering doing so?
Stealing a glance at his lean, darkly handsome face, she felt her breath hitch in her throat. The freedom of choice was suddenly cruelly wrenched from her, along with much of her pride. The reason she so badly wanted to give Bastien another chance was that she had fallen hard for him two years earlier and had struggled to fight feelings almost stronger than she was. Sadly, now that she was actually in Bastien’s life and wearing his ring on her finger, she was weaker, more open to hope and dream fulfilment and love.
And that was the most basic truth, which she could no longer ignore or deny. She loved Bastien Zikos—had fallen like a giant stone the very first time he had settled those gorgeous dark eyes on her and smiled.
‘You look so serious,’ Bastien censured as he trailed off his shirt to reveal the torso that starred in her every fantasy. He was so wonderfully well-built, and he worked at staying fit—a reality etched in the lean hard sheet of roped muscle framing his pectoral muscles and abdomen.
Lilah’s mouth ran dry. He brought his mouth down on hers, nibbling sexily at her full lower lip, swiping the upper with the tip of his tongue to gain entry to the intimate space beyond. A ball of heat mushroomed inside her when his tongue flicked against her own. Her hands spread on his chest, fingertips grazing hair-roughened skin and smoothing down to feel him jerk with sensitivity when she found the hard thrusting length of him.
With a hungry groan he lifted her up and brought her down again on the bed, arranging her over him with careful hands.
‘I want you,’ Bastien growled, dark eyes shooting golden sparks over her warmly flushed face.
‘You sound so aggressive,’ Lilah scolded as she obediently bent forward for him to unclasp her bra.
‘It’s been a week.’ He swore bitterly. ‘An endless, frustrating week.’
Strong hands pulled her down to him, to enable him to close his lips round a pouting pink nipple. He hauled her close to him and rolled her over.
‘Didn’t think I was going to get to stay on top,’ Lilah muttered with helpless bite.
His broad chest rumbled with amusement. ‘Some day very soon...but not today,’ he agreed in a roughened undertone.
Employing every sensual skill he had acquired, Bastien worked his way down over Delilah’s slim squirming body, revelling in each sound that revealed her enjoyment. As her hips bucked in climax and she cried his name he smiled and flipped her over, lifting her up on to her knees.
He slid against her damp flesh to tease her, and then when she complained in frustration he sank into her, hard and deep.
Lilah moaned, her head still swimming and her body still sensitised, floating on the aftermath of extreme pleasure. Extraordinarily conscious of Bastien’s every slight movement, Lilah felt her heart race and her pulse quicken with exhilaration. Intense excitement controlled her as he ground his hips into hers, quickening his pace until all she was conscious of was the wild, feverish climb of pleasure. As the ascent to satisfaction
