really sorry I shouted at you,’ Bastien said abruptly, a lean brown hand closing over hers, and he was astonished at how easily the apology emerged.
‘You weren’t shouting.’
‘I’m not in a good mood. I was stressed about Anatole and feeling guilty about him,’ Bastien admitted, disconcerting her with that confidence. ‘I love my father, but I’ve never been able to respect him, and...and that makes me feel like a lousy son.’
Lilah squeezed his fingers uncertainly. ‘No, I think it means you’re adult enough to appreciate that he’s not perfect and love him anyway...which is good.’
‘Do you have a comforting answer for everything bad that I feel?’ Bastien groaned, searching her anxious features with appreciative golden eyes.
‘I doubt it, but you were right about Marina. Dragging that up was cruel... I’m afraid I didn’t see it from her point of view, only yours, and I also felt jealous of her, which was even less excusable.’ Lilah loosed a heavy sigh. ‘I’m ashamed of myself for being so insensitive.’
‘You were thinking of me and of my relationship with Leo,’ Bastien said. ‘But why on earth would you feel jealous of Marina? It’s nearly ten years since I was with her—when we were both young and foolish.’
Lilah breathed in deep. ‘I’m jealous of anyone you’ve ever been with. There—I’ve said it. I’ve got a possessive side I didn’t know I had.’
‘Like me,’ Bastien cut in unexpectedly. ‘I am irrationally jealous when it comes to you, and I’ve never been like that with any other woman. I couldn’t even stand seeing you laughing and chattering with Ciro.’
‘Seriously?’ Lilah prompted, wide-eyed at that confession.
‘I’ve been acting like a madman since I got you back into my life. Unfortunately for you I like my life much better with you in it. In fact, simply waking up in the morning to find you beside me makes me happy,’ he bit out with bleak reluctance.
‘It...it does?’ Lilah was hanging on his every word, wondering why he was talking in such a way. ‘Are you still going to be happy if I’m not pregnant?’
‘Diavelos...what difference should that make?’ Bastien was bemused. ‘If it’s not meant to be it’s not meant to be and we’ll handle it...that is if you want to stay with me...’
Lilah lifted up off the pillows and wrapped both arms round his neck, burying her face against his shoulder, drinking in the familiar scent of his skin in a storm of relief that felt both emotional and physical.
‘Of course I want to stay with you.’
‘There’s no “of course” about it,’ Bastien countered wryly as he unhooked her arms and gently settled her back against the pillows. ‘I railroaded you into my bed and then into marriage, employing every piece of blackmail I had to put pressure on you.’
Lilah treated him to a troubled appraisal. ‘I know... I know you’re extremely imperfect and that you’ve done dreadful things. I know you manipulated me. But... I still love you. I shouldn’t, but I can’t help loving you...’
Bastien’s throat thickened as if he had been slugged in the vocal cords. ‘I don’t deserve your love.’
‘No, you don’t.’ Lilah was quick to agree with him. ‘But it seems I love you anyway.’
‘Which is fortunate, because I’m not going to turn perfect any time soon, and it’s probably best that you see all the flaws upfront—so that you know what you’re getting in me,’ Bastien told her uncomfortably.
Both of his hands closed slowly round hers to hold them in a grip of steel.
‘But I love you too—so much more than I ever thought I could love anyone. In short, I’m absolutely crazy about you...so crazy I thought it was normal to waste two years plotting and planning to acquire your father’s business and gain enough power over you to acquire you as well.’
Lilah blinked rapidly. ‘Crazy about me?’
Bastien lifted one hand to his mouth and kissed it almost awkwardly. ‘Can’t-live-without-you crazy,’ he extended in a driven undertone. ‘It doesn’t matter if you’re pregnant or not pregnant, or even if you can never get pregnant. I just want and need you in my life to make it feel worthwhile.’
‘Even though I go interfering in things that are none of my business?’ she whispered, scarcely able to believe what she was hearing, while her heart was taking off inside her like a rocket ship.
‘That was just you, taking a typical caring approach to sorting my life out,’ Bastien informed her forgivingly. ‘You know, in my whole life nobody has ever stood up to defend me or try to protect me until you spoke up today. And when I thought about that...that was the crucial moment when I finally realised how much I love you and why.’
Lilah was gobsmacked. ‘It was?’ she whispered.
‘I’ve probably been in love with you since you called me a man whore and slammed that door in my face two years ago...’ Bastien groaned. ‘I’ve certainly been pretty much obsessed with you ever since then.’
‘Obsessed while sleeping with other women?’ Lilah derided gently.
‘And I couldn’t settle for five minutes with any of them. Don’t blame me for that when you weren’t willing to take a chance on me back then.’
Moisture stung the backs of her eyes and she blinked rapidly. ‘I wasn’t brave enough to dream that something more lasting might come from what seemed to be a very shallow sexual interest.’
‘Ouch...’ Bastien groaned again, looking pained. ‘The minute I had you in my life everything changed, hara mou. You make me feel things. And when you’re not around... I feel dead, as if I have nothing to look forward to or work for.’
A tear trickled down Lilah’s cheek. ‘Oh, Bastien...’ she mumbled in a wobbly voice. ‘You’re making me cry. I love you so much, but I’m terrified you’ll wake up some day and feel trapped.’
‘Every woman who came before you made me feel trapped or bored. You do neither.’
His dark golden eyes burnished with warmth and appreciation, Bastien leant down and claimed a kiss—a slow, deep kiss that said everything he couldn’t find the words to say. She was the woman he hadn’t even known he was looking for, waiting for. Her image had been locked in his head for two long years, ensuring that no other woman could please or hold him.
The kiss wakened Lilah’s body, sending little tingles into her tender breasts and down into her pelvis. The sound of a doorbell could not have been less welcome to either of them.
Bastien lifted his head. ‘I’d better see who that is... Don’t get up.’
Lilah slid her legs off the mattress as soon as he had left the room and sped back to the main reception room to reclaim her bag. On her return she passed through the hall, and realised that their visitor was Leo.
When Bastien frowned at her, for
