recognising neither him nor his children. He’s been living in limbo for a long time. You won’t ever have to worry about my relationship with Marina. We’re good friends and would be even better friends had we just settled for that.’
Grace smiled, accepting his explanation, putting those fears to rest. ‘Why didn’t you tell me that you were planning to look up my father?’
‘I had to check Tony out first. He could have been hostile to an approach from you. He could have hurt your feelings and I couldn’t have stood by and let that happen to you,’ Leo assured her without apology. ‘As it was I met him, liked him and saw quite a bit of you in him.’
‘I did feel very comfortable with him.’ Involuntarily, Grace’s eyes flooded with tears and she rested her head down on Leo’s shoulder with an apologetic sniff as she fought to regain control. Leo was so protective of her and after a lifetime of always having to look out for herself the depth of his caring and kindness meant a great deal to her. Yet once his managing ways had irritated the hell out of her, she acknowledged, marvelling at how much her outlook and his had changed since their first encounter. ‘In the same way I’ve always felt comfortable with you.’
Leo lowered her back down to sit at the foot of the bed. ‘Now for something very important that I skipped the first time around...’ he husked, dropping down gracefully on one knee and lifting her hand. ‘Grace Donovan...will you marry me?’
‘Aren’t we already married?’ Grace breathed, taken aback and utterly mystified as he lifted her hand.
‘Are we? Father Benedetto in the chapel in the village quite understands that you don’t feel quite married after a civil ceremony and he has agreed to do the honours for us again,’ Leo explained, deftly threading a ring onto her wedding finger. ‘All we need to do is book our day.’
Her face the very picture of wonderment, Grace extended her hand, splaying her fingers the better to admire the breathtaking diamond cluster he had given her, and then she glanced down at the startling picture of Leo at her feet in romantic mode. ‘I love the ring. Everything’s happening backwards for us. We’re getting engaged after we got married!’
‘Better late than never,’ Leo growled, springing back upright. ‘You still haven’t said yes—’
‘Yes...yes...yes!’ Grace carolled without hesitation, her sheer happiness bubbling over. ‘Yes to marrying you, yes to another wedding, yes to loving you for the rest of my life!’
Leo tugged her gently up the bed and flattened her to the pillows. ‘Do you think you can do that, agapi mou? I’m very far from being perfect.’
‘Now that you know that, the sky’s the limit in the improvement stakes,’ Grace teased, wriggling as he skimmed her hair out of his path and claimed a scorching kiss that she felt all the way down to her curling toes. ‘But you definitely don’t need to improve at this...’
And Leo laughed and thought how shallow and empty his life had been before Grace and how much richer and more interesting it had become with her. As for Grace, she was much too busy getting Leo out of his shirt and admiring his muscular chest to think about anything.
* * *
Four years later, Grace stood on the deck of Hellenic Lady’s successor while her daughter Rosie played on deck with the family dog, a fluffy pug called Jonas. Grace was relaxed as she always was on such trips. She worked long hours as a doctor in the paediatrics department of a busy London hospital and cherished every day of her time off.
‘Daddy...Daddy!’ Grace spun round to watch her daughter throw herself boisterously at her father as he emerged from the main saloon.
Leo looked amazing in swim shorts, his lean, powerful body well-honed by exercise, black hair blowing in the breeze. They had enjoyed an incredibly busy four years together. Raising Rosie without a team of nannies would have been impossible with the hours Grace had been working while she trained in various hospitals, but since then, having attained a more settled working day, she had had the time to become a more hands-on mum. Rosie had Grace’s red hair, Leo’s rich dark eyes and skin that didn’t burn in the sun the way her mother’s did. She was a lively, affectionate child, happily attending nursery school.
Leo lowered his daughter to the deck and fought off the energetic advances of the dog. ‘We’ll be docking soon,’ he reminded her with a lazy grin, stunning eyes straying appreciatively over the lush curves Grace had showcased in a blue bikini.
The heat of the Turkish sun was already beating down on Grace’s bare shoulders and she lifted a towel to drape it round her and cover her skin, which never took a tan. They were returning to Marmaris to celebrate her twenty-ninth birthday at the Fever nightclub where they had first met. Anatole and her father’s entire family were on board with them. She got on very well with her two adult half-brothers, who were students, and her little half-sister, who was still at school. From her stepmother, she had received the warm family acceptance that she had tried and failed to win from her uncle’s family.
‘I’ll go and get changed.’
Leo banded an arm round her on the way down the stairs. ‘How much of a hurry are you in?’
‘It’ll take me more than an hour to do my hair and get ready.’
Her husband dropped a kiss on the slope of her shoulder. ‘Do you have an hour for me?’
Heat and anticipation shimmied through her. ‘I’ve always got time for you,’ she declared with an impish smile. ‘You’re a very demanding man.’
‘But you like that about me, agapi mou,’ Leo told her teasingly, closing the door of the master suite behind them.
And Grace had to admit, she did like that about him. They were very well-matched in the bedroom department, she acknowledged as he claimed a lingering blatantly sexual kiss that made her body hum and her heart thump with awareness. Being married to Leo was never bland or boring. He was everything she had ever dreamt of in a husband and she was blissfully happy with him.
‘I was thinking...’ Leo purred, extracting her from her bikini with skill while pausing to worship her full breasts and the sleek curve of her hips. ‘Since we’re on holiday and you’re all mine night and day, do you think we should consider working on extending the family?’
‘Jonas would probably love some company.’
Leo found the most ticklish spot on her entire body and punished her for that crack until she dissolved into laughter. ‘You know very well I wasn’t thinking of the dog!’
‘Well, maybe I don’t like you describing the conception of another child as work,’ Grace countered tartly.
‘Work I love, work I can never get enough of, you maddening woman,’ Leo groaned into the fall of her hair. ‘You know I’m crazy about you, don’t you?’
Grace fingered the flawless diamond pendant at her throat, which he had given her for her birthday, and smiled. ‘The suspicion has crossed my mind once or twice.’
‘Rosie is like a mini you and I’d love another one.’
‘I’ll put my pills away,’ Grace murmured with amusement, linking her arms round his strong brown neck, appreciating his lean, darkly handsome features and his gorgeous eyes. ‘I love you, Leo.’
‘Nowhere
