noticed that he was glancing at his watch and that he was frowning.
‘You know, I really do have to be downtown very soon,’ he said. ‘If it was any other engagement, I’d break it—but this film means a lot of things to a lot of people and I want to put a very positive image of Greece out there. But if you want me to stay—’
‘Go,’ she said, lifting her hand to his cheek and stroking it. ‘I can wait here until you get back.’
‘Well, you can. Or you could ride across town with me to where a great deal of the world’s press will be assembled, and we could give them a picture which will tell the world that we are very definitely back together. Because I have this insane and very uncharacteristic desire to want to shout it from the rooftops.’
Lexi looked down at her crumpled jeans and T-shirt, before lifting her gaze to the pristine appearance of his tuxedo. ‘You mean, like this?’ she questioned doubtfully.
He smiled. ‘I mean exactly like that.’
‘When every other woman there will be dripping in sequins and diamonds?’
‘Who cares? There’s no woman to compare with you—no matter what you wear.’
‘Oh, Xenon. You do say the most gorgeous things.’
‘Well, that’s only because you are the most gorgeous thing.’ He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. ‘So come along, Mrs Kanellis. Because the sooner I take you out, the sooner I can get you home.’
THE SUNLIGHT FELT warm on his eyelids and her thigh felt cool against his. Lazily, Xenon stretched his arms above his head and yawned.
‘So you’re awake at last.’
Lexi’s soft words filtered through the air towards him, like the breeze which floated in from the park outside. The uncharacteristically hot, English summer they’d been having meant that most nights they slept with the windows wide open. Sometimes Xenon even woke up imagining he was back in Greece!
He opened his eyes to find Lexi leaning over him and her long hair tickled his chest as she reached over to retrieve her glasses.
‘Actually, I’ve been awake for a while,’ he murmured, sliding his hand around her waist and pulling her close, so that he could breathe in her particular scent of violets and vanilla. ‘Enjoying this rare lie-in and just counting up all my blessings.’
‘Oh?’ Lexi snuggled closer. ‘And what blessings might they be?’
‘You know perfectly well what they are,’ he teased. ‘Because you’re my perfect wife who gives me a perfect life.’
She touched her fingertips to his jaw and began to stroke reflectively at the dark, new growth there. ‘I’m not perfect, Xenon.’
‘Yes, you are. Perfect for me.’
Lexi hugged him very tightly as she kissed his bare chest, brushing her lips over the whorls of dark hair there and letting her tongue trace tiny patterns over the hard, salty flesh. Sometimes this all felt so good that she almost had to pinch herself to believe it was happening. But it was. And Xenon had been right all along. Two people who loved one another could live a contented and fulfilled life with or without children. Her inability to carry a child had not damaged their relationship. On the contrary, the heartache they had suffered had ended up bringing them closer together.
And then something had happened which had changed their lives completely, in a way they could never have foreseen. Lexi had been watching a TV programme about the shortage of foster parents and had been deeply affected by the plight of some of the children featured. It hadn’t taken much for her to persuade Xenon to donate a significant amount of money to The Children’s Society, nor for her to become involved on a volunteer basis. But neither of them expected to be so enchanted by a nine-month-old baby who’d been orphaned in a car crash, nor for their offer of a temporary home to be transformed into the opportunity to adopt her permanently.
There was, as Xenon said afterwards, really no decision to make, for by that time they had fallen hopelessly in love with the little girl and she with them. They named her Sofia after his beloved grandmother.
Now almost four, Sofia was almost exactly the same age as their niece, Ianthe, and the reason for the rare lie-in was because Xenon’s sister had brought her family over for a week’s holiday. Kyra and Nikola had taken Sofia and her cousin for a walk in Regent’s Park and afterwards they were having a trip to the famous zoo.
‘Which leaves me all morning to make slow and delicious love to you,’ Xenon murmured.
He drifted his mouth over her breast and she bit her lip in delighted response. Skin touched skin. Gasps punctured the air. Lexi lifted her hips to meet him, a shaft of intense pleasure coursing through her as he filled her completely.
Afterwards she kissed him, long and lazy kisses. ‘What did I ever do to deserve you?’ she said, her words muffled by the pressure of his lips.
‘That’s my question.’ His voice was sleepy. ‘And you already know the answer. Don’t analyse. Just be grateful.’
And she was. Oh, she was.
Despite the joys and commitment of motherhood, she had continued to make her quirky jewellery on a part-time basis and soon it began to feature in magazines. Before long she was having to take on two workers to help craft Gibson Gems. Anyone who was anyone had a pair of her dangly earrings, or one of her distinctively chunky bangles. Her client base included three members of the English royal family, as well as most of Hollywood. But Lexi never forgot the people of Devon who’d been so kind to her when she’d been starting out, and every year she travelled down to sell her jewellery at the village’s Christmas fayre.
Jason married his Greek girlfriend and Xenon went on to appoint him CEO of the Kanellis wine industry. Within the year, Lexi’s other brother, Jake, flew from Australia to join the company, which meant that Lexi could see much more of them. Both brothers became fluent in Greek and, after much nagging, persuaded Lexi to take lessons. She didn’t find it easy but she was determined—and she loved the look of shock on her husband’s face the first time she answered him fluently in his mother tongue.
After much persuasion on Xenon’s part—because he seemed to be determined to make a statement to the world—Lexi agreed to a renewal of their wedding vows, in a ceremony which took place in the beautiful Greek cathedral in Bayswater, London. Afterwards they held a huge party held in the ballroom at the Granchester Hotel. Security was tight and the place was mobbed because Roxy and Justina—the other two Lollipops—were on the guest list. It was unexpectedly moving to see her ex-bandmates again and there had been quite a few tears when all three women had taken part in a group hug while ‘Come Right Back’ played over the sound system.
Xenon had bought her a new wedding ring for the occasion, though—as Lexi had pointed out—she was probably the only woman in the world who owned three wedding rings, all given to her by the same man.
‘Ah, but this time it’s different, moli mou,’ he had murmured. ‘This time it’s for ever.’
Their favourite photo was not of that day, nor indeed any of those taken on their original wedding
