But she wasn’t pulling away from him now. He wished she still had long hair. He remembered how much he’d enjoyed running his fingers through it when she’d lain with him like this in the past. Though it didn’t really matter. It was so good just having her content to stay where she was—no barriers between them. No
physical
barriers. He hoped the mental resistance she’d had to him had been stripped away, too.
He knew he’d given her intense sexual pleasure. Was it enough to sway her into marrying him? She had to be considering what Theo wanted in his life, too, and there was no doubt he wanted his father. What more could be done to clinch a future together?
He probably should be talking to her, finding out what was in her mind, yet he was reluctant to break the intimate silence. They had all night, plenty of time for talking. It was great being able to revel in the certainty that she would not be cold to him in the marriage bed.
She stirred, lifting her head. ‘I need to go to the bathroom, Ari.’
He released her and she instantly rolled away and onto her feet on the other side of the bed, only giving him a back view of her as she walked swiftly to the bathroom, no glimpse of the expression on her face. However, he couldn’t help smiling at the lovely curve of her spine, the perkiness of her sexy bottom and the perfect shape of her long legs.
There was nothing unattractive about Christina Savalas. No one would be surprised at his choice of wife. Not that he cared about what anyone else thought but it would make it easier for Christina to be readily accepted as his partner in life. Women could be quite bitchy if they perceived any other woman as not measuring up to what they expected. Felicity Fulbright had sniped about quite a few while in his company.
Of course he would be on guard to protect Christina from any nastiness but there were always female get-togethers when he wouldn’t be present. On the other hand, the fighting spirit his father admired in her was undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with in any kind of critical situation. She would have no qualms about setting people straight as she saw it. She’d done it to him repeatedly in the past few days.
All in all, Ari was quite looking forward to a future with Christina now that the sexual question was answered. However, his satisfaction took a slight knock when she re-emerged from the bathroom, wearing a white cotton kimono which covered her from neck to ankle. It signalled that she wasn’t about to jump back into bed with him.
‘I found this hanging on a peg behind the bathroom door,’ she said, putting a firm knot in the tie-belt and not quite meeting his gaze as she added, ‘There’s another one for you if you want to wear it after your shower. Easier than re-dressing for sitting on the balcony to watch the sunset.’
And easier for undressing afterwards, Ari thought, accepting her plan of action without argument. It was obvious that she had already showered—no invitation for him to join her—so she was putting an end to their intimacy for a while, which raised questions about how eager she was to continue it. An intriguing combination—hot in bed, cool out of it—another challenge that he had to come to grips with.
She wasn’t won yet.
‘Have a look at the menu on the desk while I shower,’ he said invitingly. ‘See what you’d like for dinner. We can order it in.’
It stopped her stroll towards the balcony. She paused at the desk to pick up the menu and began to study it, not even glancing at him as he rose from the bed and moved towards the bathroom. Was she embarrassed by her body’s response to his love-making? Was she always going to close up on him afterwards? How much was she truly willing to share with him?
Ari mused over these questions while taking a shower. In every one of his relationships with women there had always been mutual desire and mutual liking, at least at the beginning. It had certainly been so with Christina six years ago. In fact, looking back, that had been the only relationship he’d been reluctant to end. Nothing had soured it. Christina had not deceived him in any way, nor done anything to turn him off. The timing had been wrong, nothing else.
He was still sure his reasons for limiting it to his time in Australia were valid, yet his decision then kept coming between them now and he was no longer sure that good sex was the answer to reaching the kind of relationship he wanted with his wife.
Though it still made the marriage viable.
The mutual desire was right.
He just had to work on getting the mutual liking right again.
Having picked up their clothes from the floor and hung them over a chair, Tina took the menu out to the balcony and sat down at the small table for two. She was hungry, having only had a very light lunch, too full of nervous tension to enjoy food. Now that she felt less uptight about spending the night with Ari, a sunset dinner was very appealing.
She studied the list of dishes with interest, thinking this was the first meal she would spend alone with Ari since meeting him again. It was an opportunity to extend her knowledge of his lifestyle, which was an important preparation for being his wife. There was more to marriage than good sex and she wasn’t about to let Ari think that was all he had to give her.
Though it was a very powerful drawcard, completely meddling with Tina’s common sense when he strolled out to the balcony. His white kimono barely reached his knees and left a deep V of gleaming olive-skinned chest, causing her to catch her breath. He was so overwhelmingly male and so vitally handsome, all her female hormones were zinging as though caught in an electrical storm. Chemistry still humming from the sex they’d just shared, Tina told herself, but the desire for more of it could not be denied.
‘Found what you’d like?’ he asked, gesturing towards the menu.
‘Yes.’ She rattled off a starter, a main dish, and sweets, as well.
He grinned approval at her. ‘I’ve worked up an appetite, too. Give me the menu and I’ll call in an order now.’ He nodded at the lowering sun. ‘It will be pleasant to dine as we watch the sunset.’
Both the sky and the sea were already changing colour. Ari tucked the menu under his arm, picked up the half-empty champagne glasses from the balcony wall and returned to the bedroom to make the call. Tina watched the shimmering waves with their shifting shades of light, trying to calm herself enough to conduct a normal conversation without being continually distracted by lustful thoughts.
Ari brought back two clean wine glasses and an ice-bucket containing a bottle of light white wine which he said would go well with their starters. Tina decided she might as well give up her alcohol ban. Wine was part and parcel of Ari’s life and it was more appropriate for his wife to partake of some of it.
He was standing by the balcony wall, opening the bottle of wine when he was hailed from below.
‘Ari … Ari … It is you, isn’t it?’
Tina’s nerves instantly twanged. It was a female voice with a very British accent, like that of the woman who’d been with him in Dubai.
He looked down, his shoulders stiffening as he recognised the person. He raised a hand in acknowledgement but made no vocal reply, quickly turning back to the task of filling their glasses. His mouth had thinned into a line of vexation. His eyes were hooded.
Clearly this was an unwelcome intrusion and Tina felt impelled to ask, ‘Who is it?’ Facing other women who’d been in his life would have to be done sooner or later and it was probably better that she had a taste of it now, know whether or not she could deal with it.
He grimaced. ‘Stephanie Gilchrist. A London socialite.’
‘Not a fond memory?’ she queried archly, pretending it wasn’t important.
His eyes blazed annoyance. ‘An acquaintance. No more. I see she’s here with her current playmate, Hans Vogel, a German model who’s always strutting his stuff. I had no idea they were booked into this hotel.’
Just two people he didn’t want to mix with tonight, Tina thought with considerable relief. She didn’t really want to be faced with a woman who had shared his bed, not when the intimacies they had just shared were so fresh in her mind, not when her body was still reacting to them. This new beginning would not feel so good. Later on, when she felt more confident about being Ari’s partner—when he made her feel more confident—it might not matter at all.
‘Ari!’ Stephanie called more demandingly.
‘Damned nuisance!’ he muttered savagely as he swung around to deal with the problem.
Having regained his attention, Stephanie bluntly asked, ‘What are you doing here? I thought you had a home on Santorini. I’m sure Felicity told me.’
‘This hotel has a better view of the sunset,’ Ari swiftly cut in. ‘Why don’t you and Hans just lie back on your lounges and enjoy it?’
He waved his hand dismissively but Stephanie apparently had some personal axe to grind with him. ‘I’m coming up,’ she announced belligerently.
Ari cursed under his breath. He turned sharply to Tina, his brow creased with concern, the amber eyes glittering with intense urgency. ‘I’m sorry. I can’t stop her. The spiral staircase is open to all guests. I will get rid of her as fast as I can.’
Tina shrugged. ‘I can be polite to one of your acquaintances for a few minutes,’ she said, eyeing him warily, wondering if he had lied to her about the less than intimate connection to this woman.
Ari swiftly rattled out information. ‘She’s a close friend of Felicity Fullbright. Felicity was the woman you saw me with in Dubai. Since Stephanie is here, I don’t know if she’s been told I’ve ended the relationship with her friend. Anything she says … it’s irrelevant to us, Christina. Don’t let it worry you.’
It worried him.
Here’s where I learn if I’m a fool to even consider marrying him,
Tina thought, putting a steel guard around her vulnerability to this man.
Her heart started a painful pounding. ‘How long were you with Felicity, Ari?’ she asked, needing to know more.
‘Six weeks. It was enough to decide she didn’t suit me,’ he answered tersely.
‘You haven’t been with me for a week yet,’ she pointed out just as tersely.
The clip-clop of sandals was getting closer.
Ari frowned, shaking his head at her assertion. ‘It’s different with you, Christina.’
Because of Theo. But if they married, he would have to live with her, too, and how long would that suit him? They had had a harmonious relationship for three months but still he’d left her. It hadn’t been enough to keep him at her side.
Stephanie’s arrival on the staircase landing adjacent to their balcony put a halt to any further private conversation. She was a very curvy blonde with a mass of long, crinkly hair, and wearing a minute blue bikini that left little to the imagination. Her very light, almost aquamarine eyes instantly targeted Tina.
‘Well, well, off with the old and on with the new,’ she drawled. Her gaze shifted to Ari. ‘That must be a quick-change record even for you. I ran into Felicity at Heathrow just a few days ago. She was flying in from Athens and Hans and I were on our way here. She said you’d split but she sure didn’t know you had a replacement lined up.’
No waiting for an introduction.
No courtesy at all.
Tina sat tight, watching Ari handle the situation.
‘You’re assuming too much, Stephanie,’ he said blandly, gesturing towards Tina. ‘This is Christina Savalas whom I met in Australia quite a few years ago. She happens to be Cassandra’s sister who married my cousin, George, yesterday. The wedding gave us the opportunity to catch up again, which has been amazingly good.’ He smiled at Tina. ‘Wouldn’t you say?’
‘Amazing,’ she echoed, following his lead and smiling back at him.
Stephanie arched her eyebrows. ‘Australia? Are you heading back there now that the wedding is over?’
Tina shrugged. ‘I shall have to go sometime.’
‘Not in any hurry since you’ve snagged Ari again,’ came the mocking comment.
The woman’s sheer rudeness goaded Tina into a very cold retort. ‘I’m not into snagging men. In fact …’
‘I’m the one doing all the running,’ Ari cut in. ‘And having found out what you wanted to know, why don’t you run along back to Hans, Stephanie? You’re not exactly endearing yourself to a woman I care about.’
‘Really care?’ She gave Ari a derisive sneer. ‘It’s not just a dose of the charm you used to bowl over Felicity? You didn’t care about her one bit, did you?’
‘Not after she displayed a dislike for children, no,’ he answered bitingly.
‘Oh!’ With her spite somewhat deflated, she turned to Tina for a last jeer. ‘Well, I’ve just done you a favour. You’d better show a liking for children or he’ll throw you over as fast as he caught up with you. Good luck!’
With a toss of her hair she flounced off their balcony.
Tina stared out to sea as Stephanie’s sandals clattered down the spiral staircase. She wondered if it was good luck or bad that had brought her back into Ari’s life. Whatever … luck had little to do with making a marriage work. At least, a liking for children was one thing they definitely shared. Ari wouldn’t be throwing her over on that issue. But Stephanie had implied he had a quick turnover of women in his life, which meant he wasn’t in the habit of holding onto a relationship. What if she didn’t
suit
him after a while?
‘You hardly know me, Ari,’ she said, suddenly frightened that her suitability might be very limited.
‘I know enough to want you as my wife,’ he whipped out, an emphatic intensity in his voice. ‘And not only because you’ve given me a son. There’s nothing I don’t like about you, Christina.’
She sliced him a wary look. ‘What do you actively
like?’
He sat down at the table, pushing one of the glasses of wine over to her, obviously playing for time to think. ‘Take a sip. It doesn’t have a sour taste like Stephanie,’ he assured her.
She picked up the glass and sipped, eyeing him over its rim.
The expression on his face softened, the amber eyes telegraphing appreciation. ‘I like how much you care for your family. I like the way you consider others. I like your good manners. I think you have courage and grit and intelligence—all qualities that I like. They make up the kind of character that I want in a partner.’