Edward lifted her out of the helicopter when they landed and she straightened to look in wonder at the building a hundred yards from them. 'It's a castle!'
'Yes, but a small one. Built by a wealthy eccentric in the nineteen twenties and bought by my mother. She owned a lot of property around the world. I turned the most promising into businesses and sold the rest,' he volunteered, walking her towards the curiously elegant castle fashioned of cream-coloured stone and set in the midst of beautiful gardens. 'At one time I planned to turn the castle into a small exclusive hotel but once I had renovated it I decided to keep it as a bolt-hole.'
'It's hot for this time of year,' Bella remarked in pleasant surprise, moving into the cool shadow of the tree-lined stone path that led to the castle entrance. Back in London, late summer was fading into evenings with steadily dropping temperatures while here in Tuscany the roses were still blooming and the bite of autumn's approach had yet to register.
A cheerful housekeeper chattering in Italian met them on the doorstep. Edward introduced her as Josefina and responded smoothly in the same language before escorting Bella across the highly polished floor tiles in the hall and up the stone staircase. A selection of doors led off the wide landing but Edward headed straight for the set of double doors in the centre and into a massive bedroom with a turret at either corner. 'Wow,' she whispered, pulling away from him to explore the turrets, finding a bathroom in one and a fully furnished dressing room in the other.
An ebony brow lifted, and Edward watched in amusement, enjoying the expressions crossing her mobile face while their cases were being stashed behind them. 'You like?'
'I love,' Bella confided, kicking off the high heels, which pinched. She brushed the petal of an exquisite white lily in a dramatic floral arrangement, trailed an admiring finger along the gleaming wooden surface of an antique of drawers and studied the big bed with its snowy white linen and ice-blue silky throw. 'It's so romantic.'
'I don't do romance,' he reminded her, unbuttoning his shirt, having long since discarded his jacket and tie.
'Bite the bullet, Edward,' Bella advised in amusement. 'This is a very romantic setting.'
Edward stiffened, but looking away from Bella at that moment wasn't an option; she looked so impossibly appealing. She had taken her hair down during the flight and the brilliantly colourful strands tumbled luxuriantly around her slim shoulders, glinting like her metallic dress in the sunlight coming through the windows. He moved forward, stepped behind her and ran down her zip, peeling the fabric back slowly from her shoulders while planting a kiss on the pale flesh he exposed.
Bella held her breath, watching their reflections merge in a tall mirror with the faint blurry quality of antique glass. As he bent over her, the brush of his lips made her shiver. His hair was so black against hers, his hand so dark against her white shoulder. The dress slid down her arms and then dropped in a pool at her feet.
'My turn to say wow,' Edward growled, flipping her round to take in the full effect of her curves sheathed in a dainty white balcony bra and knickers teamed with lace hold-up stockings. 'I like...I love.'
'Th-thought you would,' Bella stammered, her face burning with colour because standing in front of him clad in provocative lingerie filled her with stupid self-consciousness.
'I'm very easy to please,' Edward husked, tipping her tits gently free of the silk to massage her pointed pink between finger and thumb, lowering a hand to slide a fingertip beneath the edge of her and probe the wet heat she would have hidden from him.
An arrow of stark hunger shot through Bella and she gasped, wanting, needing, pierced by so many sensations at once she couldn't vocalise or think. He crushed her parted lips below his, nibbling and teasing with expertise, and then lifted his head again.
'I want you so much I'm burning with it,' Edward breathed, dropping to his knees to tug down her knickers and spread her thighs. 'And I want you to burn along with me, hara mou.'
YOU ARE READING
GREEK HUSBAND
Romance'This was more than a little push,' Bella censured. 'I don't know why you're doing it either. You can't want me as a wife that much.' 'Why not?' 'I'm just ordinary.' 'I don't see you that way, meli mou,' Edward countered. 'I see you as different, as...
