Mail-order Bridegroom Part 76

"A honeymoon. I think we ought to stick around, really convince my mother."He smiled into her eyes. His hands were melting her.

"What do you say?"

"Yes."

CHAPTER EIGHT.

it turned into a beautiful honeymoon.

They had a beautiful island, gorgeous weather, a private cottage, and the

occasional smiling approval of Teresa.

They'd had all that from the first, of course. But then all it had done wasfrustrate them, highlighting exactly what they were missing: each other.When they came together at last, the equation became complete.Teresa obviously noticed. As she was cleaning up after supper the following day, she gave them a big grin."You two lookin' better. I think maybe this marriage be gonna work.""You've given it your stamp of approval, have you?" Damon said to her, but he was looking at Kate.

"Hard not to, lookin' at the two of you. You lookin' like the cat that ate the hen, and the hen lookin' like she enjoyed every minute."

Damon laughed and Kate blushed furiously.

"Your mama going' to be so pleased," Teresa went on.

"She can't hardly wait to come, she that happy you're going to stay on for

the holiday."

He had told Teresa they would be staying on over the holiday when they'd come

for breakfast that morning, and she had obviously wasted no time in pa.s.sing the word on to the rest of the family.

"Your mama say Mr Stephanos and Mrs Sophia stay in the big house. You get to

keep the cottage."

Damon smiled at her, but spared a wicked one for Kate as well.

"You'd better believe it."

Teresa chuckled at the renewed flush on Kate's face.

"You don't have to be quite so blatant," she muttered once Teresa haddeparted.

Damon's gaze was one of guileless innocence. "About what?" Then he laughedand rubbed his ankle where she kicked him.

"You're beautiful when you blush," he told her.

Kate made a face.

"Thanks very much."

"I mean it, Kate." His expression sobered.

Kate swallowed at the heat she saw in his eyes. "You've been celibate too long," she said gruffly. "You'd think anyone was appealing who satisfiedyou."

"Is that what you think?"

"This is a marriage of convenience, isn't it? And I'm ever so convenient." She shot him a defiant look.

Damon didn't reply. He pushed back the chair and stood up. Kate's gazefollowed him warily. He looked taller and more powerful than ever thismorning. He held out his hand to her. She hesitated. Then, when he keptholding it out, waiting, she put her own in it. His fingers closed aroundhers and he pulled her to her feet.

More convenience? she wondered, but she didn't dare ask. There was something dangerous in his expression, something she didn't completelyunderstand, and wasn't sure she wanted to.

But what else could it be? she asked herself. And really, she wasn'tobjecting. Making love with Damon under whatever circ.u.mstances was amazing.

She was surprised when they got back to the cottage that he didn't haul herinto the bedroom. He said only, 'Get your suit and let's go for a swim. "

After they'd changed, they went down to the beach. Damon was quiet, andKate, still unsure of his mood, but aware that something had changed, kepther mouth shut as well.

She wondered if she had hurt his feelings somehow, implying that any woman would have done. But she didn't see how that could have hurt him. It was more likely to hurt her, which was, if she was honest, why she'd saidit. She didn't want to let herself believe it was as wonderful for Damon as it was for her. If she did, she might start hoping. . .

And that would be disaster.

Damon walked down the beach without speaking until they reached a tallsculpture made of the flotsam and jetsam that had washed up on the pink sand. Kate hadn't walked this way before and until they'd come close she hadn't even realised what the sculpture was made of. Now she stood looking at it,awed at the vision that had created beauty out of sc.r.a.p. Damon seemed in nohurry to move on, and she ventured to ask.

"Who made it?"

"Whoever came by. It was started before we first came here. Even if it getswashed away in a storm, someone starts it again.""It's beautiful.""You think so?"Kate glanced at him, surprised."Yes. Don't you?"He nodded."But it doesn't appeal to everyone. Not enough structure.""Its spontaneity is what makes it beautiful, and its ability to take whatever comes to hand and make i? work."

Damon didn't say anything, and Kate wondered it she'd made another mistake.Then he took his towel from around his neck and asked,"Do you want to swim?""Here?""There's a good reef out there." He pointed, then shrugged."But if you'd rather not. . .""It's fine," Kate said quickly."I'm getting hot."

A corner of his mouth quirked.

"Are you?"

She felt her cheeks begin to warm.

"Not that kind of hot," she said quickly.

"More's the pity," Damon drawled. He dropped his towel and walked towardsthe water. When he reached the edge, he turned around.

"Come on, then."

Whatever had been bothering him seemed to fade as they waded into the waterand began to swim. He helped her fit on a snorkel and fins, then fitted onhis own and led her out to swim over the reef. It was-even more beautiful than the sculpture, and Kate told him so.

"I thought you might like it." He smiled at her. She smiled back, andsuddenly the day seemed bright again.

He didn't let her stay out too long.

"Too much sun at midday," he told her. And she went with him willingly backto the cottage.

This time he did lead her into the bedroom. And after another shower together, they shared the bed for a nap and an afternoon of quiet loving.

Damon Alexakis quietly attentive was as awesome as Damon fiery and pa.s.sionatehad been. There were so many sides to him, so much to find out that shedidn't know, that Kate lay awake watching him sleep, marvelling at the manshe was married to, trying to decide what it was about him that fascinatedher so.

What she decided was that there was no one thing. There wasn't simply thesmooth, polished charm that she'd been taken in by with Bryce.

Damon had charm, of course. He had charm in spades. But besides the charm,he had strength, pa.s.sion, gentleness, humour, determination, vulnerability.More things than she could count.

If she'd guessed there was all this to the man who'd proposed to her those few short weeks ago, would she have dared to say yes?

"It's a miracle," Sophia said.

"It is," Electra echoed.

"The eighth wonder of the modern world," Pandora affirmed.

"I'd never have believed it if I hadn't seen it."

"What are you talking about?" Kate asked her sisters- in-law. They were all sitting under beach umbrellas, sipping long, cool drinks while Damon taught his nieces how to swim in the shallow water before them.

"That," Sophia said, nodding towards her brother and her daughters.

Damon was crouching low in the water, Christina hanging on his shoulders while he helped Leda keep her legs straight as she kicked.

"That's it! You're getting it! Good job," he praised.

"He tried to drown me," Electra recalled.

Kate laughed.

"You're kidding."

"I am not!"

"Maybe you deserved it," Kate said with a small grin, remembering how trying

Damon sometimes found his sisters.

Electra looked offended, then chagrined.

"Maybe," she allowed.

"You were sort of a pain," Chloe chipped in.

"But I think it's a miracle anyway."

"Actually," Sophia said, 'it's Kate. "

Kate glanced at her, startled.

"You mean, it's because of me that Damon is paying attention to the girls?

Nonsense. He took them out before we were married."

"He took them out when he was courting you. Before that I think he came to

their birthday parties with gifts picked by the corporate buyer at F.A.O.

Schwarz. He certainly never taught them how to swim.