His Ring Is Not Enough

“Smile,” Ajax whispered in her ear, and it kick-started her brain again.

Never let them see you cry.

So she did smile, a bright, false smile she didn’t feel, and he led her down the aisle as the band played.

They went back up the stairs. Into the house.

The doors closed behind them, and Ajax started loosening his tie.

“Don’t we need... Should we... The photographer.”

“Do you honestly think I want pictures?” he asked, his voice rough.

“I...I had thought... It’s our... We paid for the photographer.”

“I’m sure the press in attendance got enough. I am not interested in posing for photos. What I would like is alcohol.”

“You don’t drink.”

“Not usually.”

Never. She’d never seen him drink. That wasn’t the best for her ego. That marrying her was driving him to drink.

“What about the reception?”

“I am far too eager to take you back to my villa and consummate the marriage,” he said, his tone dry as sand. “We’ll have to skip it.”

“Wh...what?”

“We’re leaving. Now.” She didn’t want to leave now. Not while she felt so...shaken.

But they were.

He took her hand again, and they went out the other direction, out the front doors, where there was a limo idling. He opened the back door for her and she got in. He gathered up the skirt of her dress and put it in behind her before getting in and closing the door.

He looked out the window and she followed his gaze to the photographer standing on the step. “Let’s give him a picture,” he said, his voice nearly a growl.

“The windows are tinted.”

“He’ll work around that. It’s his job to get the shot after all.”

He hauled her to his body, her breasts, precariously close to making an exit from the bodice of her dress, pressed against his hard chest. And then, for the second time in the space of five minutes, she was being kissed by Ajax Kouros.

After consigning Ajax to the “fantasies that were never going to happen” bin, two kisses in such short succession were shocking.

His tongue delved deep, tasting her, sending a shock wave through her, straight to her core. And again, she found herself responding, helplessly, intensely. She speared her fingers through his hair, held on to him for all she was worth.

She couldn’t pretend she didn’t feel this. Couldn’t pretend that the touch of his lips against hers didn’t light a fire in her body. Couldn’t pretend that no matter what her emotions were doing, no matter how she’d shut them down, she’d never wanted a man the way she wanted Ajax.

He removed his lips from hers and pressed a kiss to her neck, down lower, lower...oh...yes.

Then he lifted his head. “Drive,” he said, the order clearly meant for his driver and not for her. He kissed her neck again, his tongue tracing a circle over her skin before the limo exited the driveway of her family’s estate and went out onto the main winding road that led back down to the highway.

Then, he moved away from her, all of the heat from the earlier moment completely gone. As if cold water had been thrown on a flame.

“What was...all that?”

“I was not in the mood to deal with questioning—were you?”

“I... No, I suppose not.”

“We’ll need to get a story together, one that matches, before we talk to the press.”

“Right, okay, I see the merit in that.” Her lips felt swollen and hot, and she felt dizzy. What had just happened to her? She looked down at her hand, where he’d placed a ring only moments before, and she wondered if she was involved in some kind of weird dream.

“There will have to be an explanation for why it was you and not Rachel who walked down the aisle today.”

“And the truth won’t work? That she realized she loved someone else?”

The expression in his eyes could only be described as fierce. “No, it does not. Would it be so simple for you?”

“I suppose not. But please let’s come up with an answer that doesn’t completely burn my pride. I’ve had enough of that in the media.”

“We both have issues of pride, it seems. I do not intend to hurt you, Leah, but none of this was part of my plan.”

“Clearly.”

“I imagine it wasn’t a part of yours, either.”

“Well, this morning I was getting ready for my sister’s wedding, and it turned out to be my wedding. And now I’m married and sitting in a limo on my way to...I don’t even know where. Maybe you told me, but I forgot because that’s just the kind of day it’s been.”

“My home. We weren’t planning on going on a honeymoon until things had started settling at Holt.”

“Are you going to New York?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. But I will be working from my office here on getting things in order. Your father has left everything in magnificent working order, and the transition has been well under way for a while, but even so...”

“Business first. I don’t have anything to wear,” she said. “I have this dress. I don’t have...panties.” The words sort of slipped out, horrifying her as they did. She didn’t feel savvy, or self-contained, or well-protected. She felt dazed. “I don’t have deodorant. My suitcase is back at the house.”

“I will have all new clothes sent over if you like. And your things from New York.”

“My things from... What?”

“You’ll be living here with me. We will of course travel to New York, but we’ll stay in my penthouse there, not in your apartment or flat or whatever it is you have.”

“It’s a very nice apartment.”

“We will live together. We are husband and wife after all.”

“Oh. Right. Yes. We are.”

“You sound shocked.”

“Are you not?”

He looked her over, dark eyes assessing. “I am a hard man to shock, Leah, but all things considered, I am a bit.”

He was so dry, so condescending. It wasn’t fair that he was so in control. That his mask never slipped. Because she was confused and a little freaked and kind of in internal upheaval and he just...wasn’t.

He was all cold and calm and stare-y.

Blessed reality was starting to trickle in. Cold. Unflinching. It provided a harsh portrait of her slipups over the past few minutes. Over how stupid she’d let a couple of kisses make her when she knew better than to let that happen. Or, she at least knew better than to let anyone see it. She knew better than to reveal anything.

“You really want me to live with you?” She crossed her arms beneath her breasts, then thought better of it when she realized just how effectively that hoisted them up.

“Need is the better word,” he said. “I will not risk this appearing to be anything but real.” He put his elbow on the armrest of the car and put his hand on his forehead. The first sign of him truly not being all that okay.

They were silent for the rest of the ride to the house. And while they climbed the mountain, anger built inside her. Blessed anger that helped her armor feel fortified.

The limo wound its way up the mountain that would carry them to Ajax’s home. She realized she hadn’t been there. He came over to the family’s estate for parties in Rhodes, and he visited her family’s penthouse in New York, but she’d never visited him here, not after he’d got a home.

She’d never seen where he’d lived as a teenager working on the estate, either, but she’d been a child then so it wasn’t all that surprising.

Double gates came into view, then they parted as the limo approached. And beyond them was a sleek, modern home with windows that opened it all up to views that surrounded it. Mountains behind, the ocean, glimmering bright in front. Bright pink flowers climbed the walls, the only nod to a traditional Greek villa.

The rest was all new. Clean lines and exceptionally expensive construction.

“I’ve never been here before,” she said.

“Have you not?” A strange look passed over his face.

“No. I haven’t. You’ve never invited me. Well, it’s not like we really hang out.” Anymore. “We just happen to make a wide circle around each other at many of the same gatherings, and kind of, pass close enough two or three times in an evening to say ‘lovely to see you, how about this shrimp cocktail? Delightful? Yes, delightful!’ But no, we don’t hang out.”

Not by accident. After her big Ajax-induced heartbreak she’d needed to push him away. Needed to give herself some time to erect stronger barriers.

“And I don’t have parties,” he said, his voice comically serious.

“So, that mystery’s solved. That’s why I’ve never been here.”

The car stopped and she scrambled out of it, not willing to wait for Ajax or his driver to open the door. The further away the wedding got, the weirder she felt in her dress. The edgier she felt in general.

Every time he’d kissed her, the fog of fantasy had closed in around them and it had seemed a dream. Now, standing in front of his glass-and-steel house, the sun’s harsh light bathing her skin in heat, the breeze coming up from the sea blowing the skirt of her wedding dress around her ankles, it all felt much too real.

“Can we go inside?” she asked. “I’m overheated.”

“As you would be in that dress.” He led the way to the house, and she followed, relief washing through her when they entered the cool stone foyer.

“Are you all right now?”

“Better, thank you.” She folded her hands and put them in front of her, the folds of her skirt hiding them.

“Hopefully your things will be here soon. I imagine that is quite uncomfortable.”

She looked down and took a breath at the same time, her breasts trying to escape the bodice. Again.

Her things. Because she was expected to live here. To drop everything for this. For him. Because he wanted it to look real.

“So,” she said, her voice tight, her next words escaping before she had the chance to think them through, fueled by her nerves, by her need to know what he was thinking. What he might ask of her. “Are we about to consummate this marriage?”

“What?”

“You said...you said you were so eager to consummate, and you’re having my things sent here. You want to get on that?”

“I think not,” he said, dark brows drawn together, his grasp of her sarcasm clearly loose at best. “Certainly not tonight.”

“What exactly is the marriage going to be? And if not tonight, do you see it happening in the future?”

“I wanted to present a certain front to the press. That’s all. Per the agreement we signed this afternoon, we have to stay married for five years before the deal is finalized, or ownership of the company defaults to...”

“It would go to Alex, wouldn’t it?”

“Considering your father’s health? And if he stays with your sister that long? Likely. That means whatever happens, this marriage is not going to be quick and easy. Even then...even then perhaps it would be best for us to consider making this arrangement permanent. However, you have just stepped in at the last minute—I’m hardly going to force you upstairs to ravish you.”

Her breath caught in her throat. “That’s not what I...”

“You were the one who asked,” he said.

“Just making things clear. We did get married today, and you did make a comment about consummation,” she threw back.

“So you’re offering me your body, as well? Right now? How about here? I could dismiss my staff, or hell, they’re paid to look the other way, why bother dismissing them? Would you like me to tear your dress off and have you against the wall?”

His voice was rough, unsteady, like nothing she’d heard from him before.

She’d pushed him to a place she hadn’t intended, the conversation not seeming as absurd as she’d imagined when she’d first spoken the words. There was an edge of danger, reality to all of this. She’d never seen him like this. This close to losing grip on his control.

Being in the path of it was almost frightening. But she was close to the edge, too. She felt vulnerable and at a disadvantage, two things she hated. And pushing at his control made her feel like she had even more of it.

“I could, Leah. Some women like that. Or, if you prefer I could take you upstairs and make you my wife for real. But the thing is, I would be doing it because I’m angry. At her. I would think of her. She is the only woman I have ever loved, and she walked away from me on our wedding day to be with someone else. Someone I despise. If I were with you,” he continued, his voice rough, “it would be to get back at her. I’m a man—never forget that. I could think of anything and get it up while I parted your thighs. It would hardly make you special. Yes, I could have you. But the question is, right now, would you want me?”

His words shouldn’t hurt. But they were so cold, so hard, they cut through her defenses, straight to her heart.

But she wouldn’t let him see.

“You loved her?” she asked.

“I love her,” he said. “Years of loving someone isn’t erased by one act. As convenient as it might be.”

“I suppose not.”

The whole thing made her pride burn. How adamant he was about not wanting her. And at the same time, she looked into his dark eyes and realized his own pride was savaged. Realized how hard this was for him.

He’d lost the woman he loved. He had married someone else. Someone he had no feelings for. He was looking at her and seeing a broken dream. No matter how strong her armor, she felt the impact of that like a battering ram against the steel.

“I think I’ll go to my room then, since you’re not interested in a quick consummation,” she said, her tone tart, her expression as neutral as she could get it. “Good night.”

He nodded once. “Tomorrow, we’ll come up with a plan.”

“I look forward to it.”

Maybe a night of sleep would help her figure out what she was doing. Help her figure out what had happened to her.

And what they were going to do about it.

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