The Tycoon's Rebel Bride (The Anetakis Tycoons #2)(44)

This time they came together, an explosion she felt to her very depths. As his body settled comfortably over hers, she sighed in utter contentment.

After a moment he rolled to the side and gathered her in his arms.

“Where did you learn such wickedness, Bella mou?” he asked as she snuggled into the crook of his arm and he stroked his fingers over her shoulder.

She rose up, positioning her elbow underneath so she could look at him. “What do you mean?”

“You were a virgin and yet you seduced me as thoroughly as someone with much more experience.”

She laughed. “Theron, tell me you aren’t one of these men who thinks the presence of a hymen equals complete ignorance on the woman’s part.”

But then given his antiquated views on honor, and the fact that he was marrying her over that thing called a hymen, perhaps it wasn’t such a stretch to believe he thought she should be ignorant of sex.

He looked uncomfortable as he grappled with his answer. “I suppose I thought it unlikely that someone with no experience would be so…”

“Good?” she asked cheekily.

He gave her a look that suggested he wasn’t amused by her teasing.

“I never said I wasn’t experienced,” she said lightly.

He tensed and raised his head to stare at her. “What do you mean by this? Who do you have experience with?”

She laid a hand on his chest. “Now, Theron, stop with the testosterone surge. You’re the only man I’ve ever made love with. Experience can be gained without participation you know.”

“As long as you don’t ever decide to participate with another man,” he said gruffly. “I will teach you everything you need to know.”

She grinned. “And maybe as we’ve previously discussed, there are things I’ll teach you, as well.”

He yanked her to him, and she landed with a soft thud, her lips a breath away from his.

“Is this so? Well then, Bella mou, by all means teach me. I think you’ll find me a willing pupil.”

Sixteen

T heron reached across the seat and buckled Isabella’s belt. She roused sleepily and looked questioningly at him.

“We’ll be landing soon,” he said. “Then we’ll take a helicopter to the island.”

She yawned and nodded, trying to knock some of the sleep fog from her mind. “I’m looking forward to meeting Piers, well officially. I’ve seen him but just once and we didn’t speak,” she said as she shifted in her seat. “Though it’s been so long since I’ve seen Chrysander, it will be like meeting him for the first time all over again. What’s he like?” she asked.

He raised one eyebrow. “What’s who like, pethi mou?”

“Piers,” she said a little grumpily. “You know, the one I just said I hadn’t met.”

He smiled. “You’re not at your best when you first awaken.”

She yawned again and just frowned.

“To answer your question, Piers is…well, he’s Piers,” Theron said with a shrug. “He travels the most of any of us now that Chrysander has settled on the island. He’s flying in from Rio de Janeiro right now where he’s overseeing the building of our new hotel.”

“Married or otherwise attached?”

Theron laughed. “Not Piers. He has an aversion to becoming entangled with any female for more than the length of a casual affair.”

“Did your mother mistreat him?” Isabella asked dryly.

Theron shook his head. “You, Bella mou, have quite a smart wit about you. I’m going to have to think of ways to keep that mouth of yours occupied.”

“And Marley?” she asked as the plane began its descent. Already she could see tiny twinkling lights from the ground. “What’s she like? I admit, I find it hard to imagine a woman who could so easily subdue a man like Chrysander. He always seemed so…hard.”

“It wasn’t easy,” Theron said, his expression growing serious. “They went through a lot together. Chrysander is lucky to have her.”

“So you like her?” Isabella prompted.

Theron nodded. “I like her very much. She’s good for him. Softens him just enough.”

“She sounds…nice.”

“You have nothing to worry about,” he soothed. “You’ll like them, and they’ll like you.”

She managed a stiff smile. What she really wanted to ask is whether they’d liked Alannis more. How would they feel about the fact he was marrying someone else? She didn’t know how it worked in Theron’s family, but would they have expected him to marry Alannis for business reasons?

Theron’s hand found hers just a moment before the plane touched down. She was content to let her fingers remain entwined with his as they taxied. A few minutes later, they were disembarking the plane, and Theron was urging her toward a waiting helicopter.

“If I had thought, I would have arranged for us to stay on the mainland overnight so that you could see the beauty of the island from the air in daytime,” Theron said as they boarded.

“I’ll see it on the way back, right?” she said with a smile as Theron settled beside her.

He nodded as the engines whirred too loudly for conversation any longer.

The ride across the inky darkness was a little disconcerting, and then Theron pointed to a flash of light in the distance. She strained forward, leaning over him as they drew closer to the source of the light.