'Yes, it is vital. I have no intention of being trapped into becoming a father and paying for it the rest of my life. I never forget to use a condom, and I can a.s.sure you I am perfectly healthy. I have regular check-ups-can you say the same?'

Selina had heard some insults in her twenty-four years, but Rion's took the cake! How like a man. He didn't want to be trapped-no thought for the woman who would have to carry the child for nine months and look after it for the rest of her life. All Rion was worried about was the money it might cost him ...

What a charmer. But then why was she surprised?

She considered stringing him along. Letting Rion sweat for a few weeks would serve the arrogant devil right. But then that would involve her keeping in touch with him, and she didn't want that ... did she?

'Lucky for you I am on the Pill.' Ironically, when she had returned to England after Rion had thrown her out she had consulted her GP about her cramps and he had put her on the Pill. 'And I had a check-up four months ago.' Which she had-but not for the reason he thought. 'I have not had a lover since. Can you say the same?' She repeated his own question with a cynical arched brow in his direction and then, swinging her legs off the bed she stood up, ignoring Rion.

'Good,' Rion said, and he felt good. Of course Selina was on the Pill-she was an intelligent, s.e.xually active woman who took care of herself. It made perfect sense. 'And to answer your question yes, I can say the same. It seems we have both had a barren spell.' He chuckled, and looked at her shapely naked body as she bent down to pick up her sweatpants from the floor with her back towards him.

Suddenly Rion didn't feel so much fine as hungry. He was hardening again at the sight of her peachy b.u.m slowly disappearing beneath the blue pants. He rolled off the bed and in one lithe movement reached for her arm and spun her around to face him.

'Why bother dressing? We have the night ahead of us and the best is yet to come,' he drawled, supremely confident of his virile prowess.

Selina's eyes widened on his as she saw rekindled pa.s.sion in the deep black pupils, sensual invitation ... Hastily she lowered her gaze, refusing to be tempted. But looking at him standing in front of her stark naked was no help. His big body gleamed in the moonlight and incredibly she saw he was aroused again. She felt a renewed flicker of desire flare inside her.

She stiffened and doused the flame. 'I'm going to bed. Dimitri gave me the cabin next door, and I prefer to sleep on my own,' she clipped.

Rion recognised her defiant stance and was infuriated as well as frustrated. 'Reneging on our agreement already, Selina? You are here as my lover, remember?' he told her bluntly.

His dark eyes flicked over her face, over the wild tangle of hair falling to her shoulders, the proud thrust of her full firm b.r.e.a.s.t.s, the rosy nipples still swollen from his mouth. Her slender arms were by her sides and her hands clenched into fists.

'Playing games will get you nowhere. You sleep in my bed unless I say otherwise.' Rion didn't know why he was insisting. He preferred sleeping alone. He had never spent a whole night with a woman in years-not since Selina ...

Selina's shoulders slumped. 'Okay,' she said. He was so d.a.m.n arrogant, and she was too exhausted to argue with him. There was no point anyway. Rion would do what he liked-he always did. In his business life and his private life. With a skill and cunning that rarely failed. She meant nothing to him other than a female to warm his bed for two weeks. She had to remember that.

Turning, she walked around the foot of the bed and climbed in, pulling the coverlet up to her neck.

Just like that she had given in, and Rion was left standing like a lemon, watching her pull the cover over her body. He didn't know whether he felt pleased or angry. What was it about Selina that managed to confuse him so easily? Whatever it was, the bed beckoned, and he lay down beside her and drew her unresisting body into his arms.

'A kiss goodnight?' he drawled softly, lowering his dark head.

Selina glanced up into his handsome face, saw the sensuous intent in his black eyes. She could not help it. A wide yawn escaped her.

As a pa.s.sion killer it was cla.s.sic ...

Rion's lips twitched in a wry smile. She was so beautiful, so very feminine-and so very tired, he realised belatedly. A pang of guilt stabbed at him, but though he had no doubt he could persuade her, he wasn't a selfish enough lover to try.

While Selina had been making calls to rearrange her work schedule Anna had told him that when the doctor had said Mark Stakis only had days left, not knowing who to call, she had rung Selina. Without hesitation Selina had dropped everything to come straight to Greece. She had sat at her grandfather's bedside for two days, only taking the occasional nap, until he died, and then she had arranged the funeral-contacting all the necessary people and holding up marvellously all day as a perfect hostess. Then Anna had asked him to make sure Selina caught her flight all right-because she really needed a rest.

Avoiding her lips, he pressed a kiss on her forehead. 'You're tired. Go to sleep.'

Selina needed no encouragement, and with a deep sigh she was asleep in seconds.

It took Rion a lot longer as Selina twisted restlessly in her sleep, ending up with a slender arm slanting down over his body, her hand splayed on his belly, her head resting on his chest and her firm b.r.e.a.s.t.s pressed against his side. Her steady breathing teased the hairs on his chest, and if her hand moved a fraction of an inch he would no longer be responsible for his actions.

CHAPTER SIX.

RION opened his eyes instantly, aware Selina had moved. He lay still, the heavy beat of his heart thudding against her breast and the deep rise and fall of his breathing stirring her hair. Her head was still on his chest, and the hand he had been wary of earlier was resting on his shoulder. It was the leg she had slid between his thighs that had aroused him from sleep-in more ways than one ... Yet she seemed to be sleeping like a baby while he was hard and aching.

He ran a finger lightly up her spine, his other hand stroking gently down to her pert rear. She was warm and shapely, her skin as soft as silk beneath his hand and there was only so much frustration a man could stand, he decided. But before he could make a move, amazingly he felt her lush mouth kiss his chest, her hot little tongue licking a nipple to pebble-like hardness, her slender hand on his shoulder inching up his neck.

In their brief marriage she had flung her arms around him and kissed him enthusiastically when he'd returned home and when he'd made love to her she'd been amazingly responsive, yet rather shy, but she had never once initiated s.e.x. Now ...

Rion stifled a groan and waited in sensual antic.i.p.ation of what she would do next ...

Selina's eyes blinked open. She was vaguely aware of a tingling sensation travelling the length of her spine. Her sleepy gaze rested on Rion and she stretched sensuously across his great body-and felt the growing pressure of his arousal against her thigh. Dream-like, she kissed his broad chest and put out her tongue to lick a dark male nipple, let her fingers edge up into the silken black hair of his head.

She sighed with pleasure, breathing her husband's name, and planted a string of kisses up his throat, tasting his skin. Her small white teeth nipped teasingly at his firm chin and, raising her head, she brushed his lips lightly with her own. Finally she looked up into his eyes, saw the gleam of desire in the black depths. An all-female smile curved her mouth. Rion wanted her ...

Rion ...

Suddenly Selina was wide awake and aware of where she was-and why. Mortified at what she had done, she placed her hands on his chest to push away from him.

'Don't stop now.' Rion noted the confusion on Selina's face as her body arched back. Sliding an arm around her, he cupped the back of her head in his hand. For an instant she resisted. 'I have never had a pleasanter awakening,' he said huskily, and pulled her head down and captured her mouth, silencing her m.u.f.fled protest with his.

Her lips opened beneath his and Rion tightened his hand around her taut b.u.t.tocks, holding her against his pulsing length while his mouth devoured her. His tongue was mimicking what he really wanted, but this time he was determined to go slow and savour her.

Selina hadn't a chance. Her mind and body had already betrayed her and she was hot for him. When he took possession of her mouth a low moan escaped her and she responded with equal fervour.

She didn't protest when he broke the kiss to roll her onto her back. Big and dark, he loomed over her, raking her naked body with hungry eyes, and she revelled in his scrutiny. She lifted her hands to trace the hard planes of his bronzed chest, caressing, and felt him shudder as she stroked lower to his belly.

'Oh, no.' Rion caught her wrists and pinned her arms either side of her body. 'My turn, Selina, my pace,' he rasped and, bending his head, his sensuous mouth found hers and her lips parted eagerly to the erotic penetration of his tongue. They kissed long, deliciously, and finally desperately broke the kiss to breathe. Then with deliberate intent he began a slow seduction of her achingly receptive body.

Selina's breath caught as Rion's lips trailed a path from her mouth to her throat along her collarbone, and for a second time her breath stilled as his head inched lower towards the soft curve of her breast.

With incredible tenderness he kissed a burgeoning peak, opening his mouth to circle the aureole with his tongue before beginning a delicate suckling that pulled like a live wire from her breast to her pelvis, tightening as he continued with an erotic teasing and tasting that was halfway between pleasure and pain. Just when she thought she could stand no more, he moved to bestow a similar torment on its partner. She tried to reach for him, to touch him, but he held her hands firmly at her sides and found her mouth again, kissing her with a hungry pa.s.sion then trailing kisses over her throat, her shoulders, before inching lower, driving her wild with exquisite pleasure. He inched his way lower still, and wantonly she yielded to the demands of her body and Rion's sensual mastery.

He circled her navel with his tongue, and suddenly her hands were free as he parted her legs. His head dipped to nuzzle at the junction of her thighs, his tongue slipping between the dewy folds to taste her.

Selina had never experienced such intimacy before and, shocked, instinctively reached for his shoulders to push him away. But shock gave way to intense sensual delight, and her slender fingers threaded through his hair, holding him closer.

She was totally oblivious to the guttural cries and moans that escaped her as Rion, with wicked expertise, drew every atom of pleasure from her body until she abandoned herself to the tumultuous waves of sensations rocketing through her slender frame.

Vaguely she heard Rion groan, 'I dreamt of you like this ...' and her pa.s.sion-hazed gaze sought his.

He was kneeling between her thighs, his eyes dark orbs of molten desire, and was lifting her hips. Her body arched like a bow string, her head fell back, and she grabbed at him with desperate hands as with one long, powerful thrust he filled her. Her fingers dug into his shoulders and she clung as he plunged deeper and sent her soaring into the dizzying heights of sensual overload with a white-hot pa.s.sion that consumed her.

'Yes-oh, yes!' she moaned, her hands grasping, caressing his sweat-slicked satin flesh in a delirium of need as he drove hard and deep, then slowed and stilled, again and again, until finally with one mighty thrust he drove her to the peak of fulfillment and she soared over the edge. His hard, sweat-slicked body bucked and shuddered as he joined her in a sublime explosion of release.

Selina lay beneath him, shaking in the aftermath of pa.s.sion. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she gloried in his weight, in the erratic thud of his heart against her own as the shudders faded and a hazy glow of repletion enveloped her totally supine body.

It was a low throbbing sound in her head that woke Selina-or was it in her body? Selina thought drowsily, stretching and aching in places she never had before. Slowly she opened her eyes, and was immediately dazzled by the fierce light of the sun s.h.i.+ning on her face. Closing them again, she turned away from the blinding light. It was then she realised the throbbing was the sound of the yacht's engine. She was naked in bed, and everything came flooding back.

She stared around at the s.p.a.ciousness of the master cabin, panelled in walnut with a cleverly built-in closet, a cabinet and a desk. A luxurious sofa and a large chair flanked a polished wood occasional table. The whole effect was elegant and very masculine. As were the navy Egyptian cotton sheets that were rumpled over the enormous bed.

'Oh, G.o.d, no,' she groaned.

'Hardly the reception I was hoping for.'

A deep, dark voice laced with amus.e.m.e.nt echoed in her head.

She opened her eyes again. Rion was standing in the open door, a tray loaded with cups in his hands and the scent of fresh coffee floating in the air. Bare-chested, with khaki shorts riding low on his lean hips, he looked gorgeous, vital and wide awake, while she felt like death.

'You did not say no last night,' Rion drawled and, crossing to the bed, placed the tray on a side table. He sat down on the bed. 'Quite the opposite at one point, I recall,' he said, and chuckled.

'Good morning,' she murmured, ignoring his comment.

Self-loathing was flooding through her at her abject surrender to Rion. But maybe it was to be expected after being celibate for years, she told herself fatalistically. The alternative-that it was only Rion she could not resist-she didn't dare contemplate. She sat up, dragging a sheet with her and tucking it under her armpits. Taking the coffee cup he held out without looking at him, she took a sip and then drained the cup.

'So formal, Selina, and not actually true.' He reached and ran his fingers through the tumbled ma.s.s of her hair, smoothing the silken strands back from her shoulders to curl down her spine, sliding his hand down her arm. His touch was light as a feather, creating tiny tremors beneath her skin. 'I thought you needed the rest.'

'What time is it?' she asked and finally glanced at Rion.

She saw the half smile pull at his sensual sculpted mouth, saw the intimate knowledge in his twinkling dark eyes, and her traitorous heart squeezed. The twinkle she had thought long gone was back, and she knew a half-naked smiling Rion was infinitely more dangerous to her emotional health than the ruthless cynical man she knew him to be ...

'Noon-but relax.' He took the empty cup from her hand and placed it on the tray. 'Lunch will be served in an hour or so. Plenty of time.' And before she'd realised his intention, he had flipped the sheet down to her waist.

'No, I need a shower,' Selina snapped, and tried to grab the sheet. But he caught her hand in his and held both to her stomach.

As if she had never spoken he continued, 'Last night was great, Selina, but it will be even better now I know what you are capable of.' His free hand reached for her throat, tipping her head back. 'The shy innocent has long gone, and you delighted in seducing me with your sweet mouth ... and the rest.'

His hand slid down the soft hollow of her throat and continued its downward journey, brus.h.i.+ng the rosy peak of one breast and then with elegant fingers manipulating the tip to pouting hardness.

'Rather like this,' he mocked softly, his fingers playfully walking across to her other breast and delivering the same treatment. 'I appreciate the more experienced Selina, and that innocent blush is quite a clever trick.'

'No!' She was protesting against his a.s.sumption and the sensual intent she saw in his dark eyes even as her pulse rate leapt at his wandering hands. 'I didn't know it was you. I was half asleep,' she said without thinking-and knew as soon as the words left her mouth she had said the wrong thing. 'I mean ...'

'Too much information, Selina,' he mocked, his lips curving in a sardonic smile as his hand reached up to tangle in her hair, jerking her head towards him. His face was inches from her own. 'This time you will know it is me.' He spoke with a deadly calm that was belied by the barely leashed anger in his dark eyes.

'You don't understand-' she said, but his mouth slammed into hers, kissing her with a domineering savage pa.s.sion that-humiliatingly-she could not help responding to with an aching need. Then somehow she was on her back and Rion was straddling her, propped up on his strong forearms either side of her body, studying her as if she was some fly under a microscope.

'Your s.e.x education, Selina, while having improved in the physical sense is sadly lacking in etiquette,' he grated. 'First lesson: never tell your partner you were thinking of someone else during s.e.x.'

Selina, her heart racing, heard the inimical anger in his tone, saw his tight mouth and the dull flush on his high cheekbones, and realised too late what she had invited with her careless remark. Rion was hanging on to his fabled control by a thread.

'I never ...' She choked incoherently as scorching dark eyes raked over her face, her upturned b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Lowering his head, he caught a throbbing peak lightly between his teeth to lash the swelling tip with his tongue. The breath whooshed from her lungs in a gasping groan, warmth pooled between her thighs, and involuntarily her slender hands reached for him.

What followed was a master cla.s.s.

Selina had had no idea the human body was capable of such unfettered pa.s.sion ... no idea she was capable of behaving like an untamed being, willing to follow Rion's inventive eroticism down pathways she had never dreamt of-until she thought she might pa.s.s out from the force of the incredibly emotional storm raging between them.

With his great body over hers, the shuddering tremors finally stopped and Selina opened her eyes, trying to regain control of her erratic breathing and pounding heart. Slowly Rion withdrew and rolled off her. He slipped an arm around her shoulders, his other hand resting across her stomach.

She blushed as she met his dark enigmatic gaze, stunned by what he had done-what she had allowed him to do. She had actually encouraged his s.e.xual manipulation of her body and every one of her senses until that final out-of-this-world o.r.g.a.s.m.

'I never ...' She couldn't continue, more confused with herself than Rion.

He kissed her damp forehead and smiled a slow, completely masculine grin. 'I rather gathered that-and yet you are an incredibly sensual woman. Admit it, you enjoyed every second. I made sure you did. Maybe because you dented my masculine ego and I wanted to prove a point. I was a little overenthusiastic, but no woman sharing my bed ever thinks of another man.'

Such conceit! Selina marveled. But she could well believe it. Rion was an incredible lover. But then he had a lot of practice ... She was not his first lover and she certainly would not be his last. Whereas he was her first and only, and she had a growing suspicion he might well be her last. She could not imagine doing with any other man what she had done with Rion. They had joined in the most intimate way possible. They should have been as close as it was possible for two people to be. But sadly Selina realised, with a sense of something precious lost, that Rion was right again. s.e.x was just s.e.x ... two bodies connecting but the mind and heart miles apart.

She glanced down. His bronzed body was perfectly formed, like the Greek G.o.d she had once thought him. He was no longer a G.o.d in her eyes but a man like any other, with human frailties ... Handsome, wealthy and single he could take his pick of women-and frequently did, she had no doubt. Rion had a high libido and enjoyed s.e.x, but he didn't believe in monogamy. He was a chauvinist, and women let him get away with it for the pleasure of his company. And who could blame them? There were much worse vices she knew ...

She had been surprised and, being honest, secretly a little pleased that he had actually confessed to having his ego dented by her. And now, held against him, sated with s.e.x, she could not argue with his statement. She looked up at his face, a dry smile curving her swollen lips. 'You are so arrogant, Rion, and as it happens I wasn't thinking of another man last night. I was thinking of you. I was half asleep and thought I was still married,' she said. She saw his smug smile and added, 'But thankfully I woke up from that nightmare ...'

The hand on her stomach moved to take her chin between thumb and forefinger, his dark eyes capturing hers. 'You were doing great until the end, Selina. I'll make you pay for that later,' he forewarned her, a slight smile quirking the edges of his mouth. 'Or maybe not,' he amended. 'We could just agree to ignore the past and enjoy the next couple of weeks for what they are-a holiday between two friends.'

Selina's eyes widened. Rion a friend? That would be a first ...

'Don't look so shocked.' He chuckled. 'I do have friends. Dimitri and Captain Ted have been personal friends of mine for years, and I also keep a friendly relations.h.i.+p with my crew. I do not want them to see us at loggerheads. I run a cheerful s.h.i.+p, and I want it to stay that way. Plus there is no denying s.e.x between us is fantastic.'

She wanted to deny him but it would be a lie, she acknowledged. So much for lying back and thinking of England. Rion looked so attractive with his black hair dishevelled and his handsome face lit with amus.e.m.e.nt. She felt her heart flutter in her breast. She still wanted him, and this might be the only s.e.x she would ever get ...

She had been like a puppy dog lapping up any sign of affection from its master during their brief marriage. But now she worked with captains of industry, billionaires. Some she liked better than others, but she had no problem maintaining a friendly relations.h.i.+p with all of them. A lot of her clients employed her over and over again. Would it be so impossible to develop a friendly relations.h.i.+p with Rion? It would make the next two weeks much easier. She could look on it as a job-which in a way it was ... He was paying for it, she reminded herself bluntly.

Stuck on a yacht in the middle of the Mediterranean, she didn't have much of a choice anyway. She could try to resist him but, humiliating as it was to admit, she had spectacularly failed so far. Or she could do as he suggested and try to accept him as a 'friend with benefits.' She believed that was the popular term.

'Yes, why not?' she said just as her stomach gave an almighty rumble.

Rion laughed. 'Great.' He leapt off the bed and pulled on his shorts. 'Come on, Selina, get up,' he commanded. 'You can take that shower and I'll order the food you so obviously need.' And, still chuckling, he turned to walk out of the door.

Without thinking she flung a pillow at him and missed-and heard his laughter as the door swung closed behind him. She rolled off the bed and walked into the en-suite bathroom, hardly glancing at the luxury fittings.

Naked, she stepped into the huge shower cubicle and turned on what she hoped was the tap-only to have jets of water hit her from all sides. She gulped and blindly reached for the door. She stepped back out, wiping her hair from her eyes. She looked around and spotted the bathing accoutrements lined up above a vanity basin. She glanced at the bottles and jars-all masculine. So she would smell like Rion. But then she did already, she thought, and picked up a bottle of shampoo and padded back to the shower stall. She eyed the controls, worked out how to turn on only the overhead sprays, and warily stepped back inside.

Tipping a dollop of shampoo into her hands, she quickly washed her hair, and then liberally anointed her body with shower gel. Finally she tilted back her head, closed her eyes and let the powerful spray rinse her hair and her body, trying to rid herself of the tension the pressure of the past few days had caused.

She raised her hands and ran her fingers through her hair, smoothing the wet strands from her face and then lifting her arms high above her head. She linked her fingers and stretched on tiptoe, easing the ache in muscles she had never known she had ...

'Now, that is an exquisite sight,' a deep, husky voice growled, and at the same time two large hands cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

She let out a yelp and grasped a pair of strong wrists. A large naked male was at her back. 'You are insatiable.'

'And you love it,' he said huskily. 'Sorry to disappoint you, but you're wrong this time. My turn for the shower.' And, locking his arms around her waist, he swung her out of the cubicle. Catching up a huge towel, he wrapped it around her and briskly rubbed her dry. 'Now, go to your cabin and dress-preferably in the white bikini. Lunch is on the sun deck. I will meet you there in thirty minutes and after that I'll give you a tour of the yacht.'

Back in her cabin, Selina crossed to the closet where she had placed her clothes last night, and withdrew a bra and briefs, a pair of denim shorts and a white tee s.h.i.+rt. She put them on. She was definitely not wearing the white bikini. Rion needed no encouragement, she thought, flus.h.i.+ng with shame at the ease with which she had surrendered to him.

Images of his naked body covering hers flashed through her mind. Trying for normality, she picked up her phone and took care of a few essential work queries, then reluctantly left the cabin and ascended the stairs to the main deck. Her hair would dry naturally in the sun-in a curly mess, probably, but she didn't care.