So she chose.Wisely.
The stately manor in the Hertfordshire countryside was her choice of wedding venue, because Nelios had wanted to whisk her off to Greece.
That had been Vayle’s second demand. Her first had been that Agnes attend their wedding. It had been non-negotiable.
The third demand, that had caused a near-seismic event, had by far been her boldest. Part of her agreement to become Mrs Nelios Petralis for the best part of the next two decades was that Nelios have five-hour-long meetings with his mother, all to take place within the next three months—also non-negotiable.
He’d levelled a withering look at her that she’d withstood while burping his son, then, when the heavens had rewarded her efforts with Angelos’s loud burp, she’d enquired whether Nelios wanted to hold his son for the first time.
Ne, he’d said, his voice deep, shaken.
She’d handed him a wide-eyed Angelos. He’d surged to his feet and prowled the living room, all lithe power and grace, his eyes locked on his son. After the third circuit, when he’d dropped the softest, lingering kiss on Angelos’s forehead and exhaled long and hard, he’d stopped in front of her, looked down with that primitive, possessive light in his eyes and said huskily, ‘You have a deal.’
Lawyers had been summoned and papers drawn up. She’d received an email with a veritable laundry list of what needed to be done by her and by his army of minions before they exchanged vows in a matter of weeks.
And here she was, watching the final touches being put to the transformed grounds which would host the exclusive one-hundred-strong list of Nelios Petralis’s honoured guests. Well, ninety-eight to her two: Agnes and Angelos.
She forced down a mouthful of granola and returned to the gorgeous suite decorated with a blushing bride-to-be in mind. Vayle would’ve snorted under her breath at how far she was from that description if the knot beneath her breastbone didn’t rub her the wrong way every time she tried to take a breath. It wasn’t heartache, or wishes harboured and discarded. Definitely not. She was going into this thing with her eyes wide open.
Far from not wanting his son, as she had thought, Nelios was in full claiming mode. She still didn’t know if he’d known of his existence or not—a fact yet to be established.
She was doing what was best for her son. And her ‘surrogate mother’. Agnes breaking down in happy tears on hearing the news had cemented the issue for Vayle. On that, Vayle’s heartwas at ease. What she was not at ease with was the way her heart behaved around Nelios. And not just her heart. A frisson seized her whole being whenever he was within touching distance, like the echo of a tuning fork.
It was why she’d requested a special clause in their agreement: no sex.A demand Nelios had treated with a sliver of sardonicism and a flash of taut rancour before his impressive self-control had reasserted itself, followed by an imperious wave of dismissal, and he’d signed his name with a flourish, sealing their fate.
After checking in on Angelos, judging she had about half an hour before he woke, she stepped into the lavish bathroom and indulged in a luxurious shower, hoping it would dilute some of the jitters swarming her belly.
Predictably, as her hands moved over her body, she was struck by an ominous voice demanding to know if she’d been wise to add that clause to their agreement. Because she hadlikedhaving sex with Nelios, and eighteen years was a very long time to condemn herself to celibacy.
But, as she braced her hand against the wall and tried to resist taking care of the urgent need pounding between her legs, she accepted that part of why she’d felt so devastated by what had happened the next morning, besides the humiliation, was because their night together had meant something to her besides a physical exchange of desire and pleasure.
There was wisdom to knowing which battles were un-winnable. And, as much as it thrilled her very blood to go toe to toe with Nelios over his domineering manner, she recognised that the subject of sex was one she would do well to stay away from.
Because sex with him had transcended her every reality.
It had sent her to a place where she was at her weakest, where she would’ve happily handed over more than just her body tohim for the chance to experience it again. And, yes, that too was the reason his rejection had hit her all the more viciously. So, sex would have to remain off the table so she could guard more important things, such as her sanity.Her heart.
Her son didn’t disappoint her and rose like clockwork from his mid-morning nap the moment she stepped out of the shower, demanding a feed. She used it gratefully to occupy her mind as the time ticked down to when the couturier and her small army would descend on her a mere hour later.
By midday, Vayle was fully installed in the ivory Italian duchesse-satin gown with a pleated corset top and sleeves that sat just off her shoulders. The necklace of round-cut diamonds set in white gold, with a pink teardrop diamond pendant that rested on the pulse point at her throat, had been delivered last night courtesy of Nelios. Matching earrings graced her lobes and a simple bracelet, her right wrist.
The team of attendants had just finished arranging her hair in an elaborate, tasteful chignon when she looked up and saw Agnes standing several feet away, a tearful smile on her face.
She twisted in her seat, her own smile growing tentatively.
‘Can we have some privacy, please? Just for a few moments.’
She rose as the attendants relocated to the living room, and approached the older woman, her hands outstretched.
Agnes’s lips wobbled a little bit more before she firmed them. ‘You look beautiful,agapita.’
‘So do you,’ Vayle murmured.
They exchanged a fond look before the usual wave of anguish washed over Agnes’s face. ‘I may have lost a son I will never get back, but I gained a daughter despite all my failings. I love you, Vayle. You and Angelos, you mean everything to me. I’m saying it now in case I never get the chance to atone for my…’
‘Of course you will have many more chances. I’m not going anywhere and neither is your grandson. Concentrate on working things out with your son.’
Desolation crossed her face. ‘What if he never forgives me?’
