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It probably wasn’t even slightly surprising that she had fallen so hard for Apollo, Pixie reflected ruefully He was her first lover, her first everything and like any legendary stud he had buckets of charisma when he tried to iet, Pixie re it for her benefit and his Did he think that she was so stupid that she didn’t know that?

Obviously every see he had done around her was a giant fake!

After all, the stress and strain of a bad relationship could prevent her fronant while simple strife would keep her out of his bed So, when she had dived off the top deck of Circe to surprise him because she was a very proficient swione ballistic at the supposed dangerous risk he had deeht have happened to her couldn’t possibly have been genuine If she killed herself diving it would be inconvenient for him but with his resources and attraction he would quickly replace her, Pixie thought, miserably melodramatic in the mood she was in

In the sa off to swi little villages on various Greek islands were not to be taken too seriously Apollo enjoyed showing off the beauties of his horeat deal better educated than she had initially appreciated She had discovered that he could give her chapter and verse on every ancient Greek or Roers fiddled restively with the little gold and diaiven her that a week after that nightclub scene, telling her that she was much more than a kitten with claws Since she had scored his back in the heat of passion with her nails the night before he had given it to her she had laughed in appreciation And that had annoyed Apollo, so to, she acknowledged with regret

But then, undeniably, Apollo was mercurial and volatile, passionate and outspoken and still in many ways a mystery and a contradiction to Pixie He was a billionaire with every luxury at his command and yet he could picnic on a beach quite happily with a rough bottle of the village vino, home-baked bread and a salad scattered with the salty local cheese He clearly loved dogs and could have owned a select pack of pedigreed ani since childhood and see to win Hector’s trust And Hector was the most ordinary of ordinary little terriers with the scrappy stubborn nature of his breed and he was extree his defensive habits

The door opened and Pixie scra trailed after Apollo into the rooo to Apollo but he was quite happy to follow him at a safe distance Clad in tailored chino pants and an open-necked black shirt, Apollo slanted her a reproving grin ‘What’s with all this sleeping in every ain,’ he complained

‘Maybe you’re wearing me out,’ Pixie quipped

His green eyes gleaed by lush black lashes in his lean, strong face ‘A?’ he suddenly asked with a frown

And Pixie went pink, dis ‘Noas she re thorough advantage of his lean, hard body to satisfy the need that never entirely receded in his radius

Apollo wrapped a careless arm round her shoulders ‘I do like an honest woman,’ he confessed with husky sensual recollection

‘No, what you like is beinginto the lean, hard erammed to do so

He bent his dark head and claihtened her nipples and ran like fire to the heart of her and she treain in a way she hated She denied herself the desire to put her arms round him She didn’t want Apollo to kno she felt about him because that would inevitably make their relationship uncomfortable Hadn’t she proy or needy? And that she had no intention of falling for hiht painfully, she had truly believed she could deliver on those pledges of faith in his undesirability

Her incredibly tender breasts ached with adesire when he crushed her to him with sudden force and for a split second she knew he could have done anything he wanted with her because she had no resistance and no longer any defences to fall back on to support her

It was disconcerting when Apollo set her back from him in an uncharacteristic move of restraint ‘No,’ he breathed in a fractured undertone ‘I ca you up on deck I want you to see the island for the first time as we come into harbour’

And Pixie understood why he had backed off even though it didrejected by soo on a diet In truth she had always accepted, she thought ruefully, that Apollo could resist her if he chose to do so and naturally that hurt her pride and her heart, but it was also a fact of life she had better learn to live with After all, if she had already conceived she suspected their actual future as a couple could be measured in days rather than months