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Overview
When his marriage to Olivia falls apart,Dimitri Angelaki is ready with a plan to keephis wife…Olivia asks for a divorce from the Greek tycoon,and Dimitri surprises her with a counterproposal:fake a temporary reconciliation and he will sether free. But Olivia realizes she cannot deny thatpassion still simmers between them, and soon she'swishing that their make-up could be for real….
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781426870880 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Harlequin |
| Publication date: | 10/10/2023 |
| Series: | The Greek Tycoons , #27 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 192 |
| File size: | 667 KB |
About the Author
Sara has wonderful memories of her childhood. Her parents were desperately poor but their devotion to family life gave her a feeling of great security. Sara's father was one of four fostered children and never knew his parents, hence his joy with his own family.
Birthday parties were sensational
her father would perform brilliantly as a Chinese magician or a clown or invent hilarious games and treasure hunts. From him she learned that working hard brought many rewards, especially self-respect.
Sara won a rare scholarship to a public school, but university would have stretched the budget too far, so she left school at 16 and took a secretarial course. Married at 21, she had a son by the age of 22 and another three years later. She ran an all-day playgroup and was a seaside landlady at the same time, catering for up to 11 people-- bed, breakfast, and evening meal.
Finally she realized that she and her husband were incompatible! Divorce lifted a weight from her shoulders. A new life opened up with an offer of a teacher training place. From being rendered nervous, uncertain, and cabbagelike by her dominating ex-husband, she soon became confident and outgoing again. During her degree course she met her present husband, a kind, thoughtful, attentive man who is her friend and soul mate. She loved teaching in Sussex but after 12 years she became frustrated and dissatisfied with new rules and regulations, which she felt turned her into a drudge.
Her switch into writing came about in a peculiar way. Richie, her elder son, had always been nuts about natural history and had a huge collection of animal skulls. At the age of 15 he decided he'd write an information book about collecting. Heinemann and Pan, prestigious publishers, eagerly fell on the book and when it was published it won the famous Times Information Book Award. Interviews, television spots, and magazine articles followed. Encouraged by his success, she thought she could write, too, and had several information books for children published.
Then she saw Charlotte Lamb being wined and dined by Mills & Boon on a television program and decided she could do Charlotte's job! But she'd rarely read fiction before, so she bought 20 books, analyzed them carefully, then wrote one of her own. Amazingly, it was accepted and she began writing full time.
Sara and her husband moved to a small country estate in Cornwall, which was a paradise. Her sons visited often-- Richie brought his wife, Heidi, and their two daughters; Simon was always rushing in after some danger-filled action in Alaska or Hawaii, protecting the environment with Greenpeace. Sara qualified as a homeopath, and cared for the health of her family and friends.
But paradise is always fleeting. Sara's husband became seriously ill and it was clear that they had to move somewhere less demanding on their time and effort. After a nightmare year of worrying about him, nursing, and watching him like a hawk, she was relieved when they'd sold the estate and moved back to Sussex.
Their current house is large and thatched and sits in the pretty rolling downs with wonderful walks and views all around. They live closer to the boys (men!) and see them often. Richie and Heidi's family is growing. Simon has a son and a new, dangerous, passion-- flinging himself off mountains (paragliding). The three hills nearby frequently entice him down. She adores seeing her family (her mother, and her mother-in-law, too) around the table at Christmas. Sara feels fortunate that although she's had tough times and has sometimes been desperately unhappy, she is now surrounded by love and feels she can weather any storm to come.
Read an Excerpt
The Greek Millionaire's Marriage
By Sara Wood
Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd.
Copyright © 2004 Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd.All right reserved.
ISBN: 0-373-12407-4
Chapter One
DIMITRI ANGELAKI braced his powerful legs as his launch surged forwards, its streamlined hull scything cleanly through the glittering sea towards the little fishing port of Olympos. He sang softly to himself, an old Greek love song, in a throaty voice that conveyed his passion for life and love.It had been an odd day. One with stark contrasts of delight and anxiety, during which his senses had been utterly sated - and his nerves had been tested to the utmost.
Glancing around, he allowed himself an indulgent moment of pleasure, letting his gaze linger on his wife's incredible body, and enjoying the gleam of her golden-goddess skin against the luxurious cream leather seat. To his approval, her bikini was minimal: three small turquoise triangles barely concealing the essence of her womanhood.
The dazzling light was turning her hair to white fire where it fanned over her slender shoulders and he felt a helpless little jerk in his chest when he recalled just where that hair had been that day, slithering and sliding over the most sensitive parts of his body in an erotic dance that had driven him to paradise and beyond.
His chiselled mouth curved sensually and a throb began yet again in his loins. That was the joy of sex with Olivia.First would come the anticipation: the fiery glances that ripped his brain to shreds, the messages of hunger and need clearly projected in her sea-blue eyes.
Then, as surely as night followed day, came their un-inhibited lovemaking: inventive, crazy, wild and tender - but always intensely satisfying and releasing the steam valve of their mutual passion.
Finally, he thought, now fully aware of her and with all his senses on high alert, he could enjoy a rerun of every erotic second, from the first glance they'd exchanged to their final sighs of release.
A growl of pleasure rose to his throat and his hands were less than steady when he belatedly turned his attention to steering a straight line again. She got to him, right in the gut, and he loved that because it made him feel alive and utterly male.
Sometimes he wanted to shoot his fist up into the air after their lovemaking, and shout Yes! like a kid who'd just scored a goal. He grinned to himself at the very idea. He, a tycoon whose coolness under pressure was admired the world over! But property deals didn't excite him nearly as much as these exquisite encounters with his wife. It was unfortunate that his work took him away from home so often and that the hectic nature of his breakfast-to-midnight schedules meant that it was pointless for Olivia to travel with him.
Still, the time they were together seemed all the more sweet. That day they had anchored offshore to swim naked in the silken sea. Then they had made love in a lemon grove, the intoxicating scent of a thousand blossoming trees adding to his delirium. Later, she'd fed him lobster and grapes on a hillside overlooking the ruins of an ancient temple dedicated to Aphrodite, the goddess of love.
"Venus," he'd explained to her. "A poor second to you, my darling."
Amazingly, he could still feel the thrilling touch of Olivia's fingers on his mouth, his throat, his chest ... and everywhere else. Each deeply pulsing inch of him bore her imprint. It had been one of the most sensual experiences in all the thirty-two years of his life.
Everything would have been perfect - if it hadn't been for his increasing concern for Athena. A frown creased his sun-bronzed forehead as he willed Athena to ring from the hospital to say she was all right. He felt the tension screwing him up again, ruining the memories of the day. But then it was understandable. He loved Athena with all his heart ...
Olivia stiffened when she heard the trill of Dimitri's mobile. It had been ringing far too often that day, but with infuriating stubbornness he'd refused to turn it off.
"Greek moguls," he'd said with a pretence at pomposity and referring to a standing joke between them, "need to stay in contact with their minions."
"Then find a minion you can delegate to," she'd protested, but had been fatally diverted when his mouth had closed firmly on hers and he'd kissed her complaint away with a breathtaking thoroughness.
Looking back, though, she could be more objective. His obsessive devotion to work had been a problem for some time. When he was away, and she only had her disapproving mother-in-law, Marina, for company, she felt increasingly lonely and unhappy. Her insecurity and doubts over Dimitri's true feelings were painfully reinforced by Marina's sly hints about Dimitri's long absences.
Olivia clenched her fists. From the day of her marriage six months earlier, Marina had taunted her.
"All Greek men have mistresses," Marina had purred.
"Don't think my son is any different."
A mistress. Would that explain his lack of consideration? Even this long-anticipated trip today, to the ancient Greek theatre at Epidauros, had been marred by his inattention. She sighed. It could have been deeply romantic. Dimitri had demonstrated the acoustics of the two-thousand-year-old theatre by whispering 'I love you' from the performing area far below. Amazingly, she had heard every impassioned syllable from where she had been sitting, fifty-four rows up.
Quite enchanted, she'd risen to her feet to blow him a kiss. Unfortunately just then he'd received another of his infuriating calls and he had hurried out of the arena so that she couldn't eavesdrop on his conversation.
Recalling how offended she'd been, and with her eyes flashing in anger, she curled up crossly in the luxurious seat of his launch, glaring at Dimitri. He handled the boat expertly with one hand, the other holding the loathed mobile to his ear.
Although his back was to her, she'd seen the tension of his body when the phone had rung. And now that he was engaged in an earnest discussion she wondered at the reason for his relief, which was apparent in the easing of those taut muscles that she knew so well. Something was going on.
Her heart cramped. He was almost cradling the phone, his magnificent body fluid with tenderness. A sense of dread played havoc with her stomach. She sucked it in, not breathing. Perhaps her mother-in-law was right.
Yet ... Dimitri couldn't keep his hands off her. Almost from the moment she'd become his secretary two years ago, at the age of twenty-four, they'd been mad for one another. Every moment in public together had been a deliciously tensioned ordeal; every second alone had become a shattering explosion of hunger and raw need. They had been blind to sense, reckless in surrendering to the volcanic passions that had seized them.
Thinking of those blissful stolen moments of abandon caused an instant arousal in her and she shifted her slim thighs, pressing her legs tightly together to control the pulsing heat that had begun to massage her with its irresistible rhythm.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Greek Millionaire's Marriage by Sara Wood Copyright © 2004 by Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd.. Excerpted by permission.
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