Modern Romance June 2016 Books 1-4. Maisey Yates

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       CHAPTER NINE

      ‘SO, WHERE ARE we staying?’ Ella enquired after a car had collected them from Heraklion Airport and begun the drive along the coastal road in the fading light of dusk.

      ‘The house where my grandfather was born.’

      ‘I like a place with family connections,’ Ella admitted. ‘Did you inherit it?’

      ‘Yes, but by the time I did it hadn’t been occupied in years and it needed gutting. It started out as a simple farmhouse, which was gentrified when the family fortunes improved, but my grandfather never used it. I almost had it demolished,’ he confided with a wry smile. ‘And then I stood on the veranda in the sunlight and thought of all the generations who must have enjoyed that same view and I decided to try and retain the character of the place.’

      ‘You see, you do have sentimental attachments,’ Ella told him with an appreciative glance as the car turned off the main road onto a much more narrow one lined with trees.

      ‘I also have a surprise for you,’ Nikolai admitted. ‘But you won’t get it until later.’

      The house was larger than she had expected, a sprawling ranch-style villa with various offshoots and a large inviting veranda. Nikolai gave her a brief tour of the house, which was all cool tiled floors and contemporary furnishings. The beautifully carved staircase had been conserved, as had a turn-of-the-century stained-glass window of saints in the hall, but it remained first and foremost a luxurious and comfortable modern home.

      At the foot of the stairs, Nikolai bent without warning and scooped her up into his arms.

      ‘What on earth?’ Ella gasped.

      ‘I always wanted a woman small enough to carry up the stairs.’

      ‘So why did you only get involved with very tall blondes?’ Ella quipped, unimpressed, thinking about the women she had heard talking about him at the wedding.

      ‘I was running scared,’ Nikolai assured her, deadpan. ‘I knew when I found a little one I’d have to marry her.’

      Involuntarily, Ella laughed because he was so slick with that response. He pressed open the door on a spacious bedroom. A tall geometric vase of glorious flowers adorned a side table and beside it stood an ice bucket and two champagne flutes. He lowered her carefully to the polished wood floor and uncorked the champagne to fill the glasses. Ella put the glass to her lips, bubbles breaking beneath her nose as she pretended to sip as she had done all day while drinks were served and toasts were being made.

      ‘You look fantastic in that dress,’ he told her huskily, sincerity ringing from every syllable and empowering her.

      Ella set her flute down and turned her back to him. ‘Undo my hooks,’ she urged.

      ‘You’re still determined to surprise me,’ he said thickly, deftly dealing with the hooks at her nape and then running down the side zip over the swell of her hips.

      Ella moved back a few steps, loosening her sleeves and slowly working the gown down and off, murderously conscious of the bareness of her breasts because the dress had had built-in support. And she was still shy with him, foolish she knew after the intimacy they had already shared but she was still afraid that he might be disappointed by what she had to offer.

      Nikolai leant back against the ornate black iron footboard on the bed and stared at her. ‘I think I’ve died and gone to heaven, khriso mou.’

      Fiercely resisting the urge to cover her breasts with her hands, Ella stepped out of the gown and settled it over a chair.

      Nikolai simply gloried in the view. She was wearing ridiculously cute lace ankle boots and stockings that stopped mid-thigh. One slender thigh sported a frilly blue garter and cream lace knickers encased her pert little derriere. Breasts with straining soft pink nipples seized his attention and that fast he was on sexual fire.