All That Glitters Read online

  Yes, thought Jessica, gulping back her tears. Tomorrow she would try to make up to Nikolas for her past coldness, and she didn't dare think what she would do if he turned away from her.

  * * *

  Chapter Thirteen

  By the time morning came, Jessica was pale with her own unhappy thoughts. She wanted only to heal the breach between her and Nikolas, and she was unsure how to go about it or if he even wanted to mend things between them. She was in agony from the need to see him and explain, to touch him; more than anything she needed to feel his arms about her and hear his deep voice muttering love words to her. She loved him! Perhaps there was no rhyme or reason to it, but what did that matter? She'd known from the first that he was the only man who could conquer the defenses she'd built about herself and she was tired of denying her love.

  She dressed hurriedly, without regard for how she looked, and merely brushed her hair, then left it hanging down her back. As she rushed into the living room she saw Madame Constantinos sitting on the terrace and she went through the glass door to greet her. "Where is Niko, Maman?" she asked in a trembling voice.

  "He's on board the yacht," the older woman answered. "Sit down, child; have your breakfast with me. Sophia will bring something light. Have you been ill this morning?"

  Surprisingly she hadn't. That was the only good thing about this morning that she could see. "But I must see Nikolas as soon as possible," she insisted.

  "All in good time. You cannot talk to him now, so you might as well have your breakfast. You must take care of the baby, dear."

  Reluctantly Jessica sat down, and in just a moment Sophia appeared with a tray. Smiling, she set out a light breakfast for Jessica. In the halting Greek that Jessica had acquired in the weeks she'd been on the island she thanked Sophia and was rewarded by a motherly pat of approval.

  Gulping, Jessica chewed at a roll, trying to force it past the lump in her throat. Far below them she could see the white gleam of the yacht; Nikolas was there, but he might as well be a thousand miles away. There was no way she could get out to him unless one of the fishermen would take her, and for that she would have to walk to the village. It wasn't such a long walk, and before, she would have done it without a second thought, but her pregnancy had badly undermined her stamina and she was hesitant about making it that far in the fierce heat. As Madame Constantinos had said, she had to take care of the precious life inside her. Nikolas would hate her if she did anything that could harm his child.

  After she'd eaten enough to satisfy both her mother-in-law and Sophia, and had pushed the tray away, Madame Constantinos said quietly, "Tell me, dear, do you love Niko?"

  How could she ask? wondered Jessica miserably. It must be evident in every word she'd said since Nikolas had stormed out of her bedroom the day before. But Madame Constantinos's soft blue eyes were on her and she admitted in a strained whisper, "Yes! But I've ruined it—he'll never forgive me for what I said to him! If he loved me, it might be different—"

  "How do you know that he doesn't love you?" demanded the older woman.

  "Because all he's been concerned with since we met was going to bed," Jessica confessed in deep depression. "He says he wants me—but he's never said that he loves me."

  "Ah, I see," said Madame Constantinos, nodding her white head knowingly. "Because he's never told you the sky is blue, you know that it can't possibly be that color! Jessica, my dear, open your eyes! Do you truly think Niko is so weak in character that he would be a slave to his lust? He wants you, yes—physical desire is a part of love."

  Jessica didn't dare hope that it could be true that Nikolas loved her; on too many occasions he had totally ignored her feelings and she said as much to Madame Constantinos.

  "I never said he is an amiable man," the other woman retorted. "I'm speaking from personal experience. Niko is the image of his father; they could be one and the same man. It wasn't always comfortable, being Damon's wife. I had to do everything his way or he would fly into a rage, and Niko is the same. He is so strong that sometimes he fails to understand that most people do not have that same strength, that he needs to soften his approach."

  "But your husband loved you," Jessica pointed out softly, her eyes trained on the remote gleam of the yacht on the crystalline sea.

  "So he did. But we had been married for six years before he told me so, and then only because I was suffering from the loss of our second child, a still-birth. When I asked him how long he had loved me, he looked at me in amazement and said, 'From the first. How can a woman be so blind? Never doubt that I love you, even when the words aren't said.' And so it is with Niko." Quietly, her clear blue eyes on Jessica, Madame Con-stantinos said again, "Yes, Niko loves you."

  Jessica went even paler, shaken at the wild surge of hope that shot through her. Did he love her? Could he still love her, after yesterday?

  "He loves you," reassured his mother. "I know my son, as I knew my husband. Niko lost his head over you; I have seen him look at you with such yearning in his eyes that it took my breath away, for he is a strong man and he doesn't love lightly."

  "But—but the things he's said," protested Jessica shakily, still not daring to let herself hope.

  "Yes, I know. He's a proud man, and he was angry with himself that he couldn't control his need for you. It is partly my fault, this trouble between you and Niko. He loves me, and I was upset when I thought my dear friend Robert had married a gold-digger. Niko wanted to protect me, but he couldn't make himself leave you alone. And you, Jessica, were too proud to tell him the truth."

  "I know," said Jessica softly, and tears welled in her eyes. "And I treated him so badly yesterday! I've ruined it, Maman; he'll never forgive me now." The tears dripped from her lashes as she remembered the look that had been in Nikolas's eyes as he'd left her bedroom. She wanted to die. She felt as if she'd smashed paradise with her own hands.

  "Don't fret. If you can forgive him for his pride, my dear, he'll forgive you for yours."

  Jessica gasped at the thrust, then admitted to herself the truth of it. She had used her pride to hold Nikolas away, and now she was paying for it.

  Madame Constantinos placed her hand on Jessica's arm. "Niko is leaving the yacht now," she said gently. "Why don't you go to meet him?"

  "I—yes," gulped Jessica, getting to her feet.

  "Be careful," called Madame Constantinos after her. "Remember my grandchild!"

  Her eyes on the small rowboat steadily narrowing the gap between it and the beach, Jessica made her way down the path that led to the water. She went down it with a hammering heart, wondering if Madame Constantinos was right that Nikolas truly loved her. Thinking back, it seemed to her that he did—or had. If only she hadn't ruined it!

  Nikolas had beached the rowboat and was securing it against the tide when she walked across the sand up to him. He wore only a pair of blue cut-off jeans and his nearly nude, muscular body rippled with lithe grace as he moved. She caught her breath in sheer admiration and stopped in her tracks.

  Nikolas straightened and saw her. His black eyes were impossible to read as he stood there looking at her, and she drew in a quivering breath. He wouldn't make the first move, she knew; she'd have to do it. Taking her courage in both hands, she said quietly, "Nikolas, I love you. Can you possibly forgive me?"

  Something flickered in the black depths of his eyes, then was gone. "Of course," he said simply, and walked toward her.

  When he was so close that she could smell the clean sweat of his body, he stopped and asked, "Why?"

  "Your mother opened my eyes," she said, swallowing with some difficulty. Her heart was lodged in her throat and was pounding so hard she could barely speak. He wasn't going to make it easy for her, she could see. "She made me realize that I've been allowing my pride to ruin my life. I—I love you, and even if you don't love me, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I hope you love me; Maman thinks you do, but even if you c-can't love me, it doesn't matter."

  He shoved his fingers