Forty-eight hours later, having stayed in London long enough to secure the purchase of several oil super-tankers at a fantastic price, Alexei flew home. The sun was going down over the island of his birth in a blaze of fire on the horizon. Full of all the splintering energy and impatience that characterised him, he sprang out of the helicopter and strode towards the villa whose many windows were reflecting the vivid skies. Most of his staff greeted him in the front hall. His keen gaze narrowed, for the one person he had expected to see was nowhere to be seen. He strolled down to the master suite to check out his suspicions and glanced into the dressing room. Thirty seconds later, he summoned Helios, his head of security, and asked a question. The answer he received infuriated him.
Billie was alone in her house when Alexei arrived. He walked straight through the back door, noting and disapproving of the fact that it was unlocked as it facilitated his entry. 'Billie?' he called out, frowning at the silence.
The kitchen was tidy, the living area empty. A black fluffy puppy peered out from behind a sofa at him, uttered a tiny tentative little bark and then hurriedly disappeared again, duty evidently done. Alexei's attention dwelt briefly on the basket of colourful toys and arrowed away again. Hearing music playing, he glanced into a bedroom and then noted the triangle of light showing to the side of the bathroom door, which had been left ajar.
Billie was enjoying a rare moment of self-indulgence and relaxation in the bath. Hilary had taken Nicky down to the village to see Lauren. She had not heard Alexei arrive because of the music and when the door opened she gasped in dismay and sat up in a sudden movement, water sloshing noisily round her. When Alexei appeared she was thunderstruck because he was the very last person she had expected to see.
Alexei focused on Billie in her sea of bubbles. Her creamy skin was wet and slick, the rounded globes of her rosy-tipped breasts invitingly pert and moist. His reaction to her was instantaneous; his body, which had been infuriatingly indifferent to the presence of other women, stirred into a rampant erection. Her generous pink mouth fell open on his name and, looking at the soft pink cushiony proportions of her lips, he knew for the first time in days exactly what he wanted and marvelled at the strength of his craving.
Alexei…' Billie whispered unevenly, her bright head falling back and her green eyes widening to take in his tall muscular length with a sense of disbelief. His pearl-grey Italian suit had the sheen of silk and it hugged his broad shoulders, lean hips and long powerful thighs with the fidelity of the most expensive tailoring. Brilliant dark golden eyes gleaming from below the ebony screen of his luxuriant lashes, he looked spectacular enough to take her breath away.
'What the hell are you doing in here?' Alexei demanded in a wrathful undertone. 'Do you realise that I was able to just walk into this house? I could have been anyone…'
'You're probably the only person I know on the island who wouldn't bother to knock on the door and wait for an invitation,' Billie contradicted without hesitation.
'Where's your brain? I could have been a bloody paparazzo! Don't you realise how aggressive the press are now? You're not safe here without security. Get out of the bath,' he instructed her, extending a towel. 'I'm taking you home.'
'This is my home,' Billie protested, sitting firm and resolutely resisting a modest urge to cover her bare breasts, which she knew would provoke his scorn.
Alexei dealt her a splintering appraisal, his tough jaw line clenching at her defiance. 'You're my wife—you don't belong here any more.'
'You told me I was a disgusting liar and you walked out on our wedding night,' Billie reminded him tightly. 'I don't feel like your wife any more.'
'I've got the perfect cure for that.' Alexei strode forward and sank his hands below her arms. Before she could even work out what he was doing he had scooped her wet, resisting body out of the bath, set her down and enveloped her most efficiently in the folds of the towel.
'Stop it!' Billie shouted at him full throttle, trying to clumsily slap away his hands at the same time as she kept hold of the towel.
'If I walk out of here without you, I'm not coming back, yineka mou,' Alexei swore between clenched white teeth.
Billie froze as if an avalanche had suddenly engulfed her, stopping her in her tracks and depriving her lungs of oxygen. 'You can't threaten me like that!'