By contrast, he’d been up since dawn, wading through the mountains of family paperwork that always accumulated in his absence.

He’d just signed the last of the papers when he glanced up and saw her standing in the doorway that led to the terrace, wearing a pair of white shorts and a light blue top.

His eyes dropped to her legs and his body reacted in a surge of sexual hunger that took him by surprise. They’d made love for most of yesterday and all of last night and he still wanted her.

But she still hadn’t said that she loved him.

‘I’m sorry I slept so late.’ She looked extremely self-conscious and Andreas sucked in a breath and ditched the papers he’d been reading, his concentration gone.

There was only one thing he thought of when he looked at Libby, and it certainly wasn’t business.

‘I’m glad you slept well.’ His voice sounded husky and he wondered if she had any idea of the effect she had on him. Probably not or she wouldn’t have worn those shorts. ‘Come here.’

She walked towards him and he dragged her onto his lap, stroking her hair away from her face and kissing her urgently.

‘I love you.’ He groaned the words against her mouth and she pulled away, her blue eyes wary and more than a little frightened.

‘Stop saying that.’

‘It’s the truth. And you love me, too.’

Perhaps if he said the words often enough, eventually she’d find the courage to say them herself.

She slid off his lap and he saw the confusion in her eyes. ‘Andreas…’

‘Trust me, Libby.’

‘Let’s go to the beach.’

Andreas suppressed a sigh, wondering what it would take to break through the wall of self-protection that she’d built around herself.

* * *

They spent the days swimming and talking and making love, and the time passed too quickly for Libby. She could have stayed there for ever, locked in the tiny world they’d created, safe from outside influences.

There was something magical about the villa and the bay.

Something unreal.

It felt so far away from their real lives.

It was as if anything could happen here, but once they returned home life would just return to normal.

She was lying on a sun lounger with her eyes closed, trying to catch up on some lost sleep, when she felt the familiar tug in her stomach.

Her heart lurched.

Not wanting to believe the messages that her body was sending, she rushed to her room to discover that her period had started.

She’d been so wrapped up in the emotional high of being with Andreas that she’d temporarily forgotten that she might be pregnant.

Swamped by a feeling of desolation that she couldn’t comprehend, she went to the bathroom and burst into tears, sobbing against the tiled wall until her head started to ache.

She tried to analyse why she was crying but her head was pounding too hard to allow her access to her thoughts.