Proof Of Their Forbidden Night (Mills & Boon Modern)
Page 8
The lawyer cleared his throat. ‘Finally, we come to the matter of Louloudi. It was Stelios’s wish that ownership of the island, including the villa, will be shared equally between his son Andreas and Miss Isla Stanford.’
Andreas’s jaw clenched. It was a trait he had perfected, allowing him to disguise his true feelings, which right now were a mix of incomprehension and fury. There were few things he cared deeply about but Louloudi had been his boyhood playground and it was the only place where he had spent any quality time with his father. Stelios’s decision to bequeath fifty per cent ownership of Louloudi to Isla felt like the ultimate betrayal.
Nefeli leapt up. ‘Papa can’t have intended to give away Louloudi, which has been owned by the Karelis family for three generations, to his English tart. He must have been coerced into writing a new will.’ She threw Isla a poisonous look. ‘It was Papa who needed protection from a fortune hunter.’
Andreas exhaled heavily. ‘The situation between Papa and Isla was not as it seemed. Stelios asked Isla to pretend to be his fiancée because he knew he was terminally ill and he wanted to keep the news from you until after your party.’
‘Did Papa tell you that?’
‘No, Isla explained everything.’
‘And you believe her frankly suspicious story? What does Isla have that makes sane men lose their minds?’ Nefeli said scathingly. ‘I saw how you pawed her when you danced with her at my party. Men are such idiots.’
Guilt churned in the pit of Andreas’s stomach. He should have paid more attention to his father, who had looked tired and old. But he’d barely registered Stelios’s physical decline because he’d been obsessed with Isla. Something hard and cold congealed inside him when he remembered his mother’s obsessive feelings for Stelios and her bitter unhappiness when she’d realised that he did not love her.
It was the reason why Andreas deliberately avoided relationships that required an emotional response from him. He had no intention of ever falling in love. Isla had overstepped the boundaries when she’d failed to tell him she was a virgin. He hoped she did not think there had been anything romantic about the night they had spent together because he certainly didn’t.
She stood up and gave him a faintly pleading look. ‘I did not coerce your father to include me in his will. The opposite, in fact. I made it clear to him that I didn’t want him to leave me a bequest. I had no idea that he planned to make me a joint owner of the island.’
Andreas glanced at John Sabanis. ‘When did my father decide to make a new will?’
‘He phoned me a few days ago and requested that I meet him here on Louloudi,’ the lawyer said. ‘Following the news of Stelios’s engagement to Isla, I was not surprised that he wanted to make provision for her in the event of his death, although I was not aware that he was suffering from incurable cancer.’
‘My father chose to only confide in Isla,’ Andreas said tersely.
‘I refuse to accept the bequest Stelios left me.’ Isla turned to John Sabanis. ‘Louloudi should remain in the ownership of the Karelis family.’
‘Actually, you cannot refuse it.’ The lawyer shrugged. ‘Like it or not, a fifty per cent share of the island will be held in trust for you for one year. After that you can sell your share but you must offer it to Andreas first, and it cannot be sold for less than its market value. The current value of Louloudi is one hundred million euros.’
Isla gasped and John Sabanis gave her a wry look before he continued. ‘But you and Andreas must both return to the island on the first anniversary of Stelios’s death and live here for one month. If either of you fails to carry out the terms of the will, then ownership of Louloudi will pass entirely to the other person.’
‘Clearly my father thought it would be amusing to play games from beyond the grave,’ Andreas growled. ‘He can’t have been of sound mind when he set out those ridiculous terms. There must be grounds to challenge the will.’
John shook his head. ‘Stelios was completely sane and it was his right to dispose of his assets as he wished.’
Nefeli ran across the study and opened the door. She spun round and glared at Isla. ‘You poisoned my father’s mind.’
‘I promise you that I didn’t.’ Isla hurried out of the room after the young Greek woman.
‘Leave her,’ Andreas advised when he followed Isla into the entrance hall. ‘My sister is still in shock.’
‘I wish this hadn’t happened,’ she said in a low voice. ‘I’m as stunned as you are by the terms of your father’s will.’
He raked a hand through his hair. ‘You can’t lose, can you, Isla? You know I’ll do anything to regain complete ownership of Louloudi and in a year from now I will have to buy your share.’
‘If I don’t return next year and live here for a month, then I will forfeit my share of the island.’
‘But you will come back.’ He gave a weary smile when she shook her head. ‘Of course you will. You stand to inherit a fortune.’
Andreas wondered if Stelios had written his will as revenge because many years ago he’d forced his father to choose between his family in Greece and his English mistress. Isla was certain that Stelios had been in love with her mother. When Stelios had learned that his cancer was incurable, he’d made sure that the daughter of the woman he had loved would be provided for.
Love made fools of people, Andreas thought darkly. His mother had been so desperate to win Stelios’s affection that she’d had no time or love for her son. What he felt for Isla was lust, nothing more, he assured himself. Yet he could not bring himself to step away from her.
‘I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you about your father’s illness.’
‘Couldn’t?’ He gave an angry laugh. ‘You slept with me but still you said nothing.’
‘My loyalty was to Stelios.’
Her words felt as if she’d shoved a knife between his ribs. ‘And yet you gave your virginity to me. Why did you leave the cottage without waking me this morning?’
‘I thought it would be less awkward for both of us.’ She bit her lower lip and Andreas could not tear his eyes from her lush mouth. ‘I can’t stay here,’ she whispered. ‘Your sister is upset.’
‘I’m hardly thrilled that Stelios left you a chunk of my birthright,’ he said sardonically.
‘Do you think I persuaded him to write that will?’
‘I don’t know what to think.’ Andreas looked away from the hurt expression in Isla’s eyes. His gut told him that she had spoken the truth, but for the sake of his sanity he needed to distance himself from her. He tensed when she stepped closer and he breathed in her evocative perfume.
‘Your father loved you,’ she said gently. Rising up on her toes, she brushed her mouth over his cheek and Andreas’s breath became trapped in his lungs. He knew that if he turned his head a fraction, Isla’s lips would meet his. But if he allowed her to kiss his mouth he did not trust himself to resist kissing her back. He wanted so much more than a kiss from this woman, who fascinated him more than any woman had ever done. And so he forced himself to remain rigid, his mouth a firm line of defence against her sweetly sensual onslaught.
After a few seconds that felt to Andreas like a lifetime, Isla lifted her lips from his cheek and gave a soft sigh before she turned away and walked across the hall. Her suitcase was no longer by the front door and he guessed that the pilot had taken it to the helicopter.
She opened the door and stepped outside. He wanted to call her back, go after her. Instead he clenched his hands by his sides when she closed the door behind her with a quiet click that was somehow more dramatic, more final than if she’d slammed it shut. Minutes later came the sound of the helicopter taking off.
‘Andreas—’ John Sabanis spoke from the study doorway ‘—you need to see this.’
The phone in Andreas’s pocket vibrated constantly as new messages came in. Cursing beneath his br
eath, he strode into the study and stared at a live newsfeed on the computer screen.
Greece’s largest petroleum company Karelis Corp is facing a hostile takeover bid from the French firm Moulet Energie, which has announced that it is near to acquiring a majority interest in Karelis Corp’s stock.
‘What the hell?’ As soon as he switched his phone setting from silent it started to ring, and the nightmare began.
It couldn’t be true! Isla’s legs gave way and she sank down onto the edge of the bath, staring at the pregnancy test in her hand. Positive. But how? Andreas had used protection the one and only time they’d had sex.
She choked back a sob as she remembered how she had hoped day after day that he would contact her when she’d left Louloudi. He had been busy dealing with major problems at Karelis Corp, she’d reminded herself. But as weeks passed and she did not hear from him, her sense of hurt had deepened. She had given Andreas her virginity but his silence made it clear that he had only wanted a one-night stand—and now she was expecting his baby.
Her stomach lurched at the thought that she did not even have anywhere to live. She had returned to Stelios’s house in Kensington in the vain hope that Andreas would come to her. But she’d received a letter from his lawyer informing her that the house was being sold and she must vacate the property.
Isla tried to curb her sense of panic. Her period was late—very late—and she’d been feeling under the weather for weeks, but she’d bought a pregnancy test not really believing that her suspicion could be true. The blue line on the test stared back at her. She was ten weeks into her pregnancy but the risk of miscarriage was higher in the first trimester. Maybe there wouldn’t be a baby.
Her hand moved involuntarily to her stomach as if she could protect the tiny life she carried within her. In that moment she knew without a shadow of doubt that she wanted her baby. Her pregnancy was not planned but the baby would be loved unconditionally by his or her mother at least. But what about Andreas? How would he react to the news that he was going to be a father?
‘Isla, are you going to be long in there? I need to leave for work soon,’ Beth called out from the other side of the bathroom door. Isla jumped up and shoved the pregnancy test in the bin. Her best friend from university had allowed her to sleep on the sofa in her tiny flat for the past few weeks while she’d been flat-hunting. Rents in the capital were high and she was struggling to find somewhere she could afford. How was she going to manage when she had a baby? She couldn’t do this alone, she realised. But maybe, hopefully, she would have Andreas’s support.
She opened the door and forced a smile for her friend. ‘Sorry.’
‘I heard you being sick again this morning,’ Beth said, grabbing her toothbrush and standing over the sink.
‘I must have picked up a stomach bug.’ Isla followed Beth’s gaze to the box that the pregnancy test had been in, which she’d forgotten to throw away.
‘Oh, God, Isla.’ Toothpaste squirted from the tube in Beth’s hand and landed on the floor. ‘What are you going to do?’
Tears blurred her vision. ‘I don’t know,’ she admitted shakily. She wondered if her mum had felt the same sense of dread when she’d faced having to break the news to Isla’s father that she was pregnant. What if Andreas did not want his child, just as David Stanford hadn’t wanted his daughter? There was only one way to find out.
‘There is a Miss Isla Stanford in Reception asking to see you. I’ve explained that your diary is full but she says she won’t leave.’ Andreas’s PA sounded irritated. ‘Do you want me to call Security?’
Holding the phone to his ear, he drummed the fingers of his other hand on the desk. He was seriously tempted to send Isla away but he could not deny he was curious about why she had come to Athens. It was two months since he’d last seen her on Louloudi, and lately he’d stopped thinking about her quite so much. But that was only because his workload was so crazy that he didn’t have time to think about anything other than trying to save Karelis Corp, Andreas acknowledged grimly. At night it was a different matter and Isla invaded his dreams with annoying regularity.
Was she hoping for a repeat performance of the night they had spent together? He pictured her naked, supple body—her breasts that fitted into his palms as if they had been made for that purpose, and her long slender legs that she’d wrapped around his hips when he’d possessed her. His body clenched hard and he cursed beneath his breath.
‘Show Miss Stanford to my office,’ he told Daphne.
‘Your meeting with the Dutch client, Mr Vanek, is in fifteen minutes,’ his PA reminded him.
‘This won’t take long.’ He’d made the decision when Isla had left Louloudi that he would not get involved with her. He would discover the purpose of her visit and then send her away, he assured himself. He walked over to the window that overlooked the Karelis refinery, one of the largest and most modern oil refineries in Europe. Although how long it would continue to be owned by Karelis Corp was the subject of much speculation in the business world and the media, Andreas thought with a grimace. Beyond the tangle of metal pipes and towers the Aegean Sea sparkled beneath the pale winter sun.
He was aware of his heart thumping in his chest and his inexplicable reaction to the prospect of meeting Isla again infuriated him. He heard his office door open, followed by the soft click of it closing again. But he did not immediately turn around until he was confident that he had himself under control.
‘Hello, Andreas.’
Isla’s cool voice did nothing to put out the fire raging inside him when he swung round and stared at her. She was even more beautiful than he remembered. A little thinner perhaps, and her face was paler now that the golden tan she’d had in Greece two months ago had faded. But there was something about her—a glow as if she was lit from within—that Andreas could not explain. She looked mouth-watering in tight-fitting jeans and a smoky grey jumper that matched the colour of her eyes.
He clenched his hands by his sides, fighting an urge to stride across the room, pull her into his arms and kiss her until they were both senseless. Somehow he managed to sound politely uninterested. ‘Isla, this is a surprise,’ he drawled.
‘Is it?’ Colour flared on her cheeks and he did not miss the bite in her tone. ‘We were lovers. Does that mean nothing to you?’
He dismissed the erotic memories that barged unasked for into his mind, and shoved his hands into his trouser pockets to disguise the evidence of his desire. With another woman he might have instigated an affair, but not with Isla. She was the only woman who had threatened his self-control and he would not allow it to happen again. ‘We had sex once. Take my advice and don’t look for romance where none exists,’ he told her.
She gave an odd laugh. ‘Once is all it takes.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘What do you mean?’ He frowned when she did not reply and strode over to stand in front of her. Instantly he knew it had been a bad move as he breathed in her perfume and felt a throb in his groin. Theos, this woman made him feel like a teenager with an overload of hormones. He made a show of checking his watch. ‘I have a business meeting scheduled and I’d allocated you five minutes of my time. You’ve used three of them.’
Her eyes flashed but there was a vulnerability about the way her tongue darted nervously over her lips. ‘I’m pregnant.’
Andreas rocked back on his heels. He was totally unprepared for the bombshell she’d dropped, and his first thought was, Not again. He had been in this situation once before when Sadie had told him she was expecting his child. His response to Isla was the same as it had been to his lying ex-girlfriend. ‘I suppose you expect me to believe it’s my baby?’ he said coldly.
She blinked. ‘Of course it’s your baby. You know quite well that I was a virgin when I slept with you.’
He nodded. ‘Yes, that was convenient. But you could have had other sexual partners in the last two months.’
Andreas could not explain the possessiveness that swept through him at the idea that she was exclusively his. ‘Why me?’ His brows rose. ‘You are what, twenty-four or five? Surely you’ve had boyfriends. Why did you choose me to be your first lover?’
‘God knows,’ she muttered. ‘It must be your charming personality.’
‘Or perhaps you were attracted to my wealth,’ he said drily. ‘How can you possibly be pregnant by me when I used protection?’
‘I don’t know how it happened. No forms of contraception are foolproof and I guess we were just unlucky...or lucky—depending on your point of view...’
‘Enough.’ With an effort Andreas brought his temper under control. ‘I don’t believe the baby is mine but I am willing to accept there is a minuscule chance. The only way I can be certain if you are telling the truth is with a DNA test.’
The glimmer of tears turned Isla’s eyes to the colour of wet slate. ‘Do you really think I would lie about something this important? I am telling you the truth. I’m expecting your child.’
Sadie had used almost exactly the same words and she had cried prettily too, Andreas thought savagely. He would be a fool to believe Isla. He should tell her to contact his lawyer so that a paternity test could be arranged, before calling Security to escort her from the building. So why was he hesitating? What kind of witchery had she cast on him that tempted him to pull her into his arms and reassure her he would take care of her and the child?
His phone pinged and he read a message informing him that the Dutch client was waiting in the boardroom. Coming to a decision, he spoke to his PA and instructed her to organise some refreshments to be delivered to the hospitality suite. ‘English tea, and some sandwiches,’ he said, his eyes on Isla’s slender figure. She did not look pregnant. Was she eating enough? Theos, why did he care?