As he looked at her the hot sultry air suddenly crackled with undeniable tension between them. That strong attraction she had to ignore but was finding it ever more difficult to. He knew it too. He was far too astute, far too in control to be easily fooled.
‘It’s true. I should be practising every day.’ She paused as she thought of Hans, of what he’d believed she’d wanted. Hans had been so adamant she had been leading him on, giving him the come-on. She hadn’t been able to touch the keys, let alone play, since then. The piano and that moment were far too painfully linked. Even though she knew she’d done nothing to encourage him, she couldn’t bring herself to sit at the piano, let alone play it.
Neither was she ready to tell Lysandros why she’d stood him up, why she’d coldly ended their relationship when it had been so good, so right. Xena didn’t recall how she’d consoled Rio, how she’d tried to persuade her to tell Lysandros, and right now that suited Rio. She needed to avoid that painful conversation for as long as possible.
‘So why are you not practising, Rio? Xena loves to hear you play. As do I.’ He began to walk towards her, stopping when she backed away.
‘I... I...’ she faltered, not knowing what to say without telling him exactly why she didn’t want to go near the piano.
‘At least you can still physically play the piano—if you choose to.’
His accusation hit home and she dragged in a breath. Did he have to make her feel worse? Play on the guilt she felt about the night of the accident? About him? Them?
‘This isn’t about me. This is about Xena.’ Desperately she pushed back her pain, her raw emotions, trying to bring the conversation back to Xena.
He took another step towards her, bringing him so close she could smell the citrus tang of his aftershave, and it made the memory of their last kiss collide with the guilt for all Xena was going through, as well as her own fear. She tried not to recall how light-headed Lysandros had made her feel when he’d smiled at her, reminding herself he was well versed in the art of charming women.
Yet he’d been prepared to take things slowly with her. At first, she’d thought it was simply because of her friendship with Xena, but soon she’d wondered if it was more than that. He’d respected her. He’d showed patience and kindness totally in contrast to the playboy past Xena had told her about. He’d treated her as if she was special.
‘Is it, Rio?’ His voice had deepened, become so sensually soft he could be seducing her.
‘Of course it is. I’m here for Xena, not myself—or us. Not that there is an us any more.’
‘What happened after the recital, Rio? What are you keeping from me?’ His question hung in the air and she hated the way he made her feel, the way she wanted to confide in him, tell him what had happened. But she couldn’t. It was over between them and there was no point in going over that night now. She was here only for Xena.
‘There is nothing to tell,’ she said quickly, hoping he wouldn’t keep asking, be able to tell she had been doing exactly that.
‘Let’s take a walk on the beach while Xena is resting.’ He changed the subject so fast Rio felt dazed.
‘Xena and I are due to visit your mother today.’ She grasped at that. ‘Maybe we should wake Xena now.’
‘As I am the one charged with the task of getting you both there, we can spend a while walking on the beach first.’ He paused and looked at her, the intensity in his eyes changing, making her pulse leap with awareness she wasn’t sure she was ready to acknowledge yet.
‘I ought to leave Xena a note. In case she wakes.’ Rio began to write a quick note and Lysandros stood over her, so close her body began to tremble, not with fear, as she’d expected, but with anticipation. Need. For him.
‘Make sure you mention you and I are together.’ His voice had dropped to almost a whisper and was so sexy she had to close her eyes against the tingle that rushed up her spine.
She put the pen down and turned, her gaze locking with his, holding it.
* * *
Lysandros knew Rio was keeping something from him. He’d known it since he’d first arrived at the hospital after the accident. He’d seen it in her eyes. Sensed nervousness in every move she’d made. Now that Rio was here with Xena, he was going to get to the bottom of what had happened the night she’d left him waiting alone at a romantic and secluded table for two.
The sunshine was gaining in strength as he stepped out of the villa, across the terrace and onto the sand. Beside him Rio adjusted her hat, and while he accepted it was necessary to protect her pale complexion from the sun, he sensed it was much more about erecting a physical barrier between them. He put on his shades. If the way his body was reacting to her nearness was anything to go by, the more barriers between them the better. For now at least.
‘What really happened the night of the accident?’ He plunged right in as swiftly as if he’d just dived into the cool waters from his yacht.
‘I told you. A car ran a red light and hit Xena’s.’ The defensive tone of those short, sharp sentences gave so much away, but that wasn’t what he wanted to know.
‘I know the details of the accident itself.’ He couldn’t keep the impatience from his voice. He had to know just why his sister had been driving around London alone so late at night.
‘So why ask?’ He sensed her looking at him, but he kept his focus ahead, sure that if he didn’t put her under the spotlight she would tell him the finer details of that treacherous night.
‘Because I’m Xena’s brother and I want to know what happened before the accident.’
Her pace faltered and she stopped, forcing him to do the same, but she didn’t look at him. Instead she stared out to sea. Yet another avoidance tactic. ‘There is nothing more to tell.’
‘Are you sure, Rio?’ The question caught her attention and she turned to face him. He wished she didn’t have her sunglasses on, wished he could see the expression and emotion in her soft caramel-brown eyes.
She sighed and he watched the smooth, pale skin of her throat move as she swallowed. At least he could now be certain he was finally near the truth. ‘You might be able to manipulate others into doing what you command, but it won’t work with me.’
The passion in her voice was intense and she moved away, holding her hat in place against the playful, warm wind. Her long limbs were outlined as the wind flattened the blue sundress against her, testing his resolve far too much. He couldn’t allow himself to be distracted by the attraction she still had for him. Not yet. Xena had to come first.
‘Manipulate?’
‘Yes, you try and control everything. Everyone. Even Xena.’
‘I resent that accusation. What I do for Xena I do out of love.’
‘Love?’ She abandoned her attempts to hold her hat in place and took it off, exposing her subtly highlighted hair, which had been pulled back into a rough ponytail. The wind whipped stray strands of hair across her face and he scrunched his hands against the urge to push them back from her lovely and beguilingly innocent face.
Whatever it was that had changed things for Rio after the recital, he sensed she was fighting hard against her attraction to him. An attraction he still felt, still wanted to explore. Patience was all he needed.
‘I don’t think a man such as the mighty Lysandros Drakakis, CEO of Drakakis Shipping and Luxury Yachts, does anything for love, does he?’
Her taunt had the desired effect but he resisted the urge to respond with anger. He was well aware of his inability to emotionally connect with his sister or mother, let alone with another woman. Rio might have challenged that on so many levels, but he wasn’t going to allow her to know it right now. ‘Love for my family is an entirely different thing from passionate love. That kind of love is built on sexual attraction and heated desire.’
She blushed and looked away. He smiled at the sense of satisfaction that ruffling her feathers had
brought him. That sexual chemistry was still there. Buried but alive. ‘For you maybe.’
‘So you are holding out for true love, are you? Is that why you stood me up so spectacularly? So publicly?’
He could still taste her rejection, something he wasn’t at all used to. If he wanted a woman it was usually only a question of when, not if. Rio had refused point-blank to see him after that night, cementing her status as the first woman to turn him down. The only woman to wound his male pride since his early twenties, when his first taste of love had been soured by deceit.
‘Yes, I am holding out for true love and you would hardly be the perfect candidate. Not with a string of broken hearts behind you.’ She smiled in that so there kind of way the English were so good at. ‘But I’m not here for us. In case you have forgotten, I’m here for Xena.’
‘And what we had isn’t of consequence?’
Rio looked uncomfortable and a heavy sense of seriousness filled the warm air around them. ‘My friendship with Xena is more important than anything else. I don’t want us to get in the way of that.’
She looked as though she was holding her breath, as though she was waiting for him to piece together whatever it was in her mind, but the mention of his sister served only to direct his thoughts back to his original purpose of bringing her out here to talk alone.
‘I don’t think going over the accident will help anyone right now. She has blocked out everything from the last two months. It’s as if she is stuck at a happy point in her life.’
‘I agree on that. That is why I believe it will reassure Xena if she thinks that we are in love.’
‘In love? You and me?’ She stumbled over the words, her fingers fidgeting with the hat she clasped as if it were a lifeline. ‘Is that really necessary?’
His mind raced. All his sister had ever wanted was for him to meet someone and fall in love, and the attraction between him and Rio had been so obvious, so intense he’d allowed Xena to revel in her role as matchmaker. Allowed her to believe there was a future for him and Rio. She’d even suggested that this time he should use their grandmother’s engagement ring, saying that Rio wouldn’t want the flashy diamonds Kyra had demanded.
He should have told Xena there and then that he didn’t want any kind of commitment, but he hadn’t wanted to destroy her happiness then, just as he didn’t want to now. ‘It would be what Xena has always wanted for us and maybe it could actually help Xena to feel more emotionally secure, which might enable her to remember things again.’
* * *
Rio’s heart raced. How could she pretend to be in love with Lysandros when just being around him sent her pulse racing?
She sighed heavily, determined not to dwell on her problems but to focus on Xena and the heartache she had endured when Ricardo had ended their romance, and the worry of how she’d react when she remembered all about it. ‘I’d do anything to help Xena, but pretending we are lovers?’
‘What are you scared of, Rio?’
‘I’m not scared of anything.’ She swung round to face him square on, every muscle in her body tense as if ready for a fight, forcing her to remember a time and a man when a physical fight had been necessary. The clamour of her memories, the guilt of the accident and the secret she had to keep for Xena became one big storm cloud, fully laden and ready to spill everything out around her.
‘Really?’ His voice softened, and he moved closer to her. She thought he was going to touch her face, brush her hair back and then kiss her. Heaven help her, she wanted him to as much as she didn’t.
She couldn’t become enslaved by the attraction. She needed to divert his attention. ‘You blame me for all that’s happened to Xena, don’t you?’
‘I think you are doing an admirable job of that already.’ His eyes were granite hard as his gaze fixed her to the spot.
She thought back to Xena’s distress before the accident as she stepped back from Lysandros, needing the sparks of attraction to stop so she could think clearly. She could still hear the desperation in her friend’s voice.
‘Ricardo wants us to finish. He wants to sort everything out between him and his wife.’
‘Rio.’ Lysandros took her arms, turning her gently to face him, the heat of his touch sending skitters of awareness, mixed with trepidation, hurtling through her. She couldn’t bear that she still had that kind of reaction to him. It was in total contrast to what she’d vowed after the attack. She just couldn’t be at a man’s mercy again and most certainly not one as powerful and attractive as Lysandros Drakakis. ‘What are you keeping from me?’
Rio looked down and away from his scrutiny but he didn’t let her go. When she looked up he was far closer than she had thought. Too close. She backed away as much as she could while his hands still held her upper arms, determined to show control and restraint.
‘I’m not going to tell you anything if you don’t let me go.’
He did as she requested, but his expression warned her not to push him further, not to test his patience. ‘I apologise.’ The words were sharp and accented, proving this whole situation with Xena was as upsetting for him as for her. Xena had often told her he was the ultimate big brother, kind and caring of his sister’s needs, yet wildly overprotective, and he was now showing that.
‘So you should.’ She rubbed her arms, trying to brush away his touch, the memory it evoked and the reality of the very reason she’d stood him up. If she told him right now what had happened, would he understand? He was the kind of man who wanted instant gratification. Although he’d shown kindness and patience with her, courting her in a way she was sure he’d not done in many years, he was the worst kind of man for her to be attracted to now that her confidence was so low.
‘Perhaps we should go back to the villa and see if Xena is ready to visit your mother.’
He swore harshly in his native Greek and she had no idea why. Quite apart from that, it was hard to focus on the conversation when each deep breath he took made his muscled chest expand, snagging her attention in a way she didn’t want, warning her he was at his limit as well as reminding her what could have been if only she’d been brave enough.
‘I need your help, Rio. I can’t stand by and do nothing while Xena becomes more and more frustrated at not remembering.’
The unexpected openness of his words touched her heart. He might be many things, but he did care about his sister.
‘I will help, Lysandros. That’s why I’m here now.’ She could feel her resolve melting the highest peaks of her defences, making them begin to slide away.
He moved closer to her and she held her breath as he took her hand in his, fixing those intensely dark eyes on her face. ‘Xena is right about one thing, is she not?’
Flustered by his touch, all she could do was look at him and whisper softly, ‘What?’
‘That we are attracted to one another.’ The rush of the waves was drowned out by the thudding of her heart. He’d admitted he found her attractive. ‘If we act on that attraction, we can convince Xena our romance is real.’
Rio knew it wouldn’t be that simple. This wasn’t just a case of Xena feeling low after an accident had left her arm in plaster, unable to play the violin. When Xena’s memory did return, she would be heartbroken all over again. Not just about her own romance with Ricardo but about Rio and Lysandros’s, and knowing why Rio had broken it off, she would be devastated to think the accident, her amnesia had pushed Rio into such an arrangement.
‘I really don’t think Xena would believe us.’ The pads of his thumbs caressed her hands, making her voice a husky whisper. He was holding her captive with the gentlest of touches, and while it unnerved her, she wanted to remain there, wanted his touch.
‘Xena has already gone to great lengths to bring us together.’ Lysandros’s accent had deepened. ‘She will believe us. It’s what she wants most of all for us.’
‘But what h
appens when she remembers we split up?’ He was beginning to convince her, making her feel it could really work and, above all, making her wish it was all for real.
He smiled, one that showed such self-assurance it made her fingers clench tightly into her palms, digging her nails into the soft skin. ‘I hope that we can return to where we were the afternoon of the recital.’
‘I don’t know that we can go back to that,’ she said, still unbearably distracted by the caressing of his thumbs on her hands.
‘You said you would do anything to help Xena with her amnesia.’ His voice had become a seductive purr and she was unable to form any kind of reply as she looked into his eyes, seeing the same desire in them she’d seen when he’d last held her close. ‘All we need to do is set free the sizzling desire between us. The desire we were so close to discovering, Rio.’
‘That’s gone.’ She tried to inject strength into her declaration, but knew she’d failed.
‘I disagree.’ He touched her face and her breath shuddered in as the spark of desire she was desperate to deny ignited inside her. ‘There is desire, Rio, and you can’t hide from it for ever.’
CHAPTER THREE
LYSANDROS WATCHED AS desire chased the panic from Rio’s eyes, their velvet brown becoming darker as her gaze held his. Around him, the sounds of the waves quietened. It was just the two of them. Nothing and no one else existed, and the heady tension, which had always been beneath the surface, began to take over.
Rio’s full lips parted, and all he wanted was to kiss her, to taste the sweetness of her lips and forget the madness of recent days. He didn’t want to think about Xena’s amnesia, to worry it could be more than temporary. He wanted to lose himself in the passion he knew lived inside Rio. He wanted to set it free, convince her what they had was far too powerful to ignore. Or walk away from.
‘I can’t hide from what I don’t feel.’ Rio’s words were husky and very sexy. So she still didn’t dare admit it. His instinct was to kiss her, to prove to her she did feel desire. But he held back. There was an air of fragility about Rio, weaving in with the innocence in her eyes. He remembered what Xena had advised him after Rio had ended things. The need to give her time and space.
Seducing His Convenient Innocent Page 4