by Lynne Graham
‘I’m leaving,’ she told him flatly while she fought harder than she ever had in her life to rescue some kind of composure. After quivers of reaction were still travelling through her treacherous body, while she tried not to question her total loss of control, keen not to think along such demeaning lines in his presence.
Nikolai sprang off the bed, shoving his shirt back below his belt. ‘I’ll follow you back.’
‘Follow me where? What are you planning to do?’
‘Ease your move to London.’
‘Don’t you dare go near my family!’ Ella warned him furiously. ‘You’re a stranger to them.’
‘But I won’t be a stranger for long,’ Nikolai asserted, picking up a jacket.
‘You don’t know what you’re doing. They’re not stupid. They’re never going to believe that I’ve been seeing some man in secret!’ she told him with scorn.
Nikolai elevated a fine black brow. ‘People believe what they want to believe and they’ll be relieved that you’ve started living again.’
Ella’s face shuttered. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘I’m not stupid either. You’re a woman and most women are dramatic. I bet you swore you’d never love again after your fiancé died. I bet you’ve hugged your grief to you like a security blanket ever since,’ Nikolai opined.
Ella had turned white as bone. She flung him a look of loathing. ‘How dare you drag Paul into this? How do you even know about him?’
‘I know enough about you to make an educated guess or two,’ Nikolai drawled coolly.
‘Well, you got it wrong, badly wrong,’ she assured him, but she was lying because although she would never have admitted it he had got it all frighteningly right. In fact his accuracy was both uncanny and mortifying. She had sworn that she would never love again, that she would never date another man after Paul. Her grief had been so great that she had voiced bitter self-destructive sentiments that had contained little common sense. The last thing she needed to hear now was Nikolai Drakos implying that she had acted like a drama queen craving sympathy and attention.
‘So, quite naturally, your family will be delighted to believe that you have moved on after your loss and their pleasure in that reality will help them gloss over any inconsistencies in our story. They will want us to be real,’ Nikolai declared with a sardonic smile. ‘Your only role is to act happy about moving to London to see more of me.’
Something akin to panic assailed Ella’s breathing process, tightening her chest, closing her throat. Act happy? She wasn’t sure she knew how to do that. Life had been too challenging in recent years to offer many such opportunities but she had learned to smile and fake it for her family’s benefit. No, it was the idea of moving to London and an unfamiliar environment to be with Nikolai that shocked and dismayed her most. And the concept of living with a man, being intimate with a man like Nikolai Drakos utterly unnerved her. Yet if she didn’t agree to Nikolai’s demands her family’s life would be ruined. And after the setbacks and upheavals her father and Gramma had already lived through, how could they possibly cope with more at their age?
Almost three hours later, Ella let Gramma herd her into the kitchen for a private chat. She went reluctantly because she was straining to eavesdrop on the conversation that Nikolai was having with her father in the dining room the older man had long used as an office. The men’s voices rose and fell, Nikolai’s deep-pitched drawl soothing the rising note in her father’s audible objections.
‘I want Ella happy and she won’t be happy if she’s worrying herself sick about her family back home,’ Nikolai asserted forcefully.
Ella paled. Nikolai would be saying all the right things and wearing all the right expressions, she reflected bitterly. He was clearly a consummate liar and smooth as molasses in a situation that would have sent nine out of ten men running for the hills. In action he was a breathtakingly quick study. He had arrived just after the family finished dinner and joined them for tea and carrot cake. He had grasped Ella’s hand to declare that they had been seeing each other for months, ever since they had met the night she was parking cars. He had been very convincing, very persuasive and she had little doubt that he would soon crush her father’s protests and persuade him to accept that his debts were being written off.
‘Do you know what surprised me most about all this? Nikolai is so different from Paul,’ Gramma remarked as Ella began to load the dishwasher to keep her restive hands busy. ‘He’s a real man’s man.’
Ella’s soft mouth compressed. The older woman had a traditional outlook. She liked men who could hunt a wild boar before breakfast and reduce a pile of logs to wood chips by dinner time. Paul’s lack of interest in traditional male pursuits had bemused Gramma. She had liked him and treated him like a son but she had never understood him, Ella conceded with regret.
‘I never thought that you would go for someone like Nikolai. Of course, he’s very good-looking and obviously successful. Are you sure you know what you’re getting into with him?’ the older woman pressed. ‘I know living together is very popular these days but I noticed that there was no talk of an engagement in the future or anything like that.’
‘Let’s see how it goes first. We may be too different. It may not work out between us,’ Ella commented, dropping the first hint towards her eventual breakup with Nikolai. ‘Who can tell when we haven’t been able to spend much time together here?’
‘Why didn’t you tell us about him?’ Gramma demanded for at least the third time. ‘Are we so unapproachable?’
‘I said a lot of stupid stuff after Paul died,’ Ella muttered numbly.
‘You were hurt, grieving. It was normal for you to feel that way,’ Gramma assured her. ‘I only want to be sure you’re not leaping into this too fast with Nikolai. You’re turning your whole life upside down for him. I did like the fact though that he said you might choose to pick up and continue your veterinary training again.’
Yes, if there were any right impressive things to say, Nikolai had contrived to corner the market on those sentiments, Ella ruminated bitterly. He came, he saw, he conquered. Her father and her grandmother had sat in awe while Nikolai shared his supposed thoughts. Acting as though he loved her had come so very naturally to him that it had spooked Ella. He had never said the words, but his behaviour had convinced his receptive audience that he cared deeply for Ella and only wanted her happiness.
‘He’s what you need,’ the older woman murmured. ‘A fresh start somewhere new. However, I suspect that this development is going to come as a huge shock to Cyrus.’
‘I expect so,’ Ella remarked uncertainly, thinking that it had come as a huge shock to her as well, although she could hardly admit the fact.
‘You haven’t a suspicion, have you?’ Gramma grimaced. ‘I don’t think Cyrus sees you only as Paul’s former fiancée. In fact I believe his interest is a lot more personal.’
Ella studied her grandmother’s troubled face in consternation and winced. ‘No, you’re totally wrong about that. What on earth gave you such a horrible idea?’
‘It would be horrible to you, then...’ The older woman gathered with a hint of relief. ‘For a while I was a bit worried that his attentions might be welcome?’
‘There hasn’t been any attentions,’ Ella contradicted defensively.
‘The flowers...the lunch dates...that big charity do...him asking you to check his house while he’s away.’
‘For a start, Cyrus has only sent me flowers a couple of times and the charity thing was a special favour. There’s only been a couple of lunch dates and those were only casual catch-ups,’ Ella protested. ‘And me calling in to check his house when he has a resident housekeeper was just Cyrus being plain silly! I think he got all riled up about that spate of country-house robberies last year. Honestly, Gramma, Cyrus has never done or said anything that woul
d give me the idea that he sees me as anything other than his late nephew’s fiancée and a family friend.’
‘Well, I think you’ve missed the signs. I don’t like the way he looks at you and I wouldn’t let your father approach him for a loan because I was worried it might come with strings attached,’ Gramma confided uncomfortably.
Had Ella been in the mood to laugh, she would have laughed then at the irony of her grandmother’s misgivings. Evidently the older woman had misread Cyrus’s motives and distrusted him but she had offered Nikolai and his honeyed hollow lies a red-carpet welcome.
‘Ella...?’ Nikolai called her from the hall.
Grudgingly she went to the doorway. Butch pushed out past her to caper round Nikolai’s feet. From the instant of first laying eyes on Nikolai the tiny dog had been inexplicably smitten and craving his attention.
‘Show me out. I need to get back to the hotel and start organising everything. That animal is insane,’ he breathed, stepping carefully to avoid his canine companion.
‘What do you have to organise?’ Ella queried, shooing her pet away while wondering why Butch wasn’t picking up on her hostility towards his new idol.
‘Arrangements for your move,’ Nikolai advanced, pulling open the front door with a lean, powerful hand and stepping out into the cool evening air.
As Ella closed the door in the little dog’s face he began to fuss and bark in annoyance. ‘You think you’ve won, don’t you?’ she whispered bitterly as soon as she was free from the risk of being overheard by her family.
Nikolai swung round, dark golden eyes as bright as torches, a satisfied half-smile lifting his sardonic mouth. ‘I know I’ve won and you should be pleased. Everyone’s happy.’
‘Everyone but me,’ Ella cut in curtly.
‘I’ll make you happy. You’ll have fabulous clothes and fabulous jewellery,’ Nikolai assured her, one hand splayed across her spine to hold her still in front of him as he lounged back against the wing of his spectacular sports car.
Ella bristled like a cat stroked the wrong way, scorn lightening her bright green eyes to palest jade. ‘Those things aren’t going to make me happy.’
‘What about the even more fabulous sex?’ Nikolai husked, both arms locking her into place in front of him, his keen gaze watching the rise of colour in her cheeks.
He couldn’t stop touching her. He couldn’t stop noticing things about her either. It was as though he went into supercharged observation mode in her presence. She was blushing and for some reason he revelled in having that effect on her even while he was continually surprised at the level of her innocence. How could she have been engaged and yet remain so naive? True, the fiancé had been ill but the couple had been together for years. It must’ve been quite a particular relationship, he reflected in sincere puzzlement.
After all, Ella seethed with so much outright passion. At the hotel she had flared from a spark into a wild hot flame in his arms and her fiery generous response had been incredibly exciting. Indeed it was years since Nikolai had found any aspect of sex exciting. On a scale of one to ten his hunger for Ella had now veered into the seriously uncomfortable zone. The image of her lying against him quivering and gasping with release, her languorous green eyes pinned to him, would stay with him for ever. He didn’t think he had ever wanted a woman so much and that seriously bothered him. Did it bother him enough to stop the whole scheme in its tracks?
He was promising her fabulous sex. Of course he was, Ella reflected in exasperation. Nikolai was incredibly confident of his own abilities. And maybe there was some excuse for that, she conceded as her body leant forward seemingly of its own volition, drawn by the heat and dominance of his sizzling sexual charisma.
Nikolai bent his head and kissed her. It was a slow claiming as the tip of his tongue traced the lush fullness of her lower lip and then delved gently between. A breathy little gasp erupted from her parted lips and she stepped closer. His arms snapped round her and it was the work of a moment for him to swing round and press her back against the car, his sensual mouth driving down hard on hers, his lean, powerful body crushing her against the unyielding metal.
Her every skin cell seemed to erupt into life as heat raced through her bloodstream and a bolt of naked yearning surged from low in her pelvis. His mouth was all she cared about. She couldn’t get enough of him, was convinced she would never get enough of him. She gloried in the thrust of his arousal against her, the knowledge that Nikolai Drakos wanted her and couldn’t hide the fact.
I want this man, she acknowledged, shocking herself rigid. Not someone she loved or respected or even liked. He exerted a primitive pull on her senses, which she could only compare to an utterly mindless desire to put her hand in a fire. But was it so destructive? So wrong? Wasn’t it normal, even natural, that the physical side of her nature, which she had long been forced to suppress, should finally demand expression? And Nikolai was magnificent...
Nikolai wrenched himself free of her, breathing hard. She made him feel like a teenager with his first girl. It unnerved him and made the equivalent of defensive barriers of iron bars spring up inside him to police his very thought and reaction. She knocked him off balance, tore his control to shreds and he hated it. ‘I’ll be in touch,’ he said without any expression at all.
Ella backed on hollow legs to the doorstep and watched him drive off. He had behaved as if nothing had happened. The hard, high planes of his lean dark features had betrayed no emotion. His eyes had been veiled by those ridiculously long lashes of his and his voice had been cool in tone. So where did that leave her?
Set on the road to making the biggest mistake of her life? Or to making the biggest discovery? She would make that choice, Ella promised herself squarely, not him. Wanting him wasn’t going to make a fool out of her. She was bright enough to see that what he made her feel had nothing to do with love and caring. She wouldn’t let him hurt her. She wouldn’t let him use her. If there was any using to be done, she would be the user. And if he thought otherwise, he was in for a very big surprise...
CHAPTER FOUR
ELLA HAD TO smother a yawn while her nails were being done because she was bored stiff. A car had collected her and Butch early that morning and ferried them down to London. Parting from her father and grandmother had been tough but the knowledge that the family home was now safe and that her father was already making cheerful plans to open up a home office to work as an accountant had soothed her nerves. She had done the right thing, she was doing the right thing, she told herself urgently.
As soon as she had arrived in London it had been clear that her entire day had already been mapped out for her. Ella had been dropped off first while Butch and her luggage had travelled on to the town house where she would apparently be staying.
It was hours since she had arrived at the exclusive beauty salon where she had been waited on hand and foot, wrapped in fleecy towels and generally treated like an animated doll to be beautified. So far there was not one part of her that had not come in for some form of improving attention. She had been waxed and moisturised and polished to perfection. Her hair had been washed and conditioned and trimmed and now fell in silky waves round her shoulders.
* * *
In his office across the city, Nikolai couldn’t concentrate. She was within reach, in his home. He had never lived in his late grandfather’s house, however, and Ella would pretty much live there alone because Nikolai had no intention of giving up the privacy of his apartment. But his plan was coming to fruition. This very evening, Cyrus Makris would be back in London to attend the annual dinner being held to raise funds for Nikolai’s favourite charity. Cyrus was, of course, a generous benefactor. He always made a point of giving money to organisations that took care of the victims of abuse. His good reputation was of unparalleled importance to him and invariably his first line of defence. But whatever else he got, he wasn’t g
etting Ella, Nikolai reflected exultantly.
* * *
An older man wearing a bow tie and a smart black jacket opened the front door of the imposing town house. ‘Miss Palmer...please come in. I’m Max, Mr Drakos’s steward. I look after everything here.’
Ella walked into a surprisingly dark and ornate hall and looked around in surprise. She had somehow assumed that Nikolai would live in a very contemporary setting. But as she glanced into a massive, equally dark reception room and rolled her eyes at the clutter on every surface, she could see that indoors the clock of time had reset to the late Victorian Gothic era of interior decoration.
‘My late employer, Mr Drakos’s grandfather, didn’t like change. This was originally his wife’s family home and he kept everything the way it was after his wife passed. He got very annoyed if I moved anything.’
‘My goodness; with all this stuff, how did he even notice something had been moved?’ Ella exclaimed, spinning round to gape at her surroundings.
‘Like the present Mr Drakos, he was a very clever and very observant man,’ Max told her. ‘Let me show you to your room.’
‘Where’s Butch...er...my dog?’ Ella asked.
Max led her silently into a room with a tiled floor and a log burner. A scruffy terrier with flyaway ears lay sprawled across a rug there with Butch nestled against her. She was about twice Butch’s size but Ella’s pet showed no fear of the other animal. ‘Good grief,’ Ella framed as Butch leapt up and charged at her, his little eyes bright with welcome. His companion slowly sat up, voiced a half-hearted gruff bark before dropping her head down again, her attention welded to Butch.
‘That’s Mr Drakos’s dog, Rory. Officially she’s called Aurora. Rory took an immediate liking to Butch and has been cuddled up to him ever since. I expect she’s enjoying the company.’
‘I didn’t know Mr Drakos had a pet.’
‘She travels a lot with my employer. I’ll show you upstairs now.’ Max led the way up the elegant staircase.