The Greek's Convenient Wife

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  She didn’t answer but stood in front of his desk with a fiery look in her clear blue gaze.

  Demetrius couldn’t help feeling faintly amused. She was so touchingly defiant, pretending she wasn’t intimidated when she very clearly was. It intrigued him in a way. Most of the women he’d been involved with would have jumped at the chance to wear his ring and yet here she was looking as if he’d asked her to walk the plank above an ocean full of sharks.

  He indicated the chair for her to sit on with a sweep of his hand.

  ‘Please, take a seat.’

  ‘I’d rather stand,’ she said through stiff lips.

  ‘As you wish.’ He sat back down and picked up a pen off his desk and gave it a click. ‘Have you come to a decision regarding my proposal?’

  ‘I’m surprised you still have the gall to call it a proposal,’ she said. ‘I would prefer the term blackmail.’

  ‘Blackmail is a strong word.’ He gave his pen another audible click. ‘I’d like to remind you now that you can walk out of that door at any point and accept the consequences.’

  She tightened her spine at his chilling warning.

  ‘But you’ve made it impossible for me to do so, haven’t you?’ She eyeballed him directly.

  ‘I take it you’re referring to my real estate dealings over the weekend?’ He leant back in his chair and propped his feet on his desk in an indolent pose that made the blood simmer in her veins.

  ‘You did it deliberately, didn’t you? To flush me out like a rat down a drainpipe.’

  ‘Not quite the metaphor I would have chosen, but it will suffice, I suppose.’

  ‘You’re totally sick!’

  ‘I’ll take that as a ‘‘no’’ then?’ His dark gaze glinted with lazy amusement.

  She clenched and unclenched her fists in an effort to keep control.

  ‘I’m going to make you a promise, Mr Papasakis, one that I hope you won’t forget.’

  ‘You intrigue me.’ The corner of his mouth lifted sardonically. ‘Pray tell me what delightful pledge you have in store.’

  Her eyes flashed with fire. ‘I will marry you, but you will live to regret it; I’m going to make absolutely certain of that.’

  He lifted his feet off the desk in one easy movement and stood up, straightening to his full height as he came around the desk to her side. She stood her ground determinedly, but on the inside she was shaking and was sure he was aware of it.

  ‘You and whose army?’ He reached out and touched her flaming cheek with one idle finger.

  She jerked her head out of his reach and glared up at him.

  ‘Mock me all you like but I’ll be the one laughing in the end,’ she promised.

  ‘How absolutely terrifying you are when aroused.’

  ‘I’m not aroused!’ She stamped her foot at him. ‘I’m angry, blindingly so!’

  ‘Come now, Maddison.’ He caught her upper arms with his hands and held her gently but firmly. ‘Why not give in with good grace? You’ll be the envy of single women everywhere. A rich husband, all the clothes and trinkets you want in exchange for a few months of your time. What more could you ask?’

  ‘I could ask for a lot more in a husband,’ she threw at him coldly. ‘Being tied to an unprincipled playboy is not my idea of nuptial bliss, nor is the prospect of being a laughing stock when you carry on with your perfidious behaviour behind my back.’

  ‘It won’t be behind your back,’ he said. ‘I’ve already informed you of the terms of our agreement.’

  ‘Your double standards make me sick!’

  ‘No doubt they are a little distasteful, but that’s the deal. I can’t have people wondering why my wife is having a bit on the side; it’s not good for my reputation.’

  ‘I can’t believe your arrogance,’ she spat.

  His hands on her arms tightened momentarily.

  ‘I also can’t have my wife calling me names, is that understood?’

  She met his implacable look with defiance. ‘I won’t be your wife for long.’

  ‘No, but while you are you’ll do as you’re told.’

  She gritted her teeth against the string of invectives on her tongue.

  ‘You’d much rather be my temporary wife than see your brother go to prison, wouldn’t you?’ he added when she didn’t speak.

  ‘I’d much rather like to see you rot in prison,’ she ground out.

  ‘Answer me, Maddison.’ He tilted her chin to meet his eyes. ‘Tell me how much you’d rather be married to me than see your brother’s future go up in smoke.’

  She hadn’t thought it was possible to hate another person so much as she did him at that moment. Her blood thrummed with it, thundering in her ears as she felt every last remnant of her pride being stripped away by his ruthlessness.

  ‘I…I don’t want to see Kyle go to prison,’ she bit out.

  ‘And the rest?’

  ‘And…and I’d rather be your temporary…wife.’

  He smiled one of his hateful smiles and her palm itched to wipe it from his face. He lowered his mouth towards hers in a slow motion movement which should have been enough warning for her to get out of the way but somehow wasn’t. She closed her eyes as his lips connected with hers, surprised at how warm and dry they felt as they brushed along hers. Her lips clung to his, her mouth opening to the heated probe of his tongue as he traced the line of her bottom lip in spine-weakening intimacy. She felt the slight graze of his teeth as he took her bottom lip between them, holding her for a heart-stopping moment until releasing her, only to dive between the soft folds of her lips to taste her completely. She felt the unmistakable thrust of his hard thighs between her quivering ones, felt too the evidence of his essential maleness as he leaned into her softness.

  He lifted his head a fraction and her eyes sprang open to see him watching her steadily, his own dark gaze inscrutable.

  ‘I’ll be in contact with you over the arrangements.’ He stepped away from her.

  She watched him silently as he returned to the chair behind his desk, irritated beyond measure at his calm indifference to what had passed between them in that one brief kiss.

  ‘Under the circumstances I thought it would be best if we have a small ceremony,’ he added. ‘Is there anyone you’d particularly like to invite?’

  ‘Apart from a sniper, do you mean?’

  His eyes held hers for a lengthy pause.

  ‘Careful, Maddison, you’re supposed to be in love with me, remember? Not planning my demise behind my back.’

  ‘I could never be in love with you. You’re everything I most detest in a man.’

  ‘All I’m asking you to do is pretend.’

  ‘It’s going to take every bit of acting ability I possess to do so.’

  ‘I don’t care what it takes as long as you do it. Otherwise you know the score.’

  ‘I suppose you’re going to hang that threat over my head for as long as our marriage continues?’

  ‘Think of it as my insurance policy,’ he said. ‘I’ll let your brother off the hook if and when I feel you’ve done what is required.’

  ‘Am I to be allowed to contact him?’

  ‘I can hardly stop you,’ he said. ‘Besides, you’ll have to tell him of our impending marriage for no doubt he’ll read about it in the papers.’

  ‘How am I going to explain our sudden marriage to him?’

  ‘You’re a woman. Think of a suitable lie to put him off the scent.’

  ‘Your view of my gender positively reeks of misogyny.’

  ‘No doubt it does, but then in my thirty-four years I have yet to meet a woman who doesn’t run true to form.’

  A small frown settled between her brows at his words. She wondered if somewhere along the line he’d been hurt by a woman, perhaps one who had got the upper hand with him and rubbed his nose in it.

  ‘I’ll arrange for some legal papers to be sent to you for your perusal,’ he said, cutting across her thoughts. ‘As for wedding finery, I’ll organis

e a credit card for you; it should be available in three or four days.’

  ‘I’m to be a real bride?’ She stared at him in alarm.

  ‘What’s wrong? Do you have a thing about wearing white?’

  ‘No.’ If only he knew the irony of his words, she thought. ‘I just didn’t expect you to want to go to so much trouble over a temporary arrangement.’

  ‘It’s only temporary to us,’ he pointed out. ‘To everyone else this must be presented as a match made in heaven. If we have some hole-and-corner ceremony it won’t look good enough to believe. Besides, everyone knows how Greek men pride themselves on scoring a virginal bride.’

  Hot colour suffused her cheeks.

  ‘I hope being a virgin isn’t part of your stipulations?’

  ‘I’m not so stupid as to imagine you’ve got to the age you are without experiencing sex first hand. I take it I’m right?’

  ‘Of course,’ she lied.

  ‘That’s all for now.’ He got to his feet, effectively dismissing her. ‘I’ll be in touch.’

  ‘Is that all?’

  ‘Was there something else?’ He glanced at his watch before meeting her incensed gaze across the desk.

  ‘No.’ She snapped her mouth over the single word and snatched up her bag from the floor.

  She was at the door with her hand on the knob when his voice halted her.

  ‘I wouldn’t advise any last minute countermoves. Remember I’m watching you.’

  ‘How could I forget?’ she tossed back at him before closing the door behind her.

  She was halfway down the corridor when a heady cloying perfume began to assault her nostrils. She looked up to see an exotic-looking dark-haired woman sashaying past her towards Demetrius’s office, her clinging black dress outlining her very generous curves.

  ‘Is Demetrius free now?’ the woman asked in a kittenish tone which sickened Maddison to her stomach.

  Some spark of residual defiance made Maddison adopt an equally provocative pose as she faced his latest conquest.

  ‘I hope I haven’t worn him out too much for you,’ she purred suggestively. ‘He’s quite something when he’s all fired up.’

  The woman’s dark brows snapped together irritably. ‘That low-down bastard’s been having it off with you?’ she shrieked.

  Maddison smoothed down her skirt before straightening her crumpled blouse.

  ‘He’s insatiable, but then I expect you already know that.’ She batted her eyelashes and then, leaning towards the spitting other woman, murmured conspiratorially, ‘I’ve heard a rumour he’s getting married. I’d be careful if I were you—jealous wives are the pits, aren’t they?’

  The woman’s eyes narrowed in anger and she spun away to click-clack down the hall towards Demetrius’s office on heels that Maddison was sure were going to end up in his back at some point if the woman’s expression was anything to go by.

  She smiled a little cat’s smile and continued on her way towards the exit. It felt good to have the upper hand just for once, and she was going to enjoy every single delicious minute.

  On Wednesday morning a courier arrived at her apartment with a sheaf of papers and an envelope containing a credit card with her name on it.

  She sat on her old sofa and went over the papers in detail. They were fairly straightforward, citing the date and time of their intended marriage and the conditions were laid out in simple terms. By signing, she was immediately relinquishing any financial rights normally afforded a marital partner on the dissolution of their marriage. She signed it with considerable relish; she didn’t want his stinking money anyway.

  She wasn’t sure what to do about the credit card however. She had no savings left after Kyle’s airfare and traffic infringement, and although Hugo had given her severance pay she still had to finalise the electricity and phone bills before the end of the week, but even so she felt distinctly uncomfortable spending Demetrius’s money. In the end she decided to mail it back to him, not even bothering to write a covering note to accompany it.

  As much as it galled her to have to do so she knew she couldn’t leave it too many more days without contacting him. She had one or two questions to ask regarding their living arrangements once they were married; somehow she didn’t think he’d agree to move into her tiny apartment with the peeling paint and constantly flickering light bulbs.

  He wasn’t available to speak to her when she called his office, which instantly annoyed her. She didn’t want to wait around holding her breath for him to return her calls, but neither did she want to be left in a state of indecision and uncertainty over whatever arrangements he’d made.

  Her hand hovered over the telephone later that evening as she fought with herself over whether to call his private number or not. Before her finger had pressed the first digit, however, the doorbell of her apartment pealed and she put the handset down with a clatter as she got to her feet to answer it.

  Demetrius was standing there with a small smile lurking about the corners of his mouth. ‘Hello, Maddison.’ His dark eyes swept over her fluffy tracksuit before returning to her face. ‘Pleased to see me?’

  She stepped aside for him to come in.

  ‘So nice of you to return my calls in person,’ she said. ‘I’m surprised you can afford the time. Haven’t you got a hot date tonight?’

  ‘I wonder you can ask that,’ he said with a tiny glimmer of amusement in his eyes. ‘Especially when you deliberately sabotaged my relationship with Elena Tsoulis.’

  ‘If she was so easily put off by me you’re definitely underselling yourself,’ she returned.

  ‘Perhaps you’re right.’ He shrugged himself out of his suit jacket and hung it over the back of the sofa. ‘She was close to her use by date anyway.’

  She inwardly seethed at his callous attitude.

  He turned to face her, his hand going to his tie to loosen it. ‘What did you want to see me about?’

  ‘I want to know what to do about my apartment.’

  He swept the room with an ironic glance. ‘You call this an apartment?’

  ‘No,’ she said, stung by his disdain. ‘I call it home.’

  ‘Well then, to borrow your own words, you’re definitely underselling yourself.’

  ‘It’s all I can afford.’

  ‘No doubt because you’ve been so busy bailing your brother out of trouble all the time. You should be a little more selective in how you rescue him. He’ll never learn to take responsibility with you stepping into the breach all the time.’

  ‘It’s none of your business what I do for my brother.’

  ‘I beg to differ. I now have a vested interest in how you help your brother. One could argue, in fact, that it will be my money that will be used to support him if the need should arise.’

  ‘I’m going to get another job as soon as I can.’

  ‘There’s no need for you to do so immediately,’ he said. ‘I quite fancy the idea of a kept woman.’

  ‘I’d rather die.’

  ‘Such strong words,’ he chided. ‘No, I definitely like the idea of you at my beck and call every hour of the day.’

  ‘You will soon tire of it.’

  He grinned at her disarmingly. ‘I wonder.’

  She turned away from the contemplative look in his eye.

  ‘I wanted to talk to you about living arrangements,’ she said.

  ‘Ah, yes—’ he sat on the sofa and stretched out his long legs in front of him ‘—the living arrangements. I was wondering when we’d come to that.’

  ‘I’m assuming you want me to live with you?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘But what about my apartment?’

  ‘Get rid of it.’

  She took a turn about the room in agitation.

  ‘What’s the problem, Maddison?’ he asked her. ‘Surely you’re not balking at the idea of sharing my penthouse?’

  She turned back to face him. ‘Where do you live?’

  ‘In the Papasakis Park View Tower Hotel.’

  ‘You live in a hotel?’ She looked at him incredulously.

  ‘Why not?’ He crossed his ankles. ‘The beds are comfortable, the food edible, and the showers hot. Why wouldn’t I live there?’

  ‘I would’ve thought a man of your means would have a castle of his own,’ she said. ‘It must be very impersonal living in a hotel all the time.’

  ‘I’m used to it. Anyway, I’m in and out of the country such a lot I haven’t got time to manage a private residence.’

  ‘How much travelling do you do?’

  He gave her a knowing look. ‘I can see where your mind is headed. If you think you can get away with anything while my back is turned you can think again. I might be out of the country rather regularly but I keep a steady eye on what’s happening when I’m away.’

  ‘I wasn’t thinking anything of the sort,’ she lied. ‘I was just wondering what I should do when you’re away, that’s all.’

  He propped his hands behind his head and surveyed her casually. ‘You’ll be too busy pretending to be the devoted wife in my absence and if you behave yourself I might even allow you to come with me occasionally.’

  ‘I can’t wait.’

  He laughed at the insincerity of her tone. ‘Come on, Maddison, you do your sex a disservice to insist your motives are all above board. What young woman wouldn’t want an all expenses paid trip overseas?’

  ‘I would prefer to have more choice over my travelling partner.’

  ‘Be that as it may, I still think you should be grateful I’ve been so obliging in all this. Another man might have asked you to pay back every cent.’

  ‘I would rather work an eighteen hour day for the rest of my life than spend an hour with you.’

  His expression closed over and she wondered if she’d pressed one too many of his buttons.

  ‘You have a lamentable lack of grace in your choice of words,’ he said. ‘One would hope that tendency will abate as time goes on.’

  ‘You expect me to be grateful to you for blackmailing me into this arrangement?’

  ‘No.’ He got to his feet with languid ease. ‘I don’t expect you to be grateful; I expect you to be realistic. Your brother is a prison statistic waiting to happen. I’m giving you a chance to redeem his future prospects.’

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