The Greek's Convenient Wife

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  His lips were warm and dry, soft at first, exploring the contour of her mouth with an idleness that was totally captivating. His tongue stroked for entry and without hesitation her lips opened as if he now had total control over her.

  He entered her mouth with a deep thrust that sent her head backwards and would have made it hit the wall behind if his hand hadn’t moved to bury itself in the thickness of her hair. She felt his fingers thread through the silky strands, her scalp lifting in response to the sensation of having him draw her closer with the firm pressure of his hand.

  He wanted access to every corner of her mouth and without demur she gave it to him, relishing the probe of heat as he explored her, drawing her tongue into a seductive dance with his that sent an instant spurt of liquid desire between her thighs.

  His body ground hard against hers as he deepened the kiss, the turgid heat of him like a flame to her quivering, traitorous flesh.

  She was mindless with her need of him. A need that she hadn’t thought possible a few short days ago.

  Where was her hatred and loathing now? Where was her anger now that she needed it so desperately to keep him at a safe distance? All had gone up in the flames of desire, a desire so strong she had no way of dealing with it.

  It was like a great rushing bush fire that had swept her up into its maelstrom, leaving her no lifeline of escape. The heat was consuming her, drawing her into its molten core until she could no longer think, she could only feel…

  Demetrius knew he had to stop before he lost control.

  He kept telling himself that was enough, he’d proved his point, but each time he determined he’d break the kiss he’d encounter her soft little tongue, the tongue that had sniped and snarled at him, but now, inside his mouth, was so sensuously tempting, so intoxicatingly alluring, he had no choice but to continue.

  Losing control wasn’t familiar territory for him.

  He prided himself on being able to draw back whenever he wanted; it gave him a sense of safety, his ironclad will the best protection against female exploitation, which he avoided at all costs.

  No, these days he called all the shots.

  He wasn’t the vulnerable sort, at least not any more. It had been a hard lesson, but when better to learn than as a young child? The school of hard knocks was the best place to learn the lessons of life and no one could say he hadn’t graduated with honours.

  Maddison felt the subtle change in his kiss.

  His lips had suddenly hardened, as if he’d come to some sort of decision about what he was going to do with her. It was enough to break the spell of rampant desire as she reminded herself of his ruthless dealings with her over Kyle. She wrenched herself out of his hold with every bit of strength she possessed, and the only reason she managed to escape was because he hadn’t been expecting it. She saw it in his eyes as they ran over her insolently, but she refused to cringe under his disdain.

  ‘I think we could safely say I won that round.’ His tone was mocking as he drew the back of his hand across his mouth as if to remove the taste of her from his lips.

  Hatred seethed inside her where desire had so recently breathed with ragged, gasping, greedy breaths.

  ‘Only because you don’t play by the rules.’ She glared at him.

  ‘Which are?’ He cocked one dark brow.

  ‘How should I know? You make them up as you go. First you say this is a paper marriage and then you try and pressure me to satisfy your detestable needs.’

  ‘Detestable?’

  ‘Not just detestable, but disgusting, loathsome, repugnant, diabolical—’

  ‘I think, you’ve said quite enough.’

  There was an edge of steel in his voice which sent a shower of reactionary shivers down her spine. His expression was nothing short of contemptuous as his eyes raked her from head to foot.

  She took in a much needed breath but then wished she hadn’t bothered as it seemed to catch at her lungs so painfully she almost choked.

  His eyes pinned hers in a look that could only be described as malevolent.

  ‘I’m going outside for a few minutes,’ he said. ‘During my absence I suggest you prepare for bed. I’ll let you choose which side you’d prefer to sleep on, but apart from that you have no other choice. You will sleep in that bed with me tonight; do you I make myself perfectly clear?’

  She wished she could outstare him but she was so close to tears she couldn’t risk it. She lowered her gaze to the floor and in a voice hardly recognisable as her own answered him in a single softly spoken word. ‘Yes.’

  She heard him swing away and the sound of the door slamming shut behind him, the sudden movement of air snuffing out the flickering candle on the mantelpiece, leaving her with only the light of the fire to follow the pathway of silent tears down her face.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  MADDISON heard him come back into the hut a few minutes later. She listened as he ran the tap in the bathroom, heard the sound of him brushing his teeth and the tread of his footsteps as he approached.

  She moved as close to the edge of the bed as she could, clutching the torch like a weapon under the bedclothes.

  A single candle burned faintly on the apple carton that apparently served as a bedside table and it flickered in protest when he opened the bedroom door.

  She clamped her eyes shut, feigning sleep, but she felt his penetrating gaze all the same. She heard the rustle of clothing and her heart began to thump. Surely he wasn’t getting undressed? She was neck to ankles in her heavily pilled tracksuit, fluffy socks on her feet, but if he made up his mind to finish what he’d started she wasn’t sure if a full suit of armour would be enough to put him off. She wished she’d thought to wear her mismatched, most unattractive underwear but hadn’t had time to think about it in her rush to pack under Demetrius’s command.

  She felt so tense that she was sure she’d never be able to sleep even if he didn’t follow through with his veiled threat.

  She felt the depression of the mattress as he got in the bed, his superior weight tipping her towards him. She grabbed the edge of the bed and righted herself but knew her cover was well and truly blown.

  ‘Could you blow the candle out, Maddison?’

  She stared at the pathetic little flame, torn with the desire to remove the light source from the room so she didn’t have to suffer the sardonic gleam in his eyes, but her inbuilt fear of the dark held her back.

  ‘Go on,’ he said.

  ‘Can’t we leave it going?’ she asked as her fingers curled around the torch underneath the quilt.

  He shook his head. ‘Afraid not. It could start a fire.’

  Oh, the irony!

  He’d already started the biggest fire she’d ever experienced inside her own body! The embers of it were still glowing, waiting for the touch of his fingers to reignite them to full heat and power.

  His body glowed in the incandescent light, the smooth muscles of his naked shoulders and chest so intensely male she could feel her breathing rate begin to escalate.

  She leaned forward and blew out a soft puff of air and the room was instantly shrouded in a darkness so heavy she couldn’t see through it.

  ‘It’s very dark,’ she said unnecessarily and somewhat nervously.

  ‘It’s the dead of night,’ he answered with a touch of dryness. ‘It’s supposed to be.’

  Her fingers tightened around the torch as she heard him slide down the bed, her body freezing into stillness when a very male leg touched hers.

  ‘Go to sleep, Maddison.’

  She held her breath as he shifted his body in the cramped bed, keeping herself as far away from him as possible.

  After what seemed like endless minutes his breathing pattern changed and she realised he’d drifted off to sleep.

  Her earlier fear turned to frustration.

  How could he possibly fall asleep so easily? The bed was too small, the mattress lumpy and with that last turn he’d taken most of the quilt with him, leaving her uncovered
and shivering.

  It was all she could do not to turn on the torch for comfort. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept all night without a soft lamp on in the background. She knew it was childish but the loss of her mother when she was ten had turned a habit into a compulsion and now, years later, there was nothing she could do about it.

  After another miserable hour or so of fidgeting she finally gave up. She carefully extricated herself from her side of the bed, taking the torch with her to pad out to the sitting room.

  The fire had died right down but she gave it a quick poke and placed a piece of wood on the stirring coals.

  She sat on the floor, watching as the flames started to lick their fiery tongues at the wood, gradually spreading heat and a warm glow around the small room.

  She felt her shoulders gradually begin to relax and settled into a more comfortable position on the old rug on the floor, her head resting on her arm, her eyelids falling…

  Demetrius woke to the dawn chorus and stretched languorously. He loved waking up in the bush. The sounds of the wind in the trees, the birdsong, the trickling waterfalls and the clean, fresh air restored his sense of well-being as nothing else could do.

  He turned his head and frowned at the soft indentation of the pillow beside him. He threw the bedclothes off and, stepping into a pair of jeans, made his way out to the sitting room.

  She was lying in front of the now dead fire, her small body tightly curled as if she didn’t want to take up any more space than she needed to.

  Her hair was lying in a pool across the floor, a few strands touching her face as if she’d spent a restless night. In one of her hands was the torch he’d given her the night before, and he could see the switch was pressed forward to on even though the beam of light had died out long ago.

  He stood watching her for a long time, not really sure why he felt the need to do so but unable to stop himself.

  She slept like a child, her cheeks slightly flushed, her mouth open just a fraction, her free hand splayed like a starfish on the floor near her face.

  He wondered how long she’d been there, so determined not to share his bed she’d suffered the unyielding cold floor rather than lie next to him. He thought of all the women who’d come to his bed so willingly, and he couldn’t help a faint smile. She was so unlike anyone he’d ever met that he knew he was in very great danger of letting his guard slip when he was around her. That was, if it wasn’t already too late…

  Maddison wasn’t sure what woke her but when she opened her eyes she found the sun fully risen and the sound of birdsong filling the fresh morning air.

  She stretched and grimaced instantaneously, her limbs feeling awkward and stiff from lying on the rug on the floor.

  ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’ Demetrius asked. ‘I’ve boiled the billy and made some toast.’

  She struggled up into a sitting position, trying to ignore the pins and needles in the arm that had clutched the torch to her side all night.

  ‘Thank you.’

  She took the mug and hid behind its rising steam, cupping her hands around it as she brought it to her lips.

  She watched him covertly, taking in his casual attire, the well-worn jeans and the faded sweater, and the heavily shadowed line of his jaw leaving no trace of the well-heeled billionaire in sight.

  ‘I suppose it’s pointless to ask if you slept well,’ he said.

  There was something in his tone that brought her gaze to his. Was it guilt?

  ‘Better than I expected,’ she answered dryly, dipping her head to her tea.

  He handed her some toast.

  ‘How did you make the tea and toast?’

  He pointed to the fire next to her. ‘I did it on the fire while you were sleeping.’

  She felt distinctly uncomfortable with the thought of him standing so close to where she’d been lying, no doubt watching her every unconscious movement. It made her feel vulnerable in a way she wasn’t keen to feel around him. She could only just hold him off while awake, but asleep? What defences did she have?

  ‘Don’t look so worried,’ he said, obviously reading her look. ‘I didn’t touch you.’

  ‘I didn’t think you would.’

  ‘Didn’t you?’

  ‘Surely your deplorable standards wouldn’t sink to that level?’ She gave him a frosty glare.

  It was a moment or two before he responded. ‘After you’ve had breakfast I thought we could go for a walk.’

  ‘Where to?’

  ‘To the waterfall and back. It’s a nice walk and if we’re lucky we might even see a lyre-bird.’

  ‘If we’re lucky we might even find our way back,’ she muttered with sarcasm as she bit into a piece of toast.

  ‘I can assure you, Maddison, I know this bush like the back of my hand. I’ll make sure you don’t get lost.’

  She finished her breakfast in silence, not sure she wanted to go anywhere with him except back to civilisation and as soon as possible.

  ‘Have you got comfortable shoes with you?’ he asked, taking her empty plate and mug from her.

  She nodded and left the room to prepare for whatever form of torture he next had in store for her. It wasn’t that she didn’t like bushwalking—she did—it was just that there was a long list of people she’d prefer to go with rather than him.

  A short time later Demetrius led the way down a roughly hewn pathway which led into the densely vegetated forest, tall trees towering above them, their blue-green leaves trembling in the slight breeze.

  She tucked in behind him on the first part of the narrow path, her eyes wandering to the firm shape of his muscled thighs as he stepped over rocks and tree roots. She lifted her eyes another fraction and encountered the tight shape of his buttocks, her mind wandering to what he would look like naked.

  It was clear he was no stranger to the gym if the well-developed muscles in his arms were anything to go by, and the ease with which he traversed the rocky incline suggested he was currently in the peak of fitness.

  She gave herself a mental shake and forced her eyes to the pathway underfoot, marvelling at the soft lichen clinging to centuries old fallen logs, their craggy limbs in some places reaching across the path as if to caution them against going any further into the deep, dark forest.

  She could smell the damp earthiness of the forest floor, filling her nostrils with its clean freshness until she could almost taste it on her lips.

  The pathway grew even more shadowed the further in they walked, the silence surrounding them broken from time to time by the flap of a bird’s wings as it flew upwards or the snap of a twig beneath their feet.

  After a while Maddison could feel the dampness in the air increase, and soon after heard the trickle of water to their left. She peered through the screen of trees and saw the sinuous curve of a creek, its brackish water flowing over smooth river stones that looked as if they’d been finely polished.

  Not long after she could hear the roar of falling water, sounding like distant thunder until they got closer and closer, when it became more like a deafening roar.

  Demetrius held back a tall frond of fern for her to pass through before him, and as she moved past she looked up and saw the water cascading from a rocky shelf above, the fine spray anointing her up-tilted face. The sound of it falling to the creek below was so loud she almost had to shout when she turned to look at him standing beside her.

  ‘It’s beautiful!’

  He gave a brief smile and pointed to the top of the falls.

  ‘See up there? There’s a rocky shelf we can climb up to and look down at a great view all over the valley.’

  She followed his lead and when it came to a particularly tricky spot didn’t resist when he offered her his hand. She slipped her hand in his and his warm fingers closed around hers, his in-built strength clearly obvious as he guided her up the rocky slope even though his hold was gentle.

  He was still holding her hand when they reached the top.

  ‘
Careful,’ he warned. ‘The rocks here can be slippery from all of the spray.’

  She stepped with caution, increasingly glad of his hold as she chanced a look downwards to the creek below.

  The rushing water was thunderous in her ears, the swirling vortex beneath them so spectacular she found it hard to recall ever seeing a scene so vitally alive with energy.

  The wild water was frenzied in its mad pace to reach the bottom, and once it crashed to the wild whirlpool below, ran on over the submerged rocks and logs with such haste and fervour Maddison wondered how they didn’t get caught up and carried on with the force of rushing water.

  The cool mountain air was like a restorative drug in her system, she felt as if she couldn’t breathe in enough of it.

  She brushed at a strand of hair that had come over her face and noticed that the fine spray coming off the waterfall had left beads like tiny diamonds in her loose hair.

  She felt Demetrius’s shoulder brush hers and his breath caressed her cheek as he pointed into the distance. ‘You can see for miles up here. Not a house or high-rise building in sight.’

  She followed the line of his vision and felt her breath catch at the scene before her.

  The mountain range had a blue tinge to it in the clear spring air, the tall peaks stretching for as far as the eye could see. The landscape seemed endless, without reference to the hustle and bustle of civilisation, the air pristine and the breeze through her hair just like soft fingers in a caress.

  Maddison felt something inside her shift and settle.

  It had been a very long time since she’d felt anything so remotely akin to peace. The sudden death of her father and her worries over Kyle had taken every ounce of her energy. She’d become so used to the feeling of pressure building to a frantic pace in her breast as she’d tried to deal with the next obstacle life dished out to her that it had taken until now to see how much her inner peace had been sacrificed.