The Greek's Convenient Wife

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  She shifted her gaze with difficulty, her heart tripping in her chest when his hand reached for hers once more.

  He propped himself up on one elbow, his fingers lacing through hers. ‘Look at me, Maddison.’

  She lifted her gaze to his, her breath tightening in her throat at the intensity she saw reflected in his dark eyes.

  ‘What happened at the hut… I didn’t intend to happen,’ he began, his fingers idly stroking hers. ‘I want you to know that.’

  She bent her head to their entwined fingers, her expression slightly rueful. ‘Am I so unattractive?’

  She felt his fingers tighten momentarily before he tilted her chin up so that she had no choice but to meet his eyes.

  ‘You are one hell of an attractive woman, Maddison,’ he said huskily. ‘It’s taking all my self-control to keep from hauling you into this bed to finish what I started the other day.’

  Delicate colour stained her cheeks as she looked at him uncertainly. ‘I didn’t realise…’

  ‘If you lifted this sheet you’d realise soon enough.’ His mouth lifted wryly.

  ‘I…’ She swallowed as her eyes flicked to the sheet stretched over his hips. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Don’t be sorry.’ He smiled. ‘I think I can handle it—just.’

  Here’s your chance, she thought, take it.

  Don’t let a chance at life pass you by.

  You love him.

  You want him.

  Have him.

  ‘Demetrius?’ she began in excruciating shyness, her gaze pitched to the fullness of his bottom lip. ‘I was…was wondering if…if…’ She stalled and the silence dragged on interminably.

  ‘Tell me,’ he urged gently.

  She sent her tongue out to the parchment of her lips, her gaze flicking to his mouth briefly before returning to his.

  ‘I…I was wondering if you would think it…damn it!’ She let her breath out in frustration, her colour high. ‘I just can’t say it. It sounds so…so…’

  ‘Why don’t you show me?’ he suggested.

  She blinked at him for a moment.

  ‘I think I can handle that—just.’ She borrowed his earlier words.

  His lazy smile lit a thousand fires in her belly as he bent his head towards hers. ‘How about I make the first move; is that OK with you?’

  Her single word of assent was lost in the heated cave of his mouth as his lips came down on hers in a kiss that stirred her senses until every rational thought was banished from her mind. She was instantly filled with need, an aching, pressing, muscle-tugging need that she knew only he would be able to assuage.

  His kiss deepened as he brought her closer, one hand flinging back the sheet to make room for her in the bed.

  She felt the brush of his aroused body against her as she slid down the bed and a rush of feeling shot through her, liquefying her legs and spine at the thought of his possession.

  He lifted his mouth off hers a fraction. ‘I’m going to take this really slowly so I don’t hurt you. Stop me at any point if you don’t want to go any further.’

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ she breathed against his lips. ‘Just fine.’

  His mouth bent to the neck of her blouse and pressed a hot kiss on the exposed flesh. She felt her breasts tighten in anticipation as his fingers slowly released the buttons, her breathing becoming shallower with every movement until her blouse fell apart to reveal the soft mounds to his hungry eyes.

  He undid her bra and slipped it away from her body as if it were made of gossamer and not sturdy cotton with one hook missing.

  ‘You’re so beautiful.’ His mouth closed over one rosy nipple and she felt the delicious graze of his teeth.

  ‘You…you think so?’ She sucked in another breath as he went to her other breast.

  He lifted his head to smile at her, the warmth of his gaze like a taper on her fevered flesh. ‘I know so.’

  Maddison felt one of his hands slide down her body to the waistband of her skirt. ‘My underwear doesn’t match,’ she blurted self-consciously.

  His smile widened and her stomach gave a funny little lurch.

  ‘I was in a hurry and I didn’t think…’

  He traced the soft bow of her mouth with the pad of his thumb, his eyes holding hers in a mesmerising look. ‘I promise not to notice.’

  She held her breath as he peeled away her skirt and she vaguely registered the soft thud of her shoes hitting the floor as she wriggled out of her tights.

  She felt his mouth on her belly button, his tongue dipping in, rolling once or twice before coming out to move further down her body.

  She could feel the warmth of his mouth on her intimately through the thin fabric of her panties, the barrier of worn lace only increasing her need of him as his tongue traced her delicate form.

  He removed the lace with such painstaking slowness she felt every wrinkle of fabric as it slid along the length of her thigh in a tantalising caress, elevating her awareness of her body to yet another height.

  He moved over her, his chest coming to hers in a depression of solid weight she found intensely arousing. She felt the nudge of his engorged flesh against her and her thighs folded outwards instinctively as he settled between them.

  He parted her with his body, gliding through to wait until she was ready for more of him.

  ‘Am I hurting you?’ he asked against her mouth.

  ‘I think I can handle it.’

  ‘Tell me if it gets too much.’

  ‘It’s not too much.’

  He moved another fraction and she felt her body clench around him, the tender muscles tentative at first until they became accustomed to his hard presence.

  He deepened his entry and she clung to him with a gasping breath of pleasure, her body relishing the feel of his intimate invasion.

  He started a slow rhythm of movement, waiting until he was sure she was comfortable before increasing his pace.

  Maddison felt herself being carried away on a tide of building delight, an exquisite tension drawing all her nerves into a tight ball tottering on the edge of release.

  Demetrius slipped his hand between them to heighten the spiralling sensations he could feel rippling through her, relishing the sound of her breathless little gasps that felt like caresses on his skin where her head was pressed against his shoulder.

  ‘Let go, Maddison,’ he said softly. ‘You can do it; let yourself go.’

  The tight spiral was at breaking point, she could feel it in each and every cell of her body as his next deep thrust finally tipped her over. She was falling, swirling about in a whirlpool of feeling, her high cries of rapture a totally new sound to her ears.

  He could wait no longer.

  With a deep groan he surged one more time to bring himself the release he craved from the tight cocoon of her body.

  Maddison felt the force of his pleasure as he exploded inside her, his large body becoming almost limbless as he finally collapsed in spent desire.

  She felt the rise and fall of his chest against hers, his body still within her as if he didn’t want to be the first to break the union. Her skin felt tingly as if every nerve had risen to the surface of her body in search of his caress, and she wondered if it was normal to want him again so soon. Was she so insatiable, so wanton?

  She felt him shift his weight to look down at her.

  ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘Not sore?’

  She shook her head.

  He pressed a soft kiss to her mouth and she felt the first stirrings of his renewed desire inside her where he still lay so intimately enclosed.

  He caught her surprised look and smiled. ‘See what you do to me?’

  ‘Is it too soon?’ she asked.

  ‘I think I can handle it—just.’ He grinned and captured her mouth with his.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  MADDISON decided much later that evening that it would be so temptingly easy to pretend they had a normal marriage.


  She was lying in the circle of Demetrius’s arms; his body was relaxed in the deep sleep of satiated desire, his long legs interlaced with hers, his chest at her back a solid, comforting warmth.

  She could imagine anyone looking in would naturally assume that love was the tie that bound them together when nothing could have been further from the truth.

  She was in no doubt of his desire for her, but at no time had he declared any other feeling for her. The reasons for their marriage remained. He’d wanted recompense for the loss of his boat and she had been the payment in lieu of her brother.

  It certainly didn’t bode well for a lifetime of happiness, she reflected sadly. Her brother’s guilt was a chasm between them even if she did manage to clear her father’s name.

  She hated thinking about her meeting with Jeremy Myalls. It made her feel contaminated, as if his sly nature would somehow rub off on her in her dealings with him. But she didn’t see that she had any choice other than to play his game for a while so she could in the end subvert his devious ends.

  She’d reconsidered telling Demetrius about Jeremy’s perfidy but seriously wondered if he’d believe her. Jeremy had worked for him for years, and with the cloud of guilt hanging over her father’s memory, not to mention Kyle’s track record of minor offences, she couldn’t see how he’d be all that convinced.

  No, she’d have to show him through other means, even if it meant getting her hands a little bit dirty.

  She felt Demetrius stir behind her, his warm breath caressing the bare skin of her shoulder.

  ‘Aren’t you going to turn off the light?’ he murmured, his lips nibbling at her neck.

  ‘Can’t I leave it on?’ she whispered back softly, shivering as his mouth moved to her earlobe.

  He turned her onto her back in one easy movement, leaning over to trail a pathway of soft kisses along the shadowed valley between her breasts.

  Her breath caught at the sight of his dark, tousled head buried between the creamy globes of her flesh, his hot mouth sliding along to capture the already tight nipple.

  He left her breasts to move down her quivering body, lingering over her stomach before moving to the secret pool of need he’d reawakened between her thighs.

  She clutched at his dark curls as he found his target, wave after wave of feeling rushing through her, leading her to that high pinnacle once more.

  She made it to the top in deep, gasping breaths, the delicious spasms of ecstasy rocketing through her until she was entirely boneless.

  He slid back over her, his warm palm covering her breast as he looked deeply into her passion-slaked eyes.

  ‘You’re so responsive; I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of making love to you.’

  Oh, how she wished she could believe him!

  ‘What about Elena?’ she asked, before she could stop herself.

  His eyes hardened a fraction, but his expression gave absolutely nothing away. ‘I would prefer it if you would decline from discussing my relationship with Elena until we are out of bed.’

  ‘Three’s a crowd?’

  He held her cynical look for a whole lot longer than she could cope with. She felt the sting of tears at the back of her eyes, which made her even more reckless.

  ‘Don’t tell me you’re feeling a bit guilty?’

  ‘Not at all.’ His hand on her breast tightened marginally. ‘I told you earlier I would have my cake and eat it too.’

  ‘Yes.’ Her eyes flashed at him angrily. ‘But I didn’t realise then that I would be the icing on the cake.’

  His lower body made its presence felt against the softness of hers. It shamed her that her body had welcomed him so flagrantly, with such wanton abandon and such pressing, desperate need.

  She felt herself being pinned backwards under the hastening movements of his body within hers, his own driving need carrying her along in its wake.

  She felt him in every deepening stroke, her tender muscles faintly protesting at the urgency and speed, but unable to call it to a halt so great was her desire for him.

  There was an element of ruthlessness in his lovemaking. His hands had lost their gentleness, but it did little to stem the flow of rising passion which was threatening to totally consume her.

  He made her beg.

  For that she almost hated him.

  She sobbed out her need for him as he held her just beyond it, drawing out her response until she lost all sense of pride and cried and pleaded with him to let her go over the edge to the paradise she craved.

  His answering grunt of satisfaction when it followed so closely on the heels of hers should have been enough consolation to her but somehow wasn’t.

  She lay spent in his arms, his dark eyes boring into hers with the light of savage victory in his gaze.

  ‘I hate you,’ she said, her breasts brushing his chest with every ragged breath she took in.

  His lip curled sardonically. ‘I thought you might.’

  She ground her teeth, wishing she could deny it. ‘I’d like to sleep in the other room.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘I want the light on.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘I need the bathroom.’

  ‘Nice try.’

  ‘I mean it.’

  ‘I’ll come with you.’

  ‘No!’ She glared at him. ‘Am I to have no privacy?’

  His eyes held the faint trace of a smile. ‘Go on then.’ He rolled away to lie back with his arms propped behind his head, his nakedness quite clearly of no concern to him.

  She tugged at the sheet to cover herself but it wouldn’t give an inch under his weight. She sent him a furious look and, reaching for the single lamp, snapped it off.

  ‘Now you can’t see me,’ she said and made her way somewhat blindly towards the door.

  ‘Maybe not,’ he called after her, his deep voice like velvet. ‘But I can still feel and taste you.’

  She closed the door behind her, but all the way to the bathroom she felt his presence between her trembling thighs and she could still taste him on her lips and tongue.

  Demetrius was awake before her the next morning. She opened her eyes to find him standing beside the bed, dressed in a business suit, no trace of illness about him.

  She struggled up into a sitting position, gathering the sheet around her, her eyes widening at the time shown on the bedside clock.

  ‘Why didn’t you wake me?’

  ‘I saw no need to.’

  She forced herself to meet his studied gaze. ‘Have you recovered?’

  ‘Remarkably.’

  His eyes glinted meaningfully and she lowered her eyes to the sheet edge she was absently plucking between nervous fingers.

  ‘What will you do today?’ he asked when she didn’t speak.

  ‘I don’t know.’ She let the sheet go and looked at him. ‘What am I allowed to do?’

  ‘You know the rules.’

  ‘No fraternising with the staff, no flirting or sexual encounters… What else is there?’

  ‘You’re allowed to shop.’

  ‘Shop?’

  ‘Yes, that activity where money is exchanged for goods. You might get to like it after a while; most women do.’

  ‘I’m not most—’ she began but his finger came down and pressed against the soft surface of her lips.

  ‘I know. I’ve heard it before—you’re not like most women.’

  There was an ironic tinge to his tone which made her feel as if he were reminding her she’d given in to his seductive charm as no doubt most women had done in the past, and were very likely to keep on doing in the future.

  ‘I’ll call you later.’ He dropped a swift kiss to the petulant bow of her mouth before moving away to the door.

  She folded her arms across her chest and poked her tongue out at his back.

  ‘Behave yourself, Maddison. Remember I’m watching you,’ he said without turning around.

  A tiny flicker of unease passed through her stomach at his words. H
ad he some sort of sixth sense where she was concerned?

  ‘How could I forget,’ she muttered as the door closed behind him.

  In the end she decided to do as he suggested and go shopping. She brandished the credit card he’d given her, trying not to wince at the amount of money she was clocking up as the morning progressed.

  She sent her packages back to the hotel in a cab and wandered about the city for another hour or two, wondering how she was going to fill the rest of the day.

  Eventually she found her way to the National Art Gallery and spent a couple of quiet hours roaming about the priceless works of art, the formal silence of the colonial building a welcome relief after the frenetic pace of the city.

  She left the gallery and continued on through the Domain until she came to the Botanic Gardens, stopping at the very place where she’d agreed to become Demetrius’s wife less than a week ago.

  How things had changed!

  She was his wife in every sense of the word, but for how long?

  How could she live with him indefinitely with her brother’s guilt still suspended between them?

  How could she continue with a marriage that had only come about through blackmail?

  How long would it take before Demetrius called her brother to account for his behaviour even though he’d said Kyle’s slate would be clean upon her marriage to him?

  Could she trust him to keep his word? Especially now he’d consummated their relationship after having reassured her he wouldn’t?

  She chewed her lip in agitation as she walked through Hyde Park back to town, a hundred worrying thoughts taking up her concentration.

  She didn’t see Jeremy until it was far too late to avoid him.

  He was on the opposite corner, waiting for the lights to change, his cold blue eyes instantly seeking hers, that loathsome smile curling his thin lips.

  She considered making a run for it but knew somehow he’d enjoy the thought of having rattled her in such a way. Instead, she waited where she was as if they’d arranged to meet on that particular corner at that specific time.

  ‘Hello, Jeremy,’ she got in first.