by Sara Wood
She put her hands to her head, desperate to be rid of him. With a groan, she sprang up and poured herself a glass of wine from the carafe by the bed, thinking that a good slug of alcohol might make her drowsy. It didn’t.
Muttering angrily under her breath, she paced the room, and even tried counting backwards from a thousand. Somewhere around nine hundred and thirty she lost the plot and found herself quivering at the memory of Dimitri’s touch.
It was going to be a long night. Resigned, she stomped over to the window to glare at the few remaining guests. No Eleni in sight.
Surprisingly, Marina was still up, dancing with Nikos. Olivia wondered if her mother-in-law might be a little drunk, because she seemed to be melting in her partner’s arms, her gaunt face so remarkably relaxed and happy that she looked quite pleasant for a change.
Olivia tensed. Dimitri was there, too, chatting amiably with a handful of friends in that easy, male style. Her eyes softened. He sat in a wicker chair, every inch the Greek tycoon, his arms draped casually over the arms, one long leg crossed over the other. And he looked immaculate as ever and totally unperturbed, as if he hadn’t spent the past hour or so smooching with a nineteen-year-old girl.
Suddenly he stiffened and glanced up at her window, as if he’d known she’d been staring at him. Olivia hastily moved away, upset that he’d seen her. With his giant ego, she thought crossly, he’d probably think she was mooning over him like a lovesick fool, while she’d been mentally firing lasers at his steel-clad heart.
Dimitri’s head reeled. There had been an uncharacteristic droop of her shoulders that warned him something wasn’t quite right. The narrow straps of her nightdress had been slipping down her arms. In fact, her whole demeanour had been strangely listless. Despite the distance between them, he was sure her mouth had been set in an unhappy line. He had to go to her. He didn’t know why, only that he must.
Using well-honed tact and skill, he managed to persuade the last guests to leave. Stifling his impatience, he thanked the orchestra and the caterers, then hugged his mother, who hadn’t said a word about his extraordinary behaviour throughout the evening—presumably because, as he’d guessed, she dared not object in public that it looked as if his marriage might be saved.
‘Don’t worry about me. Everything’s under control,’ he said, anxious to put her mind at rest.
‘I won’t,’ she said before he could continue. She smiled with unusual warmth at Nikos, who had brought two brandies over. ‘I know you’re up to something. Besides, I’ve decided that I have my own life to lead and you must make your own mistakes.’
Astonished, Dimitri looked from one to the other, noting the new softness of his mother’s face. Nikos gave him a sheepish look and a helpless shrug. A little dazed, Dimitri said his goodnights and left them to it.
All he had on his mind was Olivia. In truth, she had drowned out almost everything else all evening. Racing up the stairs, he tried to open her door. And found it wouldn’t budge more than an inch.
‘Olivia!’ he called. ‘It’s me.’
‘I hardly thought it might be anyone else!’ she shouted back crossly.
He frowned. ‘Let me in, then.’
‘If you think I’m entertaining you after you’ve been canoodling with another woman, you’re sadly mistaken!’ she yelled.
What was she talking about? Irritated, he pushed the door again and it yielded slightly.
‘Open this door or I’ll break it down!’ he ordered.
‘You’ve been watching too many American movies!’ she retorted. ‘Go back to your lover and leave me alone!’
He had no choice. Refusing to discuss her wild accusation through two inches of oak, he took a few steps back, steadied himself, and charged, thinking to shock her into opening the door. However, there was a resounding crack as something gave way and he was hurtling into the bedroom.
‘Get out of here!’ she cried, shocked.
Cringeing against the bed hangings and clinging on to them for dear life, she looked so terrified that he calmed down immediately. He kicked aside the broken chair which had allowed him entry, then pushed the door shut and leaned against it, trying to look harmless.
‘So—other than you—who am I supposed to have made advances to tonight?’ he asked in amusement, loosening his bow-tie and undoing the top button of his shirt.
‘Good grief! Don’t you know?’ she hurled.
‘No. And I think I would have noticed,’ he pointed out with a grin.
‘It’s not funny! Allow me to jog your memory,’ she seethed. ‘Curvy blonde. Spectacular body. Giggles a lot.’
‘Eleni?!’ He laughed at the very idea. ‘Heaven help me, I’ve told you before—she’d be the last woman on earth I’d approach.’ His eyes twinkled. ‘How could I fondle a woman whose breasts are solid marble?’
‘How do you know they are?’ she demanded hotly.
‘I don’t,’ he replied with great patience. ‘I’m assuming they would be since they don’t move a lot.’ He looked pointedly at hers, which were moving more than he could personally withstand.
‘You don’t deny you’ve looked, then?’
He heaved a sigh. ‘It’s difficult to escape them when they’re sitting like cannonballs on top of her dress. Olivia, I keep telling you. I’m not interested in her—’
‘Then it was her double who I saw in the salon in your arms—’
‘Ahh. That’s it.’
‘You’re not denying it now, are you?’ she flung, sounding at the end of her tether.
She was truly jealous. For some reason that delighted him. Vanity? No. Something else that he dared not investigate.
‘Olivia.’ His voice and his entire demeanour softened. ‘Eleni was in my arms. But, as I recall, we were fully dressed and we remained clothed throughout the time I comforted her.’
‘Oh, yes?’ she muttered sulkily.
‘I saw that she was upset,’ he explained. ‘I decided to enlist her as an ally.’
‘That’s ridiculous! You’re lying to me,’ she accused.
‘Not at all. I am aware that she needs people to think well of her. Therefore I remarked on the fact that she and I had always been good friends and that I knew she would want the best for me. I said she’d always seemed like a kid sister to me—’
‘Bet she hated that.’
‘It made her blink,’ he agreed with a wry smile. ‘And while she was temporarily speechless I managed to talk at length about marriage being a sacred union between a man and a woman—’
‘What a liar you are!’ Olivia glared.
‘And,’ he persevered, ‘I got her to agree with me on the sanctity of marriage. She’d realised what I was doing by then, but she could hardly say that it meant nothing.’
‘Devious.’
‘I thought so,’ he said, pleased. ‘I told her I was entrusting her with a secret and that you and I were getting back together. She burst into tears and I said I knew how sentimental she was and how kind of her to feel so happy for me that she felt like crying. I imagine that’s when you saw us, because almost immediately she pulled away and wiped her eyes before stomping off to dance with Vangelis.’
He willed her to believe him. But he didn’t tell her what else he’d said to Eleni.
‘You…didn’t…do anything else? Like…kiss her?’ Olivia asked in a small voice.
He winced at the very idea. What would convince her? ‘I swear I didn’t, on my father’s head,’ he said simply.
There was no arguing with that. Dimitri would never use his father to support a lie. She bit her lip, cursing herself for jumping to conclusions. Dimitri had been acting kindly to Eleni by letting her down gently.
‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbled.
‘It was an understandable mistake.’
‘Yes, it was, considering your reputation!’ she muttered.
‘And what reputation is that?’ he asked mildly.
‘As a womaniser.’
‘Ah.’
&nbs
p; No denial, she noticed. ‘You’re pretty untrustworthy where women are concerned.’
‘Am I?’
She glared. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve been celibate ever since we parted!’
‘No. I haven’t.’
She flinched at his honesty, wondering how many, how often, how beautiful those women had been.
‘I suppose I should be pleased,’ she said jerkily, ‘that you have persuaded Eleni to abandon her hopes of marrying you. We can bring this awful charade to a close…’
She gulped. Why was she appalled at the thought of a rapid divorce? She ought to be celebrating, but it felt as if she were at a wake. Turning away to stare sightlessly out of the window, she tried to control her swamping misery.
Dimitri’s hands rested lightly on her bare arms and she felt a jolt of lightning flash through her.
‘And we can be free to do whatever we want,’ he finished for her.
All she wanted was to love him. To trust him. To be the only woman in his life. Some chance.
When he tried to turn her around she resisted and escaped, backing away, her eyes wide with apprehension.
‘Well, I want you to leave,’ she said in a low voice.
‘No, you don’t.’
His sheer arrogance made her eyes flash with instant defiance. When he smiled, and took a step towards her, she picked up the half-full glass of wine and hurled the contents at him.
‘I do!’ she cried, as most of the wine fell to the floor.
Unperturbed, he shed his wine-stained jacket and shirt, letting them drop in a heap.
‘That is a lie,’ he said calmly.
Alarmed by the determination in his glittering black eyes, she grabbed the carafe and began to eject its contents at him, backing nervously as he advanced on her. Wine gleamed darkly on his chest, trickling over its planes into little valleys and wetting the dark hairs that curled in a dark, tapering line that led towards his loins.
‘I’m going to make you lick all that up,’ he growled, unhooking his belt.
‘Dimitri…no!’ she croaked, dazed by the thought of sliding her tongue around the hard contours, and teasing each tight, male nipple into an erection… Her hand went to her mouth and she blushed, finding that the tip of her tongue had already moistened her lips as if in eager preparation.
‘Could be a glorious way of getting tipsy,’ he breathed.
It was the way he looked at her that sent electric thrills pulsing into every nerve of her body. She could feel her flesh softening beneath the sensual impact of those wicked black eyes, which were heating her like blazing coals till a furnace burned inside her.
‘Why should I want to do that?’ she demanded, clinging by a thread to normality.
‘To throw off those peculiar inhibitions you seem to have acquired since I last made love to you. Put down the decanter, Olivia. It’s cut glass and will cause damage to those bare feet of yours if it smashes. Those beautiful feet… I wouldn’t want them scarred.’
The hunger was eating away at her, unfairly reminding her of long-ago pleasures. Dimitri, taking each foot in turn and exploring every inch with his mouth. Sucking her toes while watching her with blazing hot eyes.
Shakily, she put the decanter on a marble table.
‘This isn’t what I had in mind!’ she whispered.
‘Isn’t it?’
Somehow she shook her head instead of letting herself drift into his arms. ‘No. You said we’d pretend to be crazy about one another in public. Well, no one is here to see. We can behave normally—’
‘I am.’ He spread his hands in innocence.
She glared. ‘I’m sure that’s true. You’d come on strong to any woman who looked vaguely willing—’
‘Not at all. I’m very fussy,’ he purred. ‘I only like women who make my body quicken with a mere glance. Who are so aware of their sensuality that it characterises every movement they make. Who can abandon themselves to the possession of their senses and lure a man on till he thinks he’s going crazy. Women who respond to my touch. Who shiver and shudder and love bodily contact—’
‘Don’t!’ she whispered, aghast at what he was doing to her.
He was talking about women. How many did he know who’d given him such exquisite pleasure? And…how had he got so close to her? She hadn’t noticed him moving. Only the dark promise in his velvety eyes. She took a step back and found that the wall was touching her spine. Trapped. She had only her wits left to keep him at bay—and they seemed hell-bent on deserting her.
‘Go and find one of those women, then,’ she scorned, tossing up her head with a defiant swirl of her hair. ‘I’m only here as a means to an end—our divorce! I’m willing to continue the farce of gazing at you idiotically in public, but don’t get any ideas that I’m game for a little light sex in private—’
‘It won’t be little and it won’t be light.’
The soft murmur ran through her like a hot wave that melted where it touched. His mouth curled in anticipation and she found herself unwillingly watching its sensual curve. Her breath shortened and she almost leaned forward to kiss those amused lips, wanting to shut him up, to impose herself on him and to remind him that he could be her slave when it came to sex. Because she didn’t want him to seek out another woman. She wanted him for herself. Exclusively.
An impossible dream and she knew it. ‘You have to leave!’ she jerked out.
He smiled, as unconvinced by her breathless order as she was. ‘It seems such a waste when you’re here, those gorgeous summer-sky eyes sending me enticing messages I can’t ignore—’
‘They’re telling you to go!’ she cried, but lowered her lashes, knowing they were doing nothing of the sort. And her gaze hovered again over his intensely masculine mouth. The urge to drive her lips into his and kiss away all her tension was overpowering.
‘Olivia, be honest,’ he murmured as her hands screwed into tight fists. ‘Admit what you feel. I see it in every line of your body. The way you tremble. The swelling of your lips. The thrust of your nipples, forcing against the black silk so hard that I can hardly keep my hands from touching them. You don’t know how difficult it’s been for me, trying to get you to own up to your feelings instead of ripping off those straps and letting your nightie fall to the floor so I can see and touch and claim your body.’ He paused, his voice husky. ‘We are virtually free agents. We can do what we want,’ he whispered. ‘And at this moment I want you with every beat of my heart.’
She gasped with fury, his near-seduction ending as if he’d dropped her into cold water. ‘At this moment?’ she spluttered. ‘Oh, thanks! I’m pleased to be considered for your diversion at this moment. And who might you want at any other moment? Like this afternoon, tonight, tomorrow? How dare you! I’m not someone to be picked up and put down as the fancy takes you! Maybe you didn’t want to spend the night with Eleni sniggering in your ear, but that doesn’t mean you can turn to me for your sexual comforts just because there’s no one else suitable around!’
She had never looked more beautiful, with her eyes sparkling, mouth parted and ready for his kiss, her head flung back and that lovely neck exposed. He had never wanted her more. Or been so determined to have her.
‘I’m not treating you as a poor substitute for anyone,’ he said, croaky with need. ‘I have spent the entire evening waiting for this moment.’
His hand reached out, surprising him by the way it shook. Quickly he let it rest on her moon-silvered shoulder, then slowly slid it to linger on that slender, silken throat. She gave a little gasp, which emboldened him to move closer. His other hand slid into her perfumed hair till he could feel the warm curve of her head.
‘The love between us might have died,’ he said quietly, ‘but the sexual attraction is hotter than ever. Isn’t it?’
She didn’t reply, but gazed at him in consternation. It was agreement enough for him. But he wanted her to say it. So he leaned forward a little and lightly touched her lips with his. He felt her breath heating his m
outh in fast, jerky little bursts.
‘Isn’t it?’ he persisted, tasting her with the tip of his tongue.
Her eyes closed, seemingly in despair. After a long, breathless moment, she whispered with a moan, ‘Yes!’
The silk slithered down her body in an agonisingly erotic movement. He felt an odd little stab in his chest. Standing there, naked and glorious, she seemed vulnerable. Beaten.
‘Olivia!’ He took her in his arms and held her close. At first she remained stiff and tense, yet trembling like a leaf. But because he did no more than hold her she slowly relaxed. And when she lifted her head and looked at him he saw something of the old Olivia, a passionate and proud woman who rejoiced in the extraordinary chemistry between them.
And then her mobile rang.
Dimitri groaned. ‘Leave it,’ he muttered, kissing her throat.
‘No… ‘ She drew in a sharp breath as his teeth nibbled her lobe. When he began to suck it, she pulled away and snatched up her bag. Sitting on the bed, she avoided Dimitri’s eyes and dragged the duvet over her nakedness.
This was her chance to cool down. To give her brain an airing instead of letting it sink like a stone beneath her appalling lust.
‘Hello?’ She cringed at her quavering, froggy voice.
‘Olivia?’ Paul sounded puzzled.
‘Oh, yes!’ she said brightly. ‘Paul! How lovely to hear from you.’ Dimitri sat on the bed, much too close to her. Covering the mouthpiece, she flung him a false smile. ‘It’s Paul,’ she said unnecessarily, then, crushed by Dimitri’s mocking eyes, she jerked her head away and attended to what the lawyer was saying.
‘…fabulous time. Angelaki has an entire skyscraper for his company alone. We’ve got a brilliant settlement—’
‘But—’
‘You’ll be free of him pretty soon,’ Paul hurtled on. ‘And a multimillionairess! How about that? Don’t you think I’ve done well?’
‘Paul, I—’ She slapped Dimitri’s hand away. It had slid beneath the duvet and was slinking its way up her leg.
‘It’s OK. Don’t thank me. I’m hoping you’ll come over to New York,’ Paul said smugly. ‘I’ve some fantastic news! Guess what, Olivia!’