by Sara Wood
She grabbed the corner of the duvet, which Dimitri was tugging free. Glaring at him, she snapped an irritated, ‘What?’ into the phone.
‘Are you all right?’ Paul asked, just as Dimitri flung his weight across Olivia and bore her back to the bed. ‘It’s not too late, is it? I tried to work out the time difference, but frankly I’m in such a whirl that I’m not sure—’
‘I’m fine,’ she gritted, fending off Dimitri’s determined assault on her bared thigh. His hand was smoothing it with an infuriating rhythm and she seemed to be getting short of breath as her need began to dull her brain.
‘Good. Well, this is my news,’ crowed Paul.
‘Oh, help!’ she whispered, feeling herself surrendering to the passionate kisses being rained on her jaw and throat.
‘I,’ Paul announced proudly, ‘have been offered a job by the Angelaki New York office.’
‘A…job?’ she said, incredulous. The news was like an ice-cold shower. Stiff and resisting, she glared at Dimitri, who was openly listening to the conversation while kissing the line of her jaw.
‘That’s right. And you know what American lawyers can earn! This is my chance, Olivia! And—well, I don’t need to tell you this because I know you and I had a kind of understanding—together we could be a great team—’
‘Paul,’ Dimitri murmured, having snatched the phone from her, ‘take the job and be grateful. You’re not having Olivia as well. Is he, my darling?’
‘Give that back!’ she gritted, struggling. Dimitri grinned at her. His body effectively held her a prisoner and she couldn’t reach the phone.
‘One more thing,’ Dimitri said, his tone edged with steel. ‘Learn the time differences if you want to keep your job. It’s the early hours of the morning here and we’re in bed.’
‘Bed?’ she heard Paul screech.
‘Luckily we weren’t asleep—if you know what I mean,’ Dimitri drawled, then disconnected the call and flung the mobile on the floor. ‘Now, where were we?’ he mused. ‘Here? Or here—?’
She jerked her head to one side and he just managed to avoid kissing the pillow. ‘Don’t touch me!’ she breathed in fury.
His hand cradled her cheek and he pushed firmly till she was forced to face him again. His eyes had darkened dangerously.
‘Is your conscience troubling you?’ he muttered. ‘That’s the little voice in your head, by the way, that tells you it’s not decent to chat to an ex-lover on the phone while your husband is about to ravish you.’
She ground her teeth together. ‘Why did you instruct your people to give Paul a job?’ she demanded furiously. ‘I know you have an ulterior motive in doing so—’
‘Correct. I’m ensuring he’s off the scene.’ Dimitri’s mouth came down hard on hers in a long kiss that left her gasping for breath. ‘It was obvious to me what he had in mind. He wants to marry you and I can’t allow that.’
‘Why?’ she defied, as if she might contemplate the idea.
‘Because he’s not man enough for the job.’
‘And you are?’
His eyes gleamed. ‘Definitely. I intend to remind you of that. Right now.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE sun was gently turning her body a golden brown. She knew she ought to turn over to do her back but she didn’t have the energy…thanks to Dimitri.
With a slow and languid lift of her arm, she tipped back her floppy sun hat to observe him. He, too, had been utterly still for the past hour, stretched out on one of the steamer chairs beside the pool.
The effort of holding up her hat was too much and she let it drop. But she could still see him in her mind. There was a warm glow inside her when she thought of his hard, toned body gleaming in the sun. His arms hung limply to the ground as if he was exhausted, too. Dimitri’s sensual mouth seemed at odds with his strong, masculine profile and she wondered if he was thinking of the hours they had spent in bed—and out of it—till mid-morning.
Faint quivers trickled deliciously in the channels of her limp body and seeped into her very bones but she was too sated to be aroused.
It seemed as if time had been suspended. The air hummed with the heat, a slight breeze bringing tantalising scents to her nose. A stillness had descended on the garden, broken only by the gentle swish of the palms surrounding the pool.
She heard the maid, Maria, offering lemonade. The sound of it being poured and the clink of ice.
‘Olivia,’ murmured Dimitri.
A cold glass touched her fingers that draped negligently on the hot tile and she gave just a drowsy ‘mmm’ of thanks. Her hand was grasped, kissed, then released. She heard him returning to the lounger and settling himself with a contented sigh. As well he might.
She loved him. Not because of the unbelievable, earth-shattering sex, though that would have made any woman feel she’d found paradise on earth, but because they had talked and laughed too, and she had felt truly happy, utterly at ease with him.
All the feelings she’d had for him in those heady, early days when they’d first begun to work together were back in force, but far stronger now.
Dimitri had caressed her and loved her until she’d thought she might die of pleasure, and even at this moment a little sigh was escaping from her kiss-swollen lips at the very memory of those hours of bliss. But for her the sex was a part of something greater that involved her deepest emotions. He was more than a drug—he was essential to her happiness.
The thought filled her with alarm. She sat up abruptly and sipped the cold drink, hoping to steady her wild thoughts. Because if that was true then she had to fight for him. To make him love her more than he loved his freedom to enjoy other women. And how could she ever do that?
Dimitri reached out lazily, his hand touching her arm. ‘I will never forget last night,’ he said huskily.
‘Nor will I.’
She hesitated, tempted to pour out her feelings, to take the risk that he’d laugh and say it was great but not for keeps. But the familiar voice of Eleni trilled out behind them and she groaned and clamped her lips together instead.
‘Did I drive all thoughts of Paul from your head?’ he probed.
‘Yes—’
‘Dimitri!’ Wearing a crop top and brief skirt over a bikini, Eleni flung her arms about his neck and virtually sprawled over his body. Olivia groaned. ‘Lovely party, darling,’ she purred, toying with the lock of hair that had fallen onto his forehead. And she began to murmur under her breath to Dimitri.
‘Get off, wretched child!’ he complained.
Olivia put down her drink and went for a swim, even though she was too tired to do much more than drift about aimlessly in the silken blue water, floating on her back with her eyes shut against the sun.
After a moment, two splashes at the far end of the pool told her that Dimitri and Eleni had joined her. She lifted her head to watch. They were fooling about, ducking one another as if they were the greatest of friends. No, she thought, seeing how often Eleni managed to slide her body against Dimitri’s. More like prospective lovers taking every opportunity to touch.
Tears stung her eyes. Every time she thought Dimitri really cared, she discovered that it was merely part of his seduction technique. If he did care, he wouldn’t fool about with Eleni.
She turned and began to swim to the edge but suddenly she found herself being grabbed and pulled under water. She kicked out and emerged spluttering to see Eleni’s laughing face a few inches away.
‘Got you!’ Eleni crowed.
‘You certainly did,’ Olivia said without amusement.
‘Jealous?’ Eleni taunted.
She looked for Dimitri. He’d disappeared. ‘Should I be?’
‘Oh, yes. I’m Greek and his partner’s daughter. And I accept that the men of my country are passionate and have many affairs.’
Olivia blinked in astonishment. ‘You’d let him have affairs?’
‘Sure. If it meant he’d stay married to me. It’s rumoured that his father had a mistress. I’d
have to accept that Dimitri would probably have one too.’
Olivia knew that Dimitri had idolised his father. When Theo had died she had spent hours talking to Dimitri and comforting him. After he’d returned to England from the funeral she had done everything possible to ease his grief. A week later he had proposed.
Perhaps, she mused, it had been a mistake to marry on the back of tragedy. Maybe Dimitri had needed emotional support after losing the father he loved, and had thought marriage would provide that. It wasn’t a good enough basis for a long and stable relationship, though.
One thing she did know: if his beloved father had maintained a mistress then Dimitri would have accepted that as the norm. It wouldn’t be surprising if he believed that fidelity wasn’t important—at least, not where he was concerned. Her spine felt as if a cube of ice were sliding down it.
‘I don’t know how you could contemplate sharing him,’ she said soberly.
Eleni shrugged. ‘Better that than nothing, so long as it’s discreet. Though if he upsets me once we’re married, or if he harms one hair of my head, my father will see to it that the Angelaki empire collapses.’
Olivia was appalled by the girl’s ruthlessness. Eleni had set her sights on Dimitri and wouldn’t be put off.
‘Personally,’ she said quietly, ‘I’d rather have the devotion of a man because he adores me, not because he’s been threatened with financial ruin.’
Olivia swam away and climbed out of the pool. The girl had been spoilt and given everything she wanted. Eleni might idolise Dimitri, and imagine that being married to him would be all roses, but she didn’t love him. Love was more than sexual attraction and starry-eyed dreams.
Thoughtfully she rubbed her hair dry with a towel. Love weathered all difficulties. It grew… Pausing in her reverie, she smiled at the masses of geraniums in a terracotta urn near by. Grew like a flower. She’d been madly in love with Dimitri from the moment she saw him. The seeds of passion had been there already, but she had grown to love him more profoundly as time went on.
Her heart thudded painfully. Perhaps she was giving up too easily. At least Eleni was fighting for the man she wanted.
Maybe it was worth the risk of being hurt. She could try persuading Dimitri that a deep and loving commitment to one person was infinitely more satisfying than casual affairs. Slowly she dabbed at her damp skin, trying to decide whether to follow her heart or her head. Her brow furrowed. Was she thinking like a woman, and forgetting that men felt entirely differently?
From inside the house, he watched Olivia tensely, knowing she was chewing over something that troubled her because she’d been drying the same part of her firm little rear for the past few minutes.
With difficulty, he dragged his mind from those tempting curves, irritated with himself for being so easily distracted. But her body was gorgeous, the sun gleaming on it lovingly, and he couldn’t help but relive his recent exploration of every squirming inch.
He slapped his hand against his forehead in rueful exasperation. Olivia invaded his mind so thoroughly that sometimes he wondered if every brain cell he possessed had her image emblazoned there.
His greedy gaze enjoyed the rhythmic movement of her hands, a stab of remembered sweet agony slicing through him. She could drive him crazy with those delicate, wicked fingers. With her wholehearted, utterly abandoned responses to his touch.
She was biting her lip and frowning. He hoped she wasn’t worrying about Eleni’s behaviour. That girl needed a firm hand. If he hadn’t left the pool when he did, he knew she would have done something outrageous and he would have been forced to slap her down—with disastrous consequences. He knew how vindictive Eleni could be.
His tension softened at the sight of the pensive Olivia. Their odd sense of psychic communication ensured that her head lifted and she saw him watching her. She gave a little gasp, then, flinging down the towel in a determined way, she tied a colourful wrap around her body and walked towards the salon, where he stood, still in his swimming trunks.
He smiled, anticipating the kiss they would share. As she approached, he opened the double doors that led to the terrace.
‘Your little chat with Eleni didn’t work. She intends to marry you,’ she said bluntly, stepping past him into the room so quickly that her hair whisked over his bare shoulder.
He made the quivers die down in his body, but the scent of her remained to provoke him. Here were the memories of last night, of the morning, crowding in on him, rendering him weak with desire.
‘I know.’ He cleared his throat of the huskiness that betrayed him. ‘She told me so a few moments ago and I tried to laugh it off—without success, it seems.’ His eyes gleamed with slumberous pleasure. ‘We must try harder to convince her that we’re back together again and she doesn’t have a chance.’
Olivia frowned and the tip of her small pink tongue touched her lips. ‘Yes. Or I’ll never… ‘ She bit her lip this time. ‘Never get the divorce, will I?’ she finished rather shakily.
He sensed a reluctance in her, which suited his purpose very well. If he played his cards right he could spin this out till he was rid of his addiction to her. A year, maybe. Studying her huge blue eyes and the thick fringe of lashes, he felt a thrill start its journey through his body.
Her face assumed an expression of drowsy longing. He began to plan a day of unrestricted lovemaking, his gaze wandering avidly over her curves, outlined by the clinging wrap. And she gave a little gasp, her breath shortening like his.
‘Olivia!’ he whispered, managing just a croak.
‘Yes?’ she mouthed, and he felt compelled to move forward, to seal her hot lips with his in a long and thorough kiss.
His hand drifted into her hair. He tipped up her chin and smiled, shaking with overwhelming feelings for her. Sexual, of course. Nothing more. He’d sealed off his heart three years ago and she was the last person he’d allow to break that seal. But she made every cell in his body leap with life and he wasn’t intending to let her go till he’d exhausted his passion for her.
‘More passion,’ he ordered thickly.
‘What?’ Her voice shook very satisfactorily.
‘Eleni is watching,’ he whispered, and took her mouth in his, crushing it in an explosive kiss that had her whimpering in need. ‘Convince her!’
‘Yes!’ she moaned.
Dizzy with love, she writhed hungrily against him, finding joy in being in his arms. For a moment she could pretend that he cared. She knew she was taking a risk with her emotions but she couldn’t help it. If there was a chance that Dimitri might recognise how well they were suited, then he might learn to love her.
She lifted a long bare leg and slid it down his thigh. He gave a shudder and beneath her palm she felt the acceleration of his heart.
‘It’s good, isn’t it?’ she whispered.
He groaned, hating her, wanting her. His mouth savaged her throat as she sighed and pressed her warmth against him; he felt his skin scorch where her naked flesh met his.
He had to tell her. She must agree to stay. The uncertainty was gnawing at him till he thought he’d go mad.
‘You know it is. You know that you drive me crazy,’ he muttered.
‘Do I?’ she murmured with a languid smile. Her sharp teeth nibbled at his lower lip.
He pulled her deeper into the room, out of sight, and took her head in his hands to focus her attention on what he was saying. ‘I don’t want you to go,’ he said hoarsely. ‘Stay with me.’
She gasped. ‘Dimitri—’ she whispered.
‘Stay.’
He saw her eyes fill with tears. The radiance of her face made his stomach clench. This was what she’d wanted, he thought helplessly. She thought she’d got him back for good. But it was only till he’d had enough. The mother of his children would never be a gold-digging tramp.
‘For…how long?’ she asked, her tear-washed eyes searching his.
He hauled in a shaky breath and kissed her, losing himself in the taste of h
er mouth, the feel, the smell of her.
‘I don’t know,’ he said honestly.
‘I’m afraid.’
He frowned, his finger idly brushing back and forth across her nipple. ‘Of what?’
‘Being… ‘ A faint moan fluttered from her parted lips. She moved his finger to her other breast and began to breathe hard when its peak surged into life beneath his rhythmic touch. ‘Being sh-aa-red,’ she jerked.
‘Listen to me.’
He looked down at her closed eyes, the soft lashes thick and luxurious on her beautiful cheekbones. Her head was thrown back, her mouth moist from his kiss. He would do anything, promise anything to make her stay. Night and day he thought of her. Some time he had to drag his brain back to work, but while she possessed it so utterly he was useless.
So he stepped back. Held her at arm’s length. ‘Olivia,’ he said, ‘I wouldn’t be interested in other women if we were lovers again. I’m not that much of a stud!’ he added with a smile, and was curiously flattered when she seemed to doubt that. ‘You take everything I have to give and leave me sated—until you look at me with those hungry sapphire eyes and then I want to devour you whole. There will be no other women. You have my promise.’
‘Not…even a brief fling with…with any of the women you’ve been involved with since I left?’ she asked in a small, anxious voice.
His face cleared. ‘Absolutely not!’ He laughed. ‘They were a disappointment. I’m afraid I compared them with you and found them wanting.’
‘No one…special?’ she probed, concern in every line of her face.
He pulled her into his arms. ‘No. You will be the only one. I swear on my father’s head. Please stay.’ And he waited, holding his breath while she stared at him, perhaps making up her mind, perhaps keeping him dangling. He didn’t know, didn’t care, only that she should say yes.
She held her breath. It was worth trying. She must put the past aside and think of their future. Maybe she was gambling with her happiness, but she’d never forgive herself if she didn’t make the attempt.