by Jennie Lucas
He gave her a lazy smile as his fingers caressed her through her jeans. “You want me to take you here? Against the wall?”
“Yes. And I don’t give a damn who might see.” She only knew that if he kept stroking her through her jeans she was going to come any second.
But he didn’t make a move to pull off her jeans. Instead he kept stroking her, moving his chest against hers, plundering her mouth with his own.
“Stop,” she panted. Pushing his hand away, she strained toward him, her hands fumbling at his zipper. “I want to feel you inside me—”
“No.” He grabbed her hands. “Wait.”
A roll of thunder shattered the clouds and cold rain began to fall, splattering across the courtyard and pool. Wind howled across the desert, rattling the palm trees high above them as they stared at each other.
“I want you. But—” He blinked, as if trying to clear his mind of a fog, shaking his head like a wolf scattering water from his fur. “This is a mistake. When I make love to you again it will be in a bed…”
She saw a glimmer of hope. “My bedroom is—”
“As my wife,” he finished.
They stared at each other in the moonlight, whipped by wind and hard rain. Anna was suddenly aware that she was standing half naked, with cold, hard rain sleeting down her bare breasts.
She’d just thrown herself at him.
And he’d refused her. Her cheeks flushed with shame.
“If you wait for me to marry you, you’ll wait forever,” she retorted, blinking back angry tears. He’d only been trying to prove his power over her, and she’d fallen for it yet again. She reached down to the tiled floor and snatched up her halter top, now ruined in the rain. Her hands shook as she tied the strings in back. Her teeth chattered as she said, “Just being your mistress nearly killed me. I will never be your wife, Nikos. Never.”
Beneath the darkness of the desert storm she could barely see his face for shadows. But his voice was low and dangerous, resonant with the certainty that only came from power. “We’ll see.”
* * *
The next morning, Nikos growled at the housekeeper’s cheery greeting as she brought his breakfast to the table. She set down a cup of strong Greek coffee and a plate of eggs, bacon and toast, then left. He stared blankly at the morning editions of the Wall Street Journal and the local Review-Journal and cursed himself for a fool.
He hadn’t slept all night, and it was his own damned fault.
It was not in his nature to be patient, but he’d left Anna in the courtyard and gone to his bedroom alone. Where he’d tossed and turned until dawn.
He swore softly to himself. If he’d just made love to Anna last night, perhaps he’d already be free of this spell.
He took a gulp of the hot coffee. He’d need all the help he could get to make it through the day. He had to secure a new secretary to replace Lindsey, the negotiations for the land lease bid for his new casino resort project in Singapore were at a critical juncture, and all he could think about was getting Anna in bed. He was so wound up he couldn’t see straight.
He was off his game. Just when his business urgently needed his attention. It was intolerable.
And the worst thing was he had no idea how to convince Anna to be his wife. It was the best thing for everyone. Damn it, why couldn’t she see that?
He’d already reasoned with her. Fired Lindsey. Bought her a two-hundred-thousand-dollar ring. He’d offered Anna wealth and the protection of his name, and she’d thrown them back in his face.
Even seducing her hadn’t made her agree to his proposal. For a man accustomed to negotiation, he was in a tough spot. What was left to offer?
“More toast, Mr. Stavrakis?”
He growled in reply. Accustomed to his moods, the housekeeper gave him a cheerful nod. “By the way, thank you for hiring Mrs. Burbridge. She’s already popular among the staff. And such a sweet baby you have too, sir, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
“Thank you,” he bit out, then picked up the nearest paper to signal the end of the conversation. After the housekeeper had left he took several bites of food, then threw his paper down and went to look for Anna.
He found her at the pool, and watched her for several seconds from the doorway before she saw him.
She was in the water, holding Michael. The baby was laughing and splashing as she skimmed him through the water in the warm morning sun. Anna held him close, pointing out things in the courtyard. “And those are palm trees, and a fountain. That’s the blue sky, and the water is blue too. It’s going to be hot today,” she said to the baby, smiling. “So different from your great-grandmama’s old palace, isn’t it, Misha?”
Nikos envied her playful ease with the baby. He felt like an outsider looking at a loving family. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Having a child was his chance for a fresh start. To have a family of his own. To be the father he himself had never had. Damn it, how had everything gone so wrong?
It should have made him resent her, reminded him to hate her, but instead he felt only envy and a whisper of loneliness. Anna was simply in the pool doing nothing, splashing and wading, but he could tell she was having the time of her life because she loved just spending time with their child.
He’d been wrong to think about taking Michael away from her. Even if he’d been cruel enough to do it, Anna never would have accepted it. She would have fought him all the way. She had absolute loyalty and a single-minded devotion to those she loved.
His eyes went wide.
That was how he could get Anna to marry him.
Not jewelry. Not money. Not even sex.
Love. Love was the glue that would bind her.
He had to make Anna fall in love with him—fall so hard and fast that she’d not only marry him but would spend the rest of her life trying to get his love in return.
Which, of course, he wouldn’t give her. He wasn’t a fool. Loving her would make him weak when he most needed to be strong. How could he guard his family, protect them as they deserved, if his judgment was impaired? He’d never allowed himself to love anyone, and he never intended to.
But her loving him—that was something else. She had a character that was born for devotion. If she loved him it would ensure her loyalty for a lifetime. It would keep his son safe with a loving mother, and he’d be protected from stepfathers like Sinistyn.
It couldn’t be that hard to make Anna love him, he reasoned. She’d said she loved him before, though he hadn’t realized it at the time. All he needed to do was repeat those same conditions and she would do so again.
But she must never suspect what he was doing. She had to think she was falling for him of her own free will.
He narrowed his eyes, watching as Anna laughed with their baby, splashing in the pool, tilting her lovely pale face back to drink in the warm Nevada sun.
What carrot could he dangle in front of her to convince her to be with him and spend unguarded time together?
What if he allowed her to work as his secretary again? Just for a few days? Of course, it would be temporary. And, hell, he’d actually be grateful for Anna’s help in selecting a new secretary. Maybe she could even help polish the negotiations for the Singapore deal.
But it wouldn’t take long. A week, maybe just a few days of working together. He’d put on the charm. He’d spout nonsense about his feelings, if that was what it took. He’d wine her and dine her until she surrendered her body and soul.
And what a body. Her skin was pale as a Russian winter, but she looked sexy as hell, barely decent beneath a tiny string bikini that matched the alluring turquoise of the water. She’d certainly never worn anything like that when she was his mistress. She’d never flaunted her curves, never tried once to tease him. She hadn’t had to; she’d driven him wild even as a buttoned-up secretary who wore her hair in a bun and covered up her body with elegant loose-fitting suits.
But who was this siren in her place? String bikini today. Tight jeans and clinging ha
lter top yesterday. Had Anna really changed so much?
He saw her give a worried glance at the sun and, cuddling the baby to her chest, she climbed up the wide pool steps. She pulled sunscreen out of the old, frayed diaper bag sitting on the stone table near the fountain. Sitting back on a nearby lounge chair, she sat the chubby baby down on her flat belly and playfully tickled him while slathering him with sunscreen.
She reached for a wide-brimmed hat on the edge of the stone table. Her nearly nude body stretched beneath the bikini, revealing the side swell of her breasts.
Mrs. Burbridge nearly ran into him as she hurried around the courtyard doorway.
“Oh! Excuse me, sir.”
He’d been so intent on watching Anna that he hadn’t heard the plump woman come up behind him. He straightened. “My fault, Mrs. Burbridge.”
“I was just going to ask Mrs. Stav—er, Miss Rostoff—” she flushed with embarrassment as she tripped over the name “—if she wanted me to take the baby inside. She didn’t sleep well last night, so I thought perhaps she’d like a bit of a rest.”
“She didn’t sleep well?”
“She has the room next to mine. I heard her pacing. Jet lag, I suppose, poor dear.”
So Anna had slept as badly as he had. Nikos would be willing to bet money it hadn’t been jet lag that had troubled her all night.
His lips curved up in a smile. Perfect. It was all coming together. By the end of the week—by the end of the day, if he was lucky—Mrs. Burbridge would never have to trip over Anna’s name again. She would be Mrs. Stavrakis.
* * *
Anna was barely back in the pool with Misha when she saw Mrs. Burbridge standing by the water’s edge. But it wasn’t the appearance of the Scotswoman that set her hackles on edge. It was the man behind her, who was staring at her like an ant under a microscope, as if he’d never seen a woman in a swimsuit before.
“Would you like me to take the bairn, Miss Rostoff?” Mrs. Burbridge asked. “I thought you might like a wee rest.”
Since it was only ten o’clock in the morning, she was sure the “wee rest” was Nikos’s idea. He wanted to get her alone, so he could finish his seduction and convince her to be his bride.
Not in this lifetime.
Anna turned to wade in the other direction, holding the baby close as if she feared the older woman might fling herself in the pool, orthopedic shoes and all, and wrestle Misha away. “No, thank you, Mrs. Burbridge. We’re happy as we are.”
She waited for Nikos to demand that she give up the baby, but to her surprise he didn’t. “Obviously she’s not tired,” she heard him tell the nanny. “I think we’ll just spend some time together as a family.”
Anna heard Mrs. Burbridge leave and looked back, hoping that Nikos had left too. No such luck. He was standing by the pool, watching her with an inscrutable expression. His presence was like a dark cloud over the sun. It made her tense, remembering how easily she’d almost given herself to him last night, how much she still wanted to feel him inside her. The argument between longing and fury had kept her up all night. Twice she’d nearly weakened and gone to his room. It was only by the sheerest self-preservation that she hadn’t woken up this morning in his bed, with a big engagement ring on her finger.
At least then she’d also have woken up with a big smile on her face. She shook the thought away.
“Well?” she said, giving him her haughtiest stare—the one her mother had used to give to other people’s servants when they sneered at their family as “charity cases” and purposefully ruined their meals or their laundry behind their employers’ backs. Until Anna was eighteen, when her father had returned the family to New York and gone into business with Victor, their life had been full of insult and insecurity.
And after that Victor had had power over them. That was why she would never allow herself to be dependent upon someone else for her livelihood again. Better to starve in a garret and have her pride.
At least that was what she’d thought before she became a mother. Now she wasn’t so sure. What was her own pride compared to the safety and well-being of her child?
“What do you want?” she demanded irritably.
Instead of answering, Nikos sat down on the tiled edge of the pool. He folded his legs beneath him, looking strangely at ease, almost boyish. Her eyebrows rose at the sight of Nikos, in his elegant Italian wool trousers and crisp white shirt, sitting on the dusty tile floor of the courtyard. “I want you to teach me how to be a parent.”
Her jaw dropped ever so slightly. “What do you mean?”
He glanced at Misha. “You know I never had a father. Not a real one, at any rate. I have no idea how to be one. I’m afraid to hold my own son.”
Anna waited for him to point out that it was all her fault for stealing Misha for the first four months of his life, but again Nikos surprised her. He said instead, in a tone that was almost humble, “I need you to teach me how to be a father.”
It’s a trick, she warned herself, but for the life of her she couldn’t see how. She licked her lips nervously. She glanced at the precious babe in her arms. He needed a good father, and, although she was far from a parenting expert, she was at least an expert on her own baby. How could she refuse?
“I suppose I could try,” she said reluctantly.
“So you agree?”
“When do you want to start?”
“Now.”
“Get a swimsuit, then.”
“That would take too long.” In a fluid motion, he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside. Kicking off his shoes, he looked at her, and she suddenly realized what he was going to do.
“You can’t be serious!”
“Anna, you know I’m always serious,” he said, and jumped into the pool, trousers and all.
She turned away, protecting the baby from the enormous splash as he landed in the deep end of the pool. When he rose from the water his hair was plastered to his head. He spouted water like a fish, and his expensive Italian trousers were almost certainly ruined, but he was laughing.
Oh, my God. The sound of his laugh. She hadn’t heard that for a long, long time. Nikos’s laugh, so hearty and bold and rare, like a fine Greek wine, had first made her love him.
He swam over towards the shallow end, until his feet touched the bottom, and then he walked towards her, parting the water like a Greek god. He was six feet two inches, and the water only lapped his waistband when he reached her. His muscular torso glistened in the hot sun, and rivulets of water ran down his body. She nervously licked her lips as he put one hand on her bare shoulder and with the other gently caressed their baby’s head.
“Will you show me how to hold him?”
She carefully set Misha in his arms, showing him how to hold the baby close to his chest.
“Hi,” he said, looking down at the baby in his arms. “I know you’ve never had a father. This is my first time being one. We’ll learn how to do this together.”
Carefully, he moved deeper into the pool, until the baby laughed at the pleasurable feeling of the water against his skin. Nikos joined in his laughter as Misha joyfully splashed the water with his pudgy hands.
He kissed the baby’s downy head and whispered, so low that Anna almost didn’t hear, “I will always be here to help you swim, Michael.”
Anna watched with her heart in her throat. She’d thought she was in danger before. But now, watching him with their son, holding him tenderly, she saw in Nikos everything she’d ever wanted. A strong man who wasn’t afraid to be playful.
This was the father she wanted for her child.
The husband she’d always dreamed of for herself.
She tried to push those troublesome thoughts away. It wasn’t the real Nikos, she told herself. He was trying to trick her, to lure her in for the sake of his revenge. He wouldn’t stop until he’d crushed her, heart and soul.
For the rest of the morning she waited for Nikos to revert to his usual arrogant, cold personality, but he nev
er did.
They were like a happy family. It left her amazed. And shaken.
When she left the pool to go feed and change Misha for his nap, Nikos climbed out behind her. The ruined Italian trousers dripped and sloshed water behind him. She glanced at them with a rueful smile. “Sorry about your pants.”
“I’m not.” He gave her a grin. He looked relaxed and something else…contented? Had she ever seen him look that way before? “Besides, I can get more. I haven’t had that much fun in ages. I felt like a kid again.”
She snorted. “If it was that great, maybe next time in the pool I’ll wear a snowsuit.”
“Please don’t,” he said lazily. “I like the bikini.”
The look he cast over her made her suddenly feel warm all over, in a way that had nothing to do with the hot desert sun.
“You didn’t like my outfit last night.”
“That was different,” he said. “That was for another man.”
She waited for him to lash into her accusingly, demanding that she never see Sinistyn again, but he just turned away to head back into the house. “I’m going to slip into something a little less wet,” he said with a wink. “After Michael’s asleep come see me in the office, will you? I have a proposal.”
A proposal? Thank heavens, she thought as she hurried back to the nursery with her cranky, yawning baby. Nikos’s behavior had been starting to confuse her. But she knew that as soon as she met him in the office he would start tossing out demands. He’d try to kiss her senseless until she agreed to his marriage proposal.
That she could deal with. It was his new playfulness, his kindness and love for his son, that she didn’t know how to handle.
She showed up at the office with a T-shirt and shorts over her bikini, ready for battle. She was so ready, in fact, that she could hardly wait for him to take her in his arms. All the kisses in the world wouldn’t convince her to marry him, but since she’d managed to get through last night unscathed, she was willing—no, eager—to let him try…
But he didn’t touch her. The enormous mahogany desk that filled his home office had a light lunch spread at one end, while he sat working at the other, surrounded by piles of disorganized papers that were also stacked on the floor. He somehow managed to ignore the mess, focusing on his laptop.