She remembered how she’d felt when he’d kissed her at the Parthenon. How exciting it had been, how happy being in his arms had made her. How she’d ached for more.
‘You say it wouldn’t be a real marriage. I guess that means no...well, no sex.’
‘That’s right,’ he said, so quickly it was hurtful. ‘That wouldn’t be fair to you when our bargain would have an end.’
As if it wouldn’t be fair to bind her to a sexless, loveless union with a man who even now in this cold-blooded conversation made her long to be close to him—both physically and every other way. It would be a cruel kind of torture.
‘What do you mean “our bargain”?’ she asked. Thoughts about his proposition spun round and round in her mind.
‘This would all be done legally. I would get my lawyers to draw up a contract setting out the terms and conditions. How you and your baby would be recompensed. The marriage would be of one year’s duration.’ His face contorted with anguish. ‘Less if...if my father were to die before then.’
A great wave of compassion for him swept through her. He had been through so much. ‘Oh, Alex, is it that bad?’
Her instinct was to comfort him, to put her arms around him, to try and take some of his pain for herself. But she kept her hands by her sides. This was not the moment for that.
He nodded, seemingly unable to speak. ‘It seems so.’
They were already standing very close to each other without being conscious of it. The nature of the exchange of conversation needed to be for their ears only. A cool breeze ruffled her hair and made her shiver.
He put his hand on her shoulder. In the semi-light he looked more handsome than ever, more unattainable. The stronger his connection to his family grew, the more Greek he seemed to become. ‘Please, Dell. I think we’ve become friends of a kind. If you don’t want to agree to this for the very real benefits to you, can you do it as an act of friendship? I’ll make sure you won’t regret it. Please say yes. Please marry me. There isn’t anyone else I’d rather be getting on board with this than you.’
Was that a subtle reminder that he was so determined to do this that if she said no, he’d find another woman who would jump at the chance to be the make-believe bride of multimillionaire Alex Mikhalis?
Could she bear it if he married someone else?
She took a deep breath. ‘Yes, Alex, I say yes.’
His sigh of relief was audible, even on the beach with the muted music and chatter coming from the taverna, the swish of the small waves as they rolled up onto the tiny pebbles on the beach. ‘Thank you, Dell. You won’t regret this, I promise you.’
Already she knew she would regret it. Everything about the arrangement seemed so wrong. On top of that, she was tired of putting on her fluffy-chick face, of pretending she was happy when she wasn’t. Now she had signed up for a year of pretending that she didn’t care about the man who was going to be her fake husband in a marriage of convenience.
‘I guess I’d be working for you, still. A different job. A new contract.’ She tried to sound pragmatic, to justify the unjustifiable.
Alex frowned. ‘I hadn’t thought of it like that.’
‘It might make it easier if we did.’
‘Perhaps,’ he said, sounding unconvinced. He took a step closer.
‘But right now I need you to kiss me.’
‘What?’
His gaze flickered over her shoulder and back to face her. ‘You can’t see from where you’re standing but there are interested eyes on us. In theory I just proposed to you and you said “yes”. A kiss is appropriate.’
Appropriate? When was a kiss appropriate? Obviously in this alternate universe she had agreed to enter the rules were very different. That didn’t mean she had to abide by them.
She looked up at his dark eyes, his sensual mouth she ached to kiss in an entirely inappropriate way. ‘I’ve got a better idea. You can kiss me. And you’d better make it look believable.’
* * *
Dell was challenging him. Alex had been exultant that she had acquiesced to his admittedly unconventional plan. But it seemed Dell and acquiescence didn’t go hand in hand. Somehow, in a contrary kind of way, that pleased him. Dell wouldn’t be Dell if she rolled over and did just as he commanded.
It made him want to kiss her for real.
Her eyes glittered in the soft half-light, tiny flecks of gold among the green. Her lips were slightly parted, a hint of a smile lifting the corners—halfway between teasing and seductive. ‘What are you waiting for?’ she murmured.
He was very aware of their audience. The family members who must have watched her seek him out on the beach. They stood inside the doorway some twenty metres away, obviously thinking they couldn’t be seen, but the lights from the taverna highlighted their shapes. It appeared the group had gathered hoping, perhaps, for proof that he and Dell were a couple. He would give them that proof.
He pulled her to him and pressed his mouth to hers with a firm, gentle pressure. In reply, Dell wound her arms around his neck to pull his head closer, her curves moulded against him. Her scent sent an intoxicating rush to his head—the sharpness of lemon and thyme soap mingled with her own sweet womanliness. It was a scent so familiar to his senses he was instantly aware of when she entered or left a room. She kissed him back, then flicked the tip of her tongue between his lips with a little murmur deep in her throat. Surprise quickly turned to enthusiastic response as he met her tongue with his, deepening the kiss, falling into a vortex of sensation.
Alex forgot he was on the beach, forgot they had an audience, forgot everything but that Dell was in his arms and he was kissing her. This was no meandering journey between gentle kiss of affirmation and one of full-blown passion. It raced there like a lit fuse on a stick of dynamite. Lips, tongues, teeth met and danced together in an escalating rhythm. Desire burned through him, and her too, judging by her response as that little murmur of appreciation intensified into a moan. He groaned his own want in reply, pulled her close, as close as they could be with their clothes between them. He could feel the hammering of her heart against his chest. His hands slid down her waist to cup the cheeks of her bottom; she pushed closer as she fiercely kissed him.
‘Get a room, you two.’ Cristos’s voice, in Greek, pierced his consciousness.
Dell pulled away. ‘What was that?’ Her cheeks were flushed, her breath coming in gasps, her mouth pink and swollen from his kisses.
Alex had trouble finding his own voice, had to drag in air to control his breathing.
‘My cousin trying to be funny,’ he said.
She looked up at him, her breasts rising and falling as she struggled to get her breath. ‘Alex...that was—’
‘I know,’ he said, not certain of how it happened, knowing what it meant for their bargain, realising he had lost control and that he had to take back the lead.
Her eyes met his as a shadow behind them dimmed their brightness. ‘We can’t do that. A kiss like that wasn’t what you’d call appropriate. It wasn’t fair. Not when I—’
When she what? Alex wanted, needed, to know what she meant. Because at that moment when she had moaned her desire something had shifted for him. Something deep and fundamental and perplexing. He had to know if she had felt it too.
But there was no chance to ask her. Because then his family, headed by his parents, were spilling out of the taverna onto the beach and surrounding them with exclamations of surprise and glee and, from his mother, joy.
‘I knew from the moment I saw them together, they were more than friends,’ he heard Aunt Penelope explain. Not explain—gloat.
He looked down at Dell, who looked as though she had been well and truly kissed. In a silent question, he raised his brow; she affirmed with a silent nod.
He put his arm around her. It wasn’t difficult to fake
possessiveness. ‘Dell has just agreed to marry me,’ he announced.
There was an explosion of congratulations and laughter. He looked up to see mingled pride, relief and love on his father’s face.
‘Thank you, Dell,’ Alex whispered to her. ‘I won’t forget what you’re doing for me and my family.’
Her face closed. ‘It’s just a business arrangement between us, remember,’ she whispered back, being very careful she wouldn’t be overheard.
So she hadn’t felt it. He knew he had no right to feel disappointed. Nevertheless, his mood darkened but he had to keep up with the momentum of excitement as he and Dell were swept back into the taverna.
The third time someone wished them ‘I ora I kali’ Dell turned to ask him what it meant. ‘It means, “May the wedding day come soon”,’ he replied. ‘And we need to have it as soon as possible. My father needs to get back to Sydney to continue his treatment. Is that okay with you?’
She shrugged. ‘You’re the boss. But of course it’s okay with me. The sooner the better really.’
‘You have made me very happy, son,’ his father said when he reached them. ‘Dell, welcome to our family.’
That made it worth it.
His mother burst into tears. ‘Of joy, these are tears of joy,’ she said, fanning her face with both hands. ‘Dell, I’ve heard so many good things about you I feel I know you already.’ She gave another sob. ‘And my son looks so happy. Happier than since...well, you know what happened.’
Dell looked to him for help, started to stutter a response but he was saved by his cousin Melina who had helped him with her contacts in Athens. She picked up Dell’s left hand. ‘Show us your engagement ring, Dell,’ she said.
A ring.
He hadn’t thought of that.
It was immediately obvious that Dell’s hand was bare. She shot a look of panic to him.
‘This all happened very quickly,’ he said. ‘I will be—’
His mother saved him by sliding off a ring, sparkling with a large diamond, from her own left hand and handing it to him. ‘Take this. Your father bought it for me for our anniversary a few years back. Our own engagement ring is something much more humble, bought when we were both students.’
She shared a glance of such love with his father, Alex felt stricken. Was faking his own marriage really the way to do this? But there was no going back now.
He took the ring and slid it onto the third finger of Dell’s left hand. Her hand was trembling as she held it up for his family’s inspection. There was a roar of approval. ‘I will get you your own engagement ring, of course,’ he said to her.
‘That would be the height of hypocrisy and totally unnecessary,’ she murmured, smiling for their audience as though she were whispering something romantic. ‘You can give this ring back to your mother when our agreement is over.’
To anyone but him, who had got to know her so well over the last weeks, Dell seemed to accept the exuberant hugs and congratulations with happiness and an appropriate touch of bewilderment at how fast things had moved. However he noticed signs of strain around her mouth, a slightly glazed look in her eyes that told him how she was struggling to keep up the façade.
He did the only thing he could do to mask her face from his family. He swept her into his arms and kissed her again. And again for good measure because he didn’t want to stop.
* * *
Dell was tired, bone weary. Her face hurt from so much forced smiling and acceptance of congratulations. Aunt Penelope’s birthday party had turned into a shared celebration to include an informal engagement party for her and Alex. She felt ill-prepared for the wave of jubilation that had picked her up and carried her into the heart of his Greek family.
She had long realised the truth that Greek people were among the most hospitable in the world. Their generosity of welcome to her now stepped up a level because she was going to be part of the family. There was a certain amount of unsaid I told you so that, even in her fear of saying the wrong thing and inadvertently revealing the truth about her engagement, made her smile.
One thing came through loud and clear—Alex was well loved by everyone. She heard of his many acts of quiet generosity, the hard work he’d put into family projects. Even the children, who were very much part of the celebration, seemed to adore him, flocking around him. He leaned down to listen very gravely to what one little cherub with a mop of black curls and baby black eyes was saying to him. The toddler could have been his own son. Her heart turned over and she felt very strongly the presence of the baby in her womb. Should Alex have thought more about this plan before sweeping her up into it? Should she have done the sensible thing and said no?
It also became obvious how deeply worried his family had been about him. His father, George, explained how, after the siege in Alex’s restaurant, he had feared his son had been heading for a breakdown. How desperately concerned he and Eleni, his wife, had been about him. How happy they were that their son had found some measure of peace back in the homeland of his grandfather’s family. ‘And now this, the best news we could have.’
Eleni patted her hand. ‘To marry into a big Greek family can be overwhelming, I know. I will do anything I can to help you. Will your own mother be here?’
Her own parents. What would she say to them? More secrets and lies. ‘I’m not sure they’ll be able to make the wedding at such short notice.’ Her astute mother would realise immediately all was not as it should be. It wasn’t a real marriage; she was tempted not to tell her parents about it at all.
‘That would be a shame,’ Eleni said, trying to hide her obvious shock that the bride’s mother would not be in attendance.
Dell tried to play it down. ‘Did Alex tell you I’ve been married before? I’m divorced. It’s why we want to have a very simple civil ceremony.’
‘He did mention it,’ Eleni said. ‘But it is his first wedding. I can’t understand why he wants so little fuss made.’ Dell wasn’t surprised by the familiar female gaze as it dropped to her middle. ‘Although we do understand the need to get married quickly.’
Dell refused to bite. ‘George’s treatment. Of course, I understand you need to get back to Sydney.’
Just then Aunt Penelope bustled up to take Dell’s arm. Dell was immediately aware of an unspoken rivalry between Penelope and Eleni of the I found her first variety. Penelope pointed out that the matter of her wedding dress needed immediate attention. A lovely gown was not something that could be made overnight. Dell needed to think about it straight away. And her friend, a dressmaker, happened to be a guest at the party; she should meet her now.
‘I’d thought I’d buy a dress off the rack in Athens,’ Dell said, casting a helpless call for intervention to the more sophisticated Eleni.
Aunt Penelope didn’t miss a thing. ‘Ah, you think a village dressmaker could not make you the kind of wedding dress you want? My friend used to work in a bridal couture house in Athens. You show her a picture in any wedding magazine or on the Internet and she can make it for you.’ As she led Dell away she added in a low murmur, ‘My friend will help you choose the best style to accommodate your bump and allow for the dress to be let out if we need to do so in the days before the wedding.’
Dell stared at Alex’s great-aunt, not sure what to say. Penelope laughed. ‘You won’t be the first Mikhalis bride to have a baby come earlier than expected after the wedding.’
Later, when she and Alex grabbed a quiet moment together Dell told him what had happened. ‘Why didn’t anyone tell me Aunt Penelope used to be a midwife? She told me she has delivered hundreds, maybe thousands, of babies and that she knew immediately I was pregnant that first day I went to the doctor. How are we going to tell them that the baby isn’t yours?’
‘We won’t,’ he said as he got swept away from her by the men to take part in the traditional male dances, so
me of them unique to these islands, that were an important part of any celebration.
As she watched Alex, as adept as any of the men in the dance, she knew she was there in this happy celebration under completely false pretences. Alex’s motivations were worthy but how would these warm, wonderful people feel when they found out they’d been fooled?
Secrets and lies.
The most difficult secret for her to hide was her growing feelings for Alex and the most difficult lie was one she had to tell herself—that she didn’t wish, somewhere deep in her heart, that this engagement party and the wedding that would follow as soon as they could arrange it were for real and she really was his much-loved bride.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
TO GET MARRIED in a hurry in Greece involved more paperwork than Dell had imagined, especially when Alex was being wed to a divorced foreigner. Then there had been issues with the venue. In Australia, you could get married anywhere you wanted by a civil celebrant. Not so in Greece. For a civil ceremony there was no choice but to get married in a town hall. The paperwork had been pushed through, expedited by the right people, so they were able to get married. But no one in Alex’s family had been happy at the prospect of what they saw as a bland, meaningless civil union.
Before Dell knew it the ancient, tiny white chapel on Kosmimo had been re-consecrated and, two weeks after their impromptu ‘engagement’, she and Alex were getting the church wedding his family had clamoured for.
This was her not-for-real wedding day and she was feeling nervous. She had not spent much time alone with Alex in the past two weeks. The day after the party for Aunt Penelope, she had moved off Kosmimo and back to the villa. Her morning sickness was practically gone—though the weariness persisted—and the daily boat trips to the island and back to Nidri were bearable. Alex’s family didn’t think it appropriate they should be living on the island together so close to the wedding.
Dell might have put up an argument about that but in truth it was a relief. She hadn’t been able to endure the close proximity to Alex sharing the pavilion with him. It was torture wanting him, knowing she couldn’t have him.
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