Marriage at His Convenience

by Jacqueline Baird

  Since the night when she’d fallen like a ripe plum into his arms, in his hotel suite, her life had become chaotic. The following evening she’d met Mark, her half-brother, for a drink, and as soon as she’d mentioned Lucas Karadines he had gone white, and within minutes she’d had the whole story: it was true. It would have been risible if the consequences had not been so tragic for Amber.

  Wednesday morning Lucas had called at her office. Loyalty to her father’s family and her guilty feelings over Spiro’s legacy had forced her to accept Lucas’s proposal. Because she knew she did not deserve to gain by Spiro’s death. He had been a good friend for many years, as a student and after. Yet she had not contacted him in over four years because he had invited his uncle to the opening of his art gallery without telling her, and told Lucas that she’d put up the capital for Spiro’s venture. Worse, she could not shake the notion that if she had not given Spiro the money to go to New York when he had, he might not have contracted the disease that had killed him. But the fact that Lucas the devil had won did nothing to soothe her anger.

  That weekend, at Lucas’s insistence, she had taken him to her father’s house in Surrey, and dropped the bombshell of her forthcoming marriage the following Saturday. Lucas had charmed Sir David and his wife Mildred so much so that Mildred had insisted on throwing an engagement party. Amber had been glad to get back to work on the Monday and away from Lucas, who had business in New York for a few days. But then she’d had the unenviable task of lunching with Clive and telling him she was marrying Lucas Karadines. She had felt an absolute worm by the time they had parted, because she hadn’t been able to tell Clive the real reason for her hasty marriage, and he’d taken her rejection with a brave smile and an honest desire that they remain friends.

  Then mid-week she’d discovered Lucas had spoken to the chairman of Brentford’s. The firm had given her three months’ holiday. When she had discovered from one of the other partners why, she had been furious and deeply hurt in equal proportions.

  She heard the doorbell ring. They were flying out to Greece today and tomorrow was their wedding day. ‘Unfortunately,’ Amber muttered darkly, smoothing the fine buttercup silk summer dress she had chosen to wear over her slender hips, and, taking a deep, calming breath, she walked out of the living room, along the hall and opened the front door.

  Lucas stood on the path, tall and dark, and the expression on his strong face was one of amusement. ‘I don’t believe it—you live in a country cottage with roses around the door. It is not you at all, Amber,’ he drawled mockingly.

  Put out by his opening comment, Amber snapped, ‘How the hell would you know?’ Her heart had leapt at the sight of him—she had not seen him since last Sunday.

  A green polo shirt fit snugly over his wide shoulders, and outlined the musculature of his broad chest in loving detail. Khaki cotton trousers clung to his hips and long legs. A pair of sunglasses was shoved carelessly back across the thick black hair of his head, revealing his perfect features in stark beauty. It wasn’t fair; no man should look so good. Even the summer sun glinting on the silver wings of his hair only enhanced his vibrant masculine charm.

  Lucas straightened. ‘As I recall I know you very well.’ His dark eyes roamed over her face and down over her shapely figure in a blatant sensual caress.

  ‘Only in the biblical sense,’ Amber returned, and, turning back into the hall, she grabbed the case she had packed and walked to the door. ‘I’m ready. Let’s go.’ She did not want to invite him into her home, because she knew her marriage to Lucas would only last as long as it took Spiro’s will to pass probate. She loved her cottage; she had bought it from her landlord three years ago, and had had great fun renovating it. She wanted no memories of Lucas to haunt it when she returned.

  ‘Is that all your luggage?’ Lucas demanded, one dark brow arching incredulously on the single suitcase. ‘We are getting married in the morning, we will be in Greece for at least the rest of the summer. Where are all your clothes? Surely not in that thing.’ He flung an elegant tanned hand at her admittedly rather battered suitcase.

  ‘Let’s get one thing straight here, Lucas. I don’t need anything special for a civil marriage that is strictly business and will be terminated as soon as possible; the dress I am wearing will do. Easy-care wash and dry as are the other clothes I have packed. I don’t need much to bum around on a Greek beach for three months, which is all I will be doing since you took it upon yourself to get my employer to give me a holiday. Understood?’ Amber told him belligerently, squaring up to him, her golden eyes flashing. If he thought for one second she was going to socialise with him, or play the part of the loving wife, or climb into his bed like a good little girl, he was in for a rude awakening.

  Black eyes clashed with hers, and she saw the glint of fury before he successfully masked it with self-restraint.

  ‘Amber, you can walk around naked, if that is what you want,’ he drawled mockingly. ‘In fact, I would prefer you to.’ His eyes, flaring with sensual heat, roamed over her body. She looked breathtakingly beautiful, the buttercup silk dress outlining her luscious curves in loving detail. Her eyes were wide and lustrous, with just a trace of vulnerability in their golden depths that her anger could not hide. She was nowhere near as confident as she wanted to appear.

  ‘Oh, that is not what I mean and you know it,’ she snapped.

  Lucas knew now was not the time to argue. ‘It was a joke, Amber, I hear what you are saying. A business arrangement.’

  Expecting an argument, Amber was surprised at his easy agreement, and for a moment felt ridiculously disappointed. But then what had she expected? She remonstrated with her foolish heart. Lucas had not wanted her five years ago, he was hardly going to be desperate to marry her now. On that sobering thought she brushed past him, dropped the suitcase on the path, and turned to lock the door of her little cottage.

  ‘What exactly do you intend doing with this place?’ Lucas asked, picking up her suitcase in one hand, his other hand settling at the base of her rigid spine as he urged her away from the house.

  ‘Why, nothing,’ she informed him dulcetly. ‘I expect to be back at work in three months.’ Lucas wasn’t getting it all his own way. He had ridden roughshod over all her objections, charmed her father, and bribed her boss to give her a three-month sabbatical, by the simple expedient of becoming a client of Brentford’s. He might have blackmailed her into marriage, but he was definitely not blackmailing her into his bed again.

  ‘Well, it is a bit small, but I suppose I could get used to it,’ Lucas murmured.

  Amber tensed. ‘What do you mean by that?’

  His sensuous mouth tilted at the corners. ‘Why, Amber, darling, once we are married, what is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine.’

  Amber’s eyes widened in astonishment at his words. ‘You’re joking.’

  ‘If you want us to live in a cottage rather than a mansion,’ he said, shrugging his broad shoulders. His dark eyes watched the myriad expressions flicker across her exquisite face, and then flicked appreciatively over the soft curve of her breasts, the narrow waist and on down over the slender hips and long legs. ‘I don’t mind,’ Lucas said huskily, his dark eyes dancing wickedly.

  He was laughing at her; she should have been furious. ‘But—but, I—I mean you have just agreed the marriage is strictly business,’ Amber stammered to a halt. He was handsome, a rampantly virile male, and she stared at him, her breath catching in her throat.

  ‘I know exactly what you mean, Amber,’ Lucas emphasised dryly. ‘You are angling for a fight and I flatly refuse to give you one. Business marriage or whatever! If my competitors are to be convinced, we have to live together for as long as it takes. Now relax, the sun is shining, it is a beautiful day, and tomorrow will be even better. Get in the car and let’s go.’ With a broad grin he urged her out onto the road and into the passenger seat of a black BMW.

  She watched him through lowered lashes as he slid into the driving seat after deposi
ting her suitcase in the back. Why had she even imagined for a moment that she would be able to resist Lucas, deny him her body? If he wanted her he only had to smile at her, and she was lost. Why had she even tried to pretend she hated him? She loved him, and the realisation of exactly how vulnerable she was hurt like hell. But it made her all the more determined to defy him.

  Starting the car, Lucas turned his dark head and smiled at her again. ‘I have a surprise for you when we get to the airport.’

  Her own vulnerability to his blatant masculine charm made her respond with biting sarcasm. ‘Let’s hope it is the same surprise as the last time you said that to me. You are marrying someone else…’

  Lucas stiffened, his smile vanishing, his dark eyes staring straight ahead, watching the road. Amber noticed the dull stain of red on his cheekbones and for a second thought he was embarrassed until he spoke. ‘No, this time it has to be you. I have no choice.’

  Amber opened her mouth to argue and stopped. Shrinking back in the seat, she let her thoughts loose, and winced at her own conceit. She had been so incensed at being conned into marrying Lucas, convinced she was making a great sacrifice for her family; she had never thought for a moment how Lucas had to feel. He had loved his first wife, Christina, and now because of Spiro’s will he was stuck with either trusting Amber, or marrying her. His only other alternative was facing a takeover battle for his business.

  A very chastened Amber said, ‘It is not too late. We don’t have to marry. You can trust me to give you Spiro’s legacy, Lucas. I won’t betray you.’

  A large tanned hand dropped from the wheel to curve over her thigh. Involuntarily her leg flexed, electric sensation tingling down to her toes. Lucas shot her a deep and unfathomable look.

  ‘Sorry, Amber,’ he said softly, ‘but I do have to marry you.’ With a brief squeeze of her leg, he returned his hand to the steering wheel.

  With her thigh still burning from his touch, she couldn’t think of a thing to say. She closed her eyes to be alone with her thoughts. He had said sorry. Did he mean he was sorry for her? Or sorry for himself because he had to marry her?

  Trying to fathom out how Lucas’s mind worked was doing her head in, and, opening her eyes, she looked out of the passenger window and realised they were approaching the airport.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ‘SO WHAT is the mysterious surprise?’ Amber finally demanded. The long silence, the heightened tension in the close confines of the car, had her nerves stretched to breaking-point.

  ‘You will soon find out,’ Lucas said curtly, bringing the car to a halt at the entrance to the airport terminal and, without so much as looking in her direction, he proceeded to unfasten his seat belt. Whatever the surprise was, Lucas obviously had no intention of enlightening her.

  ‘Get out.’ The terse command did nothing for Amber’s growing resentment at his high-handed manner. She cast him a fulminating glance but it was wasted as he was already sliding out of the driver’s seat, his back towards her.

  Amber scrambled out of the car with more haste than elegance, and, straightening up, she flicked her mane of chestnut hair back from her shoulders and looked around.

  Lucas stood a couple of feet away. She watched as he lifted an elegant tanned hand and, magically, a small, rather wizened man appeared and caught the car key Lucas threw in his direction. The older man looked vaguely familiar to Amber and, walking forward, she stopped at Lucas’s side as the strange man withdrew her suitcase from the car, handed it to Lucas and said something in Greek.

  Watching Lucas respond in the same language and smile down at the other man, Amber was diverted from her simmering anger by trying to figure out where she had seen him before. Then the old man lifted his head, grinned at her and she remembered.

  ‘Why, it’s you,’ the asinine comment slipped out, but the man had turned and was already getting into the car. ‘That’s the man that called at the apartment,’ Amber said impulsively, tilting her head to look up at Lucas. ‘I remember him.’ She beamed, pleased at having placed the stranger.

  One dark brow arched sardonically as their eyes met. ‘Ah, yes! The symbolic castration! I don’t think a trip down that particular memory lane is appropriate, given we are to be married tomorrow,’ Lucas drawled cynically.

  Instinctively her eyes dropped to a certain part of his anatomy; realising what she was doing, she quickly glanced back up at his face. ‘No. No…’ she stammered. She had forgotten her vengeful reaction when she’d destroyed the crotch in his trousers, and felt colour burn up through her skin. Through anger, she decided staunchly, not embarrassment.

  The look he cast her held a tinge of amusement that was apparent in his voice. ‘It was probably no more than I deserved, given the circumstances. Forget it—I have—and give me your passport, we have to get a move on.’

  Whether it was embarrassment, anger, or sheer shock that Lucas had actually admitted he might have been at fault, which was surely a first for the great Lucas Karadines, it did not matter. Amber was flustered enough to delve into her bag, withdraw her passport and hand it to him without a murmur.

  ‘Good girl.’ And, cupping a large hand around her elbow, he led her through the airport.

  Following his broad back up the steps to the aircraft, Amber fumed at the sheer arrogant confidence of Lucas. He had swept them both through customs, with an ease that lesser mortals could never aspire to. She watched him smile at the stewardess waiting at the entrance door to the plane, and saw the stupid girl simpering all over him. By the time Amber reached the door, the same girl simply bared her teeth at Amber.

  Walking into the cabin, Amber stopped dead.

  ‘Surprise, surprise,’ a cacophony of voices shouted.

  Amber’s mouth fell open in shock, her golden eyes widening to their fullest extent. Everyone and their granny were on the aircraft, she registered in stunned amazement.

  Lucas stepped forward to curve a confident arm around her rigid body. ‘This is your surprise…I thought you would appreciate your family attending our wedding.’

  She forced a smile to her lips, while her eyes scanned the interior of the cabin. Her father, his wife Mildred, her half-sister Julie, Julie’s husband Tom and their son plus Mark’s wife Mary and her three girls were all on board.

  But the biggest surprise to Amber was Tim’s presence. In a flurry of greetings and with the aircraft door closing and the captain announcing take-off, it was some time before Amber caught her breath long enough to look up at Lucas, who had somehow manoeuvred her into a seat and fastened her seat belt.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me? I thought this was supposed to be a quick civil wedding and an even quicker divorce,’ she hissed as the roar of the engines signalled lift-off. ‘Why on earth involve my family?’

  Lucas’s dark head bent towards her, one arm resting lightly over her slender shoulders. ‘I am Greek, we are very family orientated,’ his deep voice murmured against her ear. ‘And, though I have lost my family, it would be unthinkable to exclude yours,’ he declared, the warmth of his breath against her face sending her pulse-rate rocketing.

  Amber stared at him, and Lucas stared levelly back at her, his hooded black eyes giving nothing away.

  ‘But Tim as well, I thought…’ She didn’t know what she thought.

  ‘He is your lifelong friend,’ he explained with a casual shrug of his broad shoulders. Against her will, Amber’s eyes were drawn to those same shoulders, straining under the cotton knit polo shirt, and gulped. The popping of a champagne cork was a welcome diversion.

  Seat belts were unfastened, and the luxurious comfort of the private jet was enjoyed by everyone. Amber found herself seated on a soft hide sofa, with Lucas apparently glued to her side. She could feel the heat of his thigh through the thin silk of her dress, and almost snapped the stewardess’s hand off when she offered her a glass of champagne. Amber needed to cool down quick…

  The flight took on a party mood, champagne flowed freely, and toasts were drunk to the
engaged couple. Lucas responded by taking the opportunity to sweep Amber into his arms and kiss her thoroughly, much to the delight of everyone except Amber. Who, as soon as she could without it looking obvious, got to her feet and put some distance between them. She engaged Mary in conversation only to have the woman gush all over her, because her three girls were to be bridesmaids.

  It was the first Amber had heard of it, and she downed another glass of champagne as more toasts were drunk to just about everyone.

  When Sir David raised his glass and offered a toast to his son Mark who unfortunately could not be with them, Amber glanced warily across the cabin to where Lucas was in conversation with Tim. Her fiancé lifted his head, his black eyes clashing with hers as he raised his glass to her, and smiled a chilling smile that was more of a warning.

  But, fortified with another couple of glasses of champagne and a delightful cold lunch to settle her nervous stomach, Amber had forgotten the moment by the time the aircraft landed.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Lucas asked softly, his hand on her elbow as he guided her towards one of the waiting cars.

  ‘Yes, never better.’ Amber flashed him a smile—somewhere over Europe she had given up worrying, or some time after the fourth glass of champagne. ‘Where are we going or is that another surprise?’ she asked blithely.

  Handing her into the back seat of a luxurious chauffeur-driven, air-conditioned car, Lucas lowered his long length in beside her, and, casually throwing his arm over her shoulders, he hauled her into his side. ‘We are going to the latest Karadines luxury hotel complex, about an hour’s drive up the coast from Athens.’ He looked down into her flushed, beautiful face and his eyes gleamed with triumph, and something else Amber was too inebriated to recognise.

  ‘Does that suit you?’ he asked with an indulgent smile.

  Lucas Karadines could afford to be indulgent. He congratulated himself as he settled her pliant body more comfortably against him; his long fingers lightly squeezed her upper arm. He had her. Amber was here in his car, in his country, and tomorrow she would be his in every way known to man. ‘Amber?’ he queried, but her eyes had closed and she was fast asleep.