The Greek's Acquisition

by Chantelle Shaw

He trailed his lips over her shoulder. ‘You’ve caught the sun. I love your freckles.’

  ‘No, really? Do I have freckles?’

  Her horrified expression made him smile.

  ‘Uh-huh. There’s one here.’ He kissed her cheek. ‘And here.’ He kissed the tip of her nose. ‘And here …’ He trailed his mouth lower.

  ‘I don’t believe you,’ Louise said breathlessly, when Dimitri finally lifted his lips from hers after a sensual kiss that left her aching for more. ‘I haven’t got freckles on my mouth.’

  He laughed. Their eyes met—and time seemed to stand still. She remembered how they had been on Eirenne, the way he had teased her and made her laugh, the way he had kissed her until they were both shaking with need and he had carried her into the house in the pine forest and made love to her.

  Desire unfurled inside her—a molten heat low in her pelvis. Memories of how they had almost had sex that morning flooded her mind and she leaned back on the lounger.

  ‘You’re back earlier than I expected,’ she murmured. ‘How was your meeting?’

  ‘Successful—we finalised the deal.’ Dimitri stroked his hand over her thigh and halted at the edge of her bikini pants. The tightening sensation in his groin was almost painful. Sexual awareness fizzed in the air. It was hot out here in the garden, and the temperature between them was rapidly rising to combustion point. The way she was looking at him made his heart slam against his ribs. There was plenty of time to make love to her before tonight’s dinner party, he convinced himself.

  He suddenly remembered that he had interrupted his journey home from the office to visit an exclusive boutique.

  ‘I bought you this,’ he said, handing her the box he had carried down to the pool. ‘It’s for you to wear tonight,’ he explained as she sat upright and stared warily at the box, as if she feared it might contain a bomb.

  Louise read the name of a famous Italian fashion house emblazoned in gold lettering on the lid. A sense of foreboding gripped her and despite the heat of the sun she shivered. ‘I don’t think …’ she began.

  ‘You won’t know if you like what’s inside unless you open it.’

  Without another word she lifted off the lid, parted the tissue paper and took out a sapphire-blue silk cocktail dress.

  The silence quivered with tension. If he was honest, Dimitri was disappointed by her unenthusiastic response. ‘Do you like it?’

  ‘It’s exquisite.’ Louise recognised that the dress was a masterpiece of brilliant design, and she had a fair idea of its price. ‘It must have cost a fortune.’ She carefully folded the dress and placed it back among the tissue paper, replaced the lid and held out the box to him. ‘I can’t afford a dress like this.’

  ‘I don’t expect you to pay for it.’ His eyes narrowed when he realised she was serious about returning it to him. ‘The dress is a present.’

  ‘No, thank you.’ Her refusal was instant and instinctive.

  Memories from her childhood surfaced in Louise’s mind. She pictured her mother, gleefully opening a box that had been delivered to a penthouse apartment in Rome owned by an Italian count. Alfredo Moretti had been short and balding, but he had also been immensely rich and Tina had become his mistress.

  ‘Oh, my gosh! Black mink,’ Tina had murmured reverently as she had lifted the fur coat from the box. ‘Do you have any idea how much this must have cost?’

  ‘It’s not your birthday, so why did Alfredo buy it for you?’ the ten-year-old Louise had asked.

  Her mother had shrugged and continued to admire the coat in the mirror. ‘I keep Fredo happy,’ she’d said airily, ‘and in return he gives me presents.’

  Feeling slightly sick, Louise pushed the memory away. Dimitri looked surprised and annoyed by her violent rejection of his gift, but she could not help it.

  ‘You don’t have to buy me presents—and certainly not expensive designer clothes. I’m sorry, but I can’t accept the dress.’

  He glanced at the box she was holding out to him but did not take it.

  ‘But you accept expensive clothes from someone else,’ he said, in a soft voice that for some reason made her shiver. ‘You told me the Benoit Besson outfits I’ve seen you wearing were given to you as presents—I assume by a rich lover. Why won’t you accept a gift from me?’

  ‘That was different. Benoit gave me the dresses.’

  ‘You mean you are Besson’s mistress?’

  Louise could not define the expression in Dimitri’s eyes; it was somewhere between speculative and contemptuous. Her temper flared.

  ‘Benoit is a friend,’ she said tersely. ‘I’ve known him for most of my life. When he was a fashion student I was his muse, and he designed all sorts of weird and wonderful creations. Then he became a successful designer, and sometimes he still likes to try out his ideas on me rather than at his studio. The clothes he gives me are those that he’s made specifically for me—prototypes, if you like, for designs that are later modelled on the catwalk.’

  ‘I see.’ Dimitri relaxed a little, finally able to dismiss the ugly suspicions about her that had persisted in the back of his mind. But his satisfaction did not last long.

  ‘What do you see?’ Louise said sharply. She could see all too clearly what he had been thinking, and anger and hurt surged up inside her as the horrible truth dawned. ‘You thought I had been given those dresses by wealthy men, didn’t you? You thought—’ She broke off, so furious that she could barely speak. ‘You thought I was like my mother—that I was prepared to be some rich guy’s mistress in return for material possessions. Is that why you thought I slept with you in Paris?’ Her voice rose and she jumped up from the sunbed. ‘Did you think that because you had paid for an expensive dinner you had bought me?’

  Dimitri shrugged. ‘You slept with me because you hoped to persuade me to buy Eirenne.’

  Louise paled. His words hung in the air between them and she could not look at him.

  ‘You wanted a million pounds as quickly as you could lay your hands on it. Isn’t that right?’ he continued remorselessly. ‘But you’ve never explained why you need the money.’

  ‘I don’t owe you an explanation.’ She stared at his hard face. The warmth she had seen in his eyes when he had teased her about her freckles had disappeared and she sensed that a chasm had opened up between them. ‘I am not like Tina,’ she said fiercely. ‘She is my mother, and I love her, but I hate how she lived her life.’

  She did not understand why she cared so much about Dimitri’s opinion of her, but she desperately wanted to convince him that she was not like his father’s mistress, whom he had so despised.

  ‘The money is not for me. It’s to help … someone I care about.’ When he made no response she continued huskily, ‘It was not the reason I slept with you in Paris. I did that because … because I—’ She broke off and stared at him miserably, knowing she would be a fool to reveal the truth—that she had yearned to recreate the special night they had shared on Eirenne seven years before.

  ‘Because what?’ Dimitri demanded. He got up from the sunbed and walked towards her, his jaw hardening when she backed away from him.

  ‘If it wasn’t to persuade me to buy the island, why did you make love with me? Was it because you couldn’t help yourself? Because you wanted me so badly that you couldn’t resist me or deny your desire for me?’

  Louise wished she could sink through the floor. She was utterly mortified that he had been aware of his effect on her. ‘You arrogant bastard,’ she choked. ‘What do you want from me—blood or just my total humiliation?’

  ‘I don’t want either.’ He gripped her shoulders to prevent her from fleeing from him. ‘I’m telling you how it was for me. I was listing the reasons why I made love to you, glikia mou.’

  She was too hurt to believe him. ‘Don’t call me that. You thought I was like my mother—and you once referred to her as a whore.’

  Dimitri felt as if his heart was being squeezed in a vice when he glimpsed tears in her eyes
.

  ‘I was jealous,’ he said harshly. ‘When you told me your clothes had been gifts it seemed reasonable to assume they were from a man—and I was jealous. I hate the thought of you having other lovers—even though I know you must have done so in the seven years since you were mine.’

  ‘You were jealous?’ Louise gave a bitter laugh. ‘What gives you the right, when you have a reputation as a playboy and your numerous affairs are plastered over the tabloids?’ Her temper fizzed. ‘Your attitude is so chauvinistic.’

  ‘I’m not proud of the way I feel,’ he admitted grimly. ‘It has never happened to me before—this feeling that I’d like to kill any guy who comes near you.’

  He was serious, Louise realised with a jolt. Dimitri looked as stunned as she felt by his admission. Her anger drained away and she shrugged wearily.

  ‘I was never yours seven years ago. We spent a couple of nice days on Eirenne and slept together one night. We both know you only made love to me to get at my mother.’

  Dimitri looked genuinely taken aback. ‘Where did you get that crazy idea from?’

  She ignored him as seven years of pent-up hurt burst from her like a torrent from a dam.

  ‘I didn’t stand a chance, did I?’ she said bitterly. ‘I admit I was painfully naïve for a nineteen-year-old—but, Goddammit, you took advantage of my innocence. You took my virginity without a second thought.’

  Dimitri tensed at her accusation. Shock and another emotion he did not want to define but which felt disturbingly like possessiveness surged through him. He speared her with an intent look.

  ‘You’re saying I was your first lover? You told me at the time that you’d had other boyfriends.’

  Louise flushed guiltily, knowing that she had not been entirely truthful with him. ‘I’d been on a couple of dates with guys I met at university. But I’d never had a … a sexual relationship. I spent most of my teenage years at an all-girls boarding school and I hardly had an opportunity.’ She sighed. ‘Tina might not have been the most maternal mother, but she was very protective of me—especially with regard to boyfriends. I must have made it so easy for you.’

  She cringed when she remembered how years ago she had fallen into Dimitri’s hands like a ripe fruit ready for picking. In Paris, and again last night, she had fallen into his bed with embarrassing eagerness. Had she learned nothing? Where was her self-respect? she asked herself furiously.

  Dimitri shook his head. ‘The relationship we had on Eirenne had nothing to do with your mother. I don’t know why Tina came out with all that rubbish about my motives, but I suspect it was because she disliked me as much as I disliked her and she was determined to turn you against me.’

  ‘You can’t deny you blamed her for your mother’s death,’ Louise said fiercely. ‘Or that you held her responsible for your estrangement from your father. When Tina accused you of coming on to me because you wanted to get at her you admitted it. You said it was true. And then you …’ Her voice fractured. The agony she had felt seven years ago was as acute now as it had been then. ‘You walked away without speaking to me. You didn’t even look at me. But why would you? I had served my purpose. You had riled my mother, and that was all you cared about—you certainly never cared about me.’

  ‘I walked out because if I hadn’t there was a strong possibility that I would have done something I would later regret,’ Dimitri told her explosively. He took a deep breath. ‘Look at me,’ he commanded in a calmer tone.

  When Louise refused, he slid one hand beneath her chin and forced her head up to meet his gaze.

  ‘I swear the only reason I made love to you on Eirenne was because I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t go there with the intention of seducing you. Theos—’ he made a harsh sound ‘—I went to the island to collect some of my mother’s things that were still at the old house. She died two months before, but whether she meant to take an overdose of her sleeping pills or it was an accident we will never know. Certainly she was devastated when my father divorced her, but she did not write a note, and I can’t believe she would have chosen to leave me and my sister.’

  He lifted his other hand and brushed a stray curl back from Louise’s face. ‘When I saw you on the island my only thought was that you had transformed from a skinny kid into a gorgeous woman, and to be brutally honest I quickly became obsessed by my desire to take you to bed. The fact that you were the daughter of my father’s mistress was irrelevant, and when we spent time together and I got to know you better I realised that you were nothing like Tina.’

  Louise stared at him in shocked silence.

  ‘After I stormed out of the Villa Aphrodite and my temper had cooled it occurred to me that you might have misunderstood what I had said,’ he continued. ‘I went back to talk to you—only to find that you had gone. I tore down to the jetty to catch you, but you were already on the boat and you refused to wait and listen to me.’

  Dimitri’s explanation of the events all those years ago sounded so reasonable, so believable, Louise thought shakily. Could she have been wrong and misjudged him? It was almost impossible to accept when she had spent so long thinking that he had cruelly used her. But he was staring at her now with a burning intensity in his eyes, as if he was determined to make her believe him—as if it mattered to him that she did.

  She had been so young and unsure of herself, she remembered. At nineteen she’d had no experience of men, and until she’d started university she had led a sheltered life at a convent school buried deep in the English countryside.

  She had been overawed by Dimitri’s stunning looks and easy charm, and amazed when he had shown an interest in her. Her lack of self-confidence had meant that it had been easy for her to believe her mother, and she had felt stupid for imagining that a gorgeous, sexy playboy could have desired her.

  She was finding it hard to think straight when he was standing so close to her that she could feel the warmth of his body. The spicy scent of his aftershave teased her senses, and when she looked into his eyes and saw his gentle expression her heart ached. She longed to sink against him and have him wrap his strong arms around her.

  ‘How can I believe that what you’ve told me is the truth? That you didn’t con me into sleeping with you? I saw you on the jetty as I was leaving the island, but I was hurt and confused and I couldn’t bear to talk to you then. If I had mattered to you at all you could have contacted me. I’d told you I was studying at Sheffield University, and you had my phone number. But when I phoned you a few weeks later you refused to take my call. Your secretary said you were unavailable. You must have instructed her to tell me that,’ she said accusingly.

  Dimitri ran a hand through his dark hair. ‘My PA told you the truth. I was unavailable. I was in South America with my sister—who was fighting for her life in an intensive care unit.’

  Louise caught her breath. ‘What happened?’

  ‘Ianthe had gone on an adventure holiday in Peru and had been thrown from her horse on a mountain path, miles from civilisation. It took three days to transport her to the nearest city, and by then she had slipped into a coma. She had multiple injuries, including a broken neck.’

  ‘Oh, Dimitri! Is she okay now?’

  ‘Thankfully she made a full recovery, but it took a long time, and for a while the doctors feared she would not walk again. I lived at the hospital for weeks, sitting by her bed and talking to her. They said the sound of my voice might rouse her.’

  Dimitri’s expression became shuttered as he recalled the agonising wait and his desperate prayers that Ianthe would wake up and be well again. It had seemed unbearable that his beautiful, sport-mad sister might be confined to a wheelchair, and he was not ashamed to admit he had wept when she had eventually emerged from the coma and the doctors had confirmed that her spinal cord had not been damaged.

  ‘I put my life on hold during that time. Your name was on the list of people my PA said had called me, and I did try to phone you from Peru, but to be honest all I could think about was
my sister. My relationship with my father was still strained, but I spoke to him to update him on Ianthe. He mentioned that you were doing well at university and I thought …’ He shrugged. ‘You were obviously getting on with your life. It seemed fairer to leave you alone—especially when I didn’t know how long I would have to stay in South America.’

  Louise cast her mind back to those dark days after she had lost the baby. Dimitri had called her and left a brief message with the number of his cell phone, but she had not tried to contact him again. In retrospect it was probably for the best that she hadn’t, she thought heavily. He’d had enough to worry about with his sister. The news that she had miscarried his child would have been a shock when he had not even known that she was pregnant.

  She ran her mind over everything he had told her. According to him he hadn’t had an ulterior motive seven years ago but had genuinely been attracted to her. The tight knot of tension inside her loosened a little. If he hadn’t played her for a fool, as she had thought all this time, was it possible that their brief affair had meant something to him after all?

  ‘Louise, it was never my intention to hurt you. I can’t pretend that I will ever feel anything but contempt for Tina,’ Dimitri said harshly. ‘I saw from the start of her affair with my father what kind of woman she is. But you are not responsible for her actions. I blamed her for breaking my mother’s heart, but I blamed my father equally.’ He sighed. ‘We were both caught up in our parents’ relationship and the fall-out from it, but it had no bearing on how I felt about you seven years ago.’

  Louise’s heart missed a beat. ‘How did you feel about me?’

  He gave her a rueful smile. ‘That you were very lovely, and probably too young for me. After you left the island I couldn’t get you out of my mind. But then Ianthe was injured and my place was with her. She needed me, and I was prepared to take care of her for the rest of her life if necessary. Seven years ago the time wasn’t right for us to have a relationship. But now fate has conspired to make us meet again,’ he murmured.

  He was curious about the identity of this person Louise had told him she cared about. Evidently he or she meant a lot to her if she was prepared to go to the lengths she had to raise money for them. But was this person her lover? He couldn’t believe it, Dimitri brooded. The way she responded to him made him certain that he was the only male in her life.