The Greek's Acquisition

by Chantelle Shaw

  ‘Were what?’ Louise queried when he hesitated.

  He shrugged. ‘Women who knew how to play the game—who understood that all I wanted was an affair without emotional attachment. When my father died and I discovered that he had named me as his successor to head Kalakos Shipping after all I felt I needed to prove that I was worthy of the role.’

  The long hours he’d put in at the office had left him with little time for anything else, Dimitri brooded. He had focused on work as a way of dealing with his grief at the death of his father. He stared at Louise. The moonlight had turned her to silver, and she looked ethereal and so very lovely that his heart clenched.

  ‘My life was organised and under control until you stormed back into it.’ He sounded almost angry. ‘I thought I knew what you were—a common gold-digger who would sell your body for hard cash. I couldn’t even blame you. How could you know any different when your mother had behaved that way? I told myself.’

  He lifted his hand and wound a honey-blond curl around his finger. ‘But you have proved my opinion of you to be wrong. Thee mou, we practically had a fight when I tried to give you this dress,’ he muttered as he slid one strap down her arm and brushed his lips over her bare shoulder.

  Louise could not restrain the little tremor that ran through her when he trailed a line of kisses along her collarbone. ‘I’m sorry I reacted badly about the dress,’ she whispered. ‘And I’m sorry if I’ve disrupted your life.’

  ‘I’m not.’ Dimitri’s voice deepened as he pulled her into his arms. ‘I want to make love to you, but—’ He broke off, thinking about the deal he’d made with her. He’d thought he could control her, like he controlled everything, but his plan had backfired.

  ‘But what?’ she said in a puzzled voice.

  ‘But it has to be what you want too, glikia mou, and if it’s not then you can sleep in your own room. I won’t bother you or make any demands on you.’

  Louise stared at him uncertainly. ‘We have an arrangement …’

  ‘I had no right to impose that condition on you. I’m glad to have the opportunity to buy Eirenne, and I will go ahead with the purchase whatever you decide about our sleeping arrangements.’

  Her heart was beating so fast that Louise found it hard to breathe. She was still struggling to comprehend that Dimitri had changed his mind and no longer expected her to be his mistress. He had given her a choice—and she already knew her answer.

  ‘I want to share your room, your bed.’ Your life for ever, she thought. For ever wasn’t on Dimitri’s agenda, but she would have tonight with him, and all the nights for the next two weeks. It would have to be enough.

  He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her—a long, sweet kiss that sought a response she gave willingly. When he lifted her she wound her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder as he carried her through the dark house and up to his bedroom, where moonbeams slanted through the blinds.

  The sapphire-blue dress fluttered to the floor, followed by the wisps of her lacy underwear. Dimitri kissed her mouth, her breasts, and then knelt and trailed his lips over her stomach and the cluster of dark gold curls between her legs. He bestowed the most intimate kiss of all and dipped his tongue into her moist feminine heart until she cried out his name. And then he drew her down onto the bed and made love to her with fierce passion and an unexpected tenderness that brought tears to Louise’s eyes.

  ‘We really should get up.’ Louise glanced at the clock the following Sunday morning and discovered that it was nearly afternoon.

  ‘Why?’ Dimitri murmured lazily as he pulled her closer to him and hooked his thigh over her leg. ‘I’m quite happy here.’

  ‘You said you needed to do some work today,’ she reminded him. ‘I feel I’ve already disrupted your schedule more than enough. You only went to the office two days last week. I don’t want you to think you have to entertain me.’

  He lowered his head and kissed the dusky pink nipple jutting provocatively above the sheet. To keep things fair he did the same to its twin, laughing softly when she caught her breath.

  ‘I haven’t noticed you complaining, glikia mou.’

  ‘You’ve been a very attentive host,’ she assured him gravely, and then giggled when he tickled her. ‘Seriously, though, aren’t you bored of staying at home? Joseph told me he’s never known you to spend so much time at the house.’

  ‘I haven’t before,’ Dimitri admitted. He rolled onto his back and drew her down on top of him. ‘But I like being here with you.’ His eyes gleamed wickedly. ‘And I especially enjoy entertaining you.’

  Louise gave up. She certainly wasn’t going to complain about the attention he’d lavished on her. They rose late each morning and ate a leisurely breakfast-cum-lunch on the terrace. Dimitri usually disappeared into his study for an hour to catch up on e-mails, and then they would spend the afternoon by the pool—swimming, reading, and inevitably making love in the hot sun.

  She loved simply being with him—just as she had all those years ago on Eirenne. The friendship they had shared then had been rekindled, as well as their passion for each other. She felt as though they were in a bubble, distanced from the rest of the world. But everyone knew that bubbles eventually burst, and she was aware that reality would soon intrude on their dream existence.

  ‘I’ve just remembered I was going to take you to lunch at a great little restaurant I know in Rafina. It overlooks the marina, and I thought that afterwards I would take you out on my boat.’ Dimitri kissed her lingeringly and groaned when she parted her lips beneath his. He rolled her beneath him. ‘On the other hand, we could always go there for dinner this evening …’

  The days sped past. Dimitri took her to the Acropolis and the Parthenon, and wandered patiently around with her when they spent a whole day at the National Gallery. Louise fell in love with Athens—especially at night, when it was cooler, and they browsed the shops that stayed open until late and visited lively tavernas.

  Dimitri had given Joseph and Halia paid leave and arranged for them to visit their son, who lived on one of the islands. The couple deserved a break, he reasoned, and he had to admit that he liked being alone in the house with Louise. They could make love when they liked, where they liked. It occurred to him after a particularly erotic sex session on the sitting room carpet that he was fast becoming addicted to her.

  Towards the end of the first week his lawyer had phoned to say that the sale of Eirenne was nearing completion.

  ‘Once we have both signed the contract the money will be paid into your bank account,’ Dimitri explained to Louise as he drove them to his lawyer’s office. He was puzzled by her lack of enthusiasm. ‘I expected you to look more pleased,’ he murmured as they stepped out of the car.

  ‘I am pleased,’ she mumbled, unable to meet his gaze.

  She knew Dimitri was happy to own the island, but she was sure he would be a lot less happy if she revealed that the money would pay for her mother’s cancer treatment. He had every reason to hate Tina, she acknowledged miserably. She felt torn, her loyalties divided between two people she loved.

  The thought was so shocking that she barely registered walking into the lawyer’s office. Love? Where had that sprung from? She wasn’t in love with Dimitri.

  Her heart did that strange little lurch it always did as she studied his sculpted profile. She loved the sharp angles of his cheekbones and the sensual curve of his mouth, loved his unusual olive-green eyes with their fiery golden flecks—loved him, whispered that voice inside her.

  He was everything, she admitted, and the realisation was terrifying—because she had vowed that she would never make a man the centre of her universe as her mother had so often done. She had promised herself that she would never fall desperately, madly, deeply in love—and she had broken that promise. She felt a sharp pain in her chest, as if an arrow had pierced her heart. Soon she was going home, and Dimitri had given no hint that he wanted to continue with their relationship.

 
He arranged to take her back to Paris on his private jet, and on her last evening in Athens they had dinner at a charming little taverna, where they lingered over wonderful food and drank retsina before strolling home hand in hand.

  He made love to her with fierce passion and exquisite tenderness, and although Louise told herself she had imagined it she sensed a faint air of desperation in his lovemaking that made her wonder if he regretted that she was leaving as much as she did. She felt that they had become close in recent days. But right at the start he had warned her he did not have a long attention span where women were concerned. Perhaps he had grown tired of her but was too polite to say so.

  Unusually for midsummer, it was raining in Paris. The grey sky echoed Louise’s mood, but Madeleine seemed pleased to be home, and when she was freed from the carrier she leapt up onto her usual windowsill, gave an elegant stretch, and then curled up and fell asleep.

  ‘Your apartment was not designed for a person of my height,’ Dimitri muttered as he forgot to duck and hit his head on the doorframe. ‘Leave unpacking for now. I’ve got something I want to show you.’

  She gave him a puzzled look. ‘What is it?’

  ‘You’ll see. It’s a surprise—one that I think you’ll like.’

  Mystified, she followed him back down to the car. ‘Do you want another tour of the Louvre?’ she asked a few minutes later, when the chauffeur parked opposite the Jardin des Tuileries.

  ‘Come with me,’ was all Dimitri would say, and he ushered her through the front door of a graceful old building that overlooked the famous gardens.

  ‘Will you tell me what’s going on?’ Louise demanded as the lift took them upwards.

  He grinned. ‘Patience, pedhaki.’

  They stepped out of the lift on the top floor. There was only one door on the landing, and Dimitri took a key from his pocket and opened it before standing back to allow her to precede him inside.

  ‘What do you think?’

  She looked around a huge, high-ceilinged sitting room which was beautifully decorated and luxuriously furnished.

  ‘It’s a fantastic apartment—especially with the view over the Tuileries. But why have you brought me here? Who lives here?’

  ‘You do.’ He laughed softly at her stunned expression. ‘The agent left the key with the porter so that I could show you the place. If you like it I’ll sign the lease and you can move in immediately.’

  Louise stared at him, her mind whirling. ‘I like the apartment I’m living in,’ she said at last. ‘I can’t afford to move here. The rent must be astronomical.’

  ‘Don’t worry about that. I’ll pay for all your living costs.’ He ignored her frown. ‘You must agree that your current apartment is too small for both of us.’

  She caught her breath. ‘Do you mean you want us to live here together?’ Her heart was beating a wild tattoo in her chest. ‘Are you going to move to Paris?’

  She watched him stiffen, watched his dark brows draw together, and her excitement trickled away.

  ‘No,’ he said slowly. ‘You know I have to be in Athens to run Kalakos Shipping. But I’ll visit you as often as I can. Why are you looking at me like that, glikia mou?’

  Dimitri stared at Louise’s wintry expression and felt a flare of irritation. What had she expected? He couldn’t disrupt his life for her any more that he had already. He could not simply up sticks and move to France, and he did not expect her to leave her job and move to Greece. This was the best compromise he could think of.

  ‘If you don’t like this apartment there are plenty of others on the agent’s books.’

  ‘It’s not the apartment. I mean, it is—but not in the way you think.’ Louise felt sick with disappointment.

  If she had any sense she would say nothing more and retain her dignity. Instead she discarded her pride.

  ‘I thought when you said the apartment was for us that you were making some sort of commitment to me,’ she whispered. ‘I thought you wanted us to be together.’ For a few heart-shaking seconds she had believed he cared about her.

  He walked towards her, his frown deepening when she backed away from him. Women—he would never understand them, Dimitri thought grimly. He had thought he understood Louise, but now she was being irrational.

  ‘Leasing an apartment for you—for us so that we can spend time together—is a kind of commitment.’

  ‘No, it’s not.’ Memories of visiting her mother at the Italian Count’s penthouse in Rome, or an apartment in Monaco paid for by a television celebrity who wanted to keep his affair with Tina secret from his wife flooded Louise’s mind. She would never give up her independence and allow a man to keep her.

  ‘I refuse to be your mistress.’

  ‘Gamoto! What have you been these past two weeks if not my mistress?’ Dimitri demanded furiously.

  He was tempted to shake her, but felt an even stronger desire to pull her into his arms and kiss her until she melted against him and they could end this crazy argument.

  ‘I thought that we’d had fun these last two weeks. I thought you had enjoyed being with me just as I enjoyed being with you. Not just the sex.’ He ignored her when she opened her mouth to speak. ‘Everything—the companionship, the friendship we shared. What more do you want from me?’

  His eyes narrowed as he realised that this was a familiar argument. He’d had it with several of his ex-mistresses. And it had always been a prelude to the end of an affair. Once a woman started talking about commitment it was time to head out of the door. So why wasn’t he walking? Why did the idea of ending his relationship with Louise turn his mood as dull and grey as the sky outside the window?

  ‘What were you hoping for when you said you thought I was making a commitment?’ He gave a harsh laugh. ‘Did you think I was going to propose to you?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ Louise denied quickly, her face flaming.

  She hadn’t expected that, but she had wanted some sign that she was more important to him than her mother had been to all those men who had used her and then discarded her when they’d grown tired of her. Dimitri setting her up as his mistress in an expensive apartment fell far short of the relationship she longed for. Maybe he had mistresses dotted around various European cities, she thought bleakly. No way was she going to join their ranks.

  The sound of her cell phone made her jump. She quickly searched through her handbag, intending to cut the call, but the name of the hospital in Massachusetts on the caller display sent a chill of foreboding through her. The phone stopped ringing before she could answer it.

  She glanced at Dimitri and bit her lip at his grim expression. He looked angry—and perhaps with good reason, she acknowledged painfully. Perhaps she had misjudged him and his motives for wanting to lease the apartment. She was just so scared of ending up like Tina that she was afraid to trust him.

  ‘I need to return that call,’ she told him flatly.

  ‘Sure,’ Dimitri spun round from the window and strode across the room. ‘The driver is waiting downstairs and will take you home. I’ll take the key back to the agent and tell him I don’t want the apartment.’

  He stared at her and felt a surge of frustration when he saw the undisguised misery in her eyes. To say that events were not turning out as he’d planned was a laughable understatement, but at this moment he had never felt less like laughing.

  ‘I have to fly straight to Norway for a meeting I postponed last week.’ It wasn’t absolutely true. He had planned to spend the night with her here at the new place before leaving for his business trip in the morning. But he could do with some space, he thought grimly. He was angry that she had thrown the apartment back in his face.

  He had enjoyed a lot more than simply physical gratification with Louise during the past two weeks, he admitted. But he had still regarded her as a mistress. He didn’t want anything else. What was the point in commitment anyway? His parents had been married for thirty years, but their relationship had been blown apart by his father’s affai
r and his mother had died heartbroken. Life was a lot simpler without emotions to screw it up, he thought sardonically.

  Louise had followed him down the hallway to the front door. As he wrenched it open he glanced at her, and felt his heart clench when he saw the shimmer of tears in her eyes. So this was the end. He was shocked by how strongly he did not want it to be.

  ‘Dimitri …’ Her voice was choked, as if it hurt her throat to speak. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘So am I.’ He wanted to kiss her, but knew that if he did he might make promises he did not know if he could keep. ‘I’ll call you.’ It was what he always said when he ended an affair, but he knew damned well he wouldn’t phone her. There was no point. They had reached a stalemate.

  She moved past him. He watched her walk away from him down the hall. She did not look round as she entered the lift. The doors closed—and only then Dimitri realised that he was not ready to let her go.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  LOUISE’S first priority when she arrived back in Paris from Massachusetts was to collect Madeleine from her neighbour.

  ‘Chérie,’ Benoit said gently as he studied her white face and hollow eyes. ‘I’m so sorry about your mother. Is there anything I can do?’

  She shook her head. ‘Everything has been taken care of. I just need some time.’

  She craved solitude. Her tiny apartment was a sanctuary and Madeleine a faithful companion who did not leave her side in the following days while she grieved.

  At his office in Athens, Dimitri stared at the cheque for one million pounds that had arrived in the post and was now burning a hole on his desk.