Proud Greek, Ruthless Revenge

by Chantelle Shaw

  His mouth was a whisper away from hers, an unbearable temptation she did not have the strength to resist. ‘That sounds good.’ Her breath feathered his lips. ‘You work too hard. Maybe I can help you to relax?’

  Laugher rumbled deep in his chest. ‘The last thing I feel when I am with you, agape, is relaxed.’ His smile faded and his eyes focused intently on her face. ‘You’ll come?’

  She ignored the feeling that she was about to cast herself off a cliff without the assurance that a safety net would catch her, and nodded. ‘Yes.’

  The inherent tenderness of his kiss pierced her soul, and she kissed him back with all the emotion she could not reveal in words. When he swung her into his arms she clung to his shoulders and gave him a questioning look.

  ‘You are very lovely, agape mou, but also very sandy.’ He grinned, looking suddenly like the boy he had been many years ago, before he had been weighed down with responsibility. ‘We need to swim.’ He carried her into the sea, laughing as he lowered her into the waves, and splashed her until she dived into the crystal depths. The cool water felt sensuous on her naked body, and when Thanos caught her and held her against his chest she curled her arms around his neck, her laughter fading as he captured her mouth in a hungry kiss that revealed the urgency of his need to possess her.

  Thanos propped himself up on one elbow and watched the early-morning sunlight dance across Tahlia’s hair, turning it into a golden halo on the pillows. Her long lashes fanned her cheeks and her face was serene. His sleeping angel, he brooded, feeling a curious tugging sensation in his chest. But the feelings she evoked in him were far from pious, and he could not resist drawing back the sheet so that the sunlight gilded her slender limbs and her small, firm breasts. Her skin felt like satin beneath his fingertips as he trailed a path over her flat stomach, then moved lower to the triangle of tight gold curls that hid her femininity. She was unutterably beautiful, and he hardened instantly as he slid his hand between her pale thighs and very gently parted her.

  ‘Thanos?’ Her lashes drifted upwards, her eyes still dazed with sleep.

  ‘Who else were you expecting?’ he demanded arrogantly.

  Her smile stole his breath. ‘You,’ she whispered softly. ‘Only you.’

  She opened her mouth beneath his, welcoming the bold thrust of his tongue, and kissed him back with drowsy passion until he eased the pressure of his lips so that the kiss became a slow, sensual tasting, with an underlying tenderness that brought tears to Tahlia’s eyes. Her breath hitched in her throat when he trailed his mouth down to her breast and teased her swollen nipple with his tongue, before administering the same delicious torture to its twin.

  The feather-light brush of his lips on her inner thigh demolished her thought process—but something was niggling in her brain.

  ‘Thanos! The party!’

  ‘It’s not until tonight, agape. I promise I’ll let you up by then.’

  ‘But there are things to do…’

  She caught her breath as he lowered his head and his tongue probed delicately between her velvet folds. Moist heat pooled between her thighs and she instinctively spread her legs wider, gasping when he closed his lips around the sensitive nub of her clitoris. Sensation scorched her, and she whimpered with pleasure, desperate for him to continue his sorcery but unable to dismiss the voice in her head which pointed out that this was the day of the Artemis opening party, and she had planned to get up at dawn.

  Frantically she dug her fingers into his luxuriant black hair and tugged. ‘But, Thanos, I should…’

  He lifted his head briefly and murmured, ‘You want me to stop?’

  ‘Yes.’ She lifted her hips in mute supplication, groaning when his wickedly invasive tongue dipped between her silken folds. ‘No…Don’t stop—don’t ever stop.’

  She was trembling by the time he moved over her, and she sobbed his name as he penetrated her with deep, thrusting strokes, his movements slow and deliberate, demonstrating his complete control.

  ‘This is all that matters, Tahlia mou,’ he said roughly, his heart pounding so hard beneath his ribs that he felt as though he had run a marathon.

  He was shocked to realise that he had spoken the truth. His need to make love to her was a driving force inside him: more important than his business, more important than the forthcoming party to celebrate the opening of his new hotel—even, he acknowledged grimly, more important than his sister. Theos, what was he thinking? But his powers of reasoning were slipping away, and he was conscious of nothing but the desperate clamouring of his body as he strove for the release he craved.

  He slipped his hands beneath her bottom and lifted her hips, driving into her with faster and deeper strokes until she cried out. The exquisite sensation of her muscles contracting around him threatened to shatter his restraint.

  ‘Tahlia.’ He threw his head back, the cords on his neck straining as he fought for control. Sex had never been this good with any of his previous lovers. Only with Tahlia did he feel a sense of utter abandonment. With a harsh groan his control splintered and he shuddered, wave after wave of pleasure ripping through him until he collapsed onto her and closed his eyes, wondering why his heart ached every time he made her his.

  In the aftermath he held her close, stroking his fingers through her hair. She could stay here all day, Tahlia thought dreamily. But the Artemis party was important to him, and she wanted it to be perfect.

  ‘Now I’ll let you go to work,’ he said with a grin, dropping a stinging kiss on her mouth as she gave a languorous stretch.

  ‘Thank you, kind sir,’ she teased with an impish smile before she walked unselfconsciously across the room to the en suite bathroom, aware of the heat in his dark eyes as he focused on her naked body.

  ‘Have you decided what you’re going to wear tonight?’

  She paused in the doorway and glanced back at him, feeling the familiar dip in her stomach at the sight of his bronzed, muscular body stretched out indolently on the rumpled sheets. ‘I’m not going to the party. I can’t,’ she continued quickly, when his brows lowered in a slashing frown. ‘There will be huge media coverage tonight, and I don’t want to risk being photographed with you. How would you explain my presence to Melina? It would be…awkward.’ She bit her lip, rattled by his ominous silence. ‘I’ll ensure that all the preparations are in place, and tonight Ana will be on hand to deal with any last-minute problems.’

  Thanos regarded her for a few moments, his expression unfathomable. ‘Melina is my responsibility,’ he said quietly. ‘You don’t have to worry about her. You will attend the party as my partner. That’s an order, Tahlia,’ he added forcefully, when she opened her mouth to argue. ‘You’ve put in all the work, and tonight is your night as much as mine.’ He jumped up from the bed and strode out of the room, reappearing seconds later, holding a flat box. ‘I bought this for you to wear tonight.’

  She gave him a startled glance, and then lifted the lid from the box and pushed aside the layers of filmy white tissue paper to reveal an ivory silk gown. With shaking fingers she took it from the box and caught her breath as she held it against her.

  ‘Oh, Thanos…it’s beautiful.’ Her throat did not seem to want to work and her voice sounded distinctly rusty. The dress was exquisite: a floor-length silk sheath, covered in layers of fragile chiffon and embellished with tiny crystals and pearls on its narrow shoulder-straps and around a sweetheart neckline. ‘It’s a fairytale dress,’ she whispered, dropping her gaze from him so that he would not see her sudden rush of tears.

  He slid his hand beneath her chin and tilted her face to his. ‘Tonight you will be my princess, agape mou.’

  Her smile tugged at his insides, and the ache in his gut intensified when she reached up and brushed her lips over his in a feather-light caress that pierced him with its poignant sweetness. They needed to talk, he acknowledged as she walked into the bathroom. There were things he needed to say, to tell her. But he could not forget the original terms of the bargain they ha
d made, and he wondered if he was a fool to hope that his money was not the only reason she gave her body to him every night with a tender passion that stirred his soul.

  Tahlia was confident that all the preparations she had made over the past three weeks would ensure that the Artemis opening night party would be a success, but as she had feared there were still unexpected problems which required her attention. She spent the day making last-minute calls, organising media coverage, and attempting to meet the demands of the celebrity guests. It was early evening by the time she returned to the suite, and after a quick shower she blowdried her hair and applied minimal make-up—mascara on her lashes to emphasise the deep blue of her eyes, and a pearly pink gloss on her lips—before she stepped into the dress Thanos had chosen for her.

  It was from a well-known design house and must have cost a fortune. She felt uncomfortable that he had spent so much money on her when he was already paying a huge sum for Reynolds Gems—but he had been adamant that he wanted her to wear it tonight, and she would have worn a wetsuit and flippers if it had pleased him, she acknowledged ruefully.

  The door opened and he stepped into the bedroom, halting abruptly when she spun round to face him. ‘You take my breath away, agape,’ he said at length, sweeping his eyes over her in a lingering appraisal which encompassed her amber-gold hair, falling in a silky curtain around her shoulders, and the ivory dress that skimmed her slender figure.

  He walked over to her and withdrew a slim velvet box from his jacket pocket. ‘This will complement the dress perfectly,’ he murmured, lifting out a necklace of creamy pearls interlinked with glittering diamonds. ‘It is a gift in thanks for the hours of hard work you have spent organising the party.’

  ‘Thanos, I can’t accept it,’ Tahlia said faintly when he turned her to face the mirror. She stared at their twin reflections: the tall, impossibly handsome man in a black dinner jacket, and the woman at his side wearing a couture gown and an exquisite necklace around her throat. ‘You don’t need to give me presents. I’ve enjoyed working at the Artemis.’

  ‘Even so, you deserve a break. I will have to spend some time dealing with the problems at my hotel on St Lucia, but our trip to Antigua is purely for pleasure—or impurely,’ he murmured wickedly, his eyes gleaming with sensual promise. ‘I admit I am impatient to have you to myself, without other distractions, agape mou.’

  His smile tugged at her heart, and when he lowered his mouth to hers, tears pricked her eyes at the sweetness of his kiss. She’d thought she had imagined the feeling of unity between them every time they made love, and had told herself she was a fool to hope that the Greek words he murmured in the aftermath of their passion meant that she was special to him. He had once stated that love was an illusion, but the erratic thud of his heart beneath her fingertips was excitingly real.

  ‘We need to talk,’ he said quietly, when at last he broke the kiss and stared down at her flushed face. His heart turned over when her lashes swept down a fraction too late to disguise the emotion blazing in her eyes.

  ‘But there’s no time now.’

  As if on cue, someone knocked on the door of the suite and his mouth tightened.

  ‘That’s probably Ana,’ Tahlia said huskily. ‘I’ll just get my purse.’

  The phone on the bedside table rang and she picked it up, frowning as the receptionist relayed a message.

  ‘I have a call from my mother,’ she told Thanos in a puzzled tone. When she had first arrived on Mykonos she had contacted her parents to explain that she was staying in Greece with a friend for a few weeks, and had given the phone number of the Artemis. An inexplicable feeling of dread coiled in her stomach. ‘I hope she’s okay.’

  ‘I’ll go down with Ana while you take the call,’ he said, striding towards the door. ‘We’re not due to greet our guests for another twenty minutes.’

  Tahlia watched him walk out of the room and heard him speak to Ana, followed by the snick of the door as he left the suite. ‘Mum?’ she gripped the phone as the sound of sobbing met her ears. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Oh, Tahlia, I don’t understand anything,’ Vivienne choked incoherently. ‘Your father and I arrived back from Cornwall today to find a letter from the bank saying that Carlton House is to be repossessed. Your father admitted that he hadn’t paid off the mortgage he took out to finance Reynolds Gems, and we’re behind with the payments. He phoned some people—Vantage something or other…’

  Vivienne paused and took a shuddering breath. ‘He assured me that Vantage had agreed to buy Reynolds, and we would have the money for the house. But when he finished speaking to the CEO he was as pale as a ghost. It seems that Vantage was never interested in Reynolds. The parent company—whatever that is—refused permission for the buy-out. Dad had already assured the bank that Vantage were going to purchase Reynolds Gems, and that he would immediately clear the mortgage. But the bank checked with Vantage, and when they discovered the sale wasn’t going ahead they called in the loan on Carlton.’ Vivienne’s voice broke. ‘When your father heard that he collapsed.’

  ‘What do you mean, he collapsed?’ Tahlia demanded shakily. ‘Mum…?’

  ‘He’s all right,’ her mother assured her. ‘Hobson called an ambulance, and the hospital did lots of checks on his heart, but all the results were fine. They say he’s just suffering from extreme stress. Tahlia, I don’t know what to do.’

  Her mother wept, and the fear in her voice tore at Tahlia’s heart.

  ‘The bailiffs are coming at midday tomorrow to evict us, and they will seize any of our possessions that are still in the house. I don’t know where to begin with the packing.’ Her voice was shrill with panic. ‘Our whole life is in this house.’

  ‘Mum, you don’t need to pack,’ Tahlia assured her mother swiftly. ‘There’s been some sort of mistake. Vantage Investments definitely agreed to buy Reynolds. I’m in contact with someone at the parent company—Savakis Enterprises.’ She paused and closed her eyes briefly, wondering what her mother would say if she revealed just how closely her body had been in contact with Thanos’s muscular frame every night for the past month. ‘Don’t cry. I’ll sort everything out—okay?’ she said softly. ‘And then I’ll come home.’

  It must be a mistake, she told herself frantically as she dragged out her suitcase and started to fling her belongings into it. A misunderstanding between the bank and Vantage seemed the most likely explanation. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She would explain the situation to Thanos, and he would resolve the problem—whatever it was.

  Unless he was the problem? a little voice whispered in her head. No, of course he wasn’t. They had made a deal, and he had promised that the buy-out of Reynolds Gems would go ahead. Her relationship with Thanos was no longer based on his desire for revenge, and there was no reason why he should have reneged on his promise. She trusted him, she assured herself as she snatched up her purse, desperate to hurry down to the lobby where he was waiting for her.

  But she could not dismiss the heavy sense of foreboding in the pit of her stomach, and after a moment’s hesitation she turned back into the room. The likelihood that Vantage’s CEO, Steven Holt, would still be in his office late on a Friday evening was remote, but if she could just speak to him first…

  The phone rang several times, and she was just about to cut the call when a woman answered. ‘Mr Holt is unavailable,’ she said tersely. ‘I’ll put you through to Mark Lloyd.’

  Five minutes later an impatient-sounding male voice interrupted Tahlia’s frantic explanation of the reason for her call. ‘Miss Reynolds, I am an executive director at Vantage Investments and I assure you I am not mistaken. It is true that we were briefly interested in buying your company, but the idea was vetoed by our parent company on the direct orders of the head of Savakis Enterprises.’

  ‘But Mr Savakis promised me…’ Tahlia insisted desperately, gripping the phone so hard that her knuckles whitened. ‘You must be mistaken…’

  ‘I think yo
u’ll find that it is you who have made a mistake,’ the voice on the other end of the line said coldly. ‘There is not, and never was, any deal to buy Reynolds Gems. Now, it is late, Miss Reynolds, and I would like to go home. So unless there is anything else…?’

  ‘No…nothing else.’ Tahlia’s throat felt as though she had swallowed glass, and she had to force the words out. ‘Thank you for clarifying the situation, Mr Lloyd.’

  She replaced the receiver and sank down onto the bed. The room spun alarmingly. Surely she was not going to do something as melodramatic as faint? Bile rose in her throat and she hunched forward so that the blood rushed to her head. She couldn’t faint; she had to get back to Carlton House and her parents before the bailiffs threw them onto the street.

  Footsteps sounded on the marble floor, and she jerked her head round as the bedroom door opened.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Thanos demanded, his eyes narrowing on her white face. ‘Why haven’t you come down? The guests are gathering in the lobby, waiting for the party to begin, and I want you at my side. Damn it, Tahlia,’ he said explosively, when she stared at him with dull eyes. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ He could not forget the anguished moan he’d heard as he had entered the suite. ‘Are you ill?’

  The pain in her heart was sheer agony—but there could still be a simple explanation for the news she had just heard, Tahlia reminded herself. Slowly she got up from the bed and faced him, her eyes locked on his face.

  ‘Tell me, Thanos, did you ever intend to buy Reynolds Gems? Or did you bring me to Greece and make me your mistress—allow me to believe my father’s problems would be solved—while all along you knew you had told Vantage Investments not to proceed with the buy-out?’

  For a split second something indefinable flared in his eyes, before the mask fell and his expression became unfathomable. But that tiny hesitation had told Tahlia everything—and her heart splintered.