Proud Greek, Ruthless Revenge

by Chantelle Shaw

  He stood up, but to her dismay settled himself next to her on the sofa—so close that she was conscious of his hard thigh muscle pressing against her jeans. ‘Firstly, I want an answer,’ he said coolly. ‘Are you pregnant? I did not use protection when I made love to you on the beach on Santorini,’ he said, when she gave him a startled look.

  She made her decision in a split second. ‘No,’ she said quickly, praying he had not heard the faint tremor in her voice.

  When he made no reply she risked another glance, but his face was expressionless. ‘I see,’ he murmured at last. ‘Then that leads us to the second reason for my visit—which is to return this.’ He withdrew the cheque she had sent him from his jacket pocket and held it out to her.

  ‘Keep it,’ she said sharply. ‘I know you transferred the money for Reynolds Gems into my father’s account the day after I left Mykonos, but now I’m repaying every penny. My family are no longer indebted to you.’

  He tore the cheque into pieces with tightly leashed savagery and said harshly, ‘When I first met you I believed you had seduced my sister’s husband as callously as my father’s mistress had wrecked my parents’ marriage. I could see little to differentiate you from Wendy, and I transferred the hatred I had felt for her onto you.’

  She almost preferred his lies to his brutal honesty, Tahlia thought numbly.

  A tremor of sheer misery ran through her, causing Thanos to frown. ‘You should change out of your wet clothes,’ he said abruptly. When she shook her head he gave an impatient sigh and shrugged out of his jacket, draping it around her shoulders. The leather collar was as soft as butter against her cheek, and the silk lining carried the lingering scent of his cologne. His compassion, when seconds before he had been comparing her to his father’s mistress, twisted the knife in Tahlia’s heart. She wished he would just say what he had come to say and leave—before she broke down in front of him.

  ‘While we were on Mykonos I was heavily involved with the negotiations to buy the Ambassador Hotel in London,’ he said quietly. ‘And of course the Artemis party was looming. Vantage Investments is a subsidiary company of Savakis Enterprises, but it functions as an independent company. After I had instructed Steven Holt to proceed with buying Reynolds Gems I had no reason to contact him again. I was unaware until the night you left Mykonos that Steven’s wife had gone into premature labour the day after I had spoken to him. Their son was born twelve weeks early, and Steven has barely left the hospital since the birth. I understand that the baby is still in the special care unit, but he is now thriving,’ he murmured, when Tahlia looked horrified.

  ‘Perhaps understandably, Steven forgot to pass on the message to Mark Lloyd about my change of decision over the purchase of Reynolds Gems. Once I discovered what had happened I immediately transferred money from my personal account to your father’s bank.’

  Without Thanos’s swift intervention her parents would have lost their home, Tahlia acknowledged, guilt sweeping through her when she recalled how she had accused him of being a liar.

  He stood up and walked over to the window, staring at the rain lashing against the glass. ‘If I am honest, I knew almost from the start that you were nothing like Wendy—or the vacuous bimbo portrayed by certain tabloids,’ Thanos continued tensely. ‘You were gentle and kind.’ He glanced disparagingly at Charlie, who was curled up in an armchair like a fluffy ginger cushion. ‘You rescued stray animals. I wanted to hate you,’ he said roughly, ‘but you got under my skin and I discovered that I enjoyed being with you. I wanted to come after you the night you left, but I couldn’t leave Ana to cope alone at the party—and I was furious that, although the month that we had been lovers had been the happiest of my life, you clearly did not feel the same way. You did not trust me. The next morning I learned that the damage to my hotel on St Lucia was more serious than I had first realised, and that several of my staff had been injured in the storm. I had no choice but to fly immediately to the Caribbean.’

  Tahlia could think of nothing to say as she absorbed his words, and a tense silence quivered between them before Thanos finally spoke again.

  ‘I’m sorry for the way I treated you when we first met. I blamed you for hurting my sister, and in my damnable desire for revenge I stole your innocence.’

  The bleakness in his eyes tore at Tahlia’s heart, and even in the midst of her misery she wanted to absolve him. ‘Neither of us could deny the sexual chemistry between us,’ she said softly. ‘I wanted you to make love to me.’

  She got to her feet and held out his jacket, praying he would take the hint and go, but he strode towards her, his eyes blazing, and threw the jacket carelessly onto the sofa.

  ‘I dishonoured you,’ he said harshly. ‘And the only way I can try to make amends is to marry you.’

  ‘What?’ Tahlia’s jaw dropped, and as the room tilted alarmingly she was afraid she was going to faint again.

  Thanos was deadly serious, she realised as she stared at his taut face, his skin stretched tightly over the razor-sharp edges of his cheekbones. He was impossibly beautiful, and equally impossible to understand—although in a way she did understand his reasoning. At heart he was a traditional Greek male and an honourable man. His self-respect had been badly damaged by what he perceived as the wrong he had done to her. But marriage! That was taking contrition a step too far.

  ‘I don’t want to marry you,’ she said quietly.

  Thanos felt as though he had received a hammer-blow to his heart. It was the same pain he had experienced when Yalena had broken their engagement and revealed that she had been sleeping with Takis; the same pain that had ripped through him when he had seen Melina for the first time after the accident, when she had looked so tiny amid all the wires and tubes which had been keeping her alive.

  ‘You must know I would never do anything to hurt you,’ he said roughly. ‘And I am a wealthy man—you would not want for anything.’

  Dear heaven, this was torture. Didn’t he realise that her resolve was perilously close to crumbling? That she longed to snatch this chance of happiness even though she knew she would never be truly happy when he did not love her?

  ‘But I would want something that you cannot give me, Thanos,’ she whispered, forcing the words past the constriction in her throat. ‘I would want love. I don’t care about your wealth or the material things you can give me. I would marry you if you were a goat-herd on Agistri if you loved me as much I love you.’

  Tears blurred her vision, so she felt rather than saw him move, but she guessed that her admission would have him striding out of the door without a backward glance. She was unprepared for the strong arms that closed around her, and she gave a startled cry when the walls revolved again as he lifted her and carried her down the hall.

  ‘Thanos, what are you doing?’ she choked, unable to stem the tears that had been gathering since he had first appeared on her doorstep.

  He kicked open her bedroom door and lowered her gently onto the bed. Her heart turned over when she saw that his thick eyelashes were spiked with moisture.

  ‘Thanos?’ She raised a trembling hand to his cheek, her eyes widening at the unguarded expression in his eyes as he knelt over her.

  ‘You love me?’ he said in a strained tone, all his arrogance stripped away, leaving him achingly vulnerable.

  It was small wonder that he sounded disbelieving, Tahlia thought gently. Years ago he had been so cruelly rejected by the woman he had loved. Since then he had shouldered the responsibility of bringing up his sister and building a hugely successful company, and she guessed that deep down he had never come to terms with being abandoned by his both his parents. For most of his life he had felt alone.

  Her pride suddenly seemed unimportant—especially when he was staring at her as if her answer mattered desperately to him. ‘I love you with all my heart,’ she assured him quietly.

  He closed his eyes briefly and drew a ragged breath. ‘You are my world, Tahlia mou,’ he said simply, his voice shaking with emot
ion. ‘And I will love you and cherish you until I die. You stole my heart, and now it is yours for ever.’ He kissed away the tears slipping down her face. ‘Does knowing that I love you make you cry?’ he murmured, and the shadow of uncertainty in his eyes tugged at her heart.

  ‘Only because I have wanted you to love me for so long and I can’t believe it has happened,’ she said shakily.

  ‘Believe it,’ he bade her urgently, taking her hand and holding it over his heart, so she could feel its thunderous beat pass through her fingertips into her veins. ‘The month we spent together on Mykonos was the happiest I have ever known, and day by day my feelings for you grew more intense. Now you know that I love you with my heart and soul and everything I am, will you do me the honour of marrying me, agape mou?’

  She saw the love that blazed in his eyes, and finally began to hope that everything really would be all right.

  ‘Melina…?’ she queried anxiously.

  ‘Melina knows how I feel about you and she gives us her blessing. In fact, she says if you don’t agree to be my wife she’ll catch the next plane to England and try to persuade you herself,’ he quipped lightly, his smile not disguising the fierce tension that still gripped him. ‘She’s looking forward to meeting you and getting to know you properly.’

  That left one last doubt, Tahlia acknowledged, catching her lower lip with her teeth. ‘I love you, and I would love to marry you.’ She pressed her finger to his mouth when he bent his head to kiss her. ‘But I have a confession. I lied to you, Thanos.’ He held her gaze steadily, and she took a deep breath. ‘When you asked if I was pregnant I denied it. I didn’t want you to come back to me out of duty.’

  She suddenly felt ridiculously shy, and the look of dawning comprehension in his eyes gave no clue to how he felt.

  ‘Tahlia?’

  ‘I’m going to have your baby,’ she said softly. ‘Are you…are you pleased?’ She watched his smile widen to a grin that made him look almost boyish, and her heart overflowed with her love for him.

  ‘Pleased is such an inadequate word to express how I feel, agape,’ he said deeply, his voice cracking with the emotion. ‘Overjoyed is better—and thankful, humbled that I have found you, pedhaki mou. And most of all determined that you will never have reason to doubt my love for you and our child.’

  He bent his head again and claimed her mouth in a kiss that spoke of passion and desire and a powerful, abiding love that would last a lifetime.

  Tahlia responded to him with everything that was in her heart, so that the kiss became a sensual feast that fanned the flames of their mutual hunger. Their clothes were a barrier he swiftly removed, and she cried his name as he cupped her breasts and teased each rosy tip with his tongue. He groaned when she traced her fingers over his body, and fought for control when she encircled him and caressed him until he could not wait a second longer.

  ‘I love you,’ he whispered as he gently parted her and discovered the drenching sweetness of her arousal.

  She was the love of his life, and he told her so as he entered her and joined their bodies as one, moving with exquisite care until passion overwhelmed them both and they reached the heights together before tumbling back to earth to lie replete in each other’s arms, their hearts beating in unison.

  EPILOGUE

  THEY were married six weeks later, in the village church where Tahlia had been christened, and they held a reception for family and friends in a huge marquee on the lawn at Carlton House.

  Melina was well enough to fly over from America, accompanied by a tall, handsome doctor. She revealed that Daniel Sanders had asked her to marry him.

  ‘We’ve both fallen in love with the right man this time,’ she murmured to Tahlia as the guests gathered on the driveway to watch the bride and groom depart for their honeymoon in Antigua.

  Tahlia had felt nervous about meeting Thanos’s sister, but Melina had quickly assured her that she did not blame anyone but her ex-husband for the collapse of her marriage.

  ‘Do you think Thanos approves of Daniel?’ Melina asked anxiously, as Tahlia was about to climb into the limousine next to her new husband.

  ‘He likes him very much,’ Tahlia reassured her. ‘But I can’t believe you want me to be your bridesmaid. My obstetrician has already said that the baby is bigger than average. I’m going to look like a whale in six months’ time.’

  ‘What was your whispered conversation with Melina about?’ Thanos murmured when the car finally sped away.

  Tahlia gave her parents one last wave and turned back to smile at him. ‘She wanted to know if you approve of Daniel—I told her that you did.’

  ‘I think he’ll make her happy.’ Thanos lifted Tahlia’s hand to his mouth and pressed his lips to the plain gold wedding band that he had slipped onto her finger, next to her diamond solitaire engagement ring, during the ceremony. ‘And I will spend the rest of my life making you happy, Tahlia mou,’ he told her seriously. ‘S’agapo. I love you.’

  The raw emotion evident in his dark eyes brought a lump to her throat, and her mouth trembled slightly as she kissed him. ‘And I love you. Always and for ever.’

  They spent a blissful month in Antigua, before returning to Thanos’s stunning villa in a leafy suburb of Athens. Tahlia’s parents were frequent visitors, and Thanos refused to be away from home for more than one night, ruthlessly delegating business trips to his executives.

  By the end of her pregnancy Tahlia was as big as she had predicted. ‘You don’t look like a whale. You are my beautiful and very pregnant wife,’ Thanos told her softly when she bemoaned her expanding waistline, ‘and I love you more than words can say.’

  He said those words over and over when she went into labour a week early, and said them again in a voice choked with emotion when she gave birth to their son. They called him Petros. And as Tahlia held her newborn son to her breast, and stroked his shock of dark hair, Thanos claimed her mouth in a lingering kiss.

  ‘You are never going through that again,’ he muttered rawly, unable to forget the sight of her pain-ravaged face as she delivered their baby. ‘I would have given everything I own if I could have suffered in your place.’

  ‘It wasn’t so bad,’ Tahlia assured him, her labour pains already forgotten as she stared in wonder at the precious new life in her arms. ‘I always wanted a brother or sister when I was growing up, and I don’t want Petros to be an only child. Three children is a nice-sized family, don’t you think?’

  Thanos stroked a lock of damp hair from her face, and closed his eyes briefly as emotion swept through him. ‘I think you are incredible, kardia mou, and there are not the words to say how much I love you. You know I’d agree to half a dozen children if it’s what you want. But for now we have Petros, and we share a love that will last a lifetime. I could not ask for more, my love, because you are everything.’

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-4802-5

  PROUD GREEK, RUTHLESS REVENGE

  First North American Publication 2010.

  Copyright © 2009 by Chantelle Shaw.

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