by Penny Jordan
He smiled even wider as he thought of his instruction to his solicitor to have divorce papers ready for after the honeymoon. If he was feeling like this after one night, he anticipated the marriage lasting a little longer than a few weeks. This revenge was definitely sweet.
Where was she anyway? When they’d fallen asleep, exhausted, she’d been tucked into his chest, one lissome leg thrown over his. He stretched out an arm, the smile still on his face, expecting to find a warm, sexy body. Except he didn’t. His eyes snapped open, awake immediately. He jerked up. The bed was empty. Sunlight streamed in the window. He looked at the clock.
‘Theos!’
He never slept this late. Hadn’t slept this late in years. And he’d never woken up after a night spent with a woman in his bed to find her gone. He was always the one who woke first, left first. The one in control. He leapt out of the bed and pulled on jeans and a T-shirt. It was only at the door, as he opened it, that he thought of something. A dark scowl marring his face, he quickly checked Kallie’s room but it too was empty. His scowl got worse.
With his irritation growing and not really sure why he felt so annoyed, Alexandros came to the kitchen last. Sun was streaming in through the open door that led out to Thea’s small patio, where she had her herb garden and a tiny olive grove. He could hear muted voices and the sound of laughter.
Was that Kallie?
He walked to the door and stood stunned at the sight, as a whole other host of reactions settled into his bloodstream on seeing Kallie again. She was dressed in long shorts, a peasant-style vest top, her hair tied back and a bright scarf protecting it from the sun. Bare feet. She and Thea had their heads close together over some pots they were replanting. Since when had Thea and Kallie become friends again? He’d seen the way Thea had frozen Kallie out and had even felt a little sorry for her. But now…it reminded him so painfully of another time, so long ago that an inarticulate sound made both women start and turn around.
Kallie reacted quickly, her smile fading fast as she took in the dark mood that clung to Alexandros. He looked livid as he glared at her. Thankfully Thea provided a diversion, declaring in a flurry of movement that she would make him some breakfast. Alexandros never took his eyes off Kallie and stopped Thea going back inside with a curt ‘No!’
To Kallie he seemed to wrestle with something and then he suddenly smiled at Thea, the mood gone. His smile took her breath away and he looked years younger. Like the young man she’d envisaged while lying beside him that morning. Her heart clenched painfully. She knew she was in serious trouble. He directed his words to Thea but looked at Kallie. ‘I’m going to take Kallie out for a drive…would you prepare a picnic, please?’
Thea nodded enthusiastically and chattered on about where they should go. When she went back inside, Alexandros came close to Kallie. She had to tilt her head to look up, the sun harsh in her eyes. The look on his face, his whole demeanour screamed, You aren’t going to escape that easily.
Kallie gulped. He saw the movement and touched a finger to her throat. ‘We’ll leave in an hour…’
And he turned and went back inside.
CHAPTER TWELVE
ALEXANDROS said nothing for a while on the drive to wherever he was taking her. Kallie was wary. She’d made her getaway from the bedroom that morning as an act of self-protection. Could he be angry because she hadn’t been there when he’d woken up? But surely that’s all he’d wanted? Sex. She wouldn’t be surprised if he’d expected her to go back to her own room afterwards, to come to him only as some kind of concubine. And then she coloured as she remembered how tired she’d been afterwards, how she hadn’t been able to move another muscle…
She looked over. His profile was grim. His jaw stern. She felt like reaching across and kissing that jaw, making him relax, teasing him to a smile. Like the one she’d seen earlier, which had been for Thea, not her. He hated her. She knew he did. Despite what he’d said, he had to. She represented such an awful time in his life, when everything had conspired against him and he’d been totally alone, against them all. She had to turn and look away again, feeling a sudden ache in her throat. She flipped her sunglasses down over her eyes so he wouldn’t see the brightness.
‘I thought we’d go to Kaisariani on Mt. Hymmetos.’
Kallie just nodded, couldn’t trust herself to speak.
He flicked her a look because she didn’t answer him. ‘Kallie, did you hear me?’
It suddenly became too much, she couldn’t hold it in any more, not after being so intimate with him last night. She turned in her seat as if galvanised by a bigger force—guilt. It rose up and threatened to strangle her unless she said something.
Tears made her voice distorted. ‘Alexandros, I had no idea…I swear, I didn’t do it…and I didn’t know…about the other stuff…the merger…’
She gulped in a heaving breath, the tears running down her cheeks unchecked now. Self-protective arms coming around her belly. Alexandros cursed and swung the vehicle over into a layby. He had to indicate to the bodyguards following that everything was OK.
He turned and snatched Kallie’s glasses off, putting his hands on her shoulders. Her face was red, her eyes streaming.
‘What the hell are you talking about?’
‘Thea…She told me…’ Kallie made a huge effort to control herself and wiped the backs of her hands across her face. Alexandros was still just a blur in her vision.
‘Thea what?’ He was shaking his head, frowning.
A big shuddering breath. ‘Thea…We spoke…She told me…what had been happening, what happened after…after…’
His hands tightened on her shoulders so tightly that she grimaced. Then he let her go and sat back. The paroxysm of tears was passing. She could see now, and his eyes were black, unreadable.
‘I never read the article, Alexandros. I didn’t know, I swear.’
His voice sounded funny and mechanical, as if he was repeating himself to a slow child. ‘They printed conversations…private conversations that only we had…’ His mouth twisted. ‘You have no idea how much I regret that now…I know, Kallie. The evidence was there on their computer system…it was your e-mail, your password. Are you telling me you gave that to someone else?’
A physical pain struck her chest when he spoke about regretting the conversations, stunning her with its force. She had to shake her head miserably. Of course she hadn’t given anyone her password.
They were back to square one. How had she let herself get this upset, so emotional? All she had to worry about was getting through this…experience in one piece. And when Alexandros had had enough, which she prayed would be soon, he’d let her go. That was the decision she’d come to in her long hours of contemplation the previous day. Why, oh, why did she have to be so impetuous? She may as well declare to him right now that she was very much afraid she was in love with him all over again, that she’d never stopped loving him.
And that had to make her the saddest woman in the world. She also knew, much to her dismay, part of the reason she couldn’t launch into a proper confession. As much as she was still genuinely scared for Eleni and her family, after being with him last night she was very much afraid that a future, however brief, without him in it scared her even more. Was she really willing to plead guilty in order to snatch whatever this man might offer her? She took her sunglasses and put them back on, covering her eyes again.
A shiver ran through Alexandros as he saw the woman before him morph into some kind of a robot. Why was she so insistent on proclaiming her innocence? What was the point? Something struck him. And it seemed to make sense as he witnessed her lightning change. Sympathy. She was looking for a way to get to him…to play him, make him doubt his suspicions. What was she hoping for? A more permanent arrangement? To bring him to the point where he might possibly offer her something more out of the marriage? A heavy weight settled in his chest. She’d made him wait till she came to him, and now, after sleeping with him, she was pretending repentance. Inn
ocence.
He conveniently ignored the voice reminding him that he had insisted on her coming to him, told himself that she must have assumed their intimacy might have softened him up. How many countless women before her had done it? He crushed the concern, the confusing contradictions that had flooded his head on seeing her tears. She was even buttering up Thea, for goodness’ sake!
He leant across and whipped off her sunglasses again. She shrank back, her eyes wary, which he read as calculating. Leaning across, he didn’t allow her any escape. ‘I don’t want to hear you mention the past again. It has no relevance any more.’
Apart from the fact that you used it to get her where you want her…
He brutally crushed every contradiction. For the final time. Enough. And concentrated on the woman in front of him, the ache he could feel building in his groin as he took in the way her chest heaved with her breaths. She was as aware of him, this space around them as he was. She was lying, he’d prove it, right now.
‘The only thing that matters is this…’
Kallie could feel the doorhandle digging into her back. Alexandros came closer and closer. She put up her hands but they only met a wall of hard muscle. And her insides liquefied when she remembered touching it, feeling it last night. His whole body was like a statue brought to vibrant life. He was holding her head in his hands so she couldn’t move, and Kallie clamped her mouth shut to deny him access. But instead of the brutal crushing kiss which she’d expected, it was soft, tender. His mouth moving across hers, like a whisper of things to come, an erotic invitation to join him. And, heaven help her, she wanted to, she wanted to so badly. He was relentless, patiently enticing, waiting. She couldn’t withstand his sensual onslaught. Like last night, he managed to reduce her entire universe to here and now. Nothing else existed.
When he probed, she sighed, his tongue touched the seam of her lips and she opened a little more. But still he didn’t enter. Her nerve ends tingled, her blood hummed. She lifted her hands to his shoulders, trying to tell him silently that she was giving in, acquiescing…and then she knew exactly what he wanted. Tentatively at first, she darted her tongue forward in an erotically innocent foray, touched his mouth, traced his lips…and then delved in to that dark moistness of his mouth, feeling emboldened and heady when his tongue finally met and tangled with hers.
She felt a hand under her loose top cup one breast, a thumb pad running back and forth over her nipple. Her tongue thrust harder, she arched her back, pressing her breast into his palm. And then, as if a light switch had gone on, he pulled back, put his hands on her shoulders and looked deep into her shocked-glazed eyes.
‘See? That’s all we need to worry about…for as long as it lasts, we’re going to be married.’
He lifted her hand and pressed a searing kiss to her palm. She couldn’t move for a long moment as he looked at her. She felt her seat belt digging into her waist—she still had it on! They were at the side of the road with cars whizzing up and down outside.
Kallie shook herself free of his hands and sat up properly, mortified. She was as weak as a kitten where it came to him and she’d helped him achieve his aim. She wouldn’t be so silly as to bring up the past again.
‘I won’t offer you wine…’
Kallie shook her head quickly. Her sunglasses covered her eyes. They had found a secluded glade, just down from the chapel which was higher up on the mountain than the Kaisariani monastery, which dated from the twelfth century. An uneasy truce seemed to have settled on them, and Kallie welcomed it.
Thea had prepared a veritable feast. Pity she’d lost her appetite, thought Kallie, which was very out of character for her. She couldn’t stop her mind going back to the previous night. In anticipation of the coming night? And nights?
The only time reality had intruded last night, apart from her little outburst, had been when Alexandros had mentioned protection. The first time they hadn’t used anything. His look of abject horror when he’d realised, she wouldn’t forget in a hurry. She’d told him that she was on the Pill. She knew he’d probably taken that as a sign of promiscuity, in fact it was for her painful and irregular periods. And she reflected then that she’d just recently changed over to a new Pill. Maybe that’s what was making her feel so emotional.
‘What are you thinking?’
Kallie coloured. ‘Nothing.’ She grabbed some cheese and bread and searched for something—anything—to say to avoid his gaze, his assessing eyes.
‘I was always surprised…’
He lifted a brow.
‘Well, not surprised as much as intrigued when I heard of the huge success of Kouros Shipping…’ She blushed. ‘Even though Thea told me it was touch and go for a while…it’s the opposite now.’ She shrugged and suddenly wished she hadn’t broached the subject. ‘You just…you’d always said you didn’t think you had the killer instinct…’
She stopped and could see the hole widen at her feet. What was she thinking? She was trying to avoid controversial topics, not bring them up. He’d no doubt be remembering the article, how he’d been made to look weak.
Alexandros was glad of his sunglasses as he watched Kallie squirm. He felt like she’d lifted up a protective layer of skin and looked underneath. He willed down the anger that threatened to rise as he thought of everything he’d been through, which she claimed not to have been aware of. Of course it had brought out the killer instinct, he’d had to fight for his very survival. And he had survived, spectacularly. But for the first time that thought didn’t fill him with the satisfaction it normally did. What was this witch doing to him?
‘Well,’ he drawled, sitting back on one arm, long legs stretched out, ‘as you can see, I found it from somewhere.’
He idly picked a grape from the bunch and Kallie flicked him a wary glance.
‘Let’s talk about you. Your business…it must be hard to keep it going with all that socialising…’
Kallie welcomed his attention being taken off her woeful attempt to be neutral. And registered his obvious attempt to rile her back. She dampened down the irritation and smiled sweetly. ‘I just take copious amounts of drugs to keep going—isn’t that what all people in PR do?’
He smiled and it nearly threw her off balance. ‘I might have thought so before, but with your abstinence and aversion to alcohol I doubt it. I’d hate to see you try anything stronger.’
And then despite himself, he found that he was actually curious. ‘Tell me about your job…really, I’d like to know.’
She shrugged, not trusting him. ‘It’s a job like any other. It’s pressured, intense. When I’m working for someone, that’s it for two or three months. I always have time to recuperate when it’s over. But I do have to be available twenty-four seven.’
He looked at her but she couldn’t see his eyes. He nodded. Something about his stillness told Kallie that she’d struck a chord somehow.
‘But I can’t imagine your kind of pressure. You have millions at stake…hundreds of people to think about, their livelihoods.’
Which was why it must have been so awful for him to have to fight for his company alone…
The gnawing guilt made Kallie falter for a second, and she forced a smile. ‘My worst nightmare is a client’s function being a disaster or that they might not make the papers…or make the papers, whichever they want at the time.’
It always amazed her, how one month one client would be doing everything to keep out of the papers and the next doing everything to get in.
Very quietly, Alexandros said, ‘I know.’ As if he’d heard her thoughts.
Kallie settled back into a comfortable cross-legged position. ‘And as for the parties.’ She shrugged and picked at small flowers. ‘They’re just a part of it. Usually I’m only there for a short time, just to make sure everything is OK, then I leave them to it and read about it the next day, like everyone else.’
‘You could have had a bigger business…it’s just you and Cécile?’
She nodded and fr
owned. ‘How do you mean?’
‘Your shares, of course, the ones you sold off…’ His mouth tightened in obvious distaste. ‘You didn’t think it worth investing in the business? Wanted to spend it all on—?’
Kallie tensed, beyond incensed. Hands in fists by her sides, she spat, ‘How dare you? I have worked my fingers to the bone getting that place off the ground. We made best new business through sheer graft. There were times I was so tired I couldn’t see straight.’
He sat up and pushed his glasses up onto his head. She’d whipped hers off and cursed now. He’d seen too much, she was getting emotional again. She jumped up.
She could sense him get up behind her and turned back to face him. ‘I’m not a bad person, Alexandros. I’m not.’
Despite her best efforts, she knew she was close to tears again, and she turned away again. Even though they were in a park in the middle of Athens, the city lay somewhere beneath them, silent. She willed him away, willed him not to touch her, and he must have felt it because he didn’t. She found herself speaking quietly, quickly.
‘After Mum and Dad died, I had no interest in the business. I never had. You know that. Even if you say you didn’t. I gave my uncle those shares. I didn’t sell them. I couldn’t.’ She turned around again and as he was closer than she’d anticipated, she backed away another step. ‘What kind of person do you think I am?’
Stupid question, Kallie…
He felt at a loss, amazed at her passionate reaction. Her expressive eyes. Shining blue and green. And thought, The kind of person most of us would be in that situation, who would demand every penny of their inheritance…
‘Kallie—’