‘I don’t see what this has to do with me.’
‘It has everything to do with you, especially since you’re so determined to protect your brother.’
‘What do you mean?’
He gave her a leisurely look.
‘Since you’re so obviously lying to cover Kyle’s tracks, I guess that leaves me with no choice but to deal directly with you.’
‘I can’t pay back that amount of money.’
‘Not many people can,’ he agreed. ‘But that’s not to say you couldn’t in your own inimitable way redress the balance.’
‘I can’t imagine what you’re getting at.’
‘I’m offering you a position, Miss Jones.’ He smiled seductively and then added smokily, ‘Maddison.’
She gritted her teeth against the sound of her name on his lips.
‘What sort of position?’
‘The sort of position most women would clutch at with both hands.’
‘I’m afraid I’m not quite up to date on what most women would do for the simple reason I am not most women.’
‘You surprise me, Maddison. I had you picked as an opportunist, not unlike your father and brother.’
‘My father did nothing wrong.’
He inclined his head.
‘I respect your very obvious loyalty but your father proved his guilt by bowing under the pressure of accusation.’
‘An accusation that was uncalled for and totally false!’ she retorted hotly.
‘It’s understandable you would cling to that view but I have reason to believe otherwise.’
‘You wouldn’t recognise the truth if it jumped out of your over-stuffed wallet.’
‘I beg to differ, Miss Jones. I have a great understanding of the truth. What remains to be seen is whether you do as well.’
‘You can’t make a criminal out of my brother.’
‘I can and I will if I have to,’ he assured her. ‘But for the time being I’m prepared to suspend my judgement on your brother as long as you do what I suggest.’
‘I can’t imagine what scheme you have in mind,’ she said scathingly.
‘Can’t you?’
She gave him an icy look. ‘No doubt it has your unscrupulous desires at its centre.’
‘Desire is a very good choice of word.’ He smiled. ‘I like the sound of that.’
Maddison didn’t like the tone of his voice; it seemed to suggest a growing intimacy between them she didn’t want to acknowledge in any shape or form.
‘What do you want from me?’ she asked. ‘I have no money worth speaking of and I think I’ve made it more than clear I have no intention of revealing the whereabouts of my brother. What else is there?’
He took his time answering. She was intently conscious of his lazy surveillance, the fine hairs on the back of her neck rising in reaction to his studied gaze.
‘I think you might prove to be very useful to me,’ he said. ‘Very useful indeed.’
‘I can’t imagine what you mean.’ She sent him another nervous glance.
‘I have a proposition to make.’
‘What sort of proposition?’
‘The sort of proposition that will clear your brother of all charges, wipe his slate clean, if you like.’
A flicker of hope burned and died in her breast within seconds. She didn’t trust him; he had all the aces in his hand and he would throw them on the table at any moment, she was sure.
‘Just how far are you prepared to go to protect your brother?’ he asked after another tight little pause.
‘As far as it takes.’ She lifted her chin a fraction.
His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. ‘As far as having a relationship with me?’
She held his direct look without speaking, her heart skipping a beat in her chest.
‘I need the smokescreen of a new alliance. You could prove to be very useful in my current circumstances.’
‘I can’t imagine how.’ She finally found her voice.
‘I need a cover,’ he said. ‘I have a situation, so to speak; I need an alibi, the ironclad sort.’
‘I don’t think I can help you.’
‘On the contrary, I think you can. I want you to pretend to be my current mistress. How would you feel about that?’
‘Do you want the truth or politeness?’
‘Both.’
‘Well—’ she tilted her head at him ‘—for a start I would never allow myself to be your mistress.’
‘What about as my wife?’
‘That’s even more unlikely.’
‘What about if you had no choice?’
She gave him an arctic look. ‘I would always have a choice.’
‘Not if your brother’s freedom depended on it.’
Maddison felt cornered and she was sure he was aware of it.
‘What do you mean?’ she asked, trying to buy time.
‘It’s easy.’ He gave her an unreadable look. ‘I can call Kyle’s probation officer right now to tell him he’s flown the coop, or you can agree to do a favour for me, simple as that.’
‘You want me to pretend to be your wife?’
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘I’ve changed my mind. I have much more specific plans for you.’
She gave him a blank stare. ‘I don’t think I’m following you.’
‘I don’t want you to pretend anything,’ he said smoothly. ‘I want you to actually be my wife.’
Her mouth dropped open in shock. ‘You can’t possibly mean that!’
‘In time, Maddison Jones, you will come to learn that I mean everything I say.’
She could well believe it, but didn’t want to add to his already monumental ego by expressing it verbally.
‘You surely can’t expect me to agree to this outrageous proposal,’ she said instead.
‘I think I’ve made it clear what will happen if you don’t,’ he answered. ‘Kyle will find himself in a four-by-four cell, playing cards with who knows what unsavoury inmates.’
She closed her eyes against the image his words conjured. Her brother was wilful and wayward, but he didn’t deserve imprisonment, and she would do everything in her power to stop it happening.
‘I…I need some time to think about this.’ She avoided his eyes.
‘I’ll give you a week, no more.’
‘A week?’
He gave a single nod. ‘But, let me warn you, I’ll be following your every move, so if you have any plans to escape, forget them.’
He reached into his back pocket and handed her a business card. She took it with nerveless fingers and stared at it sightlessly for a long moment.
‘You can reach me on that number when you’ve made your decision,’ he informed her. ‘I’ll tell my secretary to expect your call by five p.m. on Monday.’
She wished she had the courage to tear the card into a thousand pieces, and if it hadn’t been for Kyle she would have, but instead she closed her palm around it, feeling its sharp edges digging into her flesh like an instrument of torture. She lifted her gaze back to his unwavering one, the cold fingertips of fear edging their way up her spine at the self-satisfied gleam reflected in his black-hooded eyes.
‘I’m assuming from all this that your boat wasn’t adequately insured,’ she said.
‘It was very adequately insured,’ he informed her. ‘But this is my way of ensuring I get the best possible return.’
The predatory look he gave her caused her stomach to turn over unexpectedly.
‘You’re taking a very big risk; you don’t know where I might have been or who I’ve been with.’ She was deliberately provocative, even though she had never been so close to a man until he’d stepped into her personal space a few minutes ago.
‘I have no real interest in your sexual proclivities,’ he said dismissively. ‘This will not be a real lasting marriage.’
‘It’s to be temporary?’ She clutched at the life-line hopefully.
‘Of course.’ His eyes glinted darkl
y. ‘Isn’t every marriage?’
She didn’t have it in her to argue the point, even if she’d wanted to. She’d read the latest figures on marital success and they weren’t all that promising.
‘Aren’t you worried I might take you to the cleaners at the end of our…arrangement?’ she asked.
‘Not at all. By the time our marriage is annulled you’ll be very much aware of what sort of outcome such an action would produce.’
She lifted her chin at the thinly veiled threat behind his words.
‘Do I have your word the marriage would stay in name only?’
‘I can assure you, Maddison, my physical needs are being very satisfactorily catered for elsewhere. I have absolutely no interest in chasing you around the bedroom. You will be able to sleep in peace.’
She knew it was highly inconsistent of her to be annoyed by his callous dismissal of her attractiveness to the opposite sex; she knew she was hardly model material but surely she wasn’t ready for the shelf yet?
‘So, if I agree to this arrangement it is safe to assume I’m to turn a blind eye to your activities for appearance’s sake?’
‘You will not only turn a blind eye, you will do everything in your power to maintain the illusion of a happy union whenever we are in public, which means, of course, the same freedom I enjoy will not be available to you.’
‘Meaning?’
‘Meaning any dalliances you might be tempted to conduct will have to be temporarily shelved until such time as our marriage is over.’
‘So you can have your cake and eat it too, but I must not?’
‘That’s correct.’
‘That’s archaic!’
‘That’s the deal, take it or leave it.’
She longed to tell him what to do with his preposterous proposal but a vision of her brother in handcuffs flitted unbidden into her mind and she snapped her mouth shut.
‘Don’t forget, Maddison, I’m doing you a very big favour here. One point five million dollars is a huge debt for someone in your position to pay. This way the debt can be cleared within a short space of time. Your brother can stop looking over his shoulder and you can walk away with a clear conscience knowing you saved him from a fate thought to be worse than death.’
‘What sort of time-frame are you thinking of?’ she asked, her insides twisting painfully.
He pursed his lips for a moment in a gesture of deep thought.
‘At a guess I’d give it six months. Any longer and you might be tempted to get a little too attached to the role.’
‘You must be joking.’ She gave him a scathing glance.
‘One can never be too sure,’ he said with another one of his secret smiles. ‘Women have rather an annoying habit of becoming clingy at times.’
‘It must be your money,’ she shot back. ‘It can’t possibly have anything whatsoever to do with your personality.’
His sudden laughter surprised her; it had a deep masculine sound to it that sent an arrow of sensation up her back as if he’d reached out and touched her with his long fingers. It made her feel as if she’d inadvertently uncovered an even more dangerous facet to him, the ability to slip under her defences and catch her off guard.
‘Maddison Jones—’ his eyes twinkled with lingering amusement as he surveyed her mutinous features ‘—I’m looking forward to hearing your decision next week. I think our little arrangement could prove to be very entertaining, very entertaining indeed.’
Before she could think of a suitably stinging reply the door opened under his hand and he was gone, leaving her standing there with his business card tightly clenched in her hand.
She opened her palm and winced when she saw the tiny pinprick of blood one of the sharp edges had drawn from her soft flesh. She couldn’t help wondering if it were some sort of omen, or perhaps a warning specifically aimed at her; if she were to allow herself to get too close to someone like Demetrius Papasakis she would be, in the end, the only one to get hurt.
CHAPTER TWO
MADDISON had never known a week to go so quickly. As each day unfolded her panic grew steadily inside her until she began to feel as if she were on death row, waiting for the next cock’s crow to herald her imminent demise.
She hadn’t wasted the time available to her but had tried everything in her power to extricate herself from the clutches of Demetrius Papasakis—to no avail. As if to deliberately intensify her desperate circumstances, she had received a flood of bills in the space of days, one of which was a hefty speeding fine of her brother’s which she knew he wouldn’t be able to pay.
She spent a miserable weekend trying to think of a way out of her difficulties but in the end had to admit she was well and truly trapped. Her modest income from the second hand bookstore where she worked would hardly cover Kyle’s speeding ticket let alone a million-and-a-half dollar boat.
However, when she arrived at the bookstore on the Monday morning she received an even bigger shock. Her boss, Hugo McGill, looked at her over the top of his reading glasses, his white whiskers moving up and down restively.
‘Maddison, I have some unfortunate news.’
Cold dread trickled into her stomach at his ominous tone.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked, not sure she really wanted to know.
‘I’m afraid I’m selling up.’
She blinked at him for a second or two. ‘This is rather sudden, isn’t it?’
‘Yes and no,’ he answered. ‘I’ve wanted a change for ages but I felt I should wait until I got a good price for the place. I had an offer at the weekend and, to put it rather bluntly, it was too good to refuse.’
She sat back in her chair as the realisation of her circumstances dawned. ‘I suppose the new owner has no plans to keep the business running?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘The building is going to be demolished to make way for a hotel.’
‘A hotel?’ She gaped at him.
‘A luxury one,’ Hugo said proudly as if somehow that made it better. ‘The fruit shop and the bakery have been sold as well to make room for it.’
Maddison had never felt so angry in all her twenty-four years. She knew without asking who was behind this sudden redevelopment plan but a perverse desire to hear her boss articulate the name urged her on.
‘Do you happen to know who’s behind this purchase?’
‘Yes, the Greek billionaire, Demetrius Papasakis. He was in the papers at the weekend over the loss of his boat. Did you happen to see it?’
‘No.’ She shifted her gaze uncomfortably. ‘I didn’t have time to look at the papers.’
‘It seems his luxury yacht was sabotaged one night last week.’
‘Did he say who he suspected of doing it?’ she asked, carefully avoiding his eye.
‘Not in so many words, but he did say he had the matter in hand. I feel sorry for whoever did it, to tell you the truth. Demetrius Papasakis is not the sort of enemy I would go out of my way to attract.’
‘I’m sure there are lots of people who would agree with you,’ she answered wryly.
‘He’s got an edge of cold ruthlessness about him,’ Hugo continued. ‘But I suppose when he’s got that amount of money who’s going to challenge him?’
‘Who indeed?’
‘Anyway, I’m sorry about your job. You’ve been a good girl, Maddison. I’ll write you a decent reference and if I hear of anything you might be interested in I’ll call you. I know it’s terribly short notice but business is business as they say.’
She gave him a wan smile as she pushed in the chair she’d been sitting on. ‘Yes, it certainly is.’
Maddison had six hours to get through before she announced her decision. She glanced at her watch repeatedly, her heart hammering with every passing minute as she thought about the phone call she had to make by five p.m.
She left the bookshop at four-thirty, surprising herself at her detached attitude as she walked away from it without a backward glance. She searched for a public telephone at four-forty-f
ive, but each one she came to was out of order. She stood on yet another street corner and nibbled at the rough edge of a fingernail as she thought about what to do. In the end she decided a phone call was the cowardly thing to do, that the best way to approach the situation was head on. She wasn’t going to relay her message to Demetrius Papasakis via his secretary; she was going to have it out with him face-to-face.
She rummaged in her bag for the business card he’d given her and quickly memorised the address of his office tower, relieved to find she had just enough time to get there on foot if she hurried. She arrived somewhat breathlessly outside the imposing building in the north of the city, her hair sticking to the back of her neck and her white blouse clinging to her back where beads of nervous perspiration had collected. She brushed an errant strand out of her face and stabbed her finger at the call button of the lifts, trying to ignore the distinct flutter of unease in her belly.
The lift swept her up to the administration floor where she encountered a middle-aged woman guarding the reception desk.
‘Can I help you?’ the woman asked in a haughty tone.
Maddison brushed another wayward strand out of her face.
‘I’m here to see Mr Papasakis.’
‘Do you have an appointment?’
‘No, not really. I was supposed to call him, but at the last minute I decided to come in person. My name is Maddison Jones.’
The woman’s eyes swept over her. ‘You’re Miss Jones?’
‘That’s correct.’ Maddison lifted her chin in a token gesture of pride.
She didn’t care for the look the secretary was giving her, as if she was the last person anyone would expect Demetrius Papasakis to be associated with. She suffered no illusions about her out-of-date clothes and scuffed shoes, but she knew her figure was nothing to be ashamed of, even if her hair needed brushing and her lips a touch of gloss.
‘I’ll let him know you’re here.’ The woman reached for the intercom on her desk.
‘Thank you,’ Maddison responded politely.
She heard the deep burr of Demetrius’s voice on the machine as she stood waiting, and glancing at the clock on the wall saw the second hand tick down the remaining seconds—ten, nine, eight, seven…
The Greek's Convenient Wife (Greek Tycoons) Page 2