The Greek's Convenient Wife (Greek Tycoons)
Page 19
‘To go where?’
She gave him a nervous glance over her shoulder. ‘I’m not sure…I’ll find somewhere.’
‘On foot?’
She bit her lip. ‘If I have to.’
‘Is my company so distasteful to you?’
She lowered her gaze. ‘No.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me you had nothing to do with Jeremy’s plot to siphon off money from my company?’
‘I tried to tell you but you wouldn’t listen.’
‘I mean right from the start,’ he said. ‘Why didn’t you come to me as soon as you knew what he was up to? You had no need to compromise yourself in such a way.’
Her eyes came back to his. ‘I didn’t know if you would believe me. You hadn’t believed my father; why would you listen to me?’
His expression clouded with guilt. ‘I made a big mistake with my handling of your father’s situation. I can’t change that. I was distracted by the death of my mother and relied too heavily on Jeremy to sort things out.’ He scraped a hand through his hair and continued. ‘I have since learnt the details of the arrangement Jeremy made with your father over the loan. All I can say is that I’m sorry I didn’t see his ruthless behaviour before now; fewer people would have been hurt if I had.’
She gave him a direct look. ‘How long have you known where Kyle was?’
‘I knew where Kyle was within days of him leaving for the Northern Territory.’
‘Why did you pretend you didn’t know? You could have sent him to prison at any time and I wouldn’t have been able to stop you.’
‘I would’ve, except I realised he didn’t sink my yacht.’
She stared at him for a long moment. ‘How did you know?’
‘You said that Kyle couldn’t swim very well and I came to the conclusion he could never have done it, or at least not without considerable help.’
‘Do you know who did it?’
‘Surely you don’t need me to tell you?’
‘Jeremy?’
‘Got it in one.’
Maddison gnawed her lip for a moment as her confused thoughts ran together in a blur. ‘But I don’t understand why you insisted on me marrying you if you already knew where Kyle was. I don’t see the point. What did you hope to gain by it?’
His dark eyes meshed with hers, the corner of his mouth lifting in a wry smile. ‘You can’t guess?’
‘You said it was a smokescreen. I know Elena Tsoulis is your mistress.’
‘I haven’t seen Elena since the day of our marriage.’
‘You haven’t?’ Hope sprang in her chest as she looked up at him.
He shook his head. ‘I had much more important things on my mind. Like trying to get you to fall in love with me so our marriage could be permanent instead of temporary.’
She blinked at him. ‘But…but I thought you had no intention of being tied down. You warned me not to get attached to you. You made it clear you didn’t trust long-term promises.’
‘I’ve learnt a lot about myself over the last few days,’ he confessed. ‘A lot of it I haven’t liked. I’d always insisted my mother’s desertion hadn’t affected me but my pattern of relationships up until now has proved that isn’t the case. I never stayed with any lover long enough for my feelings to become engaged, that is until I met you. Within a few days of meeting you I realised I had met the one woman who could unlock my heart. I fell in love with everything about you—your undivided loyalty to your brother and your unerring defiance even when you were scared. It was a pretty heady mixture, wrapped up in a small but totally desirable body which seemed unable to resist my touch.’
Maddison stared at him, not sure she was hearing him correctly.
‘When I met you that day at your flat it occurred to me I had never met anyone who would go so far out on a limb for someone else. Initially I thought I’d test you, to see how far you’d actually go, but within a very short time I realised I was the one prepared to do anything to keep you, even blackmail.’
‘Why did you ask me to leave last night?’
He grimaced as if the memory of what he’d said still pained him. ‘I was blindingly angry. I didn’t stop to think if I’d misjudged the situation. When Jeremy told me you and he had been in cahoots, plotting revenge, I saw every tone of red. It was only later when I came back to the penthouse and found your damp tissue on the floor that I realised I may have misinterpreted something. I couldn’t understand why you’d be crying if everything Jeremy had said was true.’ He came and stood nearer, his hand going to her chin to lift up her face to meet his eyes. ‘Why were you crying?’
‘I didn’t want to leave you…’
‘Why not?’ His voice was deep and husky, his eyes dark and smouldering as they held hers.
‘I know you told me not to, but I just couldn’t help it. I fell in love with you.’
‘Even though I blackmailed you into marriage?’
‘I think especially because of that. I was so busy fighting you I didn’t realise what was happening until it was too late.’
‘Don’t remind me of how ruthless I was,’ he said. ‘I still cringe to think of how I rushed you into bed.’
‘You regret it?’ Her expression clouded.
‘I don’t regret it one bit.’ He took her hands in his. ‘I do, however, feel as if I railroaded you into a relationship you weren’t quite ready for.’
She looped her arms around his neck, pressing herself closer.
‘What makes you think I’m not ready?’
He smiled down into her sparkling blue eyes, his heart swelling with love.
‘I think I’m going to need a little more convincing,’ he said. ‘Call me suspicious, but I like to be absolutely certain before I make long-term commitments.’
‘What would convince you?’
‘I don’t know.’ He drew her even closer. ‘Any suggestions?’
‘How about this?’ She pressed a soft kiss to his mouth.
‘Not bad,’ he said after a few minutes. ‘But I think it’s going to take a bit more to bring me round completely.’
Maddison’s fingers went to the knot of his tie, loosening it and drawing it through the collar of his shirt to let it fall to the floor at their feet.
‘How about this?’ She trailed a hot blaze of feathery kisses down his neck, opening his shirt button by button to continue on over the flat plane of his abdomen.
‘Convinced yet?’ She looked up at him briefly as her fingers went to the buckle of his leather belt.
‘Not entirely.’ He sucked in a breath as the belt slid to the floor to join his tie.
‘Am I getting close?’
‘Very close,’ he answered and, hauling her upright, scooped her in his arms and carried her towards the bedroom.
‘Shouldn’t you be at work instead of being out here in the wilderness?’ she asked as he shouldered open the door.
His dark chocolate gaze glittered with naked desire as he looked down at her smiling face.
‘I’ve got better things to do right now.’
‘I thought that to billionaires making money was the most important thing.’
‘There is one thing much more important to this particular billionaire than making money,’ he said.
‘Oh?’ She wriggled out of her tracksuit and dimpled up at him. ‘What is that?’
He pressed an open mouthed kiss to the creamy upper curve of her breast, lingering over the taut nipple before travelling to the soft under-swell.
She sucked in a tight little breath. ‘Aren’t…you going to tell me?’
‘No.’ He grinned down at her wolfishly. ‘I’m going to show you instead.’
ISBN: 1-55254-593-8
THE GREEK’S CONVENIENT WIFE
First North American Publication 2006.
Copyright © 2005 by Melanie Milburne.
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