‘Are you okay?’ he asked, seeing her frown.
There were so many answers to that question it was safer not to speak at all. When she stared into his eyes all her problems seemed to disappear. Kris was compelling in a way she’d never encountered before, which made it totally useless telling herself that, having spent all her adult life shying away from forming more intimate relationships, she was going to forget all her fears now.
‘Are you frightened of sex? Is that why your fiancé was unfaithful to you?’
‘Wow!’ She drew her head back with surprise. ‘You don’t hold back, do you?’
Kris shrugged. ‘It’s a simple question.’
‘And one you have no right to know the answer to.’
He conceded this with a dip of his head, but the steady beam of his eyes didn’t let up.
‘I think it’s probably time I went back now,’ she stated.
‘If you want, or you can tell me more. It’s entirely up to you. I’m in no hurry,’ Kris assured her.
‘What do you want to hear about?’
‘You could start with your early childhood.’
‘What are you? A shrink?’
‘No, but I know which buttons to press. So tell me or don’t. It’s up to you. Shall we sit down again?’ he suggested when she remained silently brooding.
‘Can I trust you?’ she said at last.
Kris shrugged. ‘Time will tell. Meanwhile, what do you have to lose?’
‘Not much,’ she agreed with a humourless laugh.
‘Then we’ll begin.’
‘I have a few questions for you first.’
‘Shoot.’ Leaning back on his elbows, he waited for her to begin.
‘I just want to know—are you a local fisherman perhaps working as crew when fish are scarce?’
He burst out laughing.
‘Are you or not?’ she pressed.
Kris’s eyes were still dancing with laughter. ‘I’m your sultan and you’re Scheherazade buying time for your friends, remember.’
‘Like you said, I’m bored with that story.’
‘Me too.’ Resting back, he waited.
‘I can’t be long or my friends will send out a search party,’ she warned.
‘I doubt that somehow. They know where you are and who you’re with.’ Kimmie was changing her mind about telling him anything more, he guessed, and that was a shame. She had to want to tell him and if he didn’t learn about her he couldn’t pursue the admittedly wild idea that Kimmie might prove to be the answer to his uncle’s request. ‘Do you want to spoil their fun?’
‘No,’ she admitted. ‘I don’t.’ She followed this by glancing in the direction of the music blowing on the wind in short, irregular bursts.
It must have occurred to Kimmie that she was with a man she hardly knew. It was his duty to reassure her. ‘Chapter One. Kimmie’s Life Story...’ he murmured.
‘Okay,’ she murmured back.
‘Talking things out is therapeutic,’ he reassured.
It took a while for Kimmie to get into her stride, but eventually the fact that she was opening up to a relative stranger became less important than opening up. It was like lancing a wound. Once the pus came oozing out, it started to flow faster and faster, and with each new fact the telling became easier. And it wasn’t all doom and gloom. She had lots of anecdotes about her childhood that made her laugh as she looked back.
He didn’t laugh. He remained quite still, listening intently.
CHAPTER THREE
‘SO YOUR FIRST memory is...?’
‘Staring at a brass poker while having my nappy changed,’ she joked, ‘but I’m not sure you want to hear that.’
He laughed. ‘Moving on. Let’s try for something else.’
‘Okay, then... I’m in a dark room, crawling on the floor...’
‘Crawling in your bedroom?’ he prompted.
‘No, I don’t think so.’ She screwed up her face as she thought back. ‘It doesn’t smell nice and there are empty bottles on the floor. It’s sticky. I remember picking up a cigarette butt, though I didn’t know what it was at the time. There was a lipstick stain on the end of it that made me think of my mother. I put it down again because it smelled nasty. And now I remember I was hungry... I wanted something to eat, and I’m cold—’
‘Okay.’ Shocked, he cut her off. ‘Why don’t we leave it there? I didn’t mean you to relive a time when you were frightened and alone, and I apologise for pushing you. You must think me insensitive.’
‘No, I think you’re curious,’ she said.
‘This isn’t a joke.’
She smiled ruefully. ‘You’re telling me. Or maybe I embellished the tale to keep your interest a little longer so the party could continue...?’
‘I don’t believe that for a minute,’ he said, springing to his feet. ‘Come on...let’s go.’
‘What have I done wrong?’
‘Absolutely nothing,’ he told Kimmie firmly. ‘You’ve done nothing wrong.’
What about his uncle? What about his agreement to at least consider the suggestion that he, Kris, should get married and settle down?
He’d never found himself in a situation where scruples overruled his natural instinct to seduce, but by the time Kimmie had finished relating this first chapter of her life, where she’d clearly had a less than ideal childhood, he was committed to protecting her from further harm, and nothing else.
‘So? How did I do?’ she asked as she stood too. ‘Are my stories good enough to keep your interest so we can let the party continue?’
‘They’re pretty good,’ he said, feeling a pang of anger and pain on her behalf.
‘Are you ready for the next instalment?’
‘Honestly? Not right now.’
‘I’ve bored you,’ she said immediately.
‘Far from it.’ Having appeared so feisty when they’d first met, she now seemed vulnerable in the extreme. Cupping her face, he stared into her eyes. ‘You’re quite the survivor, Kimmie Lancaster.’
‘And more than a match for you,’ she assured him with gusto.
‘Of that I’ve got no doubt,’ he said as he released her and stood back.
He could buy anything on a whim, do anything at a moment’s notice, but he couldn’t match Kimmie. She was unique in a world of grasping insensitivity and he’d be a fool to let her go, but she was clearly a free spirit and he doubted anyone could tame her. That she’d been hurt so badly today had only added to her determination never to be tied down. There wasn’t a chance she’d fall into his arms and marry him just because it suited his uncle. To produce the longed-for heir would be a lot harder than Uncle Theo imagined if Kris decided on Kimmie.
* * *
She’d killed any hope of seduction stone dead, which was good, Kimmie thought. Anything done in the heat of the moment while her emotions were all over the place could only be something to regret. Digging deep into her memory bank as, for some reason, she’d been tempted to do with a man she’d probably never see again, was as futile as dancing wildly on the beach.
When Kris pulled her into his arms, it was a total surprise. The kiss came when she least expected it, and was not what she expected from him at all. There was no pressure, no force, no sudden lunge; he just dipped his head and seduced her with his lips, his mouth lightly against hers. Drugging her with almost gentle kisses, her lips were tingling when he pulled away and she definitely wanted more. Her body urgently demanded more as Kris moved on to lace his fingers through her hair and lowered his head again, almost as though he’d heard her body’s demands. The feeling was sensational, and allowed him to control the teasing kisses and deepen them at will. With each careful penetration her body ached, and he lengthened the kisses until the two of them were bound in a single unit of pleasure. This made her long for a far more intim
ate invasion, one that would make sensation consume her so she forgot everything else.
Pressing her body against his, she soon realised that Kris’s mastery was everything she’d ever hoped for in a lover, and had given up any expectation of finding. Mike had always put himself first, and had been impatient with Kimmie’s innate fear of intimacy. It was only extremely reluctantly that he’d agreed to Kimmie’s request that they not sleep together until their wedding night. She should have known then that they were heading for disaster.
‘You’re shivering,’ Kris noticed. ‘Has something upset you? You can’t expect me not to feel desire when I’m holding you so close. Are you having second thoughts?’
‘None.’ She was strong. She’d told Kris more about her early childhood than she’d ever told Mike. Even though she hardly knew him, Kris encouraged while Mike dictated—another piece of darkness that had crept up on her silently. Having braced herself for the wedding night, thinking if she could just jump that hurdle everything else would be all right, she knew now that Mike would never have been committed to their marriage. Naively, she’d thought he’d be a good partner, managing the business side of her work while Kimmie painted up a storm. Dreams were just that, she concluded. Childish fantasies. But this was different. Matching her strength against an equally firm-minded man was invigorating, not wearisome or depressing, and the one thing she badly needed to reinvigorate was her pep.
But that didn’t mean losing her grip on reality. She knew nothing about Kris—where he called home, or if he had a family. He might have come from anywhere and could go back there just as fast.
‘You’re not married?’ she asked suddenly.
‘No, or even remotely entangled,’ he reassured her.
* * *
To the deep regret of Uncle Theo, Kris mused silently, and he’d had no plans to change the status quo at the moment, though he did want Kimmie. Bringing her so close he could feel her heart racing against her chest, he sensed her hunger and also her fear. He was so much bigger than she was, though ironically they fit together perfectly. But his main concern was that she had never properly answered his question as to whether she was frightened of sex and, despite her passionate response to his kisses, he felt a hesitation deep inside her, which made him doubly determined not to overwhelm her.
Overwhelm Kimmie? With a lifetime of control under siege, he was the one under pressure. He’d never experienced anything like it. The urge to claim her was eating him up inside. How could anything happen this fast? He didn’t know her. She was a girl on a beach who had told him a few troubling stories. She could be lying about everything to win his sympathy in an attempt to trap him, and she wouldn’t be the first.
‘Kris?’ she said, arranging the scarf she’d tied around her bikini so it covered her a little more. ‘It’s your turn to frown. I’m happy to go back.’
‘No. There’s no need to do that.’
She shrugged. ‘The party will be winding down soon.’
Her voice was soft and musical. She was used to being hurt and that touched him. Turning her face to the sun, she closed her eyes as if to shut out the reality of a turbulent day. It was more than he could stand. He had to sample the smile on her kiss-bruised mouth. One kiss led to another until they were feasting on each other and he had to pull back.
‘Ten minutes more,’ she said, sinking back down on the sand.
As her kitten eyes flashed with something a world away from fear, he was gladly bewitched. This quirky, vulnerable woman was like no one he’d ever met. She was seducing him. Resting back on her elbows, she allowed her lush breasts to thrust forward so her nipples stood proudly erect. Her extraordinary purple-streaked hair brushed the sand and there was no mistaking the longing in her eyes. She was giving him a look as old as time. He didn’t need prompting. His groin had tightened to the point of pain.
Stretching out his length beside her, he briefly considered the possibility of a set-up. It was an occupational hazard for rich and powerful men. Just because Kimmie was so different from the rest didn’t automatically make her harmless, but his best guess was that she planned to use him to forget her ex-fiancé. What she clearly hadn’t taken into account was how she’d feel about herself afterwards.
Decision made, he sprang to his feet. ‘I’m taking you back.’
‘Did I do something wrong?’
Surprise, hurt and bewilderment flashed behind her eyes in quick succession. It couldn’t be helped. He wasn’t a counsellor or Kimmie’s keeper. Had she changed his thinking? Maybe. He’d never needed patience where seduction was concerned, but Kimmie was wounded and needed time to recover. They were both damaged by a past that had made him independent, always, and had made Kimmie a survivor too.
‘You’re taking me back to the party?’ she asked uncertainly as he headed away from the beach.
‘No. I’m taking you home.’
‘To your home?’
‘No, back to the guest house.’
This was a first for him. When he identified something he wanted he went straight for it, but Kimmie demanded a different approach. It was never easy to hold back and show the type of restraint she would require, but when had he ever embraced easy?
* * *
Now she felt worse than ever. Rejected twice in one day was too much for anyone. Labelling herself a naïve and pathetic failure, she scrambled to her feet. Overreaction? Probably, but her emotions were raw today. She shouldn’t have gone so far, or told him so much. She shouldn’t have kissed Kris because now she knew how that felt, and was equally certain that no other man could ever compare. If only she’d spared a moment to think how she’d feel afterwards, or that she was heaping humiliation upon humiliation on herself. Was she so unattractive? Had she bored him as she’d obviously bored Mike? Had telling Kris some of her life story, or at least a carefully edited version of it, been her worst mistake? Had kissing her been unpleasant for him, or had something else put him off? He’d seemed to enjoy the kisses, so perhaps it was a case of too much personal information. She’d found it dangerously easy to unburden all those memories to Kris. Would he yawn about it later? Would he laugh about it with his friends? She could only imagine Kris surging through life on a wave of approval, while she was still struggling to climb out of the mud.
That had to be it, Kimmie concluded as she checked her bottom was covered, and wished her bikini top was a little bit more concealing.
‘We’ll walk up the cliff,’ Kris informed her, staring skywards to where the craggy rock face threw a shadow over the beach, ‘and then I’ll drive you back.’
‘You’ve got a car up there?’ She glanced at him with surprise.
‘A house too.’
She went hot and then cold. It wasn’t just her emotions that were in a mess. Her brain cells were crashing too. ‘So this is your beach.’
Kris didn’t answer. ‘Should we make a start on the climb? Or I can take you back to your friends. Whichever you prefer.’
‘You haven’t answered my question.’
‘No,’ he said. ‘I haven’t. Nor have you answered mine.’
What the heck was happening? She needed time to think. Who was this man? Her suspicions were racing. Did she want to go back to her friends, or would she prefer to unscramble her thoughts in private? It had been good to escape their curiosity and pity, and not just because the distraction was Kris. The climb up the cliff would take all her energy, so there’d be no time for thinking or fretting, or wondering what Kris’s motive was in being so considerate towards her.
‘The walk will do you good,’ he said as if confirming her thoughts.
‘Like taking my medicine?’ she suggested wryly as she glanced up the cliff.
‘Like keeping you in that quiet place where you don’t have to explain yourself to your friends,’ Kris said with piercing intuition. ‘And anyway,’ he added in a lighter tone, ‘I thought
you liked adventure?’
‘Why do you think that?’
‘Gut instinct.’
‘So you haven’t had enough of me?’
He shrugged. ‘I like a challenge.’
‘So do I,’ Kimmie admitted, ‘but in this instance I’m going to tell my friends what I’m doing.’
‘A wise precaution,’ Kris agreed. ‘We’ll walk that way.’
Why not let this play out? She wasn’t ready to let go of Kris yet. He was the best thing that had happened in a wretched day, and seemed in no hurry to get rid of her. She could go with him or not. Find out more about him, or spend the rest of her life wondering, What if?
‘Before we set off there’s that question you didn’t answer,’ she reminded him. ‘You’re not crew or a local fisherman, are you?’ And when he chose to stare at her with a non-committal expression on his face, she stated with sudden certainty, ‘You’re the man who owns the island. You’re Kristof Kaimos, CEO of Kaimos Shipping, said to be the richest man in the world. Unmarried, untouchable, and determined to remain unattached, according to the press, in spite of your uncle’s best efforts to see you married off.’
‘You seem to know a lot about me.’
Hot and cold had just become shards of ice and spears of fire piercing every inch of her. Kris was Kristof Kaimos. Incredible. Impossible. But very real.
‘It’s hard to avoid news of the super-rich,’ she admitted with all the cool she could muster. ‘Anyway, I feel quite safe now.’
‘Meaning?’ Kris probed, frowning.
‘Meaning I can’t imagine you would rope me in for the role of consort.’
He laughed out loud, a flash of strong white teeth against his burnished tan. ‘You have such a romantic way of putting things,’ he remarked. His stare burned into her as he looked down.
‘I’m a bit worried that you haven’t denied it,’ she admitted, ‘but I’m confident your selection of wife will come from a much more prestigious group of women than a jobbing artist could hope to join. As for being romantic? Believe me, I’d love to be romantic, but life made me wise up in a hurry.’
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