‘Yes,’ she could only agree. ‘But I’d love to see the artist’s studio one day...if it’s not too much trouble for you?’
‘No trouble at all,’ he insisted. ‘I can always get someone to show you around.’
Oh.
But now she didn’t want to go back to the guest house. The thought of being alone in that room when she should have been sharing a room with her husband tonight was confusing and worrying, even though Mike and Janey had swiftly packed up and left. She didn’t want to be with Mike, but she didn’t want to be alone either. After a horrible start to the day, she’d enjoyed being with Kris. She’d enjoyed the banter between them, and being able to forget. And she’d enjoyed his kisses...especially his kisses. Would he kiss her goodnight...on the cheek, on the lips? She didn’t know what she wanted. Well, actually, that wasn’t true. She did. The urge to paint complex, interesting, challenging Kris had never been greater.
She could sketch from memory, Kimmie reassured herself as Kris walked up to his sleek black SUV and opened the passenger door. And she’d choose a background to suit. It was time for both of them to return to their ivory towers: Kris here in his fabulous beach house, and Kimmie in the artist’s cave, painting.
Didn’t she want to see Kris again? Of course she did. Then she might have to make the first move. And what would he say to that? she wondered as he started the engine and released the brake. It was impossible to read his expression. As far as Kimmie was concerned, if she pushed her dreams to their ultimate conclusion it would mean this wasn’t over yet and had only just begun.
CHAPTER FIVE
BACK AT THE GUEST HOUSE, to her absolute amazement, Kimmie slept like a baby that night. She thought it incredible after the events of the previous day. Waking slowly, she turned over to stare at the ceiling, where various scenes played out. Some were good, some were bad and some were truly spectacular. Had Kristof Kaimos really kissed her? She touched her lips and traced the tender skin where his stubble had abraded her. Kristof Kaimos had definitely kissed her. She had been thoroughly kissed. Astonishing, after the way yesterday had started.
She hadn’t been able to judge his mood when he drove her home last night, other than to say he was the perfect gentleman. And of course some wicked, carnal imp inside her had taken the opportunity to make her long for Kris to introduce her to those pleasures she’d only dreamed about. That he’d do so with consummate skill wasn’t in doubt, and made her longing for him all the keener. Fears she’d had in the past were redundant where Kris was concerned. If he made love as he kissed, that was to say sensitively, tenderly and passionately, it wouldn’t be terrifying; it would be amazing. And for someone whose only knowledge of sex was hearing her mother scream when her father forced himself on her, Kimmie didn’t have any reassuring memories to cling to, and only Kris’s kisses to suggest that a mutual desire could and should be different.
This was something she should have thought more about when she’d accepted Mike’s proposal but, buoyed up on a wave of euphoria at the success of her exhibition, she hadn’t thought it through. Later, when Mike’s impatience at her being frigid, as he’d flung at her and he’d handled her rather clumsily, hurting her, she’d had to pull away and tell him that the reason she was holding back from sleeping with him was because she was saving herself for the all-important wedding night, when the truth was she was just plain scared to have sex with him.
Thank goodness Kris respected women or she’d be lying here with more than her heart bruised. Snuggling down to enjoy the other good things about the night, she relived his kisses again. She’d never be able to kiss another man without comparing him to Kris. Then she thought about him steering the SUV around the narrow, winding lanes of Kaimos. She’d had no idea hands and arms could be so sexy...and she couldn’t wait to paint them, of course, and from memory if she had to. She wouldn’t forget a single detail of a man who had entered her life so unexpectedly on what had been the worst day possible. But then, when they’d got back to the guest house, he had said nothing as he sprang down from the SUV and came around to open her door.
One perfunctory kiss on the cheek was all she’d got and then he was gone, roaring off into the distance without so much as a backward glance.
Time to get real, Kimmie thought as she slipped out of bed. Half a fun day after a morning of catastrophe did not a romance make. No doubt she’d entertained Kristof Kaimos for a while, but she was sure there wouldn’t be a second meeting.
But she’d been too tired to close the shutters last night, so it wasn’t all bad because now she felt uplifted just staring out. What an amazing view! And his mega-yacht was still out there. For some reason, that reassured her, though Kris could be anywhere. He might even have gone back to Athens by now, or left for what she was sure would be one of his many residences or offices around the world. Did that mean he wouldn’t keep his promise to show her the artist’s studio? He’d actually said he’d get someone to show her around, and that wasn’t the same thing at all.
Having taken a shower in the tiny bathroom attached to her room, Kimmie switched off the water, grabbed a towel, swaddled her body and tried not to think about Kris.
Well, that went well, Kimmie concluded as she padded back to the window to stare at his yacht. Her nipples were standing to attention just thinking about him. They were far more optimistic than she was. She stared down the road but there was no sign of Kris. And it was far safer for her heart if he didn’t come back. She wasn’t ready for any more excitement.
Oh, yes, she was. Life would be dull without it. Kris had taken the discarded, muddled daub of yesterday and given it form and purpose. She definitely wasn’t ready to let go of that yet.
Turning away from the window, she rubbed her hair dry with a towel and thought about Kris. Strike that. She was thinking about her next composition, which would obviously feature Kristof Kaimos. She would start work on it as soon as she returned to London. She couldn’t waste time on regret. Whatever life threw at her, she had always fought back. This wedding farce and then the meeting with Kris were just bigger hurdles than usual. The sooner she returned to work, the faster she could set up that scholarship fund.
Kris could be a sponsor. Why not?
She wouldn’t dream of asking him, that was why not. It was just one more way of taking advantage of him because of his money.
Not if she wrote to him, together with a dozen or so more likely donors. And, in the unlikely event that she saw him again, she could ask him?
Hmm. Maybe. Maybe not.
‘You look a lot better this morning,’ Kyria Demetriou exclaimed with pleasure, advancing to give Kimmie a hug when she entered the dining room. ‘Your face is glowing.’
‘Is it?’ Kimmie touched her cheek then blushed, wondering if Kris’s stubble might have caused any redness. ‘We all want to thank you for the delicious food. We had a wonderful picnic.’ Of which she hadn’t eaten a crumb, being otherwise occupied, Kimmie remembered, blushing furiously again. ‘None of it was wasted. My friends enjoyed every crumb.’
Kyria Demetriou gave her an amused look, as if she knew more than she was saying. ‘Now you’re feeling better, I want you to know there’s a fiesta tonight in the village. It’s a traditional night, with folk music, local food and dancing, and I feel sure you’ll enjoy it.’
‘I know I will,’ Kimmie enthused.
‘We will all go,’ Kyria Demetriou informed her. ‘Everyone on the island will be there.’
Including Kris? Kimmie’s heart pounded.
‘You should take your sketch pad,’ Kyria Demetriou encouraged, distracting her momentarily.
‘That’s a good idea.’ Kimmie would be leaving the island soon, and tonight’s celebration was the best chance she was going to get to record every impression she could. Hopefully there’d be enough to fuel a new exhibition.
The day passed slowly and, as expected, there was no sign
of Kris. Kimmie’s friends tried their best to distract her, and she played along. It was time to move past everything that had happened in Kaimos, and finally accept that Kristof Kaimos had better things to do than waste his time on a jilted bride and a simple village party. There was no chance he would surprise her there tonight, she managed to convince herself.
* * *
Kris spent the day mulling over the events of the previous day. It had been an incredible encounter with Kimmie, but a chance meeting following hot on the heels of an unreasonable request from the uncle to whom he owed everything was not a guarantee of anything. If anyone had suggested Kimmie as a suitable wife before he’d met her, he would have shot them down in flames. He didn’t know her. She didn’t know him. He’d seen her at the worst time possible.
And yet she had cast a very unique spell on him.
Why? She was strong, but also emotionally vulnerable. Right now she didn’t know what she wanted. Yet, for all these reasons to step back and let her go, something nagged at him that said he shouldn’t.
He spoke to his uncle later that day and admitted that he’d met a prospect, as his uncle hopefully referred to Kris’s non-existent list of potential brides. ‘Seriously, don’t get your hopes up,’ Kris had warned, but Uncle Theo wasn’t listening.
‘You should have sealed the deal by now,’ his uncle insisted. ‘It’s not like you to hang around.’
‘I only met her yesterday,’ Kris was forced to patiently point out.
‘And?’ his uncle demanded.
‘And she’s bruised,’ he said simply.
There was silence between Athens and Kaimos for quite a while after that, and then his uncle murmured, ‘Dangerous.’ He went on to spoil this brief show of empathy by saying, ‘Sympathy can cloud a person’s judgement. It’s not like you to be so subjective, Kristof. Why are you suddenly allowing feelings to get in the way? I’ve never known you like this before.’
‘Well, don’t take it for a good sign,’ Kris advised.
‘You’ll have to change tactics,’ his uncle instructed. ‘Do whatever it takes. I need to know you have an heir, Kristof. Woo her with sweet words and expensive gifts. That should do it,’ his uncle finished with a triumphant flourish.
Kris was forced to curb a smile at this point. ‘You haven’t met Kimmie. She isn’t impressed by wealth.’
‘She’s a saint?’ his uncle demanded in a sceptical voice.
‘She knows who I am, and it doesn’t seem to make a difference,’ Kris explained as Kimmie’s combative gaze swam into his mind.
‘That’s only what she’s showing you on the outside,’ his uncle assured him. ‘Who knows what she’s really thinking?’
‘Is that how you felt about my aunt when you two first met?’
The silence was deafening, and Kris knew he’d overstepped the mark. His uncle had been passionately in love with his wife, Kris’s aunt, for more than forty years, but sometimes Uncle Theo needed reminding that other people had feelings too.
Even Kris?
Sitting here in his study at the beach house, he remembered shifting uncomfortably at that point, and longing to put down the phone. The last thing he had intended was to upset the man to whom he owed so much. After the call, it occurred to him he could have it all. Practical arrangements would have to come first, but as neither he nor Kimmie was exactly familiar with the trope of love, he couldn’t see a problem.
Except for the fact that she was a true romantic?
No, no, no—she was an intelligent woman. It would not be a case of lavishing gifts on Kimmie, but employing calm reason and winning her trust. Others might see the gifts he bought them as fair exchange for their time, but Kimmie was not only likely to return any gifts he gave her, but would expect more from him emotionally than he was willing or able to give...
He had almost talked himself out of pursuing another encounter with Kimmie when her beautiful face flashed into his mind. Quirky, unpredictable, passionate Kimmie, bruised and damaged by life, but she always bounced back. What a woman. What a match for him. Feisty and independent, and so scorching hot he had to have her. Kimmie was everything he’d ever wanted and more.
At what cost?
Previous partners couldn’t do enough for him in the bedroom, which was all that was required of them, but when it came to finding a wife...someone to spend time with, talk to and get to know, to care deeply about, a woman with whom he could build a family...
Forget it! He didn’t have his uncle’s talent where that was concerned.
* * *
A wonderfully sunny afternoon faded into a spectacular sunset as Kimmie and her friends left for their various rooms at the guest house to get ready for the fiesta in the village. The blood-red sky threw Kris’s ship, the Spirit of Kaimos, into sharp relief, taunting her as Kimmie stared out of her bedroom window. There’d been no sign of him and, far from that being a relief, she felt as if a dead weight had lodged in the pit of her stomach. She looked forward to the celebration and hoped it would be a distraction. If nothing else, it would be a great send-off for the wedding guests, and her friends deserved nothing less.
Finding something suitable to wear wasn’t so hard as her simple wedding trousseau, bought on the high street, remained untouched. She settled on a white cotton summer dress, which she teamed with flat sandals, before brushing her hair until it sprang around her shoulders like an angry purple storm cloud. She was angry. Mike had let everyone down, and hadn’t even had the decency to show his face to apologise, or to make any sort of explanation to their friends.
Put him behind you! You don’t have to think about Mike again.
Correct. Thus armed, she left her room and jogged downstairs to join the others. Kyria Demetriou’s generosity in wanting to introduce them around in the village was a great opportunity, and Kimmie made sure to take her sketch pad. Confident she’d find endless inspiration for her paintings, she’d work on preparatory sketches until she ran out of lead.
And Kris?
Forget about him too!
Could she? What if she saw him in the village with someone else? Someone sophisticated and beautiful—the type of companion she imagined he should have.
Suck it up.
Determined to put on a buoyant and optimistic front, she reached the foot of the stairs and stopped dead. There was no mistaking that voice. Kris was here. Her heart was beating so fast by the time she reached the door of the communal sitting room, she could hardly breathe.
But she could breathe, and she would...steadily, Kimmie told herself firmly as she walked into the room. She could handle this and any situation.
Could she, indeed?
Had she really thought she was ready to see Kris again? Why was she standing rooted to the spot, staring at him as if he was the only person in the room? Because there was no preparation possible for the sight of Kristof Kaimos contained in a very small room when he took up every inch of space with his personality alone. It didn’t help that her friends were staring fixedly at Kimmie, waiting to see her reaction.
Move! And be quick about it. Say something!
‘How nice to see you again,’ she said politely, walking forward with her hand outstretched like a character out of My Fair Lady.
Nice? Kris was standing with his jeans-clad hips propped against the wall. Nice? He looked even more like that Titan from myth and legend tonight. He was so hot she needed a bucket of iced water to tip over herself. The worst of it was that a nervous smile seemed to have fixed itself to her trembling mouth.
He had no mercy. Straightening up, he towered over her and, right on cue, her body responded.
Yes, please, and as soon as you like, flashed through her mind. Forget her fear of sex. She couldn’t fight the primal imperative of facing this big, potent male. And she didn’t want to.
Because she was still suffering from the rebound response
, Kimmie’s killjoy inner caution warned.
And it got worse. When Kris’s big fist closed around her hand, all she could think about was him touching her, kissing her, and progressing those kisses until...
‘Good to see you again,’ he murmured, sounding faintly amused, as if he could read every damning word in her mind.
Dressed casually in snug-fitting jeans that revealed far too much of what she remembered of his incredible body, he took her breath away. Far from being cool and collected as she had determined to be if he attended the fiesta tonight, she was staring back at him like some ingénue idiot. There was no getting around the fact that she wanted Kris to be the one to remove her fear of physical intimacy for good. She couldn’t imagine trusting anyone else. How crazy was that when she didn’t even know him?
‘Are you ready to leave?’ he prompted, his mouth tugging up in a sexy half-smile.
Right now, she wasn’t sure what she was ready for, only that she wanted to be with Kris. Determined not to be thrown by his darkly amused manner, she turned to speak to Kyria Demetriou. ‘I’m really looking forward to our night out. Thank you so much for arranging this.’
‘Kristof did most of the arranging,’ Kyria Demetriou revealed to Kimmie’s surprise, and now their elderly host was beaming at Kris like a proud mother.
Kris’s intent eyes caught hold of Kimmie’s stare and held it firmly in his. She could only hope her eyes were as eloquent as his when it came to her earnest desire to smack him. She might want him, but not on any and all terms. She knew he was playing her like a big cat with a mouse, and now the entire room was holding its breath and it took Kyria Demetriou to break the tension. ‘We’d better go now,’ she said matter-of-factly, ‘or all the best tables will be taken.’
Kimmie speared a look at Kris. Couldn’t the local billionaire do anything about that? Surely Kristof Kaimos received special treatment on the island he owned.
The lift of one sweeping ebony brow and a lazy, mock scolding look informed her in no uncertain terms that Kris expected to be treated like any other man on the island, no better, no worse. Brownie points duly awarded, she consented to return his smile, with the predictable result that he held her gaze for far too long and her heart raced off the scale.
The Greek's Virgin Temptation Page 5