Expectant Bride (5 page)

Tensing with annoyance under the earthy glide of the eyes trailing over the slender length of her exposed legs, Ellie pulled herself hurriedly upright and tugged down the skirt which had ridden up while she slept. ‘I am
not
Dio's woman!' she snapped.

‘Nice to have a piece of good news today.' With a cocky grin on his handsome face, Lukas Varios slid in beside her and closed the door. ‘So, if you don't belong to Dio, what are you doing waiting outside the cemetery for him?'

Ellie compressed her ripe pink mouth into a rigid line. ‘I just work for him…OK?'

‘Oh, it's
very
much OK with me…' Impervious to her frozen expression, Lukas stretched out a confident hand to finger the silvery fall of hair lying against her flushed cheekbone and murmured, ‘You are a real babe—'

The passenger door opened again, this time framing Dio. He took one look at the apparently intimate scene he had interrupted and smouldering fury blazed in his spectacular eyes. He reached in a powerful hand, closed it over the
younger man's shoulder and hauled him out of the limo to shoot a raw flood of guttural Greek down at him.

Lukas Varios backed off, struggling to reassert his cool by smoothing down his jacket, but his shaken face was red as fire. As Ellie sat there, immobilised by sheer shock at Dio's extraordinary behaviour, Lukas sent her a fiercely accusing glance. ‘She said she wasn't yours…do you think I'd have come on to her if she'd told me the truth?'

Lean, strong face cold and hard as bronze, Dio swung into the limo and slammed the door without another word. Black contemptuous eyes flamed over Ellie. ‘I didn't bring you here to behave like a tramp!' he told her with splintering derision.

E
LLIE'S
quick temper, already taxed to its limits by Lukas's offensive familiarity, simply erupted.

Reacting on instinct alone, her hand flew up and she slapped Dio Alexiakis so hard across one cheekbone her fingers stung like mad. ‘No man calls me a tramp!' she bit out in furious condemnation.

As the livid marks of that slap sprang up across one slashing cheekbone, Dio stared back at her with truly stunned black eyes.

Even though Ellie instantly knew that she had gone too far, she was far too angry to acknowledge her mistake. ‘And your conceited mega-ego of a cousin deserves the same!' she launched in defiant addition. ‘Who does that little squirt think he is? Calling me a
babe
, and smirking and pawing my hair like I'm some kind of toy to be played with! And how dare you behave in such a way as to give him the impression that I would stoop to be something as utterly disgusting as
your
woman?'

‘Disgusting…?' Dio gritted, not quite levelly, eyes now as scorching a gold as the heart of a bonfire.

‘Yes, disgusting!' Ellie repeated with a feeling shudder. ‘Women do not belong like objects to men—'

‘I could persuade you to belong to me,' Dio declared in a wrathful growl.

Ellie breathed in so deep on that staggering claim she was vaguely surprised that she didn't explode. She studied him with scornful green eyes. ‘What with? A Stone Age hammer? Because let me tell you, knocking me out and dragging me by force back to the family cave would be the only way!'

Without the slightest warning, Dio reached for her with powerful hands that brooked no refusal. He brought his mouth crashing down hard on hers. Shock paralysed Ellie. But a far deeper level of shock awaited her. When that wide, sensual mouth possessed hers with hungry force, it was as if the world came to a sudden screeching halt and sent her flying off into the sun.

The surge of heat Dio ignited could have burned up an entire planet. Ellie's head swam, all rational thought suspended beneath that shattering shower of instant sensation. As he hauled her into a crushing and deeply satisfying embrace, her blood pounded madly through her pliant body.

He tasted like water after a long summer drought. He created a thirst she had never known she had. She was so hooked on that electrifying excitement that she clung like a vine to a tree, moaning low in her throat as his tongue invaded the moist sensitivity of her mouth in an erotic invasion that drove her wild.

Dio dragged her back from him, his breathing fractured, his eyes blazing over her with a primitive satisfaction he couldn't hide. ‘I wouldn't need to use force with you, Ellie. You'd come back to the family cave like a little lamb,' he contended thickly.

As the haze of intoxicating passion evaporated, Ellie gazed up into his darkly handsome features, aghast. Simultaneously, Dio stiffened, veiled his eyes and set her back from him. A boiling wave of hot embarrassment enveloped Ellie. She couldn't believe that what had happened had happened. She couldn't believe that she could possibly have felt what he had made her feel when she hadn't wanted to feel anything. And the silence lay there, thick and treacherous as a swamp that neither of them wanted to risk trying to cross.

‘I…I…' Ellie began unevenly, suddenly eager to give both of them an acceptable excuse. ‘I shouldn't have slapped you. I made you angry—'

‘Greek men don't like having their masculinity challenged.' Dio loosed a sardonic laugh and dealt her a bleak glance. ‘But I kissed you because I wanted to. As you said to me, tell it like it is.'

Taken aback by that blunt acknowledgement that the attraction playing havoc with her own self-discipline was not solely her problem, Ellie gazed at him in frank perplexity. Then she swiftly turned her head away.

‘Naturally we won't be repeating the experiment,' Dio completed with flat finality.

Ellie's delicate profile tautened. Although he was only stating the obvious, only saying what she would have said herself, angry mortification still engulfed her. Conscious that she was being warned off, she felt humiliated.
He
had kissed
her
! Yet he still evidently saw a need to depress any foolish ideas she might be developing. Who the heck did he think he was?

Mr Totally Irresistible?
Yes
, she answered for herself. And that blazing confidence wasn't vanity, she acknowledged with driven reluctance. He had it all. The looks, the money, the power. How often did Dio Alexiakis meet with rejection? How much more often must he meet with blatant encouragement?

But still Ellie felt the need to defend herself. ‘I lashed out because you were extremely ru—'

‘I don't wish to discuss this any further,' Dio interposed harshly. ‘I'm not myself today. My reactions are on a very short fuse.'

But in the space of a heartbeat he had blown Ellie's belief that she wasn't a very sexual person right out of the water. She could only cringe when she recalled the almost irresistible temptation to snatch him greedily back into her arms. She had never dreamt that
any
man could rouse her to that level of excitement, hunger and craving. That Dio Alexiakis had that power shook her to her very depths.

The limousine drove up the steep road at a stately crawl,
other vehicles now falling in behind to follow in their wake. Above them, perched on the spectacular height of a cliff, the large domed roof of a pale building came into view. The higher they climbed, the bigger that building seemed to become. It couldn't be called a villa, Ellie decided wide-eyed, it could only be called a
palace
.

‘Is this your home?' she prompted tautly.

As the limo glided to a halt in front of the massive entrance, Dio gave a bleak nod of confirmation.

‘If you're going to be socialising with friends and family now, just find me a room somewhere and lock the door. I don't want to intrude—'

‘You're staying with me,' Dio countered steadily.

‘But what am I supposed to say if anyone speaks to me?' Ellie's dismay was unhidden. ‘I don't even know what your father was called!'

‘His name was Spiros. He was seventy-one and I was his only child,' Dio framed, his accent thickening to roughen his vowel sounds, his jawline squaring. ‘He was one of those good guys you mentioned. He may have passed away peacefully in his sleep, but his death was both sudden
and
unexpected.'

‘You had no chance to say goodbye. That's very hard to bear.' As she had listened Ellie had paled, briefly plunged into her own memories of the loss of a loved and loving parent.

Dio sent her a flashing glance of pure disdain. ‘Spare me the platitudes,' he derided harshly. ‘My father and I had been estranged for some time before his death.'

‘It wasn't a platitude. Whose fault was it that you were…estranged?' she dared to ask.

‘Mine…'
She watched his lean brown hands slowly clench into powerful fists and then carefully unclench again the instant he realised she had noticed that betraying gesture.

‘You couldn't have known—'

‘This is none of your business!' Dio ground out thunderously.

They climbed out of the car. Ellie stole a troubled glance up at Dio's rigid profile and suppressed a rueful sigh, recognising the stoic, all-male but unnatural control he was determined to maintain. Maybe it was easier for women to let go emotionally, talk it out, forgive themselves. It was certainly wiser, she reckoned. Right now Dio Alexiakis was like a big simmering volcano, struggling to swallow back a surging lava flow. Hanging back, she let him stride ahead of her,.

A large cluster of staff were waiting in the huge, opulent entrance hall. Dio spoke a few words. Ellie hovered awkwardly in the centre of the marble floor, her attention roaming over statues in alcoves and magnificent paintings and then centring on the gorgeous brunette who had unexpectedly appeared in a doorway.

Not having noticed the other woman, Dio swung back an imperious head. ‘Ellie!' he gritted impatiently.

Her colour rising as every watching eye swivelled to examine her with keen interest, Ellie quickened her step. Just as Dio clamped a large imprisoning hand over hers, the sophisticated brunette strolled forward. She looked to be in her late twenties. She had short, glossy black hair, exotic dark eyes and creamy skin. Her designer dress and her jewellery were simply breathtaking.

‘Helena…' Dio drawled, his long fingers suddenly closing so tightly over Ellie's smaller hand that she almost yelped with discomfort.

Helena planted a cool kiss on his cheek and then addressed him in Greek. She ignored Ellie. But Ellie was grateful to be ignored because she was embarrassed by Dio's stubborn determination to keep her by his side. Still conversing with Helena, whom Ellie now assumed to be a close relative, Dio walked them both into a vast reception room.

Other people began to arrive. Helena took up position like
a seasoned hostess. Dio's grip on Ellie's fingers had mercifully loosened, and she tried to pull away, hoping to retire to a dark corner. But not only did Dio retain his hold on her, he also swept her forward and introduced her, although nobody got the chance to engage her in any actual conversation. Many curious eyes lingered on her, but Dio kept both of them on the move. He exchanged a word here, a sentence there, his bleak, brooding tension forestalling any more intimate dialogue.

‘
Cristos
…I
hate
this!' he bit out rawly under his breath at one stage.

Some minutes later, an exuberant older man grasped him in a bear hug, forcing him to release Ellie. Ellie backed away and then walked out onto the balcony that appeared to stretch the entire length of the house. She breathed in deep in the hot still air. The view out over the bay was really incredible. An endless blue sky arched over the lush, forested pine slopes sprinkled with wild flowers and the majestic rock formations that jutted out into the sparkling turquoise sea far below. It was so beautiful it almost hurt.

She stood there for a long time before she turned away again, becoming conscious of how very tired she still was. A couple of catnaps hadn't made up for the stress of a long trip and the loss of a decent night's sleep.

As she glanced back into the crowded room, she immediately noticed Dio. He was so tall he couldn't be missed. He had a dark frown on his starkly handsome features as he glanced restively around himself, only paying part attention to what was being said to him. Then his keen gaze lit like a falling star on Ellie, where she stood outside in the sun, her silver hair gleaming like precious metal. The marked strain on his lean, strong face instantly eased.

Across the distance that separated them, Ellie collided with glittering black eyes. Her heart gave a sudden violent lurch and her mouth ran dry. She watched Dio plough through the
crush surrounding him. She could focus on nothing but him, and was as blind as he was to the buzz of speculation his abrupt departure had created.

‘Where the hell have you been?' he breathed in a driven undertone.

But a couple of feet from her Dio ground to an equally sudden halt, an almost bemused frown pleating his winged ebony brows. Emanating megawatt tension in abundance again, he studied Ellie with ferociously intent black eyes that questioned even before he demanded, ‘Why do I
want
to be with you right now?'

As tense now as he, Ellie jerked a slight shoulder in an awkward movement. ‘Keeping tabs on me to ensure I don't get near a phone has b-become a real bad habit?' she stammered in a strained and breathless rush.

At that moment, Helena Teriakos strolled unhurriedly out to join them. Beneath her coolly enquiring scrutiny, Ellie found herself reddening with fierce discomfiture, although she could not have explained why.

‘Miss Morgan looks quite exhausted, Dio,' the other woman commented. ‘I believe she might appreciate the opportunity to retire to her room.'

‘Yes…yes, I would,' Ellie agreed tautly.

The beautiful brunette awarded her a faint but dismissive smile of approval. His strong jawline clenching, Dio summoned a maid with an imperious snap of his fingers, his habit of command so ingrained in that gesture it caught Ellie's attention and made her look away.

‘I'll see you later,' he informed Ellie flatly, and strode back indoors.

Why do I feel like I'm abandoning him? Ellie asked herself in genuine bewilderment as she followed the maid. Where had this ridiculous sense of connection come from? She barely knew Dio Alexiakis. She didn't even like the guy, did she? What on earth was the matter with her?

Jet lag, exhaustion, she told herself, but she knew it was more. Helpless sympathy had flared when Dio had admitted that he'd been at odds with his father before his death. She understood that he didn't feel entitled to play the grieving role of a loving son for the benefit of an audience. Yet it was patently obvious to her that he
had
been a loving son. But right now, Dio was so tormented by his conscience he couldn't see the wood for the trees.

The maid led her into a lift off the huge entrance hall. They travelled down and then traversed a corridor which took them straight back out into the open air again. Mystified, but intrigued, Ellie followed the girl down a short sloping path to a low building sited right on the edge of an endless dreamy stretch of golden sand.

The interior was wonderfully cool. It was some sort of self-contained guest suite, Ellie assumed, admiring the spacious lounge and adjoining dining area. The tall windows had elegant shutters to keep out the sun; inviting sofas adorned the marble floor. There was no kitchen, just a concealed fridge the size of a walk-in larder, packed with snacks and soft drinks. Two
en suite
bedrooms completed the accommodation. Her assorted carrier bags already sat in a rather pathetic huddle on one of the beds.