Kidnapped by the Greek Billionaire (13 page)

“It’s only for a few days, and it will be incredibly dull. You’ll forget all about me once you’re back to scrabbling around and getting dirty at the school.”

“I won’t!” She nudged him playfully in the chest. “I always miss you terribly when you have to go away and I can’t come.”

“Good, because I will miss you on that trip to Paris too,” he replied, and slid a hand lower to skim her bottom. “Abstinence verges on the painful these days, believe me.”

“So we can go tomorrow?” Kizzy asked excitedly. “Shall I ask Dorinda to make us a picnic?”

Andreas nodded and a broad smile lit up his face. “If you like, and I’ll tell Demetrios. He’ll be driving us down at about nine in the morning.”

“Demetrios? I’d hoped we could go alone.”

Andreas looked taken aback for a moment, then his expression darkened as she pulled away from him with surprised eyes. “No, I don’t think so, Kizzy.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t drive these days, don’t you remember? I’ve always found driving tedious and I’ve been successful enough in business to ensure that I don’t have to do it anymore.” To her puzzlement, he broke eye contact. “It’s also a matter of status—you wouldn’t expect me to clean my own bathrooms just because I
can
, would you?”

“It’s not quite the same thing.”

He forced a hollow laugh. “Anyway, the hill roads here are near suicidal. You haven’t offered to drive, I notice.”

“I haven’t got a license, I’ve told you that before,” Kizzy replied irritably, frustrated by how helpless she still was in so many ways, so reliant on him. “I always wanted to learn but I couldn’t justify the cost of lessons.”

“Well, I wouldn’t let you even if you had a license,” he replied firmly. “Some of these hill roads are treacherous. Narrow, steep—that’s why the tourist coaches can’t get down there. That’s why it’s still so unspoiled.”

This wasn’t like Andreas, she thought, trying to read his expression. Capable, can-do, dynamic, world-beating Andreas Lazarides. She knew she ought to let it go, but somehow she couldn’t. “But you used to drive a Lamborghini. That’s got to take a ton of skill. Perhaps if we hired one of those little Jeeps, it wouldn’t be too taxing. That’s what all the surfers do. It will be wonderful, you’ll see. Just the two of us alone for once.”

“Demetrios is an advanced driver,” he said and took a step back from her, his expression suddenly deadly. “He has Special Service training—a safe pair of hands even over the most difficult terrain. I will not risk your safety on a whim, Kizzy, however much you urge me to. It would be reckless and irresponsible and—and I refuse to waste Demetrios’s skills when I’m paying him so damn well.”

Kizzy had overstepped the mark and irritated him with her persistence. All she wanted was to be miles away from everyone and alone with him for a change. They had the peaceful grounds of the villa, their sanctuary from the cheerful hubbub of Lindos village, yet there were always staff around in the day and however discreet they might be, Kizzy was uncomfortable with their constant presence.

Her heart twisted as she realized this was the first time Andreas had ever said no to her.

“Demetrios must drive us then, since you won’t humor me,” she replied with a sigh, hoping that he might change his mind later. “But it would be a good idea if I started learning to drive, so that I can be more independent.”

“More independent?”

“Yes, there’s no reason Demetrios should drive me to work every day. I should stand on my own two feet a bit more, and it’s not exactly dangerous there, is it?”

“I’m not funding this willful, unnecessary folly, Kizzy.”

She was taken aback by his sharp tone. “Don’t worry. I’ll pay for it myself. I’m not content to rely on other people for the rest of my life.”

Andreas firmly took hold of her wrists, pulled them away from her chest, and covered her mouth with his before she could utter another word. She tried to stay tense and annoyed with him, but it was not long before the seductive effect of his kiss worked its magic and she softened in spite of herself. The man’s charm was irresistible.

“You don’t need a driver’s license,” Andreas murmured against her lips. “Stop fighting me on this. You have me to look after you now. Just let me take care of you.”

Kizzy sensed a change in him, and was suddenly reminded that she couldn’t risk relying on him being there forever. That was not the deal they had struck. A dark, brooding foreboding seemed to glide over and between them. “Tell me the truth, Andreas, there has to be more to your refusal. What’s the real reason you won’t drive me to Prasonisi?”

He loosened his hold on her and slowly straightened his shoulders, his face a mask. “The real reason?”

Kizzy nodded solemnly and took a deep breath. “I deserve to know.”

He sighed heavily and ran his hands through his hair. “The real reason is that I was planning a surprise meal for us at an exclusive mountain restaurant I know at Prasonisi. I was rather looking forward to sharing a bottle of champagne with you. I thought it would be good to chat for a few hours over a leisurely meal—just the two of us. But I can’t drink and drive.”

“Oh.”

“Exactly.” He traced a line with his fingers around the smooth contour of her jaw. “I think it’s time we went home to bed now, don’t you? No more arguing. No more Kizzy Dean defiance. Please?”

“I’m sorry,” Kizzy murmured. “I don’t know what got into me, behaving like a spoiled child—”

“Don’t worry about it. We’re both tired. Besides, you can make amends for spoiling my surprise with that amazing body of yours.”

…

Sitting on the picturesque lower terrace of the villa, Kizzy closed her eyes for a leisurely moment and inhaled the salt air from the bay. She had missed Andreas more than ever over the last few days while he had been attending his conference in Paris. The trip down to Prasonisi had been wonderful and had made their parting even more unbearable, so she had decided to wait at the villa for him to return, rather than go into work as usual, to ensure that she saw him as soon as possible.

She glanced at her watch and began to feel a little uneasy. He should have been back a few hours ago, according to his flight plans. Still, somehow she managed to smother the unhelpful thoughts that were beginning to invade her mind. She should be used to his frequent business trips by now. Andreas was an incredibly driven man, almost to the point of being a workaholic, so she wouldn’t put it past him to drop in on a few local business concerns before he actually came back to the villa.

Kizzy twitched as she felt a velvety brush around her bare calves. “Diablo,” she crooned, “what’s up with you?”

Callista’s cat had almost as much influence as Dorinda in the villa. Andreas seemed to dote on her even when she hissed and scratched, and he tolerated her kittens too, now that they had all been spayed. His patience with them was infinite, however unreasonable their behavior or demands. But then, they were the only survivors of the crash that had killed his sister, she had discovered from Dorinda. Andreas’s sister had been desperate to get the semi-feral cat to a vet when the animal was struggling to give birth. It was this act of compassion that had cost his sister her life.

Suddenly, Kizzy’s heart leapt at the sound of his familiar voice.

He must be taking a call on his cell phone, she thought, and stood up from her seat under the shade of an ancient fig tree to greet him, brushing out the creases from the new red dress he had bought her—it was the one she had refused to try on in Rhodes, and somehow it seemed right to put it on for him today.

She pressed her lips together to ensure just a trace of cherry-tinted lip balm remained, but not so much that she would cover him in smears when they kissed.

Then her excited heart shuddered and almost stopped.

Andreas had emerged from behind a stone wall on the upper terrace and was heading back toward the main villa courtyard. He was laughing. And so was his companion.

She was as petite as a shop mannequin, with blue-black hair that fell below her waist like a silk curtain. Andreas had her tucked neatly under one of his broad shoulders as he stopped and turned to place a kiss on the woman’s forehead. Kizzy’s hand flew to her mouth as she stifled a small cry of shock and then struggled to prevent the sudden rise of physical sickness that she could feel welling up inside her. They were chatting in Greek, so she couldn’t understand what they were saying, but the air of intimacy that surrounded them was undeniable.

Kizzy clenched her hands into fists to stop them from shaking and forced them against her lips while she silently watched the pair disappear into the villa, still laughing. Acid tears burned the back of her throat as her fight to suppress them failed.

So this was how it was going to end.

She had known it would happen one day—it had been inevitable, but so soon?

A dark cloud fell over the memories of the last six weeks since their return from the island, as Kizzy faced up to the realization that he must have planned all this some time ago. It was obvious now—once Andreas had decided she wasn’t the type of mistress material he was after, he had found her a job to keep her safely out of the way while he lined up a replacement!

Anger rose up in her throat and manifested itself in a small guttural cry of self-preservation as her decision was quickly made. She had no choice, not if she had any pride left, nor if she had any respect for her mother’s memory and the promise she had made never to let a man grind her into the dust.

He was
not
going to discard her and there was no way she was going to hang around until he finally decided to break the bad news to her.

She was going to walk out on
him.

Her front teeth bit down hard on her bottom lip and she forced her heavy limbs toward the wooden door that led to the outside world. She needed time to think, to regroup, and work out a way to maintain a shred of dignity when her heart was shattering into a million tiny pieces. Yet all she seemed able to think about was Andreas’s new woman—and scratching her eyes out.

The strength of her enmity toward the unknown woman was frightening, jealousy and bitterness raging uncontrollably inside her—making the nausea she had first felt on seeing them swell almost to physical sickness. It was madness, of course—she knew nothing about her replacement. It wasn’t the new mistress’s fault; this was all Andreas’s doing. Andreas, the man who could turn her body into fire with just one touch. The man who had a mechanical pump where his heart should be.

She had to walk. Walk fast to clear her head and get as far from the villa as she could before she did something really stupid. Something stupid like confront them in his bedroom and slap him around the face so hard her hand would sting.

She wouldn’t humiliate herself by risking an emotional scene. She’d walk up to the acropolis, something he’d forbidden her to do alone unless she took a donkey ride, plenty of water, sunscreen, and her bloody sunhat.

Well, damn his rules.

She was taking back charge of her life. She’d go up to the acropolis and stay just as long as she wanted to and…and… Well he probably wouldn’t even notice.

…

“What the hell were you playing at?”

Kizzy could hear Andreas’s voice, but was finding it difficult to open her eyes against the dazzling light that seemed to surround and envelop her. And the strange smell…

“What’s going on?” she murmured, her voice cracking with dryness. “Where are we?”

“
We,
Kizzy Dean, are in a private hospital room in Rhodes,” he said. “So how are you feeling?”

“Hospital? I don’t understand. How… How did I get here?” she asked groggily, blinking at the brightness of the room as she forced her eyes open.

“I drove us here yesterday in Angie’s decrepit Fiat, that’s how. It’s a complete heap but still a lot quicker than hanging around for an ambulance once we’d hauled your dead weight down from the top of the acropolis.” He took her small, weak hand in his and raked his other hand through the tousled darkness of his hair. “How long had you been up there? You were in a terrible state by the time some passing tourist got hold of your cell and phoned me.”

“You
drove
?”

“I had no choice,” he replied flatly and broke eye contact. “I thought you were going to die on me, woman. How many times have I told you that you’re not used to the heat we have here? You were mad going up there at the hottest time of the day without any water or even your hat.”

“I didn’t care about the stupid hat!” Kizzy replied stubbornly. She glanced at the drip in her arm and began, with growing horror, to recall the events that had led her to being where she was now. A flash of anger surfaced as she remembered his pretty visitor at the villa. “I’m sorry to have spoiled your afternoon by obliging you to take the wheel of a car when you clearly had more exciting things planned.”

“Such as?”

Kizzy winced as she eased herself upright against the crisp hospital linen. “Nothing. It doesn’t matter any more.”

“Well, it matters to me, Kizzy. I want you to tell me exactly what was going on in your head—”

His words were cut off as a broad man in a white coat thrust unceremoniously into the room with an official-looking clipboard and nodded a greeting.