Sold to the Enemy (13 page)

He released her suddenly. ‘We never knew if it was an accident or if she jumped.’

Without waiting for her to respond he strode away from her, leaving Selene staring after him in appalled silence.

Your father ruined my father.

The woman who had drowned was his mother.

‘Stefan, wait—
Stefan
.’ But
her voice was lost in the crowd and he was already out of sight, his long, powerful stride eating up the ground as he walked out of her life, leaving her with nothing but the knowledge she’d been terribly, horribly wrong about him.

CHAPTER NINE

S
TEFAN
sat sprawled in his chair at the head of the table, his features stony as he listened to his executives discussing a business issue that should have interested him but didn’t. His mind was preoccupied with memories he himself had unlocked. It was like ripping open an old wound, tearing through healing tissue and exposing raw flesh. It wasn’t just pain, it was screaming agony. But worse than that was the thought of Selene struggling on her own, looking over her shoulder all the time, never able to relax and just enjoy her new life.

Despite the efficient air-conditioning, sweat beaded on his brow.

As well as watching Selene they’d been watching Antaxos but her father hadn’t shown his face since their encounter on that day.

What the hell had possessed him to get involved with Stavros Antaxos’s daughter? It was a decision that had ‘trouble’ written all over it.

‘Stefan—?’

Hearing his name, he glanced up and saw Maria in the doorway.

It was unheard of for her to interrupt him in a meeting and Stefan rose to his feet in a cold panic. He told himself that Takis would not have let anything happen to Selene, but still his limbs shook as he walked to the door.

‘What’s wrong? Have you heard from her?’ His voice trailed off as he saw Selene standing in his office, the sun sending silver lights shimmering through her newly shorn hair. She wore a simple cotton strap top and a pair of shorts that revealed endless length of tanned leg.

Tears streaked her pretty face.

His world tilted. ‘
Theé mou
, what has happened?’ He was across the room in two strides, his hands on her arms. ‘Has he found you? If he’s threatened you in some way then I’ll—’

‘He hasn’t threatened me. I haven’t seen him.’ She choked out the words. Sniffed. ‘Nothing like that.’

‘Then what the hell is wrong? Tell me.’

The quiet click of the door told him that Maria had left the room, which meant that he was alone with someone who repeatedly made him feel as if he were poised on the top of a slippery slope about to plunge to his doom.

‘I was so wrong about you and I’m sorry.’ Her eyes lifted to his. ‘I— This is
all
my fault. After I met you that night and you were so nice to me I built you up in my head as some sort of hero. I thought about you all the time, I dreamed about you, and then I met you and you were this amazing guy—’ Her voice cracked. ‘And we had that night, and it was fun, and you were so incredibly sexy, and being in your bed was—well, I just—I never thought anything could feel like that—’

‘You need to breathe,
koukla mou.
’

‘No, I need to tell you this because I feel
horrible
and I’m not going to stop feeling horrible until I’ve said what I have to say and you have to listen.’

‘I’m listening,’ Stefan assured her, ‘but I need you to calm down. I thought you only cried when you were happy?’

‘Turns out that’s another thing I was wrong about. But mostly I was wrong about you. I was so panicked when I saw those photos, and you were so unconcerned about it I assumed you were responsible. I didn’t even think about it from your point of view. Of course you didn’t know about my father. Why would you? And I was so used to playing my part in this so-called happy family that I didn’t even know how to tell someone that it was all fake.’

‘None of this matters now. It’s fine.’

‘No, it isn’t fine. Because you came to that island to rescue me and all I did was yell at you, and then I found out you’d got me the job and had people watching me so that I was safe, but did I thank you?’ Her voice rose. ‘No! I yelled at you again.’

‘You wanted to be independent. I understand that.’

‘I was embarrassingly unrealistic. I have no experience, no credentials, nothing that would make an employer take me on, and yet I thought I’d be able to just walk into a job and when I did I didn’t even question it. If it hadn’t been for you I probably would have been sleeping rough—’

‘I’ve done that and I didn’t want it for you.’ He wiped that image from his mind.

‘You’ve been so kind to me,’ she mumbled, ‘and I didn’t deserve it. I was mean and I’m not a mean person. But I can see it all more clearly now.’

‘You have been through more than anyone should have to. Why would you trust me? I was your father’s enemy—that’s why you came to me in the first place.’

‘But I never saw you as that. I knew you weren’t. I knew you were good. You
are
good.’ She was standing so close to him he could smell the scent of her hair and see the flecks of black in her green eyes.

‘
Don’t
start that again.’

‘I’m not. I know you’re not a hero, but you are good. I also understand now that your mother walking off like that when you were so young must have put you off relationships for life.’

‘I have had plenty of relationships.’

‘I mean real ones, not just sex. You don’t let anyone close because of it and that breaks my heart, because you deserve to have a lovely family.’

Stefan felt a flash of panic. ‘Believe me that is
not
what I want. You are far more sensitive about this than I am. It was a long time ago and my mother was just another of your father’s many conquests. It happened long, long before he met and married your mother.’

‘But you’re still hurting. Of course you’re hurting. You brush it away like dust on your sleeve but we both know you haven’t left it behind. You’re carrying it with you into everything you do—your business and your relationships. It’s the reason you work so hard and it’s the reason you don’t get involved with women. It’s the reason you don’t have a family. You’re afraid of losing what you love.’

Her insight shocked him. ‘I really don’t—’

‘I was the one who opened the wound. I pushed you and pushed you and suggested it was just because you were fighting over business—as if you could be that superficial.’

Stefan, who had spent his life being exactly that superficial was floored. ‘Selene—’

‘I’m sorry.’ She flung her arms round him and hugged him tightly.

He stood immobile, the feel of her softness against him driving the breath from his body. And there was that smell again. The smell of her soap that always drove him wild. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth to try and hold back the rush of feeling.

He couldn’t remember being hugged by a woman except as part of foreplay. He stood rigid, unsure what to do next. ‘I should probably get back to my meeting.’

‘Couldn’t they have the meeting without you? We could go somewhere private.’ Her voice was muffled in his chest. ‘We could have fun and do a few more things on my list.’ She was still hugging him, her body warm against his, her arms wrapped around him.

‘If we’re doing things on your list why do we need to be private?’

‘Because most of them involved getting naked with you.’

Stefan gave an incredulous laugh. ‘You are the most confusing woman I’ve ever met.’

‘I’m the least confusing woman you’ve ever met. I’m honest about what I want.’

‘And what
do
you want?’ He forced himself to ask the question even though he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.

‘I want quite a lot. First I’d like you to help me with my business.’

‘I thought you didn’t want my help?’

‘It was incredibly stupid and childish of me to say that. Of course I want your help. I’d be mad to turn it down, wouldn’t I? You know more about business than anyone and although candles make you wince I know I have a viable business. But I have no idea how to make it reality. If you’re still prepared to help me, I’d be grateful.’

Stefan relaxed slightly. Business was the easy part. ‘I’ll help you.’

‘I’m prepared to work as hard as I have to. I’m excited about it.’ Her eyes sparkled. ‘I’ve given up the job in the
taverna
—they only took me on because of you so I felt bad taking a job from someone else. I want to concentrate on my business and if you could loan me enough to live on while I get everything off the ground I’d consider myself fortunate. But I will pay you back. It’s a loan, not a gift. No more money tied in a thong.’

Stefan lifted his brows. ‘That is a creative way of keeping money in one place.’

‘With hindsight it wasn’t such a clever idea. My father found it.’

The thought horrified him. ‘It’s a good job you ran from him when you did.’

‘It’s a good job you turned up when you did. Thank you for that, too. And I was very impressed that you managed to land a boat on that side of the island without sinking it. That will go down in Antaxos legend, I can tell you.’

‘I don’t understand how you could have lived with that man all your life and escaped unscathed.’

‘I’m not unscathed. I dreamed of heroes. It made me unrealistic. I created a mythical person who could defeat my father and leave him grovelling with apology—’ She frowned. ‘Come to think of it, you did leave him groveling.’

‘But there was no apology.’

‘That would have been asking for a miracle.’ Her hand was resting on his chest. ‘Aren’t you going to ask me what else I want apart from help with my business?’

‘Go on.’

‘I want to be with you. I want to go on dates like normal people. I want to have lots of sex.’

Stefan breathed deeply. ‘You shouldn’t say things like that—’

‘I’m just saying it to you. I know I’m asking a lot because you don’t normally date women. This is the part where you tell me you’ll break my heart, you don’t want happy-ever-after and that the longest relationship you’ve ever had lasted three courses over dinner.’ Her arms slid round his neck. ‘And this is the part where I tell you I just want to have fun with someone I trust. I want to explore the chemistry with someone I feel safe with. I want to make love with you the way we did that night at the villa and this time I don’t want to have to rush off in the morning.’

Heat spread through his body. ‘Selene—’

‘But if you’d rather go back to your meeting...’ Her finger trailed down his neck. ‘Or if being hugged is making you uncomfortable and you’d rather go back to living your life in an isolated bubble, that’s fine with me. Actually it’s not fine with me, and if that’s what you decide you’ll probably find I’m just as persistent as you are when I want something.’

He caught her hand in his. ‘You’re driving me crazy.’

‘Good. Because I haven’t slept since that night at your villa. I’ve turned into a sex maniac. If you could do something about that, I’d appreciate it.’ Her fingers tangled with his. ‘Look at it this way—if it doesn’t work out you can just dump me and move on. Isn’t that what you always do? It’s never caused you a problem before. What’s different this time?’

His collar was constricting his throat and he extracted himself from her arms, yanked at his tie and flipped open the top button of his shirt. ‘Your first instinct was probably the right one. You should stay away from me. I’m not good for you.’

‘Maybe you are. And maybe I’m good for you. But if we don’t do this we’ll never find out.’

* * *

‘I
know that this product is special. It’s a luxury. A treat. Something to make a woman feel pampered. If we sell it in supermarkets as an everyday item, it loses its appeal. It’s a high-end product. I thought maybe if we made it exclusive to your spa hotels to begin with it might add to the feel that this is a superior product.’

Selene stopped talking, aware of the twelve people in the room all watching her. It should have felt daunting, but only one person interested her and that was the man who lounged at the head of the table. Stefan hadn’t spoken a word since the meeting began and yet it was obvious from the body language of everyone in the room that his opinion was the one that mattered.

He’d removed his jacket. On the surface he was no different from anyone else, and yet he throbbed with authority and power. Even without speaking he commanded the room and Selene felt something stir inside her.

He was shockingly handsome, those dark lashes framing eyes that looked at her with raw sexual promise.

Imagining that mouth on hers, she lost the thread of her speech.

He smiled, and the fact that he so clearly knew what she was thinking infuriated her and at the same time made her insides turn to jelly.

She didn’t want to be that predictable, but she loved the fact he could read her. She didn’t want him to be so sure of her, but she wanted him to know her. She wanted that intimacy.

‘Exclusive,’ she said firmly. ‘That’s the approach I think we should take. By making it hard to get, people might want it more.’

His eyes held hers. Amusement danced there, along with something infinitely darker and more dangerous.

There was an expectant silence. Heads turned to Stefan and finally he stirred.

‘It’s a high-risk strategy but I like it. Put it into five of our hotels to test it and if it’s successful we’ll roll it out across the whole group.’

Selene felt the tension ooze out of her. She’d presented her ideas to a commercial task force put together by Stefan and they’d discussed everything from packaging options and advertising to demographics and market forces until her brain was a blur.

‘Start exclusive.’ Adam, head of Ziakas Business Development, picked up one of the candles and nodded. ‘I can work with that. Jenny?’

Jenny was head of public relations for the Ziakas Corporation. ‘Yes, our campaign should focus on the luxury element. We’ll invite a few journalists for pamper days—they can share their experiences. Spread the word. Create demand. I’ll have some companies pitch ideas.’

By the time the meeting eventually finished Selene had been on her feet for almost four hours, but she’d learned so much and her head was buzzing.

‘We’re done here.’ Stefan rose to his feet, dismissing everyone, but as Selene closed her laptop—her brand-new laptop—he stopped her. ‘Not you.’

Finally the room cleared and it was just the two of them left alone.

‘So...’ Stefan strolled round the table, his attention focused on her. ‘By making it hard to get, people might want more? I can confirm that’s the case. Do you have any idea how much control I had to exercise today?’