The Greek Millionaire's Marriage (10 page)

The gentle expression on his face tore into her heart. In a moment of madness she reached up and drew his head down, kissing him tenderly. Then she pulled away abruptly before she confessed her true feelings.

‘In case they haven't, I hope that does the trick,' she croaked out with as much brightness as she could manage, and hurried back to the fascinated throng as if she was escaping from a dangerous animal. Which she was, she thought wryly.

‘What exactly are you up to?' snapped Eleni, accosting her with angry belligerence.

‘I've no idea,' she blurted out honestly. ‘I wish I did.'

Blindly skirting the crowd,
en route
to goodness-knew-where, she was halfway across the empty dance floor when Dimitri caught her up.

‘Dance with me,' he said in a tone that brooked no refusal.

Not that she wanted to refuse. She was in his arms and swaying to his every movement before her brain could warn her against such a silly move. And she was loving it. Her head nestled in the hollow of his throat. His breath seared her scalp hotly. The glory of his body lured her in until her curves lay against his, her breasts leaping into sharp peaks where they were rubbing the soft wool of his jacket. The burning pillar that heated her pelvis grew harder and harder and his grip on her hand grew tighter as their breathing shortened.

‘Look at me!' he whispered in hoarse command.

Helplessly she did so. He stopped in the middle of the floor. Took her face between his hands and looked at her for what seemed an eternity, her eyes swimming under his impassioned gaze, before he swept her into his arms again and continued the dance, even closer than before.

This couldn't go on. It was beginning to hurt, the pain of loving him tearing at her heart so fiercely that she almost cried out loud.

‘Wait,' Olivia ground out when they were level with the small orchestra. She managed to push herself free and begged the bandleader for something lively.

Dimitri laughed when she returned to him. ‘Can't stand the heat?' he murmured.

‘Can't stand being pawed. Darling,' she whispered, plastering a sweet smile on her face.

‘Like a bit of action, instead?' he drawled and, catch
ing her by the waist, he whirled her around the floor till she was breathless.

Despite her reluctance, she began to enjoy the hectic excitement of dancing with a man who knew how to lead, whose movements she could anticipate so well that it seemed the two of them had rehearsed for hours. And it was a release for her pent-up emotions.

Soon the dance floor was empty and they were working through their repertoire of energetic jive-cum-rock and roll, to suit the rumbustuous music.

Bright-eyed, laughing and exhausted, they finished with an exhibition twirl that evoked a storm of applause. Dimitri looked down at her flushed face, his heart thundering.

He'd forgotten what it was like to feel like this. To have his heart and mind dominated by something other than luxury apartments and executive houses. She made his bones sing. Little witch. But it was a great feeling and he meant to string it out as long as he could. He was enjoying himself too much to let her leave Greece quickly—though he needed to stay in control. She must dance to his tune, not the other way round. That meant he had to call a halt now.

‘I must dance with my mother,' he said with private reluctance, wanting to hold Olivia in his arms all evening.

Her luscious mouth parted in a pout. ‘In that case, I'll share myself around too,' she sighed.

His grip tightened before he could help it. ‘Not too enthusiastically,' he muttered. And hastily added in harsh warning, ‘You're supposed to be falling in love with me.'

‘Oh, I'll fling you plenty of soppy glances,' she said, patting him like a pet dog.

With gritted teeth that made his jaw ache, he watched her closely for the rest of the evening. It seemed to him that she was having more fun than she should. His friends had claimed her, one after the other, holding her tightly to their chests and gazing down at her with stupefied expressions.

Propping up the bar, he glowered to see her lapping up the admiration. Eleni was hanging on his arm, chattering away. Every now and then he nodded or made a comment on her inane babbling.

But his mind was elsewhere, captured and tied up in ropes by a stunningly beautiful woman who lit fires in his veins, whose supple swaying body had been burnt on the backs of his retinas so that wherever he looked he could see her, and wherever he was he could hear her musical voice and flirty little laugh.

‘Dimitri! You're not listening to me!' Eleni shook his arm crossly.

‘Sorry.' He dragged his brain back. ‘What were you saying?'

‘It doesn't matter. You're hooked on her, aren't you? And she's a bitch, deliberately trying to make you jealous. Can't you see that?' sulked Eleni.

There was pain in the girl's eyes. Tenderly he took her hands in his. ‘Olivia and I—'

‘Her flirting is deliberate! She knows I'm a rival!' she said with a sniff.

‘Eleni!' he said in consternation.

 

Olivia was nibbling canapés at the huge, flower-garlanded buffet table on the terrace when she caught sight of Eleni disappearing into the house. Closely followed by Dimitri.

Her stomach contracted in horror and she slid her
plate onto the table, her hands shaking. He couldn't. Wouldn't. He'd sworn they weren't lovers. Yet the way he hurried after his partner's daughter—as though he was eager to catch her up and kiss her and sweep her into his arms—suggested otherwise.

She would find out. Perhaps expose him for the liar that he was. With a mumbled excuse to Andros, she made her way up a set of side steps to the house.

Where she found Eleni wrapped in Dimitri's arms.

Q
UIETLY
she slipped away before she was seen, her heart thundering in her chest and her mind teeming with confused thoughts. How could she be so stupid as to love such a man and give her heart and soul to him so comprehensibly? He'd never been true to her. Had never been honest.

And the stupid thing was that she'd
known
they were playing a game. He'd made it plain that she was just a body that he'd virtually hired to rid himself of an unwanted bride-to-be. Yet she realised now to her intense shame that unconsciously she'd harboured wild, crazy hopes that maybe…
maybe
…

She'd been incredibly gullible. Dimitri only had to murmur a few lying sweet nothings and she was his. She ought to have known better. Past experience should have told her that all he wanted was sex without strings from any willing, beautiful woman who happened to be around.

Sure, he found her desirable. But, she thought miserably, he thought loads of other women were desirable too. Whatever had given her the impression that she might be someone special?

Huddled against a marble pillar on the upper terrace, she morosely surveyed the glittering scene. Then with a sigh she glanced down at her fabulous dress. Right now, she'd gladly swap all the glamour here for a little house and a man she could love, who respected her and was utterly faithful.

Wearily, sick of it all, she found another door into the mansion and stumbled to her bedroom. Remembering Dimitri's promise of a night of passion, she jammed a chair beneath the handle on the bedroom door.

He could make do with Eleni, she thought, violently unzipping her dress and slinging it in the direction of a chair. It missed and fell to the floor, but she let it lie there, hoping sourly that Eleni would spend the entire night giggling into Dimitri's ear and numbing his brain with inanities.

Too tired to think, she prepared for bed mechanically and eventually slipped on her black silk nightdress and crawled into the soft linen sheets with a sigh of relief. But as she lay there, longing for sleep, her mind began to replay the evening in full Technicolor.

There was Dimitri, dark, handsome, apparently adoring. There he was again, laughing. The whiteness of his teeth and the amusement on his face caused her body to tighten even now. He seemed to be everywhere in her head. Deceptively loving. Painfully good-looking and desirable.

She put her hands to her head, desperate to be rid of him. With a groan, she sprang up and poured herself a glass of wine from the carafe by the bed, thinking that a good slug of alcohol might make her drowsy. It didn't.

Muttering angrily under her breath, she paced the room, and even tried counting backwards from a thousand. Somewhere around nine hundred and thirty she lost the plot and found herself quivering at the memory of Dimitri's touch.

It was going to be a long night. Resigned, she
stomped over to the window to glare at the few remaining guests. No Eleni in sight.

Surprisingly, Marina was still up, dancing with Nikos. Olivia wondered if her mother-in-law might be a little drunk, because she seemed to be melting in her partner's arms, her gaunt face so remarkably relaxed and happy that she looked quite pleasant for a change.

Olivia tensed. Dimitri was there, too, chatting amiably with a handful of friends in that easy, male style. Her eyes softened. He sat in a wicker chair, every inch the Greek tycoon, his arms draped casually over the arms, one long leg crossed over the other. And he looked immaculate as ever and totally unperturbed, as if he hadn't spent the past hour or so smooching with a nineteen-year-old girl.

Suddenly he stiffened and glanced up at her window, as if he'd known she'd been staring at him. Olivia hastily moved away, upset that he'd seen her. With his giant ego, she thought crossly, he'd probably think she was mooning over him like a lovesick fool, while she'd been mentally firing lasers at his steel-clad heart.

 

Dimitri's head reeled. There had been an uncharacteristic droop of her shoulders that warned him something wasn't quite right. The narrow straps of her nightdress had been slipping down her arms. In fact, her whole demeanour had been strangely listless. Despite the distance between them, he was sure her mouth had been set in an unhappy line. He had to go to her. He didn't know why, only that he must.

Using well-honed tact and skill, he managed to persuade the last guests to leave. Stifling his impatience, he thanked the orchestra and the caterers, then hugged his mother, who hadn't said a word about his extraor
dinary behaviour throughout the evening—presumably because, as he'd guessed, she dared not object in public that it looked as if his marriage might be saved.

‘Don't worry about me. Everything's under control,' he said, anxious to put her mind at rest.

‘I won't,' she said before he could continue. She smiled with unusual warmth at Nikos, who had brought two brandies over. ‘I know you're up to something. Besides, I've decided that I have my own life to lead and you must make your own mistakes.'

Astonished, Dimitri looked from one to the other, noting the new softness of his mother's face. Nikos gave him a sheepish look and a helpless shrug. A little dazed, Dimitri said his goodnights and left them to it.

All he had on his mind was Olivia. In truth, she had drowned out almost everything else all evening. Racing up the stairs, he tried to open her door. And found it wouldn't budge more than an inch.

‘Olivia!' he called. ‘It's me.'

‘I hardly thought it might be anyone else!' she shouted back crossly.

He frowned. ‘Let me in, then.'

‘If you think I'm entertaining you after you've been canoodling with another woman, you're sadly mistaken!' she yelled.

What was she talking about? Irritated, he pushed the door again and it yielded slightly.

‘Open this door or I'll break it down!' he ordered.

‘You've been watching too many American movies!' she retorted. ‘Go back to your lover and leave me alone!'

He had no choice. Refusing to discuss her wild accusation through two inches of oak, he took a few steps back, steadied himself, and charged, thinking to shock
her into opening the door. However, there was a resounding crack as something gave way and he was hurtling into the bedroom.

‘Get out of here!' she cried, shocked.

Cringeing against the bed hangings and clinging on to them for dear life, she looked so terrified that he calmed down immediately. He kicked aside the broken chair which had allowed him entry, then pushed the door shut and leaned against it, trying to look harmless.

‘So—other than you—who am I supposed to have made advances to tonight?' he asked in amusement, loosening his bow-tie and undoing the top button of his shirt.

‘Good grief! Don't you know?' she hurled.

‘No. And I think I would have noticed,' he pointed out with a grin.

‘It's not funny! Allow me to jog your memory,' she seethed. ‘Curvy blonde. Spectacular body. Giggles a lot.'

‘Eleni?!'
He laughed at the very idea. ‘Heaven help me, I've told you before—she'd be the last woman on earth I'd approach.' His eyes twinkled. ‘How could I fondle a woman whose breasts are solid marble?'

‘How do you know they are?' she demanded hotly.

‘I don't,' he replied with great patience. ‘I'm assuming they would be since they don't move a lot.' He looked pointedly at hers, which were moving more than he could personally withstand.

‘You don't deny you've looked, then?'

He heaved a sigh. ‘It's difficult to escape them when they're sitting like cannonballs on top of her dress. Olivia, I keep telling you. I'm not interested in her—'

‘Then it was her double who I saw in the salon in your arms—'

‘Ahh. That's it.'

‘You're not denying it now, are you?' she flung, sounding at the end of her tether.

She was truly jealous. For some reason that delighted him. Vanity? No. Something else that he dared not investigate.

‘Olivia.' His voice and his entire demeanour softened. ‘Eleni
was
in my arms. But, as I recall, we were fully dressed and we remained clothed throughout the time I comforted her.'

‘Oh, yes?' she muttered sulkily.

‘I saw that she was upset,' he explained. ‘I decided to enlist her as an ally.'

‘That's ridiculous! You're lying to me,' she accused.

‘Not at all. I am aware that she needs people to think well of her. Therefore I remarked on the fact that she and I had always been good friends and that I knew she would want the best for me. I said she'd always seemed like a kid sister to me—'

‘Bet she hated that.'

‘It made her blink,' he agreed with a wry smile. ‘And while she was temporarily speechless I managed to talk at length about marriage being a sacred union between a man and a woman—'

‘What a liar you are!' Olivia glared.

‘And,' he persevered, ‘I got her to agree with me on the sanctity of marriage. She'd realised what I was doing by then, but she could hardly say that it meant nothing.'

‘Devious.'

‘I thought so,' he said, pleased. ‘I told her I was entrusting her with a secret and that you and I were getting back together. She burst into tears and I said I knew how sentimental she was and how kind of her to
feel so happy for me that she felt like crying. I imagine that's when you saw us, because almost immediately she pulled away and wiped her eyes before stomping off to dance with Vangelis.'

He willed her to believe him. But he didn't tell her what else he'd said to Eleni.

‘You…didn't…do anything else? Like…kiss her?' Olivia asked in a small voice.

He winced at the very idea. What would convince her? ‘I swear I didn't, on my father's head,' he said simply.

There was no arguing with that. Dimitri would never use his father to support a lie. She bit her lip, cursing herself for jumping to conclusions. Dimitri had been acting kindly to Eleni by letting her down gently.

‘I'm sorry,' she mumbled.

‘It was an understandable mistake.'

‘Yes, it was, considering your reputation!' she muttered.

‘And what reputation is that?' he asked mildly.

‘As a womaniser.'

‘Ah.'

No denial, she noticed. ‘You're pretty untrustworthy where women are concerned.'

‘Am I?'

She glared. ‘Don't tell me you've been celibate ever since we parted!'

‘No. I haven't.'

She flinched at his honesty, wondering how many, how often, how beautiful those women had been.

‘I suppose I should be pleased,' she said jerkily, ‘that you have persuaded Eleni to abandon her hopes of marrying you. We can bring this awful charade to a close…'

She gulped. Why was she appalled at the thought of a rapid divorce? She ought to be celebrating, but it felt as if she were at a wake. Turning away to stare sightlessly out of the window, she tried to control her swamping misery.

Dimitri's hands rested lightly on her bare arms and she felt a jolt of lightning flash through her.

‘And we can be free to do whatever we want,' he finished for her.

All she wanted was to love him. To trust him. To be the only woman in his life. Some chance.

When he tried to turn her around she resisted and escaped, backing away, her eyes wide with apprehension.

‘Well, I want you to leave,' she said in a low voice.

‘No, you don't.'

His sheer arrogance made her eyes flash with instant defiance. When he smiled, and took a step towards her, she picked up the half-full glass of wine and hurled the contents at him.

‘I do!' she cried, as most of the wine fell to the floor.

Unperturbed, he shed his wine-stained jacket and shirt, letting them drop in a heap.

‘That is a lie,' he said calmly.

Alarmed by the determination in his glittering black eyes, she grabbed the carafe and began to eject its contents at him, backing nervously as he advanced on her. Wine gleamed darkly on his chest, trickling over its planes into little valleys and wetting the dark hairs that curled in a dark, tapering line that led towards his loins.

‘I'm going to make you lick all that up,' he growled, unhooking his belt.

‘Dimitri…no!' she croaked, dazed by the thought of sliding her tongue around the hard contours, and teas
ing each tight, male nipple into an erection… Her hand went to her mouth and she blushed, finding that the tip of her tongue had already moistened her lips as if in eager preparation.

‘Could be a glorious way of getting tipsy,' he breathed.

It was the way he looked at her that sent electric thrills pulsing into every nerve of her body. She could feel her flesh softening beneath the sensual impact of those wicked black eyes, which were heating her like blazing coals till a furnace burned inside her.

‘Why should I want to do that?' she demanded, clinging by a thread to normality.

‘To throw off those peculiar inhibitions you seem to have acquired since I last made love to you. Put down the decanter, Olivia. It's cut glass and will cause damage to those bare feet of yours if it smashes. Those beautiful feet… I wouldn't want them scarred.'

The hunger was eating away at her, unfairly reminding her of long-ago pleasures. Dimitri, taking each foot in turn and exploring every inch with his mouth. Sucking her toes while watching her with blazing hot eyes.

Shakily, she put the decanter on a marble table.

‘This isn't what I had in mind!' she whispered.

‘Isn't it?'

Somehow she shook her head instead of letting herself drift into his arms. ‘No. You said we'd pretend to be crazy about one another in
public
. Well, no one is here to see. We can behave normally—'

‘I am.' He spread his hands in innocence.