In the Greek's Bed: The Greek Tycoon's Wife / The Greek Millionaire's Marriage / The Greek Surgeon
‘You accused me of wanting to screw you for some nice fat divorce settlement!’ She breathed wrathfully. ‘For your information I wouldn’t take my bus fare off you,’ she added tremulously.
How, she wondered, could you detest someone so much yet find you wanted to lay your head against his chest and cry? Why in the circumstances would anybody in their right mind seek comfort and safety in the arms of their enemy? It was inexplicable and extremely scary, she concluded, staring with a dazed expression at the broad expanse that filled her with the strangest yearning.
As he surveyed her downcast features the harsh lines of Nikos’s face softened. ‘I did not intend to offend you, Katerina. Let us stop arguing, you’re not well.’
‘What’s this—Greek chivalry?’
He picked up on her scorn but reacted with curiosity, not injured pride. ‘You doubt such a thing exists?’
‘After meeting you—yes!’
Surprisingly her acid retort made him laugh, then as his appraisal of her weary, strained features continued his expression sobered once more. ‘Let’s be practical.’
When am I anything else? Katie thought with a spurt of revolt.
‘What actually are your plans?’
Did she have any? She shrugged. ‘Hopefully I won’t be reduced to sleeping on a park bench.’
‘What’s this—British humour?’ Despite her determination to be angry with him, Katie was amused to hear him cleverly use her own format against her. Whatever else was wrong with him, the man did have a quick wit and clever tongue—far too clever, she brooded darkly. A conversation with him had more dips and bends than a roller coaster.
‘You doubt such a thing exists?’ she quipped.
‘What can I say without insulting a person’s cultural heritage?’
Katie flushed at the subtle reprimand, then got even more worried when it occurred to her that he might have imagined there were xenophobic overtones in her earlier gibe. She frowned as she tried to recall whether what she had said could be construed that way.
‘Have you ever actually met any Greeks other than myself?’
‘Yes. As a matter of fact I’ve lived with one.’ She was pleased to see her enigmatic reply disconcert him; if she had been better acquainted with him she would have been even more surprised.
‘Does Tom know about this?’
Katie gave him a sunny, composed smile. ‘Yes, he does.’
‘I suppose this failed relationship explains your antipathy to me.’
‘Did I say I had a failed relationship?’
‘I naturally assumed as you’re not in it any longer…’
‘Well, you assumed wrong,’ she replied, her eyes locked to his. She hadn’t intended to make her reply vague, but now that she thought about it having Nikos imagine she had a colourful past did not seem such a bad idea.
‘As a matter of fact it was a beautiful relationship.’ The taunting tone suddenly died from her voice and her eyes softened. ‘Very beautiful,’ she revealed in a tone of deep, ineffable sadness. ‘I doubt if I’ll ever have a relationship quite like it again.’ Unless she had a daughter of her own one day?
‘Then your antipathy to me…’
‘Is solely due to the fact that you’re an offensive, malicious, detestable man.’
In the thunderous silence that followed her pronouncement Katie started to regret being so mean. I haven’t even asked if he’s all right, she thought, glancing guiltily towards the wound on his forehead. It was barely visible through the heavy swathe of hair that had fallen across his forehead.
‘I didn’t mean to offend you,’ she added when he didn’t respond. ‘Well, I did, but not— Oh, for heaven’s sake, don’t sulk!’ she blurted out in frustration. She waited for the inevitable ice to filter into his expression and wondered if there was a medical condition that could account for what her tongue was doing.
‘Relax, Katerina,’ he advised. ‘I’m not offended.’
She gave a sigh of relief. ‘Good. What did the doctor say?’
‘My chest is clear.’
Your chest is perfect, Katie thought. ‘That’s excellent,’ she said gravely.
‘And the X-ray of my skull was as it should be. They insisted on putting a stitch or two in my head,’ he admitted in a casual manner.
‘One or two?’ Katie echoed doubtfully. ‘It looks more to me…’ Without thinking, she reached out to lift the concealing hair from the wound. Before she touched him long brown fingers curled over her own. A bolt of neat electricity sizzled along her raw nerve endings.
‘Will you not take my word?’ He gave a humourless smile. He seemed a little tense…but then there was a lot of it about, she thought, swallowing a bubble of hysteria. ‘No, of course you won’t.’
‘I only wanted to see if you’re all right.’
Nikos dismissed her concern with a terse shake of his head. ‘The amount of stitches is of no consequence.’
He brought her hand down but didn’t release it immediately; instead he turned it over and ran his thumb across her open palm.
‘You have pretty hands.’ He looked as if he was almost as surprised to hear himself say this as she was.
Katie’s eyes lingered on his long, tapering fingers. His were strong, expressive hands and her tummy fluttered again.
‘Thank you, so do you.’
She sensed some of the tension slip away from him and, though his lips twitched, he didn’t respond to her comment.
‘You know, I think we can do a little better than that park bench.’
Although the physical contact had disturbed her she felt a twinge of regret when he released her hand. She tried to gather her straying wits. ‘What do you mean…?’
‘I mean I have a suite at the Hall Hotel.’
He would, of course—staying in anything less than a five-star hotel would obviously be beneath his dignity, and the Hall was the only five-star hotel in the area.
‘That’s you sorted, then.’
Nikos gave a heavy sigh and looked impatient. ‘Theos, you are hard work,’ he observed tersely. ‘We’re both tired…’
‘Which is no excuse to snap.’
A nerve in his lean cheek began to pump. ‘So kind of you to remind me of my manners.’
‘I get the feeling that doesn’t happen too often.’ More’s the pity, she thought, sending him a sour look.
He signalled his disapproval of the interruption with the faintest twist of his lips. ‘I was about to say that I’m quite willing to take your extreme reluctance to accept my help as read? It will save a lot of time and frayed tempers in the long run. If anyone asks I’ll swear you fought me tooth and nail. You hate me, I’m arrogant, you’d prefer to sleep on a park bench…blah…blah…’ he drawled.
She shot him a look of intense dislike. ‘I know this confirms my boring predictability, but I would prefer to sleep on a park bench!’ she declared.
‘Well done!’ he congratulated her. ‘The first step in correcting our faults is accepting you have a problem.’
‘Once you go away I won’t have a problem.’ If you overlook my penniless and homeless condition. Heavens, what was she going to do if he took her at her word…?
‘Don’t make a song and dance about this. You can’t stay here, you have no money. I, on the other hand, have—’
‘Too much money.’
‘Some people might think so,’ he conceded, ‘but actually I was thinking of a spare bed and a taxi which should arrive any moment.’
‘Spare bed?’
‘Sorry if you thought otherwise, but it has been a long day…’ he explained apologetically.
Katie blushed fierily at the silky innuendo in his voice. She gathered the jacket and her dignity around herself as best she could.
‘You won’t know I’m there,’ she promised grimly.
Nikos regarded the top of her dark head with a twisted smile. ‘That I very much doubt, agape mou,’ he drawled.
She pretended not to hear the endearment.
CHAPTER EIGHT
KATIE sniffed a few of the luxury bath products provided and, selecting one that had a tang of rosemary, she poured it into the water.
She inhaled deeply, enjoying the scent from the pungent-smelling oil in the steamy air. She gave a deep sigh as she slid slowly into the hot water. It was bliss.
She lost track of time as she lay there, drifting in every sense of the word. The delightful idyll was only spoiled when there was a loud knock on the door.
Katie groaned and slid under the water to block out the noise; fronds of water-darkened hair floated on the surface like exotic petals above her head. When she emerged, wet hair plastered to her face, the knocking was louder and accompanied by a voice. She wiped the moisture from her face with her hand and grimaced.
‘Are you all right, Katerina? If you don’t answer me I shall be forced to come in!’
He would too.
This was a situation fraught with dangerous possibilities…which no doubt accounted for the dramatic increase in her pulse-rate.
Katie bit her lip and blew a section of frothy suds from her arm, watching as individual bubbles detached themselves and began to float across the room.
‘It’s locked!’ she shouted, hoping he’d go away.
If she hoped he’d go away, why then did she have this image in her head of being joined in the water by a sleekly muscled male body…? Why even as she spoke was she seeing water sliding over powerful shoulders…?
She almost certainly didn’t want answers to these questions.
There was a short silence. ‘A locked door is not an obstacle to a determined man,’ he told her, sounding irritated but a lot more relaxed than he had done before she’d spoken. ‘So if you are not unconscious answer me.’
Katie watched the bubble that had travelled the farthest ping on a mirrored surface. ‘What do you want?’ she called crossly.
‘Do you want anything from room service? I’m ordering some supper.’
Her stomach responded to the offer with a hungry growl. ‘No.’
‘You hardly ate anything at dinner.’
‘And whose fault is that…?’
‘You ought to have something,’ Nikos persisted, choosing to ignore her indignant accusation.
‘What are you going to do, force-feed me?’ She winced at the sound of her own voice. God, this is starting to sound more and more like a playground squabble. One of them had to start acting like a grown-up. ‘Actually…Nikos…’ she began tentatively. Why was it so hard for her to say his name? ‘I wouldn’t mind a sandwich? Nikos…?’ she called, but there was no response. She shrugged; he obviously hadn’t hung around.
Katie sank back down into the scented water but found it impossible to recapture her relaxed mood, so after washing her long hair until it was squeaky clean she climbed out of the roll-top bath. As she reached for a towel she caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror—how could she not? The ceiling was about the only place in the bathroom that didn’t have a reflective surface.
She barely registered the fleeting image she had of the tall girl with long, slim legs, flat belly and firm, fairly full breasts with small pouting nipples that stood out darkly against pale honey skin. She picked a large soft towel from the pile on the vanity unit and was about to dry herself when an impulse made her turn and rub some of the condensation from the nearest mirror.
Towel still in her hands, she extended one leg in front of her and pointed her toes, watching the effect of her balletic pose in the mirror. Thoughtfully she replaced her foot on the tiled floor then turned, viewing her body critically from several angles. How, she wondered, would a stranger view this body? Would they notice that her hip bones were too bonily prominent or detect that, viewing from this angle, you could see that her right breast was just fractionally fuller than the left?
She ran her fingers slowly down the damp flat contours of her belly; the sensitised nerves in her abdomen quivered under her touch. She found herself staring into her own eyes…they were darkened, alien, the pupils dilated. She shivered, not from cold because her skin was hot to the touch.
‘Oh, my goodness!’ she gasped, wiping a shaking hand across her lips, which appeared pinker and fuller than usual—as if I’d just been kissed. Who am I kidding? It’s no stranger’s eyes I’m trying to see myself through, but a very specific pair of eyes—inky-dark fathomless eyes.
It was bad she was thinking about Nikos looking at her naked, but infinitely worse was the inescapable fact she was getting seriously aroused thinking about him doing so!
Shaking with reaction, she covered her shamefully engorged nipples with her crossed arms and stumbled towards the washbasin; gulping, she turned on the cold tap. The cold water she splashed on her face did clear her head but not her deeply troubled thoughts.
I’m about to marry one man and I’m thinking this way about another.
‘What does that say about me?’ she demanded of the image in the mirror. The fact that she was actually married to the object of her lustful fancies was not, considering the exceptional circumstances, relevant.
Maybe it was time to admit what she had with Tom was not a basis for a lifelong commitment? She shook her head, rejecting the idea. Friendship and respect lasted longer than lust—this inevitably led her thoughts full circle back to Nikos.
‘I will not let him do this to me!’ she gritted out loud. Only an idiot would want a spectacular burst of showy fireworks when they could have a steady, slow-burning flame. But did she?
Shaking the excess moisture off her face, she took a deep breath and began to rub herself vigorously with a towel. Long before she’d finished her skin was pink and tingling.
When Katie went back through to her bedroom the door to the sitting room shared by the two bedrooms in the large, luxurious suite was open. She couldn’t hear any signs of life beyond it, but just in case she tiptoed quietly towards it with the intention of surreptitiously shutting it. She’d feel safer with a visible barrier between them…but would he, the sly voice in her head wondered…if he knew what you were thinking?
That was never going to happen!
Pretending she wasn’t attracted to him was not going to work any more—actually it never had worked particularly well to begin with—neither could she blame it on the heightened emotions surrounding the fire. The truth was every time she looked at him she was overwhelmed by a mindless hunger with an emphasis on the mindless. Lust was something she could deal with, she told herself without a great deal of conviction.
If only, she thought wistfully as she grasped the door handle, Nikos could be as easily shut out of her thoughts. As part of her new honesty policy she acknowledged it was going to take a lot more than two inches of polished mahogany to accomplish that—yes, that’s going to take a bit of good old-fashioned self-control, she told herself sternly, so stop acting as if you don’t have any choice about this!
‘There’s always a choice!’ Katie grimaced to hear the lack of conviction in her voice—once more with feeling, girl! ‘There’s always a choice…?’
She frowned and leaned her weight against the door, which, only half closed, had come to an abrupt halt. She grunted softly and gave a shove just as the obstacle revealed itself to be a six-feet-five-in-his-bare-feet obstacle!
Her stomach dipped dramatically as she angled a dismayed look up at his lean, imposing features.
Oh, heavens! Not only could she not get him out of her thoughts, her assumption she could physically shut him out was proving to be optimistic as well!
‘Sorry, I didn’t see you there.’ She smiled tensely as he opened the door fully, and tightened the belt on the calf-length hotel robe. As befitted an up-market hotel, the robe in question was as sumptuously rich as the décor; in fact it was so fluffy and comforting it was hard to tell she had a waist.
Only Katie didn’t feel particularly comforted wearing it; it wasn’t the provocative nature of this modest get-up that bothered her, but what she was—or rather what she wasn’t—wearing underneath!
Her glance skimmed over Nikos in what she hoped was a casual way, not likely to be misconstrued as an I-want-to-rip-your-clothes-off sort of way! It revealed that, like herself, he had used the time to bathe, but unlike her he did not have to rely on the robes the hotel supplied. He had changed into casual light-coloured jeans and a polo shirt in a slightly darker silky fabric.
This relaxed version of Nikos was equally devastatingly attractive as the formal one.
‘Were you talking to yourself…?’
Katie, lips clamped tight, shook her head vigorously.
One dark brow quirked. ‘I thought I heard something.’
‘I must have been thinking out loud…’
His lips quivered faintly. ‘But not talking to yourself.’
His mockery made her want to hit him, which was not a civilised response, but somehow civilised was hard to achieve around Nikos.
‘Sorry if it disturbed you. Goodnight?’ she added with more hope than expectation of him taking the hint. He was not big on taking hints.
‘You thought I was asleep, perhaps?’
A perfectly innocent question, but something about the gleam in his slightly narrowed eyes made Katie suspect some sort of trap in his seemingly innocuous words.
Nikos had found that many women with expertly applied make-up were almost unrecognisable when seen without it; this was not the case with Katerina. A searching scrutiny of her freshly scrubbed features had revealed a complexion that was flawless, her full, wide lips were a delightful deep pink, the only flaw in fact was the faint bruised bluish shadows beneath her wide-spaced, incredibly blue eyes. Did she not sleep enough? The thought of what she did when she should be sleeping brought a harsh, uncompromising frown to his brow.
‘Asleep?’ she repeated, wary and resentful of the stern look of disapproval he was giving her. ‘I hadn’t really thought about it.’
‘Then I really can’t account for it.’
‘Account for what?’
Still frowning, Katie turned, her eyes following the direction the sharp tilt of his dark head indicated. She almost groaned out loud when she saw what he was showing her. The large gilt-framed mirror above the queen-sized bed was clearly visible from the other room through the door. It must have given him a perfect view of her approaching the door.
‘You looked as if you were trying not to disturb anyone, like a little mouse.’
Katie, recalling the furtive way she’d crept across the room, felt a hot tide of mortification wash over her skin.
‘One would be excused,’ he continued, ‘for thinking you didn’t want me to hear you.’
Katie bit her lip; the rat was enjoying her discomfort, she could see it in his eyes. Just so long as he doesn’t find mine equally revealing. The thought sent a shudder slithering down her spine. She swallowed.
‘I said you wouldn’t know I was here,’ she reminded him.
‘So you did. You are so considerate,’ he murmured with palpable insincerity. He nudged the door wider with his shoulder and his features hardened. ‘Except when you let me think you’ve passed out in the bath.’
She was startled by the unexpected comment and her eyes flew to his face. ‘You didn’t think that.’ Her scornful smile faded as their eyes locked, her own widened. ‘Did you? But I don’t faint…’
A swift mental review of the events in question left her uneasily conscious that her refusal to respond to his calls just might have been interpreted that way by someone who was totally over-cautious.
‘It was not such a great leap to make. Consider,’ he suggested. ‘You are obviously totally exhausted, you have had a traumatic experience…and of course I did not have that one vital piece of information which would have made me realise that my fears were groundless—you don’t faint,’ he observed with heavy sarcasm.
Katie tossed her head back and gave a combative smile, she’d show him that a totally exhausted—which in her book translated as ‘you look like hell’—person was not going to meekly accept his lectures.
‘Who do you think you are?’
‘Your husband.’
For a moment Katie thought he really could read her mind until common sense intervened and she reasoned that she must have spoken out loud.
‘I take it the traumatic experience you are referring to is you showing up?’ Her defiant shrug had a hint of desperation about it; though pitting her wits against Nikos was stimulating in a sticking-your-finger-in-an-electric-socket sort of way, it was also deeply exhausting and Katie felt she was losing momentum. Not to mention her mind.
The problem was she wasn’t a naturally aggressive person, normally, and she was extremely hampered by the fact she knew she was behaving extremely badly. Nikos, on the other hand, obviously lacked any form of self-awareness; the man had autocratic leanings, which unless someone took him in hand soon would turn him into a fully fledged despot before long.
Nikos released a strangled expletive. ‘It had not occurred to me,’ he revealed coldly, ‘that you would be stupid enough to lock the door.’
If he carries on talking to me as if I’m a silly child caught in misdemeanour I’ll… She stopped mid furious thought as her mind produced an image to match his words.
‘You mean if it hadn’t been locked you’d have come barging in?’ she yelped as a remarkably vivid image of Nikos exploding into the bathroom danced across her vision. For some reason her imagination had taken some poetic licence when it came to what he was wearing—very little! And as for having him leap energetically into the bath with her—that was a totally unnecessary sequel!
‘If you were ill or in need of assistance, yes, I would have, but if you mean do I get my thrills from entering bathrooms uninvited? No, I do not.’ Though his facial expression did not alter his abrupt shift of mood was evident in the smouldering gaze that rested on her face. ‘If I get invited in…’ he gave an expressive shrug ‘…that changes things.’
‘The picture that conjures up makes me queasy.’ For all the wrong reasons, she thought. Jealousy was all she needed!
‘I didn’t realise that you had such prudish tendencies. Though I should have guessed when you said you and Tom do not talk about sex.’
‘I am not a prude,’ she denied angrily. Aware that her reaction was a bit OTT, she moderated her voice but couldn’t prevent her distaste creeping in. ‘I just think what goes on between a man and woman in private should remain that way and should not become the subject of crude jokes.’
‘Well, at least you recognise it was a joke. Perhaps some food will help you gain some sense of proportion?’
If he wanted plain talking she’d show him she could do that too! ‘And for your information we don’t talk about sex, we do it!’ She smiled triumphantly as she flaunted her non-existent sex life under his superior nose.
For a moment Nikos looked startled, then a deep laugh was wrenched from the depths of his throat. ‘Thank you for sharing that with me,’ he said solemnly.
Katie had never felt so humiliated in her life. She didn’t know how she’d allowed herself to be goaded into making such a childish retort.
‘Why shouldn’t I have a healthy sex life? What’s so funny about that?’ she demanded.
‘You talk about sex with the same swaggering bravado as a boy who has not yet lost his virginity.’
‘I am not a boy.’
‘Nor a v—’
‘You know, I think I am a little hungry,’ she cut in brightly.
This attempt to change the subject was so blatant that Nikos smiled. His smile guttered as an incredible thought occurred to him. He shook his head, dismissing it almost instantly; it was amazing what crazy ideas a man could get into his head when he hadn’t eaten or slept.