Читать книгу Modern Romance August 2018 Books 5-8 Collection - Ким Лоренс, Julia James - Страница 17
ОглавлениеSECRETS AND LIES. They lurked in every corner of the dining room, taunting Ava while she forced herself to eat her lunch and attempted to make conversation with Giannis’s mother. It was an uphill task, for Filia was a discontented woman whose only pleasure in life, it seemed, was criticising her son.
Ava had no idea what the other woman had meant, or what Giannis was supposed to have told her. Perhaps it was something that would only be relevant if he truly intended to marry her—which, of course, he did not. She was trapped in a deception that would only end once he had secured his business deal with Stefanos Markou.
She glanced at him across the table and found he was watching her broodingly as if he was trying to fathom her out. Ava guiltily acknowledged that she had her own secrets. But why should she tell Giannis that her father was serving a prison sentence for armed robbery? In a few weeks’ time there might be a brief media frenzy when it was announced that the engagement between Greece’s golden boy and his English fiancée was over, but the paparazzi would quickly forget about her, as, no doubt, would Giannis.
She pulled her mind back to the conversation between Giannis and his mother. ‘I don’t know why you paid a fortune for a holiday to the Maldives,’ Filia said sharply. ‘You know I dislike long-haul flights.’
‘It is hardly any longer than the flight time to New York,’ Giannis pointed out mildly. ‘I bid for the trip at a charity auction because I hoped you would enjoy a spa break in an exotic location.’
His mother sniffed and turned to Ava. ‘I was surprised when Giannis told me that the two of you are engaged to be married. He has never mentioned you before.’
Ava felt heat spread over her cheeks. ‘It was a whirlwind courtship,’ she murmured.
Filia gave her a speculative look. ‘My son is a very wealthy man. Can I ask why you agreed to marry him?’
‘Mitera!’ Giannis frowned at his mother but she was unabashed.
‘It is a reasonable question to ask.’ She turned her sharp black eyes back to Ava. ‘Well?’
Ava said the only thing she could say. ‘I...love him.’ Her voice sounded strangely husky and she did not dare look across the table at Giannis. One lie always led to another lie, she thought bleakly. But she must have sounded convincing because his mother gave her a searching look and then nodded.
‘Good,’ Filia said. ‘Love and trust are vital to a successful marriage.’
Ava gave a quiet sigh of relief when Giannis came to her rescue and asked his mother about her trip to New York. Evidently it had been a disaster, for which she blamed him. The five-star hotel where he had arranged for her to stay had, according to Filia, been atrocious. ‘Rude staff, and the bed had a lumpy mattress.’
‘I am sorry you were disappointed,’ he told his mother with commendable patience. Ava glanced at him, telling herself that if he looked amused by her lie about being in love with him she would empty the water jug over his head, and never mind what conclusion his mother might draw.
He met her gaze across the table and the gleam in his dark eyes made her tremble as a shocking realisation dawned on her. It couldn’t be true, she assured herself frantically. But the erratic thud of her heart betrayed her. Had she managed to sound convincing to his mother because she was actually falling in love with Giannis?
* * *
The helicopter swooped low over the sea and Ava felt her stomach drop. She did not realise that her swift intake of breath had been audible, but Giannis looked up from his laptop. He was seated opposite her in the helicopter’s luxurious cabin and leaned forwards to take her hand in his warm grasp.
‘Don’t worry,’ he said reassuringly. ‘Vasilis is a good pilot. We will be landing in a few minutes. Stefanos’s private island, Gaia, is below us now.’
She nodded and turned her head to look out of the window at the pine tree covered island, edged by golden beaches and set in an azure sea. It was easier to let Giannis think she was nervous of flying in the helicopter. She certainly could not tell him of her terrifying suspicion, which might explain the nauseous feeling she’d experienced for the past few days.
She’d put her queasiness down to some prawns she’d eaten at a restaurant a few evenings before. But while she had packed her suitcase this morning she’d found the packet of tampons she had brought to Spetses with her in the expectation that she would need them.
Her period was only a couple of days late, Ava tried to reassure herself. But a doom-laden voice in her head reminded her that she was never late. Her mind argued that Giannis had used a condom every time they’d had sex. Even when he’d followed her into the shower cubicle and stood behind her so that she had felt his arousal press against her bottom, he had been prepared. She could not be pregnant. Probably her churning stomach and uncomfortably sensitive breasts were signs that her period was about to start.
She sighed. Her mood swings were another indication that she was worrying unnecessarily. When the helicopter had taken off from Spetses she had been thankful that her oversized sunglasses hid her tears. Ava knew she was unlikely to ever return to the island. Giannis had said that they would go to his apartment in Athens after meeting Stefanos Markou and he would arrange for his private jet to fly her back to London.
Apart from the awkward lunch with Giannis’s mother, the past two weeks that they had spent at Villa Delphine had been like a wonderful dream where each perfect day rolled into the next, and every night Giannis had made love to her and their wildfire passion blazed out of control. But since Ava had woken early that morning, feeling horribly sick, and crept silently into the bathroom so as not to wake him, her insides had been knotted with dread.
The helicopter landed and Giannis climbed out and offered Ava his hand to assist her down the steps. ‘You are still pale,’ he said, frowning as he studied her.
‘I’m nervous,’ she admitted. ‘Your hope of buying Markou Shipping is the reason we have spent the last month pretending to be engaged, but what if Stefanos guesses that I am your fake fiancée?’
‘Why should he? People tend to believe what they see. That is why conmen are sometimes able to persuade elderly ladies to hand over their life savings.’
Her father had been the cleverest conman of all, Ava thought bitterly. He had fooled his own wife and children with his affable charm. Suddenly she could not wait for the deception she was playing with Giannis to be over. But then her relationship with him would finish—unless her suspicion, and a pregnancy test when she had a chance to buy one, proved positive. The knot of dread in her stomach tightened.
As they walked across the lawn towards a sprawling villa, Giannis slid his arm around her waist and urged her forwards to meet the grey-haired man waiting for them on the terrace. Stefanos Markou shook Giannis’s hand before he turned to Ava.
‘I admit I was surprised when Giannis announced his decision to marry. But now that I have met you, Ava, I understand why he is in a hurry to make you his wife.’ Stefanos smiled. ‘My wife read in a magazine that you are planning a Christmas wedding.’
‘Christmas is more than two months away and I don’t think I can wait that long,’ Giannis murmured. Ava’s heart gave a familiar flip when he looked down at her with a tender expression in his eyes that her common sense told her was not real. He was a brilliant actor, she reminded herself, but her mouth curved of its own accord into an unconsciously wistful smile.
Stefanos laughed. ‘The other bidders who want to buy Markou Shipping are already here. So, let us get down to business, Giannis, while Ava talks of wedding dresses with my wife and daughters.’
He led them into the villa and introduced Ava to his wife, Maria, and his three daughters, who between them had seven children of their own—all girls. Stefanos sighed. ‘It seems that I am not destined to have a grandson to pass Markou Shipping on to. Unfortunately my only nephew is a hopeless businessman and so I made the decision to sell the company and retire.’
The small island of Gaia was a picturesque paradise. Stefanos’s wife and daughters were friendly and welcoming, but Ava felt a fraud for having to pretend to be excited about her supposed forthcoming wedding. The little grandchildren were a delight, but when she held the youngest baby of just six weeks old she found herself imagining what it would be like to cradle her own baby in her arms. She tried to quell her sense of panic, and inexplicably she felt an ache in her heart as she pictured a baby with Giannis’s dark hair and eyes.
Eventually she made the excuse of a headache and slipped away to walk on the beach. When she turned back towards the villa, she saw Giannis striding along the sand to meet her.
‘Well?’ she asked him anxiously.
A wide grin spread across his face and he looked heartbreakingly handsome. He put his hands on either side of her waist and swung her round in the air. ‘It’s done,’ he told her in a triumphant voice. ‘I persuaded Stefanos to sell his company to me. I had to increase my financial offer, but the main reason he agreed was because he is convinced that when you and I marry I will settle down to family life and embrace the values that Stefanos believes are important. Work can start immediately to refit and upgrade the Markou fleet of ships to turn them into luxury cruisers.’
‘And I can go home,’ Ava said quietly.
Giannis set her back on her feet, but he kept his arms around her and a faint frown creased between his brows. ‘It will take a few days for the paperwork to be finalised and signed. Stefanos is giving a party tonight for all the Markou Shipping employees and he will announce that I am buying the company. It will be an opportunity for me to reassure the workforce that they will continue to be employed by TGE. Stefanos has invited us to spend the night on Gaia and the helicopter will pick us up and take us to Athens in the morning.’
The breeze blew Ava’s long hair across her face and Giannis caught the golden strands in his hand and tucked them behind her ear. His dark eyes gleamed with something indefinable that nevertheless made her heart beat too fast. ‘I cannot see a reason why you should rush back to England, can you, glykiá mou?’ he murmured.
She should remind him that they had made a deal, and now that she had kept her side of it there was no reason for her to stay in Greece with him. Was he saying that he did not want her to leave? What would he say if she was pregnant? Would he still want her and their child? Her thoughts swirled around inside her head. She caught her lower lip between her teeth, and the feral growl he made evoked a wild heat inside her so that when he claimed her mouth and kissed her as if he could never have enough of her she gave up fighting herself and simply melted in his fire.
* * *
That evening, the guests were ferried from the mainland to Gaia by boat. As the sun set, the usually peaceful island was packed with several hundred partygoers enjoying Stefanos’s generous hospitality. A bar and barbecue had been set up on the beach and a famous DJ had flown in from New York to take charge of the music.
Ava had convinced herself that her niggling stomach ache was a sign that her period was about to start, and with Giannis in an upbeat mood she decided to have fun at the party and live for the moment. He was flatteringly attentive and hardly left her side all evening. She told herself that he was continuing to act the role of adoring fiancé until his business deal with Stefanos had been signed. But the way he held her close while they danced and threaded his fingers through her hair was utterly beguiling.
‘Don’t go away,’ he murmured midway through the evening. He claimed her mouth in a lingering kiss, as if he was reluctant to leave her, before he went to join Stefanos on the stage at one end of the ballroom. There was loud applause from Markou Shipping’s employees when Giannis explained that everyone would keep their jobs and be offered training opportunities at TGE.
‘Gullible idiots.’ A voice close to Ava sounded cynical. She looked over at the man who had spoken and he caught her curious glance. ‘You don’t believe that Gekas will keep his word, do you? He has promised to retain Markou’s workforce simply to persuade the old fool to sell the company to him. But Gekas isn’t interested in saving Greek jobs. All he wants is the ships and in a few months he will sack the workers.’
The man laughed at Ava’s startled expression. ‘Giannis Gekas fools everyone with his charming manner, including you, it seems. You obviously haven’t heard the rumours that Mr Nice Guy has a nasty side.’
It must have been the cool breeze drifting in through the window that made the hairs on the back of Ava’s neck stand on end. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Rumours have circulated for some time that Gekas has links with an organised crime syndicate and that he uses TGE to hide his money-laundering activities.’
‘If there was any substance to those rumours, surely the authorities would have investigated Giannis?’ Ava said sharply. ‘And Stefanos would not have sold Markou Shipping to someone he suspected of being a criminal.’
‘It’s like I said. Old Markou is a fool who has been taken in by Gekas’s apparent saintliness. Setting up a charity to help young Greeks establish new businesses was a clever move.’ The man shrugged. ‘As for the police, it’s likely that some of them are being bribed, or they are too scared of what will happen to them and their families if they start to investigate Gekas’s business methods. The Greek mafia are not a bunch of Boy Scouts; they are ruthless mobsters.’
Ava’s mouth was dry and she could feel her heart hammering beneath her ribs. ‘Do you have any proof to back up your allegations, Mr...?’ She paused, hoping the man would introduce himself.
‘Of course nothing can be proved. Gekas is too clever for that. And I’m not telling you my name because I don’t want to end up at the bottom of the sea with a bullet through my brain.’
Nothing the man had said could be true, Ava tried to reassure herself. But what did she actually know about Giannis? whispered a voice in her head. She stared at the man. ‘You have no right to make such awful, unsubstantiated accusations against Giannis. Why should I believe you?’
‘How do you think that Gekas became a billionaire by his mid-thirties? The luxury cruise market was badly hit by the economic meltdown in Greece and other parts of Europe, yet TGE makes huge profits.’
The man laughed unpleasantly. ‘Racketeering is a more likely source of Gekas’s fortune. Some years ago a journalist tried to investigate him but your fiancé has powerful friends in high places and I assume the journalist was bribed to keep his nose out of Gekas’s private life.’
With another sneering laugh the man walked away and disappeared from Ava’s view in the crowded ballroom. The dancing had started again and she saw Giannis walk down the steps at the side of the stage. None of what she had heard about him could be true. Could it? He had captivated her with his legendary charm but was she, along with all the other people at the party, including Stefanos Markou, a gullible fool who had been taken in by Giannis’s charisma?
She had seen it happen before. Everyone who had met her father had fallen for his cockney good humour, but at his trial Terry McKay had been exposed as a ruthless gangland boss who had used bribery and intimidation to evade the law. She had no proof that the accusations made by a stranger against Giannis were true, Ava reminded herself.
A memory pushed into her mind, of the morning in the hotel in London after they had spent the night together. He had opened his briefcase and she’d been shocked to see that it contained piles of bank notes. At the time she had thought it odd that he carried so much cash around but she’d been focused on trying to persuade Giannis to drop the charges against her brother. However, the incident had reminded her of how her father had kept large quantities of bank notes hidden in odd places in the house in Cyprus.
Then there was what she had overheard Giannis’s mother say. ‘Have you told Ava everything about you?’ What had Filia meant? What secret about himself had Giannis kept from her? And why did his mother disapprove of her only son?
The throbbing music was pounding in Ava’s ears and she felt hot and then cold, and horribly sick. The flashing disco ball hanging from the ceiling was spinning round and round, making her dizzy, and she was afraid she was going to faint.
‘Ava.’ Suddenly Giannis was standing in front of her, his chiselled features softening as he studied her. ‘What’s the matter, glykiá mou?’
His voice was husky with concern, and Ava despised herself for wishing that she could ignore the rumours she had heard about him. But why would the party guest have made up lies about Giannis?
‘Migraine,’ she muttered. ‘I get them occasionally and the bright disco lights are making it worse. If you don’t mind I’d like to go to bed and hopefully sleep it off.’
‘I’ll take you back to our room and stay with you,’ he said instantly.
‘No, you should remain at the party and celebrate winning your business deal.’
Giannis swore softly. ‘The deal isn’t important.’
‘How can you say that, when it was the reason we have pretended to be engaged?’
His smile made Ava’s heart skip a beat, despite everything she had heard about him. ‘Our relationship may have started out as a pretence but I think we both realise that the spark between us shows no sign of fading,’ he murmured. He frowned when she swayed on her feet. ‘But we won’t discuss it now. You need to take some painkillers.’
She needed to be alone with her chaotic thoughts, and she was relieved when she saw Stefanos beckon to Giannis from across the room. ‘I think you are needed. I’ll be fine,’ she assured him, and hurried out of the ballroom before he could argue.
Later that night, when Giannis quietly entered the bedroom and slid into bed beside her, Ava squeezed her eyes shut and pretended to be asleep. And the next morning when she rushed to the bathroom to be sick he was sympathetic, believing that a migraine was the cause of her nausea. His tender concern during the helicopter flight back to Athens added to her confusion. It seemed impossible that he could be involved with the criminal underworld.
Her father had given the appearance of being a loving family man and she had adored him, Ava remembered bleakly. She had been devastated when details of Terry McKay’s violent crimes were revealed during his trial. For seventeen years her father had hidden his secret life from her. In the one month that she and Giannis had pretended to be engaged she’d learned virtually nothing about him, except that he was a good actor.
A car was waiting to drive them from Athens airport to the city centre. On the way, she persuaded Giannis to drop her off at a pharmacy, making the excuse that she needed to buy some stronger painkillers for her headache.
‘I wish I didn’t need to go to the office but I have an important meeting.’ He pressed his lips to her forehead. ‘Take the migraine tablets and go to bed,’ he bade her gently.
One lie always led to more lies, Ava thought miserably when she bought a pregnancy test and hurried back to the penthouse apartment. Her hands shook as she followed the instructions on the test. She still clung to the hope that her late period and bouts of sickness were symptoms of a stomach upset.
The minutes went by agonisingly slowly while she paced around the bathroom. Finally it was time to check the result. Taking a deep breath, she looked at the test and grabbed the edge of the vanity unit as her legs turned to jelly. Her disbelief as she stared at the positive result swiftly turned to terror.
She was expecting Giannis’s baby. But who—and more importantly what—was Giannis Gekas? Was he the charismatic lover who she had begun to fall in love with? Or was he a criminal who hid his illegal activities behind the façade of a successful businessman and philanthropist?
Feeling numb from the two huge shocks she had received in the space of twenty-four hours, Ava placed a trembling hand on her stomach. It seemed incredible that a new life was developing inside her and she felt an overwhelming sense of protectiveness for her baby. She would have been worried about telling Giannis of her pregnancy before she had heard the rumours about him. This was the man, after all, who had insisted that he did not have a heart.
Now the prospect filled her with dread. Supposing he was a man like her father—a criminal and a liar? A cold hand squeezed her heart. What if her ex, Craig, was right and there was a criminal gene that her baby might inherit from both parents? Ava was the absolute opposite of her father, and she had spent her adult life subconsciously trying to atone for his crimes in her job supporting victims of crime. She would bring her child up to be honest and law-abiding, but would Giannis share her ideals?
She sank down onto the edge of the bath and covered her face with her hands. Even if she could bring herself to ask him outright if he was a criminal, he was bound to deny it. She did not know if she could trust him—and for that reason she dared not tell him that she was having his baby.
* * *
Giannis let himself into the apartment and walked noiselessly down the passageway towards the bedroom. He had a ton of work to do following his successful bid to buy Markou Shipping, but he’d been unable to concentrate during his meeting with TGE’s board because he had been worried about Ava. She had looked pale and fragile when he’d left her at the pharmacy and he felt guilty that he had not taken care of her. His conscience pricked that he should have brought her home and stayed with her while he sent his housekeeper out to buy medication for Ava’s migraine.
He did not understand what had happened to him over the past month. His plan that Ava should pose as his fake fiancée had seemed simple enough. But they had become lovers and, more surprisingly, friends. He had even taken her to Spetses, although he’d never invited any of his previous mistresses to Villa Delphine, which he regarded as his private sanctuary. He’d told himself that the trip to the island was to promote the pretence that they were engaged but, instead of staying for a weekend as he’d intended, they had spent two weeks there. He had even found himself resenting the few hours each day that he’d had to get on with some work because he’d wanted to spend time with Ava, at the pool or the beach or—his preferred option—in bed.
She was beautiful, intelligent, sometimes fierce, often funny and always sexy. It was little things, Giannis mused. Like the way she ate a fresh peach for breakfast every morning with evident enjoyment, licking the juice from her lips with her tongue. Or how she migrated over to his side of the bed in the middle of the night so that when he woke in the morning she was curled up against his chest, warm and soft and infinitely desirable.
Theos, he was behaving like a hormone-fuelled teenager, Giannis thought impatiently as he felt the aching hardness of his arousal. He opened the bedroom door quietly, not wanting to disturb Ava if she was asleep. But the bed was empty. He recognised the suitcase standing on the floor as the one she had brought with her from London. A passport was lying on top of it. The wardrobe doors were open and he could see hanging inside were the dresses that the personal shopper in Paris had helped Ava choose.
Something was not right and he felt a sinking sensation in his stomach as Ava walked out of the bathroom and froze when she saw him. She carefully avoided his gaze and Giannis’s eyes narrowed. He leaned nonchalantly against the door frame and kept his tone deliberately bland. ‘Are you going somewhere, glykiá mou?’
‘There is no need for you to refer to me as your sweetheart now that you have secured your deal with Stefanos.’ She finally glanced at him and he wondered why she was nervous. ‘I managed to book a seat on a flight to London leaving this afternoon.’
Icy fingers curled around his heart. ‘You need to get back to the UK in a hurry? How is your headache, by the way?’ he said drily.
A pink stain swept along her cheekbones. ‘It’s much better, thank you.’ She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and Giannis fought the urge to walk over to her and cover her mouth with his. ‘I thought that now you have persuaded Stefanos to sell his company to you, there is no point in me staying in Greece. I really want to go back and focus on my career.’
Anger flickered inside him and he wanted to tell her that there was every bloody point. They were good together—in bed and out of it. Not that he had any intention of admitting how much he enjoyed her company. This inconvenient attraction he felt for her—he refused to call it an obsession—would fade. He just could not say exactly when.
‘I thought we decided at Stefanos’s party that there was no reason for you to return to the UK immediately.’
‘You decided. You didn’t ask me what I wanted.’ She glared at him. ‘It sounds familiar, doesn’t it?’
What the hell had happened to have brought about a dramatic change in Ava’s attitude? Giannis searched his mind for clues that might explain why she was speaking to him in a cool voice that echoed the wintry expression in her grey eyes. Before they had gone to meet Stefanos she had responded to him with an eagerness that made his heart pound. But he noticed how she stiffened when he walked towards her.
She had acted oddly, almost secretively, when she’d shot out of the car and hurried into the pharmacy earlier, he remembered. Maybe her edginess was because it was a certain time in her monthly cycle. Relieved that he had found a likely explanation, he relaxed and murmured, ‘I have a suggestion. You are not due to begin your new job in London for nearly another month. Why not stay in Greece until then? And when you return to England we could still meet up. I visit London fairly regularly for business, and I could rent an apartment for us.’
‘Are you asking me to be your mistress?’
Giannis hid his irritation. Had she been hoping for more? For him to suggest that they make their fake engagement real, perhaps? Women were all the same, always wanting more than he was prepared to give. With a jolt of surprise he realised that he was not completely opposed to the idea of having a conventional relationship with Ava.
He shrugged. ‘Mistress, lover—what does it matter?’ He stretched out his hand to stroke her hair and his jaw hardened when she shrank from him. They could play games all day, he thought grimly. He had a sudden sense that he was standing on the edge of a precipice and his gut clenched with something like fear as he prepared to leap into the unknown. ‘What matters is that I don’t want this...us...to end—yet. I need to know what you want, Ava.’
He thought she hesitated, but maybe he imagined it. She picked up her suitcase and said in a fierce voice that stung Giannis as hard if she had slapped him, ‘I want to go home.’
