Читать книгу Mediterranean Tycoons - JACQUELINE BAIRD, Jacqueline Baird - Страница 24

SELINA glanced up at Rion. His statement was music to her ears.

‘You are …? We can?’ she exclaimed with a relieved smile. ‘Thank heaven for that. I’ll go and tell Anna.’ She made to rise but Rion’s arm slid from the bench down her back, his hand gripping her side.

‘Not so fast, Selina. You have not heard what I am offering.’

Suddenly Selina was acutely aware of how close they were. Never mind worrying about Rion’s touch on her shoulder—she knew she was in much deeper trouble. The pressure of his long-fingered hand against her ribcage was perilously close to the underside of her breast. He moved slightly, his taut thigh pressing against her leg, and to Selina’s dismay she could feel an old familiar heat flooding through her veins.

How had that happened?

‘In any successful deal both parties have to be satisfied, you would agree?’ Rion queried, his dark eyes boring down into hers.

She would have had to be blind not to notice a different question in the black depths. Selina tensed as her stomach lurched, and she fought to break free from the hypnotic power of his intent gaze.

‘Yes.’ She nodded her head to break eye contact. An inner voice of reason was telling her she must get this conversation over with as quickly as possible, while her body was telling a different story. Her immunity to Rion was suddenly taking a stomach-churning nosedive.

‘Good. I’m quite happy to cancel the trust and buy back the shares you hold at their present value.’ Rion mentioned a sum of money that made Selina gasp. ‘You will easily have enough to take care of Anna and do whatever else you want to do.’

‘That’s very generous of you. I’ll—’

‘I haven’t finished,’ Rion cut in, his free hand sweeping back the long length of her hair from one shoulder to curve around the nape of her neck. A thumb seemingly idly stroked her throat, making each separate nerve end tingle and tauten in response. ‘To satisfy me, Selina, I want you to join me on the yacht for the next two weeks—as my lover.’

Fighting against the sensual awareness that his close proximity aroused, Selina thought for a moment she had heard wrong … Rion couldn’t have asked her to be his lover … Then she looked into his eyes and for a moment was transported back in time. The desire in the black depths was a potent reminder of what they had once shared.

Helplessly, she stared at him, her mind screaming that he was worthless, she hated him, even as her pulse accelerated like a rocket in shameful response to the promise of passion in his gaze, to the warmth of his hand curved around her neck.

Then he spoke, and as the import of his words sank in she snapped back to reality.

‘Think of it as the honeymoon we never had, Selina, but without the marriage. No strings attached. I buy back the shares, you get the money, and no further contact between us—business or otherwise—will be necessary.’

Her eyes widened and she glared with rising anger at his handsome face. He was smiling complacently. How dared the arrogant devil assume he could walk back into her life and insult her by trying to blackmail her into his bed when he had so spectacularly thrown her out before? It was too incredible to believe! And to actually suggest calling the trip a honeymoon was so callous—the man had to have about as much sensitivity as a block of granite. But why was she surprised? she asked herself. She already knew that …

They had spent their wedding night on the Moralis yacht, cruising back to Athens. Rion had promised to take her on a dream honeymoon a week later but it had never happened …

Selina’s lips moved but she could not get the words out, too furious to make a sound.

‘If you really care about Anna you will agree. As you said yourself, Selina, you are no longer a teenager but an experienced woman of the world. You must have had quite a few lovers—some good, some not so good … But you already know we are compatible, and a trip on my yacht will be fun. At least you’ll know what you are getting.’

A few lovers! Fun! The assumptions and the arrogant conceit of the man so enraged Selina she was almost apoplectic.

Grasping his hand at her side, she determined to break free.

Rion had put totally the wrong interpretation on her silence. She opened her mouth to tell him exactly what she thought of his disgusting proposal, but before she could say a word his arm tightened around her ribcage like a band of iron. His thumb scraped over a nipple, the fine fabric of her dress no deterrent to the hardening peak. His mouth captured her parted lips in a seductive kiss, his tongue exploring the moist interior with a subtle eroticism that soon changed into a blazing statement of intent.

Stirred on different levels—excitement, anger—Selina knew she should resist. But it had been so long since she had been held kissed and caressed by a man … and the fact that it was Rion, her one and only lover, had a catastrophic effect on her self-control.

She trembled, and sensations she had repressed for years cascaded through her body overwhelming her defences. Involuntarily she reached for his broad shoulders and clung to him as the kiss she had thought to resist turned into a passionate seduction of all her senses, and she responded eagerly, matching his passion with her own.

His mouth left hers and she stared up into his dark eyes. She saw smouldering passion overlaid with a hint of male triumph, and the haze of desire slowly faded from her bemused mind. She lowered her head and let her hands fall to her sides. She was reeling with shock, mortified by the force of the emotions he had unleashed in her, and for the first time in years she blushed. She didn’t dare look at him.

His hand twisted in the long length of her hair and tilted her head back so she had no choice but to face him. ‘Ah, Selina, there is no need to blush.’ He pressed a kiss to her brow and brushed her lips with his as his arm fell from her waist. Only his hand in her hair was keeping her captive. ‘In fact I’m amazed you still can blush—and it is good to know the chemistry is as explosive as ever,’ he murmured against her mouth. His lips trailed across her cheek, his breath warm on her ear. ‘Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.’ And, lifting his head, he smiled into her eyes. ‘Agreed, Selina?’ Freeing her hair, he smoothed the curling tendrils over her shoulders

Furious with Rion, but even more furious with her helpless reaction to him, she wanted to slap the triumphant smile off his face. Okay, so he could turn her on with a kiss and a caress, but then Rion was the type of man who could probably turn on any woman from eighteen to eighty. He had certainly had plenty of practice, Selina reasoned.

But to insult her with his crack about blushing, and then in his arrogance ask her to trust him and think she would fall into his arms like a besotted idiot, ready to do his bidding … Well, he had another think coming …

He was in for a rude awakening.

She shoved him hard in the chest and leapt to her feet, fighting to control her breathing and her rage. She gathered her scattered thoughts before turning around to look down at him, lounging back against the bench, watching her with narrowed eyes.

‘In your dreams, maybe—but not mine, Rion. I’m no longer the naive girl you married, and I don’t have to agree with anything you say any more,’ she told him scathingly. ‘If I can’t get the money for Anna it is not the end of the world. I do own the villa, and she can stay in it for the rest of her life. As for the mortgage—I can take care of it and her salary for six months. You may be the trustee of my inherited shares until I am thirty, but you can’t refuse to pay me the dividends every six months—and if you try, I will take you to court. And we both know you would not want that.’

Selina was proud of her spirited response, even if her heart was beating erratically, and she silently congratulated herself on her mature, reasoned reply. So, okay, she had slipped a dig in at the end—call it female vanity—but she saw no harm in reminding the superior swine that he had not always got his own way …

Rion, his mouth tightening, icily furious, looked at Selina, standing a few feet away, her lips swollen from his kiss, her face flushed, but with defiance in her glittering eyes and every line of her sexy body. That the deceitful witch had the audacity to threaten him a second time with court had ignited his temper all over again. Yet he had a sneaky admiration for her nerve. But she was right—there was nothing innocent about her any more, and he had heard more than enough … He stood up.

He had not thought he was a very vengeful man, and he had had no intention of going to Stakis’s funeral. But when Mr Kadiekis had informed him he was still a trustee named in the will and his presence was needed at the reading, which was to take place straight after the funeral as Selina Taylor, the only beneficiary, planned to leave the next day, he had changed his mind.

Learning she had come back to claim her inheritance had reignited a bitter rage in Rion that he had buried for six years. He had never considered contacting Selina, but having her served up on a plate was a different matter. Then, when he’d seen her again last night—a stunningly beautiful woman, sexy as hell, frolicking in the sea and hardly the grief-stricken granddaughter—revenge had sounded better and better.

‘You are either very brave or very stupid, Selina,’ he offered. ‘I let you get away with your slanderous lies last time because it suited me to get a quick divorce, but it won’t work a second time.’

Rion stepped closer and saw her flinch.

‘Sorry to disappoint you, but the Moralis Corporation is family-owned, as I’m sure your grandfather told you. I am the major shareholder, along with Helen and Iris, and you are the fourth and very minor last,’ he said, his derisive tone a deliberate insult. ‘I am in control and there will be no dividends unless I say so. But it was a nice try …’ he drawled mockingly.

‘You can’t do that!’ Selina exclaimed, stunned by his revelation, but watching Rion tower menacingly over her she had a horrible sinking feeling he could. ‘I mean …’

‘I can do what I want, and right now I want you. But my time is limited.’ He tipped up her chin with one long finger, his dark eyes capturing hers. A shiver of fear snaked down her spine—but not enough to quell the lingering heat in her body aroused by his kiss. She shook her head and his finger fell away, but it wasn’t much help to her. He was still too close.

‘There is an American expression: three strikes and you’re out. This afternoon I invited you as a friend to join me on my yacht for two weeks—you look tired, like you could use a break. Then I offered to make a deal that is acceptable to you. Now I am telling you: my yacht is leaving at midnight. Agree to come with me or you are out.’

‘But …’

Wide-eyed and wary, Selina stared at him, her hands curling into fists at her sides, trying to hold herself together while her thoughts were in chaos. The fact that Rion thought she looked a wreck niggled, and didn’t help her confidence. Blinking, she ran her financial status through her mind and realised there was no way she could personally keep Anna—she had other vital commitments …

‘What will I tell Anna? I thought …’

What had she thought? That a man like Orion Moralis would agree out of the goodness of his heart? Hadn’t she learnt years ago he did not have one? Maybe she was still naive—because it had never occurred to her that Rion would withhold the dividends.

‘Agree and we will go and see Anna together. I will back whatever you want to tell her,’ he said, extending a hand to her.

Selina glanced down at his strong, long-fingered hand. He had brought her to climax with those elegant fingers before … Her thighs flexed and, shocked, she stifled the memory, going hot and cold and hot again. Ignoring his hand, she glanced up, her gaze skating over his hard face. She saw the determination in his heavy-lidded eyes and knew he meant what he said. She went cold again.

‘Why are you doing this?’ Selina finally cleared her mind of the sexual fog Rion had induced and asked the question she should have asked in the beginning. ‘You can have any woman you want—your list of lovers is legendary—so why me? We don’t even like each other.’

‘I like what I see, Selina darling,’ he drawled, his gaze roaming over her in insolent appraisal. ‘Very much so. And I want to see a lot more. You looked great in that tiny white bikini, but your naked body in my bed will look even better.’

The colour drained from Selina’s face and her eyes widened in horror. Her instincts had been right last night—someone had been watching her.

‘You were on the beach spying on me.’ She was angry and frightened but forced herself to stare coldly at Rion. ‘That’s disgusting.’

‘No, quite the reverse—you looked beautiful and erotic playing in the sea, Selina.’ His hand snaked out and caught her shoulder and she stiffened in rejection. ‘So much so I decided to renew our acquaintance,’ he mocked, his hard eyes narrowing on her pale face.

Selina shrugged, trying to dislodge his hold on her and at the same time hoping to convey her indifference to him—with no success.

‘Well, you have. And flattered though I am,’ she said with sarcastic bite, ‘I can’t just take off on holiday with you. I have commitments—work …’

Actually she was on holiday—she had a six-week break between jobs. She had planned to stay at home with Peggy for a couple of weeks, but she had already lost a week coming here, and then she had planned to help Beth with the charity for a month before her next assignment.

Even if she wanted to go with Rion—which she definitely did not—it was impossible.

‘Let me enlighten you, Selina. You don’t have a choice. To put it bluntly, it is payback time,’ he drawled, with a silken menace that made her blood run cold.

She looked at him in disbelief. ‘There is always a choice,’ she said tightly.

‘Not for you. Not this time. As far as I know you are the only woman to cheat on me with another man, which was bad enough, but to threaten me with a public fight over the divorce so I had to concede to your demands was worse. There is a saying: revenge is a dish best served cold. As by a quirk of fate, Stakis never changed his will. I decided it was time to take mine. Call it closure, if you like. As for your work commitments—if they are that—’ he prompted, with a sardonic arch of an ebony brow ‘—cancel them and I’ll pay you double what you lose in salary.’

Typical of Rion the businessman. Believing his wife had been unfaithful did not bother him half as much as not getting his own way in the divorce, and in that moment she hated him with a fury she could hardly contain.

Selina wanted to claw at his conceited, arrogant face and tell him to go to hell. But instead she counted to a hundred under her breath, fighting to maintain her self-control.

Tilting back her head, she swept her eyes over Rion, a scornful gleam in their golden depths. She knew exactly what he meant and was filled with revulsion—but sadly life had taught her not to be surprised. In a weird way it put things in perspective for her and finally cooled her temper, and she began to think seriously about his offer—or rather his ultimatum!

The life and death of Mark Stakis had put her in this position. Chance … fate … it didn’t matter which. The question was, with her firmly held moral beliefs, could she walk away from Anna and her girls?

No, she would not be able to live with herself if she did …

Selina knew there was no other work on the island for Anna, and since the death of her husband she had been the only financial support for her daughters. Thea, the youngest, was joining her sister at college on the mainland in the autumn hoping to become a lawyer. There was no way Selina could destroy those young girls’ dreams … which was what would happen if she walked away. She had spent the past few years trying to help children’s much smaller dreams come true.

Rion was a filthy-rich powerful man, and what he wanted he got—money no object. And at the moment he wanted her … A cynical smile twisted her lips. The great Orion Moralis would be outraged if anyone dared suggest he paid for sex, and yet what he was suggesting was no different in her eyes.

She thought of her Aunt Peggy, whom she considered her family. Although Peggy had claimed her state pension two years ago naturally she still lived with Selina, and depended on her to a large extent. She would never dream of leaving Peggy to fend for herself, as her grandfather had done Anna. Then there was Beth and her husband, Trevor, and the charity they ran that needed Selina’s regular financial support. She made good money at her job, but it was not enough to cover any more commitments.

She stifled a despairing sigh. She needed the money from the shares she had supposedly inherited for Anna but she had to go through Rion to get it. Unfair, but then life wasn’t always fair …

Selina thought of all the people she had met, some so very young, who had really suffered and sacrificed for their family—not for a couple of weeks but for years. Could she in all conscience do any less? she asked herself. How hard could it be to put up with Rion? He said he wanted her, but only for two weeks—no surprise there. He had the attention span of a flea where women were concerned. He scratched the itch and leapt on to the next …

She could ‘lie back and think of England,’ she supposed. A clichéd expression but probably true for many women …

Her decision made, she put her hand in Rion’s. ‘Agreed.’ She shook his hand to seal the deal and swiftly pulled free. ‘Now can I go and tell Anna the good news?’

‘Yes, but first …’ Rion wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her hard against him. Cupping her chin between thumb and forefinger, he tipped her head back. ‘Anna is an astute lady. You need to look the part.’

He was going to kiss her again, she knew and Selina splayed a hand on his chest to push him away, but with his shirt open her fingers made contact with satin-smooth flesh and her stomach churned.

‘Yes, touch me, Selina.’ His voice lowered to a husky growl and she felt the warmth of his skin beneath her palm as his mouth covered hers.

She tried to stay rigid in his arms, her mouth closed, and she did it for a few seconds. Then her lips quivered beneath the pressure of his as he circled them teasingly with his tongue. He bit her bottom lip, and involuntarily her mouth opened. He caught the tip of her tongue and sucked lightly before deepening the kiss, his tongue probing the interior of her mouth with a gentleness that sent shivers through her slender frame. His hand stroked down her neck and over her breast and finally her body betrayed her. She was eighteen again and eager, her resistance melting, and she kissed him back.

Rion felt the yielding softness of her body and broke the kiss. Her head was tipped back, her eyes closed and her lips parted, and he knew with little effort he could have her here and now.

Selina opened her eyes and Rion’s mouth fastened over hers again. His hand moved to curve around her buttocks and involuntarily she pressed closer, felt the hard length of his arousal against her belly. His other hand cupped her breast, his long fingers teasing the burgeoning nipple through the silken fabric. The deep, searing kiss and the caress, the heat of his hard body, the scent of him—all so achingly familiar, and in seconds she was drowning in a sea of delight.

Rion heard her whimpering cry and felt her small hand stroke beneath his shirt. Stifling a groan, he knew he had to stop now or he wouldn’t be able to, and he eased away, linking his hands behind her back.

‘Ah, Selina.’ He looked into her passion-hazed eyes.

‘I think that is enough. Anna will have no trouble believing we are reconciled now.’

Enough? Reconciled? Selina came down to earth like a spent balloon, all the air knocked out of her, humiliatingly aware of how easily she had succumbed to Rion’s brand of lovemaking. No, not love … just sex, she reminded herself. Something she must never forget again. Her body might be weak and hot but her heart would forever remain a block of ice where Rion was concerned.

‘What do you mean, reconciled?’ she asked, and took a step back. His arms fell from her waist and she glanced up at him, noting the dull flush on his high cheekbones and realising he was nowhere near as cool as he acted—which was some slight consolation.

‘How else are you going to explain to Anna you are leaving with me tonight?’

‘Well, I am sure as hell not going to tell her we are reconciled. Anna is not an idiot—she would never believe that,’ she shot back, her mind spinning, searching for an answer. ‘I told her earlier I was fine with you being here. She was worried you might be up to something, as you hadn’t spoken to my grandfather in years.’ Thinking on her feet, she added, ‘I was due to leave tomorrow morning, but I have not booked a boat to the mainland yet. If I tell Anna you have offered to take me back to the mainland earlier, so I will have time to call on Mr Kadiekis to sign some legal documents and speed up the processing of the will before I fly out tomorrow night, I think she would quite easily believe me.’

‘My, my, Selina!’ Rion grinned. ‘So quick-thinking and so devious. You have certainly matured. But I agree.’ And, looping an arm around her shoulder, he led her out of the pavilion and back towards the house. She made no attempt to break free.

Selina’s mind was filling with the enormity of what she had agreed to with every step she took.

‘You’d better decide quickly exactly what you are going to give Anna before we reach the house, Selina. Anna is not going to be convinced she is mentioned in the will if you are indecisive.’

Rion’s businesslike comment was a timely reminder of why she had agreed with him—why she was strolling through the orchard with his arm around her—and it hardened her resolve to do the right thing by Anna.

‘Anna can have the villa. I doubt I’ll ever be back,’ she said with a hint of bitterness. At the same time she wondered how she would explain to Beth she was going to be delayed because she was going on a two-week holiday with her ex-husband …

‘Not a good idea. Anna would find it very hard to believe Stakis left her the house—and even if she did how could she possibly afford the upkeep of the place?’ Rion pointed out. ‘She would have to sell it, and the legal documentation would reveal you had owned it before you gave it to her, which would defeat your purpose of keeping Anna in the dark about the true contents of the will.’

‘Oh,’ she said, and it did not help realizing Rion was right.

‘As I see it, you can give Anna a lump sum—say fifty thousand or, being generous, a hundred thousand—which you will easily be able to afford. As a local islander Anna will be able to get a house in the village for that. You keep the villa, and keep on employing Anna for as long as she wants to work. You can visit whenever you like, and rent it out as a holiday let the rest of the time. That way the villa will still be an asset for you. One day you might marry again, have children and want to live here—after all, you are half Greek.’

‘I’m not in the least Greek, I will never marry again and I have no intention of having a child. There are enough in the world already that need looking after,’ Selina said, finding her voice. ‘As for Anna—you are right. I’ll tell her she was left a hundred thousand.’ She glanced up at Rion and saw he was frowning—strange when she had agreed with him! ‘I need to make a few phone calls before I leave.’

She never lied, but now she was going to have to—three times in one day, she thought helplessly. Selina knew Beth would readily accept she had decided to take a holiday and booked a cruise around the Mediterranean, and would be happy for her. Beth was always telling her she worked too hard and should take a break and relax. If she told Beth the truth she would be outraged and beg her not to go with Rion. She knew what a wreck Selina had been after her ill-fated marriage. There was no reason to upset Beth unnecessarily, and the charity needed every penny it could get …