Читать книгу Greek Affairs: In His Bed - Kate Walker - Страница 15

‘ARE you all right?’

Helen had taken a step closer, but when Milos’s eyes focussed on hers she beat a hasty retreat. He realised she had been concerned about him and guessed, for a couple of minutes there, he hadn’t heard a word she’d said.

‘Mia khara. I’m fine,’ he said swiftly, raking back his hair and feeling the dampness on his forehead. Theos, he must not let her get him rattled. His equilibrium was in danger of being shattered, particularly when his eyes were drawn to the dusky hollow between her breasts.

Trying to remember how he’d planned to deal with this, he said tersely, ‘You didn’t contact me again after you left the hotel.’

Helen’s eyes widened and he didn’t blame her. That was not something he’d planned to say. Nevertheless, he resented the fact that those dark-fringed violet eyes looked as innocent as if she had nothing on her conscience. She must suspect what he was thinking, he thought tensely. However she tried to play this, he hadn’t got it wrong.

But, ‘Contact you?’ she echoed, as if the thought had never occurred to her. ‘Why would I want to do that?’

‘It’s what men and women usually do after they’ve been to bed together,’ he snapped irritably, his temper rekindling. ‘Don’t pretend—don’t pretend what happened between us meant nothing to you. Or are you going to try and tell me it wasn’t the first time you’d made love?’

Helen quivered. It was the first indication he’d touched a nerve and he waited expectantly for her response. ‘I’d be foolish to do that,’ she said at last, breathing deeply. ‘But you were married. Did you expect me not to care?’

A pulse began to throb in Milos’s temple. ‘I have told you,’ he said tightly. ‘I was already separated from my wife when I made the trip to England.’ He paused. ‘But that reminds me of something you said earlier: when exactly did you speak to Eleni? I’d be interested to hear.’

Helen caught her lower lip between her teeth and Milos was beginning to wonder if she’d made the whole thing up when she spoke again. ‘She phoned the hotel,’ she said, totally confounding him, and he could only stare at her in disbelief.

‘What hotel?’

‘Well, duh.’ She imitated Melissa’s laconic way of mocking him. ‘How many hotels did you stay at?’

Milos blinked. ‘You mean the hotel where we—’

‘Where you seduced me?’ She flashed him a bitter smile. ‘Yeah, that’d be right.’

‘But how could she?’ Milos couldn’t take it in. ‘She didn’t know where I was staying.’

‘Then someone must have told her,’ said Helen practically. ‘I don’t suppose it was a secret, was it?’

Milos shook his head. ‘When?’ he asked, ignoring her question. ‘When did she phone?’

‘Can’t you guess?’ Helen’s voice was flat now. ‘You may remember, you’d gone into the bathroom to—to get rid of the evidence. She was very surprised when I answered your phone.’

‘And what did you tell her?’

‘Well, I didn’t expose your dirty little secret,’ said Helen with a grimace. ‘Though I imagine she had her suspicions. Was that why you got a divorce?’

Milos’s lips curled. ‘Please,’ he said. ‘I’ve told you how it was with Eleni and me. There was no love lost on either side.’

‘That wasn’t my impression.’ Helen was sceptical.

‘I don’t care what your impression was,’ he answered, his mind filled with the images of that evening at his hotel. He remembered going into the bathroom, to dispose of what had evidently proved to be a faulty condom. He remembered turning on the shower and sluicing his overheated body with cold water. He even remembered thinking Helen might like to join him. But when he’d come out of the bathroom, she’d gone.

‘So why didn’t you stay and tell me this?’ he demanded now. ‘Why didn’t you ask me about Eleni, instead of running away like a spoilt child?’

‘Because that’s what I was,’ she retorted. ‘A child, anyway. And when she told me that you’d come to England, not for a holiday, as you’d said, but to get me to change my mind about my father, I knew the suspicions Mum had had about your motives were right.’ She blew out a breath. ‘Though why you thought seducing me would make me feel more sympathetic towards Sam, I can’t imagine.’

‘I didn’t seduce you!’ Milos couldn’t prevent an oath. ‘So that’s why you refused to speak to me again.’

‘Among other things.’ Helen sounded weary now. ‘I felt sorry for your wife. She sounded really nice. I remember I made some excuse about us going out for dinner and you forgetting something. I told her you were just in the bathroom, but she didn’t want to disturb you.’

‘I can believe that!’ Milos was furious. ‘That woman had manipulation off to a fine art. She was lying, Helen. If she let you think I’d betrayed her, she was lying. You should have asked her whose bed she was sleeping in that night. I can guarantee it wouldn’t have been her own.’

‘And that excuses what you did?’

‘I never said that.’

‘No, but it did prove that you and my father were one of a kind.’

‘No!’ Milos swore again. ‘Sam knew nothing about it. He still doesn’t. He’d have killed me if he’d suspected what I’d done.’

‘Chalk one up for my father, then.’ Helen was derisive.

Milos sighed. ‘He trusted me and I betrayed him.’

‘And he betrayed my mother,’ she countered. ‘That makes you fairly even in my book.’

Milos lifted his shoulders helplessly. ‘It wasn’t quite the same.’

‘No. Sam got a divorce and married Maya.’

‘I meant, our—relationship; affair; whatever you want to call it—was too short.’

‘And whose fault was that?’

‘Well, it wasn’t mine.’ Milos ignored her attempt to deny his words and hastened on. ‘I tried to see you again, Helen. You know I did. But you hid behind that gorgon of a mother of yours, and I had to get back to Greece.’

‘How convenient!’

‘It wasn’t convenient at all,’ said Milos harshly. ‘I didn’t know Eleni had been filling your head with lies. And I had a job to do, people that depended on me for their livelihood. As far as I was concerned, you’d made it pretty obvious you wanted nothing more to do with me.’

‘Well, it’s too late now.’ Helen caught her tongue between her teeth and gave a little shiver—of what? Remorse? Regret? She moistened her lips. ‘It’s a pity you didn’t tell me the truth at the beginning. It would have saved—’

She broke off abruptly, almost as if she was afraid she’d said too much, and Milos frowned. ‘It would have saved—what?’ he prompted, feeling as if he was on the brink of learning something significant. He took an involuntary step towards her. ‘Helen—’

‘I think this is the coffee you ordered,’ she said quickly, once again taking his thoughts in an entirely different direction. He turned with some impatience to see the housekeeper stepping carefully onto the veranda with a tray.

‘Theos!’ His frustration was almost crippling and he had to force himself not to take his anger out on the old woman. ‘Just put it on the table,’ he ordered shortly, in his own language, and Andrea bowed her greying head in nervous submission.

‘Afto ineh ola, kirieh,’ she asked, giving Helen a hasty once over as she spoke.

Milos tamped down his irritation. ‘Ineh mia khara, efkharisto.’ That’s fine, thanks. His smile reassured her. ‘Tipoteh alo.’

The old woman returned his smile and, with another brief glance at his companion, she left them alone. As Milos had expected, Helen took the interruption as a way of evading continuing their discussion, and, contenting himself with the thought that she couldn’t avoid him for ever, Milos let her get away with it.

She was obviously waiting for him to suggest she take charge of the coffee, and when he didn’t she approached the table herself. It was apparently the lesser of two evils, and, seating herself on one of the wicker chairs, she picked up the pot.

‘Cream and sugar?’ she asked politely, making a mockery of the ceremony, and Milos wanted to haul her up out of the chair and force her to finish what she’d been going to say.

‘As it comes,’ he said stiffly, watching as she poured some of the thick, aromatic beverage into a thin porcelain cup. But he couldn’t help taking pleasure from the fact that her hand shook as she handed it to him.

He noticed that, although she poured herself some coffee, she didn’t drink it. Instead, she took one of the honey-soaked pastries from the plate the housekeeper had provided, breaking the flaky sweet between her fingers, attempting to bring the crumbling morsel to her mouth.

Milos had sworn to himself that she wasn’t going to distract him again, but his stomach lurched as her tongue swept out to rescue an errant crumb from her lower lip. There was something distinctly sensual in the way she was enjoying the pastry, and he set his cup back on the tray with a growing feeling of impotence.

As if sensing his frustrated regard, however, she finished the pastry and got to her feet again. Then, as if indifferent to his presence, she walked past him to the steps above the pool where she had been standing earlier.

‘Did you mean what you said?’ she asked, over her shoulder. ‘About me taking a dip in the pool?’

Milos stifled a groan, and then, his jaw clenching, he said, ‘If that’s what pleases you.’

‘It would please me if you would take me back to your parents’ villa. But as I’m here …’ She turned back to look at the pool again. ‘Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my swim-suit.’

‘And that’s a problem?’

He couldn’t resist the taunt, but she’d had it her own way for far too long.

‘Not for you, perhaps,’ she said tersely, and he was pleased to see he’d disconcerted her. ‘I’m not used to taking off my clothes in front of strange men.’

‘Nor am I,’ he remarked mildly and saw the way her lips compressed.

‘Nor in front of strange women,’ she retorted. ‘I have a little more self-respect these days.’

The barb in the tail of the sentence didn’t escape him, but he had no desire to cut their time together short. He nodded towards the row of wooden cabanas at the end of the pool deck. ‘I think you’ll find everything you need in there.’

Doubt momentarily crossed her sun-kissed features, but then she kicked off her high heels and started down the stone steps. She glanced back at him once, and he despised himself for the rush of emotion he felt when she half smiled at him. Theos, this wasn’t supposed to be a pleasure trip. Here he was, humouring her, when he knew she was deliberately evading his questions.

Yet as he watched her descend the steps their fractured past was not the first thing he thought of. Her skirt swung about her long legs and he knew he couldn’t wait to see her in one of the skimpy suits Rhea kept here for her own use. But sooner or later she was going to have to answer his questions, he assured himself. All he had to do was exercise a little patience, and there was no law that said he couldn’t enjoy the process.

She emerged from the largest cabana a few minutes later. He’d half expected her to have second thoughts when she saw the swimsuits, but she evidently thought a swim could buy her a little more time.

The suit she’d chosen was a dark blue and white outfit, its close-fitting top barely skimming her midriff, the bikini briefs cut high on her hip. Faint colour, which couldn’t be blamed on the sun, tinged her cheeks when she found him waiting for her, but she swiftly moved to the side of the pool and executed a perfect dive into the water.

Milos was impressed. It was soon obvious that she was a strong swimmer. Instead of surfacing after the dive, she swam an impressive distance underwater before her head appeared again.

Milos was relieved to see her. Even though he’d been sure she was all right, it was good to have his confidence restored. He watched her strike out strongly for the other end of the pool before somersaulting a turn and starting back. Her body cleaved surely through the water, her arms rising and falling in an almost hypnotic rhythm.

Despite himself, Milos descended the steps so that he was in her line of vision. She couldn’t help but see him waiting for her, his feet parted, his arms folded across his chest. If it was a gesture of defence, he was unaware of it. He wanted to disconcert her, to let her feel the insistent pull she was having on his senses.

Helen ignored him, however. When she reached the end where he was standing, she simply repeated the somersault she’d turned at the other end of the pool and swam back the way she’d come.

Milos was infuriated. The heat around the pool was palpable and he cast an irritated glance towards the sun. He must be crazy, he thought, exposing himself to possible sunstroke just to make a point. She was determined to ignore him, it seemed. He would have to think of something else.

He had already unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it free of his jeans before he acknowledged she was driving him crazy. Kicking off the boots he’d originally worn to ride the Harley, he unzipped his jeans and pushed them down his legs. Kicking the jeans off, too, he hooked his thumbs into his boxers. And then hesitated. In deference to his guest’s sensibilities, Milos didn’t go any further. As she swam steadily towards him he dived into the water, emerging only inches from her stroking arms.

The splash he made caused her to lose her rhythm. She flailed about for a few moments before she realised what he’d done. Treading water, she stared indignantly at him, almost as if he had no right to use the pool, before turning abruptly towards the steps.

‘Wait!’

Milos caught her arm as she would have swum away from him. She struggled for a moment before realising she was wasting her time and Milos took advantage of her acquiescence to bring her back to him. He’d let her go when he chose, not her, he thought grimly, but already his flesh was betraying him.

He couldn’t help but be aware of how soft her skin felt beneath his fingers. Even the slight pressure he was exerting was bringing the dusky blush of colour to a limb that was as smooth and fine as silk. When she looked up at him, her water-spiked lashes caused her eyes to shimmer so that he couldn’t see what she was thinking. But he certainly knew what her nearness was doing to him.

‘What do you want?’ she demanded, and he wondered if he only imagined the faint tremor in her voice. Then, with a suddenly indrawn breath, ‘Are you wearing anything at all?’

Her words were so unexpected that Milos felt a reluctant grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. ‘What kind of a question is that?’

‘A fairly simple one,’ she retorted, sweeping back her wet hair with her free hand. ‘I didn’t see you go into the cabana.’

‘That’s because I didn’t,’ Milos acknowledged, noticing how the water had darkened her blonde hair so that it clung to her head like a golden cap. ‘Does it matter?’

He could see that she wanted to object, but she was determined not to give him any advantage. ‘Not to me,’ she replied tightly, using her legs to ensure she kept a distance between them. ‘It’s not as if it’s something I haven’t seen before.’

Milos resented that. And whatever she said, he knew she wasn’t as blasé about his proximity as she would like him to believe. Nevertheless, he was still prepared to be generous. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘But just to reassure you, I can tell you I’m not totally naked.’

‘Big deal.’ She made a careless gesture. ‘But just for the record, I don’t care.’ She shrugged. ‘And you have to admit, it’s just the sort of stunt you would pull.’

‘So you think I’m lying?’

‘I didn’t say that.’

‘But you think it,’ he snapped, suppressing the urge to shake her. He took a deep breath. ‘You can trust me. I’m not lying.’

‘Whatever.’

The careless dismissal was humiliating. And when she turned her head away, looking resignedly towards the steps, his temper snapped. He’d been more than patient so far, he assured himself. But she was determined to provoke him.

Without really thinking of the consequences, he jerked her towards him. Wrapping one of his legs about both of hers, he brought her into intimate contact with his lower body. Then, scowling down at her, he said, ‘Now do you believe me?’

He’d taken her by surprise and her initial response was to wrap a startled arm about his shoulders to keep her balance. Her fingers clutched wildly at the hair at the back of his neck, her slim body curling instinctively into his.

He felt his own arousal only seconds before she felt it, too. Tiny globules of moisture were trembling on the slopes of her breasts that were only inches below his gaze. She was so close in fact, that he could feel the betraying thrust of her nipples nudging his chest, the taut fabric of the vest top only adding to the intimacy.

Suddenly, he wanted to see her naked. His thumbs itched to hook inside the sexy top and pull it forcefully to her waist. He knew the bikini briefs would offer no obstruction. It would be a simple matter to dispose of them in the same way.

He tried to steady his roiling senses. This was not why he’d brought her here, he reminded himself. Getting overheated wasn’t going to solve anything.

But holding her like this, feeling her limbs twisting frantically against him, brought back memories of why he’d acted so uncharacteristically all those years ago. He’d never been the kind of man to use sex indiscriminately, and it was only the raw attraction she’d aroused in him that had caused him to act in such a reckless way. From the moment they’d met, she’d exerted a powerful pull on his senses, and making love with her had been as natural as breathing to him.

With thoughts like these filling his head, he should have resisted going any further. A saner man—a more calculating man—would have used the situation to his advantage and asked her outright who Melissa’s father was. In her present state of agitation, he doubted she’d have had time to fabricate an answer, and even if she’d denied his involvement her reaction would have given her away.

Or so he believed.

But instead, when she grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked his head back, all he saw was red. With her hot breath panting in his ear and the spaghetti straps falling down her arms and pulling her top perilously close to total exposure, all he could think about was retaliation. The uncontrollable rush of blood to his groin was the final straw and all thought of letting her go became academic.

‘Ya Theos, keep still,’ he muttered, making a futile attempt to control his emotions. But when he looked into her flushed face, he was lost. With her soft lips parted and a hectic blush rising in her cheeks, she was irresistible, and he knew it. With a groan of defeat, he gave in to the driving need inside him and, bending his head, he captured her lips with his.