Greek Affairs in his Bed: Sleeping with a Stranger\Blackmailed into the Greek Tycoon’s Bed\Bedded by the Greek Billionaire (9 page)

She looked as shocked as he was, probably more so, and she continued to stare at him until he gestured for her to come and open the door. She hesitated, clearly weighing the odds of what he wanted against what would obviously be her mother’s disapproval, and then drew back from the window out of his sight.

It seemed to take for ever for her to cross what he knew from previous experience was the sitting room and cover the short distance between there and the front door. But finally she opened the door, albeit reluctantly, hanging onto the handle as if she had no intention of letting him inside.

‘Hi.’ Milos managed to eject a cheerful inconsequence into his voice. ‘Remember me?’

Helen’s lips tightened. ‘Of course.’

She was still wearing the faded jeans, this time teamed with a white tee shirt. Milos had to drag his eyes away from the pert nipples clearly etched against the cloth, reminding himself severely of why he was here.

‘You’re not at college today,’ he said inanely, and she cast him a pitying look.

‘Obviously not,’ she said, proving she wasn’t intimidated. ‘What do you want, Mr Stephanides? I’ve got a lot of revision to do.’

‘May I come in?’

That wasn’t what he’d intended to say and he wasn’t
surprised when she shook her head. ‘My mother’s not here,’ she said. ‘She works half-days at the supermarket. If you come back about half past two, she should be home by then.’

Milos put out a hand to support himself on the wall beside the door, brows arching when she drew back in alarm. But, ‘It’s you I came to see, Helen,’ he said, ignoring her reaction. ‘Your father wanted me to talk to you. He’d very much like for you to forgive him.’

‘I bet he would.’ Her words echoed her mother’s bitterness, but he sensed there was a reluctance in the sharp denial. ‘My father doesn’t care about me. He only cares about his new wife. He severed any hope of us being a family when he walked out on us.’

Milos sighed. ‘He walked out on your mother; not on you.’

‘And you think that excuses him?’

‘No—’

‘Because I have to tell you, I think what he did was pretty damn rotten.’

‘I agree.’ Milos didn’t know all the ins and outs of the story, but he could see that from this girl’s point of view her father’s behaviour did seem unforgivable. ‘But that doesn’t alter your relationship to him. He’s still your father. He still loves you.’

‘Yeah, right.’

‘He does. And, you know, he has tried to get in touch with you, but your mother has blocked him every time.’

Helen pursed her lips. ‘So this is your real agenda, is it? To persuade me that he’s not the villain I imagined him to be?’

Milos hesitated. If he said yes and she threw him out, he’d have lost any advantage he’d gained by coming here. On the other hand, if he said no, what other excuse could
he offer for this visit? He was attracted to her, sure, but he couldn’t tell her that. She was far too young for him.

Wasn’t she?

Sighing, he said, ‘I’ve told you, I’m on holiday.’ He was actually on business, but he didn’t think that would win him any favours. ‘Your father suggested looking you up. Where’s the harm in that? I’ve told you, he wants to mend bridges. If that’s impossible, then so be it.’

‘It is.’

She was adamant, her soft cheeks flushed with hectic colour. He found himself wanting to touch her skin, to run his fingertips over her warm flesh. She was so sure, so strong, yet so unconsciously vulnerable, he was entranced by her innocence. She had no idea what she was doing to him as she stood so defiantly in the doorway.

A less—
arrogant
man, he decided, would back off at this point, but he didn’t. Milos told himself he still believed he could change her mind in time, but that wasn’t the real reason he wanted to see her again. She enchanted him; she intrigued him. He told himself he just wanted to see her smile—at him.

‘Poli kala,’
he said ruefully. ‘I tried.’ He glanced up and down the street as if preparing to leave and then came to what would prove to be a fatal decision. ‘Look, I understand you have work to do right now, but won’t you at least let me buy you a drink this evening?’

‘Milos?’

Helen was speaking to him and he realised that for a few minutes he’d completely lost the plot. The memories of his trip to England were both vivid and painful, and it was hard to separate the present and the past.

‘A
RE
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.