Bridal Bargains (53 page)

His words made her want to hit out at him, but he caught
the hand before it landed its blow and arrogantly pressed his warm lips to her palm.

That was the point where her sense of humiliation plumbed new depths because the moment she felt his tongue make a salacious lick of her palm she was lost again. Her eyes closed and her breathing ruptured as that lick sent its sensual message down her arm and through her body, arrowing directly at the very core of her.

‘I can delay my departure for an hour or two, if you want me to …’ he offered.

That stung a different part of her entirely. Her eyes opened, angry fire burning alongside the passion. ‘Only an hour or two?’ she said scathingly. ‘Well, that just about puts your attitude to sex in a nutshell, doesn’t it? One quick fix then you’re off again before the sheets get warm!’

He should have been angry—she’d said it all to make him so angry that he would walk out! But he completely disconcerted her by arrogantly taking up the challenge.

‘You want more than that? A whole night of wild passion, maybe?’

‘You aren’t capable of spending a whole night in the same bed as me!’ she said scornfully.

His eyes darkened. Mia felt real alarm take a stinging dive down the length of her spine. ‘That lousy opinion you have of me really does need amending,’ he said curtly. Suddenly he was standing up, determined fingers already working on the knot to his robe.

‘W-what are you doing?’ she choked. ‘No, Alex …’ she protested huskily, not even trying to pretend that she didn’t know exactly why he was stripping himself.

It didn’t stop him. Her heart began to race, her tongue cleaving itself to the roof of her dry mouth as she watched in a paralysed mix of greedy fascination and mind-numbing horror that magnificent naked frame of his appear in front of her.

The air left her lungs on a short, sharp gasp at the unashamed
power of his pulsing arousal. Her eyes moved upwards to clash with the fierce flame in his as he bent to lift the edge of the sheet.

At last she found the motivation to attempt an escape, slithering like a snake to the other side of the bed. His arm caught her before she could get away. It drew her back across the smooth white linen, then turned her so she was facing him.

‘I’m pregnant,’ she reminded him shakily, as if that should be enough to stop him.

It wasn’t. His arm slid beneath her shoulders then angled downwards across her spine so his hand could arch her slender hips towards him. The firm roundness of her stomach was pressed into the concaved wall of his taut stomach. He sighed a little unsteadily, his darkened eyes closing as if this first physical contact he was having with their unborn child was moving him deeply.

Enthralled by his totally unexpected reaction, Mia released a soft gasp. He heard it—felt the warm rush of air brush across his face—and opened eyes which had gone pitch black and seemed to want to draw her deep inside them.

Which is exactly what he did do. He didn’t speak—he didn’t need to. That expression had said it all for him. It was need. It was desire. It was hunger too long-standing for him to fight it any longer.

The last conscious thought she had before he completely took her over was that he’d been right. She can’t resist him, not when he looked at her like that, anyway.

Her eyes began to close, her soft mouth parting as it went in blind search of his. They fused from mouth to breast to hip. It was that easy to give in to it in the end.

For the next few hours they became lost in each other, the world outside with all its complications shut right out.

‘Why?’ Mia asked a long time later when they were lying
in a heated tangle of sensually exhausted limbs. ‘When you rejected me the first night we came here.’

‘I promised you I would not touch you again once you were pregnant,’ he replied.

‘You made that promise to yourself, Alex,’ Mia corrected him quietly. ‘I never asked you for it.’

He was silent for a moment, then gave a small sigh. ‘Well, it is now a broken promise,’ he announced, ‘and one I have no intention of reinstating.’

Then he kissed her again, slowly, languidly, drawing her back down into that deep, dark well of pleasure from where she eventually drifted into a sated sleep, her arms still holding him and his still wrapped around her. It felt wonderful—so different from anything they had shared before that it was like a statement of future intent.

Yet when she awoke the next morning he was gone—as usual.

Which meant—what? she wondered grimly. A return to the status quo, with the sex thrown back in to spice it all up a bit?

S
UZANNA
was discharged from hospital three days later, and the time that followed went by much too quickly. Time that turned out to be a lot pleasanter than Mia had expected it to be, mainly because Leon’s manner towards her had softened remarkably—though forced to do so, she suspected, by a child who was so very eager to please that even Leon Doumas didn’t seem to have the heart to be anything but pleasant around Suzanna.

And that meant he had to include Mia.

Everywhere the little girl went, her fluffy rabbit, her pens and paper and her computer game went with her. Every night she insisted Mia read a story from her set of books. When in their company, her wistful green eyes followed Leon and Carol around like a love-starved puppy, eagerly waiting to be noticed. When not in their company she talked about them constantly, starry-eyed and happy, so pathetically grateful to the couple for allowing her to come and stay with them that sometimes it brought tears to Mia’s eyes to witness it.

With the resilience of childhood she recovered quickly from her operation, and with the vulnerability of childhood she worried constantly about the moment when she would have to go back to school because she knew that was also the time when Mia would be going back to Greece.

‘You might forget all about me when you have the new baby to love,’ she confided one evening as she lay in the bed Carol had allocated her in the room next to Mia’s.

‘New babies don’t steal love from one person for themselves, darling,’ Mia said gently. ‘They only ask that you
let them share it. Do you think you can do that? Share all the love I have for you with this new baby?’

‘Will Alex let me come and visit sometimes, do you think?’ she asked anxiously. ‘Will he mind if I share you with the new baby?’

‘Of course not,’ Mia said. ‘Who was it who convinced Daddy to let you come and stay here until you go back to school?’

‘Carol said Alex likes children,’ the child said, with that painfully familiar wistful expression. ‘She said Alex likes me because I look so much like you.’

Well, that was a very kind thing to say, Mia acknowledged, and made a mental note to thank Carol when she next saw her.

Carol just shrugged her thanks aside. ‘It was only the truth,’ she said. ‘Alex does like children and he’s got himself so tied up in knots over you that he’s bound to like Suzanna simply because she looks like you.’

Tied up in what kind of knots? she wondered. Sexual knots? ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she replied dismissively.

‘No?’ To her annoyance, Carol started grinning. ‘Did Alex ever tell you about his mistress?’ she asked. When Mia instantly stiffened up Carol nodded, ‘I thought he would. I know how his mind works, you see, and he would have told you about her just to score points off you. But I bet he hasn’t told you that within a week of marrying you he had sent her packing.

‘No,’ Carol continued drily at Mia’s start of surprise, ‘I didn’t think he would. Too bad for his ego to admit that, having had you, he couldn’t bring himself to touch another woman. But that’s our dear Alex for you,’ she went on. ‘Committed. Totally committed to whatever he turns his attention to.’

‘Like an island he wants to repossess,’ Mia said derisively, refusing to believe a word Carol was saying because
believing would make her start seeing Alex through different eyes, which in turn could make her weak.

And she couldn’t afford to be weak where Alex was concerned. She was already vulnerable enough.

‘Certainly, recovering the family island has been the goal that has driven him for the past ten years,’ Carol agreed. ‘But marry some strange woman and produce a child with her in the quest for that goal?’ She shook her blonde head. ‘Now that was going too far, even for Alex. Or so I thought,’ she added sagely, ‘until I met you. Then I began to wonder if half the trap wasn’t of his own making.’

‘It wasn’t,’ Mia said coolly. ‘My father is a master tactician.’ And then some, she added bitterly to herself.

‘Your father knew why Alex wanted the island back so badly,’ Carol acknowledged. ‘A solemn promise to his dying father—you can’t really get a bigger incentive than that for a Greek. But I still say—’

‘His father?’ Mia cut in sharply. ‘Alex promised his dying father?’

‘Didn’t you know?’ Carol looked surprised. ‘Come on,’ she said suddenly, taking hold of Mia’s hand as she did so. ‘It will be easier to show you,’ she explained, pulling Mia into the hall and then into a room Carol used as a working studio. ‘See,’ she declared, bringing Mia to a halt in front of a large framed painting.

It was titled
Vision
and Mia’s heart stilled as she recognised it as the original of the print she had seen in the lift at the Doumas office building.

‘Their father had this painted when he knew he was going to have to sell the island,’ Carol explained. ‘Until then it had been in the family for ever. See the little graveyard.’ She pointed it out. ‘Every Doumas, except their father, is buried there, including their mother and their older brother. They were killed in a flying accident when Alex was a teenager and Leon a small child. The accident devastated
their father. He adored his wife and worshipped his eldest son.

‘With them gone, he felt he had nothing left to live for, hence the sudden drop in the Doumas fortunes. His own health suffered until he eventually died prematurely—but not before he had extracted a promise from Alex that he would get the island back and have his remains transferred there. Do you understand now?’ she demanded finally.

‘Understand?’ Mia repeated. Oh, yes, she acknowledged heavily, she understood. Alex’s island in the Aegean was not just a piece of rock for which he was willing to sell his soul. It was home. It was where his heart lay, right there with his mother and his brother and where his father needed to lay his own heart.

She finally did understand that the grip her own father had on Alex was easily as tight as the grip he had on herself. Blackmail—emotional blackmail. A far more powerful vice than mere financial blackmail.

Her hand came up to cover her mouth. ‘I’m going to be sick,’ she choked, and had to run to the nearest cloakroom.

It was ironic, really, that Alex should choose to call her that same evening. ‘Are you all right?’ he demanded the moment she announced herself on the phone. ‘Carol said you were sick earlier.’

‘Something I ate. I’m fine now,’ she said dismissively, hoping Carol hadn’t told him exactly why she had been sick.

And what had made her sick? Her own words coming back to haunt her. Cruel words, dreadful words, where she’d condemned him for selling himself for physical gain while she’d self-righteously seen herself as selling herself for love.

‘You must not overdo it now that Suzanna is out of hospital,’ he commanded rather curtly.

‘I won’t,’ she said. ‘She’s quite an easy child to entertain.’

‘I noticed,’ he muttered. ‘Too damned easy to please. Have you seen your father?’

Mia frowned at his sharpened tone. ‘No,’ she replied.

‘Good,’ Alex grunted. ‘Let us hope it stays that way.’

‘Is that why you’re calling?’ she asked. It was so unusual for him to bother. ‘Because you’re concerned about my father showing up here? He won’t, you know,’ she assured him. ‘Having reassured himself that all is going to plan, he won’t waste thinking time on me again until the baby is due.’

‘Does that bother you?’

Bother me? Again she frowned at the strangely sharp question. ‘No,’ she said firmly. Her father’s lack of interest in her as a person had stopped hurting her a long time ago.

‘Good,’ he said again. ‘I have two reasons for calling you,’ he went on, suddenly becoming all brisk and businesslike. ‘You are due your monthly check-up with the doctor this week. Since it is not logical to transport you to Athens for a simple doctor’s appointment, I have therefore arranged an appointment at a clinic in London for you.’

He went on to give her names, addresses, dates and times which she had to hurriedly write down.

‘And the other reason I called,’ he continued, ‘is because I have just discovered that I have your passport here in Athens with me. I must have stashed it in my briefcase without thinking about it, when we travelled to London, and there it has stayed until I unearthed it this morning. I also happened to notice that it still bears your maiden name, which makes it invalid.’

‘Oh,’ she said. She hadn’t given a single thought to either her passport or the fact that it was no longer valid. ‘I suppose that means I will have to apply for a new one.’

‘I am already arranging it,’ he announced. ‘Leon is seeing to the paperwork so we can get it rushed through before you leave for Greece. You will need to put your signature
to the forms Leon is preparing and supply a new photograph. Can you see to that first thing in the morning?’

‘Of course,’ she said, ‘but I could just as easily have seen to the rest as well. I’m pregnant, not an invalid, you know!’

‘I never meant to imply you were.’ He sighed. ‘But I presumed you would prefer to devote your time in England to Suzanna,’ he said, in a tone meant to remind her exactly where her priorities lay.

Which it did—irksomely. ‘Is that it?’ she said, sounding childishly uncivil even to her own ears.

She heard him mutter something that sounded very much like a profanity. ‘Why do you have to turn every conversation into a battle?’ he said wearily.

‘Why do you have to be so damned arrogant?’ she shot back, for want of something to toss at him.

‘Because I’m trying to save you a lot of unnecessary hassle.’

‘I don’t like my life being organised for me!’ she snapped.

‘I am trying to help you, damn it!’ he exploded. ‘When are you going to stop being so damned bitter and realise that I am your ally, not your enemy!’

When you stop tying my emotions in so many knots that I just can’t tell what you are any more! she thought wretchedly, and slammed down the phone before she actually yelled the words at him!

Then she stood, shaken to the very roots by her own anger, because she didn’t know what she was angry about!

Yes, you do, a little voice inside her head told her. You want him to show you a little care and consideration, but when he does you get so frightened it isn’t real that you simply go off the deep end!

Leon produced the relevant forms for her to sign the next evening—several of them, which made her frown.

‘Copies in case I mess up,’ he explained dismissively.

She shrugged and signed where he told her to sign, and handed over the requested photographs—four surprisingly good snaps, taken in a passport booth in the local high street. Carol had gone with her and so had Suzanna, and between them they had turned the excursion into a game.

Mia now had in her possession several photos of Suzanna pulling silly faces into the camera, and even a couple of Carol, doing the same thing.

She kept her appointment at the exclusive London clinic Alex had arranged for her. They gave her the full works, blood pressure, blood tests, physical examination and an ultrasound scan. No problems anywhere, she was relieved to hear. The dizzy spells were a sign of low blood sugar levels, easily remedied by keeping light snacks handy. Other than that, she was assured, they were nothing to worry about. She left the clinic feeling very relieved to have a clean bill of health—and a black and white photograph of her darling baby curled up inside her womb.

‘Did it hurt?’ Carol asked suspiciously as she studied the picture.

‘What, the scan?’ Mia asked. ‘No,’ she said. ‘It just feels a bit strange, that’s all—and they did prod and poke the poor thing a bit until they could get him to lie in a good position.’

Carol handed back the photograph, but there was an odd look in her eyes that Mia couldn’t interpret—a look that bothered her for days afterwards, though she didn’t know why.

Another week went by, and Alex didn’t call again—not that she expected him to after the last row they’d had. But it hurt in some ways that he hadn’t even bothered to call to see how her visit to the clinic had gone—though she would rather die that let him know that.

Then other, far more immediate concerns began to take precedence, not least the way Suzanna grew quieter and
more withdrawn as their three weeks raced towards their imminent conclusion.

Carol found Mia one evening, weeping over Suzanna’s school trunk which Mrs Leyton had had sent over to the house that day.

‘Oh, Mia.’ Carol sighed, and knelt to put her arms around her. ‘Don’t do this to yourself,’ she murmured painfully.

‘I can’t bear to leave her,’ Mia confided wretchedly. ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do it! She hates that school!’ she sobbed. ‘She hates being away from me! It’s going to break her poor little heart and it’s going to break mine, too!’

‘Oh, dear God,’ Carol groaned thickly. ‘I can’t cope with this. Mia, listen to me!’ she pleaded. ‘You—’

‘Carol …’

It was the flatness in Leon’s tone that stopped Carol from saying whatever she’d been about to say.

‘Don’t meddle,’ he warned.

‘But, Leon!’ Carol cried. ‘If Alex knew how—’

‘I said, don’t meddle,’ he repeated.

He was standing in the open doorway to Mia’s bedroom, and he sounded so formidable that when Mia glanced at him through tear-washed eyes she thought she could see Alex standing there. Alex, grim with resolve.

She shivered. They had a bargain, she and Alex, she reminded herself staunchly. A bargain that was too important to both of them for her to stumble at one of the very last hurdles.

‘It’s all right,’ she said, pulling herself together so that by the time she had pulled herself to her feet all that cool dignity she had used to bring her this far was firmly back in place. ‘I’m all right now.’ She smiled a brittle smile at the tearful Carol as she also straightened. ‘But thank you for caring.’

‘We all care, Mia,’ Carol murmured anxiously. ‘Though I can well understand why you wouldn’t believe that.’

The next day Suzanna’s trunk left for the school by special
carrier. The morning after that, pale but composed—they’d both been through this many times before, after all—Mia and Suzanna came down the stairs together, the child dressed in her dour black and grey school uniform and Mia in a sober grey long-jacketed suit, prim high-collared white blouse and with her hair neatly contained in a rather austere, if elegant, French pleat.