Mistaken Identity (13 page)

When he unleashed the full force of his charm, smiling warmly, she felt the heat of it stretch from her fingertips to her toes.

‘Good.’ He extended his hand to her, offering her a handshake to seal the truce.

As she accepted his hand, the warmth of his smile turned into a blaze of heat. The simplest touch from him turned her skin to fire. This time he seemed oblivious to it.

‘I’m finished my business in Athens,’ he said, releasing her hand. ‘There are ruins of an ancient temple here on the island. Would you like to come with me to see them?’

Do I ever!
He couldn’t know how much that idea appealed to her. How much more interesting her teaching would be for her students if she could actually relate some of her own personal experiences from travelling in Greece. Coming to this country had long been on her agenda, but she hadn’t wanted to use her sister’s income to make her dream a reality and hadn’t yet managed to save enough of her own money.

‘I’d love to.’ She couldn’t suppress her enthusiasm.

Her conscience pricked. She was making excuses. What she really wanted was to spend time with him — it didn’t matter to her how that time was spent. She doubted she’d be any less enthusiastic if he’d offered to show her paint drying on a wall.

Her heart battled with her head. She wanted to be with him, but felt vulnerable in his radius. The danger came from a very unexpected place. From within. She tried to analyse that emotion, but he spoke again, breaking into her thoughts.

‘When can you be ready?’ he asked casually.

‘Half an hour?’ she suggested.

He nodded. ‘See you downstairs.’

Alex left Susan’s room feeling satisfied. It wasn’t the thought of visiting ancient architecture that created her look of excited anticipation. He couldn’t imagine for a second that she would be interested in looking at a pile of stone rubble and crumbling columns. The interest she’d shown had stemmed from her eagerness to spend time alone with him. He was certain of it.

Susan might think everything was starting to turn her way, but she was wrong. Without even realising it, by accepting his invitation she was falling right into his trap. By the time she realised she was caught up in the silken web he was beginning to weave around her, it would be far too late.

Guilt stabbed him. Honesty was a quality he valued most. He prided himself on his reputation for fairness in his business dealings, but now he felt a mixture of shame and anger that his usually high moral code was being compromised. Susan was to blame. She’d forced him to do this. She’d backed him into this corner. If he was going to win the fight for his brother — for his family and Elena’s — there was no choice. He had to fight dirty. He suppressed his guilt and excused his culpability. This plan was the only way.

‘Wow!’ Leah stopped in her tracks as they rounded a corner, and the temple ruins came into sight.

‘There it is — the Temple of Helios,’ Alex announced.

It was set atop a hill, overlooking the Aegean.

‘It’s fantastic,’ Leah commented with appreciation. ‘There are still so many columns standing.’

She picked up her pace. She couldn’t wait to reach the temple. To stand among the ruins.

‘The temple faces east, so the pagans could greet the sun god, Helios, each morning,’ he explained.

As she wandered through the ruins, she touched the pillars in awe, and with reverence.

‘You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?’ There was surprise in his voice.

It was impossible to suppress her happiness. ‘Ancient history’s always interested me.’ Her eyes fell on a well-preserved statue, and she walked to it. ‘Who’s this?’

‘Circe. She was the daughter of Helios. A powerful witch who poisoned her husband, king of the Sarmatians, then fled to the island of Aeaea.’

He came over and stood close behind her. The rich timbre of his voice disturbed her equilibrium. His words vibrated through her and struck a chord of sensuality deep within. The distinct male scent of his cologne carried to her on the light breeze, and she inhaled deeper.

Desire licked through her. Again the forceful pull of magnetic attraction made her want to lean back against him, to feel the solid warmth of his chest supporting her back. How wonderful it would be to have his arms wrap around her in a gesture of possessiveness and to stand together in this ancient place, admiring all that was around them. How easy it would be then, to turn in the circle of his arms. To pull his head down and press her lips against his.

She struggled to distract herself from the hypnotic effect of his closeness.

‘I remember Homer wrote about Circe in his poem,
The Odyssey
,’ she recalled. She needed to focus on something other than his nearness. ‘Odysseus landed on Aeaea on his way home from Troy. Circe’s magic potion turned his men into swine. He also accepted her invitation to drink from her magic cup, but he didn’t succumb to her spell.’ She reached out and touched the statue. ‘He was forewarned about the potion by the messenger god Hermes, and took an antidote herb.’

She felt his hands on her shoulders, and a surge of high voltage electricity jolted through her. He spun her around to face him, disbelief and confusion evident in his expression.

‘How do you know that?’ Alex demanded.

She panicked. She’d forgotten she was supposed to be Susie. Her sister wouldn’t have heard of Homer, let alone Circe.

‘Answer me,’ he insisted.

She shrugged her shoulders, loosening his hold on them. ‘I’ve read both
The Iliad
and
The Odyssey
.’

‘No,’ he denied, shaking his head. ‘I can’t believe that.’

Released from his grip, she lifted her chin and allowed her scorn to spread across her features. ‘Just because I sing pop music, you expect me to be ignorant of classical literature? That’s pretty narrow-minded of you.’

‘When did you read Homer?’ he asked, the hint of challenge evident in his voice.

‘When I was at school.’

‘You left school early.’

‘Oh, for pity’s sake Alex, if you’re so sure I didn’t read Homer, then how do you think I knew about Odysseus and Circe?’ she attacked. ‘Anyway, why is it such a big deal? I am literate, and I didn’t steal any of Homer’s books from the Greek National Antiquities Museum, so what’s your problem?’

‘You,’ he told her with a directness that stunned her. ‘You are my problem.’ He raised a hand to her head and threaded his fingers through her hair. ‘You’re as bewitching as Circe. A temptress, just as she was.’

Each breath came much harder at that moment than it had after she’d climbed the steep hill to the temple. The intensity in his eyes was almost frightening, yet full of energy.

‘I wouldn’t have thought it possible. I was never tempted by you at any time we met over the years, but I am now. Something about you has changed.’

Hope swelled in her heart. He wasn’t attracted to Susie. He was starting to be attracted to her — to Leah. Was he seeing something special about her that no other man had identified? Something that she overlooked in herself?

His words were an open admission he felt the same special magnetic field that energised her whenever she was with him. Was it something that existed uniquely between them? Did she dare to dream? To hope?

He brushed his lips against her temple. ‘I’m finding it increasingly difficult to resist your enticement.’

She angled her head up at him. Offering him her lips. She didn’t want him to resist.

His lips made brief, light contact against hers. It wasn’t enough. She wanted his fervent kisses. If she didn’t get them, she’d just shrivel up and die at his feet.

‘You’re a puzzle I mean to solve.’ His words were warm against her mouth, then his lips brushed over hers again.

‘I’m not such a puzzle Alex,’ she told him huskily. She wished she could tell him the truth but feared his reaction. Whatever it was that was growing between them was so fragile that her confession could kill it before it had a chance to blossom. If he came to understand her, could he forgive her for her deception? Could he want her?

‘What are you thinking about?’ His words were gentle.

Her eyes flew up to his. ‘I…’ Emotions in turmoil, she couldn’t even think of what it was she had been going to say.

His hands caressed her as they traced the shape of her body. ‘Were you thinking about this?’

The feel of his hands as they moved up to the swell of her breasts, found her sensitised nipples and began teasing them, made her suck in a sharp breath. Agonising need speared through her. Liquid pooled deep at the juncture of her thighs, and she pressed her hips more insistently against him. The jut of his hard arousal thrilled her. She ached to remove the barriers of their clothing, longed for him to thrust into her, to show her how satisfying it could be between them.

Oh God — how she wanted him!

‘Alex —’

‘Ssh, there’s no hurry. Don’t talk, just feel.’

Feel?
How could she not feel? All the stimulation from his hands and his mouth made every nerve cell fire in response to him. His every touch raced at lightning speed along the nerve pathways to her brain. As each touch was registered, it overloaded her senses, and threatened to cause an internal meltdown.

Up on her tiptoes, her arms wrapped around him, she found herself loving the broad expanse of defined muscle on his back. Her body pressed so close against him, she could feel his desire pulsing now through the fabric of his trousers, and her shorts.

‘I desire you, Susan, as I’ve never done before,’ he murmured against her ear.

They were exactly the words she wanted to hear, because—although he didn’t know it—Alex desired her, not Susie.

‘I said I wouldn’t oppose your relationship to Spiros if I thought you were marrying for love, but how can you claim to love him and deny the attraction between us?’ he posed, shaking his head in incomprehension. ‘I can no longer deny my attraction for you, even though I don’t welcome it.’

The admission made her heart sing. All she’d assumed had been wrong. The attraction he felt for her was more than any he may have felt for her sister, and the reason he didn’t welcome it was surely because he didn’t approve of Susie’s lifestyle and the bad choices she’d made. Could Leah build on his attraction before he discovered the truth?

‘Be honest,’ he pressed. ‘What I’m feeling is mutual.’

Was it a trap? Pulling away from him slightly, she looked more deeply into his eyes. There was confusion in those black depths. A grudging acknowledgement of his growing passion for her. For
her
.

‘You know I’m attracted to you,’ she finally admitted tentatively, half expecting to be snared in a vice of her own making. ‘And I’ve been fighting against it too. Can there really be a truce between us?’

There was only quiet satisfaction in his eyes. No smug sense of victory.

‘Alex, can you forget all the reasons you don’t like me and why I’m here? Can you act as though you are meeting me for the first time?’

‘That’s a big ask. It could be dangerous.’

‘What’s life without a little danger?’ And for the first time in her life, Leah was embracing danger. This would be the biggest gamble of her life.

‘I’m a man used to satisfying my desires. Will you agree to go with the flow and see where that takes us?’

Could he respect the depth of her attraction for him while still thinking she was shallow, indecisive Susie? Shouldn’t she tell him the whole truth right now? She let out a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding. God knows, she wanted to be honest, but a large part of her still lacked confidence in her ability to hold his interest.

‘Let’s go with the flow,’ she agreed breathily.

The second he pulled away from her, she felt her disappointment. Her one consolation was the ragged note in his voice as he suggested, ‘Let’s go back to the villa.’

When he took her hand in his, it felt completely natural, like their hands belonged together.

Nothing was said as they made their way back to the villa. Instead of talking, she focussed on all that she felt walking next to him. Feelings soon turned into fantasies. A voice of caution sounded in her head, warning her that such a change in him was too sudden, that it couldn’t be real, that this must be some sort of set-up.

No. That was negativity talking. The nagging voice stemmed from her self-doubt and she was determined to put that behind her, to take a leap of faith and believe in her own femininity for once. Surely no man could fabricate a physical response so immediate for a woman he had no attraction for.

After waking up despondent, happiness now bubbled up inside her like a fountain. She couldn’t contain it. Didn’t want to. She’d been doing everything so far for Susie. Now she wanted to do something for herself.

Alex looked down at Susan as they walked back. There was a starry look of happiness in her eyes that reminded him of a child discovering a pile of presents under the tree on Christmas morning. It made him feel like an utter bastard.

There was a pure male satisfaction in her being so captivated by him. Despite that, guilt was churning in his gut. Playing with someone’s emotions was foreign to him. That wasn’t the way he operated. He’d never done that to anyone — in business or in his personal life — and felt guilty to be playing with her emotions. He was setting her up for a giant fall. How would she cope when she hit the ground?

He wanted her like hell, but had to remember who she was and control his urges. Lock his emotions away. If he didn’t, he would never carry out his plan.

Hell — this woman is far more physically and intellectually appealing than I expected.
The attraction he felt for her was stronger than any he could ever recall, but it was also more dangerous. This young woman was still trying to manipulate him. She still possessed the power to ruin his brother’s future, and only Alex possessed the power to stop her. He’d stick to his plan and time things perfectly.

They arrived back at the villa. He drew close to her again and said, ‘Go and change into a swimsuit, and I’ll meet you at the beach.’

Her expression revealed her disappointment. It told him she’d hoped he’d take her to bed as soon as they’d returned to the villa. As much as his body was tempted, his brain battled against that physical craving. Reminding himself that timing was everything, he kissed her. That was no hardship — her mouth was so sweet, so inviting.