Mistaken Identity (15 page)

Every now and then he’d look at her and smile, causing her heart to flip in her chest. Where had the arrogant Greek business tycoon of earlier days gone?

When they were seated at the tavern, Alex took her hands in his. ‘You’ve been full of surprises since you came to stay with me.’

She willed her nerves to be steady. ‘You think so?’

‘Yes. Despite the language barriers here, you’ve displayed a natural friendliness that’s made all the people here warm to you. You’re not the prima donna I’d expected you to be.’

Alex’s friend arrived with a carafe.

‘This is retsina,’ Alex told her. ‘Have you ever tried it?’

‘No.’

‘It’s wine that’s been flavoured with pine resin. My friend wants you to taste it.’

She sipped at the liquid. ‘It’s nice, but I think it’ll go straight to my head. I’m not used to drinking.’

She realised her slip up a little too late. Alex frowned, but before he could comment, his friend was speaking to him again. She was grateful for the interruption.

His friend left and Alex took a sip of his drink, but his eyes didn’t leave her face. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

‘You’re much more athletic than I’d imagined.’ There was admiration in his voice. ‘You really enjoy sailing. don’t you?’

‘I love it,’ she confirmed, pleased that he was beginning to see her in a positive light. She couldn’t tell him, but she’d been a member of her university sailing club. ‘Just being out on the water, trying to harness the energy of the wind is great.’ She sat back in her chair. ‘A day I can finish with aching muscles, covered head to toe in salt from sea spray, is a perfect day.’

Their meals arrived, and she attacked hers with a great appetite. The food was delicious and the atmosphere in the tavern cosy. Everybody seemed jovial, and the room was filled with warmth and laughter. It was impossible not to relax.

The traditional bouzouki music ended. A man standing near the small stage in the corner made an announcement in Greek that was met with much cheering, whistling, and applause from the male diners. She looked to Alex for an explanation.

‘We’re going to be entertained by a belly dancer,’ he told her with amusement.

Accompanied by exotic music, the dancer soon appeared. She was a dark haired, dark eyed beauty, clad in a sequined bikini bra and short skirt.

Leah had never watched a live belly dancing performance. She was entranced at the highly provocative movements of the dance, as the woman wound her way through the tables and reached her target — Alex. There was no mistaking the open sexual invitation in her eyes. She rotated her hips in front of him and made her graceful arm movements into a caress of his dark hair and handsome features. There was no resistance from him as she pulled him to his feet and led him to the stage.

Leah was shocked at the clawing jealousy in the pit of her stomach.

It was obvious Alex was enjoying himself, and the dancer soon grew even bolder, encouraged by the whistles and cheers from the men in the crowd. The dancer began shimmying around Alex, letting her body rub against his in a very sexual manner. She wrapped one arm around his neck, then clasped the other hand to his buttocks and urged him to rotate his pelvis in time with the music.

Leah felt sick. She wanted to be the one — the only one — who had any intimate contact with him.

The music stopped. The performance was over. The dancer drew Alex’s head to her own and claimed a kiss full on his lips. The crowd cheered. Alex dipped the woman back in the circle of his arms, delivered another kiss, and then set her on her feet. As he released her, he gave his audience a mock bow.

Afraid he’d see her staring daggers at him, Leah couldn’t meet his eyes as he made his way back to her. Instead, she busied herself, pretending to look for a handkerchief in her tote bag.

‘Did you enjoy the performance?’ he asked, amusement in his voice.

He knew! Damn him.

‘Immensely,’ she lied. ‘You’re a natural.’ Manufacturing a bright smile, she brought her head up to meet his amused gaze. ‘Would you please excuse me for a moment?’

The ladies’ rest room provided her with the sanctuary she needed. Emotionally wrung out, she leant heavily against the wall and regarded her reflection — Susie’s mirror image — staring back at her. It was time to face the truth.

She’d fallen in love with Alex.

There was no other explanation for her jealous reaction. Leah was in love with a powerful man who could destroy her family.

Her heart grew heavy. So many lies lay between them — lies of her making. But this time she was going to tell him the truth.

By the time she’d composed herself and ventured back out into the tavern, the folk dancing was in full swing. The chairs and tables had been pushed to the perimeter of the room to create a dancing area. Those who weren’t dancing stood on the edges, clapping in time to the lively music.

Part of her was thankful that she was stuck where she was in the room and unable to move back to Alex straight away and make her confession. It was probably just as well; now wasn’t really the time or the place. She’d talk to him later tonight when they’d returned to his island.

Across the crowded room their eyes met, and an intense emotion and realisation swept through her — Alex was her destiny.

The spell between them was broken by a handsome young man who was trying to capture her attention and who drew her eyes away from Alex. The stranger ignored her laughing protests and led her to the dance floor.

Giving in graciously, Leah let her body move to the rhythm of the music, let herself be swept away in the movements of the dance. Her partner placed his arms around her and began to show her some of the footwork.

It was tempting to drown in the music, rather than think about where the tumultuous tide of her love for Alex would carry her, but it was impossible to banish him from her thoughts.

Her heart urged her to give into her feelings for Alex and to go with the flow. Her brain warned that if she didn’t swim against the tide, she’d be in grave peril of being tossed about and pounded against the rocks. She doubted she’d survive that kind of emotional battering.

She’d mastered the basic steps of the folk dance quite quickly, and now she and her partner were the centre of attention. The crowd encircled them, clapping out the beat.

Alex stood on the fringe of the group, brooding. He’d experienced an incredible jolt of connection with Susan just minutes before as she’d stood across the room from him. Now he felt a tense jealousy seeping into his bones as he saw how much fun she was having with the young villager. Too much fun.

Every second that passed increased that tension and stretched his tolerance to its limit. Her vivacity was attractive, but the sight of her in another man’s arms ate away at him like a corrosive acid. He’d never felt such burning jealousy — not even when Christina had tried to rile him by flirting with other men.

He felt cheated that Susan should learn this traditional folk dance in the arms of another man. He wanted to be the one to introduce her to all his traditions.

As the dance ended, the young Greek kissed her in exactly the same way Alex had kissed the belly dancer. That was more than Alex could bear.

In a primitive surge of possessiveness that overpowered his normal sense of detachment, Alex pushed through the people surrounding the dance floor.

‘Susan.’ His hand on her arm separated her from her dance partner as she pivoted to face him.

‘Alex, what are you —?‘

Acting on impulse, Alex stated clearly in Greek to those around him, ‘Every dance with her belongs to me.’

A few of the older men cheered, while the younger man who’d been Susan’s partner gave him a rueful smile and a slap on the back.

‘What did you say?’ Susan asked him in bewilderment.

‘That this next dance you will have with me.’ Not quite, but close enough. Now, all those around him knew that this woman was his, and that he wouldn’t allow anyone to take liberties with her.

Leah wasn’t sure what Alex had said, but the air was charged. The music started again — slower, more intense. Now he drew her close, and the dance floor around them was soon filled with other couples. She followed his lead, finding herself more breathless with this slower dance than she’d been with the quicker pace of the previous one.

The hardness of his muscled body against hers, the heat radiating from him, was an incredible turn on. She yearned for his hands to caress her body, longed for his mouth to explore her own. Leah wanted the intimate contact with him that he’d shared freely with the belly dancer — but she also wanted much more.

She wanted him.

‘It’s time for us to leave,’ he told her. His voice was rough with need.

She nodded her agreement.

Sexual energy pulsed between them as they left the tavern and set out to sail back to his island. The wind whipped around them out on the water, blowing strands of her hair into her eyes. The elemental forces only served to escalate her growing physical awareness of him.

The sea, the sun, the wind — these were all powerful forces of nature. But their power diminished in comparison to the natural force of attraction between male and female. It was an awareness as old as time, but very new to her. It reverberated in every atom of her being, and she could see that he felt the same way.

The closer they got to the island, the greater her anticipation. There was only one way this day could finish and everything within her yearned for that completion. They’d harnessed the energy of the wind. Now she wanted to harness the energy between them, immerse herself in that current, and give into the electrifying delight she was sure they would both share. There was so much he could teach her about pleasure and she wanted to learn it all.

Darkness began to fall as they dragged the catamaran up onto the beach. Once it was secure, she looked at Alex and felt a pang of longing at the juncture of her thighs. She watched him walk around the bow of the boat and then towards to her. It seemed forever before he was actually standing in front of her.

She ached to be in his arms. Needed to feel his lips against hers. But she was too inexperienced, too unsure to make the first move. Time stretched off into eternity.

Leah shifted on her feet. She needed to say something, anything, to relieve the strain between them.

‘I…It’s been a great day.’ Over the pounding of her heart, she heard the hesitancy in her breathless voice.

‘Are your muscles aching?’ he asked.

‘They’ll probably start to ache over the next day or two.’ Only one set of muscles was niggling at her right now, though. They kept surprising her by spasming every now and then deep inside her.

‘So you’ve achieved one of your pre-requisites for a perfect day of sailing,’ he said, moving closer. ‘Have you achieved the second?’

‘What do you mean?’

He cocked an eyebrow. ‘I’ll just have to remind you and find out for myself.’

Her breath caught in her chest as she anticipated the kiss. But instead of touching his lips against hers, she let out an audible little gasp of shocked pleasure as the tip of his tongue ran sensuously along her lips.

Her lips parted to welcome him into her mouth, wanting him to deepen the intimacy between them. Instead, his tongue flicked across her cheek, leaving a trail of goosebumps.

When he reached her ear lobe he nibbled, then murmured, ‘Mmm, definitely covered in salt from the sea spray, but I much prefer the sweet honey your mouth has to offer.’

The appreciation in his words made her tremble against him. She raised her hands to his head and turned her face toward his.

‘Then, taste it,’ she said, shocked by her own boldness.

No second invitation was required. She groaned as he fulfilled that wish, kissing her so deeply she tasted the retsina he’d been drinking. The flavour of the wine was much more delicious and intoxicating when it came from his mouth.

Her hands revelled in the texture of his hair, the broad expanse of his shoulders, and the hard masculinity of his frame against hers. She marvelled at the firmness of a kiss that was deep yet almost tentative, as if he couldn’t quite permit himself to give into the underlying electricity thrumming between them.

Perhaps she was starting to understand this man who’d once seemed so threatening to her. No longer did he seem as complex and unreasonable. Instead, she was nearly certain that his passion
was
for her, and her alone. He only hesitated because he thought she was Susie. The confusion and conflict within him was palpable.

Drawing back from him was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do. All the way back to the island, she’d steeled her resolve, telling herself that she’d confess the truth when they arrived. Yet now, as he looked at her in incomprehension, she was uncertain. Would he believe her if she told him her real identity, right here and now?

‘Susan?’ That single word conveyed so much. They hovered on the point of no return. He was asking for her permission to cross that line.

Drawing a deep breath, she straightened and made her decision. She would give him absolute proof of her identity and he would realise the intensity of her love for him.

There would be time for talking later. Right now, the only thing that mattered was to quench her body’s savage thirst. This moment was her destiny.

She looked at him, knowing he would see her need. She willed him to look harder, to acknowledge too that this moment was pre-destined. There was answering ardour in his eyes.

‘Make love to me, Alex.’ Her voice was shaky but sincere.

Alex felt his heart contract painfully; at the same time, his manhood swelled thicker in his loins. Susan had voiced the same words to him years ago, but then they’d been distasteful. Now, it was totally different. She was different. It was as though she’d undergone a complete metamorphosis. Suddenly, she was the woman of his dreams.

Despite himself, he’d found himself becoming more attracted to her throughout the day. The healthy, vital image of beauty she projected was difficult to reconcile with the image of being a drug-addicted pop star living life in the fast lane.