Latin Lovers: Greek Tycoons: Aristides' Convenient Wife / Bought: One Island, One Bride / The Lazaridis Marriage

‘Old, moi?’ she exclaimed, her violet eyes sparkling with humour. ‘You have some nerve at your age.’ She saw his dark eyes flash a warning, and, turning, she sprinted for the house with both Nicholas and Leon chasing her.

Bath time was a joint venture and when Nicholas was finally in bed Leon left to return some business calls and Helen stayed to read him a story.

When she walked into the dining room two hours later, Helen immediately sensed the easygoing atmosphere of the afternoon had gone. If it had ever existed except in her mind. Leon wearing a black shirt with a button down collar and black trousers, was standing by the drinks cabinet, a glass in his hand, a brooding expression on his hard face. Casually dressed, he looked incredibly attractive and nothing like a banker, more of a bandit, Helen thought fancifully.

She frowned. His shirt was probably tailor-made by Turnbull and Asser and his trousers similarly designerlabelled. He could afford the best that money could buy, so why wouldn’t he look amazing? she told herself, determined to deny her growing attraction for the man.

Leon saw her frown, his own expression one of cool indifference, but inside he was anything but indifferent. For a man who prided himself on his rigid self-discipline it was disturbing to realise he had absolutely no control over the instant reaction of his body. Not since he was a teenager had he felt anything so urgent, if then, and it bothered him.

She was wearing a soft blue wraparound dress that emphasised her tiny waist and moulded her hips and thighs like a second skin. Her legs were covered in silk stockings and on her feet she was wearing high-heeled navy shoes. Her long fair hair was piled up on top of her head in a loose knot, a few stray tendrils framing her small face. She looked exquisite and elegant and she had surprised him again.

The wedding dress yesterday and now this, his image of her, first as a young Lolita, devious and money-hungry, and then as an earth-mother type in jeans and sweater, was constantly changing and it worried him.

He was a man renowned for his brilliant analytical brain, a man without emotion who made decisions in the realms of big business on a daily basis with an absolute conviction that was always successful. So why could he not read his own wife so easily?

‘Would you like a drink?’ he demanded curtly.

‘No, thanks. I’ll have a glass of wine with dinner.’ She glanced at him and sat down at the table, ignoring him.

Taking the seat opposite her, he filled their wineglasses and as Anna served the first course he watched Helen through thoughtful if frustrated eyes. She was an enigma to him. Like no other woman he had ever met. Beautiful and surprisingly innocent, caring and compassionate as was evident from watching her interaction with the boy. Then add secretive and avid little sensualist and the mixture was dynamite and dangerous to his peace of mind.

He ate the seafood starter deep in thought. He had never given the women in his life more than a passing thought outside the bedroom. But Helen troubled him, and he did not like the feeling.

As Anna removed the plates and set down the main course he thanked her and, glancing at his silent wife, he had the distinct impression she was here on sufferance, and he did not like that either. Nor was he entirely comfortable with the semi-aroused state that afflicted him every time he set eyes on her.

‘Tomorrow, Helen, I am in meetings all day until the evening,’ he said decisively. She was his wife and he was worrying about nothing, he decided. All he had to do was carry on as before, working all day, only now he could look forward to sating himself in her luscious little body all night.

‘I have arranged for Mary Stefano to take you and Nicholas to see the nursery school I have enrolled him in. Mary’s youngest children already attend and they love it.’

After eating in silence Helen was surprised when Leon spoke. She looked across the wide expanse of the formal dining table to where he sat. He was forking steak into his mouth with obvious enjoyment, completely unperturbed by her presence. Unfortunately she did not have the same luxury. The tension she always felt around him had returned in spades as soon as Nicholas was tucked up in bed asleep.

‘And have I no say in the matter?’ she demanded.

‘In this case, no, it is done.’

‘And if I don’t like it?’ she asked coolly, but inside she was burning with anger. He was so damned autocratic. ‘I am his guardian just as much as you. You should have at least consulted me first.’

He looked over at her, a frown crossing his broad brow. ‘Take my word for it, the nursery school is the best in Athens, and as the boy already knows Mary’s children he will have no trouble settling in quickly.’

‘Why should I?’ What he said made perfect sense, but Helen was spoiling for an argument. From the minute Leon had walked into her life he had taken her over, as he did his blasted banks, with a forceful, single-minded determination it was almost impossible to fight. Resentment bubbled up inside her, as much at her own weakness as his strength, and changing tack she said bitterly, ‘You railroaded me into having dinner with you rather than with Nicholas the night I arrived.’ She shoved her plate away.

‘Well, I don’t want to do it your way. I don’t like to eat late. I prefer to have a light lunch and an early supper, not huge meals twice a day, and I can’t eat another thing.’ She knew she was being petty but she couldn’t seem to stop herself, and, reaching for her glass of wine, she took a long swallow.

‘How we got from choosing schools to what time dinner is served I won’t even try to discern. The female mind is a mystery to me.’ His dark eyes roamed slowly over her, lingering on the shadowed cleavage displayed by the neckline of her dress, before he raised his gaze to capture hers. Something flashed in his eyes that looked like amusement.

‘But in case you had not noticed I am a large man, Helen. A cheese sandwich and scrambled eggs on toast and a bit of bacon does not come anywhere near to satisfying me for a day.’ His dark eyes gleamed with rueful amusement. ‘Though I can see how it would satisfy Nicholas and someone of your stature.’

She resented the dig about her size—though she hadn’t minded the ma petite when he made love to her, the treacherous thought popped into her head. Then Helen recalled serving him just the food he had mentioned the day he had turned up at her house and she was mortified and angry at the reminder, a telling tide of pink washing over her pale cheeks.

‘You should have said at the time if you were still hungry. You are certainly not shy of saying exactly what you want in every other respect,’ she declared bluntly.

‘True.’ He chuckled. ‘But as soon as I reached the hotel I ordered room service, so don’t beat yourself up about it.’

She saw the humour in his dark eyes and was infuriated. ‘As if I ever would over you,’ she snorted. She might have guessed Leon was not the type of man to do without anything he wanted.

‘Stranger things have happened,’ Leon remarked. Her violet eyes were bright as sapphires against her flushed skin, the blue dress folded low between her pert breasts revealing the blush covered more than her face and was not solely with anger, and his body responded accordingly.

‘You never know—one day when you get to know me a little better you might feel differently. But in the meantime finish your meal. I don’t want you weak with hunger for what I have in mind.’

His taunting, none-too-subtle innuendo was the last straw for Helen. ‘I have finished,’ she shot back, flashing him a furious glance. The dark eyes that met hers gleamed with a sensuality she could not help but recognise. Her heart raced and her mouth went dry and she hated her own weakness. Leaping to her feet, she pushed back her chair. ‘I am going to check on Nicholas—after all, that is the only reason I’m here.’

‘As you say.’ He cast a knowing look up at her, before glancing down at the watch on his wrist and then back to her flushed face. ‘I have a few calls to make to the Far East. I will be up in an hour or two.’ And with a dismissive nod of his dark head he returned to his steak.

Helen hoped it choked him, and slammed the door behind her as she left.

She looked around the huge reception hall and sighed. She had probably overreacted slamming the door, but she didn’t care. She stopped by the kitchen and told Anna she had had enough to eat and was going to bed with a mug of cocoa, much to Anna’s disgust.

She made her way upstairs, and, ignoring the master suite, she glanced in on Nicholas, and then continued along the hall to the room at the end. Closing the door behind her, she quickly undressed and then had a quick wash in the small ensuite and, slipping on a plain white nightshirt she crawled into the queen-sized bed.

Settling back against the pillows, she cast a satisfied glance around the room and took a sip of her cocoa. It was much smaller than the master suite, but it had a small bathroom and was subtly decorated in cream and buttercup yellow. Along one wall was a chest of drawers, dressing table and a wardrobe. A sofa and chair and small table had been arranged by the window, but she had pushed them to one side and set up her portable easel and placed her sketch books, pencils, pastels and paints on the foot-deep window sill. It wasn’t perfect, but the light was good and it would do, she thought complacently.

She eased back against the headboard and took another sip of hot chocolate feeling calmer than she had done since the moment she had set foot in Greece two days ago. She had to accept this was her life now if she wanted to stay with Nicholas, and she did. She loved him to distraction; he was the only child she would ever have and it would kill her to be parted from him.

As for her hard-headed husband, surely he would see the sense in keeping their relationship one of friendship rather than sex. From her very limited experience sex simply caused unwanted tensions in a relationship, which could not be good for Nicholas.

After all, he was the only reason for their marriage. She was under no illusion that Leon cared for her. She was probably a novelty to him, an inexperienced little innocent that happened to live in his house. He was a man of the world who could take his pick of beautiful women. It would be no hardship for him to find someone else to sate his overactive libido with. For all Helen knew he probably had a mistress or two waiting for him somewhere.

Why her heart sank at the thought she didn’t want to examine too closely, and sipped some more cocoa.

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE SUDDEN CLICK of a door opening made Helen’s heart skip a beat and she looked warily across the room. Fury rippled through her as she saw Leon’s tall frame outlined in the opening and unconsciously she pulled the cover up higher.

‘What do you want?’ she demanded and silently cursed her choice of words as one dark brow arched eloquently in her direction. But defiantly she held his gaze as he walked towards her.

‘Now that is a leading question if ever I heard one,’ he drawled, and stopped by the side of the bed. ‘And one I am sure you can answer if you care to try,’ he prompted silkily.

Leon’s hard black eyes swept over his errant wife. He noted her scarlet face framed by the silken mass of her ashblonde hair tumbling over her shoulders, the prim cotton nightshirt skimming over her firm breasts, and he wanted to strangle her.

How dared the little witch try to defy him again? Last night he had taken her innocence with perhaps not as much finesse as he would have liked. But after the initial shock she had been with him all the way and later he could have sworn he had calmed any virginal fears that still lingered. He had the marks to prove it, so what the hell was her game? A cold, disdainful smile twisted his wide mouth. He had had more than enough with his first wife trying to tie him in knots with sex. He had soon disillusioned her and he was damned if he was going to let this one try the same tricks.

With each passing second Helen was conscious of the building tension. She could feel his barely leashed anger almost physically, but she refused to respond to his suggestive jibe. Instead she simply stared up at him. Her heart was pounding in her chest, her conviction of moments ago that Leon would see reason taking a nosedive. And what had happened to the calls he was supposed to be making? He’d said hours and it was barely thirty minutes.

‘Nothing to say, Helen?’ His black eyes, cold and hard as stone, stared down into hers.

‘You said you were going to work,’ she snapped back and tried to ignore the trickle of fear snaking its way down her spine.

‘So I did, but Anna, while berating me on allowing my very new bride to go to bed on her own, also let slip that you had chosen a bedroom for a study.’ His hard mouth twisted in a derisive smile. ‘She is a trusting soul and I doubt it ever crossed her mind you would sleep in the room. But, surprise, surprise, I am nowhere near as trusting and decided to check.’