Bought: One Island, One Bride

He watched her stalk away with a heady mix of lust and relief. That was Ellie Mendoras over and done with. His attention was needed elsewhere. Business called and, in his world, business always came first.

What had she done? Ellie touched her lips again, tentatively, and then went to look at them in the mirror. She traced them cautiously with her fingertip. They were still swollen and very pink, and the delicate skin around them was still a little sore where Alexander’s beard had abraded her.

And even now, so long after The Kiss, she was still trembling, her heart was still racing and she was still aroused. What frightened her even more than her inexplicable lapse of good sense was the way Alexander had quite suddenly switched off. One minute he had been kissing her in the most bone-melting way, and the next standing aloof, staring at her coldly as if nothing at all had happened. OK, so her behaviour could be comfortably classified as insane, but his emotional detachment was chilling. What had happened to him? Could money do that to you?

Ellie turned from the mirror knowing she had too much work ahead of her to dwell on how stupid she’d been. She had put herself at risk when she of all people knew better, and had allowed Alexander to think she was easy. It was time to get her life back on track.

He saw her first. He guessed she was stocking up on provisions for that day’s trip. He had to question the thump in his guts when he first caught sight of her. He tipped his sunglasses down his nose, then settled them straight again before getting on with the job of policing the moorings. He was checking up on the new safety provisions he’d put in place for the crowded harbour…

Was he? Was he really? Didn’t he have scores of people who could do that for him?

He brushed all thoughts of what had happened between them aside as he strolled up to her. He blocked out the way she’d felt, the way she’d tasted, the way she’d made him feel. He replaced all those thoughts with anger, mostly directed at himself. ‘I thought you would have gone by now.’

‘I’m sorry to disappoint you, Alexander.’

He glanced pointedly in the direction of her boat.

‘My time isn’t up.’

She held his gaze to repeat her assertion that he didn’t frighten her. Interesting that she was trembling.

‘I’d love to stay and talk, Alexander,’ she lied, ‘but as you can see I’ve got a trip to prepare for. My last trip from this harbour.’

Having got this last dig in, she moved away.

‘Fully booked, I hope?’

‘Yes…’

She didn’t look round, but the tension was still there in her shoulders, even though he knew her chin would be tipped at a defiant angle. He guessed she’d walk up and down with a sandwich board on her back if that was what it took to drum up business from her new mooring. ‘If your tours are so popular you shouldn’t have any problem persuading your clientele to follow you across the island—’

‘Let’s hope you’re right,’ she called back to him.

If looks could kill he was a dead man. She was playing him at his own game, acting as if they’d never met, never touched, never kissed, and all that with a world of passion driving them. ‘I thought you had more confidence than that—’

‘I’ve got all the confidence I need, Alexander,’ she assured him, tossing her hair in defiance as she walked away.

He wasn’t finished yet; no one walked away from him. ‘I’m having a dinner party on board the Olympus tonight—’

‘Enjoy…’

‘Why don’t you come along?’ Better to keep her where he knew what she was doing than allow her to spread her dissent through those he had already converted to his way.

She hesitated; then turned around. Her brow was puckered as if in thought. ‘Well, that’s a real shame, Alexander. I won’t be able to make it tonight. You see, my tour won’t return in time…’

His lips tightened. The last thing he had expected was to be turned down flat. ‘This event will last well into the night,’ he said, walking up to her. ‘Please yourself, Ellie.’ Their faces were dangerously close. He shrugged and drew back as she stared up at him. If she wanted a fight she’d picked the right person.

He watched her walk away down the quay—proud, defiant, passionate, and asking to be laid. He could wait. Life was a game of chess. The only problem for Ellie was his life was the only game he cared about.

CHAPTER FOUR

AND anyway, I’ve got nothing to wear, Ellie told herself as she moved about the boat, making the last of her preparations for her tour.

I’m sure you have, her inner voice argued. What’s wrong with what you’re wearing now?

Market-stall clothes? A cheap cotton top and shorts? Every girl knew that was the dream outfit for dinner on board a billionaire’s yacht. Not that she had the slightest intention of attending Alexander’s party, of course. She hadn’t lost her hold on reason altogether.

Turning Alexander’s invitation down flat and seeing surprise flash across those hard green eyes had been worth every moment of her one-off loss of control when he’d kissed her. And a one-off it had to be. Not that she hadn’t replayed The Kiss over and over in her mind, but in those daydreams it had been safe to kiss him, because Alexander had been magically transformed into a pleasant, reasonable man and she, of course, had become Miss Sensible, who knew just where to draw the line.

And now it was time to draw the line under her daydreams altogether, Ellie told herself firmly. With the keenest of her group expected on board any minute she still had some final checks to complete.

Everything looked good. The radio was playing up and there was no time to fix it, but as she wouldn’t be going out of signal range her mobile phone would do. She kept it primed with all the emergency numbers she could possibly need. She had cleaned every inch of the boat, and the ingredients for lunch—pasta with a fresh tomato sauce and cheese along with home-baked bread and crisp green salad—were stowed away in the refrigerator in the galley. Planting her hands on her hips, Ellie surveyed her kingdom. It looked as if she was ready.

The success of her tours had exceeded Ellie’s wildest expectations. It was a wrench to think this would be her last trip from the main harbour, but at least she was going out with a bang—no thanks to Alexander. Ten people had booked, which was the maximum number she could take on board.

Glancing at the notice to quit she had received from his agent soon wiped the smile off her face. Forty-eight hours to arrange everything and say goodbye to the harbour where her father’s boat had been berthed for generations was nothing short of an insult.

Alexander hadn’t wasted a second when he bought the island, Ellie reflected angrily, gripping the rough hessian ropes at the sides of the companionway as she headed back on deck. Fortunately it would take him a little longer than that to turn Lefkis into the billionaire’s playground he envisaged, by which time the locals would have surely have rallied and found the courage they needed to keep him on a leash.