A Consequence Made in Greece Page 6

  ‘Someone to see you, out on the terrace.’

  ‘Who is it?’ She wasn’t expecting visitors.

  Her dad winked and his smile grew. ‘Someone you’ll want to see. We’ve been having a good chat. But I need to get on now.’ He tugged her hand. ‘Come. Don’t dawdle. We don’t keep guests waiting.’

  Whoever it was they’d impressed her father.

  But to her surprise, when they reached the end of the corridor, her dad kissed her on the cheek and headed for the hotel’s front entrance, motioning her towards the doors that led onto the terrace.

  He wasn’t even going to introduce her? Which meant it was a friend waiting. Eagerly she pushed open the door, wondering who’d come for a surprise visit.

  She rounded a corner and slammed to a halt, heart pounding.

  Surely not.

  Cora told herself she was imagining things, that the bright sunlight dazzled her vision. Because she couldn’t be seeing Strato Doukas sitting with his legs stretched out, sipping coffee and taking in the view of the bay.

  Strato Doukas would never return here, not after what she’d said to him. Besides, the chef from his yacht who’d come into harbour yesterday for supplies had mentioned his boss had flown out and wasn’t expected back soon.

  Did she gasp or did he sense her presence?

  Mirrored sunglasses turned in her direction and heat scorched her skin. Not just her cheeks and throat but across her breasts and stomach and deeper, right down in her feminine core.

  ‘Cora.’ Just that in a voice that sounded like a caress, its deep notes sliding through her and creating disturbing eddies of awareness.

  She took a slow breath. None of this made sense. Especially the fact her father thought she wanted to see this man.

  She turned her head but a swift scan showed the terrace was otherwise empty. In fact the whole hotel was empty, she realised, her dad on his way to the harbour and Doris spending the morning helping a friend who was recovering from illness. Their current guests, a couple of couples, had headed to the other side of the island.

  Cora’s pulse seemed to slow and the air in her lungs thicken.

  ‘What are you doing here?’

  One dark eyebrow rose but he looked more speculative than annoyed. ‘Drinking coffee. Your father makes a particularly fine one.’

  Protective instincts stirred. She wanted to tell him not to talk about her father. Or talk to him.

  Slowly she paced across the flagstones. ‘What did you say to my father?’

  Strato pulled out a chair. ‘Sit down and I’ll tell you.’

  He was maddeningly at ease and Cora was too aware of her emotions, anger, suspicion and...surely not eagerness?

  Because she’d thought she’d never see him again.

  And because, despite everything she knew about indulged, selfish rich men, she’d missed the sizzle in her blood when he was around. She’d even missed that intense awareness of her own femininity.

  Whatever his game she wasn’t interested. But she had to find out why he was here. What lies he’d told her father. She yanked the chair further out from the table and sat down, crossing her arms.

  ‘There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?’

  ‘I have work to do, Mr Doukas. I can’t spare long.’

  ‘Really?’ He took off his glasses and fixed her with a piercing stare that pushed her back in her seat. She’d told herself his eyes couldn’t be nearly as mesmerising as she remembered, but they were. ‘Surprising when you have so few guests and no prospect of many in the near future.’

  Digesting his words took longer than it should have.

  ‘How do you know about our bookings?’

  He lifted his shoulders. ‘I made it my business to find out.’

  Cora opened her mouth then shut it again, too stunned to think of a riposte. He shouldn’t even be here. Why bother to investigate their small family-run hotel? It didn’t make sense. It wasn’t the sort of place a billionaire took an interest in.

  As she met that unblinking stare unease feathered her backbone. She didn’t like the feeling that things careered out of her control.

  Her hackles rose as she sensed a threat. ‘What have you done?’

  She leaned forward, unable to suppress foreboding, even when he spread his hands, palm up, and shrugged.

  ‘Nothing.’

  Cora didn’t believe him. His expression might be innocently amiable but there was nothing innocent about this man.

  ‘Then why are you here? Other than to drink coffee?’

  ‘To see you, of course.’

  Cora reminded herself she wasn’t interested. Yet there was no denying her quiver of excitement. Part of her had regretted his departure. The part that had actually considered heading out to his status-symbol yacht and taking him up on his offer.

  To have the most memorable interlude of her life. And more rapture than she’d ever known.

  What woman wouldn’t be tempted?

  Especially as she was pretty sure Strato Doukas could deliver exactly that. If only a little of the gossip about him were true he was well versed in the art of lovemaking.

  Such thoughts circled through her mind each night as she lay restless and frustrated in her lonely bed, even though her saner self knew she’d regret giving in to such an impulse.

  He’d haunted her. The rumble of his deep voice. The light in his eyes when he’d shared a joke with her. The times when it had felt as if they were on the same wavelength, totally attuned.

  The feel of his magnificent body hard and shockingly aroused against her. The bliss of his kiss.

  She swallowed hard, remembering it all. And to be told she kissed like a goddess! Even though she knew it was a line he must have used with others, Cora’s defences had trembled.

  She smoothed damp palms across the cotton covering her thighs.

  At least, for a change, she looked presentable in a bright summer dress.

  Except she wasn’t trying to attract him! She stiffened and sat straighter. ‘What are you up to?’

  ‘Are you always so suspicious?’ His expression remained unreadable but his eyes danced.

  ‘Are you always so devious?’

  His mouth crooked up, revealing that beckoning groove in his cheek, and Cora’s heart beat faster. Because his amusement felt approving, like shared merriment. Not a laugh at her expense.

  ‘That’s harsh, Cora. I might strategise but I’m honest.’ He paused, his eyes on hers. ‘Can you say the same? Or are you still trying to deny the sexual charge between us?’

  Cora’s chin jerked up. ‘There are more important things than sexual attraction.’ Belatedly she realised what she’d admitted and silently cursed her choice of words.

  ‘Now we’re making progress. What’s important to you, Cora?’

  ‘Family. Loyalty. Honesty.’

  Probably all things he wasn’t interested in.

  He nodded. ‘I can promise you loyalty and honesty, for the time we’re together. As for family, I don’t have any and I don’t intend to settle down with a wife and children. Ever. It’s important to remember that.’ Something flashed in his eyes but before she could identify it he continued. ‘However, I appreciate your desire to support your father.’

  What did her father have to do with this?

  ‘You speak as if we’re going to be together.’ Cora’s voice rose.

  Did he really think she’d change her mind? What was wrong with the man? It must be a case of wanting something because he’d been told he couldn’t have it. It meshed with what she knew of his type.

  Cora’s lip curled. ‘I thought I’d made it clear that won’t happen. I don’t even like you.’

  It wasn’t true. She liked him too much. But she knew men like him, spoiled, vain men who thought they could take whatever they wanted but did
n’t appreciate what they took so greedily. Cora valued herself too highly to be taken in by such a man again.

  Strato shrugged, not looking in the least perturbed. ‘I can live with that. I’d rather have your passion.’

  Her mouth dried as wonder filled her. That she was having this conversation with Strato Doukas of all people!

  She stiffened in her seat. ‘It’s not on offer. I’m not on offer, Mr Doukas.’

  This time his smile held a secretive quality that stirred another premonition of danger.

  ‘Ah, but you haven’t heard my proposal, Cora.’ He said her name in a deliberately slow, caressing tone that, despite her wariness, did disturbing things. She was sure something vital melted inside.

  Her heart pattered faster. ‘Go on, then. Tell me. Then you can go.’

  But he seemed in no hurry, savouring the last of his coffee before setting down the tiny cup.

  ‘Are you always this forthright?’ he asked finally.

  ‘Always.’

  ‘Excellent.’ He sat forward, making her even more aware of the shimmering magnetism of that big, powerful body. ‘I like a woman who isn’t afraid to ask for exactly what she wants. It can be very arousing in the right circumstances.’

  In bed, he meant.

  Cora swallowed as she read the carnal heat in his eyes and felt that same heat lick through her. But instead of rising to the bait she shook her head. ‘You have one minute to tell me why you’re here. Otherwise I’m leaving.’

  ‘I thought that would be obvious. I want you, Cora. You know that. But since you refused to come to me I thought it time to provide a little...persuasion.’

  The skin between her shoulder blades prickled. ‘What sort of persuasion?’

  Strato and her father had been talking. Her dad wouldn’t have mentioned his precarious financial situation. Yet her hackles rose.

  ‘What have you done to my father?’ If he’d inveigled him in some way...

  Strato lifted his hands palms out as if in surrender. ‘No need to be so fierce. I’ve done nothing.’

  Yet. The unspoken word hovered between them.

  ‘Go on.’ Her voice was thick with foreboding.

  ‘I know you want me, Cora.’ His words stole her voice. It was true, but the thought of him knowing it... ‘Yet for some reason you deny yourself.’ He paused. ‘So I have a bargain for you. Something you want for something I want.’

  Cora waited, her shoulders hitched high.

  ‘Spend the next month with me on my yacht and I’ll see to it that your father’s hotel is filled to capacity till the end of the season. I plan to cruise the Ionian Sea then back to the Aegean and I can’t think of a companion I’d rather have with me.’

  She felt her mouth drop open in shock. She’d expected some sort of outlandish invitation but nothing like this.

  ‘You’re trying to bribe me into your bed.’

  He shook his head emphatically. ‘I’m creating an opportunity for us to get better acquainted. The rest is in your hands. You’d have your own stateroom and my word that I won’t enter it except at your invitation. It will be your choice when we finally have sex.’

  When, not if.

  His arrogance outraged her.

  A pity it also thrilled her.

  Not because she liked arrogant men, far from it. But because the idea that sex between them was inevitable appealed on some primitive level she didn’t even know she possessed.

  He continued. ‘The decision to have intimacy will be yours. I’m not interested in a woman who feels she has no choice.’ His mouth curled in distaste. ‘I’d never force a woman.’

  His words rang with a steely quality that cut through her whirling thoughts. She did believe him. His body language as well as his tone proclaimed his sincerity.

  Once more she was astounded by this flash of certainty about him. It had happened when they first met and it was happening again.

  ‘You really believe no woman can resist your charm?’

  ‘You find me charming?’ He smiled and this time Cora knew he was laughing at her. ‘That’s a start.’

  Cora shot to her feet and strode to the edge of the terrace, trying to calm herself, but the idyllic view failed to soothe her. Her mind was too full of his outrageous narcissism.

  When she swung round he was where she’d left him but he sat straighter, not as relaxed as his earlier pose suggested.

  ‘And if after four weeks I still won’t share your bed?’

  He shrugged. ‘I’m flexible, it needn’t be in bed—’

  ‘You know what I mean!’

  The man was impossible.

  Or maybe that was her unruly imagination, picturing them stretched naked together out on the white sand beach where they’d met. Or right here in the dappled shade. She pictured sitting astride him, sharing another of those mind-blowing kisses, riding him till they both found ecstasy.

  ‘I said it would be your choice and I mean it, Cora.’

  Yet he expected to seduce her. It was there in his eyes. Unfortunately for his schemes that look reminded her of another man who’d viewed her as his for the taking.

  ‘You’re assuming I’d be persuaded. What happens if you’re wrong. If I went aboard...?’ Because who wouldn’t be tempted by this man and the prospect of a month of luxury exploring the seas around Greece? ‘And then you discovered sex really is off limits?’

  Strato spread his hands wide. ‘That’s a risk I’m willing to take. I actually do want your company, not just your body.’ Heat flared at his words but she concentrated on reading his serious expression. ‘Look at it this way. In a contest of wills, if you decide not to sleep with me, you win and I learn a lesson in humility. Now that would appeal to you.’ He grinned. ‘And if I win, then believe me, Cora, we’d both be winners.’

  Scary how tempting it sounded. Outrageous but tempting. A reckless part of her revelled in the idea of besting him in such a battle of wills. She’d like to puncture that ego, just a little.

  ‘It’s ridiculous. Even someone as rich as you wouldn’t waste your money helping a small-time hotel owner out of debt.’

  Strato’s head cocked to one side in that assessing way she’d come to know. For a long time he said nothing, leaving her too aware of the hurried in-and-out rush of her breathing, her hands fisted at her sides, and the curling heat low in her pelvis that she assured herself he couldn’t know about.

  ‘Why not? As you say, I’ve got plenty of money to spend as I wish.’ Another lift of his shoulders and outspread hands.

  ‘You actually mean it?’

  ‘Say the word, Coritsa, and the bookings will start.’

  The diminutive pet version of her name sounded like a caress in his dark velvet and whisky voice. Nothing at all like when her father or Doris called her that. It took her a moment to gather her wits.

  ‘Even you can’t conjure guests out of thin air.’

  His complacent smile should have annoyed her but this time Cora found it almost reassuring. ‘I head a very large company. I’ve decided to offer vacations as performance bonuses, and for employees recuperating from serious illness.’

  ‘That’s very generous.’ In other words, she found it hard to believe.

  ‘I expect loyalty and dedication from my staff but in return I offer excellent conditions. It’s how we attract and retain the best.’ He paused. ‘As for the bonus holidays, the suggestion came from a recent staff survey and my advisers believe in it.’

  No humour in his voice now. Cora heard pride and the voice of a man who knew what he was talking about. Strato Doukas didn’t sound like a lazy playboy now, but a corporate manager. Like a man who’d taken his family transport company and turned it into a multinational corporation.

  Cora hadn’t been able to resist looking him up online. She’d tried to ignore the breathless gossip
about his debauched lifestyle, curious instead about the man himself. Surprisingly for someone at the centre of so much publicity, there wasn’t much of substance. He’d grown up in Athens but there was little information on his early life. By his late teens he’d been learning the family business, eventually inheriting it and expanding it enormously. These days, though, others ran the company while Strato Doukas swanned from one pleasure spot to another, living off the profits.

  Except what he’d said indicated he still took an active interest in the business. Even more curious.

  ‘You’d really do all that to get me on your boat?’ She didn’t know whether to feel complimented or insulted.

  ‘I don’t waste time doing anything against my will, Cora. Life is too short.’

  Once more she had a fleeting glimpse of something more than uber-confidence in his expression. For a second Cora saw something stark in his gaze. Then he smiled and she was too dazzled to think straight.

  ‘An offer too good to refuse, eh?’

  Cora jammed her hands onto her hips. ‘What lie did you tell my father? He seemed...happy after meeting you.’ Which he wouldn’t be if he understood Strato’s intentions.

  ‘I told him how much I wanted you to accompany me. I explained I planned an extended cruise and that I’d value your marine biology expertise, particularly when we visit marine reserves.’

  Cora forced down a fillip of pleasure at the thought of returning to the work she loved. ‘So you lied.’

  Strato shook his head. ‘I told him the truth. I’ll look forward to seeing the places we visit through your eyes. I suspect you’d give me a new perspective. As for our sexual magnetism, that’s a private matter between us.’

  ‘He thinks you’re hiring me for my expertise?’

  ‘I could pay you a cash salary, but I thought you’d prefer to see the hotel full.’

  He was right. Cora shook her head, trying and failing to take it all in.

  ‘It’s a crazy idea. No one would go to so much effort to get...’ Her words died under the weight of that steady stare.

  She told herself it had to be a joke. But he looked serious. Goosebumps rippled over her arms and she rubbed her tight flesh. He wanted to buy her.