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His expression did not change. ‘Your sister,’ he said softly—so softly that it raised the hairs on the back of her neck— ‘possessed at least one virtue. She
did not try and disguise the truth about herself. But you, Ann—you are a hypocrite. Worse even than your sister. Your sister sold her body—you, you sold your own flesh and blood. You sold her child.’ His gaze seared her. ‘So do not stand there and attempt to look virtuous or insulted—’ each word dripped from him with acid contempt ‘—because I’m offering you what your sister was happy enough to take from any man she could persuade to make a similar offer!’
Like a floodgate breaking, emotion surged in Ann. Powerful and overpowering.
‘Don’t speak of Carla like that! And take your diamonds and choke on them!’
She whirled around, blind with fury.
How she got out of there she didn’t know, but the moment she was in the corridor all she could do was stand there, shaking. Then, looking wildly around her, she plunged through the villa until she found her own bedroom, and there, safe in its sanctuary, she threw herself down on her bed.
Hot, hard tears convulsed in her throat. Fevered and furious. Choking her as they racked her. Face down on her pillow she cried tears for Carla, dead in her grave, whom even death could not save from the vile insults of Nikos Theakis—a man who could take a woman to ecstasy, a paradise of the senses, and yet think her nothing more than a whore…
It was like acid poured on a wound, burning and biting into raw flesh.
She fisted her hands, pushing herself up on her elbows, neck straining, staring at the headboard, tears staining her cheeks.
Why—why should she be reacting like this? She’d known Nikos despised her for what she had done—and she had already castigated herself for succumbing to a man who could still take a woman to bed that he thought so contemptuously of.
And yet this was different. Offering her a diamond necklace, in exchange for her body. Expecting her to accept it.
And why? Because it brought home to her the brutal reality of it—that was all she was to Nikos Theakis. Nothing more.
Rage, convulsing and blinding, shook through her. But beneath the rage was another emotion. The one she had felt reach the very quick of her. The one that brought not fury but something quite different. That made her want to curl up into a ball and clasp her arms around her, as if to stanch a wound.
A wound that had gone much, much deeper than should ever be possible.
Nikos sat at his desk. He hadn’t moved a muscle since she’d gone storming out of his office.
Without the diamond necklace.
He shifted his eyes so they rested on the jewel case.
Why hadn’t she taken it?
It didn’t make sense.. Everything he knew about her—everything she had proved to him—had told him that she would snatch the necklace from his hand as eagerly as she’d taken his cheques.
Even more eagerly.
The expression in his eyes changed minutely. After all, it was not as if she had found being in his bed repulsive…
But it was a mistake to admit any thoughts about Ann Turner in his bed. Immediately, hungrily, appetite leapt within him. It had been twenty-four long, deprived hours since he had taken her to the beach chalet, and his body was protesting the absence of a repeat encounter. It had protested quite enough last night, when he had been left unsatisfied, thwarted. But then at least he had had the prospect of remedying the situation by dint of the means he’d just put into play.
Cutting to the chase had been exactly what he’d intended. No more prevaricating, manipulating games from Ann Turner. Just cutting to the chase and giving her exactly what she was so obviously angling for—what was so obviously the reason behind all her ploys of denial and evasion. Because what other reason could there be for her evasion of him? Her denial of her response to him? He only had to touch her for her to light up like a flame—and, Theos mou, it was the same for him! One touch from her and he wanted her instantly—totally.
The way he did right now.
He shifted restlessly, his thoughts biting with a poisonous mix of frustration and incomprehension.
Why had she refused the necklace? What did she think she was going to achieve by refusing it?
His mouth thinned. Well, there was one thing she was going to achieve, that was for sure.
He seized up the house phone. As Yannis answered, Nikos barked down it, ‘Phone Kyria Constantis and inform her that she is invited to dine here tonight.’ Then he put the receiver down. He glowered darkly into the space in front of the desk, where Ann Turner had refused to take the necklace.
So she didn’t want the necklace, and she didn’t want him. His mouth tightened even more. There were plenty of women who did want him. And tonight Ann Turner would get an eyeful of one of them.
CHAPTER NINE
