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Further thoughts were brushed aside as the assistants all but whisked her away. Dress after dress was held up to her, and the rapid exchange of Greek almost made her head spin, but when they finally agreed on a dress she couldn’t help but smile with pleasure.
She tried it on and looked at her reflection. The pale green silk skimmed over her curves and the small swell of her stomach would never be noticed—not even by the most observant. Her eyes looked vibrant and alive, and her hair contrasted beautifully with the dress, lying on bare shoulders. It was perfect. Maybe she could be as glamorous as the women she’d seen Nikos spread all over the internet with that morning.
Apprehension rushed in, knocking the confidence from her. Would Nikos notice her—desire her as he’d once done—like this? The thought ambled around her mind only to be forced out. The ruthless businessman that Nikos truly was wouldn’t notice her, but she hoped the man she’d met—the loving fisherman—would.
Reluctantly she removed the dress and put her sundress on again. The glamorous and bright-looking woman she’d seen reflected in the mirror disappeared. In her place stood a normal and very plain woman—one who would never have turned the head of a Greek billionaire. He’d been amusing himself at her expense, letting her fall in love with him whilst she was researching her article, safe in the knowledge that she would go home and never return.
But she had returned.
She’d returned carrying his child and he’d been forced to admit who he really was. He’d dragged her into his world of luxury and wealth and tonight she would play him at his own game. She would be someone she wasn’t. She would make him want her. And then, like in a fairy tale, she would revert to her usual self by dawn.
CHAPTER SIX
NIKOS WAS STUNNED into silence as Serena came out of the guest room, ready for the party. He knew he was staring at her like an unpractised youth. But what man wouldn’t? He’d never seen her dressed like this, and wondered how she’d ever thought she couldn’t compete with other women. She’d outshine them completely—and not just in his eyes.
She was utterly gorgeous and he wished he hadn’t accepted the party invitation. Right now all he wanted was to be alone with her, to taste the desire they’d shared and experience the passion once more.
The uncertainty in the green depths of her eyes tugged at his heart. A heart he had thought to be frozen since the moment his mother had walked out of his life, showing him the cruel side of love. But his heart would have to remain icy-cold, devoid of emotion. It would be better that way—for both of them.
His attention was caught by her heels daintily tapping out a beat as she walked towards him—a beat that matched the throb of desire within him, which was increasing with each second.
‘I had no idea what was needed for this evening, but the shop assistants assured me, as best they could in Greek, that this was it. I trust it meets with your approval?’
He let his gaze blatantly slide down her, marvelling at her resolute composure. ‘It is more than everything I anticipated,’ he said forcefully. The words You look so beautiful were suppressed, along with the weak-willed wish that things were different.
‘I don’t want to stand out too much,’ she said, and she lowered her gaze to fiddle with her clutch bag.
A surge of unfamiliar protectiveness flared within him. ‘You will stand out—but it will be for the right reasons.’
‘It will be bad enough not understanding what’s being said all night, without wearing the wrong thing.’
‘Bad enough?’
Most women he knew would be desperate for the chance to be bought a pretty dress and taken out for the evening—but Serena wasn’t most women. He was fast realising she was different. Too different.
‘The headlines,’ she said quickly, then looked at him, a hint of disappointment in her eyes. ‘Have you forgotten that all of Greece now believes we are engaged?’
‘No, I have not—and I will be with you at your side all night.’
His swift reply banished any further discussion.
He did have business connections to make, and originally his intention had been simply to halt any rumours that might be growing about her arrival. But as he looked down at Serena he knew having her at his side would make a nice change from the frivolous models he usually chose as company for such occasions. Not one of the women he’d dated had ever affected him the way Serena had—and still did.
