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He shrugged, his face closed, belying the fact that he had loved Dimitri like a father. Something he would have credited Kallie with knowing…once.
‘It was sudden.’ His black gaze fixed on Kallie. ‘It’s part of the reason I’ve asked you here.’
Along with the burning desire that holds you in a grip so tight you have to shift in your seat every two seconds.
A pulse beat at his temple.
Kallie’s face felt rigid. She couldn’t help the sarcastic response. ‘Well, I was wondering…You were hardly calling to reminisce about old times.’
Shut up, Kallie!
He didn’t seem to notice her self-flagellating turmoil. The waiter appeared, removing their plates. Kallie refused dessert, ordering a coffee, Alexandros asked for a liqueur. He waited until his drink arrived before fixing her with that intense gaze again. He wasn’t going to make this easy. Kallie’s full armour was erected against him.
‘I have to admit that bumping into you was a shock…but also perfect timing, a certain kind of serendipity, if you will.’
She looked at him warily. ‘Timing, for what exactly?’
He looked at her across the table. He clenched his jaw and refused to let his gaze drop to that shadowy line of her cleavage, the gem on the end of that same pendant swaying back and forth, kissing her skin. Skin that looked soft and…He clenched his jaw even harder and focused with effort.
Think of what you need. Focus on business. This is business. And revenge…Nothing else.
Alexandros valiantly concentrated on that and not on Kallie’s all too grown-up charms. There’d be time for that later, he vowed.
‘I need a convenient wife, and you, Kallie, I’ve decided, are going to oblige me.’
Kallie looked at him dumbly, shock washing through her body.
CHAPTER FOUR
‘I’M SORRY?’
‘You should be, Kallie. It’s time to start atoning for what you did seven years ago. I bet you never thought it would catch up with you. I have to admit, I hadn’t planned on doing anything, I was quite happy to settle for never crossing your path again, but bumping into you the other night, together with a slightly…’ His mouth twisted as he looked for words. ?
?Unfortunate set of circumstances that I’m in, has all been very fortuitous.’
A nightmare. She had to be stuck in some kind of nightmare. This couldn’t be real. Kallie’s mind disengaged from everything. She looked around dumbly and could see couples dining. Lovers holding hands. Men having business dinners. They looked real. And then everything seemed to rush back into focus. Someone was calling her name.
‘Here, drink this.’
Alexandros was reaching across the table with dark amber liquid in a glass. His after-dinner drink. She shook her head violently and pushed his hand back, snatching hers away abruptly when she felt the strong bones of his wrist.
He looked at her, his voice unbearably harsh. ‘What’s wrong with you?’
She shook her head, ignoring his question. ‘Why on earth do you want to marry me, Alexandros?’ She waved a jerky hand that still tingled from the contact with his. ‘Why would you want to do that?’
He put down his glass, smiled grimly. ‘Don’t worry, Kallie, I don’t want to marry you. When my uncle Dimitri died, he left me his share of Kouros Shipping. It’s the last piece not in my control.’
She looked at him blankly. Still in shock.
‘It was expected. He’d always made it clear where his inheritance would go.’
She nodded vaguely, incapable of speech.
‘But there was a surprise in his will. Dimitri had a sense of humour. He knew how I felt about marriage.’
He answered the look that Kallie hadn’t even been aware of giving. His face was carved from stone as he said the words, ‘I’ll never willingly marry. The woman doesn’t exist who I would marry.’
A knife seemed to enter Kallie’s heart, stunning her with pain and surprise. She felt herself pulling inwards as if to avoid a blow. Alexandros was oblivious to the havoc he was wreaking within her. The havoc she couldn’t even begin to understand. She had done this to him?
