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The tension was giving Kallie a headache. Their conversation over dinner had been stilted and forced. And Kallie dreaded to think what Alexandros might expect that night. She stood up, her chair sounding harsh on the stone.
r /> ‘I’m going to turn in. It’s been a long day.’ Her voice sounded too forced. He looked up at her and Kallie knew that if he was to stand up and take her in his arms, she’d be lost. He just nodded and she felt an irrational surge of disappointment. She went to walk past him and just when she was nearly clear, he grabbed her wrist in a loose yet firm grip. Her heart skidded to a halt. She looked at him warily, eyes glinting green and blue in the light.
His voice was silky. ‘Kallie, that door will be open. Don’t forget.’
Kallie jerked her hand out of his grip and fled. As much as she perversely wanted him to make a move, she knew she couldn’t. Not yet.
Alexandros swallowed the last of his wine with almost a savage movement. This evening had been purgatory, sitting opposite Kallie with the lanterns and moonlight bathing her skin in a warm milky glow. It had looked so smooth, so silky that it had taken all the strength he’d possessed not to reach out and touch her. But she’d caught him off guard again. Every time he’d moved, she’d flinched slightly and looked at him with those huge wary eyes. Even though he’d seen the blatant desire in their depths.
She’d come down to dinner dressed in loose trousers and a long flowing cardigan, its low neckline hinting at the naked body beneath. Her hair had been soft and loose over her shoulders. Why did he have to desire her so much? It was quite possible that he could have met her with her uncle, not found her attractive and let it go at that. He knew that the lust for revenge had been born out of that fierce desire he’d felt on first sight, before he’d recognised who she was…
The view became a blur. She certainly wasn’t like any other woman he knew or had been with. With them things were easy, it was like a dance he knew well. With Kallie…He shook his head abruptly. Enough! It was their common links, shared history, that was all. Being back here in Athens. He hadn’t been here for a long time and now to be back here with Kallie, it was only natural his thoughts would turn inward. Making him think about the past and things he hadn’t thought of for a long time.
He stood with a brusque movement and finally went inside, doing his best to shut down the wayward thoughts that made him nervous. He wondered if he was a complete fool to let her dictate when she’d be in his bed. He comforted himself with the thought that it wouldn’t be long. She had as little desire for this marriage as he did. And apart from that, their desire, unchecked, would soon burst into flames.
The following morning when she woke up, Kallie had a quick shower and dressed. Choosing a plain skirt and vest top and sticking her feet into flip-flops, she headed downstairs and found herself in the kitchen. It brought back so many good memories that she was lost in a dream and jumped when Thea surprised her. A terse greeting. Kallie sighed and went into the dining room, as it was obvious she wasn’t welcome in the kitchen. When Thea came to clear the plates after breakfast, Kallie asked casually about Alexandros, who she still hadn’t seen that morning. Thea told her he’d gone to Athens to his office for the day.
Kallie’s insides plummeted. A whole day alone in the villa, being frozen out by Thea. She felt something rise up and told herself fiercely that she wouldn’t miss Alexandros’s company.
Oh, be honest with yourself. When he’s near you your whole body comes to life, your brain clicks into high gear and you’ve never felt so aware…or stimulated…
With the mocking voice in her head, Kallie explored the Kouros villa from top to bottom again. Although she studiously avoided going anywhere near the patio, as her heart started to thump erratically when she passed near it. She couldn’t bear the thought of seeing it again, the place of her original humiliation.
And though she knew she could get a key from Thea and go next door to see her grandmother’s house, she knew it wasn’t time. She was feeling far too vulnerable. Afraid of what it might spark off within her, what feelings she might be forced to face.
That evening when Alexandros returned he felt hot and sticky and cross with himself for having gone into Athens. A visit to his mother hadn’t helped his mood. She was as cold and wrapped up in herself as ever. He didn’t need to remind himself that she hadn’t even been bothered coming to the wedding. His own family had been in woefully short supply. After making sure she had everything she needed, he’d left. Which she’d barely noticed.
When he’d been born, as an unplanned late arrival, ten years after the youngest daughter, his parents had only been happy for the fact that they’d finally had a boy, and a proper heir. Their own interests always had been in themselves, not their children, and Alexandros’s sisters had all been married by the time he’d been in his early teens. He’d long ago shut himself off from the pain of his family’s indifference.
Climbing up the hill to the villa in his four-wheel-drive he found his thoughts straying in an annoyingly familiar direction. Kallie. Wondering what she would have done that day. He’d needed space, had gone into Athens primarily for that…and yet bizarrely he felt slightly guilty. He frowned at his capricious emotions.
It was quiet when he entered, the coolness inside bathing and soothing him. Soothing his frayed edges. He walked from room to room. There was no sign of Thea or Kallie, and he finally descended down the levels until he came out by the pool. At first the setting sun dazzled him and he had to put on his sunglasses, then he saw her. His body tightened and his breathing quickened in an entirely involuntary response. She was dressed in tracksuit bottoms and a tight vest top and was doing a series of movements facing the sun. He knew what she was doing, yet even though he knew it was yoga, it seemed like something more mysterious, reverential.
Without the cover of layers, he could see her body in all its supple glory. It wasn’t stick thin and muscly, which he usually associated with the yoga physique, she had curves and a soft belly and full breasts. Her movements were controlled and so graceful that it almost hurt to watch. Holding his breath without even realising, he stared transfixed as she came to a standing halt and pressed her hands together at the centre of her chest and bowed her head in the universal symbol of prayer and thanks. She looked so serene and peaceful that Alexandros felt a twinge of jealousy. And then she turned and saw him. ‘Oh…’
He could see her chest rise and fall after the exertion and was glad of the dark glasses that shaded his eyes. That hid what he knew would be an almost feral gleam, as she brought that instinct out in him. A need to possess…to devour.
She picked up the towel that she’d been using as a mat and drew it across her chest as if to try and hide behind it.
‘Alexandros.’ Her voice came out cool and yet slightly breathy, making fine hairs stand up all over his body in reaction.
He strolled towards her, hands in pockets, devastating eyes hidden. How much had he seen? She hated the thought that he had been witness to what was a very private thing for her. He was enjoying her discomfort.
His hands, deep in the pockets, stretched the fabric across his pelvis. Kallie’s eyes dropped in a reflex and hurriedly she lifted them again, her cheeks scorching with mortification when she registered the bulge.
‘Yoga?’ He lifted a mocking brow. ‘Not something I would have associated with you—the ultimate party girl.’
‘Why?’ asked Kallie sweetly, burning up under his shaded look. ‘Doesn’t it fit with your view of me as a heartless seductress?’
His big body went very still and Kallie almost took a step back. She should have known by now not to provoke him. He stepped very close, but she stood her ground.
An X-rated image raced into his head at that moment and had him clench his jaw in reaction to what it might be like to see Kallie, her strong supple body naked, under his, legs wrapped around his back as he sank in…deeper and deeper…
‘Not at all. Quite the contrary, in fact. It’s certainly going to make our time in the bedroom more…enjoyable.’ His gaze dropped down her body and she knew her nipples had peaked and were pushing against the thin fabric of her top. She clutched the towel even tighter to her body and felt a drop of sweat roll down between her breasts and wondered perversely if he’d seen it.
After long moments Alexandros stepped back and indicated for Kallie to precede him back into the house. Her spine straight, back stiff, she walked in. She fought the urge to run and just then remembered his other comment. She whirled around.
‘And what’s that supposed to mean—party girl?’
