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‘I suspect it was. Your name was mentioned more than once.’
‘And...what?’ she demanded. ‘Did you think I was hungry for a man, Ariston? Any man? That if Santino had arrived before you that I would be in bed with him?’
‘I don’t know.’ There was a heartbeat of a pause as he lifted his eyes to hers. ‘Would you?’
Keeley froze just before instinct kicked in and she longed to flex her fingernails over his skin and tear at his silken flesh. To inflict some kind of hurt on him—something which might mimic the searing pain which was clamping around her heart. She expelled the breath she’d been holding, bitterly aware of how little he thought of her. But she’d known that from the start, hadn’t she? And had thought, what? That the growing sexual attraction between them would somehow cancel out his obvious lack of respect? That admitting him to her bed so quickly might make him admire her? What a stupid little fool she’d been.
‘Get out,’ she said, in a low voice.
‘Oh, Keeley,’ he said softly. ‘There’s no need to overreact. You asked me a question and I answered it truthfully. Would you rather I told you a lie?’
‘I mean it!’ she snapped. He made to pull her back into his arms but she jumped out of bed before he could touch her. ‘Get out of here,’ she repeated.
He shrugged as he swung his legs over the bed and reached for his trousers. ‘I wasn’t intending to insult you.’
‘Really? In that case, I think you ought to take a good, long look at the things you just said. You think I’m sexually indiscriminate, do you, Ariston? That one attractive man is pretty much the same as any other?’
‘How should I know? You are your mother’s daughter, after all. And I’ve had enough experience of women to know what they are capable of,’ he said rawly. ‘I know just how unscrupulous they can be.’
Keeley reached for the cotton dressing gown which was hanging on a hook on the door and pulled it on, not daring to speak until she had tied the belt around her waist and her naked body was hidden from his gaze.
‘Why did you seduce me, Ariston?’ she ques
tioned in a low voice. ‘When you obviously think so little of me?’
He paused in the act of sliding on his shirt, the movement making his powerful muscles ripple beneath the silk fabric. ‘Because I find you intensely attractive. Because you lit a longing in me all those years ago which never really went away. Maybe now it will.’
‘And that’s all?’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Isn’t that enough?’
But instinct told her there was something more. Something he was holding back. And suddenly she needed to know, even though she suspected it was going to shatter her. ‘Tell me the truth like you did before,’ she said. ‘Just...tell me.’
His eyes gleamed like silver in the moonlight, before he shrugged. ‘It started out with wanting to have you for myself, for all the reasons I’ve just stated,’ he said in a low voice. ‘But also because...’
‘Because what, Ariston? Please don’t stop now. Not when this is just getting fascinating.’
He zipped up his trousers before looking up. ‘Because I knew that my brother wouldn’t be tempted by you, if he knew I’d had sex with you first.’
‘Which naturally you would have made sure he knew?’
He shrugged. ‘If I’d needed to, then yes. Yes, I would.’
There was a disbelieving silence before she could bring herself to respond. ‘So it was...it was some kind of territorial thing? The ultimate deterrent to ensure that your brother wasn’t tempted, even though there is no spark between me and Pavlos and there never has been?’
He met her gaze unflinchingly. ‘I guess so.’
Keeley felt faint. It was even worse than she’d thought. Briefly, she closed her eyes before going into damage-limitation mode and that was something which came as naturally to her as breathing. The thing she was best at. She sucked in an unsteady breath. ‘You do realise I’m going to have to leave the island? That I can’t work for you any more. Not after this.’
He shook his head. ‘You don’t have to do that.’
‘Really?’ She gave a bitter laugh. ‘Then how do you see this playing out? Me carrying on with my domestic work while you occasionally sneak down here to have sex with me? Or am I now supposed to abandon my uniform as if this was some bizarre kind of promotion and join you and your guests for dinner every night?’
‘There’s no need to overreact, Keeley,’ he gritted. ‘We can work something out.’
‘That’s where you’re wrong, Ariston. We can’t. There’s no working out something like this. I won’t be treated in this way and I won’t spend any more time in the company of a man who is capable of such treatment. Tonight was a mistake—but we can’t do anything about it now. But I’m not staying here a second longer than I have to. I want to leave tomorrow, first thing. Before anyone is awake.’
He’d finished buttoning up his shirt and the expression on his rugged face was hidden by a series of shifting shadows. ‘You’re aware that you need my cooperation to do that? That I own the airstrip as well as the planes—and no other aircraft is allowed to land or take off from here without my permission. I might not be willing to let you go so easily, Keeley—have you thought about that?’
