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‘You don’t love me,’ she said flatly. ‘Do you?’
His silence extinguished the tiny flame of hope that had burned valiantly inside her. What a fool she was to have wondered if his visit was because he had realised that he had feelings for her after all. Bitterness filled the void where her heart had been until Jace had ripped it out.
‘I don’t suppose it was a coincidence that you went to the Pangalos last spring,’ she said dully. ‘You must have known I was staying there, and you made a point of introducing yourself. But you only pretended to be interested in me.’
He frowned. ‘That’s not true. I went to the hotel by chance and recognised you.’
‘I told you I was leaving the next day for a cruise around the islands. Was it a coincidence that you joined the yacht just before it was about to sail? I don’t think so,’ she answered for him. ‘I think you deliberately set out to seduce me, and you plotted to seize control of the Pangalos because of an alleged feud between your father and my grandfather.’
‘The feud was real,’ Jace said harshly. ‘My father and Kostas were best friends until your grandfather got greedy. He and his clever lawyers conned my father out of his half-share of the hotel. But it wasn’t only that my father was bankrupt and he and my mother lost everything they had worked for, including our home.’ Jace’s jaw hardened. ‘My father was devastated that his friend, who he had trusted and loved, showed him no loyalty. Kostas destroyed my father and broke his heart.’
‘And so you decided to break mine. Is that why you did it?’ Eleanor’s voice cracked. ‘You wanted revenge for a crime that frankly I don’t even believe happened. My grandfather was a good man and he would not have behaved in a way that was illegal or immoral. But whatyoudid was unforgivable.’
She dashed her hand over her face and was mortified to find her cheeks were wet. ‘I was a sexual innocent and I didn’t stand a chance against you—an experienced playboy.’
The air between them crackled with tension. Eleanor wondered when Jace had stepped nearer to her without her being aware of him moving. He loomed over her, six-feet-plus of physical perfection and so close that her senses were assailed by the spicy scent of his aftershave.
‘Are you saying you were a virgin when we met?’ he asked curtly. ‘You spoke in the past tense, so does that mean you are no longer one?’
She clenched her hands by her sides and fought the temptation to slap his arrogantly beautiful face. ‘It’s none of your damned business.’
Jace did not know why he had probed Eleanor about her private life. Even more inexplicable was the surge of jealousy he felt at the idea of her in another man’s bed. It wasn’t as if they had been lovers and, even if they had, he’d never had a problem moving on at the end of a relationship. Admittedly, he hadn’t wanted their engagement to be over, but that was only because he had needed to marry Eleanor to acquire the Pangalos hotel.
Jace could have sworn that he did not have a possessive bone in his body, but he felt an overwhelming urge to pull Eleanor into his arms and kiss the sulky line of her mouth until her lips softened beneath his. A year ago he had enjoyed her eager response to his caresses more than he’d cared to admit. When she’d walked into the room a few minutes ago, his heart had banged against his ribs.
He remembered on the yacht in Greece she had worn a one-piece swimsuit that moulded her gorgeous curves. From the start he had been attracted to Eleanor’s understated sensuality and his fingers itched to unbutton her prim blouse and cradle her full breasts in his hands. Chemistry still existed between them, simmering beneath the surface. Desire heated Jace’s blood and his body tightened. He hadn’t felt this alive for the past year, and he was confident that if he kissed Eleanor her resistance would melt.
‘You must have laughed at me behind my back,’ she said with a catch in her voice. ‘I fell in love with you, but it was all just a game to you, wasn’t it?’
He did not know how to answer her, and guilt was an uncomfortable weight in the pit of his stomach. He wished he could wipe away the tear that slid down her cheek, but he knew he’d lost the right to comfort her after he’d callously used her. Eleanor had simply been a means to an end. He had seen an opportunity to reclaim the hotel that his father had been cheated out of by her grandfather and he’d seized it without considering the impact his behaviour might have on her.
In his mind, Jace saw his father’s battered and bloodied body. Dimitri had died from his injuries without revealing if he had walked too close to the edge of the cliff and fallen by accident, or if he’d jumped. The inquest had been inconclusive, but if Dimitri had chosen to end his life then Kostas Pangalos had blood on his hands, Jace thought grimly.
‘It was never a game,’ he told Eleanor. ‘It was about reclaiming my father’s share of the Pangalos and you were collateral damage.’
She inhaled sharply. ‘God, you bastard.’
His jaw clenched. ‘Believe what you like, but if you had married me I would have endeavoured to be a good husband. I hated your grandfather, but I would have treated you well.’
‘Treated me well?’Her hazel eyes turned almost green when she was angry, Jace noticed. ‘I’m not a puppy you could train to sit up and beg for scraps of your attention.’
‘I never thought of you in that way. I liked that you did not hold anything back in your response to me.’ His eyes narrowed on the betraying pink stain that spread over her face. ‘And I think you still want me.’ He could read the signs. Her pupils were huge, dark orbs and she was breathing fast so that her breasts rose and fell jerkily. ‘If I kissed you now, would you push me away?’
She recoiled as if he were the devil. ‘I hate you. The thought of your touch revolts me.’
‘Theos!’Jace raked his hand through his hair when Eleanor spun away from him and retreated to stand behind the sofa. He did not know why he had challenged her, or why he had wanted to provoke her into admitting that desire was still a potent force between them.
‘I’d like you to leave,’ she said stiffly. ‘Whatever you came here for, I’m not interested.’
‘I guarantee you will be after you’ve heard what I’m about to tell you concerning the Pangalos.’ He walked across the room and lowered himself into an armchair.
‘You’re wasting your time. A stipulation in my grandfather’s will prevents me from selling the hotel.’ Eleanor’s eyes flashed. ‘Even if it were possible, I wouldn’t sell it to you if my life depended on it.’
‘I wonder what you would be prepared to do to keep your brother out of prison.’
‘I don’t know what you are up to, Jace. But I won’t fall for your lies again.’
His jaw tightened. He hadn’t expected Eleanor to welcome him with open arms, but her contemptuous tone riled him. ‘I never lied to you.’
