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‘At first I thought you had simply missed the ferry,’ he went on, as if she hadn’t spoken. ‘I called the hotel, and they told me you had checked out, so I waited for a message. I waited a long time. I cannot remember the precise moment I realised you were not coming back.’
‘My father needed me,’ she said desperately. ‘I had to get to Athens—to go to him.’
‘And it never occurred to you to turn to me—the man you’d professed to love?’ His mouth twisted contemptuously. ‘What a mistake, Cressida mou. My helicopter would have flown us to Athens. My private plane would have taken us on to London. You would have been there in half the time.’
‘But I had no means of knowing that,’ she protested.
‘If you had come to me you would have known. Only you didn’t. And that is the worst thing of all. To know that you were in trouble—in pain—yet you didn’t want to share this with me. Even if I’d been as poor as you thought, at least I had the right to put my arms around you and hold you.
‘As it was, I could have taken you straight to your father and been with you to comfort and care for you, as a man should with his woman.’ He paused, the dark eyes merciless. ‘Tell me, pethi mou, had you any intention of contacting me again—ever? Or was I simply to be—erased, like an unfortunate mistake in a calculation?’
Cressy shook her head, feeling tears thickening in her throat. ‘Draco—I don’t know—I was worried—confused…’
‘Then let me tell you the answer,’ he said. ‘You didn’t love—and you didn’t trust either. That was the bitter truth I had to learn. I was poor, so I could be discarded, as if I had no feelings. And one day you will discover how that feels. Because I shall teach you.’
He smiled at her. ‘You will discover, Cressida mou, that I am not so easily forgotten.’
She said in a low voice, ‘I suppose you mean to use my father’s problems against me. Well—I’m prepared for that.’
‘Are you?’ he asked softly. ‘I had originally intended to present the settlement of his debts as a gift to you when we announced our engagement. Since then I have had time to think again.’
She said urgently, ‘Draco—whatever you think of me—please don’t punish my father any more. He’s a sick man.’
‘And when he leaves hospital he will need a home to go to,’ he said. ‘The house that now belongs to me. Is that what you’re trying to put into words?’
She said on a note of desperation, ‘I could pay rent…’
‘Yes, you will pay,’ he said quietly. ‘But not with money. I have enough of that already.’
‘Then how?’ Her voice was barely more than a whisper.
‘Don’t you know?’ he said. ‘Don’t you understand that I still want you?’
The room was very still suddenly. She stared across the desk at him. At the hard bronze face and the cool mouth that looked as if it would never smile again. Watched and waited for some softening—some warmth. But in vain.
She swallowed. ‘You mean—in spite of everything—you’re going to marry me?’
His laugh was harsh. ‘No, not marriage, my sweet. I will not be caught again. This time I’m offering a less formal arrangement.’ He added cynically, ‘And spare me the pretence that you don’t understand my offer.’
‘I understand.’ Her voice seemed to come from a long way away. ‘You’re saying that if I—sleep with you—you won’t enforce the mortgage or my father’s other debts.’
‘Yes,’ he said softly. ‘I am saying exactly that. And what is your answer?’
She said hoarsely, ‘Draco, you can’t mean this. If you loved me, you wouldn’t…’
‘I said that I wanted you, Cressida mou. I did not mention love.’
Pain ripped at her, tearing her apart. She hadn’t realised it was possible to hurt so much. Or to be so afraid.
She said, her voice shaking, ‘Is this your idea of revenge? To rape me?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘Because you will come to me willingly, Cressida, as we both know.’
‘Never.’
He shrugged. ‘Then regard it simply as a business transaction. You understand those better than you know yourself, I think.’
‘Business?’ Her voice cracked. ‘How can it be that?’
‘I have something you want.’ His smile mocked her. ‘You have something I want. That’s how deals are made.’
‘You make it sound so simple.’
‘It is hardly complicated.’ His voice was cool, and oddly impersonal. ‘You will come to me, and stay with me as long as I require. When our liaison ends, I will hand over the mortgage and other papers—instead of a diamond necklace,’ he added, his mouth twisting.
‘And if I refuse this—degrading offer?’
He leaned back in his chair. He said quietly, ‘We have already established that your father’s well-being is your sole priority. So I do not think we need consider that possibility—do you?’
‘No.’ Her voice was barely audible. ‘No, I don’t—really—have a choice.’
He smiled thinly. ‘You’ve made the right decision.’ He got to his feet and came round the desk to her side. He took her hand, pulling her out of the chair.
He led her across the room to a door, which he opened, revealing a large and luxurious bedroom.
‘You mean—now?’ Her voice rose, and she recoiled, swinging round to face him. ‘Oh, God, you can’t be serious.’
His brows lifted. ‘Why not?’
She said wildly, ‘Because it’s the middle of the morning.’
He began to laugh. ‘How conventional you are, agapi mou,’ he mocked. ‘When we were on Myros there was not one minute of the day or night that we did not want each other.’
She bit her lip. ‘That was different.’
‘Did you expect me to seduce you over dinner with flowers and moonlight?’ His tone was cynical. ‘It is too late for that. Once, perhaps, I would have made it beautiful for you. Now—’ he shrugged ‘—regard it as the signature on a contract.’
‘Draco.’ Her voice broke. ‘Please—don’t do this to me—to us.’
‘Us?’ he echoed contemptuously. ‘There is no “us”. I have bought you, Cressida mou. That is all. And this time you will not have the opportunity to run away.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘I have a couple of calls to make. I will join you in a few minutes.’
She said bitterly, ‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?’
‘I intend to,’ he said. ‘Whether or not you share my pleasure is your own concern. But I think you will.’
He pulled her towards him, his arm a steel band forcing her compliance. His dark face swam momentarily in front of her startled eyes. Then he bent his head and kissed her breast.
The sudden heat of his mouth scorched through her thin blouse and lacy bra as if she was already naked. His lips found her nipple, tugging at it, creating a sharp, exquisite pain that triggered a scalding flood of need in return.
Surprised and shamed at the physical fierceness of her response, Cressy gasped, her hands curling into impotent fists at her sides.
When he lifted his head he was smiling faintly. He reached for one small clenched hand and raised it to his lips with insolent grace.
His other hand slid down over her hip to her thigh, and lingered there suggestively.
He said softly, ‘Nothing has really changed between us, Cressida mou. Only the terms of our coming together. Shall I prove it to you? Show you exactly how much you still want me?’
Helpless colour warmed her face. She shook her head, staring down at the carpet, not daring to meet the intensity of his gaze. Scared of what else she might betray.
She had not bargained for the overwhelming force of instinct. But that could be harnessed, she told herself. Hidden.
For her own sake, she had to try.
She found herself impelled gently but inexorably into the bedroom. She began a last protest, but Draco laid a finger on her parted lips, silencing her.
He said, ‘I shall try not to keep you waiting too long.’
The door closed behind him, shutting her in. She stood, her arms wrapped defensively across her body, staring round.
It was a big room, and the bed was its dominant feature, wide and low, with a dark green cover tailored in heavy linen, matching the drapes at the windows.
A very masculine room, she thought, comfortable but impersonal. A suitable place for a bargain, but not for love. Never for love.
She walked across and tugged at the cords, swinging the curtains across to block out the brilliant sunlight. She wanted shadows, she thought. Shadows and darkness to hide in.
She needed, too, to blot out the searing memory of those other golden days on Myros when she had turned to him, eagerly offering her mouth—her body.
Her whole body seemed to stir in sudden yearning, and regret, and she stiffened, bringing her rebellious senses back under control once more. She could not allow herself such weakness.
Whatever Draco did to her—no matter how he made her feel—somehow she had to stay aloof—and endure.
Presently, she thought, I shall wake up and find all this was just a nightmare.
She looked back, dry-mouthed, at the bed, pain searing through her as she realised how different it could have been.
But she’d made her choice—a whole series of choices—and she had to live with the consequences. Starting now…
She left her clothes in the adjoining dressing room. The carpet was soft under her bare feet as she walked to the bed. The percale sheets felt crisp and cool against her burning skin as she lay tensely, waiting for the door to open.
Which, eventually, just as her nerves had reached screaming point, it did.
‘Shy, agapi mou?’ He was a dark shape at the end of the bed. He turned away, walking over to the windows and flinging back the drapes again, flooding the room with sudden light.
Draco came back to the bed. For a moment he stood staring down at her, then he reached down, twitching the covers from her outraged fingers and tossing them to the foot of the bed.
He said softly, ‘A man likes to look, as well as touch.’
Teeth set defiantly, Cressy withstood his lingering scrutiny, deliberately not covering herself with her hands, nor looking away, even when he began, almost casually, to remove his clothes.
Only when he came to lie beside her on the bed and drew her into his arms did she finally close her eyes, her body rigid against his naked warmth.
The scent of his skin, once so familiar and so precious, now admixed with a trace of some expensive cologne, pervaded her mouth and nose, so that she seemed to be breathing him, absorbing him into every atom of her consciousness.
She remembered one day on the beach, kissing his shoulder, tasting the heat of the sun and the salt of the sea on its curving muscularity. But she couldn’t afford those kind of memories. She had to lie still and unyielding—and hate. Resentment would be her only salvation.
But it wasn’t easy, not when his hands had begun to caress her, the warm fingers skimming over her flesh in exquisite, tantalising exploration.
As they softly brushed her taut nipples Cressy had to bite back a gasp, her body clenching in hot, shamed excitement.
Where his hands touched, his mouth followed. He kissed her breasts softly, his tongue unhurriedly circling each puckered rose peak in turn. Sensation, knife-sharp and honey-sweet, pierced through her, making her quiver and arch towards him involuntarily, and she felt his lips smile against her skin.
His hand parted her thighs and began to stroke her, delicately, subtly, making her moan and writhe against the intimate play of his fingers as they promised—tantalised—and then denied.
Every sense, every atom of consciousness was focused painfully on that tiny, pulsating centre of her being as she felt herself being drawn slowly and exquisitely to some undreamed of brink. As she felt her breath quicken and heard the frantic drumming of her own heart.
She made a small, wounded sound in her throat. A wordless plea for him—somehow—to end this beautiful torment.
‘Not yet.’ His tongue caressed the whorls of her ear. ‘Not yet, but—soon…’ And his hand moved fractionally, deepening the caress. Imposing a more compelling demand.
She was blind, deaf—mindless. Aware of nothing but the fierce concentration of pleasure that he was creating for her. As if the sun, beating against her eyelids, was blooming and growing inside her.
And when, at last, he gave her the release she craved, she cried out in harsh animal delight as ripple upon ripple of pure feeling engulfed her—convulsed her. As she was flung out into space, where she fell into the centre of the sun and was consumed.
She was totally relaxed, her body still throbbing with pleasure, as Draco moved above her, and, with one deep thrust, into her.
For a fleeting instant she was scared by the memory of pain, then shocked by its absence. Because now there was only joyous acceptance, and a sense of completion.
As if, she thought, this was the moment she had been made for.
She raised her languid lids and stared up at him, letting herself enclose him. Hold him.
Allowing herself to savour how alien it felt, yet at the same time how totally familiar—and precious.
The bronze face was stark, his eyes like pits of darkness as he began to move, slowly and powerfully, inside her.
Instinct lifted her hands to his shoulders and clasped her legs round his lean hips, so that she could partner him completely. Could mirror each compelling stroke.
As the rhythm and intensity increased, Draco groaned something in his own language. She kissed his throat, licking the salt from his skin, feeling the thunder of his pulse against her lips.
At the same time, deep within her, she was aware of the first flutterings of renewed delight. Incredulous, gasping, she held him closer, her sweat mingling with his as the spiral of pleasure tautened unbearably, then imploded.
Her whole body rocked as the tremors of rapture tore through her, echoed by the wild spasms of his own climax.
When it was over, he lay very still, his face against her breasts.
She wanted to hold him. To put her lips against the damp, dark tangle of hair and whisper that she loved him. That as he’d been the first, so would he be the last.
As his cherished bride, it would have been her right to open her heart to him. As his mistress—she sank her teeth into her swollen lower lip—she had no rights at all. And that was something she must never forget. That her role in his life was at best transient.
