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The Virgin's Secret
ABBY GREEN
Forbidden or for bedding? Leo Parnassus has returned to Greece to head the family empire. A New Yorker since childhood, he finds life is certainly different here: there are family feuds, and expectations for him to marry and produce many heirs! Amidst all this tradition, the beautiful waitress who catches Leos eye is a welcome distraction.Lowly waitress Angel might be, but that doesnt mean she has no secrets! Leo will be pleased to discover shes a virgin, but not that shes the daughter of his adversary! Or that, in nine months, there will be one more secret to be revealed
Are you thinking about what it would feel like if my mouth was to touch yours right now?
Angels gaze flew up and clashed with pure molten gold heat. An answering heat invaded her lower body, and she felt the urge to clamp her legs together, as if that might dampen the strange ache building up there.
Before she could articulate a response his hand had cupped her jaw and cheek, and suddenly there was no distance between them, only him, so tall and close that he blocked out the sky, and his head was descending, coming nearer and nearer. He smelt musky and hot. It was something so earthy that Angel could feel the response being tugged from her down low in her belly, as if she recognised it on some primitive level. Dimly she wondered if this was what people meant when they talked about animal attraction.
Desperately trying to cling onto something, anything rational, Angel brought a hand to cover his, to pull it down, to stop him, to say noBut then his mouth was so close that she could feel his breath feather there, mingling with hers. Her mouth tingled. She wantedshe wanted
Abby Green got hooked on Mills & Boon romances while still in her teens, when she stumbled across one belonging to her grandmother, in the west of Ireland. After many years of reading them voraciously, she sat down one day and gave it a go herself. Happily, after a few failed attempts, Mills & Boon bought her first manuscript.
Abby works freelance in the film and TV industry, but thankfully the four a.m. starts and the stresses of dealing with recalcitrant actors are becoming more and more infrequent, leaving her more time to write!
She loves to hear from readers, and you can contact her through her website at www.abby-green.com. She lives and works in Dublin.
The Virgins Secret
by
Abby Green
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk/)
Table of Contents
Cover Page (#u5ca3ae37-5521-5912-b22e-e3f559e56547)
Excerpt (#u2a725ce9-9f3b-56ac-b32b-bf810d66b96b)
About The Author (#u5081c8cf-0427-57aa-9ac3-9d820832e01f)
Title Page (#u13cff236-4316-53d6-bed6-4bfa5f90cda6)
Acknowledgements (#u6592fa19-3d0e-5073-a67f-a10ec54ae8db)
Prologue (#u378a65db-d216-5c9b-b5cb-fe382c9e21b8)
Chapter One (#u88918fd0-a584-564b-8e2b-624634d2b4eb)
Chapter Two (#ud7ad9569-2d17-5b67-b2ac-332bd32ae5d1)
Chapter Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
This is for my lovely editor, Meg, who shines a torchlight into the dark corners where Ive tied myself into knots, and helps me unravel it all again into something coherent. Thanks for everythingyoure a star.
Id also like to dedicate this book with special thanks to Anne Mary Luttrell, whose waiting room is a magical place where many a plot has been incubated. Thanks for your healing hands (needles) and words.
Prologue
LEONIDAS PARNASSUS looked out of the window of his private plane. Theyd just landed at Athens airport. To his utter consternation his chest felt tight and constricteda sensation he didnt welcome. He was curiously reluctant to move from his seat, even though the cabin staff were preparing to open the door, even though sitting still and not moving was anathema to him. He told himself it was because he was still chafing at the reality that hed acquiesced to his fathers demand that he come to Athens for talks.
Leo Parnassus did not carve out time for anything or anyone he deemed a waste of his resources and energy. Not a business venture, a lover, nor a father who had put building up the family fortune and clearing their shamed name before a relationship with his son. Leo grimaced slightly, his face so harsh that the steward who had been approaching him stopped abruptly and hovered uncertainly. Leo saw nothing though but the heat haze on the tarmac outside and the darkness of his own thoughts.
He was Greek through and through, and yet hed never set foot on Greek soil. His family had been exiled from their ancestral home before he was born, but his father had returned triumphantly just a few years ago; finally realising a lifelong dream to clear their name of a terrible crime and to glory in their new-found status and inestimable wealth.
Bitter anger rose when Leo remembered his beloved ya yas lined and worn face. The sadness that had grooved deep lines around her mouth and shadowed her eyes. It had been too late for her to return home. Shed died in an alien country shed never grown to love. Even though his grandmother had urged him to return as soon as hed had the chance, hed condemned Athens on her behalf for breaking her heart. Hed always sworn that he wouldnt return to the place that had spurned his family so easily.
Athens was still home to the Kassianides family who had been responsible for all that pain and sadness, and who were suffering far too belatedly and minutely for what they had done. They had cast a long shadow over his childhood which had been indelibly marked by their actions, in so many ways.
And yet, despite all thathere he was. Because something in his fathers voice, an unmistakable weakness had called to him, in spite of everything that had happened. It had touched him on some level. In short, hed felt compelled to come. Perhaps he wanted to prove to himself that he was not at the mercy of his emotions?
The very thought of that made him go cold; at the tender age of eight hed made an inarticulate vow never to let any intensity of emotion overwhelm him, because thats what had killed his mother. Surely he could handle looking his ancestral home in the face and turn his back on it once and for all? Of course he could.
But first he had to deal with the fact that his father wanted him to take over the Parnassus shipping business. Leo had denied his inheritance a long time ago; hed embraced the entrepreneurial American spirit, and now ran a diverse subsidiary business that encompassed finance, acquisitions, and real estate, recently snapping up an entire block of buildings in New Yorks Lower East Side for redevelopment.
His sole input to his fathers business had been a couple of years before when theyd tightened the noose of revenge around the neck of Tito Kassianides, the last remaining patriarch of the Kassianides family. It was the one thing that had joined father and son: a united desire to seek vengeance.
Leo had taken singular pleasure in making sure that the Kassianides demise was ensured, thanks to a huge merger his father had orchestrated with Aristotle Levakis, one of Greeces titans of industry. That victory now, though, when he was faced with the reality of touching down in Greece, felt curiously empty. He couldnt help but think of his grandmother, how much shed longed for this moment and never got a chance to see it.
A discreet cough sounded, Im sorry, sir?
Leo looked up, intensely irritated to have been observed in a private moment. He saw the steward was gesturing to the now open cabin door. Leos chest clenched tightly again, and he had the childishly bizarre urge to tell them to slam the door shut and take off, back to New York. It was almost as if something outside that door lay in wait for him. Such a mix of emotions was rising to the surface, and it was so unwelcome that he stood up jerkily from his seat as if he could shake them off.
He walked to the cabin door, very aware of the eyes of his staff on him. Normally it didnt bother him, he was used to people looking at him for his reaction, but now it scraped over his skin like sandpaper.
The heat hit him first, dry and searing. Strangely familiar. He breathed in the Athens air for the first time in his life and felt his heart hit hard with the intensifying of that absurd feeling of familiarity. Hed always felt that coming here would feel like betraying his grandmothers memory, but now it was as if she was behind him, gently pushing him forward. For a man who lived by cool logic and intellect, it was an alien and deeply disturbing sensation.
He concealed his eyes behind dark shades as an ominous prickling skated over his skin. He had the very unwelcome sensation that everything in his life was about to change.
At the same moment on the other side of Athens.
Delphi, just take a deep breath and tell me whats wrongI cant help you until I know what it is.
That just provoked more weeping. Angel grabbed another tissue, a trickle of unease going down her spine now. Her younger half-sister said brokenly, I dont do this kind of thing, Angel, Im a law student!
Angel smoothed her pretty sisters fall of mahogany hair behind one ear and said soothingly, I know, sweetie. Look, it cant be that bad, whatever it is, so just tell me and then we can deal with it.
Angel was absolutely confident when she said this. Delphi was introverted, too quiet. She always had been, and even more so since a tragic accident had killed her twin sister about six years ago. Ever since then shed buried herself in books and studies, so when she said quietly, after a little sniffly hiccup, Im pregnant the words simply didnt register in Angels head.
They didnt register until Delphi spoke again, with a catch in her voice.
Angeldid you hear me? Im pregnant. Thats whatthats whats wrong.
Angels hands tightened reflexively around her half-sisters and she looked into her dark brown eyesso different from her own light blue ones, even though they both shared the same father.
Angel tried not to let the shock suck her under. Delph, how did it happen? She grimaced. I mean, I know howbut
Her sister looked down guiltily, a flush staining her cheeks red. Wellyou know Stavros and I have been getting more serious Delphi looked up again, and Angels heart melted at the turmoil she saw on her sisters face.
We both wanted to, Angel. We felt the time was right and we wanted it to be with someone we loved
Angels heart constricted. That was exactly what she had wanted too, right up untilHer sister continued, cutting through Angels painful memory.
And we were careful, we used protection, but it She blushed again, obviously mortified to have to be talking about this at all. It split. We decided to wait until we knew there was something to worry aboutand now there is.
Does Stavros know?
Delphi nodded miserably and looked sheepish. I never told you this, but on my birthday last month Stavros asked me to marry him.
Angel wasnt that surprised; shed suspected something like this might happen with the two of them. Theyd been sweethearts for ever. Has he spoken to his parents?
Delphi nodded, but fresh tears welled. His father has told him that if we marry hell be disinherited. You know theyve never liked us
Angel winced inwardly for her sister. Stavros came from one of the oldest and most established families in Greece, and his parents were inveterate snobs. But before she could say anything Delphi was continuing in a choked voice.
and now its worse, because the Parnassus family are home, and everyone knows what happened, and with Father going bankrupt she trailed off miserably.
A familiar feeling of shame gripped Angel at the mention of that name: Parnassus. Many years before, her family had committed a terrible crime against the much poorer Parnassus family, falsely accusing them of a horrific murder. It was only recently that they had atoned for that transgression. When her great-uncle Costas, who had actually committed the crime, had confessed all in a suicide note, the Parnassus family, who were now phenomenally successful and wealthy, had seen their chance for revenge, and had returned to Athens from America on a wave of glory. The consequent scandal and shake-up in power meant that her father, Tito Kassianides, had started haemorrhaging business and money, to the point that they now faced certain bankruptcy. Parnassus had made certain that everyone now knew how the Kassianides family had wilfully abused their power in the most heinous way.
Stavros wants us to elope
Angels focus came back, and she immediately went to interject, but Delphi put up a hand, her pale face streaked with tears. But I wont allow him to do that.
Angel shut her mouth again.
I wont be responsible for him being cut off and disinheritednot when I know how important it is to him that he gets into politics some day. This could ruin all his chances.
Angel marvelled at her sweet sisters selflessness. She took her hands again and said gently, And what about you, Delph? You deserve some happiness too, and you deserve a father for your baby.
A door slammed downstairs and they both flinched minutely.
Hes home Delphi breathed, a mixture of fear and loathing in her voice as the inarticulate roars of their fathers drunken rage drifted up the stairs. More tears welled in her red-rimmed eyes, and suddenly Angel was extremely aware of the fact that her baby sister was now pregnant and needed at all costs to be protected from the potential pain of dealing with any scandal or losing Stavros. She took her gently by the shoulders and forced her to look into her eyes.
Sweetheart, you did the right thing telling me. Just act as if everything is normal and well work something out. Itll be fine
Delphis voice took on a hysterical edge. But Father is getting more and more out of control, and mother is unravelling at the seams
Shh. Look, havent I always been there for you?
Angel winced inwardly. She hadnt been there when Delphi had needed her most, after Damia, her twins death, and that was why shed made the promise to stay at home until Delphi gained her own independence, her twins death having affected her profoundly. Now her sister just nodded tearily, biting her lip, and looked at Angel with such nakedly trusting eyes that Angel had to batten down the almost overwhelming feeling of panic. She caught a lone tear falling down Delphis face and wiped it away gently with a thumb.
Youve got exams coming up in a few months, and enough to be thinking about now. Just leave everything to me.
Her sister flung skinny arms around Angels neck, hugging her tight. Angel hugged her back, emotion coursing through her to think that in a few months her sisters belly would be swollen with a baby. She had to make sure she and Stavros got married. Delphi wasnt hardy and cocky, as her twin had been. Where one had been effervescent and exuberant, the other had always been the more quiet foil. And as for their fatherif he found out
Delphi pulled back and spoke Angels thoughts out loud. What if Father?
Angel cut her off. He wont. I promise. Now, why dont you go to bed and get some sleep? And dont worry, Ill handle it.
Chapter One
ILL handle it. Those fatalistic words still reverberated in Angels head a week later. Shed gone to speak with Stavros father herself, to try and remonstrate with him, but he hadnt even deigned to see her. It couldnt have been made clearer that they were social outcasts.
Kassianides!
Abruptly Angel was pulled out of her spiralling black thoughts when her boss called her name. It must have been the second or third time, judging by the impatience on his face.
When you can join us back on earth, go down to the pool and make sure its completely clear and that the tea lights are set out on the tables.
She stuttered an apology and fled. In all honesty Angels preoccupation had been distracting her from something much more panic-inducing and stressful. Almost too stressful to contemplate.
She was here at the Parnassus villa, high in the hills of Athens, to waitress at a party that was being thrown for Leonidas Parnassus, the son of Georgios Parnassus. Everyone was buzzing about the fact that he might be about to take over the family business and what a coup it would be, Leo Parnassus having become a multimillionaire entrepreneur in his own right.
It hit her again as she hurried down the steps that were expertly overgrown with extravagantly flowering bougainvillea. She was in the Parnassus villa, the home of the family who hated hers with a passion.
For a second she stopped in her tracks, a hand going to her breast as an intense pain tightened in her chest. This was the absolute worst place she could be in the world. For a second she felt hysteria rising at the irony of it. She, Angel Kassianides, was about to serve drinks to the cr?me de la cr?me of Athens, right under the Parnassuses nose. The thought of what her father would do if he could see her now made her break out in a cold sweat.
She bit her lip and forced herself to go on, breathing a sigh of relief when she had a quick look around the pool area and saw no one. The guests hadnt started to arrive yet and, though there were some staying at the villa, Angel knew that theyd be getting ready. There was no reason for anyone to be by the pool, but stillan uneasy prickling skated over her skin.
She hadnt been able to avoid coming here tonight. She and her waiter colleagues had been halfway to their secret destination in a packed minibus before it had been revealed, for security reasons. Angel knew well that if shed bailed out of this evening her boss would have sacked her on the spot. Hed sacked people for less in his prestigious catering company. She couldnt afford for that to happennot when her income was the only thing helping put her sister through college and keeping food on their table.
She tried to reassure herself: her boss was English, recently moved to Athens with his English/Greek wife. He knew nothing of the significance of who Angel was, nor her scandalous connection to the Parnassus family. She busied herself placing out the tea lights in their antique silver holders in the middle of the white damask-covered tables, and sent up fervent thanks that, tonight of all nights, not one of the other staff were local. Things were so busy at the moment that her boss had had to call in their part-time workers, and they were all either foreign or from outside Athens.
Her only fear now was that someone at the party might recognise her. But, knowing these people as she did, shed no doubt that in her uniform of black skirt and white shirt theyd not take a second look at her. She worried her lip again. Perhaps she could just stay in the kitchen and get the trays together and avoid
Angel started suddenly when she heard the splash of water coming from nearby. Someone was in the pool. Carefully she placed the last candle down and made to slip away, back up to the kitchen. As if shed been subliminally aware of it but had blocked it out, she realised that someone must have been in the pool all alongbut not swimming, so she hadnt noticed them.
The sky was a dusky violet colour, so perhaps that was also why she hadntAngel glanced quickly to her right as a flash of movement caught her eye, and her legs stopped functioning when the sight before her registered on her retina and in her brain.
An olive-skinned Greek god was hauling himself in one powerfully sleek move out of the water, droplets of water cascading off taut muscles. Everything seemed to go into slow motion as the sheer height and breadth of him was revealed. Angel shook her head stupidly, but it felt as if it had been stuffed with cotton wool. Greek gods didnt exist. This was a man, a flesh-and-blood man. And the minute she registered that she was standing transfixed, staring at him, she panicked.
But her body wouldnt obey her order to move, or it would, but her limbs all moved in independent directions, and to her utter horror she found herself backing into a poolside chair and almost toppling over it. And she would have, if the man hadnt moved like lightning and grabbed her, so that instead of falling back she fell forward into his chest, with his hands around her upper arms.
For a long moment Angel tried to tell herself that this wasnt happening. That she wasnt breathing in an intoxicating mix of spice and earthiness. That she wasnt all but plastered against a bare, wet chest which felt as hard as steel, her lips just a breath away from pressing against skin covered in a light dusting of intensely masculine hair.
Angel tried to break away, and pulled back, forcing his hands to drop. Heat scorched upwards over her cheeks as she finally stood upright again and found her eyes level with hard, flat brown nipples. She looked up, swallowing, and her gaze skittered up and past broad shoulders to his face.
Im so sorry. I justgot startled. The lightI didnt see
The man quirked an ebony brow. Angel swallowed again. Lord, but his face was as beautiful as the rest of him. Not beautiful, she amended, that was too girly a word. He was devastating. Thick black hair lay sleek against his head, and high cheekbones offset an impossibly hard jaw. His mouth was forbidding, but held a promise of sensuality that resonated deep in her body.
Suddenly that mouth stopped being forbidding and quirked. She nearly had to put out a hand again to steady herself. A thin scar ran from his upper lip to his nose, making her fight the absurd urge to reach up and trace it. Making her wonder how hed got itthis complete stranger!
Are you okay?
Angel nodded vaguely. He sounded American; perhaps he was a business colleague, a guest who was staying over. Although somehow, in her muddled brain, that didnt fit either. He was someone. She struggled to remember where she was, what she was here to do. Who she was.
She nodded. ImIm fine.
He frowned slightly, seemingly completely at ease with his lack of dress. Youre not Greek?
Angel alternately shook and nodded her head. I am Greek. But Im also half-Irish. I spent a lot of time in boarding school thereso my accent is more neutral. She clamped her mouth shut. What was she blathering on about?
The man frowned a little deeper, his glance up and down taking in her uniform. And yet youre waitressing here?
The incredulity in his tone made Angels sanity rush back. Only girls from privileged backgrounds in Greece went abroad for schooling. Immediately she felt vulnerable. She was meant to be fading into the background, not engaging in conversation with the guests of the hosts.
She backed away, looking somewhere in the region of his shoulder. Please excuse me. I have to get back to work.
She was about to turn when she heard him drawl laconically, You might want to dry off before you start handing out champagne.
Angel followed his gaze down to where it rested on her chest. On her breasts. She gasped when she saw that she was indeed drenched, her shirt opaque and her plain white bra clearly visible, along with two very pointedly hard nipples. How long had she been plastered against him like some mindless groupie?
With a strangled gasp of mortification Angel scrambled backwards, nearly tripping over a chair again and only just righting it and herself before there could be a repeat rescue performance. All she heard as she fled back up the steps was a mocking, deep-throated chuckle.
A little later, Leonidas Parnassus looked around the thronged salon and tried to stifle his irritation when he couldnt see the waitress. It had made him uncomfortable, how urgent his need to see her again had been as soon as hed walked into the main reception room. It had also made him uncomfortable how vividly her image had come back to him in his recent shower, forcing him to turn the temperature to cold.
And now her image surged back again, mocking his attempts to thrust it aside. He recalled how shed looked, with a dark flush on her cheeks, those intensely light blue eyes wide and ringed with thick black lashes, staring at him like a startled fawn. As if shed never seen a man before.
She had a tiny beauty spot just on the edge of a full lower lip, and he grimaced when he felt the effect remembering that had on his lower body. He hated having such an arbitrary response. But when hed seen her arrive by the pool and do her work, with quick, economic movements, her glossy light brown hair pulled into a high topknot, something about her had stirred him. Something about her intense preoccupation, for patently she hadnt noticed him in the pool. And Leo was not a man who was used to going unnoticed.
When hed caught her against him in that completely instinctive move tendrils of her hair had come free and framed her face and the defined line of her jaw, making him want to slip his hand into the glossy strands and cause it to fall down around her shoulders. He could almost feel it over his hands now, the heavy silky weight.
Irritation spiked again. Where was she? Had she been a figment of his imagination? His father approached then, with a colleague, and Leo forced a benign smile to his mouth, hating the fact that he was in thrall to a nameless waitress.
Distracting him momentarily was the reality he now faced of just how frail his father had become, even since hed seen him last. As if something within him had shifted subtly but profoundly. He felt a deep-seated sense of inevitability steal over him, he was needed here, his own empire notwithstanding. But was his place really here? He tried out the word now: home. His heart beat fast.
He thought of his sterile, yet state-of-the-art penthouse apartment in New York; the steel and silver skyscrapers of the world he inhabited. He thought of his impeccably groomed and very experienced blonde mistress; he thought of what it might be like to walk away from all of thatand he feltnothing.
Athens, being here for the past week, had confounded his every expectation. Hed thought hed feel nothing. On the contrary, he felt as though hed been plugged into something deeply primal within his soul. Something had been brought to life, and wouldnt be pushed back to some dim and distant recess.
Just then, as if to compound this feeling, he caught sight of something in the far corner of the room. Glossy hair piled high, a long neck. A familiar slim back. Leos heart started to thud, this time to a very different beat.
Angel was trying to keep her head down and not meet anyones eye. Shed done her best to stay in the kitchen, preparing the trays, but her boss had eventually sent her up to the main salon as she was his most experienced staff member.
At that moment she caught a pointed frowning look from Aristotle Levakis across the roomhe was business partner to Parnassus, and her stomach quivered with renewed panic. This was a disaster in the making. Aristotle Levakis knew her, because their fathers had been friendly before Aristotles father had died. Angel could remember that Aristotle had been to one or two parties at her fathers house over the years.
In the act of offering some red wine to a small group of people, she had to keep going, but then she got accidentally jostled by another waiter. The tray tipped off balance, and with mounting horror Angel watched four glasses full of red wine disgorge their contents all over a beautiful womans pristine and very white designer dress.
For a second nothing happened. The woman was just looking down at her dress, aghast. And then it came, her voice so shrill that Angel winced. Conversely, at the same time, an awful silence seemed to descend.
You stupid, stupid girl
But then, just as suddenly, a huge dark shape appeared at Angels side, and she barely had time to take in a breath before she registered that it was the man from the pool. Her heart skipped a beat, before starting again erratically. He sent her a quick wink before taking the gasping woman aside to speak to her in low, hushed tones, and Angel saw her boss hurry forward to take the matter in hand.
Her boss and the woman were summarily dispatched, and then the man turned around to face Angel. Words dropped into her head but made no sense. He was so downright intimidating in an exquisite tuxedo that shock was rendering her speechless, breathless and motionless.
He calmly took the now empty tray from her hand and passed it to another waiter. The mess from the fallen drinks was already being cleared up. Angel would have protested that she should look after it, if she could have spoken.
Everyone else in the immediate vicinity seemed to melt away, and with a light, yet commanding touch from his hand on her arm Angel felt herself being manoeuvred across the room, until theyd walked through a set of open patio doors and out to the blessed quiet of the grand terrace.
The cool and fragrant evening air curled around Angel like a caress, but she felt hot, right down to her very core. Hot from embarrassment and hot from where this mans big hand was curled around her upper arm. They came to a stop beside a low wall, beyond which a pristine lawn sloped gently downwards and off into the distance.
Silence surrounded them, thick and heavy, the muted sounds of the party coming from behind the closed patio doors. Had he closed the doors? The thought of him doing that to give them privacy made her shiver. She looked up, and with a disconcerting amount of effort pulled her arm free from his light, yet devastating grip. He smiled down at her, putting his hands in his pockets, and he looked so rakishly handsome that Angel felt weak all over again. Hair that had been slicked back with water was now thick and glossy, a little over-long.
Sowe meet again.
Angel forced her brain to retain a small sliver of sanity, but no matter how much she wanted it to, she feared her voice wouldnt come out as cool as she hoped for. Im sorryyou must think me an awful klutz. Im not normally so clumsy. Thank you for She gestured to the room, thinking of the red stain spreading over the womans white dress again and feeling sick. For defusing the situation, but I dont think my boss will forgive me for it. That dress looked like it was worth about a years worth of my wages.
He took a hand out of his pocket and waved it nonchalantly. Consider it taken care of. I saw what happened, it was an accident.
Angel gasped. I cant let you do a thing like that. I dont even know you. His insouciance and casual display of wealth made something cold lodge in her chest. It was a rejection from deep within her of this whole social scene. Shed grown up with it and it reminded her too much of the darkness in her own family.
His eyes glinted with something dangerous. On the contrary, Id say that were well on the way to becomingacquainted.
An electric current seemed to spring into action in that moment. The man moved closer to Angel, closing the small distance between them, and the breath lodged in her throat. She couldnt think, couldnt speak. His eyes held hers, and for the second time that day she noted the way they seemed to burn with a golden light.
He lifted a hand and trailed his finger down one cheek to the delicate line of her jaw. It left a line of tingling fire in its wake.
I havent been able to stop thinking about you.
The something cold that had lodged in Angels chest melted. Youhavent?
He shook his head. Or your mouth.
My mouth Angel repeated stupidly. Her gaze dropped to his mouth then, and she saw once again the jagged line of the scar extending from his upper lip. She had the strongest desire to reach up and trace it with a finger, so strong that she shook.
Are you thinking about what it would feel like if my mouth was to touch yours right now?
Angels gaze flew up and clashed with pure molten golden heat. An answering heat invaded her lower body. She felt the urge to clamp her legs together, as if that might calm the disturbing ache building up there.
Before she could answer, or articulate a response, his hand had cupped her jaw and cheek, and suddenly there was no distance between them, only him, so tall and close that he blocked out the sky, and his head was descending, coming nearer and nearer.
He smelt musky and hot. It was something so earthy that Angel could feel the response being tugged from down low in her belly, as if she recognised it on some primitive level. Dimly she wondered if this was what people meant when they talked about animal attraction.
Desperately trying to cling onto something, anything rational, Angel brought a hand up to cover his, to pull it down, to stop him, to say noBut then his mouth was so close that she could feel his breath feather there, mingling with hers. Her mouth tingled. She wantedshe wanted
Sir?
Angel wanted his mouth on hers so badly that she made a telling move closer
Mr Parnassussir?
Angels eyes had been fluttering closed, but suddenly flew open again. Their mouths were just about touching. If Angel was to put out her tongue shed be able to explore his lips, their shape and texture. And then the name that had just been uttered exploded into her consciousness properly.
Mr Parnassus.
Reality slammed back, and the cacophony of the party rushed out to meet them through open doors. Angel was barely aware of pulling his hand down and moving back. Shock was starting to spread through her entire body. Someone else came out to the patio then. The butler who had been standing therefor how long?melted away discreetly. The new arrival was the hosts wife, Olympia Parnassus. Angel knew this because shed given all the waiting staff a pep talk in the kitchen earlier.
Leo, darling, your father is looking for you, its almost time for the speech.
In a smooth move, Angel realised that shed been effectively shielded from view. She felt more than heard the deep rumble of response.
Give me two minutes here, Olympia.
His tone was implacable. Clearly he was someone used to giving commands and having them met. He was Leonidas Parnassus.
Angel barely heard the older woman make some comment before she turned and clipped her way back into the party in her high heels, pulling the doors shut again. Shock was gathering force, andAngel started to react. She had to get out of here.
She knew that Leonidas Parnassus had turned back to face her, but she couldnt look at him. A warm hand tipped her chin up and she felt sick. She couldnt avoid his eyes unless she closed her own, and the thought of doing that made panic rise. He smiled a sexy smile.
Please forgive the interruption. Ill have to go in a minute, butwhere were we?
Angel had to get out of here right now. Shed just been about to kiss Leonidas Parnassus, the very man who must be gloating over her familys very public ruination. A sudden spurt of anger bloomed. They were in dire straits, and it was all because of his family and their lust for revenge. She thought of Delphi, who was so vulnerable now; she and her sister didnt deserve to be paying for something that had happened decades before.
Angel pulled down his hand and forced frost into her voice. Look, I dont know what youre playing at. I have to get back to work. if my boss saw me out here with you Id be sacked on the spot, which is obviously something that hasnt occurred to you.
Leonidas Parnassus looked at her for a long moment before straightening to his full intimidating height and moving back a pace. Gone was the sexily teasing man of just moments before and in his place now stood the son and heir of a vast fortune. The man who was already a self-made millionaire. No wonder shed had that feeling earlier that he was someone.
Arrogant confidence oozed from every pore, and Angel had to repress a shiver at the cold of his eyesnot tawny gold any more, but almost black, like flint.
Forgive me. His voice was frigid. I would never have attempted to kiss you if Id known you found the prospect so repugnant.
His demeanour made a mockery of his words. He was completely unrepentant. At that moment he reached out and cupped her jaw again. Her heart hammered against her ribs, she felt herself flushing.
Any pretence of remorse was gone, or charm. Who do you think youre kidding, sweetheart? Dont ever fool yourself like that again. I know the signs of desire, and youre practically panting for me right now, just like you were by the pool.
Angel ripped his hand down again, panic surging in earnest. If he had even an inkling of who she wasDont be ridiculous. I am not. I want you to get out of my way, please, so I can get back to work.
I will, he bit out. But not before weve proved your words to be a lie.
Before Angel could take a breath hed cupped her face in both his hands, stepped right up to her body, and his mouth was crashing down onto her shocked open one with all the force of a huge wave. Her hands covered his in a hazy attempt to remove them, and she struggled against the onslaught, but it felt like going against the strongest current.
Her open mouth had provided an unwitting invitation to his, and his tongue stabbed deep and plundered, seeking hers, sucking it deep. To be kissed so intimately shook her to her core.
Her body had stiffened with the shock of his action, but a spreading, melting sensation was quickly taking over. The urge to fight was becoming more and more distant. All Angel could feel was the sinewy strength of those hands. They were so big that he was cradling her entire head, long fingers threading through her hair, massaging her scalp. And all the while his mouth and tongue were sucking her down into a deep spiral of the unknown.
When she stopped trying to pull his hands away she would never know. Nor would she be able to say when she moved her own hands and arms to wind their way up and over his shoulders.
She only knew that all reality had ceased to exist as they kissed and kissed with furious intensity. Their bodies were tight together and she pressed against the long, lean hardness of him. The thundering beating of their hearts was drowning out voices, concerns. She strained against him, on tiptoe to get even closercould feel the unmistakable signs of his burgeoning arousal, and when she felt that her brain melted completely.
And then all of a sudden it was over, and he was stepping back from her. Angel made an awfully betraying move towards him, as if loath to let him go, her hands still outstretched from where theyd been wrapped like clinging vines around his shoulders. It was only then that she noticed her hands were held in hisand the awful suspicion arose. Had he had to forcibly take them down? Mortification flooded Angel even as she tried to assess the situation, gather her scattered nerves. Her heart still hammered. She was mute. Dizzy.
Leonidas Parnassus just looked at her, his face flushedwith anger? Or satisfaction that hed proved himself right? Angels mortification rose to a new level.
A discreet cough came from close by, and then a voice.
Sir? If you could join your father inside nowplease?
Leonidas just looked at Angel, nothing given away on his face. It held a steely imperviousness that she would never have guessed the teasing man shed met earlier to possess.
Ill be right in. Leonidas pitched his voice to reach the hovering staff member, but his eyes never left hers. He seemed to be utterly in control, apart from that betraying colour in his cheeks. She felt as if she was unravelling at the seams.
I Angel began ineffectually.
He cut her off with an autocratic, Wait for me here. Im not done with you yet.
And with that he turned on his heel, and Angel watched him stride powerfully back into the thronged room, raking a hand through his hair as he did so. His back was huge and broad in the black of his tuxedo.
She couldnt believe what had just happened.
In shock she put a finger to her mouth, where her lips felt plump and bruised. Thoroughly kissed. In a fresh rush of embarrassment and disgust Angel could remember wantonly arching her body even closer to hisalmost as if shed wanted to climb into his skin. Not even in the most passionate moment of her relationship with Achilles had she felt that intensity of desire, every thought wiped clean from her mind. But then, she recalled bitterly, that had been part of the problem
Angel felt raw and exposed, and painful memories were surging back, as if it wasnt awful enough to deal with what had just happened.
She heard a hush descend on the crowd in the salon, and searched for some means of escape. Finally, growing desperate, she spotted where some steps led down from the patio to the lower levels, and presumably back around to the kitchen. Hurrying down, she knew that she could forget about her job. The incident with the wine would have sealed her fate anyway; her disappearance with the guest of honour would have merely ensured it.
If her boss hadnt known the significance of who she was, he soon would, and she didnt want to be around to witness that.
Down in the kitchen she grabbed her things, and then crept out and headed down the drive, away from the glittering villa, not looking back once.
Leo stood and listened to his fathers unashamedly emotional speech, Georgios Parnassus made no secret of the fact that he was ready to hand over the reins of power to Leo. The prospect of a shift in power had been evident in the room instantaneously. Again, Leo felt that welling of some ancient pride, that sense of right to be here. While he wasnt going to give the old man the satisfaction of capitulating so easily, he couldnt deny the sense of needing to stake his own claim to his birthright, the birthright that had been stolen from him.
His old man was no fool. No doubt hed banked on exactly this by asking him to come to Greece, but Leo was not about to let him see that he might have won so soon.
Even while Leo was able to function and articulate his thoughts and intentions as the rapturous applause died away after his fathers speech and the din of conversation rose again, his body still hummed with desire for the woman hed left outside on the patio. He flicked a glance to the doors, once again open, but couldnt see her. Irritation prickled to think she might have moved. Hed told her to wait for him. He was trapped now, though, by the usual sycophants, all vying to get a slice of him.
He chafed to leave, to get back outside, finish what theyd started, and that irked him. Here he was at the potential forking of the road in his life, a huge moment, and all he could think about was a sexy waitress whod had the temerity to blow hot and cold and then hot again. Anger gripped him, surprising him. Hed never encountered that before. Hed had women play hard to get in an effort to snag his interest and it never worked. He didnt indulge in games. The women in his life were experienced, matureand knew the score. No emotional entanglement and no game-playing.
But when she had looked at him as if hed been some callow youth trying to maul herhed seen red. Hed never felt that singular desire before to prove someone wrong, to imprint himself on a woman. Hed never felt such a ruthless need to kiss anyone like thatand then, when hed felt her initial struggle fade, when hed felt her grow hot and wanton in his arms, kissing him back almost as if her life
Georgios couldnt have been more obviousso, are you ready to take the bait, Parnassus?
Leo was so helplessly deep in his thoughts that it took a second for his brain to function and come back into the room. The fawning crowd surrounding him was gone. He blinked and saw that Aristotle Levakis, his fathers business partner, was looking at him expectantly. Leo liked Ari Levakis; theyd worked closely together at the time of the merger, albeit with Leo based in New York. But, much to his chagrin now, he had to force himself to remember what Ari had just said.
He couldnt shake the building tension, wanting to get back out to her. What if shed gone? He didnt even know her name. He forced himself to smile and joked, You think Im going to discuss it with you and have any decision I make all over Athens by morning?
Ari tutted good-naturedly. Leo tried to concentrate on their conversation even as he looked for glossy brown hair piled high, exposing a delicate jaw and neck.
He missed something Ari said then, and cursed himself. Im sorry, what did you say?
That I was surprised to see her here. I saw you taking her outsidedid you ask her to leave? Ari was shaking his head. Ill admit she has some nerve
Leo went very still. Her?
Angel Kassianides. Titos eldest daughter. She was here working as a waitressShe spilt wine over Pia Kyriapoulos and you took her outside. I think everyone presumed that you were telling her where to go. Ari looked around for a moment. And I havent seen her since, so whatever you said worked.
Leo had an instant reaction to hearing the Kassianides name mentioned. It was the name of their enemy; a name that represented loss, pain, humiliation, and unbelievable heartache. He frowned, trying to understand. Angel KassianidesShes a Kassianides?
Ari looked back and nodded, frowning when he saw Leos face. You didnt know?
Leo shook his head, his brain struggling to take in this information. Why would he know what Tito Kassianides children looked like? Theyd not dealt directly with the Kassianides family during the merger. The merger itself had been all that was needed to precipitate their downfall. It had been a clean and sterile revenge, but it felt curiously insufficient now, when hed been faced by one of them here tonight. When hed kissed one of them.
He felt acutely vulnerable; if Ari had recognised her, then who was to say that others hadnt? He remembered how hed led her outside with one thought in mind: getting her alone so he could explore his attraction, with no clue as to her identity. He let anger dispel the unwelcome feeling of vulnerability. Had she been planning some sort of incident? What the hell had she been playing at with him? Seducing him with those huge blue eyes and then trying to pretend she didnt desire him? Shed been toying with him from that moment by the pool. Those widening eyes must have held recognition of who he was, not the mutual flash of attraction hed believed it to be. The thought made bile rise. He hadnt felt so exposedever.
Had her father sent her, like some sort of pawn? Had the whole thing been an act? Leos entire body stiffened in rejection of that thought. Just then he saw his own father approaching, with a delegation of other men. He had no time to process this now, and for the rest of the evening Leo would have to act and smile and pretend that he didnt want to rip off his bow tie, throw his jacket down and go and find Angel Kassianides and get her to answer some very pertinent questions.
A week later, New York
Leo stood at the huge window in his office that looked out over downtown Manhattan. The view was familiar, but he didnt see it. All he could see, and all he had seen every time he closed his eyes since Athens, was Angel Kassianides angelic face, tipped up to his, eyelids fluttering closed, just before hed kissed her. He laughed caustically to himself. Angel. Whoever had named her had named her well.
He wrenched his mind away from Angel and thought of Athens. Not that hed admit it to anyone yet, and certainly not his father, but Athens had changed something fundamental inside him. New York was spread out below him and he felt nothing. It was as if even though hed been born and brought up here it had never claimed him. It didnt resonate within him the way it once had. Now it was just a fast-living jumble of towering buildings.
Hed even rung his mistress that morning, after avoiding her all week, which was not like him, and broken it off. Her histrionics still rang in his ear. But he hadnt even felt a twinge of conscience. Hed felt relief.
Angel. It irritated him how easily she kept inserting herself into his consciousness. He hadnt been able to indulge in seeking her out and asking her just what the hell shed been playing at in his fathers villa due to a crisis erupting here in his head office. A crisis that looked set to continue for at least a few weeks, much to his irritation. Not that it was serving to take his mind off her. He wasnt used to women distracting his attention, and certainly not ones he hadnt even slept with.
Anger bubbled low within him. The feeling that hed been made a fool of was a novel one, and not something he was prepared to allow for a moment longer. Angel Kassianides was playing with fire if she thought she could make a fool out of a Parnassus. Out of him. How dared she? After everything her family had done to his? On the very night of his public introduction to Athens society?
Her sheer audacity struck him again. Evidently the Kassianides family werent content to let the past be the past. Did they want to rake up old enmity or worse, to fight to the death until they reined supreme again?
Leo frowned. Perhaps they had the support of some of the old Athens elite? Perhaps the threat was something to be concerned about? And then, he chastised himself. Maybe it was all nothing. A pure coincidence that Angel had been there that night.
A small voice mocked: was it a coincidence that out of all the people there, she was the one you noticed? Leos hands fisted in his pockets. He was not going to let her get away with this.
He turned around and picked up his phone and made a call. His conversation with the person on the other end was short and succinct. When he was finished he turned back to the view. Leo had just made a momentous announcement with the minimum of fuss: he was going to return to Athens and take over Parnassus Shipping. A tingling anticipation skated over his skin, made his blood hum.
The thought of facing Angel Kassianides again and forcing her to explain herself made the blood fizz and jump in Leos veins. His jaw tightened as he fought the sudden surge of extreme impatience, a demand in his body that he act on his decision and go right now. He had things to do, his business in New York to sort out; a crisis at hand. He would bide his time and prepare, drive down this almost animalistic urge to leave. He assured himself that Angel Kassianides was not the catalyst behind his decision; but she was going to be one of his first ports of call.
Chapter Two
A month later
ANGELS heart hammered painfully. She felt a cold sweat break out all over her body. For the second time in just weeks she was in the worst place in the world: the Parnassus villa. She felt sick when she remembered what had happened out on the terrace. She closed her eyes and breathed deep. She could not be thinking of that now. Of Leo Parnassus. Of how hed made her feel just before shed found out exactly who he was. Of how it had been so hard to forget him.
She opened her eyes again and tried to make out the rooms in the dim light. To her intense relief the place appeared to be empty, and she sent up silent thanks that for once the newspaper reports had been right. Shed read about Georgios Parnassus ailing health, and how he was taking a rest on a recently acquired Greek island. She felt the reassuring bulk of the document in the inside pocket of her jacket. This was why she was here. She was doing the right thing.
Ever since it had been announced in the press just a few days ago that Leo Parnassus was taking over the reins of the Parnassus shipping fleet, and leaving New York to come back to Athens permanently, Angel had grown more skittish and her father more and more bitter and vitriolic, seeing any chance of redeeming himself diminish. A young, vibrant head of the Parnassus Corporation was a much bigger threat than the ailing father had been, despite their success.
Angel had returned home from her new job yesterday to find her father cackling drunkenly over a thick document. Hed spotted her creeping through the hall and called her into the drawing room. Reluctantly shed obeyed, knowing better than to annoy him.
Hed gestured to the document. D you know what this is?
Angel had shaken her head. Of course she didnt know.
This, dear daughter, is my ticket out of bankruptcy. Hed waved the sheaf of pages. Do you realise what Im holding here?
Angel had shaken her head again, an awful sick feeling creeping up her spine.
Her father had slurred, What Im holding is the deepest, darkest secrets of the Parnassus family and their fate. Georgios Parnassus final will and testament. I now know everything. About all their assets, exactly how much theyre worth, and how he plans on distributing it all. I also know that his first wife killed herself. They must have hushed that up. Can you imagine what would happen if this was leaked to the right people? I can take them down with this.
I can take them down with this. Nausea had risen from Angels gut to think that after all these years, and after what the Parnassus family had been through, her father still wanted to fuel the feud. He was so blinded by bitterness that he couldnt see that doing something like this would make him and his family look even worse. Not to mention cause untold pain to the Parnassus family in revealing family secrets, if what he said about the suicide was true.
How did you get it?
Her father had waved a dismissive hand. Doesnt matter.
Familiar cold disgust had made Angel bite out, You sent one of your goons to the villa to steal it.
Her fathers face had grown mottled, confirming what shed said, or at least the fact that he had stolen it. Shed no idea how he had actually done it, but some slavishly loyal men still surrounded her father.
Her father had become belligerent, clearly done with her. What if I did? Now, get out of here. You make me sick every time I look at you and am reminded of your whore of a mother.
Angel was so used to her father speaking to her like that she hadnt even flinched. Hed always blamed her for the fact that her glamorous Irish mother had walked out on them when Angel had been just two years old. Shed left the room, then waited for a while and gone back. Sure enough her father had passed out in his chair, one hand clutching the thick document, the other clutching an empty bottle of whisky to his chest. Hed been snoring loudly. It had been easy to slide the sheaf of pages out from his loosened fingers and creep back out.
Early that morning shed gone straight to work, taking the will with her, knowing that her father would still be passed out cold. And then, late that evening, shed taken the journey up to the Parnassus villa, but had panicked momentarily when faced with a security guard and the enormity of what she had to do. Shed blurted out something about being at the function some weeks before and leaving something valuable behind.
To her intense relief, after the unsmiling guard had consulted with someone, shed been let in. To her further relief, when shed reached the kitchens, shed found no one and had crept up through the silent house, praying that shed find the study. Shed leave the papers in a drawer and slip away again.
She was not going to let her father create more bad feeling between the families. That was the last thing they needed, the last thing Delphi needed. Every day now Stavros was begging Delphi to elope, but she was standing strong and refusing, determined not to ruin Stavros prospects and be responsible for tearing his family apart.
The flaring up of their old feud with the most powerful family in Athens would make any prospect of marriage between them even more impossible. Angel heard her sister sobbing herself to sleep every night, and knew that a very real rift could break the young lovers apart for ever if something didnt happen soon. On top of everything else, Delphi had important law exams to think about.
The enormity of it all threatened to swamp Angel for a moment.
She emerged into the huge reception hall and stood for a moment, trying to calm her nerves, to stop her mind from spiralling into despair. Her breath was coming fast and shallow. She felt a prickling across the back of her neck and chastised herself. There was no one there. Just get on with it!
Seeing a half-open door across the expanse of marbled floor, she held her breath and tiptoed across. Gingerly pushing the door open a little more fully, she breathed a sigh of relief once more when she saw that it was the study. Moonlight was the only illumination, and it cast the room in dark shadows.
Angel could make out a desk and went over, feeling for a drawer. Her fingers snagged a catch and she pulled it out, while reaching her hand into her pocket for the will at the same time. Shed just pulled it free and was about to place it into the drawer when the lights blazed on, with such suddenness and ferocity that Angel jumped back in fright.
Leonidas Parnassus stood in the doorway, arms folded, eyes so dark and forbidding that they effectively froze Angel from feeling anything but numb. And then he said quietly, but with ice dripping from his tone, Just what the hell do you think youre doing?
Angel blinked in the intense light. She heard a roaring in her ears and had to fight against the very real need to faint. She couldnt faint. But she couldnt speak. Her brain and body were going into meltdown at being confronted with Leo Parnassus, standing just a few feet away, dressed in dark trousers and a plain light blue shirt, looking dark and intimidatingly gorgeous. Looking like the man who had invaded her dreams for the past seven weeks.
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
With a few quick strides Leo had crossed the room, moving so fast and with such lethal grace that Angel just watched in disbelief when he effortlessly whipped the will out of her white-knuckle grip.
Well, Kassianides, lets see what you came for.
Angel watched dumbly as he unfolded the document. She heard his indrawn breath when he registered what it was.
He looked at her, his dark gaze like black ice. My fathers will? You came here to steal my fathers will? Or just whatever you could get your dirty little hands on?
Angel shook her head, registering that hed called her Kassianides. It distracted her. Youyou know who I am?
His jaw tightened. Angel saw the movement and felt a flutter in her belly. He threw the will down on the table and reached out, taking her arm in a punishing grip. Angel bit back a cry at his touch, more of shock than pain.
He unceremoniously hauled her from behind the desk and led her over to a chair in the corner. He all but thrust her into it.
I should have guessed after your last stunt that you obviously dont have any qualms about trespassing where youre not welcome.
He didnt answer her redundant question. Patently he now knew exactly who she was, and she realised that someone at the party must have told him after theyd seen him take her outside.
She knew it was probably futile, but she said it anyway. If Id known for a second where I would be working that night I wouldnt have been here, I found out when it was too late.
He all but sneered, towering over her now, arms crossed again over his broad chest. Please, give me some credit. You might be able to distract other people with that seductively innocent face, but after what Ive just seen I know that youre rotten to your core. Your whole family are.
Angel went to stand up on a fierce wave of anger. It was not fair to assume that she was like her ancestors, or her father, but before she could get a word out Leo had easily pushed her back down, not even using much force. Angel felt as weak as a rag doll, shaky all over. Once again the reality of his touch was more shocking than his action.
She clenched her fists and welcomed the rush of energy that anger brought. You have it all wrong. Im not here to steal anything. If you must know
Leo slashed a hand through the air, silencing her. Angel stopped abruptly. As much as she held no love for her father, she realised in that moment the futility of landing the blame at his door. Leo Parnassus would just laugh in her face. Shed quite literally been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, and could blame no one but herself.
She watched as he paced back and forth, his hands on his hips. The fingers were long and lean, and a sprinkling of dark hair dusted the backs of his hands. Suddenly an image of him hauling himself out of the pool that evening in one sleek movement caused heat to explode low in her pelvis.
In a moment of blind panic, feeling intensely vulnerable, Angel sprang up again and stood behind the high-backed chair. As if that could offer protection! Leo stopped and turned around to face her, surveying her coolly.
Angel asked huskily, Whatwhat are you going to do? Are you going to call the police?
He ignored her question and walked over to a sideboard, where he poured himself a measure of whisky. He downed the drink in one swallow, the strong bronzed column of his throat working, making Angel feel even more weak and trembly.
Leos eyes snared hers again, and she saw something flame in the dark depths, revealing golden lights.
Did your father send you here that night? Was it a recce for tonight? Or is this your own ingenuity?
Angels hands clenched on the back of the chair; she could feel her ponytail coming loose. I told you. The night of the party I had no idea where we were going. I worked for that catering company, they didnt tell us until we were on the way for security reasons.
He all but laughed out loud. And once you and your father knew that Georgios was away, you took advantage of the opportunity. The only thing you didnt factor in was my return.
Ththere was nothing in the press.
Leo glowered, and Angel quailed even more. Now shed made it sound even worse. No way could she reveal that shed been helplessly drawn to scanning the papers every day to read about his movements.
I came a week early, hoping to surprise a few people. Were very aware his mouth tightened more so now were in transition of power, that people will believe were an easy target to take over.
Angel had a nauseating realisation. You saw me arrive. The security guard checked with you
Leo indicated to Angels right-hand side, and she looked over to see an ante-room off the study, the door through which he had appeared. In it, she could clearly make out a glowing wall of cameras, showing flickering black and white images. CCTV cameras. One of which looked directly over the main gate. Hed watched nearly every step of her progress. She felt sick when she thought of how shed crept through the house. Her naivety mocked her. Of course shed never have got near this place if he hadnt been here. She looked back.
Leos face was so harsh that Angel felt a jolt of pure fear go through her. This man was a million miles from the seductive stranger shed met that night.
Your audacity is truly astonishing. Clearly you have the confidence born of your position in society, even if you dont hold that position any longer.
Angel could have laughed if shed had the wherewithal. Tito might have been wealthy once, but he was a despot and had controlled all their lives with a tight fist. It hadnt been audacity that had led her to that gate; it had been sheer fear and a desire to right a wrong.
I wasnt coming to steal anything, I swear.
Leo gestured back to the will sitting on the table and completely ignored her statement. What were you hoping to glean from it? He laughed harshly. Thats a stupid question. No doubt your father was hoping to use inside information on my fathers estate to undermine him in some way. Or were you going to use the information to do a bit of honey-trapping, maybe? Youd have enough information to try and winkle out some more? Take advantage of the kiss we shared that night?
Angel flushed hotly when she thought of that kiss, and then remembered her fathers gloating talk last night. That was exactly how her father would think. Too late, she saw the hard, unforgiving look come into Leos eyes, his jaw tense. Clearly he was misinterpreting her misplaced guilt.
Once again she knew that it would be futile to tell the truth. Leo Parnassus would be more likely to believe in Santa Claus than in her innocence, especially when the circumstantial evidence was so damning. All she knew was that she needed to get out of there. She was feeling increasingly hot and bothered under his intense and concentrated regard.
Tentatively she came from around the chair. She reassured herself that he was an urbane man of the world. An American. She had to be able to appeal to some rational part of him.
Look. You have the will. Im sorry for trespassing where Im not welcome. I promise if you let me go that youll never see or hear from me again. Angel ignored the way her heart gave a funny little clench when she said that. She couldnt even begin to contemplate her fathers reaction to what shed done, and of course she couldnt promise that he wouldnt do something stupid again, but she kept her mouth shut.
Leo put down the glass silently on the table. Angel followed the movement warily. A strange charge came into the air between them and she found her eyes being helplessly drawn back to his. They were glowing with gold in their depths again, reminding her of how hed looked at her just before hed kissed her that night on the terrace. His eyes dropped then, insolently sweeping down her body, taking in her worn jeans, black top and jacket. Sneakers. And suddenly it was as if she was breaking out into little fires all over her skin.
Her heart started thumping. In a blind panic, to negate her reaction, she moved again, telling herself that he wouldnt stop her if she just walked out. After all, it wasnt as if shed actually broken into the villa.
But just as she was about to pass him she felt her arm being gripped, and she was swung around so fast that she lost her balance and fell against him. All the breath seemed to leave her body.
In an instant hed loosened her already unravelling hair, and it fell around her shoulders. His hand held her head, tilting her face up to him. His other arm was like a steel band around her back. Angel was afraid to move or breathe, because that would invite a contact that would scatter what remained of any coherent thought. As it was, she was barely clinging onto a shred of sanity.
Do you know that youve actually done me a favour, Kassianides?
Angel winced inwardly at his use of her surname, hating the fact that it bothered her.
Youve saved me a trip. Because I was going to confront you about why youd come here that night. You couldnt possibly have believed youd get away with it, could you?
It was a rhetorical question. Angel said nothing, too scared of the burgeoning feelings and sensations running through her body. When Leo spoke again his chest rumbled against hers.
I was also curious to know if perhaps Id been too harsh in my first assessment as to why youd been waitressing at our party. After all, just because youre Titos daughter, perhaps it wasnt entirely fair to assume the worst.
Angel couldnt believe it. She saw a glimmer of hope and started to nod her head. She opened her mouth, but he wasnt giving her an opportunity to speak. His voice became harder and harsher.
But your actions here tonight have damned you completely. The minute you saw the opportunity you were back, and this time to steal something of real value that could be used in an effort to harm our family. That will has information about my own estate, so its not just my father youve committed a crime against, its me.
Cold horror trickled through Angel. This was so much worse than shed thought.
Leo continued, Its almost cute, how naive you were to think you could be so blatant. Do you really think if I hadnt been here that it would have been so easy to get access to this villa?
Angels fragile hopes died there and then. She tried to summon her strength and pull free, and regretted it immediately when it merely gave Leo more room to hold her even tighter against him. Her breasts were crushed against his chest. They were pressed together, torso to torso, hip to hip. His breath feathered near her mouthwhen had his head moved so close?
She tried to pull back and his fingers tightened in her hair. She winced, even though he wasnt really hurting her. His mocking smile sliced through her defences.
You cant be so naive as to believe youre getting away that easily, Kassianides, can you?
Cold fear trickled through Angel. For a second she was distracted enough to ask, What do you mean?
There was another reason I was going to come for you.
Angel shivered inwardly, he sounded so implacable. There was?
He nodded, his face so close now that she felt as if she was drowning in the dark golden depths of his eyes. Her hands were between them, resting on his chest, where theyd gone in an instinctive move to steady herself. She could feel his heart beating steadily underneath them and it made her want to move her hips. She stayed rigid.
Youve kept me awake for weeks. He grimaced. I tried to deny it, ignore it. But this desire wouldnt abate. Im not in the habit of denying myself anything, or anyone I want. As much as I despise myself for feeling thisI want you, Angel.
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ABBY GREEN
Forbidden or for bedding? Leo Parnassus has returned to Greece to head the family empire. A New Yorker since childhood, he finds life is certainly different here: there are family feuds, and expectations for him to marry and produce many heirs! Amidst all this tradition, the beautiful waitress who catches Leos eye is a welcome distraction.Lowly waitress Angel might be, but that doesnt mean she has no secrets! Leo will be pleased to discover shes a virgin, but not that shes the daughter of his adversary! Or that, in nine months, there will be one more secret to be revealed
Are you thinking about what it would feel like if my mouth was to touch yours right now?
Angels gaze flew up and clashed with pure molten gold heat. An answering heat invaded her lower body, and she felt the urge to clamp her legs together, as if that might dampen the strange ache building up there.
Before she could articulate a response his hand had cupped her jaw and cheek, and suddenly there was no distance between them, only him, so tall and close that he blocked out the sky, and his head was descending, coming nearer and nearer. He smelt musky and hot. It was something so earthy that Angel could feel the response being tugged from her down low in her belly, as if she recognised it on some primitive level. Dimly she wondered if this was what people meant when they talked about animal attraction.
Desperately trying to cling onto something, anything rational, Angel brought a hand to cover his, to pull it down, to stop him, to say noBut then his mouth was so close that she could feel his breath feather there, mingling with hers. Her mouth tingled. She wantedshe wanted
Abby Green got hooked on Mills & Boon romances while still in her teens, when she stumbled across one belonging to her grandmother, in the west of Ireland. After many years of reading them voraciously, she sat down one day and gave it a go herself. Happily, after a few failed attempts, Mills & Boon bought her first manuscript.
Abby works freelance in the film and TV industry, but thankfully the four a.m. starts and the stresses of dealing with recalcitrant actors are becoming more and more infrequent, leaving her more time to write!
She loves to hear from readers, and you can contact her through her website at www.abby-green.com. She lives and works in Dublin.
The Virgins Secret
by
Abby Green
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk/)
Table of Contents
Cover Page (#u5ca3ae37-5521-5912-b22e-e3f559e56547)
Excerpt (#u2a725ce9-9f3b-56ac-b32b-bf810d66b96b)
About The Author (#u5081c8cf-0427-57aa-9ac3-9d820832e01f)
Title Page (#u13cff236-4316-53d6-bed6-4bfa5f90cda6)
Acknowledgements (#u6592fa19-3d0e-5073-a67f-a10ec54ae8db)
Prologue (#u378a65db-d216-5c9b-b5cb-fe382c9e21b8)
Chapter One (#u88918fd0-a584-564b-8e2b-624634d2b4eb)
Chapter Two (#ud7ad9569-2d17-5b67-b2ac-332bd32ae5d1)
Chapter Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
This is for my lovely editor, Meg, who shines a torchlight into the dark corners where Ive tied myself into knots, and helps me unravel it all again into something coherent. Thanks for everythingyoure a star.
Id also like to dedicate this book with special thanks to Anne Mary Luttrell, whose waiting room is a magical place where many a plot has been incubated. Thanks for your healing hands (needles) and words.
Prologue
LEONIDAS PARNASSUS looked out of the window of his private plane. Theyd just landed at Athens airport. To his utter consternation his chest felt tight and constricteda sensation he didnt welcome. He was curiously reluctant to move from his seat, even though the cabin staff were preparing to open the door, even though sitting still and not moving was anathema to him. He told himself it was because he was still chafing at the reality that hed acquiesced to his fathers demand that he come to Athens for talks.
Leo Parnassus did not carve out time for anything or anyone he deemed a waste of his resources and energy. Not a business venture, a lover, nor a father who had put building up the family fortune and clearing their shamed name before a relationship with his son. Leo grimaced slightly, his face so harsh that the steward who had been approaching him stopped abruptly and hovered uncertainly. Leo saw nothing though but the heat haze on the tarmac outside and the darkness of his own thoughts.
He was Greek through and through, and yet hed never set foot on Greek soil. His family had been exiled from their ancestral home before he was born, but his father had returned triumphantly just a few years ago; finally realising a lifelong dream to clear their name of a terrible crime and to glory in their new-found status and inestimable wealth.
Bitter anger rose when Leo remembered his beloved ya yas lined and worn face. The sadness that had grooved deep lines around her mouth and shadowed her eyes. It had been too late for her to return home. Shed died in an alien country shed never grown to love. Even though his grandmother had urged him to return as soon as hed had the chance, hed condemned Athens on her behalf for breaking her heart. Hed always sworn that he wouldnt return to the place that had spurned his family so easily.
Athens was still home to the Kassianides family who had been responsible for all that pain and sadness, and who were suffering far too belatedly and minutely for what they had done. They had cast a long shadow over his childhood which had been indelibly marked by their actions, in so many ways.
And yet, despite all thathere he was. Because something in his fathers voice, an unmistakable weakness had called to him, in spite of everything that had happened. It had touched him on some level. In short, hed felt compelled to come. Perhaps he wanted to prove to himself that he was not at the mercy of his emotions?
The very thought of that made him go cold; at the tender age of eight hed made an inarticulate vow never to let any intensity of emotion overwhelm him, because thats what had killed his mother. Surely he could handle looking his ancestral home in the face and turn his back on it once and for all? Of course he could.
But first he had to deal with the fact that his father wanted him to take over the Parnassus shipping business. Leo had denied his inheritance a long time ago; hed embraced the entrepreneurial American spirit, and now ran a diverse subsidiary business that encompassed finance, acquisitions, and real estate, recently snapping up an entire block of buildings in New Yorks Lower East Side for redevelopment.
His sole input to his fathers business had been a couple of years before when theyd tightened the noose of revenge around the neck of Tito Kassianides, the last remaining patriarch of the Kassianides family. It was the one thing that had joined father and son: a united desire to seek vengeance.
Leo had taken singular pleasure in making sure that the Kassianides demise was ensured, thanks to a huge merger his father had orchestrated with Aristotle Levakis, one of Greeces titans of industry. That victory now, though, when he was faced with the reality of touching down in Greece, felt curiously empty. He couldnt help but think of his grandmother, how much shed longed for this moment and never got a chance to see it.
A discreet cough sounded, Im sorry, sir?
Leo looked up, intensely irritated to have been observed in a private moment. He saw the steward was gesturing to the now open cabin door. Leos chest clenched tightly again, and he had the childishly bizarre urge to tell them to slam the door shut and take off, back to New York. It was almost as if something outside that door lay in wait for him. Such a mix of emotions was rising to the surface, and it was so unwelcome that he stood up jerkily from his seat as if he could shake them off.
He walked to the cabin door, very aware of the eyes of his staff on him. Normally it didnt bother him, he was used to people looking at him for his reaction, but now it scraped over his skin like sandpaper.
The heat hit him first, dry and searing. Strangely familiar. He breathed in the Athens air for the first time in his life and felt his heart hit hard with the intensifying of that absurd feeling of familiarity. Hed always felt that coming here would feel like betraying his grandmothers memory, but now it was as if she was behind him, gently pushing him forward. For a man who lived by cool logic and intellect, it was an alien and deeply disturbing sensation.
He concealed his eyes behind dark shades as an ominous prickling skated over his skin. He had the very unwelcome sensation that everything in his life was about to change.
At the same moment on the other side of Athens.
Delphi, just take a deep breath and tell me whats wrongI cant help you until I know what it is.
That just provoked more weeping. Angel grabbed another tissue, a trickle of unease going down her spine now. Her younger half-sister said brokenly, I dont do this kind of thing, Angel, Im a law student!
Angel smoothed her pretty sisters fall of mahogany hair behind one ear and said soothingly, I know, sweetie. Look, it cant be that bad, whatever it is, so just tell me and then we can deal with it.
Angel was absolutely confident when she said this. Delphi was introverted, too quiet. She always had been, and even more so since a tragic accident had killed her twin sister about six years ago. Ever since then shed buried herself in books and studies, so when she said quietly, after a little sniffly hiccup, Im pregnant the words simply didnt register in Angels head.
They didnt register until Delphi spoke again, with a catch in her voice.
Angeldid you hear me? Im pregnant. Thats whatthats whats wrong.
Angels hands tightened reflexively around her half-sisters and she looked into her dark brown eyesso different from her own light blue ones, even though they both shared the same father.
Angel tried not to let the shock suck her under. Delph, how did it happen? She grimaced. I mean, I know howbut
Her sister looked down guiltily, a flush staining her cheeks red. Wellyou know Stavros and I have been getting more serious Delphi looked up again, and Angels heart melted at the turmoil she saw on her sisters face.
We both wanted to, Angel. We felt the time was right and we wanted it to be with someone we loved
Angels heart constricted. That was exactly what she had wanted too, right up untilHer sister continued, cutting through Angels painful memory.
And we were careful, we used protection, but it She blushed again, obviously mortified to have to be talking about this at all. It split. We decided to wait until we knew there was something to worry aboutand now there is.
Does Stavros know?
Delphi nodded miserably and looked sheepish. I never told you this, but on my birthday last month Stavros asked me to marry him.
Angel wasnt that surprised; shed suspected something like this might happen with the two of them. Theyd been sweethearts for ever. Has he spoken to his parents?
Delphi nodded, but fresh tears welled. His father has told him that if we marry hell be disinherited. You know theyve never liked us
Angel winced inwardly for her sister. Stavros came from one of the oldest and most established families in Greece, and his parents were inveterate snobs. But before she could say anything Delphi was continuing in a choked voice.
and now its worse, because the Parnassus family are home, and everyone knows what happened, and with Father going bankrupt she trailed off miserably.
A familiar feeling of shame gripped Angel at the mention of that name: Parnassus. Many years before, her family had committed a terrible crime against the much poorer Parnassus family, falsely accusing them of a horrific murder. It was only recently that they had atoned for that transgression. When her great-uncle Costas, who had actually committed the crime, had confessed all in a suicide note, the Parnassus family, who were now phenomenally successful and wealthy, had seen their chance for revenge, and had returned to Athens from America on a wave of glory. The consequent scandal and shake-up in power meant that her father, Tito Kassianides, had started haemorrhaging business and money, to the point that they now faced certain bankruptcy. Parnassus had made certain that everyone now knew how the Kassianides family had wilfully abused their power in the most heinous way.
Stavros wants us to elope
Angels focus came back, and she immediately went to interject, but Delphi put up a hand, her pale face streaked with tears. But I wont allow him to do that.
Angel shut her mouth again.
I wont be responsible for him being cut off and disinheritednot when I know how important it is to him that he gets into politics some day. This could ruin all his chances.
Angel marvelled at her sweet sisters selflessness. She took her hands again and said gently, And what about you, Delph? You deserve some happiness too, and you deserve a father for your baby.
A door slammed downstairs and they both flinched minutely.
Hes home Delphi breathed, a mixture of fear and loathing in her voice as the inarticulate roars of their fathers drunken rage drifted up the stairs. More tears welled in her red-rimmed eyes, and suddenly Angel was extremely aware of the fact that her baby sister was now pregnant and needed at all costs to be protected from the potential pain of dealing with any scandal or losing Stavros. She took her gently by the shoulders and forced her to look into her eyes.
Sweetheart, you did the right thing telling me. Just act as if everything is normal and well work something out. Itll be fine
Delphis voice took on a hysterical edge. But Father is getting more and more out of control, and mother is unravelling at the seams
Shh. Look, havent I always been there for you?
Angel winced inwardly. She hadnt been there when Delphi had needed her most, after Damia, her twins death, and that was why shed made the promise to stay at home until Delphi gained her own independence, her twins death having affected her profoundly. Now her sister just nodded tearily, biting her lip, and looked at Angel with such nakedly trusting eyes that Angel had to batten down the almost overwhelming feeling of panic. She caught a lone tear falling down Delphis face and wiped it away gently with a thumb.
Youve got exams coming up in a few months, and enough to be thinking about now. Just leave everything to me.
Her sister flung skinny arms around Angels neck, hugging her tight. Angel hugged her back, emotion coursing through her to think that in a few months her sisters belly would be swollen with a baby. She had to make sure she and Stavros got married. Delphi wasnt hardy and cocky, as her twin had been. Where one had been effervescent and exuberant, the other had always been the more quiet foil. And as for their fatherif he found out
Delphi pulled back and spoke Angels thoughts out loud. What if Father?
Angel cut her off. He wont. I promise. Now, why dont you go to bed and get some sleep? And dont worry, Ill handle it.
Chapter One
ILL handle it. Those fatalistic words still reverberated in Angels head a week later. Shed gone to speak with Stavros father herself, to try and remonstrate with him, but he hadnt even deigned to see her. It couldnt have been made clearer that they were social outcasts.
Kassianides!
Abruptly Angel was pulled out of her spiralling black thoughts when her boss called her name. It must have been the second or third time, judging by the impatience on his face.
When you can join us back on earth, go down to the pool and make sure its completely clear and that the tea lights are set out on the tables.
She stuttered an apology and fled. In all honesty Angels preoccupation had been distracting her from something much more panic-inducing and stressful. Almost too stressful to contemplate.
She was here at the Parnassus villa, high in the hills of Athens, to waitress at a party that was being thrown for Leonidas Parnassus, the son of Georgios Parnassus. Everyone was buzzing about the fact that he might be about to take over the family business and what a coup it would be, Leo Parnassus having become a multimillionaire entrepreneur in his own right.
It hit her again as she hurried down the steps that were expertly overgrown with extravagantly flowering bougainvillea. She was in the Parnassus villa, the home of the family who hated hers with a passion.
For a second she stopped in her tracks, a hand going to her breast as an intense pain tightened in her chest. This was the absolute worst place she could be in the world. For a second she felt hysteria rising at the irony of it. She, Angel Kassianides, was about to serve drinks to the cr?me de la cr?me of Athens, right under the Parnassuses nose. The thought of what her father would do if he could see her now made her break out in a cold sweat.
She bit her lip and forced herself to go on, breathing a sigh of relief when she had a quick look around the pool area and saw no one. The guests hadnt started to arrive yet and, though there were some staying at the villa, Angel knew that theyd be getting ready. There was no reason for anyone to be by the pool, but stillan uneasy prickling skated over her skin.
She hadnt been able to avoid coming here tonight. She and her waiter colleagues had been halfway to their secret destination in a packed minibus before it had been revealed, for security reasons. Angel knew well that if shed bailed out of this evening her boss would have sacked her on the spot. Hed sacked people for less in his prestigious catering company. She couldnt afford for that to happennot when her income was the only thing helping put her sister through college and keeping food on their table.
She tried to reassure herself: her boss was English, recently moved to Athens with his English/Greek wife. He knew nothing of the significance of who Angel was, nor her scandalous connection to the Parnassus family. She busied herself placing out the tea lights in their antique silver holders in the middle of the white damask-covered tables, and sent up fervent thanks that, tonight of all nights, not one of the other staff were local. Things were so busy at the moment that her boss had had to call in their part-time workers, and they were all either foreign or from outside Athens.
Her only fear now was that someone at the party might recognise her. But, knowing these people as she did, shed no doubt that in her uniform of black skirt and white shirt theyd not take a second look at her. She worried her lip again. Perhaps she could just stay in the kitchen and get the trays together and avoid
Angel started suddenly when she heard the splash of water coming from nearby. Someone was in the pool. Carefully she placed the last candle down and made to slip away, back up to the kitchen. As if shed been subliminally aware of it but had blocked it out, she realised that someone must have been in the pool all alongbut not swimming, so she hadnt noticed them.
The sky was a dusky violet colour, so perhaps that was also why she hadntAngel glanced quickly to her right as a flash of movement caught her eye, and her legs stopped functioning when the sight before her registered on her retina and in her brain.
An olive-skinned Greek god was hauling himself in one powerfully sleek move out of the water, droplets of water cascading off taut muscles. Everything seemed to go into slow motion as the sheer height and breadth of him was revealed. Angel shook her head stupidly, but it felt as if it had been stuffed with cotton wool. Greek gods didnt exist. This was a man, a flesh-and-blood man. And the minute she registered that she was standing transfixed, staring at him, she panicked.
But her body wouldnt obey her order to move, or it would, but her limbs all moved in independent directions, and to her utter horror she found herself backing into a poolside chair and almost toppling over it. And she would have, if the man hadnt moved like lightning and grabbed her, so that instead of falling back she fell forward into his chest, with his hands around her upper arms.
For a long moment Angel tried to tell herself that this wasnt happening. That she wasnt breathing in an intoxicating mix of spice and earthiness. That she wasnt all but plastered against a bare, wet chest which felt as hard as steel, her lips just a breath away from pressing against skin covered in a light dusting of intensely masculine hair.
Angel tried to break away, and pulled back, forcing his hands to drop. Heat scorched upwards over her cheeks as she finally stood upright again and found her eyes level with hard, flat brown nipples. She looked up, swallowing, and her gaze skittered up and past broad shoulders to his face.
Im so sorry. I justgot startled. The lightI didnt see
The man quirked an ebony brow. Angel swallowed again. Lord, but his face was as beautiful as the rest of him. Not beautiful, she amended, that was too girly a word. He was devastating. Thick black hair lay sleek against his head, and high cheekbones offset an impossibly hard jaw. His mouth was forbidding, but held a promise of sensuality that resonated deep in her body.
Suddenly that mouth stopped being forbidding and quirked. She nearly had to put out a hand again to steady herself. A thin scar ran from his upper lip to his nose, making her fight the absurd urge to reach up and trace it. Making her wonder how hed got itthis complete stranger!
Are you okay?
Angel nodded vaguely. He sounded American; perhaps he was a business colleague, a guest who was staying over. Although somehow, in her muddled brain, that didnt fit either. He was someone. She struggled to remember where she was, what she was here to do. Who she was.
She nodded. ImIm fine.
He frowned slightly, seemingly completely at ease with his lack of dress. Youre not Greek?
Angel alternately shook and nodded her head. I am Greek. But Im also half-Irish. I spent a lot of time in boarding school thereso my accent is more neutral. She clamped her mouth shut. What was she blathering on about?
The man frowned a little deeper, his glance up and down taking in her uniform. And yet youre waitressing here?
The incredulity in his tone made Angels sanity rush back. Only girls from privileged backgrounds in Greece went abroad for schooling. Immediately she felt vulnerable. She was meant to be fading into the background, not engaging in conversation with the guests of the hosts.
She backed away, looking somewhere in the region of his shoulder. Please excuse me. I have to get back to work.
She was about to turn when she heard him drawl laconically, You might want to dry off before you start handing out champagne.
Angel followed his gaze down to where it rested on her chest. On her breasts. She gasped when she saw that she was indeed drenched, her shirt opaque and her plain white bra clearly visible, along with two very pointedly hard nipples. How long had she been plastered against him like some mindless groupie?
With a strangled gasp of mortification Angel scrambled backwards, nearly tripping over a chair again and only just righting it and herself before there could be a repeat rescue performance. All she heard as she fled back up the steps was a mocking, deep-throated chuckle.
A little later, Leonidas Parnassus looked around the thronged salon and tried to stifle his irritation when he couldnt see the waitress. It had made him uncomfortable, how urgent his need to see her again had been as soon as hed walked into the main reception room. It had also made him uncomfortable how vividly her image had come back to him in his recent shower, forcing him to turn the temperature to cold.
And now her image surged back again, mocking his attempts to thrust it aside. He recalled how shed looked, with a dark flush on her cheeks, those intensely light blue eyes wide and ringed with thick black lashes, staring at him like a startled fawn. As if shed never seen a man before.
She had a tiny beauty spot just on the edge of a full lower lip, and he grimaced when he felt the effect remembering that had on his lower body. He hated having such an arbitrary response. But when hed seen her arrive by the pool and do her work, with quick, economic movements, her glossy light brown hair pulled into a high topknot, something about her had stirred him. Something about her intense preoccupation, for patently she hadnt noticed him in the pool. And Leo was not a man who was used to going unnoticed.
When hed caught her against him in that completely instinctive move tendrils of her hair had come free and framed her face and the defined line of her jaw, making him want to slip his hand into the glossy strands and cause it to fall down around her shoulders. He could almost feel it over his hands now, the heavy silky weight.
Irritation spiked again. Where was she? Had she been a figment of his imagination? His father approached then, with a colleague, and Leo forced a benign smile to his mouth, hating the fact that he was in thrall to a nameless waitress.
Distracting him momentarily was the reality he now faced of just how frail his father had become, even since hed seen him last. As if something within him had shifted subtly but profoundly. He felt a deep-seated sense of inevitability steal over him, he was needed here, his own empire notwithstanding. But was his place really here? He tried out the word now: home. His heart beat fast.
He thought of his sterile, yet state-of-the-art penthouse apartment in New York; the steel and silver skyscrapers of the world he inhabited. He thought of his impeccably groomed and very experienced blonde mistress; he thought of what it might be like to walk away from all of thatand he feltnothing.
Athens, being here for the past week, had confounded his every expectation. Hed thought hed feel nothing. On the contrary, he felt as though hed been plugged into something deeply primal within his soul. Something had been brought to life, and wouldnt be pushed back to some dim and distant recess.
Just then, as if to compound this feeling, he caught sight of something in the far corner of the room. Glossy hair piled high, a long neck. A familiar slim back. Leos heart started to thud, this time to a very different beat.
Angel was trying to keep her head down and not meet anyones eye. Shed done her best to stay in the kitchen, preparing the trays, but her boss had eventually sent her up to the main salon as she was his most experienced staff member.
At that moment she caught a pointed frowning look from Aristotle Levakis across the roomhe was business partner to Parnassus, and her stomach quivered with renewed panic. This was a disaster in the making. Aristotle Levakis knew her, because their fathers had been friendly before Aristotles father had died. Angel could remember that Aristotle had been to one or two parties at her fathers house over the years.
In the act of offering some red wine to a small group of people, she had to keep going, but then she got accidentally jostled by another waiter. The tray tipped off balance, and with mounting horror Angel watched four glasses full of red wine disgorge their contents all over a beautiful womans pristine and very white designer dress.
For a second nothing happened. The woman was just looking down at her dress, aghast. And then it came, her voice so shrill that Angel winced. Conversely, at the same time, an awful silence seemed to descend.
You stupid, stupid girl
But then, just as suddenly, a huge dark shape appeared at Angels side, and she barely had time to take in a breath before she registered that it was the man from the pool. Her heart skipped a beat, before starting again erratically. He sent her a quick wink before taking the gasping woman aside to speak to her in low, hushed tones, and Angel saw her boss hurry forward to take the matter in hand.
Her boss and the woman were summarily dispatched, and then the man turned around to face Angel. Words dropped into her head but made no sense. He was so downright intimidating in an exquisite tuxedo that shock was rendering her speechless, breathless and motionless.
He calmly took the now empty tray from her hand and passed it to another waiter. The mess from the fallen drinks was already being cleared up. Angel would have protested that she should look after it, if she could have spoken.
Everyone else in the immediate vicinity seemed to melt away, and with a light, yet commanding touch from his hand on her arm Angel felt herself being manoeuvred across the room, until theyd walked through a set of open patio doors and out to the blessed quiet of the grand terrace.
The cool and fragrant evening air curled around Angel like a caress, but she felt hot, right down to her very core. Hot from embarrassment and hot from where this mans big hand was curled around her upper arm. They came to a stop beside a low wall, beyond which a pristine lawn sloped gently downwards and off into the distance.
Silence surrounded them, thick and heavy, the muted sounds of the party coming from behind the closed patio doors. Had he closed the doors? The thought of him doing that to give them privacy made her shiver. She looked up, and with a disconcerting amount of effort pulled her arm free from his light, yet devastating grip. He smiled down at her, putting his hands in his pockets, and he looked so rakishly handsome that Angel felt weak all over again. Hair that had been slicked back with water was now thick and glossy, a little over-long.
Sowe meet again.
Angel forced her brain to retain a small sliver of sanity, but no matter how much she wanted it to, she feared her voice wouldnt come out as cool as she hoped for. Im sorryyou must think me an awful klutz. Im not normally so clumsy. Thank you for She gestured to the room, thinking of the red stain spreading over the womans white dress again and feeling sick. For defusing the situation, but I dont think my boss will forgive me for it. That dress looked like it was worth about a years worth of my wages.
He took a hand out of his pocket and waved it nonchalantly. Consider it taken care of. I saw what happened, it was an accident.
Angel gasped. I cant let you do a thing like that. I dont even know you. His insouciance and casual display of wealth made something cold lodge in her chest. It was a rejection from deep within her of this whole social scene. Shed grown up with it and it reminded her too much of the darkness in her own family.
His eyes glinted with something dangerous. On the contrary, Id say that were well on the way to becomingacquainted.
An electric current seemed to spring into action in that moment. The man moved closer to Angel, closing the small distance between them, and the breath lodged in her throat. She couldnt think, couldnt speak. His eyes held hers, and for the second time that day she noted the way they seemed to burn with a golden light.
He lifted a hand and trailed his finger down one cheek to the delicate line of her jaw. It left a line of tingling fire in its wake.
I havent been able to stop thinking about you.
The something cold that had lodged in Angels chest melted. Youhavent?
He shook his head. Or your mouth.
My mouth Angel repeated stupidly. Her gaze dropped to his mouth then, and she saw once again the jagged line of the scar extending from his upper lip. She had the strongest desire to reach up and trace it with a finger, so strong that she shook.
Are you thinking about what it would feel like if my mouth was to touch yours right now?
Angels gaze flew up and clashed with pure molten golden heat. An answering heat invaded her lower body. She felt the urge to clamp her legs together, as if that might calm the disturbing ache building up there.
Before she could answer, or articulate a response, his hand had cupped her jaw and cheek, and suddenly there was no distance between them, only him, so tall and close that he blocked out the sky, and his head was descending, coming nearer and nearer.
He smelt musky and hot. It was something so earthy that Angel could feel the response being tugged from down low in her belly, as if she recognised it on some primitive level. Dimly she wondered if this was what people meant when they talked about animal attraction.
Desperately trying to cling onto something, anything rational, Angel brought a hand up to cover his, to pull it down, to stop him, to say noBut then his mouth was so close that she could feel his breath feather there, mingling with hers. Her mouth tingled. She wantedshe wanted
Sir?
Angel wanted his mouth on hers so badly that she made a telling move closer
Mr Parnassussir?
Angels eyes had been fluttering closed, but suddenly flew open again. Their mouths were just about touching. If Angel was to put out her tongue shed be able to explore his lips, their shape and texture. And then the name that had just been uttered exploded into her consciousness properly.
Mr Parnassus.
Reality slammed back, and the cacophony of the party rushed out to meet them through open doors. Angel was barely aware of pulling his hand down and moving back. Shock was starting to spread through her entire body. Someone else came out to the patio then. The butler who had been standing therefor how long?melted away discreetly. The new arrival was the hosts wife, Olympia Parnassus. Angel knew this because shed given all the waiting staff a pep talk in the kitchen earlier.
Leo, darling, your father is looking for you, its almost time for the speech.
In a smooth move, Angel realised that shed been effectively shielded from view. She felt more than heard the deep rumble of response.
Give me two minutes here, Olympia.
His tone was implacable. Clearly he was someone used to giving commands and having them met. He was Leonidas Parnassus.
Angel barely heard the older woman make some comment before she turned and clipped her way back into the party in her high heels, pulling the doors shut again. Shock was gathering force, andAngel started to react. She had to get out of here.
She knew that Leonidas Parnassus had turned back to face her, but she couldnt look at him. A warm hand tipped her chin up and she felt sick. She couldnt avoid his eyes unless she closed her own, and the thought of doing that made panic rise. He smiled a sexy smile.
Please forgive the interruption. Ill have to go in a minute, butwhere were we?
Angel had to get out of here right now. Shed just been about to kiss Leonidas Parnassus, the very man who must be gloating over her familys very public ruination. A sudden spurt of anger bloomed. They were in dire straits, and it was all because of his family and their lust for revenge. She thought of Delphi, who was so vulnerable now; she and her sister didnt deserve to be paying for something that had happened decades before.
Angel pulled down his hand and forced frost into her voice. Look, I dont know what youre playing at. I have to get back to work. if my boss saw me out here with you Id be sacked on the spot, which is obviously something that hasnt occurred to you.
Leonidas Parnassus looked at her for a long moment before straightening to his full intimidating height and moving back a pace. Gone was the sexily teasing man of just moments before and in his place now stood the son and heir of a vast fortune. The man who was already a self-made millionaire. No wonder shed had that feeling earlier that he was someone.
Arrogant confidence oozed from every pore, and Angel had to repress a shiver at the cold of his eyesnot tawny gold any more, but almost black, like flint.
Forgive me. His voice was frigid. I would never have attempted to kiss you if Id known you found the prospect so repugnant.
His demeanour made a mockery of his words. He was completely unrepentant. At that moment he reached out and cupped her jaw again. Her heart hammered against her ribs, she felt herself flushing.
Any pretence of remorse was gone, or charm. Who do you think youre kidding, sweetheart? Dont ever fool yourself like that again. I know the signs of desire, and youre practically panting for me right now, just like you were by the pool.
Angel ripped his hand down again, panic surging in earnest. If he had even an inkling of who she wasDont be ridiculous. I am not. I want you to get out of my way, please, so I can get back to work.
I will, he bit out. But not before weve proved your words to be a lie.
Before Angel could take a breath hed cupped her face in both his hands, stepped right up to her body, and his mouth was crashing down onto her shocked open one with all the force of a huge wave. Her hands covered his in a hazy attempt to remove them, and she struggled against the onslaught, but it felt like going against the strongest current.
Her open mouth had provided an unwitting invitation to his, and his tongue stabbed deep and plundered, seeking hers, sucking it deep. To be kissed so intimately shook her to her core.
Her body had stiffened with the shock of his action, but a spreading, melting sensation was quickly taking over. The urge to fight was becoming more and more distant. All Angel could feel was the sinewy strength of those hands. They were so big that he was cradling her entire head, long fingers threading through her hair, massaging her scalp. And all the while his mouth and tongue were sucking her down into a deep spiral of the unknown.
When she stopped trying to pull his hands away she would never know. Nor would she be able to say when she moved her own hands and arms to wind their way up and over his shoulders.
She only knew that all reality had ceased to exist as they kissed and kissed with furious intensity. Their bodies were tight together and she pressed against the long, lean hardness of him. The thundering beating of their hearts was drowning out voices, concerns. She strained against him, on tiptoe to get even closercould feel the unmistakable signs of his burgeoning arousal, and when she felt that her brain melted completely.
And then all of a sudden it was over, and he was stepping back from her. Angel made an awfully betraying move towards him, as if loath to let him go, her hands still outstretched from where theyd been wrapped like clinging vines around his shoulders. It was only then that she noticed her hands were held in hisand the awful suspicion arose. Had he had to forcibly take them down? Mortification flooded Angel even as she tried to assess the situation, gather her scattered nerves. Her heart still hammered. She was mute. Dizzy.
Leonidas Parnassus just looked at her, his face flushedwith anger? Or satisfaction that hed proved himself right? Angels mortification rose to a new level.
A discreet cough came from close by, and then a voice.
Sir? If you could join your father inside nowplease?
Leonidas just looked at Angel, nothing given away on his face. It held a steely imperviousness that she would never have guessed the teasing man shed met earlier to possess.
Ill be right in. Leonidas pitched his voice to reach the hovering staff member, but his eyes never left hers. He seemed to be utterly in control, apart from that betraying colour in his cheeks. She felt as if she was unravelling at the seams.
I Angel began ineffectually.
He cut her off with an autocratic, Wait for me here. Im not done with you yet.
And with that he turned on his heel, and Angel watched him stride powerfully back into the thronged room, raking a hand through his hair as he did so. His back was huge and broad in the black of his tuxedo.
She couldnt believe what had just happened.
In shock she put a finger to her mouth, where her lips felt plump and bruised. Thoroughly kissed. In a fresh rush of embarrassment and disgust Angel could remember wantonly arching her body even closer to hisalmost as if shed wanted to climb into his skin. Not even in the most passionate moment of her relationship with Achilles had she felt that intensity of desire, every thought wiped clean from her mind. But then, she recalled bitterly, that had been part of the problem
Angel felt raw and exposed, and painful memories were surging back, as if it wasnt awful enough to deal with what had just happened.
She heard a hush descend on the crowd in the salon, and searched for some means of escape. Finally, growing desperate, she spotted where some steps led down from the patio to the lower levels, and presumably back around to the kitchen. Hurrying down, she knew that she could forget about her job. The incident with the wine would have sealed her fate anyway; her disappearance with the guest of honour would have merely ensured it.
If her boss hadnt known the significance of who she was, he soon would, and she didnt want to be around to witness that.
Down in the kitchen she grabbed her things, and then crept out and headed down the drive, away from the glittering villa, not looking back once.
Leo stood and listened to his fathers unashamedly emotional speech, Georgios Parnassus made no secret of the fact that he was ready to hand over the reins of power to Leo. The prospect of a shift in power had been evident in the room instantaneously. Again, Leo felt that welling of some ancient pride, that sense of right to be here. While he wasnt going to give the old man the satisfaction of capitulating so easily, he couldnt deny the sense of needing to stake his own claim to his birthright, the birthright that had been stolen from him.
His old man was no fool. No doubt hed banked on exactly this by asking him to come to Greece, but Leo was not about to let him see that he might have won so soon.
Even while Leo was able to function and articulate his thoughts and intentions as the rapturous applause died away after his fathers speech and the din of conversation rose again, his body still hummed with desire for the woman hed left outside on the patio. He flicked a glance to the doors, once again open, but couldnt see her. Irritation prickled to think she might have moved. Hed told her to wait for him. He was trapped now, though, by the usual sycophants, all vying to get a slice of him.
He chafed to leave, to get back outside, finish what theyd started, and that irked him. Here he was at the potential forking of the road in his life, a huge moment, and all he could think about was a sexy waitress whod had the temerity to blow hot and cold and then hot again. Anger gripped him, surprising him. Hed never encountered that before. Hed had women play hard to get in an effort to snag his interest and it never worked. He didnt indulge in games. The women in his life were experienced, matureand knew the score. No emotional entanglement and no game-playing.
But when she had looked at him as if hed been some callow youth trying to maul herhed seen red. Hed never felt that singular desire before to prove someone wrong, to imprint himself on a woman. Hed never felt such a ruthless need to kiss anyone like thatand then, when hed felt her initial struggle fade, when hed felt her grow hot and wanton in his arms, kissing him back almost as if her life
Georgios couldnt have been more obviousso, are you ready to take the bait, Parnassus?
Leo was so helplessly deep in his thoughts that it took a second for his brain to function and come back into the room. The fawning crowd surrounding him was gone. He blinked and saw that Aristotle Levakis, his fathers business partner, was looking at him expectantly. Leo liked Ari Levakis; theyd worked closely together at the time of the merger, albeit with Leo based in New York. But, much to his chagrin now, he had to force himself to remember what Ari had just said.
He couldnt shake the building tension, wanting to get back out to her. What if shed gone? He didnt even know her name. He forced himself to smile and joked, You think Im going to discuss it with you and have any decision I make all over Athens by morning?
Ari tutted good-naturedly. Leo tried to concentrate on their conversation even as he looked for glossy brown hair piled high, exposing a delicate jaw and neck.
He missed something Ari said then, and cursed himself. Im sorry, what did you say?
That I was surprised to see her here. I saw you taking her outsidedid you ask her to leave? Ari was shaking his head. Ill admit she has some nerve
Leo went very still. Her?
Angel Kassianides. Titos eldest daughter. She was here working as a waitressShe spilt wine over Pia Kyriapoulos and you took her outside. I think everyone presumed that you were telling her where to go. Ari looked around for a moment. And I havent seen her since, so whatever you said worked.
Leo had an instant reaction to hearing the Kassianides name mentioned. It was the name of their enemy; a name that represented loss, pain, humiliation, and unbelievable heartache. He frowned, trying to understand. Angel KassianidesShes a Kassianides?
Ari looked back and nodded, frowning when he saw Leos face. You didnt know?
Leo shook his head, his brain struggling to take in this information. Why would he know what Tito Kassianides children looked like? Theyd not dealt directly with the Kassianides family during the merger. The merger itself had been all that was needed to precipitate their downfall. It had been a clean and sterile revenge, but it felt curiously insufficient now, when hed been faced by one of them here tonight. When hed kissed one of them.
He felt acutely vulnerable; if Ari had recognised her, then who was to say that others hadnt? He remembered how hed led her outside with one thought in mind: getting her alone so he could explore his attraction, with no clue as to her identity. He let anger dispel the unwelcome feeling of vulnerability. Had she been planning some sort of incident? What the hell had she been playing at with him? Seducing him with those huge blue eyes and then trying to pretend she didnt desire him? Shed been toying with him from that moment by the pool. Those widening eyes must have held recognition of who he was, not the mutual flash of attraction hed believed it to be. The thought made bile rise. He hadnt felt so exposedever.
Had her father sent her, like some sort of pawn? Had the whole thing been an act? Leos entire body stiffened in rejection of that thought. Just then he saw his own father approaching, with a delegation of other men. He had no time to process this now, and for the rest of the evening Leo would have to act and smile and pretend that he didnt want to rip off his bow tie, throw his jacket down and go and find Angel Kassianides and get her to answer some very pertinent questions.
A week later, New York
Leo stood at the huge window in his office that looked out over downtown Manhattan. The view was familiar, but he didnt see it. All he could see, and all he had seen every time he closed his eyes since Athens, was Angel Kassianides angelic face, tipped up to his, eyelids fluttering closed, just before hed kissed her. He laughed caustically to himself. Angel. Whoever had named her had named her well.
He wrenched his mind away from Angel and thought of Athens. Not that hed admit it to anyone yet, and certainly not his father, but Athens had changed something fundamental inside him. New York was spread out below him and he felt nothing. It was as if even though hed been born and brought up here it had never claimed him. It didnt resonate within him the way it once had. Now it was just a fast-living jumble of towering buildings.
Hed even rung his mistress that morning, after avoiding her all week, which was not like him, and broken it off. Her histrionics still rang in his ear. But he hadnt even felt a twinge of conscience. Hed felt relief.
Angel. It irritated him how easily she kept inserting herself into his consciousness. He hadnt been able to indulge in seeking her out and asking her just what the hell shed been playing at in his fathers villa due to a crisis erupting here in his head office. A crisis that looked set to continue for at least a few weeks, much to his irritation. Not that it was serving to take his mind off her. He wasnt used to women distracting his attention, and certainly not ones he hadnt even slept with.
Anger bubbled low within him. The feeling that hed been made a fool of was a novel one, and not something he was prepared to allow for a moment longer. Angel Kassianides was playing with fire if she thought she could make a fool out of a Parnassus. Out of him. How dared she? After everything her family had done to his? On the very night of his public introduction to Athens society?
Her sheer audacity struck him again. Evidently the Kassianides family werent content to let the past be the past. Did they want to rake up old enmity or worse, to fight to the death until they reined supreme again?
Leo frowned. Perhaps they had the support of some of the old Athens elite? Perhaps the threat was something to be concerned about? And then, he chastised himself. Maybe it was all nothing. A pure coincidence that Angel had been there that night.
A small voice mocked: was it a coincidence that out of all the people there, she was the one you noticed? Leos hands fisted in his pockets. He was not going to let her get away with this.
He turned around and picked up his phone and made a call. His conversation with the person on the other end was short and succinct. When he was finished he turned back to the view. Leo had just made a momentous announcement with the minimum of fuss: he was going to return to Athens and take over Parnassus Shipping. A tingling anticipation skated over his skin, made his blood hum.
The thought of facing Angel Kassianides again and forcing her to explain herself made the blood fizz and jump in Leos veins. His jaw tightened as he fought the sudden surge of extreme impatience, a demand in his body that he act on his decision and go right now. He had things to do, his business in New York to sort out; a crisis at hand. He would bide his time and prepare, drive down this almost animalistic urge to leave. He assured himself that Angel Kassianides was not the catalyst behind his decision; but she was going to be one of his first ports of call.
Chapter Two
A month later
ANGELS heart hammered painfully. She felt a cold sweat break out all over her body. For the second time in just weeks she was in the worst place in the world: the Parnassus villa. She felt sick when she remembered what had happened out on the terrace. She closed her eyes and breathed deep. She could not be thinking of that now. Of Leo Parnassus. Of how hed made her feel just before shed found out exactly who he was. Of how it had been so hard to forget him.
She opened her eyes again and tried to make out the rooms in the dim light. To her intense relief the place appeared to be empty, and she sent up silent thanks that for once the newspaper reports had been right. Shed read about Georgios Parnassus ailing health, and how he was taking a rest on a recently acquired Greek island. She felt the reassuring bulk of the document in the inside pocket of her jacket. This was why she was here. She was doing the right thing.
Ever since it had been announced in the press just a few days ago that Leo Parnassus was taking over the reins of the Parnassus shipping fleet, and leaving New York to come back to Athens permanently, Angel had grown more skittish and her father more and more bitter and vitriolic, seeing any chance of redeeming himself diminish. A young, vibrant head of the Parnassus Corporation was a much bigger threat than the ailing father had been, despite their success.
Angel had returned home from her new job yesterday to find her father cackling drunkenly over a thick document. Hed spotted her creeping through the hall and called her into the drawing room. Reluctantly shed obeyed, knowing better than to annoy him.
Hed gestured to the document. D you know what this is?
Angel had shaken her head. Of course she didnt know.
This, dear daughter, is my ticket out of bankruptcy. Hed waved the sheaf of pages. Do you realise what Im holding here?
Angel had shaken her head again, an awful sick feeling creeping up her spine.
Her father had slurred, What Im holding is the deepest, darkest secrets of the Parnassus family and their fate. Georgios Parnassus final will and testament. I now know everything. About all their assets, exactly how much theyre worth, and how he plans on distributing it all. I also know that his first wife killed herself. They must have hushed that up. Can you imagine what would happen if this was leaked to the right people? I can take them down with this.
I can take them down with this. Nausea had risen from Angels gut to think that after all these years, and after what the Parnassus family had been through, her father still wanted to fuel the feud. He was so blinded by bitterness that he couldnt see that doing something like this would make him and his family look even worse. Not to mention cause untold pain to the Parnassus family in revealing family secrets, if what he said about the suicide was true.
How did you get it?
Her father had waved a dismissive hand. Doesnt matter.
Familiar cold disgust had made Angel bite out, You sent one of your goons to the villa to steal it.
Her fathers face had grown mottled, confirming what shed said, or at least the fact that he had stolen it. Shed no idea how he had actually done it, but some slavishly loyal men still surrounded her father.
Her father had become belligerent, clearly done with her. What if I did? Now, get out of here. You make me sick every time I look at you and am reminded of your whore of a mother.
Angel was so used to her father speaking to her like that she hadnt even flinched. Hed always blamed her for the fact that her glamorous Irish mother had walked out on them when Angel had been just two years old. Shed left the room, then waited for a while and gone back. Sure enough her father had passed out in his chair, one hand clutching the thick document, the other clutching an empty bottle of whisky to his chest. Hed been snoring loudly. It had been easy to slide the sheaf of pages out from his loosened fingers and creep back out.
Early that morning shed gone straight to work, taking the will with her, knowing that her father would still be passed out cold. And then, late that evening, shed taken the journey up to the Parnassus villa, but had panicked momentarily when faced with a security guard and the enormity of what she had to do. Shed blurted out something about being at the function some weeks before and leaving something valuable behind.
To her intense relief, after the unsmiling guard had consulted with someone, shed been let in. To her further relief, when shed reached the kitchens, shed found no one and had crept up through the silent house, praying that shed find the study. Shed leave the papers in a drawer and slip away again.
She was not going to let her father create more bad feeling between the families. That was the last thing they needed, the last thing Delphi needed. Every day now Stavros was begging Delphi to elope, but she was standing strong and refusing, determined not to ruin Stavros prospects and be responsible for tearing his family apart.
The flaring up of their old feud with the most powerful family in Athens would make any prospect of marriage between them even more impossible. Angel heard her sister sobbing herself to sleep every night, and knew that a very real rift could break the young lovers apart for ever if something didnt happen soon. On top of everything else, Delphi had important law exams to think about.
The enormity of it all threatened to swamp Angel for a moment.
She emerged into the huge reception hall and stood for a moment, trying to calm her nerves, to stop her mind from spiralling into despair. Her breath was coming fast and shallow. She felt a prickling across the back of her neck and chastised herself. There was no one there. Just get on with it!
Seeing a half-open door across the expanse of marbled floor, she held her breath and tiptoed across. Gingerly pushing the door open a little more fully, she breathed a sigh of relief once more when she saw that it was the study. Moonlight was the only illumination, and it cast the room in dark shadows.
Angel could make out a desk and went over, feeling for a drawer. Her fingers snagged a catch and she pulled it out, while reaching her hand into her pocket for the will at the same time. Shed just pulled it free and was about to place it into the drawer when the lights blazed on, with such suddenness and ferocity that Angel jumped back in fright.
Leonidas Parnassus stood in the doorway, arms folded, eyes so dark and forbidding that they effectively froze Angel from feeling anything but numb. And then he said quietly, but with ice dripping from his tone, Just what the hell do you think youre doing?
Angel blinked in the intense light. She heard a roaring in her ears and had to fight against the very real need to faint. She couldnt faint. But she couldnt speak. Her brain and body were going into meltdown at being confronted with Leo Parnassus, standing just a few feet away, dressed in dark trousers and a plain light blue shirt, looking dark and intimidatingly gorgeous. Looking like the man who had invaded her dreams for the past seven weeks.
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
With a few quick strides Leo had crossed the room, moving so fast and with such lethal grace that Angel just watched in disbelief when he effortlessly whipped the will out of her white-knuckle grip.
Well, Kassianides, lets see what you came for.
Angel watched dumbly as he unfolded the document. She heard his indrawn breath when he registered what it was.
He looked at her, his dark gaze like black ice. My fathers will? You came here to steal my fathers will? Or just whatever you could get your dirty little hands on?
Angel shook her head, registering that hed called her Kassianides. It distracted her. Youyou know who I am?
His jaw tightened. Angel saw the movement and felt a flutter in her belly. He threw the will down on the table and reached out, taking her arm in a punishing grip. Angel bit back a cry at his touch, more of shock than pain.
He unceremoniously hauled her from behind the desk and led her over to a chair in the corner. He all but thrust her into it.
I should have guessed after your last stunt that you obviously dont have any qualms about trespassing where youre not welcome.
He didnt answer her redundant question. Patently he now knew exactly who she was, and she realised that someone at the party must have told him after theyd seen him take her outside.
She knew it was probably futile, but she said it anyway. If Id known for a second where I would be working that night I wouldnt have been here, I found out when it was too late.
He all but sneered, towering over her now, arms crossed again over his broad chest. Please, give me some credit. You might be able to distract other people with that seductively innocent face, but after what Ive just seen I know that youre rotten to your core. Your whole family are.
Angel went to stand up on a fierce wave of anger. It was not fair to assume that she was like her ancestors, or her father, but before she could get a word out Leo had easily pushed her back down, not even using much force. Angel felt as weak as a rag doll, shaky all over. Once again the reality of his touch was more shocking than his action.
She clenched her fists and welcomed the rush of energy that anger brought. You have it all wrong. Im not here to steal anything. If you must know
Leo slashed a hand through the air, silencing her. Angel stopped abruptly. As much as she held no love for her father, she realised in that moment the futility of landing the blame at his door. Leo Parnassus would just laugh in her face. Shed quite literally been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, and could blame no one but herself.
She watched as he paced back and forth, his hands on his hips. The fingers were long and lean, and a sprinkling of dark hair dusted the backs of his hands. Suddenly an image of him hauling himself out of the pool that evening in one sleek movement caused heat to explode low in her pelvis.
In a moment of blind panic, feeling intensely vulnerable, Angel sprang up again and stood behind the high-backed chair. As if that could offer protection! Leo stopped and turned around to face her, surveying her coolly.
Angel asked huskily, Whatwhat are you going to do? Are you going to call the police?
He ignored her question and walked over to a sideboard, where he poured himself a measure of whisky. He downed the drink in one swallow, the strong bronzed column of his throat working, making Angel feel even more weak and trembly.
Leos eyes snared hers again, and she saw something flame in the dark depths, revealing golden lights.
Did your father send you here that night? Was it a recce for tonight? Or is this your own ingenuity?
Angels hands clenched on the back of the chair; she could feel her ponytail coming loose. I told you. The night of the party I had no idea where we were going. I worked for that catering company, they didnt tell us until we were on the way for security reasons.
He all but laughed out loud. And once you and your father knew that Georgios was away, you took advantage of the opportunity. The only thing you didnt factor in was my return.
Ththere was nothing in the press.
Leo glowered, and Angel quailed even more. Now shed made it sound even worse. No way could she reveal that shed been helplessly drawn to scanning the papers every day to read about his movements.
I came a week early, hoping to surprise a few people. Were very aware his mouth tightened more so now were in transition of power, that people will believe were an easy target to take over.
Angel had a nauseating realisation. You saw me arrive. The security guard checked with you
Leo indicated to Angels right-hand side, and she looked over to see an ante-room off the study, the door through which he had appeared. In it, she could clearly make out a glowing wall of cameras, showing flickering black and white images. CCTV cameras. One of which looked directly over the main gate. Hed watched nearly every step of her progress. She felt sick when she thought of how shed crept through the house. Her naivety mocked her. Of course shed never have got near this place if he hadnt been here. She looked back.
Leos face was so harsh that Angel felt a jolt of pure fear go through her. This man was a million miles from the seductive stranger shed met that night.
Your audacity is truly astonishing. Clearly you have the confidence born of your position in society, even if you dont hold that position any longer.
Angel could have laughed if shed had the wherewithal. Tito might have been wealthy once, but he was a despot and had controlled all their lives with a tight fist. It hadnt been audacity that had led her to that gate; it had been sheer fear and a desire to right a wrong.
I wasnt coming to steal anything, I swear.
Leo gestured back to the will sitting on the table and completely ignored her statement. What were you hoping to glean from it? He laughed harshly. Thats a stupid question. No doubt your father was hoping to use inside information on my fathers estate to undermine him in some way. Or were you going to use the information to do a bit of honey-trapping, maybe? Youd have enough information to try and winkle out some more? Take advantage of the kiss we shared that night?
Angel flushed hotly when she thought of that kiss, and then remembered her fathers gloating talk last night. That was exactly how her father would think. Too late, she saw the hard, unforgiving look come into Leos eyes, his jaw tense. Clearly he was misinterpreting her misplaced guilt.
Once again she knew that it would be futile to tell the truth. Leo Parnassus would be more likely to believe in Santa Claus than in her innocence, especially when the circumstantial evidence was so damning. All she knew was that she needed to get out of there. She was feeling increasingly hot and bothered under his intense and concentrated regard.
Tentatively she came from around the chair. She reassured herself that he was an urbane man of the world. An American. She had to be able to appeal to some rational part of him.
Look. You have the will. Im sorry for trespassing where Im not welcome. I promise if you let me go that youll never see or hear from me again. Angel ignored the way her heart gave a funny little clench when she said that. She couldnt even begin to contemplate her fathers reaction to what shed done, and of course she couldnt promise that he wouldnt do something stupid again, but she kept her mouth shut.
Leo put down the glass silently on the table. Angel followed the movement warily. A strange charge came into the air between them and she found her eyes being helplessly drawn back to his. They were glowing with gold in their depths again, reminding her of how hed looked at her just before hed kissed her that night on the terrace. His eyes dropped then, insolently sweeping down her body, taking in her worn jeans, black top and jacket. Sneakers. And suddenly it was as if she was breaking out into little fires all over her skin.
Her heart started thumping. In a blind panic, to negate her reaction, she moved again, telling herself that he wouldnt stop her if she just walked out. After all, it wasnt as if shed actually broken into the villa.
But just as she was about to pass him she felt her arm being gripped, and she was swung around so fast that she lost her balance and fell against him. All the breath seemed to leave her body.
In an instant hed loosened her already unravelling hair, and it fell around her shoulders. His hand held her head, tilting her face up to him. His other arm was like a steel band around her back. Angel was afraid to move or breathe, because that would invite a contact that would scatter what remained of any coherent thought. As it was, she was barely clinging onto a shred of sanity.
Do you know that youve actually done me a favour, Kassianides?
Angel winced inwardly at his use of her surname, hating the fact that it bothered her.
Youve saved me a trip. Because I was going to confront you about why youd come here that night. You couldnt possibly have believed youd get away with it, could you?
It was a rhetorical question. Angel said nothing, too scared of the burgeoning feelings and sensations running through her body. When Leo spoke again his chest rumbled against hers.
I was also curious to know if perhaps Id been too harsh in my first assessment as to why youd been waitressing at our party. After all, just because youre Titos daughter, perhaps it wasnt entirely fair to assume the worst.
Angel couldnt believe it. She saw a glimmer of hope and started to nod her head. She opened her mouth, but he wasnt giving her an opportunity to speak. His voice became harder and harsher.
But your actions here tonight have damned you completely. The minute you saw the opportunity you were back, and this time to steal something of real value that could be used in an effort to harm our family. That will has information about my own estate, so its not just my father youve committed a crime against, its me.
Cold horror trickled through Angel. This was so much worse than shed thought.
Leo continued, Its almost cute, how naive you were to think you could be so blatant. Do you really think if I hadnt been here that it would have been so easy to get access to this villa?
Angels fragile hopes died there and then. She tried to summon her strength and pull free, and regretted it immediately when it merely gave Leo more room to hold her even tighter against him. Her breasts were crushed against his chest. They were pressed together, torso to torso, hip to hip. His breath feathered near her mouthwhen had his head moved so close?
She tried to pull back and his fingers tightened in her hair. She winced, even though he wasnt really hurting her. His mocking smile sliced through her defences.
You cant be so naive as to believe youre getting away that easily, Kassianides, can you?
Cold fear trickled through Angel. For a second she was distracted enough to ask, What do you mean?
There was another reason I was going to come for you.
Angel shivered inwardly, he sounded so implacable. There was?
He nodded, his face so close now that she felt as if she was drowning in the dark golden depths of his eyes. Her hands were between them, resting on his chest, where theyd gone in an instinctive move to steady herself. She could feel his heart beating steadily underneath them and it made her want to move her hips. She stayed rigid.
Youve kept me awake for weeks. He grimaced. I tried to deny it, ignore it. But this desire wouldnt abate. Im not in the habit of denying myself anything, or anyone I want. As much as I despise myself for feeling thisI want you, Angel.
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