The Greek's Virgin Temptation
Susan Stephens
A passionate kiss from an enticing stranger… …ignites a craving she can’t deny! Abandoned in paradise, jilted bride Kimmie Lancaster is adamant that she’ll still enjoy her honeymoon. But she doesn’t realise she is trespassing on billionaire Kristof Kaimos’s beach! His magnetic charisma encourages her to confide in him…and ignites a hunger that untouched Kimmie has never experienced. Soon she’s tempted to share her unspent wedding night with this irresistible Greek!
A passionate kiss from an enticing stranger...
...ignites a craving she can’t deny!
Abandoned in paradise, jilted bride Kimmie Lancaster is adamant that she’ll still enjoy her honeymoon. But she doesn’t realize she is trespassing on billionaire Kristof Kaimos’s beach! His magnetic charisma encourages her to confide in him...and ignites a hunger that untouched Kimmie has never experienced. Soon she’s tempted to share her unspent wedding night with this irresistible Greek!
Be seduced by this tantalizing Greek island romance!
SUSAN STEPHENS was a professional singer before meeting her husband on the Mediterranean island of Malta. In true Mills & Boon style, they met on Monday, became engaged on Friday and married three months later. Susan enjoys entertaining, travel and going to the theatre. To relax she reads, cooks and plays the piano, and when she’s had enough of relaxing she throws herself off mountains on skis or gallops through the countryside singing loudly.
Also by Susan Stephens (#u7adb5f58-b6e2-59e6-838e-78f49d9394ce)
A Diamond for Del Rio’s Housekeeper
The Sicilian’s Defiant Virgin
The Secret Kept from the Greek
A Night of Royal Consequences
The Sheikh’s Shock Child
Pregnant by the Desert King
Hot Brazilian Nights! miniseries
In the Brazilian’s Debt
At the Brazilian’s Command
Brazilian’s Nine Months’ Notice
Back in the Brazilian’s Bed
Passion in Paradise collection
A Scandalous Midnight in Madrid
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk).
The Greek’s Virgin Temptation
Susan Stephens
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-08818-3
THE GREEK’S VIRGIN TEMPTATION
© 2019 Susan Stephens
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
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Note to Readers (#u7adb5f58-b6e2-59e6-838e-78f49d9394ce)
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For Vic, a most wonderful editor,
with heartfelt thanks for all you do.
Contents
Cover (#u311bdd93-18e9-5a67-8465-10e90496491a)
Back Cover Text (#u8600c386-5b6f-51d6-8dc4-5cb127b93705)
About the Author (#uec83316b-0059-59e2-a29f-c8fe9074a099)
Booklist (#u694a08b3-2d16-5ad7-bb2c-20db39680e62)
Title Page (#ubf83fbd2-1147-5660-b1f6-db67e395d5e1)
Copyright (#udaaf24ab-9148-574b-b09c-03e2ef76c1d0)
Note to Readers
Dedication (#ue198c3f8-ab2b-52c0-918f-2c9212c09299)
PROLOGUE (#u10fc2baf-db5d-5d74-9eb7-5f41b986dae1)
CHAPTER ONE (#u07fc564e-428c-5dbd-ace2-f3a5ada58671)
CHAPTER TWO (#ue895b124-218d-531d-94a2-ff2ca0d1a476)
CHAPTER THREE (#u618b3be2-8577-58dd-a785-99e7ea00405f)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u23215efa-5e90-5fbe-a777-4c2a9fbf4e04)
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)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
PROLOGUE (#u7adb5f58-b6e2-59e6-838e-78f49d9394ce)
DAWN ON THE best day ever! Kimmie dragged deeply on the scent of warm blossom and ozone as she threw open the shutters of her idyllic attic room overlooking the glorious sugar-sand beach.
She could still call it off.
Ridiculous. This was her wedding day! It was far too late to change her mind. Mike, Kimmie’s fiancé, was someone she’d known all her life. Much older than Kimmie and, as he’d told her himself, he’d be a steady hand on the tiller.
Or a control freak.
‘Go to bed early. Stay in your bed until I call you,’ he’d told her last night. ‘You need your sleep. Tomorrow is an important day,’ he’d added as if she didn’t know.
When did I become so biddable?
Tiny bits of her had been chipped away, so small she’d barely noticed them.
Kimmie frowned as she pulled away from the window. All brides got the jitters on their wedding day, didn’t they? A walk on the beach would sort her out. The sun was already warming the tiny Greek island of Kaimos, and Kimmie’s bridesmaid, Janey, was only down the corridor. They could both cool their feet in the sea and, hopefully, loosen up, in Kimmie’s case. But she couldn’t stop the thoughts coming.
Was Mike just a safe option?
He was the only option, and she had wanted to settle on a good man before the past put a stranglehold on her and turned her hard and cynical.
Did she love him?
If love was familiarity and the reassurance of never having to explain herself, then Mike fitted the bill perfectly. No one wanted to be alone. Not really.
Did Mike love her?
Enough questions! It was time to get dressed. Pulling on shorts and a top, she padded down the corridor to knock on Janey’s door.
‘Janey...? Are you awake? Can I come in?’
Hearing something that might have been Janey calling out, ‘Yes!’ she took a chance.
‘Sorry to wake you so early, but—’ Words froze in her mouth. There was no escaping the sight of Mike naked in bed, with Janey on top of him, riding him for all she was worth. Which wasn’t very much, as it turned out, Kimmie reflected numbly as she stumbled backwards out of the room.
CHAPTER ONE (#u7adb5f58-b6e2-59e6-838e-78f49d9394ce)
HIS FIRST DAY on Kaimos was ruined. Arriving late last night, Kris had opted to stay on his yacht. He’d thought an energetic swim in the sea would wash the cobwebs of the city away but, having reached his favourite beach, he was confronted by a group of tourists, apparently oblivious to the fact that this stretch of sand was his private preserve.
Seawater drained off his body as he stepped out of the water and impatiently raked back his hair. He was immediately drawn to a woman at the head of the group. Great breasts, fantastic legs and the most eye-catching waist-length ebony hair streaked with purple. Wearing the tiniest bikini he’d ever seen, she was dancing down the dunes to the sound of an old beatbox one of her companions was carrying on his shoulder. She’d tied a brightly coloured chiffon scarf around her waist and it was decorated with something that flashed in the sun. Tiny bells attached to it jingled as she moved. There were so many strings of beads around her neck that if she went in the water, she’d surely sink. He liked quirky, but this was ridiculous, though her manner interested him as much as her looks. There was something wild, almost reckless in her behaviour, as if she had nothing to lose and was dancing to blot out some unpleasant incident. No doubt in on the facts, he guessed her friends were trying to show their support.
What the hell? His hackles rose as they started to light a bonfire. On his beach! Then someone produced a dress from a sack—it looked like a wedding gown. Did it belong to the quirky woman? Yes, he gathered as she refused to touch it and, pulling a face, stepped back, leaving her friends to place it on the funeral pyre.
Resentment clawed at his gut, but he was keen to see the drama play out. As the flames rose and the dress disintegrated, the woman remained motionless, watching. Her friends, having formed a protective circle around her, also remained still until the fire had guttered and gone out. With only ashes left, she stabbed at the embers with a stick, as if she had to be sure that every atom of the gown had been completely consumed. Dropping the stick, she walked to the water’s edge where, tugging a ring off her finger, she flung it into the sea. He watched it glint as it went out and glint again as a strong wave brought it straight back onto the beach again. The tide was working against her, though she had no idea that the ring had returned as she’d already turned away.
Wanting to meet her for some reason he didn’t examine too closely, he retrieved the ring and caught up with her before she reached her friends. Holding it out on the palm of his hand, he asked, ‘Is this yours?’
She stared at him in silence for a moment, and then her gaze dropped to his outstretched hand and she shuddered.
‘Take it, or I can toss it back,’ he offered.
* * *
Kimmie was in turmoil. Her heart was jumping in her chest. Not only had she survived the shock of her life this morning, and then tried to make things good for her friends, she was now confronted by a Titan who might have stepped straight out of myth and legend. And he was holding out the ring, expecting her to take it.
She guessed he was around thirty years old. Huge and brutally masculine, he was the last thing she needed today. A piercingly intelligent stare that wouldn’t let her go, and hard, rugged features that looked as if they’d been hewn out of stone completed a picture she had no wish to see. His wild mop of thick, inky-black hair was still damp from the sea, and had caught on his sharply etched cheekbones thanks to the thick shading of black stubble that suggested he hadn’t shaved today. Tough enough to be a roustabout from the docks, she guessed he might be a local fisherman. Deeply bronzed by the elements, his body could have been sculpted by Michelangelo.
‘You found it,’ she said lamely, finding her voice.
‘Evidently,’ he confirmed.
‘But I don’t understand.’ She frowned. ‘I just flung it out to sea.’
‘And the tide brought it straight back again. I thought you’d want to know,’ he remarked in perfect English. His voice was deep and husky, and only faintly accented—Greek, she thought, having recognised the familiar intonation. So he was a well-travelled roustabout.
‘Yes, thank you,’ she said, shading her eyes to stare up at him.
‘And now you’d like me to throw it back again,’ he guessed with an amused quirk of his brow.
‘Would you?’
‘Of course.’
‘Can you make sure it doesn’t come back again?’
‘It won’t ever come back,’ he assured her, glancing at her hand on his arm.
What was she thinking?
She wasn’t thinking, Kimmie concluded as she snatched her hand away from his arm. Shock had sent her reeling this morning, and stunned amazement at seeing this man had halted her recovery stone dead.
But he was as good as his word. She watched as he fired the ring so far out to sea she was confident it would never be seen again. Her gaze strayed to the formidable width of his shoulders. He was as stunning from the back as he was from his front.
‘So something went wrong for you today,’ he said as he swung around.
She almost jumped out of her skin, embarrassed to think he might have caught her staring at him. ‘You could say that,’ she admitted sparingly.
‘Everyone has bad days.’ His magnificent shoulders eased in a shrug.
‘This one was extremely bad,’ she admitted.
‘Yet it prompted a party?’ he queried.
‘It’s more of a wake,’ she explained, turning to glance at her friends, who were already dancing on the flat, damp sand at the edge of the beach. They seemed to be having a good time, which was all she wanted.
‘A wake?’ the Titan prompted.
‘I don’t want to answer any more questions,’ she said bluntly. Walking into Janey’s room that morning had been quite enough. Staring into the mirror later, and realising she could never compete with Janey’s polish, wasn’t something she wanted to relive either.
‘Fair enough. Glad to be of service,’ the Titan drawled.
As she filled her eyes with him, her mind raced to work out how she’d reached this point. She’d been a scholarship girl, which was how she’d first met Mike’s sister. Jocelyn had taken Kimmie home for the holidays, which was where she’d met Mike. It was no wonder suave, sophisticated Mike had ultimately grown bored with Kimmie and looked elsewhere. She just wished he’d done that before asking her to marry him.
‘Don’t let me keep you,’ she said to the Titan.
One satanic brow lifted and she guessed he didn’t make a habit of doing other people’s bidding. And that posed another question. Why had he approached her now? Why Kimmie? She couldn’t bear it if he felt sorry for her...if anyone felt sorry for her. She’d sort this out herself.
Lifting her chin, she said, ‘Can I offer you a drink to say thank you?’ In her peripheral vision she could see her friends setting out the picnic they’d brought with them. Their landlady, Kyria Demetriou, had prepared the most wonderful wedding breakfast, and Kimmie was determined it wouldn’t go to waste.
‘I appreciate your offer,’ he said, ‘but I won’t be able to accept as you and your friends must leave.’
‘I’m sorry?’ She gazed up, uncomprehending.
‘This is a private beach,’ he explained, ‘and you don’t have the necessary permission to be here.’
‘And you do?’ she challenged. It might have been a hell of a day, but she wasn’t on the canvas yet, and she had no intention of going down without a fight. Her guests had travelled a long way, only to have the wedding cancelled at the eleventh hour. The least she could offer them was a party on the beach.
‘Look,’ she reasoned when the man remained stony-faced, ‘we’re not doing any harm, and we’ll clear everything up when we leave.’
‘Read the notice,’ he rapped.
She followed his stare to a huge red sign proclaiming the beach off-limits to the general public.
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t see it,’ she admitted. ‘Are you some sort of ranger?’ Her heart thumped wildly as she stared him up and down.
‘Let’s just say I’m an interested party.’
‘Perhaps you can show me a letter of authority?’ She realised how foolish that request was even as she said it. More proof, if she had needed it, that she was only firing on half-cylinders.
The man seemed to find this amusing and flicked a glance down his half-naked frame. ‘I’m afraid I don’t have anything on me at the moment.’
She refused to look at his bronzed perfection, and wasn’t in the mood to back down. ‘With no proof of your authority, we’re not going anywhere.’
The temperature rose between them. ‘Just pack up this circus and leave.’
‘Is that the type of welcome you’d like me to associate with Kaimos?’
‘You’ll have plenty to remember,’ he flashed back.
‘How nice of you to remind me.’
His expression remained unchanged.
‘It would be nice to have some good memories to mix in with the bad, but if you can’t help me...’ She shrugged. ‘Can’t I say anything to change your mind?’
The man remained silent.
‘Are you a member of the crew from that mega-yacht out there?’ she asked, trying another tack. ‘Did you swim to the beach from that...?’ She could only be pleasant for so long under this sort of pressure. ‘That floating office block?’ The huge vessel had been moored up in the bay since first thing that morning. It was the type of eye-popping craft favoured by billionaires and potentates. If he worked for someone like that, she could understand that he’d want to clear the beach before his boss came on shore.
‘Crew?’ he queried, frowning. ‘Floating office block?’
‘That boat out there,’ she said, pointing.
If only her pulse would slow down and her wits would speed up, she thought as he replied in a clipped tone, ‘I’m not crew. And the vessel you refer to is the Spirit of Kaimos.’
‘Well, I’m very sorry, but I’ve never heard of it. And you still haven’t answered my question. Where are you from?’
‘Why is that so important?’
‘It isn’t. I’m just curious.’
‘As am I,’ he shot back.
His lazy gaze stripped her bare and, while her wilful body applauded, her mind sensibly screamed, This isn’t right... I need recovery time... What am I doing here, trading insults with a sexy stranger?
All Kimmie had wanted when she came to the seashore was to dance all the bad stuff out of her head. Instead she was getting deeper into conflict with a man who thought he could order her friends off the beach. She’d reached her tipping point. It was enough to know she’d let everyone down by bringing them all the way to Greece for a wedding that wasn’t going to happen, without having some arrogant Titan order them to leave.
‘Talk and I might let you stay.’
Kimmie’s jaw firmed and her eyes flashed fire at him, but she had her friends to consider. Curbing her anger threw her thoughts back to the mistakes of the day. She should have seen that Mike’s romantic interest in her had only grown wings when her exhibition of paintings straight out of college had been such an unexpected success. That should have rung warning bells, but Jocelyn was like a sister and Kimmie loved her dearly, and she had so wanted to belong and have a family of her own. Mike couldn’t wait to share everything with her, he’d said. Now she realised the only thing he’d actually meant to share with her was the money she’d made from the sale of her paintings. And now this man wanted to take another bite out of her life?
‘I’m not here to sort out your problems,’ he rapped, confirming her impression of him as harsh and unfeeling. ‘Or to be the butt of your anger,’ he added in the same hostile tone.
She stared him straight in the eyes. He might terrify some people, but she’d been through the wringer today and had no intention of backing down, though she had to handle him carefully for the sake of her friends.
‘Without proof that you have the authority to tell us to leave, I don’t see why we should.’
‘I’m asking you politely to leave,’ he emphasised.
‘And I’m telling you equally politely that we’re not doing any harm, and that we’ll leave the beach exactly as we found it.’
* * *
She was wholly in the wrong, but she’d impressed him. Determined to defy him, after what could only have been one hell of a start to her day, he guessed what she’d really like to do was to find a dark, quiet place where she could be alone with her thoughts as she tried to work out what had gone wrong. She struck him as an intelligent woman, not the type to blunder into a hasty marriage, so he was curious too. To her credit, she was concentrating on her friends, doing everything she could to make things right for them. This included holding him at bay, which was no mean task. He was used to women waiting for him to call the shots before falling in line with whatever he wanted. This woman would never do that. He found himself in the unusual position of telling her to go while wanting her to stay. In the interest of compromise he decided to back off for a while.
‘Kris,’ he said, extending his hand in the customary greeting.
Ignoring his hand, she frowned suspiciously. ‘Does that mean you’re joining us?’
‘I didn’t say that.’ He noted the flush in her cheeks and her darkening eyes as his hand closed around hers. The urge to drag her close and kiss her hard was overwhelming, but control was second nature to him.
Displaying the same iron resolve, she stepped back, pulling her hand out of his. ‘Kimmie—Kimmie Lancaster. Kimmie isn’t short for anything; it’s just Kimmie.’
This woman wasn’t just anything. ‘So, just Kimmie...burning a wedding dress and throwing away a diamond ring, and now you’re having a party.’
‘A wedding wake,’ she reminded him. ‘We can’t waste the food. Kyria Demetriou at the Oia Mare, where we’re staying, went to so much trouble to prepare a wedding feast, and this is the only way we can show our appreciation.’
‘Commendable. She’s a friend of mine.’
‘Kyria Demetriou?’
‘Yes.’
Kyria Demetriou was a pretty good judge of character, and he could see Kimmie thinking, Okay, so maybe he’s not so bad.
‘It’s a small island,’ she said. ‘I’m not surprised you know each other. I don’t expect you’d want us saying anything bad about you to her?’
‘Are you attempting to blackmail me?’ he asked, smiling faintly with incredulity.
‘Whatever it takes,’ she said bluntly.
More gripped by her character than ever, he pressed on with his low-key interrogation. ‘The Oia Mareis very nice, but quite expensive...?’
‘I wanted to treat my friends—’
‘You wanted to treat your friends?’
‘What’s wrong with that?’ she fired back.
‘It must have cost you a lot of money.’
She didn’t answer.
‘Why couldn’t your friends contribute towards the cost themselves?’ he prompted.
‘Because I didn’t want them to. I’d had a lucky break and wanted to share my good fortune. I ring-fenced some of the money I’d made for a project I’m interested in, but there was plenty left over and I wanted us all to do something special, something different for a change.’
‘And your fiancé went along with this proposal?’
She clammed up, and then admitted, ‘I don’t even know why I’m telling you all this.’
‘Because you need to get it off your chest?’
Pressing her lips down, she shrugged.
‘Were you engaged for long?’
He could see her wondering whether to say another word, but then her armour cracked and she revealed, ‘If I tell you, you’ll laugh.’
‘Try me,’ he challenged.
‘All right, I will. I’m an artist, recently graduated from studying at college in London. My first art exhibition was held straight out of college. No one, least of all me, could have predicted what a success it would be. My ex-fiancé is an older man whom I’ve known pretty much all my life. He’s my best friend’s older brother. Anyway,’ she added, brushing off unpleasant memories, he guessed, ‘he came to the gallery on the last night when there was nothing left to buy. I think we were both amazed...buoyed up...excited by what had happened. And he proposed to me there and then.’
‘And you agreed to marry him there and then?’
‘Yes. It does sound stupid now,’ she agreed wearily, ‘but sometimes life pushes you down a path you don’t expect, because the past is steering you.’
‘Is that what happened in your case?’
She looked at him for a few long moments and then said, ‘I’m done. I’m not going to tell you anything else.’
‘Quite right,’ he agreed reluctantly.
Life choices. And where had they got her? Kimmie huffed inwardly as she realised that in the personal sense her choices had been disastrous. She’d jumped at the chance to marry Mike, thinking she would be laughing in the face of the past. She could see now he’d caught her at the very best...no, the very worst possible moment.
‘So your fiancé cheated on you?’ Kris guessed shrewdly.
‘What brilliant powers of deduction.’
‘A bride without a groom,’ he added, unfazed by her sarcasm. ‘How unfortunate.’
‘Some would call it lucky.’
‘Do you?’ he asked with a keen stare.
‘I call it a life lesson,’ she admitted.
‘Will it make you bitter?’
‘No,’ she said without hesitation. ‘It will make me cautious, and determined never to make the same mistake again.’
‘Easy to say, harder to do,’ Kris observed.
‘You don’t know me,’ she assured him.
‘That sounds like a challenge,’ he said lazily.
An idea had begun to brew in Kris’s mind. He’d have to explore the possibility a lot more before deciding to progress things further, but this unexpected encounter, coming hot on the heels of a conversation he’d had with his uncle, made him feel as if fate was lending a hand.
‘Well, if you’re not going to join us, I guess I’ll see you around,’ she said pointedly.
‘It will be hard to avoid you on such a small island.’
‘I’ll do my best to stay out of your way.’
‘Starting now?’ he suggested, shooting a meaningful glance at her friends.
She sighed. ‘Not that again. I promise we’ll be ultra-careful. I’ll be personally responsible for making sure that every grain of sand is returned to its rightful place before we leave.’
He huffed a laugh. She’d won. Whether that was because she was so unusual, or because she’d stood up to him, he didn’t know and didn’t care.
‘Make sure you do that,’ he warned lightly. ‘Or you’ll answer to me.’
The blush on her face suggested that wasn’t an entirely unwelcome proposition. She was extremely attractive, like no one he’d ever met before. He liked a challenge and he admired her grit. With their stares locked in mutual interest, he wondered if her body ached like his. Animals would have cut to the chase by now, but humans were bound by rules of convention. Getting to know her would take time.
‘Why don’t you introduce me around?’ he suggested.
CHAPTER TWO (#u7adb5f58-b6e2-59e6-838e-78f49d9394ce)
WHAT WAS SHE getting herself into now? Kimmie wondered as she introduced Kris to her friends. Was her brain so fried after finding two people she had trusted in bed together that she was more than capable of acting out of character to the point of being reckless? There was a sense of unreality about things, of not quite touching base with events that seemed to be floating over her head. Frying pan and fire came to mind. She stared at Kris, who was behaving quite differently to the autocratic tyrant he’d initially seemed on the beach. What had changed him? Why was he being so charming? Did Kris have an angle too?
‘He’s really nice,’ one of her friends said.
‘Look what I found on the beach is a great opener when the flotsam looks like Kris,’ Kimmie admitted.
She’d tried the conventional kind of relationship and look how that had turned out, Kimmie mused as Kris continued to talk easily to her friends. Perhaps it was time to try something different.
What? Now?Get real!And as if she’d get the chance!
But for someone who had spent most of her life dreaming, and putting those dreams down on paper and canvas, there was no harm in looking, as she watched Kris mingle and charm. He wasn’t predatory, and some of her single female friends were very pretty, nor was he condescending with the men. He was just a great guy...or he appeared to be. Perhaps he didn’t have an agenda and she was just being neurotic, but appearances could be deceptive, Kimmie thought as she remembered Mike.
Around half an hour in, Kris was ready to leave. ‘Do we have to go when you go?’ Kimmie asked, concern building as she noticed how much her friends had relaxed since he’d arrived. They’d been distracted from her troubles by something new, and she was grateful for that because now they could really enjoy themselves without forcing the fun for her sake.
‘Your friends don’t have to go,’ he said, ‘but you do.’
‘Me? I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying with my friends.’
‘Then you can all leave,’ Kris said flatly.
His tone was light and conversational, but the expression in his eyes said something different. ‘Come on,’ he prompted with a gesture.
Was she a puppy to be led away? She might be suffering the aftershock of betrayal, but she hadn’t lost her mind completely.
‘I’m not going anywhere,’ she assured him, digging her feet into the sand.
Of all the reactions she might have expected, an easy smile was not on the list. ‘Don’t you want to come with me?’
A host of forbidden pleasures flew into her mind, but she had the sense to discard all of them. She’d thought Mike was safe, and look what had happened. Kris didn’t even pretend to be the safe option, with that gladiator’s body, tattoos and a single small gold hoop in his ear. He was danger personified.
Wasn’t he exactly the type of distraction she needed right now?It seemed to work for her friends.
Because their emotions weren’t battered and bruised, she reasoned. Standing close enough to Kris to imagine the heat of his sun-warmed body embracing her was warning enough. Warm, clean, spicy—strong white teeth, Hollywood pristine, with the fire of the devil in his eyes? That was everything she didn’t need.
‘I thought you might like to talk some more,’ he said.
She ground her jaw. It wasn’t like her to be indecisive, but it wasn’t like her to take such an almighty risk, either.
‘We’ll just walk somewhere close by and talk,’ he suggested.
Talking was safe, she persuaded herself as they set off down the beach.
Yes, but why would he take the trouble to do that? ‘Where are we going?’
She turned to glance at her friends. They’d noticed her leaving the party, and they’d taken a pretty good look at Kris, who hadn’t even tried to hide himself away, so she felt reasonably confident that she could handle this as they started to climb up the dune.
‘Too fast for you?’ he asked, stopping to wait for her to catch up. With his black stare fixed on her face and his firm mouth curving faintly, Kris was quite a sight, and surely he had to know the havoc he was creating in her fastidiously prepared wedding day body?
She was glad for the chance to catch her breath. Maybe talking to a stranger like Kris would sort things out in her head. There was so much emotion roiling around inside her it was like having a lava plug waiting to blow.
‘Make like Scheherazade,’ Kris suggested, curbing a smile. ‘Keep me entertained and you’ll buy more time on the beach for your friends.’
‘As long as it’s only talking,’ she said warily.
‘Obviously.’
‘Okay then,’ she agreed as they set off again.
‘God, you’re annoying,’ she whispered under her breath as Kris’s smile broke through his reserve. So why was she still here? Because there was annoying and then there was Kris, Kimmie concluded as he held out a hand to haul her up the last few yards of the sand dune.
* * *
Kimmie’s resilience was something else. Stubborn to a fault, he’d never liked a pushover and she would push back. She was out of breath when they reached the top, so he waited before starting down the other side of the dune. Before they disappeared out of sight she shot one last look at her friends, as if to reassure herself they were still close by.
‘Some people might expect a jilted bride to sit at home sobbing,’ he observed, steadying her as she slithered down the slope.
‘But I’m not at home,’ she pointed out, ‘and I’ve got guests to entertain.’
‘You’ve succeeded, as far as I can tell, so stop beating yourself up.’
‘Who says I’m doing that?’
‘I believe I did.’
‘So I can’t hide anything from you?’ she queried with a lift of her finely drawn brow.
‘No,’ he said flatly, ‘so don’t even try.’
He led the way to one of nature’s indentations in the sand. ‘This will do,’ he said. ‘Feel free to unburden yourself.’
‘Just talking,’ she said again with a warning look.
‘There’s nothing else on the table,’ he assured her.
Who are you, just Kimmie? he wondered. And where did you learn to stand up for yourself like this? The unicorn inked on her shoulder backed up her story of being an artist, a creative, a dreamer, and not his type at all. He went for older, more experienced women who knew the score. They used him as he used them, for sex and pleasurable outings, no strings attached on either side.
‘I am going to pull you up on something,’ she said as they settled down in the dip of sand.
‘Only one thing?’ he murmured dryly, starting to get the hang of Kimmie’s thinking.
‘Yes. If you read the small print on the sign, it describes this area as a wildlife reserve accessible only by permission of the owner, so what are you doing here?’
‘I have permission but, unfortunately, not on me at this moment.’
‘As I can see,’ she said, cheeks pinking up as she pointedly avoided looking at his almost naked body. ‘It just doesn’t seem fair that you can come here and we can’t.’
‘Change the subject,’ he said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m bored with that topic.’
‘Oh, well, I’m very sorry about that—’ She gasped as he caught hold of her. ‘And what are you doing now?’
Staring into her eyes, he held her just far enough away for Kimmie to imagine he was going to kiss her. She was romantic enough to believe it and that could be useful if he decided to progress this. Thinking about his uncle’s diktat that Kris should find a bride fast, it was hard not to laugh out loud. He couldn’t imagine his uncle had someone like Kimmie in mind. Bright, independent and very much with a mind of her own, he doubted she’d see much merit in marrying him.
Marrying him?
What the hell was he thinking now? He didn’t know her well enough. Yes, he could get to know her, and he had no doubt that would make his uncle happy. Succession planning, Theo Kaimos had said before Kris left Athens for Kaimos. It’s time you stopped tomcatting around and found yourself a decent woman. Kris didn’t want to disappoint the man who’d brought him up like a son, but he had pointed out that the type of woman his uncle had in mind didn’t just drop out of the sky.
Maybe they washed up on a beach?
Dismissing that thought, he turned his attention back to Kimmie.
* * *
Kris hadn’t kissed her, and now she felt such a fool because she’d been so sure he was going to. Worse, she’d been going to let him. Her emotions were all over the place. Was she destined to be a victim of circumstance forever, or would she grab hold of life again at some point and drive forward?
‘Where are you going?’ Kris asked as she stood up.
‘Back to my friends.’
‘But we haven’t started talking yet.’
‘Maybe I’ve changed my mind.’
‘And maybe you shouldn’t do that.’
He sprang up too, and his hands were gentle on her shoulders. Just for a moment she wanted to sink into that feeling. It felt so good to have someone strong who might actually listen to what she had to say, someone who might take hold of her if or when she was falling. But that was another fantasy, though this was what she’d been longing for all day, a quiet place and a chance to think things through. Getting away from people who knew her too well was actually a relief. However hard her friends tried to hide it, she knew they felt sorry for her and the last thing she needed was pity. What she needed was to work things out, get back on her feet, and get back out there fighting. Her plan to dance wildly and party like a demon until the sight of Mike and Janey going at it like rabbits had been ejected from her head was pathetic, and wouldn’t have helped. It would just have made her feel worse.
And this wasn’t a mistake? Kimmie thought as Kris’s customary rock-hard expression softened a little in a way that suggested he might kiss her when he judged the moment right. Naturally her body thought this was a great idea, and only common sense was left behind.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked, seeing her frown.
There were so many answers to that question it was safer not to speak at all. When she stared into his eyes all her problems seemed to disappear. Kris was compelling in a way she’d never encountered before, which made it totally useless telling herself that, having spent all her adult life shying away from forming more intimate relationships, she was going to forget all her fears now.
‘Are you frightened of sex? Is that why your fiancé was unfaithful to you?’
‘Wow!’ She drew her head back with surprise. ‘You don’t hold back, do you?’
Kris shrugged. ‘It’s a simple question.’
‘And one you have no right to know the answer to.’
He conceded this with a dip of his head, but the steady beam of his eyes didn’t let up.
‘I think it’s probably time I went back now,’ she stated.
‘If you want, or you can tell me more. It’s entirely up to you. I’m in no hurry,’ Kris assured her.
‘What do you want to hear about?’
‘You could start with your early childhood.’
‘What are you? A shrink?’
‘No, but I know which buttons to press. So tell me or don’t. It’s up to you. Shall we sit down again?’ he suggested when she remained silently brooding.
‘Can I trust you?’ she said at last.
Kris shrugged. ‘Time will tell. Meanwhile, what do you have to lose?’
‘Not much,’ she agreed with a humourless laugh.
‘Then we’ll begin.’
‘I have a few questions for you first.’
‘Shoot.’ Leaning back on his elbows, he waited for her to begin.
‘I just want to know—are you a local fisherman perhaps working as crew when fish are scarce?’
He burst out laughing.
‘Are you or not?’ she pressed.
Kris’s eyes were still dancing with laughter. ‘I’m your sultan and you’re Scheherazade buying time for your friends, remember.’
‘Like you said, I’m bored with that story.’
‘Me too.’ Resting back, he waited.
‘I can’t be long or my friends will send out a search party,’ she warned.
‘I doubt that somehow. They know where you are and who you’re with.’ Kimmie was changing her mind about telling him anything more, he guessed, and that was a shame. She had to want to tell him and if he didn’t learn about her he couldn’t pursue the admittedly wild idea that Kimmie might prove to be the answer to his uncle’s request. ‘Do you want to spoil their fun?’
‘No,’ she admitted. ‘I don’t.’ She followed this by glancing in the direction of the music blowing on the wind in short, irregular bursts.
It must have occurred to Kimmie that she was with a man she hardly knew. It was his duty to reassure her. ‘Chapter One. Kimmie’s Life Story...’ he murmured.
‘Okay,’ she murmured back.
‘Talking things out is therapeutic,’ he reassured.
It took a while for Kimmie to get into her stride, but eventually the fact that she was opening up to a relative stranger became less important than opening up. It was like lancing a wound. Once the pus came oozing out, it started to flow faster and faster, and with each new fact the telling became easier. And it wasn’t all doom and gloom. She had lots of anecdotes about her childhood that made her laugh as she looked back.
He didn’t laugh. He remained quite still, listening intently.
CHAPTER THREE (#u7adb5f58-b6e2-59e6-838e-78f49d9394ce)
‘SO YOUR FIRST memory is...?’
‘Staring at a brass poker while having my nappy changed,’ she joked, ‘but I’m not sure you want to hear that.’
He laughed. ‘Moving on. Let’s try for something else.’
‘Okay, then... I’m in a dark room, crawling on the floor...’
‘Crawling in your bedroom?’ he prompted.
‘No, I don’t think so.’ She screwed up her face as she thought back. ‘It doesn’t smell nice and there are empty bottles on the floor. It’s sticky. I remember picking up a cigarette butt, though I didn’t know what it was at the time. There was a lipstick stain on the end of it that made me think of my mother. I put it down again because it smelled nasty. And now I remember I was hungry... I wanted something to eat, and I’m cold—’
‘Okay.’ Shocked, he cut her off. ‘Why don’t we leave it there? I didn’t mean you to relive a time when you were frightened and alone, and I apologise for pushing you. You must think me insensitive.’
‘No, I think you’re curious,’ she said.
‘This isn’t a joke.’
She smiled ruefully. ‘You’re telling me. Or maybe I embellished the tale to keep your interest a little longer so the party could continue...?’
‘I don’t believe that for a minute,’ he said, springing to his feet. ‘Come on...let’s go.’
‘What have I done wrong?’
‘Absolutely nothing,’ he told Kimmie firmly. ‘You’ve done nothing wrong.’
What about his uncle? What about his agreement to at least consider the suggestion that he, Kris, should get married and settle down?
He’d never found himself in a situation where scruples overruled his natural instinct to seduce, but by the time Kimmie had finished relating this first chapter of her life, where she’d clearly had a less than ideal childhood, he was committed to protecting her from further harm, and nothing else.
‘So? How did I do?’ she asked as she stood too. ‘Are my stories good enough to keep your interest so we can let the party continue?’
‘They’re pretty good,’ he said, feeling a pang of anger and pain on her behalf.
‘Are you ready for the next instalment?’
‘Honestly? Not right now.’
‘I’ve bored you,’ she said immediately.
‘Far from it.’ Having appeared so feisty when they’d first met, she now seemed vulnerable in the extreme. Cupping her face, he stared into her eyes. ‘You’re quite the survivor, Kimmie Lancaster.’
‘And more than a match for you,’ she assured him with gusto.
‘Of that I’ve got no doubt,’ he said as he released her and stood back.
He could buy anything on a whim, do anything at a moment’s notice, but he couldn’t match Kimmie. She was unique in a world of grasping insensitivity and he’d be a fool to let her go, but she was clearly a free spirit and he doubted anyone could tame her. That she’d been hurt so badly today had only added to her determination never to be tied down. There wasn’t a chance she’d fall into his arms and marry him just because it suited his uncle. To produce the longed-for heir would be a lot harder than Uncle Theo imagined if Kris decided on Kimmie.
* * *
She’d killed any hope of seduction stone dead, which was good, Kimmie thought. Anything done in the heat of the moment while her emotions were all over the place could only be something to regret. Digging deep into her memory bank as, for some reason, she’d been tempted to do with a man she’d probably never see again, was as futile as dancing wildly on the beach.
When Kris pulled her into his arms, it was a total surprise. The kiss came when she least expected it, and was not what she expected from him at all. There was no pressure, no force, no sudden lunge; he just dipped his head and seduced her with his lips, his mouth lightly against hers. Drugging her with almost gentle kisses, her lips were tingling when he pulled away and she definitely wanted more. Her body urgently demanded more as Kris moved on to lace his fingers through her hair and lowered his head again, almost as though he’d heard her body’s demands. The feeling was sensational, and allowed him to control the teasing kisses and deepen them at will. With each careful penetration her body ached, and he lengthened the kisses until the two of them were bound in a single unit of pleasure. This made her long for a far more intimate invasion, one that would make sensation consume her so she forgot everything else.
Pressing her body against his, she soon realised that Kris’s mastery was everything she’d ever hoped for in a lover, and had given up any expectation of finding. Mike had always put himself first, and had been impatient with Kimmie’s innate fear of intimacy. It was only extremely reluctantly that he’d agreed to Kimmie’s request that they not sleep together until their wedding night. She should have known then that they were heading for disaster.
‘You’re shivering,’ Kris noticed. ‘Has something upset you? You can’t expect me not to feel desire when I’m holding you so close. Are you having second thoughts?’
‘None.’ She was strong. She’d told Kris more about her early childhood than she’d ever told Mike. Even though she hardly knew him, Kris encouraged while Mike dictated—another piece of darkness that had crept up on her silently. Having braced herself for the wedding night, thinking if she could just jump that hurdle everything else would be all right, she knew now that Mike would never have been committed to their marriage. Naively, she’d thought he’d be a good partner, managing the business side of her work while Kimmie painted up a storm. Dreams were just that, she concluded. Childish fantasies. But this was different. Matching her strength against an equally firm-minded man was invigorating, not wearisome or depressing, and the one thing she badly needed to reinvigorate was her pep.
But that didn’t mean losing her grip on reality. She knew nothing about Kris—where he called home, or if he had a family. He might have come from anywhere and could go back there just as fast.
‘You’re not married?’ she asked suddenly.
‘No, or even remotely entangled,’ he reassured her.
* * *
To the deep regret of Uncle Theo, Kris mused silently, and he’d had no plans to change the status quo at the moment, though he did want Kimmie. Bringing her so close he could feel her heart racing against her chest, he sensed her hunger and also her fear. He was so much bigger than she was, though ironically they fit together perfectly. But his main concern was that she had never properly answered his question as to whether she was frightened of sex and, despite her passionate response to his kisses, he felt a hesitation deep inside her, which made him doubly determined not to overwhelm her.
Overwhelm Kimmie? With a lifetime of control under siege, he was the one under pressure. He’d never experienced anything like it. The urge to claim her was eating him up inside. How could anything happen this fast? He didn’t know her. She was a girl on a beach who had told him a few troubling stories. She could be lying about everything to win his sympathy in an attempt to trap him, and she wouldn’t be the first.
‘Kris?’ she said, arranging the scarf she’d tied around her bikini so it covered her a little more. ‘It’s your turn to frown. I’m happy to go back.’
‘No. There’s no need to do that.’
She shrugged. ‘The party will be winding down soon.’
Her voice was soft and musical. She was used to being hurt and that touched him. Turning her face to the sun, she closed her eyes as if to shut out the reality of a turbulent day. It was more than he could stand. He had to sample the smile on her kiss-bruised mouth. One kiss led to another until they were feasting on each other and he had to pull back.
‘Ten minutes more,’ she said, sinking back down on the sand.
As her kitten eyes flashed with something a world away from fear, he was gladly bewitched. This quirky, vulnerable woman was like no one he’d ever met. She was seducing him. Resting back on her elbows, she allowed her lush breasts to thrust forward so her nipples stood proudly erect. Her extraordinary purple-streaked hair brushed the sand and there was no mistaking the longing in her eyes. She was giving him a look as old as time. He didn’t need prompting. His groin had tightened to the point of pain.
Stretching out his length beside her, he briefly considered the possibility of a set-up. It was an occupational hazard for rich and powerful men. Just because Kimmie was so different from the rest didn’t automatically make her harmless, but his best guess was that she planned to use him to forget her ex-fiancé. What she clearly hadn’t taken into account was how she’d feel about herself afterwards.
Decision made, he sprang to his feet. ‘I’m taking you back.’
‘Did I do something wrong?’
Surprise, hurt and bewilderment flashed behind her eyes in quick succession. It couldn’t be helped. He wasn’t a counsellor or Kimmie’s keeper. Had she changed his thinking? Maybe. He’d never needed patience where seduction was concerned, but Kimmie was wounded and needed time to recover. They were both damaged by a past that had made him independent, always, and had made Kimmie a survivor too.
‘You’re taking me back to the party?’ she asked uncertainly as he headed away from the beach.
‘No. I’m taking you home.’
‘To your home?’
‘No, back to the guest house.’
This was a first for him. When he identified something he wanted he went straight for it, but Kimmie demanded a different approach. It was never easy to hold back and show the type of restraint she would require, but when had he ever embraced easy?
* * *
Now she felt worse than ever. Rejected twice in one day was too much for anyone. Labelling herself a naïve and pathetic failure, she scrambled to her feet. Overreaction? Probably, but her emotions were raw today. She shouldn’t have gone so far, or told him so much. She shouldn’t have kissed Kris because now she knew how that felt, and was equally certain that no other man could ever compare. If only she’d spared a moment to think how she’d feel afterwards, or that she was heaping humiliation upon humiliation on herself. Was she so unattractive? Had she bored him as she’d obviously bored Mike? Had telling Kris some of her life story, or at least a carefully edited version of it, been her worst mistake? Had kissing her been unpleasant for him, or had something else put him off? He’d seemed to enjoy the kisses, so perhaps it was a case of too much personal information. She’d found it dangerously easy to unburden all those memories to Kris. Would he yawn about it later? Would he laugh about it with his friends? She could only imagine Kris surging through life on a wave of approval, while she was still struggling to climb out of the mud.
That had to be it, Kimmie concluded as she checked her bottom was covered, and wished her bikini top was a little bit more concealing.
‘We’ll walk up the cliff,’ Kris informed her, staring skywards to where the craggy rock face threw a shadow over the beach, ‘and then I’ll drive you back.’
‘You’ve got a car up there?’ She glanced at him with surprise.
‘A house too.’
She went hot and then cold. It wasn’t just her emotions that were in a mess. Her brain cells were crashing too. ‘So this is your beach.’
Kris didn’t answer. ‘Should we make a start on the climb? Or I can take you back to your friends. Whichever you prefer.’
‘You haven’t answered my question.’
‘No,’ he said. ‘I haven’t. Nor have you answered mine.’
What the heck was happening? She needed time to think. Who was this man? Her suspicions were racing. Did she want to go back to her friends, or would she prefer to unscramble her thoughts in private? It had been good to escape their curiosity and pity, and not just because the distraction was Kris. The climb up the cliff would take all her energy, so there’d be no time for thinking or fretting, or wondering what Kris’s motive was in being so considerate towards her.
‘The walk will do you good,’ he said as if confirming her thoughts.
‘Like taking my medicine?’ she suggested wryly as she glanced up the cliff.
‘Like keeping you in that quiet place where you don’t have to explain yourself to your friends,’ Kris said with piercing intuition. ‘And anyway,’ he added in a lighter tone, ‘I thought you liked adventure?’
‘Why do you think that?’
‘Gut instinct.’
‘So you haven’t had enough of me?’
He shrugged. ‘I like a challenge.’
‘So do I,’ Kimmie admitted, ‘but in this instance I’m going to tell my friends what I’m doing.’
‘A wise precaution,’ Kris agreed. ‘We’ll walk that way.’
Why not let this play out? She wasn’t ready to let go of Kris yet. He was the best thing that had happened in a wretched day, and seemed in no hurry to get rid of her. She could go with him or not. Find out more about him, or spend the rest of her life wondering, What if?
‘Before we set off there’s that question you didn’t answer,’ she reminded him. ‘You’re not crew or a local fisherman, are you?’ And when he chose to stare at her with a non-committal expression on his face, she stated with sudden certainty, ‘You’re the man who owns the island. You’re Kristof Kaimos, CEO of Kaimos Shipping, said to be the richest man in the world. Unmarried, untouchable, and determined to remain unattached, according to the press, in spite of your uncle’s best efforts to see you married off.’
‘You seem to know a lot about me.’
Hot and cold had just become shards of ice and spears of fire piercing every inch of her. Kris was Kristof Kaimos. Incredible. Impossible. But very real.
‘It’s hard to avoid news of the super-rich,’ she admitted with all the cool she could muster. ‘Anyway, I feel quite safe now.’
‘Meaning?’ Kris probed, frowning.
‘Meaning I can’t imagine you would rope me in for the role of consort.’
He laughed out loud, a flash of strong white teeth against his burnished tan. ‘You have such a romantic way of putting things,’ he remarked. His stare burned into her as he looked down.
‘I’m a bit worried that you haven’t denied it,’ she admitted, ‘but I’m confident your selection of wife will come from a much more prestigious group of women than a jobbing artist could hope to join. As for being romantic? Believe me, I’d love to be romantic, but life made me wise up in a hurry.’
‘We all make mistakes.’
‘Even you, Kris Kaimos?’ she challenged. ‘Will you regret meeting me by tomorrow morning?’
‘I can’t possibly know until tomorrow comes.’
‘You’re good at evading questions, aren’t you?’
‘I’m a businessman.’
‘I don’t believe you’ve answered a single one of my questions,’ Kimmie mused, ‘but I suppose there is an upside to that. If your business fails, you could always consider becoming a politician.’
‘My business won’t fail.’
‘No. I don’t believe it will,’ she agreed. ‘With you at the helm, it wouldn’t dare.’
Humour glinted briefly in Kris’s eyes, but then he turned serious. ‘Would you rather I made a pretence of feelings I don’t have?’
‘No, of course not. Most people would try to be a little more diplomatic, but you won’t even fudge the issue.’
‘No, I won’t,’ he agreed.
Life had made them both cold fish, Kimmie concluded, and it was lonely in their ivory towers.
‘Decision time,’ he said. ‘Stay with your friends, or come with me?’
‘Friends first, then you,’ she said.
‘Okay. Let’s do this.’
‘Ready,’ Kimmie confirmed.
CHAPTER FOUR (#u7adb5f58-b6e2-59e6-838e-78f49d9394ce)
WITH HIS SUSPICIONS about Kimmie’s motives temporarily laid to rest, attraction fired between them. She’d convinced him she had no idea who he was at first, and he needed no convincing that she was less than impressed by the trappings of wealth. This had been demonstrated by her casual dismissal of one of the finest superyachts in the world as a ‘floating office block’. She amused him, aroused him and she interested him. He wanted to know more.
With no way to contact his people on board the Spirit of Kaimos, his security team was far more likely to send out a search party than Kimmie’s friends, so he had to return to his house on the cliff to bring the team up to date. Then he’d drive Kimmie back to the guesthouse.
Waiting until she’d reassured her friends, he said goodbye to them, and he and Kimmie turned to head up the cliff.
‘I want to paint you,’ she said, surprising him, and not for the first time that day.
‘Really?’ he queried as they began the climb.
‘Well, you know I’m an artist.’
‘You did mention it.’
‘The walk will give me chance to think about where I’d you’d like to sit. For preparatory sketches,’ she explained.
‘You decide that?’
‘It doesn’t have to be a battle of wills,’ she joked. ‘We can decide together.’
‘How about here, staring out to sea?’
‘Maybe...’ She slanted him a smile.
‘You’ve got my interest,’ he prompted. She had a lot more than that. He’d never felt such a need to keep a woman close, so he could get to know her, really know her.
‘And you’ve certainly got mine,’ she said. ‘You’ll make a great subject.’
‘With my manly physique and handsome face?’
‘No,’ she said, frowning, as she studied him closely. ‘With those shadows you hide so well behind your eyes. Now, if I could capture them—’
‘Come on,’ he said brusquely, resenting her perceptive appraisal of him, ‘or we won’t make it to the top before sunset.’
* * *
Kris’s expression had hardened. So it was all right for him to ask her questions. Interrogation of interesting prospects was his default setting, she guessed, but when it came to probing questions about his own life, he clammed up.
‘Lead on,’ she said lightly, ‘and just this once I’ll follow you.’
As Kris registered her comment with a grunt, she thought this was a crazy end to a crazy day, with no straightforward answers to the questions banging in her head. Why was he spending this time with her? Why would a man like Kristof Kaimos waste the best part of a day on a jilted bride?
Quite out of breath, she rested her hands on her knees as they reached the top of the cliff. When she finally straightened up, she exclaimed, ‘Wow! What an amazing house.’
‘You’d like to paint it?’
‘Maybe,’ she said again with a smile.
‘I’m glad you approve.’
‘I do approve. It’s fabulous.’
‘Thank you.’
They were outside some incredible gates, looking through. The property beyond was definitely exclusive.
‘Does it make a difference now you know who I am?’ he said as she stared like a child on a day out in London.
‘Well, yes, of course it does,’ Kimmie admitted.
Suspicion blazed in his eyes. ‘Why?’
‘It goes back to wanting to paint you,’ she explained. ‘You’re not as straightforward as my other sitters.’
‘And why is that?’ Kris demanded, doubly suspicious.
‘Because a painting of Kristof Kaimos would be worth a fortune on the open market, so that changes things quite a lot. A sketch of a local guy I met on a beach in Greece would be a lovely memento, and might feature in an exhibition one day, but even a preparatory sketch of the great Kristof Kaimos would be worth a lot of money. I can’t just go ahead and do one, then show it and sell it, because that would be taking advantage of you.’
‘You’d care that much?’
‘Don’t you think I have any scruples?’
Unconcerned that she was affronted by his comment, Kris shrugged. ‘What if I gave you permission?’
‘Would you do that?’
She couldn’t believe it. A world of possibilities flashed through her head. It would be dishonest not to admit that a commission from Kristof Kaimos would be an enormous boost for her career.
‘Earlier you said you had a project to get off the ground,’ he said as he used fingerprint recognition to open the gate. ‘Would this help you to do that?’
‘Of course it would,’ Kimmie admitted. Hope and excitement soared as she explained, ‘It’s been a dream of mine for years, to set up a scholarship to help young artists get a start—maybe go to college or take extra lessons, so they get the chance to show the world their artwork. If you do allow me to paint you, the proceeds of that sale would really get things moving.’ She paused and frowned.
‘What’s wrong now?’ he pressed.
She shook her head. ‘I’d still feel as if I was exploiting you.’
‘Not if I agree to be exploited,’ he said as the pedestrian gate swung open to admit them. ‘Which I do,’ he confirmed to her amazement, adding, ‘I might even buy the painting for my uncle. He’d love that.’
‘Your uncle?’ Kimmie’s mind raced to plug the gaps in her scant knowledge of Kristof Kaimos. ‘The uncle that wants you to get married?’
‘That’s just gossip,’ he scoffed. ‘After you,’ he said, inviting her into the grounds.
‘I didn’t mean to offend you.’
‘You didn’t. It’s just that I have one uncle, and he’s very special. I consider him to be my father. He brought me up. You could say he saved me.’
So that was where the shadows came from. She didn’t prompt. She didn’t dare. She didn’t want a return to the rigidly aloof Kris, who shut her out so effectively.
They had started to walk up a beautifully groomed path between formal gardens, lovingly tended and vibrant with banks of colourful flowers. It was the perfect setting for relaxation and easy conversation, but Kimmie had a feeling that Kris felt he’d said too much, and the rest of the walk would be conducted in silence if she didn’t say something.
‘What happened to your parents?’ she asked. There was no point dressing it up. There was a trauma to be uncovered and understood, if she had a hope of putting any depth into a painting of the man.
Was painting Kris the only reason she wanted to know more about him?
‘If you don’t want to tell me—’
‘No, I do,’ he said a little curtly, perhaps in the hope of shutting her up. ‘My parents loved partying, and one day they partied so hard they forgot they had a child. My uncle rescued me from the streets of Athens, where I was found wandering. There’s only me and Theo left now.’
There wasn’t much she could say to that. It was so much worse than she’d imagined. No wonder Kris withdrew behind his barricades. He must have been doing that since he was a child. She hadn’t anticipated uncovering such a wretched similarity between them. The few newspaper reports she could recall had mentioned Kristof Kaimos’s unparalleled drive and his almost fiendish dedication to his business. Now she knew why he felt so strongly about showing his gratitude to an uncle who meant so much to him. Kris would probably spend the rest of his life doing so. She could really empathise because, like Kris, since childhood Kimmie had determined she would never be a victim again.
It wasn’t really possible to uncover all the onion layers of a person on first meeting them, she reflected as they approached the entrance to Kris’s house. There was just chemistry, or animal instinct, that drew one person to another, but maybe there was such a thing as fate, and maybe fate had a reason for throwing them together, although—and she had no illusion about the likelihood of Kris even considering this—she had no intention of becoming his convenient bride, any more than Kris would leap across the gulf dividing them to get down on one knee.
And weren’t these crazy thoughts on the day she’d been jilted at the altar? Time to get real, Kimmie concluded, as Kris strode past the house, quickening his step so she had to almost run to keep up with him. Perhaps he couldn’t wait to get rid of her now. He obviously regretted sharing as much as he had. He would think it a sign of weakness to show off his scars. Just as Kimmie felt hers had never really healed, Kris didn’t like to admit to the same.
‘I love your house,’ she said, hoping to ease the tension that had grown between them. She wasn’t completely naïve, and had expected a billionaire’s roost to be off-the-scale fabulous, but this was something else. The sheer size and splendour of the building, enhanced by various add-ons like a line of tennis courts and a swish pavilion. There was the competition-sized pool and, of course, the indispensable helipad. All of it made the gulf between them even more unbridgeable. Painter and subject didn’t require parity between them, she reminded herself; all that was required was a steady hand and, in the case of painting Kristof Kaimos, an even steadier nerve.
‘Painting your estate could be my life’s work,’ she said carelessly as thoughts of holding a paintbrush in her hand again took hold.
‘It’s always lovely here at sunset,’ Kris observed with what was almost a dismissive gesture as he strode on.
He was missing so much, Kimmie thought, longing to make Kris linger so he could see things as she did with her artist’s eyes. Everything was subtly lit so the gardens glowed lush green, while glittering water features competed with ancient statuary. Beyond these, seemingly endless miles of ocean stretched to unseen horizons. What a place to make the imagination fly. It was glorious.
She turned to look at Kris, who’d stopped walking to wait for her, and wondered what she was doing here with this man. A more relevant question might be—what was Kris doing here with her? What did he want with her? If he wanted the obvious he could have made his move on the beach, but he’d behaved like a gentleman. Because he knew her emotions were churning, she reasoned, and Kris was too big a man to take advantage of a woman in distress.
‘What?’ he prompted, seeing she was distracted.
‘Oh, a helipad,’ she said as if she’d never seen such a thing before. Let him think her naïve and unworldly. Better that than he read some of her thoughts.
‘And over there,’ he said with humour in his voice, pointing, ‘is a runway for my private jet.’
‘Only one?’ she queried, tongue in cheek.
Kris’s lips twitched and he almost smiled, but she had to be careful. She liked him a lot. Too much, maybe, and that was dangerous for her bruised and battered heart.
‘Do you play?’ he asked as they passed the tennis courts.
‘I like to lob a few balls back into court,’ she admitted dryly, but when he smiled she told the truth. ‘My hand–eye coordination is lousy.’
‘I’m surprised,’ he said. ‘You being an artist...’
‘I don’t like running.’
‘Away from anything,’ he guessed. ‘How about swimming? That would cool you down.’
If only it was that easy. Her temperature rose just looking at Kris.
‘You could stay over,’ he offered. ‘Guest accommodation,’ he said before her heart could start pounding with alarm.
‘That’s a kind offer, but no, thank you. I’d better get back.’
‘Yes,’ he agreed, ‘you’d better.’
She couldn’t read anything into the tone of his voice and, even if she had, she would probably be guilty of overreacting. Her emotional foundations were still rocking, and her decision-making processes were shot to hell. But why ask her to stay over? Was Kris just curious about her, as she was about him, or did he want to take a closer look at her like a scientist with an interesting project in mind? With his uncle’s interesting project in mind, she amended. Or was that reading too much into this?
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