Kidnapped by the Greek Billionaire (4 page)

Andreas paused momentarily on the steps.

“It’s not something I had considered,” he replied, and his eyes wandered lazily up to the curved peach of her behind. “But I could certainly have it drafted in, if you think it necessary. Although there would have to be certain medical niceties you would need to attend to on the issue of…your innocence, let us say.”

“That’s not something I would particularly welcome.”

She reached the top of the steps and walked shakily across the pale wooden deck, praying that the deep blush she now felt crawling up her throat would be gone before she had to face him again.

Why on earth had she been stupid enough to allude to her notable lack of experience with men?

“Besides,” she blurted out, a little too loudly for her own comfort, “such a contract would probably be illegal.”

Kizzy stared defiantly out to sea as she took off her jacket, her chin lifting with a burst of imaginary confidence.

“You may be correct.” Placing himself just millimeters away from her tense body, Andreas leaned against the glass and steel balcony of the deck with his back to the ocean. Sliding his hands into his trouser pockets, he tipped his head back to survey her. “But this conversation has gone to prove something quite important.”

“It has?”

Kizzy’s response was as brittle as a shard of ice, catching in her throat as her nerves throbbed. She felt the intimidating, pulsing warmth of his large frame, and her lungs shamelessly clawed in his scent—the leather and limes of an expensive cologne mingled with his own unique, masculine essence.

“It has highlighted the fact that I know too little about you, Kizzy. This is a situation that cannot be allowed to continue,” he murmured.

The rational side of Kizzy’s brain could barely comprehend what was happening as he leaned toward her. She had been inadvertently drawn to the captivating sight of his mouth as he had been speaking, and had wondered, just for a microsecond, what his lips would feel like on hers. Soft and tender? Or hard and plundering?

Well, now she knew. Every nerve ending thrilled beneath his mouth over hers, the velvet pressure of him becoming more intense as every second passed. Kizzy felt herself give in to the powerful circle of his arms, unable to resist the dance of his tongue with hers. Sensations she had never known, never even dreamed of, seared through her as she leaned into the heat of his torso. She became aware that her fingertips were skimming the edge of his leather belt, when suddenly she was being thrust away into a much colder place.

The distance between them was no more than a few inches, but it felt like miles as Kizzy’s eyes flickered open with bewilderment. She focused on the dark storm of Andreas’s features as he wrenched at the knot of his tie.

“Stephanos!” Andreas acknowledged the man’s sudden presence behind them with an irritated wave of the hand. “It’s been some weeks since we spoke, my friend. How are Loretta and the twins?”

“They are well,
Kyrios
,” Stephanos replied, his eyes flicking between Kizzy and Andreas with awkward curiosity. “My sister thanks you for the package you sent. It was unexpected.”

“I am pleased she has recovered, Stephanos.” Andreas turned abruptly toward the front of the yacht. “Please inform Captain Yiannis that I will be up shortly to speak with him.”

Kizzy watched Stephanos scuttle away. “I think he was embarrassed,” she said, remaining silent about her own newly emerging confusion.

“That was the idea,” Andreas replied sharply. “It saves me the unpleasantness of disciplining him. He won’t approach you again.”

“So you knew he was there?”

His expressionless eyes flickered disparagingly over her for an excruciating moment, and then he ripped his tie completely off.

“Of course. Why else would I have kissed you?”

Chapter Three

Andreas leaned wordlessly against the handrail, ignoring Kizzy’s awkward silence as he stared out across azure waves glinting with flashes of evening sunshine. His last remark had been cruel and dishonest, he admitted that much. But it had served a greater purpose in helping him see what made Kizzy Dean tick.

As his head began to clear from the drugging effect of their kiss, he noted with interest that Kizzy had seemed more embarrassed at being caught in a compromising situation than Stephanos had been in stumbling across them in the first place. Acutely so, in fact. Yet, at the same time, she had been so responsive to his kiss he would have sworn she was far more experienced than she appeared.

Was she a deeply practiced and artful man-eater perhaps? A gold digger with more brains than were good for her?

She certainly had the confused virgin act well rehearsed, he thought drily. But with all those qualifications behind her, why didn’t she have a proper graduate job with decent prospects? Living in a shabby room over a record-breaking loser of a restaurant certainly seemed beneath her capabilities—on paper anyway.

Nothing about Kizzy Dean seemed to add up; he couldn’t work her out at all, which was unusual. And infuriating.

But then she wouldn’t add up if she was an accomplished liar, would she? And there was no doubt that Kizzy was a liar; he’d had firsthand proof of that at the London Eye, hadn’t he?

Andreas suddenly realized that he had reached a point where he was compelled to find out more about this enticing creature or go mad with curiosity. It would be a professional quest, he reasoned with himself, and had absolutely nothing to do with the way the taste of her still danced upon his lips—his heart was beating much faster than normal.

Years of being a top lawyer had taught him how to read a person within minutes. If he couldn’t figure out the true motivation and character of this woman, then no one could. Yet one thing was for sure—Kizzy Dean was an enigma.

“You will soon learn, Kizzy,” he announced calmly, “that when it comes to your own staff, eyes in the back of your head are simply not enough. It is necessary to observe, smell, touch, taste, and above all
feel
what is happening around you, to sense where everyone is or should be at any given point in time.”

His eyes slipped involuntarily to her red lips and then snapped back to her eyes almost as quickly. He was in total control of the situation.

“Stephanos knows what is expected of him at any moment of his working day. Today’s trip down to Lindos is no exception. He always comes to take a refreshment order ten minutes into the voyage.” Andreas felt a twinge of self-reproach as he noted the injured expression on Kizzy’s face. He smothered his reaction by focusing on his lecture. “You also need to be aware that disappointment in the past has taught me to trust only a handful of individuals in my employ, and they’re all men. It’s quite a rare thing to find a woman telling you the truth when you’re an unmarried billionaire in a world of material greed and insatiable want. I’m not sure it’s ever happened.”

“And you kiss all your staff?” Kizzy inquired.

She was suddenly as sharp as needles, he observed with surprise, and rose to the verbal challenge as any good lawyer would.

“Only the female ones,” he replied with the lazy, intoxicating smile he saved for especially delicate negotiations. “And then only very selectively. Until now only platonically. What have you done to me, Miss Dean?” he demanded. “I appear to have been abandoning my principles all over the place since we met.”

“You have?” Kizzy replied. “Can’t say I’ve noticed—apart from a few moments ago.”

She fiddled needlessly with the embroidered trim of her top.

Andreas feigned amusement and then got her attention with a viselike stare. “It was the ‘no mixing business with pleasure’ one.”

“So that’s
one
of your very fine principles.” She bristled, feeling more out of her depth with every syllable uttered. “What about the rest?”

His smile faded.

“I won’t bore you with those,” he replied, flashing her a look that said “don’t push your luck,” and levered himself away from the balcony. “And now I must speak with the captain. Before I leave, would you like some refreshments? You ate precious little on our flight.”

“I wasn’t hungry,” she said quickly. “And I’m still not.”

“Very well.” Andreas shrugged. “The food at your hotel is excellent. You can eat on the terrace or in your suite. It has a private balcony.”

“Suite?
”

“Is that a problem?” Andreas drawled, and glanced at his watch.

“It’s extravagant and not something I can afford, thank you. Perhaps some simple village room or a modest bed and breakfast could be arranged?”

“Kizzy,” he said, with undisguised exasperation, “there is only one, yes,
one
hotel in Lindos village. It’s the best, the most exquisite. I had to call in quite a few favors to get rooms there.”

“How much is it a night?”

He looked at her. “That’s not important.”

“It is to me.”

“About five hundred euros.”

Her mouth fell open with horror. “What?”

“There’s nothing else, it’s high season, and I need you to be in the village, not stuck miles out of town with all the package vacationers. I can afford it, you know.”

“I’d rather sleep on the beach.”

“Of course you would.” He looked ostentatiously at his watch again. He’d noticed that it seemed to irritate her.

“Yes, I would.”

“Not with a body like that, Miss Dean,” he said laughing briefly, and made sure she saw him appraising her figure. “I’d never see you again!”

She was scowling. “I’ll take my chances.”

“Not as my employee.” He reached out and took her chin firmly between his fingers, forcing her to look him in the eye. “We have a deal, remember?”

“Nothing’s been signed,” she said reminding him sharply, taking a step backward as though to evade his touch.

“So what are you going to do?” His hand fell away from her face, and he thrust it roughly into his trouser pocket. “Jump ship and swim back to a cardboard box in Portsmouth? Sell your body to buy food?”

“Are you suggesting that I couldn’t?”

“You could, of course,” he mused, “but judging by your behavior so far you’d price your services far too low.”

He leaned back lazily and crossed his arms across his chest, allowing himself the hint of a smirk at her floundering argument.

“You’re disgusting,” Kizzy muttered.

“Disgusting…
and
a bastard?” Andreas mockingly flicked the tips of his fingers across the dark shadow emerging on his square chin. “Unfortunately, your behavior tells me I don’t repulse you quite as much as you suggest. You positively melted into that kiss.”

“You took me by surprise. I hadn’t expected—“

“You don’t fool me for a moment, Kizzy. All this frost and propriety is just a front. I felt what was happening when you were in my arms just now. It was unbelievable, you can’t deny it.”

“I have no intention of discussing this further, Mr. Lazarides. You’re my boss and there are certain standards that need to be maintained. So I’m quite prepared to consider that our—that
it
—never happened.”

“And
I’m
quite prepared to be discreet.” He stepped closer and made as if to stroke her cheek. “Your job is quite safe, I guarantee it, whatever may happen between us.”

“
Nothing
will happen between us,” Kizzy replied, twisting her face away to avoid his touch. “Nothing but business, let me assure you of that.”

He might be as sexy as hell and as rich as Croesus, but she’d seen his dark side in Rhodes and there was no doubt in her mind that he was cold enough to use a woman for sex and then discard her. She would never risk becoming a man’s sexual plaything; having witnessed her own mother’s degradation and misery would make sure of that.

“We’ll see,” he said, and his hand fell to his side. “I have a determined nature.”

“You also have a very high opinion of yourself.”

He laughed bitterly. “But I’ve earned the right, you see? There are not too many self-made billionaires in the world. Certainly not those who collected donkey droppings and worked for a pittance in a supermarket before school just to survive.” He shot her a cold, twisted smile. “My father didn’t believe in breakfast. Or education. I’d have been better nurtured by a feral cat, frankly.”

Andreas’s brain froze for a second as his ears registered the words that had poured from his mouth. Why had he said that? Now she looked horrified and embarrassed. For some reason he had let his guard slip. He never discussed his family history or alluded to his personal life.

“Don’t look so shocked,” he said. “My parents were quite well off as it happens.”

He omitted to mention that his mother’s inherited wealth had not extended to the emotional indulgence he had craved as a small boy. His only friend and ally had been his dependent little sister, Callista, and his father had possessed a very warped work ethic for someone who lived so happily off his wife’s fortune.

“Even if most of it went to imported alcohol and cigars.”

He hesitated for a moment, years of practicing courtroom mind games enabling him to mask his distaste with an impassive face.

Kizzy watched with astonishment as Andreas turned on his heel and walked briskly away. Her eyes skimmed the broadness of his shoulders as he cast aside the tie he had been crushing in his fist. His jacket followed—a slick of blue hurled dismissively onto the cream seats of a luxurious bank of sofas, its red silk lining slithering down like a stain on the immaculate leather.

For a moment Kizzy almost felt sorry for the man she had kissed and pity for the boy Andreas had once been, a small, skinny boy with dark hair and deep, sad eyes. But her empathy quickly faded when she recalled the beggar boy in Rhodes.

If Andreas was so obviously bitter about his own childhood, how could he have chased that poor child away? Was it shame? Revulsion? Or maybe just cold, greed and a desire to establish himself on the social ladder?

And what the hell had
she
been thinking?

Kizzy tried to analyze why she had allowed herself to crumble so effortlessly into his calculated embrace.

The answer seemed simple enough. Though the man didn’t need to try too hard with his money and looks, Andreas Lazarides was still a master of seduction, and he’d used that skill on her to devastating effect.

He must think her the easiest pushover he’d ever encountered.

She could only hope she was still in the running for a job after this shameful episode—a job that didn’t involve her seeing too much of Andreas Lazarides on a day-to-day basis.

If it wasn’t all so hideous, she might be tempted to laugh at her ridiculous naïveté when it came to men. She’d slipped into Andreas’s arms without a speck of resistance, and he’d thrust her away once he’d proved his point. And his point was? That she was
easy
—far too easy to keep a man used to sophisticated women content for more than five minutes. She’d not even managed to keep his interest for one!

At least her mother had more of an excuse for being downtrodden and needy—she’d suffered her noxious marriage to at least achieve something. It had nothing to do with desire and attraction. It was for the security of bricks and mortar, a meal on the table, a place in a decent school. Her mother had sacrificed everything beautiful in her life to ensure what she assumed would be the best upbringing she could achieve for her illegitimate daughter: an address, an education, and a position in society, however lowly.

“Kizzy Dean, you really should be ashamed of yourself,” she whispered into the breeze, and then looked quickly around to make sure no one had heard.

…

“That was a lot quicker than I expected,” Kizzy informed the first officer who had been giving her a brief tour of the vast, luxurious yacht. “So we’re almost there?”

He nodded nervously and seemed keen to be elsewhere.

Kizzy thought he was almost as on edge as she was, but that was hardly surprising. Andreas could be an utter beast. Or maybe word had already spread around the ship about her—that she was trouble. However, no amount of unpleasantness from Andreas or stinging embarrassment over their earlier entanglement could detract from the beautiful sight unfolding before her eyes.

The yacht whispered effortlessly into a horseshoe bay of clear, sapphire water gradually deepening to a purple glaze with the fading light. An ancient, burnt ocher fortification dominated the apricot-pink skyline like a brooding volcano, floodlights at its base illuminating the surrounding scrub in such a way that it seemed to be crackling with fire. Clinging to the dry, rocky slopes, a jumbled myriad of white sugar-cube-like buildings took on muted tones of platinum and blue, reflecting the wash of the Aegean and exuding a welcoming coolness as they glowed and twinkled.

Kizzy felt pleasure flood her body. The whitewashed village seemed to have been cast upon the harsh slopes and allowed to tumble to the water’s edge like celestial dice.