The Enigmatic Greek (13 page)

Eleanor buried her face against him and held him close, glorying in the drumbeat of his heart against her as she pressed hot, open-mouthed kisses over his chest, licking at him with the tip of her tongue until he turned her face up to his and took her open mouth in a kiss of rough possession which thrilled her down to her toes.

He tore his mouth away and buried his face in her hair. ‘This time,’ he said huskily, ‘I will not give way to greed and rush. I want—I
need
—you to share the glory I found with you earlier.’

‘Is it a matter of pride to bring a woman to orgasm every time?’ she asked, and he shook with laughter.

‘Since you ask, clinical one, yes it is. But it is more a desire to share my pleasure than pride.’ He tipped her face up to his. ‘Do your lovers leave you wanting sometimes?’

She bit her lip, eyeing him under her lashes. ‘I don’t think of them as lovers.’

‘It does not surprise me if they leave you unsatisfied!’

‘None of the men in my past fitted the description, exactly.’

Alex held her closer. ‘How many?’

‘Hundreds!’ Eleanor laughed at the look on his face. ‘Only teasing, more like one or two. Since I started in my
present job, relationships are hard work because I travel so much. I met my first boyfriend in school, but we were too young for the sex thing, I suppose.’

His arms tightened around her. ‘Teenage boys are walking hormones, Eleanor. I speak from experience. He would have wanted sex!’

She shook her head. ‘He was too wrapped up in his work. He was totally focused on doing well in exams. He never wanted sex with me.’

‘I don’t want sex, either,’ Alex said, startling her. The evidence that he did was hard to miss.

‘Let’s go to sleep then.’

‘Not yet. First,
glykia mou
, we make love.’

‘You said you didn’t want that.’

He tipped her face up to his and kissed her. ‘I said I didn’t want sex. That is just a mindless, mechanical meeting of bodies,
ne
? To achieve true rapture, the mind and spirit must be involved.’

But not the heart. Eleanor and ran a questing finger down his chest. ‘Show me, then.’

This time Alex lingered so long over making love to every part of her Eleanor was trembling and impatient and almost reduced to tears before his body joined with hers. The blissful sensation of union was so intense they achieved instant perfect rhythm, which threatened to hurtle them towards climax far too soon. But this time Alex took her to the brink and held her there several tantalising times before she came apart in his arms at last, and with a visceral groan he surrendered to his own release, his face buried in her hair.

Eleanor was happy to have Alex stay where he was. By some strange alchemy his weight was easy to bear this time. She revelled in the feeling of the graceful, muscular body still joined with hers in the ultimate intimacy, his arms still holding her close. One of them ought to move,
but since it obviously wasn’t going to be her she was content to stay where she was and enjoy the experience to the full. As Alex had promised, it had been no mere mechanical process. Making love with him had transcended anything she’d experienced before. Alex raised his head and smiled down into eyes which widened in surprise as she felt him harden inside her.

‘I want you again,
kardia mou
,’ he said huskily in a tone which caused such a melting sensation inside her he thrust deeper to take advantage of it. ‘You want me too, ne?’

When he kissed her she responded wildly, her body saying yes without words as he began to make love to her all over again, but this time faster and wilder, as she met him thrust for thrust until they gasped together in the throes of culmination so overwhelming it left them speechless in each other’s arms. It was a long time before Alex reluctantly separated from her. He slid from the bed, holding out his hand and, feeling irrationally shy, Eleanor took it and let him draw her to her feet.

‘We shall shower together and then sleep together,
ne
?’

She nodded silently, thrilled to her toes when Alex picked her up and carried her into the bathroom. He set her down very gently in the shower stall and turned on the water, waited until it warmed and drew her into his arms to stand under the spray.

‘We must not stay here like this together very long or I will want you again!’

Eleanor stared at him, astonished. ‘Really?’

‘Really!’ He soaped her with caresses which proved it was no idle threat, and she laughed and pushed him away while she rinsed.

‘I would like a towel please,’ she said primly.

‘You Brits are so cold-blooded,’ he mocked, and then
leapt away, laughing as her eyes flashed. ‘Shall I help you get dry,
agapi mou
?’

She shook her head, stifling a yawn as she swathed herself in the towel. ‘I’ll do it so we get back to bed faster. I’m tired,
kyrie
Drakos.’

‘Which is no surprise,’ he said, drying off quickly. ‘After enduring storms and nightmares and my love-making, it is only natural you are tired.’ He took her hand and led her back into the bedroom. He tidied the bed a little then got into it and held out his arms. Eleanor gave her hair one last rub, turned out the light, slid into Alex’s embrace and with a murmur of pleasure he pulled her close and drew up the covers.

‘I didn’t
endure
your love-making,’ she said sleepily.

He rubbed his cheek against hers. ‘You liked it?’

Eleanor raised her head to smile at him. ‘I loved it.’

He kissed her gently and smoothed her head back down against his shoulder. ‘In the morning we shall swim together, Eleanor.’

She sighed happily. ‘Yes, Alex.’

‘Now sleep.’

‘Yes, Alex.’

He chuckled and held her close as he gazed into the darkness. Just one more day and Miss Eleanor Markham would be gone. And so would he. His stay on Kyrkiros had been longer than intended and now it was time to stop lotus-eating and get back to the real world which provided the means to go on with the work planned on the island. But, before spending time on the beach with Eleanor, he would take another look in the Kastro basement. Then after their swim he would take her on a short tour of the island and touch base with as many inhabitants as possible.

E
LEANOR’S
interior alarm woke her early enough to let her pull on the bathrobe and unlock the door before Alex caught her in his arms.

‘Where are you going?’

‘Back to my room before Sofia finds I’m missing.’

He pushed the tousled curls back from his face and kissed her at such length they were both breathless when he let her go. ‘Come back to bed,’ he whispered, but Eleanor found the strength from somewhere to shake her head.

‘The bed will be dry by now in my room.’ She smiled ruefully. ‘Humour me. I want to make it up with fresh linen before Sofia arrives.’

Alex laughed indulgently. ‘If you must, you must, Eleanor Markham.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘But Sofia will not be here for half an hour yet.’

‘In that case, we can sort your bed out before I go.’

And, no matter how much he laughed, Eleanor insisted on restoring Alex’s bed to some semblance of order, demanding his help to plump up pillows and turn down the covers.

‘Good,’ she said with satisfaction afterwards and made for the door. ‘Now I can do mine.’

‘Shall I come and help?’

She shook her head, smiling. ‘Think how shocked Sofia would be.’

Alex ruffled her hair. ‘Be quick, then. I shall come for you when breakfast is ready.’

In the bright light of day Eleanor’s fears seemed so silly as she hurried to her room, she bitterly regretted sending Alex off on a wild-goose chase. To her relief the mattress had dried overnight, but to be on the safe side she did some hauling and pushing and turned it over before putting the clean linen on it. When she was satisfied it looked pristine and perfect in its white covers, she got into a black one-piece swimsuit, added shorts and T-shirt and did some work on her hair and face, faintly surprised to find she looked much the same as usual. Eleanor laughed at herself in the mirror. Had she really expected a night of love to show on her face? There were one or two suspicious marks on her skin, but a touch of concealer soon remedied that. If she’d been alone she’d have left them as evidence that, although she’d dreamed about a monster, Alex’s love-making had been hot, sweet reality.

When the expected knock came on her door Eleanor threw it open to find Sofia smiling at her.

‘
Kalimera, kyria.
’

‘
Kalimera
, Sofia, how is Yannis?’

Yannis, she was informed, was much better this morning, due to the
kyria’s
medicine, and now he was eating a big breakfast. The woman patted Eleanor’s hand gratefully. ‘You are a very kind lady.
Kyrie
Alexei is waiting for you.’

Eleanor thanked her and walked with her to the lift, then ran to the tower room when she saw Alex in the doorway. He kissed her hand and held out a chair for her at the table.

‘I’m hungry,’ he informed her.

‘So am I!’ Eleanor surveyed the array of fruit and freshly baked rolls with anticipation.

‘Love has given you an appetite?’

Love?
She was proud of her steady hand as she poured coffee into his cup. ‘Yes. Though it can sometimes do the reverse.’

‘When this idiot friend of yours rejected you as a lover?’ he said instantly and took her hand. ‘He was a fool to miss the glory of making love with you.’

‘Thank you.’ She buttered a roll and ate half of it as she tried, and failed, to picture Dominic Hall making love to her with even a fraction of Alex’s skill.

Alex eyed her accusingly. ‘You are thinking of him?’

‘Yes. I realised an experience like last night would never have been possible with him,’ she said candidly.

‘It would not have been as good as with me?’ he said, reaching out a hand to touch hers.

Eleanor curled her fingers round his. ‘No.’

Alex gave her the smile that made her heart turn cartwheels. ‘Good. Now, eat. And then we swim.’ He passed his cup over. ‘More coffee,
parakolo.
’

Eleanor’s eyes lingered on his sun-burnished hair, and strong, sculpted features.
You can have anything in the world you want,
she thought as she refilled his cup. Yet in two days she would be back in the UK and would never see him again. She blinked the thought away. Until she left to catch her plane, she must make the most of every moment left of this unique, never-to-be-repeated experience. Alexei Drakos, philanthropist and entrepreneur, was so far out of her league it would have been better in some ways if last night had never happened. Making love with him had been as life-altering as expected—and feared. No other man would ever compare.

‘You are day-dreaming,’ Alex stated, his eyes kindling. ‘What were you thinking about?’

‘You.’

‘So honest.’ He got to his feet and pulled her out of her chair and into his arms to kiss her. ‘You are a new experience in my life, Eleanor Markham.’

‘Ditto, Alexei Drakos!’

He held her closer. ‘Stay longer.’

She shook her head regretfully. ‘I need to get back to reality. And you’re overdue at whatever destination you were making for after the festival.’

‘They can wait for me,’ he said with careless arrogance.

‘But my job won’t wait for me. As Ross McLean constantly informs me, there are dozens of others eager to step into my shoes.’

Alex made a chopping motion with his hand. ‘If he gives you trouble, I will take care of him.’

Eleanor found Alex in this mood a big surprise. The love-making in the night might have been the most thrilling experience of
her
life but, sure it was the norm for him, she had expected him to revert to his former persona this morning. To find him behaving like a lover was delightful but unnerving.

‘Thank you for the thought, but I can deal with Ross. I thought we were going for a swim,’ she added.

He frowned. ‘I should search the
Kastro
basement again first.’

‘Surely that’s unnecessary? You found nothing last night.’ She looked him in the eye. ‘It will take you too long. I’ll be gone tomorrow, remember.’

‘You think I have forgotten that?’ He took her hand. ‘As you wish. I will ask Theo to keep everyone away from my beach, so that I can have you all to myself. How long will you be?’

‘Ten minutes.’

He laughed. ‘Which means half an hour, ne?’

‘No, it means ten minutes!’

‘Let’s make a wager. What will you give me if—when—you lose?’

‘My apologies,’ she said, laughing, and took off down the hall to her room.

After her period of virtual captivity Eleanor found it so good to be out in the sun with Alex, she felt like singing as he helped her down a steep path to a triangle of sand enclosed in complete privacy by sheltering rocks, softened by shrubs and greenery.

‘You keep this entirely to yourself, Alex?’

He shook a towel out for her to sit on. ‘Only when I’m here. Otherwise all are welcome to use it.’

‘Ah, but do they?’ Eleanor leaned back against her tote bag.

‘I’ve never asked.’ He took off his shirt and let himself down beside her with a sigh of pleasure. ‘I’m happy to help you with your sun lotion.’ He stroked a hand along her thigh.

‘I put it on before we came out.’

‘A pity. I would have enjoyed smoothing it over your skin.’

Eleanor quivered inside and cast a look at the graceful, muscular body stretched out beside her. ‘I could put some on you, if you like.’

Alex laughed. ‘I would like it far too much! Perhaps you could do that later when we are alone in my room.’

So he expected her to sleep with him again tonight. ‘No need for sun block at night!’

‘True. But I would delight in the touch of your hands on me,
glykia mou.’

Eleanor frowned at him. ‘Time to swim,’ she said gruffly and got up to remove her jeans and shirt. ‘Come on.’

When she took off at a run he laughed and chased after her. She waded into the waves until she was deep enough to
dive under them and he dove in after her, swimming stroke for stroke with her, then disappearing to come up alongside her to splash her. She laughed in delight and retaliated, enjoying this new playful Alex so much she was sorry when he said it was time to return to the beach.

‘Otherwise you will get tired,’ he said as they swam back at a leisurely rate. ‘And I must take a walk. Will you come with me?’

Eleanor stood up when her feet touched bottom, and pushed her wet hair back from her face. ‘I’d like that very much.’ She took the hand he held out. ‘It’s so lovely here, Alex. How old would you say the island is?’

‘It was first inhabited about 3500 BC,’ he informed her and laughed at her look of awe. ‘Come, water nymph, we must get back to the Kastro to dress and then take our walk before it gets too hot.’

Later, in a raspberry-pink sun dress she’d packed as the only alternative to the ill-fated Breton number, Eleanor went along to knock on the office door to tell Alex she was ready.

‘Will I do?’ she asked.

‘Oh yes,’ he said, giving her a leisurely top-to-toe scrutiny. ‘You will do perfectly. We will walk just up to the church and back, so that you can get an idea of how people live here.’

Eleanor decided against carrying her tote bag, which looked battered after its adventure as an assault weapon. She slung her camera over her shoulder instead, put on her sunglasses and white cotton hat and smiled up at Alex. ‘I’m ready.’

They went into the kitchen on their way out and found Yannis helping his mother now his friend Markos had gone home. The youth smiled shyly at Eleanor as he thanked her for the medicine, and assured
kyrie
Alexei that he was now much better.

His mother added her thanks and complimented Eleanor on her dress, then announced that lunch was cold today and could be served at whatever time it was required.

‘Efcharisto
, Sofia,’ said Alex, and told her they would not be long in case the sun was too hot for
kyria
Eleanor.

‘Isn’t life strange?’ Eleanor remarked as they set off up the steep, maquis-scented road together. ‘I first arrived here just a couple of days ago, yet it feels a lot longer than that.’

‘Because so much has happened since.’ Alex smiled down at her with a warmth Eleanor marvelled at when she remembered his original hostility.

‘Stop a moment; I want some shots of the houses climbing the hill up here.’ She took out her camera and focused on the small houses, some of them white, others painted ochre or sky-blue, most of them with bougainvillaea tumbling over their porches in bright cascades. A woman came out of one to greet them, and Alex smiled at her and introduced his companion as a visitor from England.

‘Would you ask her permission to take a photograph?’ asked Eleanor.

Alex spoke to the woman, who nodded eagerly as Eleanor posed her against the white of the house and vibrant pink of the flowers to take her shot. From then on someone came out to greet them at every house as they made their way up to the blue-crowned dome of the white church, where Eleanor took a last photograph before putting her camera away.

‘I would have liked to show you the vineyards, but it would take too long,’ Alex told her as they turned back. ‘You must come back some day to see the rest of the island.’

Never going to happen
, Eleanor thought sadly.

Alex peered under the brim of the hat as they walked down the hill. ‘What are you thinking?’

‘I won’t be sent back to this part of the world again,’ she
said with regret. ‘My next assignment will be in the UK, researching places for unusual weekend country-breaks.’

‘Then you must come back here on vacation, with no work involved,’ he said promptly, as though it was the easiest thing in the world.

‘Kyrkiros isn’t a holiday destination,’ she reminded him.

Alex laughed softly. ‘You are always welcome to share my bed, Eleanor Markham.’

‘I’ll keep that in mind,’ she said, her voice neutral to cover the leap in her blood at the thought. When they paused for Eleanor to record the boats drawn up on the beach, Theo Lazarides came to meet them.

‘Be warned, Theo,’ said Alex, grinning, ‘Ms Markham probably wants your photograph to add to the hundreds she’s already taken this morning.’

‘May I, Mr Lazarides?’ said Eleanor, and when he nodded cheerfully she took a shot quickly before he could strike a stiff pose. ‘
Efcharisto poli.’

‘You look warm, Eleanor,’ said Alex. ‘Go in and tell Sofia we’re ready to lunch in fifteen minutes. I need a word with Theo.’

Eleanor went up the steps into the dark, cool interior of the
Kastro
, gave Sofia the message and then took the lift to her room. She transferred the morning’s photographs to her laptop and sent an email to her parents before joining Alex in the tower room, where Sofia was setting out a traditional Greek salad to eat with bread she’d baked that morning, and fresh figs for dessert.

‘Where have you been, Eleanor?’ he asked.

She explained. ‘My parents will meet me at the airport.’

‘
Kyria
Eleanor will be leaving us tomorrow, Sofia.’ Alex told the woman.

‘Then I will make a special dinner tonight,’ she promised
and smiled sadly at Eleanor. ‘It is a pity you must leave,
kyria.
You must come back soon.’

Eleanor smiled brightly. ‘Perhaps for next year’s festival.’

‘You didn’t mean that,’ said Alex when they were alone.

‘No. Ross was too grudging about the expenses for this trip to want something similar any time soon. Besides …’ She paused and helped herself to salad.

‘Besides?’ he prompted.

Eleanor looked at him steadily. ‘This has been the kind of unique experience that never happens twice.’

‘Never is a long time,’ he said, returning the look. ‘Who knows what fate has in store for us?’

She smiled and went on eating, but abandoned the meal after only a few mouthfuls and drank some water.

‘You are not hungry?’ Alex asked.

‘Not very.’

‘I took you too far in the heat.’ He helped her to some figs. ‘Eat some of these to give you energy, then rest on your bed—alone,’ he added and touched a fingertip to her bottom lip. ‘This afternoon I must go out for a while to the vineyards.’

‘I’d rather go up to the roof and make the most of this sunshine before I go.’