The Greek Billionaire's Innocent Princess (5 page)

tongue before he claimed her mouth with a hunger he could no longer control.

Until the split second before Nikos slanted his mouth over hers, Kitty hadn’t really believed he

would kiss her, but her little gasp of shock was smothered beneath the pressure of his lips firmly

coaxing hers apart. He was totally in control and he let her know it with the determined sweep of

his tongue as he probed between her lips, demanding access to the moistness within. And she

was powerless to stop him; lost from the moment he’d first touched her and caught up in a

maelstrom of emotions as she felt the piercing sweetness of intense sexual desire for the first

time in her life.

Nikos slid his hand round to Kitty’s nape, tangled his fingers in her hair and tugged gently,

angling her head so that he could deepen the kiss. Her response was instant and had a devastating

affect on his libido so that he closed his other arm around her waist and dragged her hard up

against the solid length of his arousal straining urgently beneath his trousers.

Rina was small and soft, and through his jacket he could feel the outline of her ripe curves that

had proved such an unbearable temptation when she had stripped in the moonlight. She smelled

of the sea; tasted of it too, he noted when he moved his mouth to her throat and stroked his

tongue along her collarbone. He was used to women who wore designer clothes and drenched

their skin in expensive perfumes, but there was something earthy, almost pagan, about this

woman that struck a chord deep inside him. She was naturally sensual and totally in tune with

her femininity, and instinct told him she would be a generous and adventurous lover.

His eyes were drawn to the deep valley of her cleavage and with a tortured groan he claimed her

mouth once more, crushing her soft lips beneath his while he slid his hand into the front of his

jacket and stroked his fingers lightly over one of her full, firm breasts.

He must have startled her because her whole body jerked with reaction, and, sensing her

hesitation, he withdrew his hand, feeling a sharp tug of regret that he was denied the pleasure of

caressing the erect point of her nipple.
Theos
, she was a sorceress; a sea-witch enticing him to forget everything but his desperation to sink his swollen shaft deep within her and possess her,

but he could feel the sudden tension that gripped her, and calling on all his will power, he tore

his mouth from hers and stared down at her, fighting for breath. ‘This is madness,’ he grated

harshly. ‘If either of us had any sense we should return to the palace. But my sanity seems to

have deserted me, Rina, so the choice is yours. Will you end this now and go back? Or stay and

drink champagne with me in the moonlight?’

It felt like a defining moment in her life, but Nikos had only asked her to drink champagne with

him, Kitty reassured herself as she snatched oxygen into her lungs and tried to control the frantic

thudding of her heart. He was watching her intently, waiting for her answer, and she gave a little

shiver. No man had ever asked her to drink champagne on a beach in the moonlight; no man had

ever kissed her the way Nikos had, or stirred the passion that had been locked deep inside her for

so long.

After a life spent adhering to duty and protocol Nikos Angelaki was like a breath of fresh air. He

was dark and sexy and dangerous to know, but he made her feel daring—and the heat in his eyes

made her feel desirable for the first time in her life.

She swallowed and forced herself to meet his gaze, feeling as though she were about to cast

herself over the edge of a precipice. ‘I love champagne,’ she whispered shyly, shocked by her

temerity.

He made no reply, and for a few agonising seconds she thought he had changed his mind and

was going to send her away. But then he relaxed, and his slow smile stole her breath.

‘Come, then,’ he said, holding out his hand. His fingers closed around hers and even that tiny

gesture was wonderfully new. She was twenty-six and she had never walked along a beach hand

in hand with a lover, she thought despairingly. She didn’t know where the years had gone, but it

seemed as though one minute she had been a child and suddenly she was a grown woman who

had been so absorbed with her studies and her work for the museum that romance and boyfriends

had bypassed her.

She had taken on her share of royal commitments uncomplainingly because that was how she

had been brought up: dutiful, obedient, always conscious of her position and grateful for the

privileges that came with being a member of the royal family. But Nikos did not know she was a

princess; he thought she was a waitress called Rina, and for a few hours she could be normal—

just a woman who had met a man and was free to respond to the chemistry that smouldered

between them.

The cave was illuminated by a lamp that he must have brought from the garden. The pale beam

of light that spilled from it highlighted the sculpted beauty of his face, and Kitty felt a fluttering sensation in her chest as her eyes focused on the sensual curve of his mouth. She hovered

uncertainly while he dropped down onto the dry sand, the common sense for which she was

famed telling her to go—now—before she did something she would later regret. But her feet

seemed to be melded to the floor of the cave, and when he patted the sand next to him she

walked slowly forwards.

He held out a bottle of champagne. ‘Here, have some. You’re shivering again. It’s a pity it isn’t

brandy, but I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with vintage Bollinger.’ He stretched out so that

his lean, hard body was spread temptingly before her. His white silk shirt was open at the throat

revealing the tanned column of his throat and a mass of dark body hair that she’d noticed also

covered his forearms. He was so
male
, so overwhelmingly virile, Kitty thought shakily as she sank onto her knees beside him and took the bottle.

‘It doesn’t seem right to drink champagne from the bottle,’ she murmured. ‘It’s

very…decadent.’

‘
Decadent?
’ Nikos’s low rumble of laughter echoed around the cave. ‘What a curious mix of

contradictions you are, Rina. You sound as prim as a Victorian governess, and yet you’re happy

to go skinny-dipping in the moonlight. Do I need to remind you that you are naked beneath my

jacket?’

He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen a woman blush, Nikos mused idly. The sexually

confident women he dated were sophisticated game-players long past the first flush of virginal

innocence. The thought caused him to frown as he watched Kitty take a sip of champagne. She

seemed to be a curious mixture: shy one minute and eagerly responsive to him the next. When he

had first kissed her he’d gained the impression that it was a new experience for her, but after her

initial hesitation she had parted her mouth beneath his and kissed him back with such fiery

passion that he had dismissed the idea.

He didn’t need to remind himself that she was wearing nothing, he acknowledged grimly when

she handed him the champagne bottle and he took a long draught. The dinner jacket was far too

big for her and fastened so low that he could see the rounded contours of her breasts. He did not

know what crazy impulse had made him ask her to stay, and he was already regretting it. He

never made rash decisions. Even when he gambled he carefully weighed up the odds before he

threw the dice. But for some reason Rina disturbed his cool, logical brain—and disturbed other

areas of his body too. He wanted to kiss her again and never stop, but instead he forced himself

to relax and tried to ignore the temptation of tasting champagne from her lips.

‘So, Rina,’ he queried lightly, ‘what made you decide to become a waitress?’

Oh, Lord—how did she answer that? ‘I…um, I need to work,’ Kitty mumbled awkwardly,

thinking that now might be a good time to bid him goodnight. ‘Like most people, I have to earn a

living, and I’m not trained to do anything else.’ She thought of the years she’d spent studying for

her degree, and her absorbing work at Aristo’s museum, and tried to imagine what life would be

like if she hadn’t had the benefit of an excellent education, and really did have to work in some

menial job. She had little idea of life outside her gilded cage, and although she supported various

charities she couldn’t imagine what it must be like to be poor. The only experience she’d had of

life in the real world was when she had worked as a volunteer at Aristo’s hospital, but, although

she had found the work rewarding, her father had disapproved—citing concerns for her safety—

and forbidden her from going.

‘Have you always lived on Aristo?’

That was easier to answer, and Kitty nodded. ‘I was born here, and I never want to live

anywhere else. Aristo is the most beautiful place on earth.’

Nikos laughed. ‘Have you visited many other places, then—on a waitress’s pay?’

‘Well…no,’ Kitty faltered. She could hardly tell him that she had spent a year travelling around

Europe and had visited Paris, Rome, cosmopolitan London, Venice and Florence, followed by

six months at an exclusive finishing school in Switzerland. She had been a guest at royal palaces

and country mansions, had wandered around fabulous art galleries and been taken on tours of all

the famous sights, but nowhere compared to Aristo, the jewel of the Mediterranean. ‘Aristo is my

home and I love it here,’ she told Nikos firmly.

Her passion for the island intrigued him, and he wondered why she felt so strongly about it. Was

it the place or people that held her heart? ‘Do you have a family here?’ he asked curiously.

What would he say if she revealed that her family had ruled Aristo for generations? Kitty felt as

though she were falling deeper and deeper into a mire. She wasn’t lying exactly, she told herself.

She just wasn’t telling the whole truth. ‘I have a mother, sister, brothers…’ She faltered, thinking of the person who was missing from the list, and her heart contracted. ‘My father died a few

months ago.’

‘I’m sorry.’

It wasn’t a throwaway remark—Kitty heard the note of compassion in Nikos’s voice, and tears,

sudden and unbidden, stung her eyes. ‘I miss him so much,’ she admitted thickly. ‘Sometimes I

see his face in my mind, hear his voice, and I can’t believe he isn’t here any more.’ She brushed

her hand across her wet eyes, and was startled when Nikos captured her fingers in one of his

strong hands and traced his thumb pad down her cheek, following the damp trail.

‘I’m sorry.’ She didn’t want to cry in front of him. Her grief was a private matter that she shared

with no one, not even her family. She had been especially close to the king, and he had called her

his gentle dove, but she had been taught never to display her emotions. One of the golden rules

of the royal family was to exert self-control at all times. Embarrassed by her weakness, she tried

to draw away from Nikos but he curled his arm around her shoulders and tugged her towards

him.

‘Don’t be sorry,’ he said quietly. ‘I know how devastating it is to lose a parent. My mother died

many years ago, but I will never forget her. You won’t forget your father, Rina, but the

memories will become easier, and eventually you will think of him without the sadness you feel

now.’

He smoothed her hair back from her face, and Kitty closed her eyes, soothed by the rhythmic

stroking of his fingers. She felt his warm breath on her face and when she lifted her lashes she

drowned in the depths of his midnight-dark gaze. He was so strong, so
alive
, and she wanted to absorb some of his strength because she felt weak and lost and achingly lonely inside.

Tentatively she rested her hand on his chest and felt the steady thud of his heart beneath her

fingertips. It was utterly silent in the cave, as if they were cut off from the outside world and

were the only two people in the universe. She could hear the sound of Nikos breathing—no

longer steady but quicker, like his heartbeat; and she lifted her eyes to his face and stared at him, mesmerised by his masculine beauty.

Nikos knew he should move and break the spell that had been cast on him in the witching hour,

but his muscles were locked. In the lamplight the tears that spiked Rina’s lashes glittered like

tiny diamonds and the shadow of pain in her eyes moved him. It was more than fifteen years

since his mother had died. He had been sixteen, a boy suddenly forced to be a man, but he still

remembered the pain in his gut, the feeling that his insides had been ripped out, and the dull

acceptance that the only person who had ever loved him had gone.

Rina’s loss was clearly still raw, the unspoken plea in her eyes asked for comfort, and that was

all Nikos intended to give when he lowered his head and brushed his mouth softly over hers. For

a moment she did not respond, but neither did she pull away and he tasted her again, delicately,

offering her the warmth of his body and silently letting her know that he understood the agony of

grief. Even when she parted her mouth beneath his and tilted her head back a fraction for him to

deepen the kiss he was sure he was in control. But her lips were so beguilingly soft and the

temptation to dip his tongue between them and drink the lingering nectar of champagne became

overwhelming.