The Helen Bianchin Collection (Mills & Boon E-Book Collections) (132 page)

When he finally released her, she swayed and almost fell, and a husky oath burned her ears in explicit, softly explosive force.

Her lips felt numb and swollen, and she unconsciously began a tentative seeking exploration with the tip of her tongue, discovering ravaged tissues that had been heartlessly ground against her teeth.

Firm fingers lifted her chin, and her lashes swiftly lowered in automatic self-defence against the hurt and humiliation she knew to be evident in their depths.

Standing quite still, she bore his silent scrutiny until every nerve stretched to its furthest limitation.

‘Let me go. Please.’ She had to get away from him before the ache behind her eyes manifested itself in silent futile tears.

Without a word he released her, watching as she slowly turned and walked from the room.

The temptation to run was paramount, except where could she run to that he wouldn’t follow? A hollow laugh choked in her throat as she ascended the stairs. Escape, even temporary, afforded her a necessary respite, and uncaring of Aleksi’s objection to her move upstairs, she crept into Georg’s room and silently undressed.

It wasn’t fair—
nothing
was fair, she decided as she lay quietly in bed. Sleep was never more distant, and despite her resolve it was impossible not to dwell on the fact that the day after tomorrow Aleksi’s parents would arrive. An event she wasn’t sure whether to view with relief or despair.

A silent scream rose to the surface as she heard an imperceptible click, followed by the inward swing of the bedroom door. Anger replaced fright as she saw Aleksi’s tall frame outlined against the aperture, and she unconsciously drew the covers more firmly about her shoulders.

She watched in horrified fascination as he crossed to the cot and carefully transferred Georg on to the bed beside her.

‘What do you think you’re doing?’ she vented in a sibilant whisper.

‘I imagine it’s perfectly clear,’ he drawled as he effortlessly picked up the cot and carried it from the room.

Within minutes he was back, and she stared in disbelief as he scooped the baby into his arms. At the door he turned slightly to face her.

‘You can walk, or be carried,’ he said quietly. ‘The choice is yours.’

Then he was gone, and Alyse was left seething with helpless anger.
Choice?
What choice did she have, for heaven’s sake! Yet she was damned if she’d meekly follow him downstairs and slip into bed, defeated.

With each passing second she was aware of her own foolishness; to thwart him was the height of folly, and would doubtless bring retribution of a kind she would be infinitely wise to avoid. Except that wisdom, at this precise moment, was not high on her list.

Fool, an inner voice cautioned.
Fool.
Haven’t you suffered enough punishment already, without wilfully setting yourself up for more?

Even as she considered capitulation, Aleksi re-entered the room, and she held his narrowed gaze with undisguised defiance as he moved to the side of the bed.

Without a word he wrenched the covers from her grasp, then leant forward and lifted her into his arms.

Alyse struggled, hating the ease with which he held her. ‘Put me down, you fiend!’

‘I can only wonder when you’ll learn that to oppose me is a totally useless exercise,’ he said cynically, catching one flailing fist and restraining it with galling ease.

‘If you’re hoping for meek subservience, it will never happen!’ Dear lord, he was strong; any movement she made was immediately rendered ineffectual.

‘You’d have to be incredibly naïve not to realise there’s a certain danger in continually offering resistance,’ he drawled, and she momentarily froze as fear licked her veins.

‘Sex, simply for the sake of it?’ she queried, meeting his gaze with considerable bravery. ‘How long did you allow me, Aleksi—two, three nights?’

She could feel his anger unfurl, emanating as finely
tuned tension over which she had little indication of his measure of control. Her eyes blazed a brilliant clear blue, not crystalline sapphire but holding the coolness of lapis lazuli.

‘Well, get it over and done with, damn you! Although I doubt if you’ll gain much satisfaction from copulating with an uninterested block of ice!’

His eyes seemed incredibly dark, and his mouth assumed a cruelty that made her want to retract every foolish word. In seeming slow motion he released her down on to the floor in front of him, and she stood mesmerised as he subjected her to a slow, raking appraisal.

Her nightgown was satin-finished silk edged with lace and provided adequate cover, but beneath his studied gaze she felt positively naked. A delicate pink tinged her cheeks as his eyes lingered on the gentle swell of her breasts, then slid low to the shadowed cleft between her thighs before slowly returning to the soft curves beneath the revealing neckline.

Against her will, a curious warmth began somewhere in the centre of her being and slowly spread until it encompassed her entire body.

Reaching out, he brushed gentle fingers against her cheek, then let them drift to trace the contours of her mouth before slipping to the edge of her neck, where he trailed the delicate pulsing cord to examine with tactile sensuality the soft hollows beneath her throat.

Her eyes widened, but her gaze didn’t falter as his hand slid to the soft curve of her breast and slowly outlined its shape between thumb and forefinger. When he reached the sensitive peak it was all she could do not to gasp out loud, and she suppressed a tiny shiver as he rendered a similar exploration to its twin.

Slowly and with infinite care, he slid his hand to the shoestring straps and slipped first one, then the other from her shoulders.

For what seemed an age he just looked at her, and she stood mesmerised, unable to gain anything from his expression. Then he lowered his head down to hers, and she tensed as his mouth took possession of her own.

Except that the hard, relentless pressure never eventuated, and in its place was a soft open-mouthed kiss that was nothing less than a deliberate seduction of the senses.

His tongue began a subtle exploration, seeking out all the vulnerable ridges, the tender, sensitive indentations, before beginning a delicate tracery of the tissues inside her cheek.

He seemed to fill her mouth, coaxing something from her she felt afraid to give, and she released a silent groan of relief as his lips left hers to settle in one of the vulnerable hollows at the base of her throat.

Then she gave an audible gasp as she felt his lips slide down to her breast, and the gasp became a cry of outrage as he took the peak into his mouth and savoured it gently, letting his teeth graze the sensitised nub until she almost screamed against the myriad sensations he was able to evoke.

Oh, dear lord, what had she invited? To remain quiescent was madness, yet to twist out of his grasp would only prove that she was vulnerable to his potent brand of sensual sexuality.

Just when she thought she could stand it no longer, Aleksi shifted his attention to its twin, and she arched her neck, her whole body stretching like a finely tuned bow in the hands of a master virtuoso.

It wasn’t until she felt his hand on her stomach that she realised her nightgown had slithered to a silken heap at her feet, and a despairing moan escaped her throat.

At that moment his head shifted, and his mouth resumed a provocative possession that took hold of her inhibitions and tossed them high, bringing a response that left her weak-willed and malleable.

Then it was over, and she could only look at him in helpless fascination as he slowly pushed her to arm’s length.

His lips assumed a mocking curve as he taunted with dangerous softness. ‘
Ice
, Alyse?’

The sound of his voice acted like a cascade of chilled water, and her own eyes widened into deep blue pools, mirroring shame and humiliation. She crossed her arms in defence of her lack of attire, hating the warmth that coloured her cheeks, and there was nothing she could do to prevent the shiver that feathered its way across the surface of her skin.

Without a word he bent to retrieve her nightgown from the floor, slipped it over her head, then slid an arm beneath her knees.

She wanted to protest, except that there was a painful lump in her throat defying speech, and the will to fight had temporarily fled as each descending step down the elegant staircase brought her closer—
to what
? Sexual possession?

In the centre of the master bedroom he released her, setting her on her feet, and she stood hesitant, poised for flight like a frightened gazelle.

‘Go to bed.’

Alyse reared her head in startled surprise, and her eyes felt huge in a face she knew to be waxen-pale.

‘Yours,’ Aleksi added with soft cynicism. ‘Before I change my mind and put you in mine.’

Her lips parted, then slowly closed again. There wasn’t a thing she could say that wouldn’t compound the situation, so she didn’t even try, choosing instead to walk away from him with as much dignity as she could muster.

Sleep proved an elusive entity, and she lay awake pondering whether his actions were motivated by cruelty or kindness. Somehow she couldn’t imagine it to be the latter.

A
LYSE CHOSE TO
stay at home with Georg when Aleksi drove to collect his parents from Brisbane airport on the pretext that it would give them time alone together in which to talk. It would also give her the opportunity to prepare dinner.

As their expected arrival drew closer, Alyse became consumed with nerves, and even careful scrutiny of a family photograph did little to ease her apprehension.

Alexandros Stefanos was an older, more distinguished replica of his indomitable son, although less forbidding, and Rachel looked serene and dignified. Both were smiling, and Alyse wondered if they would regard her kindly.

She fervently hoped so, for she was infinitely more in need of an ally than an enemy.

After initial indecision over what to wear, Alyse selected a stylishly cut leather skirt and teamed it with a knitted jumper patterned in varying shades of soft blue and lilac.

It was late afternoon when the BMW pulled into the garage, and her stomach tightened into a painful knot at the sound of the door into the hall opening, followed by two deep voices mingling with a light feminine laugh.

Drawing in a deep breath, she released it slowly and made her way towards the foyer, where an attractive mature woman stood poised, looking every bit as apprehensive as Alyse felt.

Even as Alyse came to a hesitant halt, the older woman’s mouth parted in a tentative smile, and her eyes filled with reflected warmth.

‘Alyse,’ she greeted quietly. ‘How very nice to meet you.’

‘Mrs Stefanos,’ Alyse returned, unsure precisely how she should address her mother-in-law. The circumstances were unusual, to say the least!

‘Oh,
Rachel
, please,’ Aleksi’s stepmother said at once, reaching forward to catch hold of both Alyse’s hands. ‘And Alexandros,’ she added, shifting slightly to one side to allow her husband the opportunity to move forward.

It was going to be all right, Alyse decided as she submitted to Alexandros Stefanos’s firm handshake. Perhaps some of her relief showed, for Aleksi spared her a reassuring smile that held surprising warmth.

‘I’ll take your luggage upstairs to the guest suite, then we’ll have a drink,’ he said.

‘I’ll give you a hand,’ Alexandros indicated in a deeply accented voice, and Alyse turned towards Rachel.

‘Come and sit down. Georg is due to wake soon.’

The older woman’s eyes misted. ‘Oh, my dear, you can’t begin to know how much I want to see him!’

‘He’s beautiful,’ Alyse accorded simply as she sank into a sofa close to the one Rachel had chosen.

‘You love him very much.’ It was a statement of fact, and Alyse’s gaze was clear and unblinking.

‘Enough not to be able to give him up. For Antonia’s sake, as well as my own,’ she added quietly.

An expression very much like sympathy softened Aleksi’s stepmother’s features—that, and a certain understanding. ‘Aleksi is very much Alexandros’s son,’ she offered gently. ‘Yet beneath the surface lies a wealth of caring. I know he’ll be a dedicated father, and,’ she paused, then added hesitantly, ‘a protective husband.’

But I don’t want a husband, Alyse felt like crying out in anguished rejection of the man who had placed a wedding band on her finger only days before. And if I did, I certainly wouldn’t have chosen your diabolical stepson!

The sound of male voices and muted laughter reached their ears, and Alyse turned towards the men as they came into the lounge.

‘A drink is called for,’ declared Aleksi, moving across to the bar. ‘Alexandros? Rachel?’

Somehow she had imagined an adherence to formality, and Aleksi’s easy use of his parents’ Christian names came as a surprise.

‘Some of your Queensland beer,’ Alexandros requested, taking a seat beside his wife. ‘It’s refreshingly light.’

‘I’ll have mineral water,’ Rachel acknowledged with a faint smile. ‘Anything stronger will put me to sleep.’

‘Alyse?’

‘Mineral water,’ she told him, then turned to Rachel. ‘Unless you’d prefer tea or coffee?’

‘My dear, no,’ the older woman refused gently. ‘Something cold will be fine.’

Georg woke a few minutes later, his lusty wail
sounding loud through the intercom system, and Alyse dispensed with her glass and hurriedly rose to her feet.

‘I’ll change him, then bring him out.’ She met Rachel’s anxious smile. ‘Unless you’d like to come with me?’

‘I’d love to,’ the older woman said at once, and together they crossed the lounge to the hall.

By the time they reached the master bedroom Georg was in full cry, his small face red and angry.

‘Oh, you little darling!’ Rachel murmured softly as his cries subsided into a watery smile the instant he sighted them.

‘He’s very shrewd,’ Alyse accorded, her movements deft as she removed his decidedly damp nappy and exchanged it for a dry one. ‘There, sweetheart,’ she crooned, nuzzling his baby cheek, ‘all ready for your bottle.’

His feet kicked in silent acknowledgment, and Rachel gave a delighted laugh.

‘Georgiou used to do that too.’

Alyse felt a pang of regret for the older woman’s sorrow. ‘Would you care to take him? I thought you might like to give him his bottle in the lounge.’

Rachel’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears. ‘Thank you.’

It was heart-wrenching to see the effect Georg had on his grandparents, and Alyse had to blink quickly more than once to dispel the suspicious dampness that momentarily blurred her vision.

An hour later the baby was resettled in his cot for the night, and Rachel retired upstairs to freshen up while Alyse put the finishing touches to dinner.

After much deliberation, she had elected to serve
a chicken consommé, followed by roast chicken with a variety of vegetables, and settled on fresh fruit for dessert. Unsure of Alexandros’s palate, she’d added a cheese platter decorated with stuffed olives and grapes.

The meal was a definite success, and with most of her nervousness gone Alyse was able to relax.

‘Tomorrow you must rest,’ Aleksi told his parents as they sipped coffee in the lounge. ‘In the afternoon I’ll drive you into town and settle you both into the apartment, then in the evening we’ll dine out together.’

Startled, Alyse felt her eyes widen in surprise, and Rachel quickly intervened in explanation.

‘Aleksi owns an apartment in the heart of Surfers Paradise. Alexandros and I will stay there until we leave for Sydney to visit with my sister, after which we’ll return and spend the remainder of our holiday on the Coast.’

Her expression softened as Alyse was about to demur.

‘
Yes
, my dear. We value our independence and respect yours. The circumstances regarding your marriage are unusual,’ Rachel added gently. ‘You and Aleksi need time together alone.’

Alyse wanted to protest that the marriage was only one of convenience, and would remain so for as long as it took for her to escape to Perth with Georg. Except that she wouldn’t consider voicing the words.

‘And now,’ Rachel declared, standing to her feet, ‘if you don’t mind, we’ll retire.’ Her smile wavered slightly as it moved from her husband to her stepson. ‘It’s been a long trip, and I’m really very tired.’

Alyse rose at once. ‘Of course.’ Her heart softened at the older woman’s obvious weariness. ‘There’s everything you need in your suite.’

‘Thank you, my dear.’

It seemed good manners to walk at Aleksi’s side as his parents made their way into the foyer, and it wasn’t until Rachel and Alexandros were safely upstairs that she turned back towards the lounge.

‘I’ll make some more coffee,’ Aleksi said smoothly. ‘I have a few hours’ work ahead of me in the study.’

‘There’s plenty left in the percolator,’ Alyse said with a slight shrug. ‘It will take a minute to reheat. I’ll bring it in, if you like.’

With a curt nod he turned towards the study, and it was only a matter of minutes before she entered that masculine sanctum and set a cup of steaming aromatic brew on his desk.

He was seated, leaning well back into a comfortable leather executive chair, and he regarded her with eyes that were direct and faintly probing.

‘What do you think of my parents?’

‘I hardly know them,’ she said stiffly, longing to escape. In the company of Rachel and Alexandros she had been able to tolerate his company without too much difficulty, but now they were alone she was acutely aware of a growing tension.

‘You like Rachel.’ It was a statement, rather than a query, which she didn’t bother to deny. ‘And my father?’

‘He seems kind,’ she offered politely, and saw his mouth curve to form a cynical smile.

‘Far kinder than his son?’

Her polite façade snapped. ‘Yes.
You
seem to delight in being an uncivilised tyrant!’

An eyebrow rose in sardonic query. ‘Whatever will you come up with next?’

Her eyes flashed a brilliant blue. ‘Oh, I’m sure I’ll think of something!’

The creases at the corners of his eyes deepened. ‘I have no doubt you will.’

The temptation to pick something up from his desk and throw it at him was almost irresistible, and her hands clenched at her sides in silent restraint as she turned towards the door.

‘Goodnight, Alyse.’

His drawled, faintly mocking tones followed her into the hall, and she muttered dire threats beneath her breath all the way into the kitchen.

An hour later she lay silently seething in bed, plotting his figurative downfall in so many numerous ways that it carried her to the edge of sleep and beyond.

It was almost midday when Rachel and Alexandros came downstairs, coinciding with Aleksi’s arrival home, and after a relaxing meal Rachel eagerly saw to her grandson’s needs, gave him his bottle, then settled him down for the afternoon.

Over coffee there was an opportunity for Alyse to become better acquainted with Aleksi’s stepmother, and it was relatively simple to fill in details of Antonia’s life, although she was aware of Aleksi’s seemingly detached regard throughout a number of amusing anecdotes.

‘I have some photographs,’ Alyse told her. ‘Most of them are in albums which are somewhere in transit between here and Perth, but I brought a few snaps with me that you might like to see.’

They were pictures of Antonia laughing, beautiful and lissom with flowing blonde hair and a stunning smile.

‘What about you, Alyse?’ Aleksi asked quietly. ‘Were all the snaps taken only of Antonia?’

‘No. No, of course not,’ she answered quickly. ‘There didn’t seem much point in bringing the others with me.’

His gaze was startlingly direct. ‘Why not?’ Humour tugged the edges of his mouth. ‘I would have enjoyed seeing you as a child.’

‘Perhaps I should insist that you drag out shots depicting your pubescent youth,’ Alyse said sweetly, and heard Alexandros’s deep laugh.

‘He was all bones, so tall, and very intense. An exceptional student.’

‘Yes, I’m sure he was,’ Alyse agreed with a faint smile.

‘At nineteen he filled out,’ Rachel informed her, shooting Aleksi a faintly wicked grin, ‘developing splendid muscles, a deep voice, and a certain attraction for the opposite sex. Girls utilised every excuse under the sun to practise their own blossoming feminine wiles on him.’

‘With great success, I’m sure,’ Alyse remarked drily, and heard his husky laugh.

‘I managed to keep one step ahead of each of them.’

‘Shattering dreams and breaking hearts, no doubt?’ The words were lightly voiced and faintly bantering, but his eyes stilled for a second, then assumed a brooding mockery.

‘What about your dreams, Alyse?’ he countered, silently forcing her to hold his gaze.

She swallowed the lump that had somehow risen in her throat, aware that their amusing conversational gambit had undergone a subtle change. ‘I was no different
from other teenage girls,’ she said quietly. ‘Except that my vision was centred on a successful career.’

‘In which young men didn’t feature at all?’

How could she say that Antonia was a carefree spirit who unwittingly attracted men without the slightest effort, while Alyse was merely the older sister, a shadowy blueprint content to shoulder responsibility? Yet there had never been any feelings of resentment or jealousy, simply an acceptance of individual personalities.

‘I enjoyed a social life,’ she defended. ‘Tennis, squash, sailing at weekends, and there was the cinema, theatre, dancing.’ Her chin lifted fractionally as she summoned a brilliant smile. ‘Now I have a wealthy husband who owns a beautiful home, and an adored adopted son.’ Her eyes glittered, sheer sapphire. ‘Most women would rate that as being the culmination of all their dreams.’

Aleksi’s soft laugh was almost her undoing, and it was only his parents’ presence that prevented her from launching into a lashing castigation.

‘Shall I make afternoon tea?’ It was amazing that her voice sounded so calm, and she deliberately schooled her expression into a polite mask as she rose to her feet.

In the kitchen she filled the percolator with water, selected a fresh filter, spooned in ground coffee and set it on the element. Her hands seemed to move of their own accord, opening cupboards, setting cups on to saucers, extracting sugar, milk and cream, then setting a cake she’d made that morning on to a plate ready to take into the lounge.

When the coffee was ready, she put everything on to a mobile trolley and wheeled it into the lounge, dispensing
everything with an outward serenity that would, had she been an actress, have earned plaudits from her peers.

Conversation, as if by tacit agreement, touched on a variety of subjects but centred on none, and it was almost four o’clock when Aleksi rose to his feet with the expressed intention of driving Rachel and Alexandros into town.

‘I’m looking forward to this evening, my dear,’ Rachel declared as she slid into the rear seat of the car, and Alyse gave her a smile that was genuinely warm.

‘So am I,’ she assured her, then stood back as Aleksi reversed the BMW down the driveway.

Indoors, she quickly restored the lounge to order and then dispensed cups and saucers into the dishwasher before crossing to the bedroom for a quick shower. Georg would wake in an hour, and she’d prefer to settle him down for the night rather than leave him to the babysitter.