The Virgin's Secret (10 page)

‘Yes, Leo…this is what I want…please.'

He bent his head said close to her mouth, ‘Well, since you ask so nicely…'

 

When Angel woke again, the curtains were open and sunlight flooded her room. For a second everything was a blank. And then she became aware of certain
aches
and sensations in her
body that weren't usual. As her consciousness returned fully everything came back in glorious Technicolor, and her heart tripped before starting up again at double speed. She knew that Leo wasn't in the bed; she'd somehow known that immediately.

It stunned her slightly to know how quickly her life had changed one hundred and eighty degrees. This time yesterday
she'd still been a virgin
.

Last night Leo had made her a woman. He'd taken her to a paradise she'd never dreamed existed. Heat suffused Angel from head to toe. And yet she couldn't stop a smile from breaking across her face. It was impossible to ignore the fact that her body felt as if it had been awoken from a deep, cold sleep…

But just as quickly her smile faded again, when the enormity of it all sank in. How could she be feeling like this for someone who had so coldly set out to take her because he wanted her and wanted to punish her? She frowned minutely, staring at the ceiling. She felt confused; Leo had taken her innocence with such devastating generosity that she reeled. Several times she'd seen the strain of his efforts to hold back, as if he was afraid he'd hurt her.

Angel lifted the sheet and looked into the bed, ignoring the signs of having been seriously seduced on her body, the faint bruises and reddish marks. There was no blood. Angel let the sheet drop; she knew rationally that there wasn't always necessarily blood, but there was a stinging between her legs that spoke of the potential of it if Leo hadn't been so gentle. And yet she could remember the desperation with which she'd urged him on, even when he'd tried to hold back for her sake.

With a burgeoning feeling of something huge in her chest Angel got out of bed and pulled on the robe which still lay
on the floor. To think of how Leo had pushed it off her shoulders with such singular intent made Angel blush all over again.

Without really thinking of what she was doing, Angel went to the door that connected their rooms. After hesitating for the merest moment, she turned the handle and went in.

She stumbled to a halt when she saw Leo standing at the mirror of his wardrobe, knotting a tie. His eyes merely flicked to her through the mirror and then back to his task, with no change in expression. She hadn't been sure what to expect, but it hadn't been that. Angel was immediately tongue-tied. Leo looked so distant and intimidating in a dark suit, white shirt and tie. He looked like the phenomenally successful businessman he was. And nothing like the tender lover of last night. She suddenly knew she'd been an abject fool.

His eyes flicked to Angel again, and she felt heat rise in her face when she registered how cool they were. One dark brow rose quizzically. ‘Was there something you wanted, Angel?'

Was there something you wanted, Angel?
Angel balked and died a tiny death in that moment. Was this the same man? Acting as if the most cataclysmic thing on the earth hadn't just happened? But then, she realised in sick horror, it hadn't—not for him. If anything, last night for him must have been excruciatingly banal. How could it not have been, with a complete innocent?

She shook her head vaguely. ‘I just…'
I just what?
she mocked herself bitterly, cursing her impulse to come in here. How could she have disregarded everything that lay between them, forgotten why she was there?

A lot of things were impacting upon Angel, all at the same time. Leo turned from the mirror, his tie perfectly knotted, his
shoulders broad and awesome in the jacket, hair smoothed back, jaw clean shaven. Aloof.

Very quickly Angel assessed the situation, her brain working overtime. She brought her hands to her robe and tightened it, barely registering the way Leo's eyes dropped there for a split second. She tipped up her chin, forcing her voice to be cool. ‘I was just wondering what time the stylist will be here? You did say that you'd have someone come today?'

Leo's jaw clenched and he strolled nonchalantly towards Angel, barely leashed power in every step. A flash of memory—those muscular thighs between hers last night—made a light sweat break out over Angel's top lip. She fought not to retreat, not to show that she was barely holding it together in the face of his obvious distance. He stopped a few feet away, his gaze sweeping up and down in a blistering moment that nearly scuppered Angel's precious composure.

‘You were an eager student last night, Angel. I can see our time together being most…enjoyable.'

Angel burned inside. With humiliation and, more treacherously, with hurt, in response to his whole demeanour and his calling her
eager
. She had been desperately, awfully eager. She had fallen into his bed more easily than a ripe apple falling from a tree. She wanted to lash back, and hitched her chin a mite higher.

‘I wouldn't know, as I have so little experience to compare it to. But for what it's worth last night was…pleasant enough.'

Leo laughed out loud, a big burst of sound that made Angel flinch. When he looked at her his eyes flashed a warning, and a mocking smile played around his sensual mouth. Angel had to fight against the pull in her belly, the desire to just stop and look at it. She dragged her gaze back up to his.

He stepped even closer and put out a hand, touching her jaw. Angel clenched it.

‘Sweetheart, I know exactly how it was for you. I felt every ripple of every one of your orgasms, so don't pretend that it was anything less than
pleasant
.'

Angel knocked his hand away, dying somewhere inside. ‘Like I said, you'd know so much more than me. I'm sure the novelty won't last long.'

Leo calmly replaced his hand, taking a firmer grip on Angel's jaw. ‘On the contrary,' he drawled, ‘I don't see this novelty fading for some time. You're all fire underneath that angelic exterior, and I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more of it. This is only the beginning.'

With that, he dropped his hand and stepped back. Angel thought for a split second that she saw some chink in his composure, and it had her heart beat hard in response. But then he looked at his watch and said crisply, ‘The stylist will be here at noon, followed by someone to give you some beauty treatments. We've got our first public outing tonight, Angel—a ball to celebrate my taking over Parnassus Shipping as CEO. It should be fun for you. It's at the Grand Bretagne, where you're more intimately acquainted with the dirty sheets. I'll be back later. Wear something appropriate for your first viewing as my mistress.'

He ran a finger down her hot cheek. ‘I'm looking forward to stirring things up with you by my side.'

A
S
L
EO
sat in a meeting in his new boardroom later that day, to his utter chagrin he found he wasn't concentrating on the discussion—which didn't disturb him too much; he was already two steps ahead of everyone else in the room. All he could think about was Angel and last night. And how she'd looked this morning when she'd come into his room, the lurch he'd felt in his chest when he'd seen her hesitation. How hard it had been to stand there and see her softly flushed face, those huge blue eyes, and not rip her robe from her body and spread her underneath him again.

His body was tight with arousal even now—
not
a state he welcomed in the middle of the day, surrounded by work colleagues, and with Ari Levakis looking at him with a small frown. Leo smiled.

But it was futile. He kept getting flashes of moments: when he'd thrust into her for the first time and heard that telltale indrawn gasp, how tight she'd clamped around him, how sweetly she'd opened up for him, allowing him to sink deeper and deeper. How her skin had tasted, like sweet musk and crushed roses.

Like sweet musk and crushed roses
? Leo gave himself an inner shake. He had to get it together. Angel Kassianides was a piece of work.

For a moment that morning he'd thought that he'd seen something achingly vulnerable in her face, and it had made him close up inside. Close up against the inevitable attempt of a woman to turn intimacy into something emotional. But then, when he'd walked over to her, she'd been composed and cool. So much so that he knew he'd be a fool if he trusted any of her reactions for a moment.

She was his mistress, she was
his
, and the thought of the evening to come, when he could parade her in public and know that he was her only lover, was tantalising in the extreme.

 

Angel sat beside Leo in the back of his car later that evening. Her throat ached with a huge lump. She hated the fact that she was so raw about what had happened. All day she'd not been able to get out of her head the coolness Leo had subjected her to that morning. Right now, she didn't think she could ever let him touch her again, but just then, as if to mock her assertion, she felt a big hand close over hers, where it lay on her leg, and her blood started to speed up.

‘You look beautiful tonight.'

Angel exerted iron control over her emotions and turned slowly to face Leo, not a hint of her inner turmoil showing on her face. She smiled and it felt brittle. ‘Well, you paid enough for it.'

Leo's eyes were dark, with those golden lights lurking in their depths, already undoing some of Angel's rigid control. She left her hand lax in his, even though she wanted desperately to pull away. His dark tuxedo elevated his appeal to another level. And he just said, softly now, while shaking his head, ‘Money has nothing to do with true beauty. And you are, Angel, truly beautiful.'

Leo found that he was saying the words with a reverent sin
cerity that he couldn't help. When he'd walked into her room earlier he hadn't known what to expect. His heart had beaten a curious tattoo, and he'd found that his chest had been tight with anticipation. She'd been standing at her window, slender back to him. He'd seen many women, in many beautiful gowns for his pleasure, but none he'd ever seen had taken his breath away before they'd even turned around.

The dress was floor length, and a deeply turquoise colour. Silk. Apart from that Leo hadn't known much, because he'd felt dizzy with lust. It draped and fell in such a way as to turn her into some sort of goddess creature. Her hair was twisted up and held in place by a flower of a similar colour to the dress.

Disgusted with his reaction, he'd had to call her name to get her to turn around, and she'd done so, so slowly it had had the effect of a striptease on his body, even when she was fully clothed!

Her breasts were lovingly caressed by the silk of the dress, the deep V between them a shadow of promise. Her head had been high, chin tipped up in a gesture that had seemed almost defiant. It had been all Leo could do to stand still and extend an autocratic hand, gesturing her to come to him. And when she'd walked, and the soft silk had swirled around her body—

Leo came back to the present and shifted uncomfortably in the back of the car.

For a second the cool and controlled woman suddenly looked slightly unsure. And Leo reacted. What was he doing, all but drooling over her like this? His hand tightened on hers for a second, and he felt the small delicate bones, the slight roughness of her skin that hinted at the work she'd been doing, and his chest tightened again for a second.

He thrust aside all the nebulous feelings he didn't understand, and asked, ‘How do you think your father will react to
seeing us together when he gets the papers tomorrow? Because this is going to be all over the world, Angel…'

Angel shivered and tried to pull her hand away, but Leo held it tight. She hated him in that moment. Really hated him. The only thing stopping her from trying to jump out of the car as it idled at a set of lights was the memory of the ecstatic phone call she'd had from Delphi earlier, telling her that she would be marrying Stavros in a month's time. And also the surprise that Angel had felt at Leo acting on his word so soon.

Her voice was unaccountably husky, with all the confusing emotions rushing through her. ‘I think you know very well how he'll react. He'll be apoplectic. He'll be utterly humiliated.'

Leo lifted a brow, speculation all over his face. ‘Will he, though, Angel? Or have you and he planned exactly this all along?'

Hating feeling so cornered and mistrusted, Angel hit back. ‘What if we have? You'll never know, will you?'

Leo moved close and Angel arched back, but it was no good. Leo's hand came out and caressed the back of her neck. His other hand came up and cupped her silk-covered breast. She hadn't been able to wear a bra, and she was horrified to feel her nipple peak and thrust against the silk. His thumb moved lazily against her nipple and Angel bit back a moan.
How
could he have this effect on her?

‘I'll know, Angel, because from now on, until I'm bored with you, I'll know every move you make. So any plans you and he have cooked up will be futile.'

‘But we don't—'

Her words were crushed under Leo's mouth and everything disappeared into a haze of urgent desire. Since he'd come into her room earlier, when she'd not even been able to turn around
to face him until he'd called her name, finally doing so with her heart beating so loud he had to have heard it, Angel had, in some deep and traitorous place wanted to feel his mouth on hers again.

And now it was, and she was being sucked under all over again. Mindlessly helpless to fight him. She wasn't aware of the car drawing to a halt, or the driver clearing his throat. She was only aware of Leo pulling back, and her gasping in of breath when she opened her eyes and tried to focus. Her body felt jittery and on fire. Leo just smiled at her, triumph in his gaze, and Angel could only watch as his eyes travelled down and took in the obvious state of her arousal, her nipples as hard as berries, standing out starkly against the unforgiving silk.

‘Perfect.'

And before Angel knew what he meant Leo was out of the car, coming around to open her door and pulling her out. She still felt dizzy, spaced out, and then there was nothing but Leo's hand around hers and a barrage of lights and questions. She'd just become Leo's very public property.

Later, Angel sat in her chair and felt thoroughly out of place. She'd been away at boarding school for so long, and then at college, so that she'd never really integrated into Athens society. Her mouth twisted. Well, not the way Leo believed, anyway. Despite that, she did know people in the room, and she saw their looks and their whispering and she hated that it affected her. She'd gone to the bathroom earlier, and heard two women talking by the sinks.

‘Can you
believe
he came with her?'

‘I know. I mean, no one would be surprised if he crossed to the other side of the street to ignore her and that awful family after what they did…'

The other woman had laughed nastily. ‘Can't you just imagine her buffoon of a father's face if he saw them together? I wouldn't be surprised if Leo Parnassus is only taking her as some sort of revenge. He's practically ignored her all evening…'

The other woman had sighed lustily then, and said, ‘I wouldn't mind him taking me for revenge… Obviously he sees something in her too-innocent-to-be-true face.'

The stinging words came back to Angel now, and she held her head up high and gritted her teeth. This was all part of Leo's plan. Ritual humiliation.

Just then Angel saw Lucy Levakis return to the table where they'd been seated. She was the English wife of Aristotle Levakis, Leo's business partner, and the only person who'd been genuinely sweet to Angel—no doubt because she didn't know of the history. Ari Levakis, though, had been sending her dark speculative looks all night, clearly of the same mind as Leo, and suspicious of her motives. After all, he'd been one of the people she'd recognised at that party in the villa all those weeks ago. Angel felt sick. Did he know about Leo's revenge?

Lucy sat down and said chattily, ‘You looked lonely over here, so I thought I'd come and join you. Honestly,
men
—they get so wrapped up in themselves.'

Angel smiled tightly. She didn't want to taint this nice woman with her dubious reputation. ‘Really, I don't mind if you want to go back. I'm fine here.'

Lucy shook her head, and just then Angel noticed something and felt her heart lift for the first time in days. She'd obviously not noticed before, too preoccupied with everything. She sat forward and asked shyly, ‘That necklace you're wearing, where did you get it?'

Lucy beamed and told Angel all about how Ari had known
how much she loved it and had proposed to her with it. ‘To this day I don't own an engagement ring.' She touched the necklace reverently. ‘This is my engagement ring.'

Angel smiled, blushing with pride. ‘I designed that necklace.'

Lucy gasped. ‘You
what
?'

Angel nodded. ‘I did jewellery design at college, and that was the only piece I sold from my graduation show. I gave the rest of the collection to my sister and some friends as gifts.'

Lucy gasped again, ‘But you could have made a fortune!'

Angel was aware of the irony. It had been shortly after her graduating that their personal circumstances had changed so dramatically. She hadn't known that she'd have to turn her back on her dream profession so soon, otherwise she might have kept her collection intact. She smiled now, ruefully. ‘I preferred to give it away.'

Lucy said something incoherent, and before she knew it Angel's hand had been grabbed and she was being dragged in the taller woman's wake over to the men. She tried to remonstrate with her but to no avail.

Angel heard her interrupt them excitedly and explain what Angel had just revealed. Angel looked up to see Ari's
very
speculative gaze and then, gulping, looked at Leo. His eyes showed no emotion. No doubt he thought she might be lying. Lucy gave a groan then, when she realised the time, and said she'd have to go home to relieve their nanny. Angel had learned that they had two small children.

Her heart clenched when she saw Ari's attention go back to his wife and he pulled her close, making his excuses too, despite Lucy's insistence that he stay. Clearly the man couldn't wait to be alone with his wife, and Angel's heart clenched even harder.

They made their goodbyes, Lucy still excited to have discovered Angel's secret, and then they were gone. Angel expected Leo to make an excuse and leave her alone again, and she had even started walking back to the table when Leo caught her hand and pulled her back.

She looked up at him.

‘Where do you think you're going?'

‘I…' Angel faltered, and cursed herself for being so weak. She felt a fire of rebellion start to build. ‘I was going back to the table to sit alone again, so that everyone can see how you ignore me. But actually, now that the speeches are over, the dais is so much more public. Why don't I just go up and sit there? I could even put a sign around my neck if you wish—'

‘Stop it.'

Angel couldn't, too hurt. ‘Why, Leo? Isn't this exactly what you planned? A round of public appearances with your mistress of revenge, making it perfectly obvious that your only interest in me is completely superficial? Making sure there is maximum speculation, maximum humiliation?'

Angel bit her lip. The words had spilled out before she could stop them. ‘Well, if it's any consolation, the gossip in the powder room is already rife, and let's just say I don't come off well.'

Leo frowned. ‘What did you hear?'

Angel shook her head, aghast at having revealed so much. ‘It doesn't matter.'

Because the awful thing was, he might be humiliating her in public, but he'd be taking her to bed at night, and once in his bed the last thing she felt was humiliated.

Leo opened his mouth to speak, but just then someone came to interrupt them. Much to Angel's surprise, he didn't let go of her hand; he kept her close, introducing her to the
other man. And, while he didn't go out of his way to include her in the conversation, he didn't let her out of his sight for the rest of the evening, making Angel's emotions see-saw even more.

In the car on the way home, Angel rotated her head to try and ease out the kinks. She was exhausted.

‘Did you really design Lucy's necklace?'

Angel stopped rotating her head and looked at Leo warily. ‘Of course. I wouldn't lie about something like that. What would be the point?'

Her simple assertion struck him somewhere deep. Leo just looked at her for a long moment. ‘It's a beautiful piece.'