Greek Tycoon, Wayward Wife(18)

She raised her head to look at him, standing so righteously with the amphitheatre behind him. He looked like Alexander the Great, and in that instant she hated him. ‘I don’t care if there are a million things I don’t know about you, Rion. I care about being lied to, about being used as an accomplice to deceive others without even knowing about it.’

He gave a sceptical laugh. ‘Are you protesting for the innocent people of Metameikos, or for yourself?’

‘Both.’

‘Spyros is corruption personified, as his father was before him. He runs this province on lies. I hardly think I’m doing the people of Metameikos a disservice by turning up to a play with my wife.’

‘You still deceived me. You told me you didn’t want to sign the divorce papers because you wanted to see whether now there could be a second chance for us.’

He shook his head. ‘Indeed—and I do. That this fortnight happens to coincide with the election is irrelevant.’

Fury almost choked her. ‘Then it won’t affect your plans if I leave, will it?’

‘Affect my plans? Not in the least.’ He smiled disparagingly. ‘But I’m afraid it may affect yours, since I won’t be signing the divorce papers unless you stay.’





CHAPTER FIVE




‘YOU blackmailing bastard,’ she breathed, flinging out her arms in disgust and walking back along the dusty road which led to the house.

Much as she would have liked to lead him back to the growing frivolity of the panigiria, so that the whole of Metameikos could hear how emotionally backward he was, she needed the open space.

‘There’s no need to be upset, gineka mou,’ he said, catching up with her in two easy strides. ‘The agreement was that we would spend two weeks finding out whether our marriage could work, and I still have every intention of proving to you that it can.’

Good God, the lies tripped off his tongue so easily. ‘So you’re just going to go on pretending that you want me because keeping me here is beneficial to your campaign?’

‘Don’t lecture me about pretending,’ he growled, catching her wrist in his hand and spinning her round to face him. ‘You can tell yourself whatever you want—that I don’t want you, that you don’t want me, that you’re being faithful to this lover you’ve got waiting in the wings—but we both know what’s happening between us…that if we hadn’t been interrupted it would have happened already.’

He gave her no time to assemble her defences. The instant she realised what was happening his lips were already on hers, hungry, demanding, urgent. And, before she could even think about whether it was wise or not, her body had already kicked into its natural response: to kiss him with the same intensity right back.

It wasn’t the least bit wise, of course, but by the time she’d reached that conclusion the voice of reason in her mind was inaudible, obscured by the heady release of five years of deeply buried need. Desire exploded in her belly as he crushed her to him, as he tangled his hand in her hair and angled her face upwards so that he could explore her mouth even more thoroughly. And she let it, because just for one moment she wanted to believe that at least something about the last twenty-four hours had been real.

For a nanosecond, as she compared the force of his passion now with that of her memories, she actually gave headroom to the possibility that it could be—that, yes, he did want to rule half the world as well as owning it, but maybe he wanted her too.

Yet just as that thought echoed through her mind, so too did his words: you can tell yourself whatever you want…that you’re being faithful to this lover you’ve got waiting in the wings…And immediately the bubble burst.

Oh, Rion wanted her, all right, but not because he’d suddenly realised she was what he wanted. He’d carried on believing she wanted this divorce in order to marry another man, and the thought of someone else having her was like a red rag to a bull. Not out of genuine jealousy, but because the chance to prove he could turn her on more than any other man turned him on. It was a challenge, another contest to be won.

Libby wrenched herself out of his embrace, the realisation like being doused with cold water.

‘I have no lover,’ she shot out suddenly.

She knew it was bound to invite a thousand questions, but it was the only way to eradicate this danger.

Rion eyed her skeptically, and looked down at the space she’d created between them. ‘Do you think that if you start pretending he doesn’t exist now, you can avoid the possibility of him finding out about this?’

Libby shook her head in vain. ‘Do you think that if I did have a lover I’d betray him by coming here in the first place?’