And for one single moment there was just stillness. Perfect, silent stillness, accompanied by the most unexpected feeling of liberation.
Until he spoke.
‘Now do you see that we’re driven by exactly the same urges, gineka mou?’ he drawled, depositing her back down on the cold marble floor, the look of unwavering power back on his face.
But Libby was not about to forget that only moments before it had been none so steady.
‘No,’ she said boldly, ‘now I see that my defiance actually turns you on.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘YOUR defiance?’ Rion’s mouth twitched in amusement.
It had occurred to her the second she’d seen that look of powerlessness on his face. He’d said he wanted her to simply remain in the marital home, implied that all he needed was any woman to play the role of his wife for the duration of his campaign, but when she’d defied him, showed him the kind of independent woman she’d become, it had turned him on. He’d made love to her like never before, as though deep down maybe he did want something from life that had nothing to do with this election, with power or success. And it felt as if she might have just seen the first glimmer of light at the end of a black, black tunnel.
‘You don’t think it a little coincidental that your desire just happened to arise at the exact moment I made it clear that I will not allow you to control me?’
He gave a loud, disparaging laugh. ‘No, gineka mou. I think it was just a question of how long you could go on fighting it.’
‘So making love to me right then was all part of your nicely controlled plan, was it? I don’t think so, Rion. I disobeyed you, and even though it frustrated the hell out of you, it aroused you so much…’ She hesitated, still having to remind herself it was true. The sight of his manhood still standing proud just a few feet away from her helped. ‘It aroused you so much that you even missed your precious conference call.’
He flicked a glance at his watch. ‘So I did.’ He shrugged nonchalantly. ‘But I dare say it will do no harm if word gets about that I missed it because I was busy devoting time to my wife.’
Libby bit down so hard on her lower lip that she could taste blood. So, even though their lovemaking was the one thing which hadn’t had anything to do with his campaign, he was still going to use it for that purpose rather than admit otherwise.
Furiously she swiped her skirt and top from the floor and wrenched them on. ‘Well, if that was really what this was all about, why didn’t you say? We could have gone to your office and set up the webcam, so your colleagues could have photographic evidence of just how attentive you are.’
Rion’s mouth twisted in disgust. ‘Don’t be depraved.’
‘No? You think you prefer it when I’m the submissive little wife, do you? Fine, let’s see.’
She could have done better given half an hour in a charity shop, but fifteen minutes later, as Libby heard him descend the stairs, she was pretty sure she would have the desired effect. On her lower half she was wearing a faded old ankle-length skirt—the one she always kept in the bottom of her suitcase for slipping over her shorts in case an excursion involved going inside a temple or a church where it was necessary to cover her legs—and on her top half she had a brown and orange paisley tunic, which looked quite funky when she wore it with a belt and boots, but was an absolute fashion disaster with the long skirt. Coupled with Eurycleia’s apron, and a strategic splattering of flour on her face, she was pretty sure she had un-sexy subservience written all over her.
He was talking rapidly in Greek when he entered the living room, head down, phone pressed to his ear. Libby translated. He was apologising for missing the conference call. Quickly she put down the rolling pin she’d just extracted from one of the kitchen drawers and strained to hear whether he really did have the nerve to cite quality time with her as his excuse.
But just as she was about to find out the rolling pin slid off the edge of the surface and hit the marble floor with an almighty crash.
Rion’s eyes flew to her instantly, and she abandoned the curse that had been on her lips, morphing it into a polite, whispered apology, which she swiftly replaced with the blithe smile she’d made up her mind to keep plastered to her face for as long as it took her to discover whether that really had been a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, or just a mirage.
He looked her up and down as if she was insane, swiftly moved in the opposite direction so that she couldn’t hear a damned thing he was saying, and only turned round to face her again once he’d cut the call.