had touched a nerve when she had guessed that he felt a part of him was missing. His child
would make him feel whole, but he was unnerved by the realisation that Kitty probably guessed
how much his baby meant to him.
The paparazzi were waiting for them when they walked out of the museum—a group of four or
five sitting astride motor-scooters, who started snapping photographs despite Nikos’s angry
demand to stop.
‘Someone must have recognised the car and tipped them off,’ Stavros growled after he had
opened the rear door for them to scramble inside, and then leapt into the driver’s seat, pulling
away from the kerb with a squeal of tyres.
‘Then it’s time to change the car,’ Nikos replied tersely as he glanced out of the back window at
the press-pack following close behind. He was used to a certain amount of media attention, but
his marriage to a princess had been headline news around the world. Pictures showing him and
Kitty together were selling for big money, and the photographers were growing increasingly
aggressive as they fought for the shot that could make them a fortune. ‘See if you can lose them,
Stavros.’
‘Aren’t we going back to the apartment now?’ Kitty queried, glancing at Nikos’s shuttered
expression.
‘I’m afraid you are not going to like where we are going next,’ he replied dryly, aware that the
camaraderie between them was about to be blown to pieces. ‘But the matter of your wardrobe
has to be addressed, agape , and we are going shopping.’
Stavros was a skilled driver who seemed to know every back street in Athens. Eventually he lost
the bikers and drew up in Kolonaki—an affluent district of the city famed for its designer
boutiques. For the next couple of hours Kitty trailed around the shops while Nikos selected
armfuls of outfits that she could tell from the bright colours and overtly sexy styles were not#p#分页标题#e#
going to suit her.
‘Try them on,’ he bade her, the steely glint in his eyes warning her that arguing would be
useless. The head saleswoman was clearly overawed by him and whisked them off to a private
room so that Kitty could change in comfort. But when she stepped out from behind the curtain in
a tightfitting dress that left nothing to the imagination, she halted abruptly at the sight of Nikos sitting comfortably on the sofa, waiting for her.
‘What are you doing?’ she muttered beneath her breath, supremely conscious of the saleswoman
nearby, and the fact that her breasts were in danger of spilling out of the dress. She had enjoyed
his company at the museum, but shopping was a torture he had instigated, and she glared at him
crossly.
‘Giving my advice on what suits you,’ he replied blandly. ‘And having seen the clothes you
brought from Aristo, believe me, you need help.’ He trailed a deliberate path over her shapely
figure, his dark eyes scorching her, and to Kitty’s horror she felt her nipples harden.
‘Very nice.’ Nikos felt a shaft of desire surge through him as he pictured unlacing the ribbons
that held the front of the dress together and releasing her magnificent breasts. He shifted slightly in his chair. ‘We’ll definitely take this one,’ he told the saleswoman, his eyes still focused
intently on Kitty as sexual tension crackled between them. She could feel her face grow hot, and
her blush deepened when he gave her a mocking smile. ‘Go and try on the next one,’ he ordered.
‘I haven’t got all day.’
By the time they left the boutique, followed by three of the shop staff laden with bags, Kitty was
flustered and furious. ‘I hope you enjoyed humiliating me,’ she muttered as they fought a path
through the crowd who had gathered to see one of Greece’s richest tycoons, and his royal bride.
‘How did I humiliate you?’ Nikos demanded impatiently.
‘By making me try on all those things and parade around in front of you as if you owned me.’
Kitty had felt excruciatingly self-conscious and convinced that he must have been comparing her
voluptuous curves with his numerous skinny, blonde ex-lovers. ‘None of the outfits you insisted
on buying suited me, and it was a waste of money. They’ll just sit at the back of the wardrobe
because I’ll never wear them.’
‘Oh, but you will, agape .’ He put a protective arm around her shoulder as someone in the crowd jostled her. Startled, Kitty glanced up and her eyes clashed with his mocking gaze. ‘In fact you’ll
wear the red silk evening dress tonight. We’ve been invited to a party in aid of one of the
charities I support, and all eyes will be on my wife.’