faint colour flared in his face.
‘Darius, please.’
‘And I’m Kitty,’ she murmured, wanting to put him at his ease. ‘The whole royal title thing is a
bit of a mouthful, don’t you think?’
‘Actually, I think you are amazing.’ The young man’s flush deepened. ‘I studied your paper on
The Crusades during the twelfth century and the impact on Greece and the surrounding
Mediterranean islands, and to be honest it was one of the most fascinating pieces I’ve ever read.’
Darius grinned sheepishly. ‘I must admit I imagined you to look like a learned scholar with
glasses and a tweed skirt, but instead I find that you are gorgeous—if you don’t mind my saying
so,’ he added, raking a hand distractedly through his hair.
‘I don’t mind,’ Kitty said with a laugh, her self-confidence boosted by his description of her. If
only he knew that a few weeks ago she had been a frumpy scholar, more interested in her books than her looks, but as she saw the undisguised admiration in Darius’s eyes she felt a spurt of
gratitude to Nikos who had transformed her from drab to, apparently, gorgeous.
‘I was wondering if you would consider being a guest speaker at the university?’ Darius
continued. ‘Your work at the museum on Aristo is well known and my students would really
enjoy meeting you.’
Kitty’s heart lurched at the idea of public speaking. But it would be on her specialist subject, and she would enjoy visiting Athens’s university. On a sudden rush of confidence she nodded to
Darius. ‘I’d love to.’
‘Great.’ He beamed at her. ‘Maybe we could get together soon to discuss your visit?’
‘I’m afraid my wife will need to consult her diary before she makes any commitments.’ Nikos
materialised at Kitty’s side, his dark brows drawn into a frown as he slid his arm possessively
around her waist and clamped her so hard against him that she could barely breathe.
‘Nikos, this is Darius Christakis…’ Kitty began, breaking off at the look of open hostility in
Nikos’ eyes as he glared at the younger man.
‘I see that your companions are waiting for you, Mr Christakis,’ he said in a dangerously soft
tone. ‘You’d better go back to them.’
‘Right.’ The younger man backed away, gave Kitty a brief, nervous smile and shot off across the
room.
‘That was incredibly rude of you.’ She rounded on Nikos the moment the other man was out of
earshot. ‘He only wanted to talk about a paper I’d written.’
‘He wanted to dive into the front of your dress, agape ,’ Nikos drawled sardonically, his eyes glinting as he stared at Kitty’s angry face. ‘I’ve noticed the way he’s been looking at you all
night.’
‘Nonsense…’ She paused, blushing when she recalled how Darius had called her gorgeous.
‘Anyway, it was you who insisted I should wear this dress.’
‘A decision I am now regretting,’ Nikos murmured as he led her onto the dance floor and drew#p#分页标题#e#
her into his arms. ‘You are attracting too much male attention, and I have discovered that I am
very possessive. In future you can wear something beige and baggy to hide your delectable body
from everyone but me.’
He was teasing her, surely, Kitty thought, her eyes widening when she realised that the
expression in his dark gaze was deadly serious. ‘Are you… jealous, Nikos?’ She blushed scarlet as the words left her lips, certain that he would deny it. Instead his eyes narrowed and he
tightened his arms around her so that her pelvis came into direct contact with the shockingly hard
ridge of his arousal.
‘It is not an emotion I am familiar with, Kitty mou ,’ he murmured dulcetly, ‘but if you so much as look at another man for the hour or so remaining until we can leave, I will demonstrate in
front of everyone here just how possessive I am of my wife—and how very impatient I am to
make love to her.’
‘Nikos!’ Kitty could not hold back her shocked cry, or restrain the quiver of white-hot sexual
awareness that ripped through her. This had been building for the past few days, she
acknowledged numbly as she stared at him and saw the sensual gleam beneath his heavy lids.
The drumbeat of desire that she had tried so hard to ignore was now thudding deep inside her,
sending her blood coursing through her veins. They were moving in time with the music, their
bodies locked together so that she could feel every muscle and sinew of his hard thighs pressed