She Can't Say No to the Greek Tycoon

‘I want to take care of you, Sophie. If you’ll let me.’ She felt the deep breath he drew into his lungs. ‘I don’t want you to leave. I want you to stay, with Eleni and me. Always.’ No. It wasn’t true.

‘Marry me, Sophie?’ His hand stroked her hair, gentle and almost tentative. ‘Marry me and live here, with us?’

For an instant she felt burgeoning joy. And then it was quenched as she registered the implication of his words.

For a single, glorious moment she’d forgotten that Eleni was the sole reason he’d brought her to Greece. Eleni had to be the only reason he was proposing now. He loved his daughter and he’d do anything, even marry, to make the little girl happy.

‘No,’ she whispered when she found her voice.

‘No!’ His voice was a muted roar. So much for his unaccustomed humility. ‘What are you saying?’

‘There’s nothing between us,’ she said and pulled herself away from him. He loosened his hold a fraction so she could sit up straight, but he wouldn’t let her go. Typically stubborn. Well, she could be stubborn too.

‘Nothing but sex.’ She stared straight into his night-dark eyes as she said it, hoping he’d believe her.

‘How can you say that?’ His brows furrowed in a savage frown that highlighted the severe angles of his face.

‘It’s the truth.’

‘You’re lying, Sophie.’

Her gaze slid from his, down to the clean line of his jaw. ‘You can’t keep me here against my will indefinitely.’

‘And what about Eleni? You would just leave her, because you are angry with me?’

‘I … care for Eleni, very much. But you’ll find someone else to look after her. You don’t need me to do it.’

‘You think I want to marry you so you can take care of Eleni?’

She shrugged, her eyes dropping from his jaw to the precise knot in his dark silk tie. ‘It’s convenient. Eleni likes me. And I remind her of her mother.’ She let her glance skitter to his and then away again. Each word was bitter in her mouth as she forced herself to continue.

‘No doubt I remind you of your wife. It’s a neat solution from your perspective. But it’s not what I want.’

Silence throbbed between them. Sophie held herself taut, perched on his lap, wishing against all common sense that he’d haul her close and tell her she was the only woman for him.

She really had a self-destructive streak where Costas was concerned.

‘I should have told you about Fotini before,’ he said in a deep voice that echoed hollowly between them.

‘No!’ That was the last thing she wanted to hear. ‘There’s no need to tell me.’

‘There’s every need.’ His arms encircled her, hauling her close again. And, against her best intentions, she felt the heady delight of being held in his embrace. One last, tiny piece of paradise to enjoy before she left.

‘

That first day when you opened the door to me, it was as if I saw Fotini’s ghost. The resemblance was remarkable.’

Sophie squeezed her eyes shut, pain slicing through her as he confirmed her fears.

‘There were differences between you too. But in my mind I saw you as just like her.’ He dragged in a deep breath, his chest pushing against her. ‘That’s why I refused to trust you at first.’

What? Sophie struggled to sit up straighter and meet his eyes, but his arms tightened like warm steel about her, locking her against his chest.

‘I jumped to the conclusion that you’d been taking drugs. And when I told you about Eleni, when I offered you her legacy as payment to help her, that was my prejudice showing again.’

He’d been prejudiced against her because she reminded him of his wife? Sophie’s mind buzzed with questions.

‘It was only as I got to know you that I realised how wrong I was.’ One hand circled her shoulder, caressing spiralling warmth into her rigid body. ‘I found you were generous, caring. And honest.’ He sighed, his breath a ripple of warmth through her hair.