Exotic Nights

Leo was looking at her assessingly. ‘But I don’t see why I can’t fulfil that request. Not when you’re mine from this moment on.’

Angel felt the colour drain from her face.

Leo didn’t like the way Angel had just paled so visibly. He strode over to where she stood and snaked out a quick hand to caress the back of her neck again. He felt the silken fall of her hair over his skin, and it made his voice rough with suppressed desire. ‘There’s no time like the present. I’ll have my car take you home, so you can pack some things and be brought straight back here to me.’

Just like that.

CHAPTER FOUR

LESS than three hours later, Angel stood in the hall of her own house, a suitcase at her feet. When she’d finally left the Parnassus villa she’d been aghast to see that dawn had been breaking, it had made her feel acutely disorientated. By some miracle her father wasn’t at home; Angel’s more and more harried looking stepmother informed her that her father had left the previous evening for London, to try and beg a loan from his cousins. Angel had been dreading the inevitable showdown with him, for undoubtedly he’d know that she’d taken the will.

She’d gone into her sister’s room and woken her up and told her what was happening, while omitting the real reason why Leo was asking her to move in with him. Delphi had been understandably concerned. ‘But, Angel, they hate us. They must do. What do you mean, you just happened to meet him and he swept you off your feet? It’s all so fast and you never said anything …’

Angel hated lying to her sister. She’d smiled tightly and explained how they’d met at the party, and how she hadn’t wanted to say anything in case their father found out. ‘Delph, I didn’t want you to be worried. I wasn’t sure what to expect myself, wasn’t even sure if he’d come back to Athens. But he has …’ Here Angel had flushed hotly, remembering his kiss in the study. ‘And he wants me to move in

… I know it all seems weird and too fast and unlikely … but just trust me, please? I know what I’m doing.’

Delphi had completely misread Angel’s acute embarrassment as being infatuation, but even so it had only been after more grilling that she’d finally seemed satisfied with Angel’s answers.

When Angel had taken a deep breath and told Delphi about Leo’s link to Stavros’ father, and what he’d promised to do for them, and seen her ecstatic reaction, she’d known then that she had no choice but to follow her fate.

As if she’d had a choice anyway. Leo could still call the police and accuse her of stealing. No court in the world would believe her over him, with the evidence he had. But, apart from that, she couldn’t jeopardise Delphi and Stavros’ happiness now—their bid for independence and the future security of their baby.

For the first time Delphi had sounded grown up. ‘Angel, you don’t have to be responsible for everything, you know. Just doing this for us is enough. I’ll be fine here, I promise. It’s time you got to live your own life.’

Angel might have laughed at that if she hadn’t known that she would be in danger of it turning to tears. She wouldn’t be free to live her life now until Leo had decided he’d had enough of her. Her only hope was that her woeful inexperience would be enough of a turn-off for him that he would be content to use her like some kind of trophy mistress until he deemed she’d paid her dues.

But why, when she thought of that, did her womb contract with what felt like disappointment? Angel quashed that thought down ruthlessly. Her mind was just playing tricks. She’d just made a call to the hotel where she’d worked and resigned her job; there was nothing left to do. She took a deep breath and picked up her small case. It was time to go.

‘Won’t your father be here at the villa too?’

Leo had led Angel into a palatial bedroom, the sheer understated luxury of which had made her eyes goggle. Her father’s taste had always been seriously lacking, he being the kind of person who believed trappings like gold taps were the sign of a rich man.

Leo was in the act of showing Angel where a door connected with his room, and she’d blurted out the question as much to disguise her panic as anything else. Now he turned and leaned nonchalantly against the doorjamb.

In the few hours since she’d left the villa and returned, she was disgusted to see that Leo looked as if he’d had a full night’s sleep and was as rested and vibrant as anyone had a right to be. She felt sticky all over, with gritty eyes, and still dazed from everything that had happened.

The rumble of his voice brought her back. ‘My father is staying on the island indefinitely. His doctors have advised no stress, and Athens means stress because he’s incapable of staying away from work. Even now.’

Angel winced at the bitter edge to Leo’s voice, and was reminded uncomfortably of what he’d revealed about their relationship. Irrational guilt assailed her. She could say nothing to that; any murmur of sympathy or empathy would be shot down in an instant. Anyway, Leo was ignoring her, revealing another room.

Angel had seen the en-suite bathroom, as big as her bedroom at home, and now Leo was pointing to an empty walk-in wardrobe. She came closer and looked in warily.

Leo sent a cursory look up and down her body and Angel fought not to cringe. She was still in the same clothes.

‘I’ll have a stylist come to consult with you tomorrow, and sort out a full wardrobe. We can’t have you looking anything less than a bought woman from now on, can we?’

Angel caught a flash of the huge bed she’d been ignoring in her peripheral vision and it scared her silly, making her say flippantly, ‘Knock yourself out. Fill that wardrobe and I’ll be only too happy to act out the part.’

He pushed himself off the door, coming close enough to have Angel’s panic and pulse zoom skywards. He smiled lazily. Cynically.

‘I don’t think it’ll take too much acting. Your Skittishness is intriguing me. I would have expected you to be ecstatic that I’ve chosen you as my mistress. You forget that I come from New York … the natural habitat of the mercenary, gold-digging socialite. Your black soul won’t surprise me, really.’

Angel searched for words, but to her chagrin couldn’t get them out in time. To her consternation, Leo merely looked at his watch then, and said crisply, ‘I have to go to the office. Why don’t you get some rest? You look tired.’

And then he was gone, and she was alone. Angel walked into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She didn’t just look tired. She looked shell-shocked. Feeling incredibly weary, and more than a little numb, she stripped off and stood under a steaming hot shower for a long time.

And then she got out, dried her hair, shut the curtains, crawled into the softest bed she’d ever felt, and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.