The Demetrios Virgin

Just for an irrational silly female heartbeat of time she ached for him to reach for her, to stop hurting her with words she did not want to hear and to caress and kiss her until her poor deluded heart believed once again that he loved her as she did him.

But thankfully she had enough instinct for self-preservation left to stop herself from telling him so. Instead she began to explain about Megan and Mark and Lorraine.

‘She made you do what?’ Andreas demanded angrily.

She was hesitantly explaining about Lorraine, and her insistence that Saskia make herself look more sexy, when, after a brief rap on the door, Pia burst in and told them, ‘Grandfather has arrived. He wants to see both of you.’

‘I’d better get dressed,’ Saskia mumbled self-consciously.

Pia seemed oblivious to her embarrassment, adding urgently, ‘Oh, and Andreas, there’s something I want to talk to you about...before you see Grandfather.’

‘If you’re going to ask for an advance on your allowance,’ Saskia heard Andreas saying hardily to Pia as he walked with her to the door, allowing Saskia to make her own escape to the bathroom, ‘you haven’t picked a very good time.’

CHAPTER TEN

SASKIA GLARED reprovingly at the reflection glowing back at her from the bedroom mirror. Her own reflection. The reflection of a woman whose body had enjoyed in full measure every nuance of sensual satisfaction and was proud to proclaim that fact to the world.

That was not how she wanted to look when she confronted Andreas’s grandfather—the man who was ultimately responsible for her being here...the man who did not think she was good enough for his grandson...the man who preferred to see him marry Athena. Neither did she want Andreas to see her like this.

Why on earth couldn’t her idiotic body see beyond the delicious fulfilment it was currently basking in and instead think ahead to the loneliness and pain her emotions already knew were lying in store?

Andreas had returned to their room very briefly after Pia’s interruption, showering and dressing quickly and then informing her that, although his grandfather was insisting that he wanted to meet her as soon as possible, there were certain matters he needed to discuss with him in private first.

‘It won’t take very long,’ he had told her grimly, before striding out of the room without giving her a chance to tell him that right now, for her own sanity and safety, she wanted to get as far away from him as fast as she could.

Soon, now, he would be coming back for her, to take her and introduce her formally to his grandfather.

Saskia pulled an angry face at her still glowing reflection. She looked, she admitted angrily, the perfect picture of a woman in love. Even her eyes had a new sparkle, a certain glint that said she was hugging to herself a wonderful, special secret.

She had tried over and over again to tell her love-crazed body just what the real situation was, but it simply refused to listen. And so now... She gave a nervous start as she heard the bedroom door opening...

Andreas took a deep breath before reaching out for the bedroom door handle and grasping it firmly.

Pia had been so incensed, so protective and angry on Saskia’s behalf, that it had taken her several minutes to become calm enough to spill out, in a way that made sense, the conversation she had overheard between Athena and Saskia.

‘Athena actually tried to bribe Saskia to leave you. She promised her a million pounds if she did. Of course Saskia refused, but I don’t see why Athena should be allowed to get away with such insulting and...and offensive behaviour. Grandfather should be told what she’s really like—and if you aren’t prepared to tell him...’ she had threatened darkly.

‘Andreas?’ she had demanded when he made no response, obviously puzzled at his lack of reaction, but Andreas had still been trying to come to terms with the ‘insulting’ and ‘offensive’ behaviour he had already inflicted on Saskia. Now, to learn what Athena had done and how nobly Saskia had behaved made him feel... How could he have been so wrong about her, so judgemental and...and biased?

A tiny inner voice told him that he already knew the answer. Right from the first second he had set eyes on her there had been something—a sharp warning thrill of sensation and, even more dangerously, of emotion—which he had instantly tried to suppress. His infernal pride had resented the fact that he could fall in love with a woman who was so obvious, and because he had listened to his pride, and not his heart, he had witlessly destroyed something that could have been the most wonderful, the most precious part of his life. Unless... Unless Saskia could be persuaded to give him a second chance...