For Pleasure...Or Marriage?

Not that he wanted to. As she lay, head on his chest, hair streaming like a red-gold banner across him, her body soft and warm and exhausted from the delights they had both just experienced, it took a real effort of will to put her aside and get up.

She looked at him hazily.

‘Is it time already?’ she asked. He could hear the regret in her voice.

‘I won’t be gone for long,’ he told her reassuringly. ‘I’ll be back by the weekend.’ He twisted round to drop a last kiss on her mouth, before heading to the bathroom to shower.

When he emerged she had got out of bed, wrapping her body in a long peach-coloured peignoir, her long hair still tousled and sexy. A pang went through him. He did not want to leave her. For a moment he was on the verge of telling her to get dressed and packed and come with him, then sense prevailed. Not only was it a gruelling flight, but he would have to spend at least one evening with his aunt, Leo’s mother, who’d moved to Melbourne after she was widowed to be with relatives on her mother’s side. Obviously he wouldn’t be able to take Vanessa with him when he visited her.

On the other hand, he mused, his aunt was a bosom bow of Constantia Dimistris, even at such long distance. For his aunt to see that he had brought his mistress to Australia with him might feed back to Constantia and help convince her that he was not in the market for her daughter!

A familiar tide of irritation swept through him. Constantia had phoned his office twice already, once to invite him to escort her and Apollonia to the theatre, and then once again. He’d been grateful for a business dinner as an excuse. The woman was making herself far too obvious.

His frown deepened. As for Cosmo Dimistris… Cosmo had definitely overstepped the mark of what had never been more than a highly casual friendship, born of moving in the same circles in Athens and a host of internecine business connections that meshed around wealthy Greek families. Of course it was to be expected that Cosmo would lust after Vanessa—what red-blooded man wouldn’t?—but to make a move on her like that was totally out of order. It wasn’t just a question of trying to poach from a friend; it was that anyone who looked at Vanessa could see how devoted she was to the man she was already with, so Cosmo didn’t even have the excuse that Vanessa was looking restless, as if she wanted to move on herself.

His mouth tightened, a grim look entering his eye. He knew why Cosmo was acting as if Vanessa would soon become available—it was because he was assuming that it would not be long before he, Markos, became unavailable! Taking a wife would mean that a mistress would have to be put aside.

In ill humour, Markos strode to his closet to yank out a shirt. Loath as he was to have to be that blunt, maybe he was just going to have to spell out to Cosmo—and Constantia Dimistris for that matter!—that there was no way he was going to marry Apollonia.

Or any woman.

And if that meant a final showdown with his father, telling him once and for all to stay out of his life, then so be it!

His eyes went to Vanessa, who was busy remaking the bed—she never seemed to leave that to the maid service, Markos noted—and his expression softened. There was all the woman he wanted. Adoring, sensual, undemanding—the list of reasons why Vanessa was the perfect mistress for him went on and on.

He slid his arms down the sleeves, and shrugged the shirt over his shoulders, flexing their musculature as he did so. His body had the invigorating afterglow that sex with Vanessa always gave it. His eyes worked over her slender, graceful figure as she leant over the bed to plump the pillows. She really was an absolute gem of a mistress! Definitely his best ever.

He reached for his cufflinks and started to slip them on. A frown teased along his brow.

He still didn’t get why that bad scene had happened before he’d whisked her to bed. Cosmo had been way out of line sending her those emeralds, and, yes, for a moment he’d been sharp with her when he’d thought she might have been inviting Cosmo’s attentions. But as soon as she’d rejected that possibility he’d made it clear to her that he wasn’t blaming her in any way. Let alone, for heaven’s sake, encouraging her to leave him!

The frown deepened. Why had she flipped like that when he’d reassured her that she was his mistress for the foreseeable future? It didn’t make sense.

He gave a mental shrug and put the niggle aside. She was probably hormonal right now, or whatever, making her hypersensitive. The frown flashed again momentarily. Damn. If she were hormonal now, she’d probably be hors de combat right about the time he came back from Melbourne.

He cast his mind back. When had she last been out of action? He tried to remember, but failed. It seemed longer ago than usual…

‘Markos?’

Vanessa had finished tidying the bed and was coming up to him. His mind diverted instantly. God, she looked so good! Tall and glowing, that fantastic hair tumbling free over her shoulders, her beauty just so stunning…

‘Do you want to eat before you leave?’ she asked him. ‘Can I make you something? Or coffee?’

For answer, he scooped her up in his arms. She was soft and pliant and warm. So good to hold. He stood for a moment, just savouring the feeling of holding her.

He didn’t want to let her go.

But the flight to Melbourne would not wait, not even for first-class passengers, and he had to be on it. Reluctantly he stepped back.

‘Just coffee,’ he told her. Then, his hands still on her upper arms, he looked down into her eyes.

‘I’m going to miss you,’ he said softly.

Was there a sudden stricken look in her eyes? Something speared through him. He seriously did not want to go right now.

But business was business. He had meetings to go to, deals to set up. Only he could do that, not one of his managers. For a moment he wished the whole Makarios Corporation to perdition! He should do what Leo had just done—swan off somewhere tropical and take some R&R. With a beautiful woman to keep him company, of course, the way Leo had! So what was stopping him from doing likewise?

On impulse he spoke.