Her head told her yes, but her body—oh, her body denied it with all its power.
Without conscious thought, she let her hand press against his warm, hard body, smoothed the golden skin. He was so beautiful to touch. She felt her heart give that little squeeze again, felt a strange catch in her breath, as if in wonder—in homage—at such perfection.
The long lashes lifted from his eyes, and immediately his gaze focussed on her. Equally immediately she felt as if those incredible dark eyes were piercing right into her. She felt naked—
‘Ann—’
It was all he said, but it was said in a voice that sounded as replete as he was. He glided the hand resting on her upper arm along its smooth surface. It was not sexual, not arousing. It was just because she was there. In his bed. Beside him.
‘Ann,’ he said again, and drew her more closely against him, settling himself into the bedding, feeling her slender body curved against his. It felt good—but then everything about her felt good. Idly, he went on smoothing his palm along her upper arm. He felt full, at rest. And after a while he started to caress her again.
This time arousingly.
And yet again Ann went with him where he wanted to go.
The Jeep was rattling over the trackway again, heading back to the villa. Nikos was driving a lot more sedately now—and why not? His ill-tempered mood of the outward journey had disappeared completely. Of course it had! Ann’s ludicrous and incomprehensible show of resistance had taken him nothing more than a few moments to dispose of. Why she’d done it he had no idea, and he didn’t much care. It had obviously been some kind of ploy, and it had equally obviously been completely pointless. Anyway, it was irrelevant now. All that mattered was that it was over and would not be returning.
A smile played around his mouth. No, Ann had proved—conclusively and incontrovertibly—that she was completely incapable of resisting him. Which was exactly what he’d known all along.
Just as he’d known—the smile around his mouth deepened—that his decision to stick to the strategy of making Ann Turner his mistress was the right one. Every cell in his body told him blatantly that it was certainly the right one for him personally.
As his mistress, Ann Turner was malleable, enjoyable—definitely enjoyable!—and above all disposable. His strategy was foolproof. He’d b
een mad to think it had any risk to it. Not only was he now going to be able to stop Ann Turner from being a thorn in his flesh, but her own exquisite flesh was his to enjoy—to enjoy with an intensity that had proved as real today as it had last night. Just why there was such an extraordinary intensity he didn’t much care—he wasn’t about to question it, just make the most of it.
Whenever he could.
His smile faded, replaced by a tightening of his mouth. Now, that was going to be an impediment he didn’t welcome. But it would have to be managed, all the same, until he could take Ann back to Athens with him.
He turned his head to speak to her.
‘We’re going to have to be discreet, you understand? But I will see what can be done to make time for you.’
A looming hairpin bend made him look back at the road. Then, having negotiated it, he said, having got no response to his comment, ‘Ann?’
He glanced at her again. She appeared not to have heard him.
‘Ann?’ he said again, now with a slight edge in his voice.
‘Yes, I heard you. Thank you,’ she answered.
Nikos considered her profile. Was she put out because he’d said they would need to be discreet? Perhaps she didn’t understand that there was no way he was going to expose his mother to what they were doing? Or perhaps she thought he was not intending to continue with her—or that the necessity for discretion was in fact a lack of appreciation for her on his part? Well, that could easily be sorted—no problem. He knew exactly what would keep her sweet.
And it wasn’t just sex…
Ann sat on her bed, the shutters of her bedroom window drawn, locking out the light of the day. Locking out the world. She had told a maid she’d passed on her way in that she had a migraine and would be keeping to her room.
Blankness enveloped her. She knew with one part of her mind that it was a kind of safety mechanism, like anaesthesia, blocking everything else out. The blankness made her calm—very calm. In a little while, but not just now, she would think about what she had to do. But not just yet. Not quite yet. Soon.
She ought to go down and see Ari. After all, that was why she was here. But she couldn’t face it. She needed time—time here on her own, with the world locked out, safe.
Safe from Nikos.
But she wasn’t safe from him. She had proved that, conclusively and indelibly. He only had to touch her and she was lost.
And there was no point bewailing it, no point being angry with herself, feeling ashamed. She had tried to resist him, tried to reject him, and failed. Failed completely.
How could any woman say no to Nikos Theakis when he wanted her?