‘It makes a huge difference. How do you think I felt when I found out that you’re a billionaire?’
The derisory lift of his brows indicated that the issue wasn’t one that interested him. ‘Like you’d missed out, I should imagine.’
If she hadn’t already slapped him she would have considered doing it now.
‘It isn’t about the money! I wish you didn’t have money because then that would be once less thing you lied about! I felt betrayed, Nikos! That’s how I felt.’ Ella felt a rush of despair that he didn’t seem to understand why she might have been upset. ‘You lied about who you were and you lied about your wife! Pictures of your wedding were plastered all over the magazine I picked up in the doctor’s surgery. How could you? How could you have sex with me when you’re married? Don’t you have a conscience?’ Immediately after she’d asked the question she regretted it because she could feel her voice start to wobble. ‘What was I, Nikos? An easy lay while you were in London?’ Oh God, that was another question she shouldn’t have asked.
She was nothing to him, that’s what she was.
His eyes grew suddenly cold. ‘You are the mother of my child. Don’t cheapen yourself!’
‘You’re the one who did that,’ Ella said hoarsely, ‘by sleeping with me when you were married to another woman. You cheapened me, Nikos, and you cheapened our relationship. If you’re so rich, why didn’t you just use some of that money to fly her over from Greece to satisfy your red-hot sex drive?’ She was trembling with hot, stinging emotion but he simply watched her in silence, his cool control a stark contrast to her fiery outburst.
‘You are jealous.’
‘To be jealous I’d have to care about you and I don’t care about you, Nikos. I stopped caring when you didn’t even have the guts to end it face to face.’ Her voice cracked and she stopped talking, afraid to say more. But already it was too late. He was rising to his feet. Walking across to her with the same sense of purpose that characterised everything he did.
‘For a woman who claims not to care, you are extremely upset.’
Tension sizzled between them and she took a step backwards, rejecting the immediate response of her body. ‘Leave me alone, Nikos. We’ll work together for now because we have to, but we don’t have to talk about anything personal. You’re angry with me and frankly I’m angry with you, too.’
Most of all she was angry that she still cared.
She didn’t want to feel what she was feeling.
‘When you’re angry, your eyes go darker.’ His eyes shielded by impossibly thick lashes, he locked his fingers with hers, trapping her hands in his. ‘The same thing happens when you are really, really aroused. Yes, we’re both angry. We are both passionate people. Passionate people experience strong emotions.’ His hands moved over hers and Ella gritted her teeth because those strong, knowing fingers were as skilful at arousing a woman as they were at healing a patient. Excitement slammed through her body, replacing anger with a much more dangerous emotion.
The air around them seemed stiflingly hot and suddenly she couldn’t think or breathe.
Where had the anger gone? She needed it. She needed it back.
‘Why did you come here, Nikos?’
His response to that was to lower his head and capture her mouth, using his intimate knowledge of her to drive her straight from earth to paradise without a pause. He kissed her with merciless skill and erotic expertise, his possessive hands capturing her face and holding her while the sensual lick of his tongue robbed her brain of thought and her legs of strength.
Despite her best intentions, her arms wound themselves round his neck, her fingers dug into his sleek, dark hair and Ella moaned in desperation as she felt his weight press her hard against the wall. Her body melted into the demands of his—soft against hard, compliant against aggressive.
‘Theos mou, you turn me on,’ he breathed against her mouth, and Ella felt her senses spin, and every one of her brain cells fuse.
They were so lost in each other that neither of them heard the door open.
‘Dr Mariakos?’ Rose didn’t get any further than his name before muttering an embarrassed apology and slinking out of the room, but her interruption was enough to break the fierce passion that had held them in its grip.
‘Nikos…’ Groaning his name, Ella pushed against the hard muscle of his chest, but he was apparently in no hurry to release her. His hands rested on the curve of her bottom, his mouth lingering on her neck. ‘Nikos—for goodness’ sake. Stop.’