Greek Tycoon, Inexperienced Mistress

Atreus frowned when he learned that Lindy was waiting outside his office.

What was her game? What could have persuaded her to come all the way to London to see him? He did not want a scene caused at his place of work. Dionides Shipping was a conservative environment, and Atreus had always kept his private life rigidly separate from his working day. His even white teeth clenching, he caught a glimpse of the wary way his PA was regarding him—an unwelcome reminder that for the past few weeks Atreus had been struggling to control a disturbing tendency to explode into anger in a way that was far from being the norm for him.

Lush black lashes screened Atreus’s brilliant dark eyes and concealed his bewilderment at his own behaviour. When, he wondered in frustration, could he expect to return to feeling like himself again? Whatever, he had no choice but to see Lindy and draw a line under that unfortunate affair. He was already seeing how an unconventional relationship with someone who did not belong to his world could have unexpected and destructive repercussions. It was a lesson his foolish father had never learned, and Atreus had no intention of following in his late parent’s footsteps.

Lindy was trembling when she walked into Atreus’s big, imposing office. She had got out of bed at dawn to ensure she was well groomed, because there could be no satisfaction in suspecting that he might be looking at her and marvelling at how he had ever got involved with her in the first place. With her hair tamed into a blade-straight fall and a light application of make-up, wearing a burgundy blouse teamed with a pencil skirt and a smart knitted jacket, she felt strong enough to confront him.

Atreus sprang upright, his tall, powerful physique sheathed in a perfectly tailored black pinstripe business suit. He studied her, immediately aware of the impact of her soft pink-glossed mouth, the even more tempting swell of her full breasts below her shirt and the violin curve of her hips. His reaction to her appeal was instant and earthy, and it infuriated him to have so little control over his libido. There was a decided touch of sarcasm in his tone when he asked coolly, ‘How may I help you?’

And, that fast, Lindy wanted to hit him. There he stood, looking absolutely gorgeous the way he always did, and how dared he address her as if she was an importunate stranger? How dared he look down on her from his intimidating height with that hateful aloof expression when it was only days since they had made love? That, it seemed, was an injudicious recollection, for her eyes stung hotly when she finally acknowledged that they had not made love. It took two people to make love. Atreus had only been having sex: casual, uncommitted, very physical sex.

Lindy walked right to the edge of his desk and slapped the Notice to Quit she had received the day before down in front of him. ‘I wanted to hand this back to you personally,’ she informed him with gutsy calm, her dark brown hair flipping back like heavy silk from her flushed face, her blue eyes very bright. ‘I did nothing to deserve this kind of treatment. If I’d known eighteen months ago what I know about you now, we would never have had a relationship. You’re a man without conscience and a horrible bully!’

Astonished by that censorious attack, Atreus was studying the document she had received. ‘I did not authorise this!’ he proclaimed in angry rebuttal.

‘Didn’t you? But you do want me off your estate, don’t you?’ Lindy noted the faint hint of colour that accentuated his wonderful cheekbones. ‘What gives you the right to disrupt my whole life? Where did you think I was going to move to on my income, with two dogs and a business to house as well as myself?’ A scornful laugh fell from her lips. ‘Of course—the point is that you didn’t care.’

‘I have no intention of evicting you for non-payment of rent,’ Atreus ground out in an accented drawl that was roughened with scantily controlled rage. ‘In the circumstances that is a ridiculous charge—and someone will lose their job over this…’

‘Your estate manager, who has four kids and another on the way?’ Lindy fired back at him in unconcealed disgust. ‘Atreus, you made this situation. Don’t make someone else pay the price for it going wrong. He’s an employee who is clearly aware that you want me to leave the estate.’

Atreus sent her a fierce appraisal. ‘I was willing to offer you generous financial compensation for simply considering the prospect of moving.’

‘So your estate manager probably thought he would win brownie points with you by getting rid of me on the cheap.’ Lindy shrugged, the generous curve of her lips compressing to a thin line. ‘That doesn’t free you of the responsibility for the distress and inconvenience that I have been caused.’