For Pleasure...Or Marriage?

Even though he was speaking to Markos, his eyes were still greedily on Vanessa.

With a jerk she pulled her hand free. Cosmo was saying something else to Markos, with another laugh. Whatever it was he said, it did not go down well with Markos. Not that Cosmo seemed deterred—rather the opposite. Swapping to English he went on, ‘Come and have a drink—there’s plenty of time.’

‘Not for us, thanks,’ Markos replied evenly. He nodded curtly at Cosmo and set off with Vanessa towards the bank of elevators at the far side of the lobby. She was glad. Cosmo Dimistris, whoever he was, was a creep.

‘Who was that?’ Vanessa found herself asking. She hoped he was someone they wouldn’t run into again.

‘No one you need bother about,’ Markos answered tightly. He hadn’t expected to see Cosmo Dimistris here, and he hadn’t liked the way he had been so obviously taken with Vanessa. Not that Vanessa had seemed the slightest bit taken in return—but then she made it abundantly clear that no other male existed apart from him. His eyes glanced down at her. Theos, she really was stunning! Always beautiful, tonight she had surpassed herself, looking so breathlessly alluring that he was not surprised Cosmo had slavered over her. There was a radiance about her that was almost incandescent.

The bank of elevators was in front of him and he halted, reaching to jab at the control button. Almost simultaneously one set of doors sliced open and two women emerged. One middle-aged, one very young.

Markos froze.

Hell! Why in God’s name had that cretin Cosmo not thought to warn him?

The answer came with a savage lack of humour.

Probably he thought it would be amusing.

Well, it wasn’t amusing. Not in the slightest.

In the event, it only lasted the briefest moment. Constantia Dimistris took in the situation instantly. Markos could see that she’d recognised him—how could she not have?—but there was barely a split second between her recognition, of him and who he was with, and her sailing forward without acknowledging him.

Her daughter, however, was less worldly-wise. Markos saw Apollonia hesitate, her eyes flying to him. To his intense irritation, a blush started to flush through her face as she stopped dead in front of him.

‘Apollonia!’

Her mother’s voice was sharp, commanding, and her eyes darted compellingly at her daughter. For a second Apollonia looked bewildered, as though she could not understand why her mother was not acknowledging the presence of the man she hoped would become her future son-in-law. Then, excruciatingly slowly, her eyes flickered to the woman beside Markos Makarios.

Instantly the blush deepened and a soft noise escaped her throat, mingled shock and, Markos could see, fascination. He was not surprised—doubtless Constantia Dimistris would have instructed her virginal daughter that ‘men were different’, but her carefully sheltered existence would have ensured that Apollonia would never have seen in the flesh visible proof of that ‘difference’. The most she’d have seen would have been photos in celebrity magazines of fashionable nightspots with coy captions like Greek magnate, Markos Makarios, and friend.

To his intense relief, Constantia summoned her daughter again, even more sharply, and this time she responded. Still blushing, she hurried after her mother. With grim smoothness Markos ushered Vanessa inside the elevator, jabbed the button, and the doors slid shut.

Hell, thought Markos, he could have done without that. He really could have done without it! Typical of Cosmo Dimistris to think it amusing not to warn him that his mother and sister were staying at the hotel—Markos hadn’t even known they were in London.

His expression tightened. Had Constantia Dimistris deliberately trailed her daughter to London because his father had told her his son was still there? Well, if so, maybe that unfortunate encounter just now had served a useful purpose. He’d better make sure he took Vanessa with him wherever he went until the Dimistris females had taken themselves off again! Nothing like having your mistress in evidence to keep unwanted would-be brides out of your hair…

His eyes flickered to Vanessa again, taking in her rich, glittering beauty. What man in their right mind would want a wife when he had so beautiful a creature devoted to him? Deliberately, he let his finger trail along the low-cut line of her bodice, and saw her respond to his touch, just as he had known she would.

He gave a low laugh, good mood restored.

It was, indeed, a lavish affair. The huge, opulently decorated suite was thronged with people, and she could hear a polyglot buzz of languages. Vanessa didn’t have any idea who was actually hosting the affair, or what it was for, but it didn’t bother her. She was simply at Markos’s side, and that was that. He could converse in at least four languages, and she only in English, so a lot of the time she was simply smiling and sipping her glass of champagne. Even when the conversation was in English she said very little. Not that many people spoke directly to her, anyway, and then it was usually men. If they were the type like Cosmo Dimistris she was glad when they didn’t.

He was here; she’d seen him on the far side of the room, when the throng had parted a moment. He’d been laughing, showing a lot of teeth, and instinctively Vanessa had turned slightly away. Presumably he was one of the many guests here, but he hadn’t come up to Markos again and she was glad of it. Instead, since Markos was talking in French to a middle-aged man, she went back to doing what she instinctively did whenever his attention was elsewhere—looking at him.

She loved looking at him, taking in everything about him, from the arch of his eyebrows to the lines indenting around his mouth when he laughed, from the way his dark hair was oh-so-slightly ruffled to the way his dinner jacket sat taut across his shoulders. Every detail of his endless physical perfection. She could just gaze and gaze, and let her heart fill up with emotion and flow over the brim…

‘Vanessa?’

The voice was amused, indulgent, and she blinked. Markos had stopped speaking French and was glancing down at her.

‘Excuse me for a moment, will you?’

She nodded at once. ‘Of course,’ she murmured. Markos smiled briefly at her and made off with the other man, joining a couple some way off—another middle-aged man and a richly dressed elderly woman with a grand air about her. Other people moved, and she could no longer see Markos. For a moment Vanessa just stood there, feeling stupidly bereft.

Then a voice spoke beside her.

‘Alas, you’ve been abandoned. How foolish of Markos.’