Tall Dark Handsome Lycan (2 page)

“Love would have come in time,” he said, his deep voice laced with a dangerous undercurrent.
“Their marriage has been planned since her birth.  She would have been happy with him.”

“He lives in
England.  They’ve never even met!”

“My
family
spans the continents.”

“
Well, your sister is happy with John, or have you forgotten she’s already married?”

His
eyes narrowed dangerously. “She has to marry into our kind to be truly happy.”

“William isn’t Greek.  He’s British for heaven’s sake.”

Leo’s mouth hardened.  “Our families have been connected for three generations.”

Her head was ready to pop.  He wasn’t making any sense.  She
scanned the busy airport, wanting to look at anything, but him. The airport was bustling with activity, but that was nothing compared to the activity ready to burst from within her.

“We seem to be repeating our telephone conversation all over again
,” she said.

“
Evidently,” he replied dryly. “The only difference is this time you won’t be able to hang up on me.”

She snapped her gaze to his face. 
“You were rude and I had Toni’s welfare to think about. How could a brother bind his sister to a loveless marriage? It’s no wonder she ran away to the States last year. At least there she has freedom of choice. Here, you’re still stuck in the Middle Ages when women were sold off like cattle and—”

“Enough,” he
growled, his face glinting with anger. “We will not discuss this here. Come. We must go now.”

Sam was taken aback.  Had his eyes changed colour for a brief second?  She could have sworn she’d seen a deep shade of amber glowing from his dark gaze.

“I’m not going anywhere with you. It’s obvious I’m not welcome. Now let go of my bags so I can return home.”

Oh my God, this was a nightmare, she thought.  Embar
rassed and frustrated, her eyes pricked with unshed tears and she turned her face away from the man who was the source of all her aggravation.

Her breath caught as
she felt his fingers on her chin. He was surprisingly gentle as he turned her face toward his. She found herself staring up at him, noticing the firm set of his jaw, the slight narrowing of his eyes and the tense line of his mouth as he watched a solitary tear slip down her cheek. Their gazes meshed and locked.

“Tears, Samantha?
Some men weaken at the sight of them.  I do not.  Please do not waste your feminine wiles on me. I am immune to the games women like you play.”

She jerked her face away from his disturbing touch and brushed a furious hand over her cheek.
“I didn’t know we were playing. Now if you don’t mind, I’ll just take my bags and be on my way,” she said, her voice breaking.

“All flights are booked going back for the next two weeks, but rest assured you’ll be safe with me.
Granted, you are attractive.  You are not, however, my type.”

Her face burned with humiliation, but she held her chin firm.
“I said I’m not going anywhere with you. I’ll camp out in this airport for the next two weeks if I have to.”

“Yes, you can, but that would be ridiculous
and even though a few interesting adjectives come to mind for you, ridiculous is not one of them.” He shot an impatient glance at his wristwatch.  “We have wasted enough time. I have other business to take care of and I do not want to spend anymore time arguing with you.”

“
Since you find my company so annoying, don’t you think it would be wiser if I didn’t come with you?”

He cu
rsed under his breath and dropped her bags to the floor. Satisfied, Sam watched him run his hand through his thick, black hair.

“You are even more infuriating in person than you are on the phone.”

She made a move for her bags. “Don’t let me stop you from leaving.”

“Leave them,” he ordered abruptly.
“You are coming with me.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, my little witch, you are.”

Sam gasped her outrage.
She bent toward her luggage and reached for the handles as Leo swore roughly and reached for her bags at the same time. Her face collided against his arm and she jumped back in shock. A strange headiness overcame her and she pursed her lips as she tried to maintain her composure.

“I said leave them,” he said brusquely as he straightened with a bag in each hand, his nostrils flared, his expression grim and dark.
Sam was about to voice her indignation when he added an abrupt, “Do not be a fool, woman. You are creating a scene.”

She
looked around her and saw three men glancing curiously from her to Leo. She stared at the man wearing a baseball cap with a Yankees logo on it. He inched his way slowly toward them and she saw fear surfacing in his eyes as he darted a nervous glance at Leo.

“Is
everything all right, Miss?”

Sam
looked back at Leo and tensed, immediately sensing a dangerous current emanating from him. He stood eerily still, his face a mask except for a telltale vein pulsating at the side of his throat. He was regarding her silently, almost tauntingly and Sam shivered. Of course the man with the Yankees cap was nervous. Leo’s energy was almost predatory, contained by a whisper of a thread, ready to snap at the slightest provocation.

She
looked at the stranger. “I’m…fine.”

“We could
call airport security,” the stranger persisted, his tone braver as he glanced at something behind her.

Sam turned
around and saw an airport security guard making his way toward them, one hand hovering by his gun while the other one brought his two-way radio to his mouth.  Sam panicked, realizing things were definitely getting out of hand. It was one thing to wipe Leo’s arrogant look from his face and another altogether to have him arrested.

Bless and release, Sam chanted silently.
Leo was a domineering, stubborn fool, not a criminal.  “No, please. Everything is fine,” she told the stranger.

“You heard the lady. She said everything is fine,” Leo commented softly.

Sam stiffened. She heard the menacing edge in his voice and shot him a nervous glance. He met her gaze briefly, but the meaning behind his eyes was clear.  Do not be a fool, it said.  Her anger flared at his arrogance. What was wrong with him? Was he itching to get arrested? She clamped down on her jaw and turned away, muttering, “We’d better get going.”

Before she turned her back on Leo, Sam caught a
gleam of satisfaction on his face and she clenched her jaw as she walked stiffly toward the exit.

Ten minutes later, her bags were tucked in the trunk of
his car and she was strapping on her seatbelt. A few moments later, she watched him weave effortlessly through the small winding roads of the airport to take her—where?

Sam didn’t want to think about what was in store for her the next two weeks.
She only hoped his business would keep him away from the house, and with any luck at all, their paths wouldn’t have to cross.

At least
Leo was silent on the drive and Sam was thankful for that.  She leaned her head back against the headrest and turned her face away from his rigid profile. She stared at the countryside rolling by her window—the olive groves, the tourists on
pedalos
, the busy
tavernas
—as the soothing purr of the car’s engine calmed her.

Sam closed her
eyes and a weariness so profound overcame her, she fell deeply and soundly asleep, oblivious to everything around her.                                                             

                               
         * * * *

Sam
was at total peace. Comfort and security flowed through her veins and she sighed as she nestled her head deeper into her pillow. Mm, she was so relaxed.  She released another sigh as she drifted in between the states of dreaming and awake.

A
deep voice said something, but she couldn’t make out the words.  They were foreign.  She did, however, like the sound of it. It sounded warm, soothing.

Suddenly, her bed swerve
d and a piercing honk penetrated her mind. The voice said something again, but this time it didn’t sound soothing—it sounded furious.

Her
eyes flew open and she stared at a dashboard.

She blinked, taking
a few seconds to gather her bearings as she stared at her hand lying on a strong, muscular thigh. Mortified, her confusion fled and she lifted her head from Leo’s shoulder.

Straightening in her seat, she shot Leo a quick, sideways
glance and their gazes met briefly. Her face burned as she caught the light of amusement on his face and something else—something she couldn’t define. Had it been warmth? Sam wasn’t certain.  She gave him another quick look and noted his cold and distant profile, making her wonder if she had seen any warmth at all.

“I must have been more tired than I thought.”

“Yes,” he offered casually.

Sam glanced at him and he met her gaze briefly.  Sam tensed under the full impact of his indifference and she diverted her attention back to the road, wondering if the warmth she’d seen earlier had ever happened at all.

Right from the start, two months ago on the phone, Leo
had made his feelings for her perfectly clear. He disliked her and there was no reason to think his feelings had changed. Her Tarot cards were in one of her bags in the trunk of the car and she decided to have another look at them once she settled in the house. Frustration welled in her breast. It should have been easy to read her cards and discover why he thought the worst of her and John, but after her few attempts the past few weeks, she couldn’t make anything out. Leo was a total mystery.

T
hat’s what irked Sam the most about him. Men had always been an open book to her and Leo was the one man immune to her gift.

Wh
at made him different? All she wanted to know were two things—why he disliked her and how she could change it. If he liked her and they became friends, it would certainly help Leo’s family accept John.

“
Look to your right, past the hill.”

She peered through her window.
They were winding down a small private road and Sam watched the hill slip away to reveal what was, in her mind, the most beautiful house she’d ever seen.  It had a wide, wrap-around veranda and olive groves surrounding the grounds giving it a secluded, private air.

The two
-story spread was made up entirely of white stone with a square tower at each corner. Arched windows, framed in blue, and huge balconies decorated the front, with floral vines and multi-coloured flowers in gold pots peppering the entrance. Sam glanced at the land surrounding it and spotted a white gazebo draped in roses in the distance. It was lovely.

She drew in a deep breath of appreciation and
looked at him. “What a spectacular home.”

He gave her a swift, sideways
glance and Sam caught something flicker in his eyes as he stared briefly at her mouth.  Brusquely, he returned his attention to the road.

This was a first, she thought uneasily.
She hadn’t had a lot of experience with men, but she was perceptive enough to know when a man found her mouth interesting. It left her feeling curiously pleased.

Her stomach fluttered and she wiped her thought from forming.  He d
idn’t even like her.

H
er mind veered to more disturbing grounds and she found herself wondering what kind of women he dated. Curiosity made her steal another look at his detached, unsmiling profile. Sam scowled, willing her thoughts to take another turn, but they didn’t. She wondered about Katina, the woman he was supposedly announcing his engagement to soon, and pictured a dark, sexy, voluptuous Mediterranean heiress with limpid eyes, pouty lips, and cleavage.

“Do you have any riding experience with horses?”  He asked.  “
You cannot see it from here, but we have a stable in the back.”

She couldn’t deny the thrilling effect his rich, deep voice had on her. 
“I grew up on a ranch, but I haven’t ridden a horse in so long, I doubt I remember how.”

“It will come back to you.”

They fell into another silence as Leo veered onto the circular drive in front of the house and parked at the entrance. Without saying a word, he got out of the car and walked toward the rear. Sam felt a curious sense of disappointment he hadn’t bothered to open her door. Quickly, she unbuckled her seatbelt and reached for her purse lying on the floor next to her feet when she heard her door open. She looked up and saw Leo extending his hand to her.

Silently, she cursed the warm flush on her cheeks.
She placed her hand in his and her stomach somersaulted as a sudden awareness flowed through her veins.  His touch was firm, gentle and comforting, making her feel oddly secure.  The connection between them was palpable and she dropped her gaze from his penetrating stare as she got out of the car.