The Greek Billionaire's Innocent Princess (7 page)

hard, muscular body between her thighs, and she could feel the pulsing thickness of his shaft

press impatiently against her opening.

This was it, the moment she had wondered about all of her adult life, and she still couldn’t quite

believe that it was going to happen. Her heart was galloping, her breath coming in short, shallow

pants, and suddenly her nerve deserted her and she tried to bring her legs together. But she was

too late, Nikos was already surging forwards, and he gently but firmly pushed her thighs apart

and entered her with one deep, powerful thrust that brought a shocked cry from Kitty’s lips.

‘
Theos!
’ He stilled instantly and stared down at her, his brows lowering in a harsh frown. ‘Your first time? How can it be?’ Nikos demanded in stunned incomprehension. He began to withdraw

from her, but now that Kitty was over the first shock of penetration her muscles were stretching

around him and the brief pain was fading. She loved the new and wondrous sensation of having

him fill her completely, and the restless ache inside her was once again clamouring to be

assuaged.

‘Don’t stop…please.’ She clung to his shoulders, urging him down again, and, sensing his

indecision, she wrapped her legs around him, inviting him to push into her once more. It was an

invitation he couldn’t refuse and with a muttered imprecation he surged forward, taking it slower

this time, but the power of each ensuing thrust was no less intense and Kitty arched beneath him

and gave herself up to the pleasure of feeling him move within her.

Deeper, harder, Nikos was aware that he was losing control, and he slipped his hands under her

and cupped her bottom, lifting her so that he could plunge deeper still, setting a rhythm that was

fast and frantic as he took them both to the edge.

The burning ache in her pelvis was unbearable now, and Kitty felt as if something inside her

were being stretched until it could be stretched no more and it would snap at any second.

‘Please…’ She couldn’t stand it any longer. It had to happen,
now
. She curled her fingers into the sweat-dampened hair at Nikos’s nape and clung to him while he drove into her again and again,

taking her higher and increasing her excitement with every stroke.

And suddenly, when she was trembling and desperate, he gave one more devastating thrust, and

the dam burst. A tidal wave of pleasure swept through her as her muscles contracted in pulse

after pulse of exquisite sensation, and the ripples radiated out until every inch of her body was

suffused in ecstasy. Almost simultaneously she heard the low groan that seemed to be ripped

from his throat and felt the great shudders that tore through him as he reached his own release.

He slumped on top of her and she felt his heart slamming in his chest.

In a protective gesture as old as womankind she crossed her arms over his back and cradled him

on her breasts, holding him tight for those few moments while he was at his most vulnerable.

Tears filled her eyes and tenderness swamped her heart. He had just given her the most

incredible experience of her life and in the aftermath she felt as though their souls as well as their bodies had been as one. It seemed impossible that he did not feel it too. But too soon he raised

himself onto his elbows and stared down at her, the gleam in his eyes no longer caused by

passion, but anger, as he demanded, ‘Why the
hell
didn’t you tell me you were a virgin?’

Kitty took one look at Nikos’s grim expression and swiftly dismissed the idea that the intense

passion they had just shared had meant anything more to him than a physical release of lust. This

feeling that their souls had meshed and were now inextricably entwined was an illusion brought

on by the intensity of her first sexual experience, and the coldness in his eyes warned her he did

not share her fantasy.

Now that the heat of passion was cooling she felt faintly sick, and her limbs were trembling

uncontrollably with shocked reaction to what had happened, but pride dictated that she hide her

emotional turmoil from Nikos.

‘It was my business,’ she murmured lightly, striving to sound as though giving him her virginity

was no big deal.

Nikos was not appeased. ‘But now you have made it my business,’ he said harshly. ‘I am not in

the habit of seducing virgins. If you had told me, I would have stopped.’

‘But I didn’t want you to stop,’ Kitty admitted quietly, silently acknowledging the truth of her

statement. The strength of passion he had aroused in her had been a revelation, and for those few

wild moments she had forgotten everything but her need for fulfilment. It was only now that the

self-recriminations were queuing up in her head.

Nikos had rolled off her and was now watching her intently, his eyes narrowed and suspicious

on her face. Intuitively she knew what was bothering him. He was a playboy with a well-

publicised aversion to commitment. She guessed he was wondering what she might want from

him, and was doubtless determined to impress on her that he would give her nothing. Perhaps he

feared that she would turn clingy and emotional? He wasn’t to know that she would rather die

than allow him to see how much he affected her.

Feeling acutely self-conscious now, she tugged the edges of his jacket together, flushing beneath

his sardonic look that said it was a little too late for modesty. ‘If you want the honest truth, my

virginity had become something of a hindrance,’ she told him, hoping she sounded confident and

convincing, rather than perilously close to tears. ‘I wanted my first time to be an enjoyable

experience, but I wanted a man, not some clumsy, inexperienced boy. Your reputation as an

expert lover was a temptation I couldn’t resist, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed—’ her voice

faltered slightly ‘—but I apologise if my performance and experience were less than you’d

expected.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. I wasn’t disappointed, as I’m sure—despite your inexperience—you must

have noticed,’ he responded dryly, remembering the shattering intensity of his release. ‘You

were amazing,
agape
.’

Nikos shifted onto his back and stared up at the shadows flickering on the roof of the cave. The

stark shock of discovering that he was her first lover was fading, and he acknowledged that it had

been the best sex he’d had for a long time. He glanced at Rina lying beside him and slowly

relaxed, relieved that she had made no attempt to cuddle up to him. It seemed that he had no

need to worry. She had been a virgin but she understood the rules. He hadn’t intended to see her

again after tonight, but if she could be trusted not to make demands on him then he saw no

reason why they shouldn’t meet up occasionally when he came to Aristo.

‘I also have a confession to make,’ he said lazily as he rolled onto his side once more and wound

a lock of her still-damp hair around his finger.

Kitty’s heart shuddered to a standstill. ‘Are you married?’

He gave a snort of disgust. ‘
Theos
—no!’ Nikos’s face hardened, and he suddenly seemed so

remote that Kitty wondered despairingly what utter madness had led her to have sex for the first

time in her life with this man who was a stranger to her. ‘I’m divorced,’ he told her with a grim

smile that did not reach his eyes, ‘and, since I evicted my ex-wife from my life, resolutely

single.’

Nikos felt the familiar black hatred surge through him as his mind dwelled on the woman he had

once believed he had loved, his bitterness mixed with fury with himself that he had been such a

damnable fool. Never again, he thought savagely. Greta’s terrible deceit had taught him a hard

lesson, but he had learned it well. Never trust any woman or invest emotion in them, because, as

he had found out in the cruellest way imaginable, they weren’t worth it.

He jerked his thoughts from the past and realised that Rina was staring at him. His eyes

narrowed on her startled expression. ‘If you’re harbouring any romantic illusions about me, then

I suggest you forget them fast,
agape
. I value my freedom above everything.’

Kitty was silent for a moment, trying to assimilate the knowledge that he had been married. It

was the first real thing she had learned about him, and she couldn’t help feeling shocked and—

even more ridiculous—crushingly disappointed. She couldn’t picture him married—it didn’t fit

with his image. She wondered what his wife had been like. Stunningly beautiful, of course, she

brooded. Probably a glamorous model like the women he was frequently photographed in the

papers with.

She was curious about the reasons why the marriage had ended. Nikos had been unable to hide

the bitter note in his voice when he had spoken of his ex-wife. Whatever had happened in his

past had clearly had a huge impact on him and his relationships since his divorce, because his

affairs were numerous and short-lived, and a few of his ex-lovers who had sold their story to the

tabloids had stated that he had a heart of granite.

She glanced up to find him watching her, the expression in his dark eyes unfathomable. Inside

she felt in turmoil, but she managed a careless shrug. ‘Lucky I stopped believing in fairy tales

long ago, then. I have no illusions about the kind of man you are, Nikos. But I’m still curious to

hear your confession.’

The brief tension between them passed, she saw Nikos visibly relax and his seductive smile sent

a quiver of reaction through her. ‘I didn’t have permission from the Prince Regent to come down

to the beach, either,’ he drawled.

‘Then how did you know about the path from the palace?’ Kitty asked, confused.

‘My mother told me about it when I was a child. I was walking in the gardens tonight when I

suddenly remembered her saying that there was a secret path to the beach, and I decided to look

for it, not knowing for sure if the story was true, or simply a rumour she had heard when she—’

He broke off abruptly, and then, in answer to Kitty’s bewildered stare, added, ‘When she lived

here on Aristo.’

There was no particular reason why he should not tell Rina that his mother had been a servant at

the palace, Nikos conceded. If anything, it was rather ironic that he had been drawn to a member

of the palace staff rather than one of the sophisticated guests at the ball. Perhaps he had a secret desire to return to his roots, he thought dryly. But his personal life was his own, and for all he

knew Rina might decide to sell her story of how she had met him to the tabloids.

MYSEXSESSION ON THESAND WITHGREEKTYCOONmight be a headline grabber, but a

revelation that Nikos Angelaki was the illegitimate child of a palace servant would sell even

better, and he refused to have his mother’s reputation smeared in some sleazy rag.

‘I thought you are Greek?’ Kitty murmured, eager to learn more about him.

‘My mother was born and grew up on Aristo. She came from around the bay, at a place called

Varna.’

Kitty knew every part of Aristo, and she frowned as she thought of the tiny fishing village where

Nikos had said his mother had lived. There were a few big estates on the hills above Varna, and

she supposed his family owned one of them. ‘I know you said your mother died some years ago,

but do you visit her family often?’

‘No.’ Nikos’s jaw hardened as he thought of the relatives he had never met—his mother’s

family who had thrown her out when she had fallen pregnant with him. None of them were left

now. According to the private detective he had employed to trace them, his grandmother had

died years ago, and his grandfather had passed away at the ripe age of eighty-six—without ever

knowing that he had a grandson, and taking the identity of Nikos’s father with him to the grave.

Nikos’s mother had steadfastly refused to tell him the name of the man who had made her

pregnant and then abandoned her—revealing only that he had been a Greek fisherman. It wasn’t

a lot to go on, Nikos acknowledged grimly. Realistically he accepted that there was no chance he

would ever know who had sired him, but that didn’t stop him wondering whose blood ran

through his veins.

‘My mother’s family are all dead,’ he told Kitty, his tone warning her that he did not want to

continue the discussion. He rolled onto his back once more, suddenly feeling dog-tired. God

knew how many hours it had been since he had boarded a plane at Dubai International Airport,

but jet lag was catching up with him and his eyelids felt heavy. He wouldn’t go to sleep, he

promised himself. He would just rest his eyes for a couple of minutes…

Kitty listened to the rhythmic sound of Nikos breathing and carefully inched away from him. He

looked curiously vulnerable in sleep and she longed to brush the lock of black hair back from his

brow. He was so gorgeous; she could sit and look at him for ever, but what would happen when

he woke up? Her face burned as she imagined them casually pulling on their clothes and strolling

back to the palace. She supposed he would bid her goodnight—maybe even kiss her again? She

had been trained in the rules of etiquette but she had no knowledge of the rules of lovers.

Would Nikos ask to see her again or ask for her phone number?
At what point would she tell

himthat she was Princess Katarina, his best friend’ssister—and not a waitress called Rina?