The Greek's Acquisition (8 page)

There was only one other way she could raise any kind of capital.

Louise nodded resolutely. ‘I’ll organise it now.’

Her grandmother Céline would have approved, she told herself a few hours later when she walked out of the jeweller’s shop. The jeweller had honoured the price that he had originally valued the diamond
fleur-de-lis
, and had also bought the last few pieces of Tina’s jewellery. Louise hoped her mother would forgive her. Tina adored her jewels, but life was more valuable than a few baubles.

Having delivered a cheque to Alain Duval, and learned that Tina would be flown to Massachusetts once the hospital had received assurance that her medical costs would be met, Louise felt as if her emotions had been put through a mangle. She had phoned Dimitri’s hotel and learned that he had not yet checked out, but was unavailable to speak to her.

The prospect of meeting him again made her heart sink. But she
had
to get an answer from him. First, though, she decided to go back to her flat to feed Madeleine and try and drum up some courage before she paid him a visit.

The lift in the apartment block only went as far as the fifth floor. Louise trudged up the narrow flight of stairs leading to the eaves of the building, feeling utterly drained. Reaction to the events of the past twenty-four hours had set in. She was still trying to come to terms with the fact that she had slept with Dimitri, and she was desperately worried about her mother.

The sound of footsteps from above warned her that one of her neighbours was coming down the stairs, and she shrank against the wall to allow them to pass.

‘Where in hell’s name have you been all day?’

Dimitri came round the bend in the staircase and strode towards her, his face furious and beautiful, with his olivegold skin stretched taut across his slashing cheekbones, his green eyes spitting fire.

The shock of his appearance was the last straw. Louise stared at him wordlessly.

‘Why did you shoot off like that this morning?’ The question had been bugging Dimitri all day. ‘I tried ringing you a dozen times but you didn’t answer.’

‘I switched off my phone at the.’ Just in time she stopped herself from saying
hospital
, and coloured guiltily. ‘I went to see a … friend, and turned my phone off.’

‘I assumed you had left early to go to the museum, but when I couldn’t get hold of you I checked at the Louvre and was told that you weren’t scheduled to work today.’ Dimitri’s eyes narrowed when Louise refused to meet his gaze. ‘You ran, didn’t you? What was it?’ he queried sardonically. ‘Self-recrimination after the night before?’

She flushed. ‘You told me you were returning to Athens today. It just seemed easier to avoid any awkwardness. I mean …’ She bit her lip. ‘We both know last night didn’t mean anything.’

‘Do we?’ His face was unreadable.

What friend had she rushed off to visit? Dimitri wondered. She seemed cagey. Had she gone to see a lover—perhaps to give an excuse for where she had spent the previous night? And how was it that she was wearing another Benoit Besson outfit?

He was annoyed that he had felt concerned when he’d been unable to contact her. She was not a child, and certainly
not his responsibility, he reminded himself. His irritation increased when he felt his body’s predictable reaction as he raked his eyes over her champagne-coloured pencil skirt and the matching jacket with its nipped-in waist that emphasised the firm swell of her breasts. Her hair was swept into a chignon and her face discreetly made-up. The combination of cool elegance and simmering sensuality that she projected heated his blood to boiling point. No woman had ever run out on him before, and if he was honest his ego had been dented by Louise’s abrupt departure from his bed that morning, he acknowledged grimly.

Louise could not define Dimitri’s expression and she was too weary to try. ‘What are you doing here, anyway?’ she muttered.

He looked dangerously seductive in casual clothes that bore the hallmarks of superb tailoring. His black polo shirt clung to the hard ridges of his abdominal muscles and his dark hair brushed the collar of his tan leather jacket. For a crazy moment she almost gave in to the temptation to fling herself against his broad chest and absorb some of his strength.

A thought hit her and she drew a sharp breath. ‘Have you made a decision about the island?’

‘I have, but a public stairway is not the place to discuss it. I believe your apartment is on the top floor?’

Her legs were shaking, Louise discovered as she led the way up the stairs and along the hallway to her flat. A sense of dread settled like a lead weight in her stomach. Dimitri did not know it, but he held her mother’s life in his hands.

‘Please—come in.’ She opened the front door and ushered him into her home, hating her body’s involuntary reaction when he brushed against her. Why
him
? she thought bitterly. Why was he the only man she had ever met who could turn her brain to mush and make her feel like a
hormonal adolescent instead of the intelligent woman she knew was?

Entering Louise’s flat was like stepping into a doll’s house, Dimitri thought as he was forced to duck to avoid bumping his head on the doorframe. An estate agent would probably describe the apartment as a bijou residence, but that was a euphemism for small. It occurred to him that if Louise did live with some rich lover he must be a midget.

He followed her into the living room and saw no signs of a male influence in the pretty but decidedly feminine décor. A door led into what he could see was an equally tiny bedroom. The apartment was functional but hardly luxurious, and he felt certain that Louise lived alone.

Not completely alone, he amended as his eyes settled on the exotic-looking cat which was regarding him suspiciously from the windowsill.

‘That’s Madeleine,’ Louise told him, following his gaze. ‘I got her from the cat rescue centre and she’s wary of strangers.’

He glanced around the room. The colour scheme of white and powder-blue was charming, but nothing could disguise the fact that the apartment was no bigger than a shoebox.

‘It’s not what I was expecting,’ he said, frowning. When Louise had told him she lived in the centre of Paris he had envisaged a grand, opulent apartment. ‘I thought you would live somewhere bigger and more expensive, frankly.’

‘I can’t afford the rent on a bigger place. This is fine for me and Madeleine.’

‘Surely your mother could contribute towards the costs of renting or even buying a larger apartment? After all, she inherited a sizeable fortune from my father.’

‘I have never touched a penny of Kostas’s money,’ Louise said sharply.

She had caught the note of bitterness in Dimitri’s voice
and in all fairness could not blame him for it. Her mother’s affair with his father hovered like a spectre between them. She dared not reveal that the reason she was so anxious for him to buy Eirenne was because Tina had frittered away the inheritance Kostas had left her.

She twisted her hands together, unaware that Dimitri had noticed the betraying gesture. ‘You said you had made a decision,’ she reminded him.

Why was she so tense?
he wondered. It was obvious she was desperate for him to agree to a deal on Eirenne, but he still did not know
why
she needed the money so urgently. The explanation she’d given about wanting to pay off her student loan wasn’t believable, and once again he came back to the idea that she was in debt. Her mother had been facing bankruptcy just before she had met his father, he remembered. Tina had not been a good role model when it came to financial matters—or personal integrity, he thought grimly. Was it any surprise that Louise seemed to be following in her mother’s footsteps?

But what did it matter? Dimitri asked himself. He wanted Eirenne and he wanted Louise, and he was determined to have both. One night with her had not satisfied his desire and he had decided that the only way to get her out of his system was to make her his mistress until his fascination with her faded. He had a short attention span where women were concerned, and he was sure it would not take long before he was bored of her.

He glanced at her and felt a white-hot surge of lust as he imagined stripping off the elegant suit and the lace-edged camisole visible beneath her jacket. Was she wearing a bra? No matter—he would quickly remove it so that he could cup her voluptuous breasts in his hands. Then he would kiss her nipples, lick them and tease them with his tongue,
until they hardened and she whimpered and begged him to make love to her as she had done last night.

His nostrils flared as he inhaled sharply. He turned towards the window and pretended to study the view of Paris rooftops while he endeavoured to bring his body under control.

‘I am prepared to pay your asking price of one million pounds for Eirenne.’

‘Thank God!’

She spoke the words beneath her breath but Dimitri heard her, heard the raw emotion in her voice, and he flicked his head round to see her sink down onto the sofa as if her legs would not support her.

‘That’s … great news.’ Louise frantically fought for composure as relief flooded through her. The one thought pounding in her head was that now she could phone Alain Duval and tell him to arrange for her mother to be flown to America to begin the treatment immediately.

‘There is a condition.’

Dimitri’s clipped statement seemed to reverberate off the walls. Louise shot him a lightning glance, and something about his calculating expression unnerved her. She licked her dry lips.

‘What … condition?’

‘You will return to Athens with me.’

Why was her heart thudding so erratically beneath her ribs? she wondered. After all, Dimitri had not made an unreasonable request.

She stood up and faced him across her tiny sitting room.

‘I suppose it will be necessary for me to sign a sales contract. Of course I will fly to Athens when the paperwork has been prepared,’ she assured him. ‘But I imagine it will take at least a few days before your lawyers are ready to finalise the deal.’

He shrugged. ‘Probably. But that’s not what I meant.’ He walked towards her, his intent gaze holding her prisoner. ‘I want
you
, Louise—to share my bed every night until I have sated my desire for you. Let’s say for a couple of weeks.’ His smile was deeply cynical. ‘I have a low boredom threshold, and experience tells me that my interest will wane fairly quickly when you are available around the clock.’

‘Available?’
she choked furiously. His suggestion was so shockingly outrageous that she almost thought he was joking—but the hard gleam in his eyes warned her he was deadly serious. ‘Do you really expect me to play the role of your … your
concubine
? Always on hand to serve you and satisfy your sexual demands?’

She paused to drag oxygen into her lungs, and opened her mouth to tell him in succinct terms just what she thought of his suggestion. He cut her off before she could speak.

‘If you want me to buy Eirenne then, yes, that’s exactly what I expect.’

Stunned by the finality of his words, she felt her defiance crumble. ‘That’s blackmail,’ she whispered.

He gave her an impatient look. ‘Oh, come on,
glikia
. It’s a little too late to play the innocent. You were a wildcat last night and you know damn well you’re as hungry as I am.’

Before she had time to guess his intention Dimitri shot out a hand and unfastened the single button on her jacket, before flicking the material aside to reveal the sheer camisole she was wearing beneath it.

‘Even if you want to deny it, your body betrays you—see?’ he taunted, a sardonic smile lifting the corners of his mouth as he deliberately trailed a finger down one breast and over the pebble-hard nipple jutting provocatively against its silk covering. ‘Why do you wear a bra when your breasts are so firm? While you are my mistress I demand that you will go braless.’

‘You can go to hell!’ The soft mockery in Dimitri’s voice released Louise from the sexual spell he had cast on her. She despised him, but she despised herself more for her shameful inability to resist him. ‘I refuse to be any man’s mistress, and I’d rather sell my soul to the devil than agree to your despicable suggestion.’

‘Then the deal is off,’ he said calmly, regarding her flushed face and anger-bright eyes with a detached air that caused Louise to clench her fists. ‘I wish you well in finding another buyer for Eirenne.’

‘You don’t mean that. You’re calling my bluff,’ she blurted, panic rising inside her when he strolled towards the door. ‘Dimitri … please! There has to be a way we can reach an agreement.’

She had no right to look hurt, Dimitri told himself, determined to ignore the tug on his insides when he glimpsed tears in her eyes. She had proved last night that she was a woman like her mother—willing to sell herself for the right price. He would not be taken in by the air of vulnerability that reminded him of the girl he had known years ago.

‘I’ve explained my terms—it’s up to you whether you agree them.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘My private jet is on standby at Orly airport and my chauffeur is waiting in the car. If you’re coming with me, you have precisely ten minutes to pack.’

‘For God’s sake—I have a job. I can’t just give it up.’ Louise glared at him, her temper simmering at his sheer arrogance.

‘You must be allowed to take annual leave?’

‘It will be difficult at such short notice.’ But not impossible, Louise acknowledged silently. A few weeks ago she had explained the situation with her mother to her manager and arranged to take time off if the need arose. There would not be a problem at work.

The problem was with herself, she admitted. She resented with every fibre of her being the idea of becoming Dimitri’s mistress—but what choice did she have? she thought bleakly. To refuse him would be to sign her mother’s death warrant. The only way to raise the money for Tina’s cancer treatment quickly was to sell Dimitri the island. And maybe he had a point. Maybe being forced to spend time with him, to live with him and share his bed every night, would free her from his sensual spell.