Mediterranean Tycoons: Masterful & Married: Marriage At His Convenience / Aristides' Convenient Wife / The Billionaire's Blackmailed Bride. JACQUELINE BAIRD

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СКАЧАТЬ and those ski instructors are something else again. I’m not that young,’ she offered with a very adult smile. ‘Though I know what you mean—Lucas is a bit old. But Spiro did me a favour this afternoon. I think he was trying to warn me, but actually I was delighted when he told me Lucas apparently keeps a mistress, so I don’t think he is going to be bothering me much in bed even when we are married.’

      ‘You really don’t mind?’ Amber said slowly, the callousness of Christina’s statement ringing in her ears. ‘You don’t care if your husband is unfaithful to you?’

      ‘Not in the least, why should I with a fortune at my disposal?’ And, picking up her purse, she opened it and withdrew some rolling tobacco. ‘Do you want a smoke?’

      Amber looked at the girl and the tobacco. ‘No, I don’t smoke.’ Amber wondered why with her wealth she rolled her own.

      ‘Pity.’ Placing a hand on Amber’s arm, Christina said, ‘Don’t look so surprised, and do me a favour, go out and tell Lucas I will be another five minutes. He does not know of my little vice.’ She chuckled as she urged Amber towards the door.

      Amber found herself out in the corridor without realising how she had got there.

      ‘Where is Christina?’ Lucas’s deep voice demanded. Amber lifted her head, her stunned gaze meeting his dark brooding eyes. He was standing in the middle of the hall, his large body tense, waiting… But not for Amber…

      ‘She said give her five minutes,’ Amber stated bluntly. ‘She also said you are her fiancé. How can that be, Lucas?’ she hissed furiously. ‘You live with me, it has to be a horrible mistake.’

      ‘It is not a mistake.’ The dark-lashed brilliance of his eyes clashed with hers; she was too upset to try and hide the hurt and anger in her own gaze. His expression hardened. ‘I regret you had to find out this way. But then I had no knowledge of your continued association with my nephew or that he would bring you here tonight…’

      Amber’s mouth opened but no sound came out. The colossal arrogance of the man! Lucas was as good as saying it was Spiro’s fault, that she had discovered his wicked betrayal.

      ‘Look, Amber—’ he laid a large hand on her arm, and furiously she brushed him off ‘—we have to talk.’

      ‘A bit late for talk,’ she snapped.

      He straightened, squaring his broad shoulders. ‘Keep your voice down,’ he commanded, his dark eyes narrowing on her flushed, furious face. ‘I will call tomorrow morning as arranged and explain.’

      ‘My surprise,’ she whispered, realising the full horrific extent of his betrayal. ‘Christina was going to be my surprise!’ Her voice rose an octave.

      ‘Someone talking about me?’ Christina came sauntering out of the cloakroom, her dark eyes almost feverishly bright, her smile brilliant.

      Immediately Lucas curved a protective arm around Christina’s shoulder, making it very clear where his loyalty lay. ‘We were just discussing the engagement party next weekend. It was supposed to be a secret, you’re very naughty.’ He chided the young girl with such indulgence Amber felt sick.

      Spiro sauntered up and slipped an arm around Amber’s waist. ‘What’s all this? Plotting in corridors now.’ He chuckled, and Amber clung to him like a life raft in a storm-tossed sea. Her knees were buckling and she thought she would faint; there was only so much hurt one body could stand and she was at the limit. Spiro, sensing her desperation, tightened his grip on her waist and listened as Christina, seemingly inexhaustible, went on at great length about the following weekend and extended an invitation to the party.

      Finally when the young girl paused for breath Spiro leapt in. ‘Well, on behalf of both Amber and I, our heartiest congratulations to you, and we hope you both get the happiness you deserve!’ he drawled sarcastically. ‘Now, you will have to excuse us, but we have a prior engagement.’ And within minutes Amber found herself out in the foyer of the hotel.

      ‘I’m sorry, I am truly, truly sorry, Amber, I should never have brought you here.’ But Amber wasn’t listening. She’d been functioning on shock and adrenalin for the past hour, and now she was as spent as a burst balloon—she wanted to curl up and die.

      ‘Take me home, Spiro.’ And he did.

      Sitting in the back seat of the cab, with Spiro’s protective arm around her, Amber asked bleakly, ‘Why, Spiro? You said your grandfather invited me. Why would he do that knowing Lucas and I…?’ She broke off, to swallow the lump rising in her throat, her lashes wet with tears. ‘How could he be so cruel?’

      ‘You still don’t see it,’ Spiro said ruefully. ‘I’ve avoided the subject for too long. I should have told you at the time, Amber, but it seemed a harmless enough deceit.’ He glanced apologetically down at her tear-stained face. ‘Remember the first time you saw Lucas, when he arrived at my party madder than hell? Well, it was because he had just discovered I was taking Tim to our villa in Greece for the Easter holiday and I was about to confess to Grandfather that I was gay. Lucas tried to talk me out of it, saying it would kill the old man if he thought his only grandson was gay. Which is why he asked you out to dinner, and asked you to accompany Tim and I on holiday. Lucas is not above using anybody to protect the old man. Consequently, he subtly let Grandfather know you and Tim were like brother and sister. But you and I had a much closer relationship; after all, you had been living in my house for four years. Lucas can be very convincing, as you know.’

      ‘You mean all this time your grandfather has thought you and I are a couple? But that’s impossible…’ But was it? she asked herself. Lucas had made no approach to her until they had returned to England, and she had never met his father again until tonight.

      Then she remembered their very first dinner date. When Lucas had invited her to the villa, he had also asked her to do him a favour. He knew she was close to Tim and Spiro, and he had asked her to use her influence on the pair to tone down their behaviour in front of his father when they were all at the villa. The old man was rather old-fashioned that way. Of course, Amber had said yes.

      Now it all made a horrible kind of sense. Lucas would do anything for his father, including marrying a suitable rich little Greek girl. Spiro was right…

      ‘Think about it, Amber. Has Lucas ever taken you anywhere in public where Grandfather was likely to hear about it? No. While you thought you were building a relationship, a home, with a thoroughly modern man, Lucas had no such intentions.’

      Amber’s face was bleak, her mouth bitter and twisted as the full import of Spiro’s revelation sank in. She tried to speak and found herself shivering compulsively. She could not believe she had been so blind, so stupid…

       CHAPTER THREE

      AMBER knew once she let the first tear fall that she would never be able to stop. Kicking off her shoes, she locked the door and padded across the polished wood floor to the spiral staircase. Grasping the rail, she ascended to the galleried sleeping area like an old woman. Spiro had asked her to go back to his place, but she’d refused. He had done enough for her for one night, she thought bitterly.

      Stripping off her clothes, she walked into the huge bathroom. She glanced at the circular white marble Jacuzzi sunk into the floor, and quickly away as too many memories flooded back. Skirting СКАЧАТЬ