Dangerous Alliance. HELEN BIANCHIN

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СКАЧАТЬ as the effect of his words sank in. ‘Added together, their worth totals several million.’

      It was almost impossible to comprehend, for, although she’d known her late stepfather’s personal wealth had been measured in millions, she’d had no idea of its extent. It wasn’t something she or Paige had ever discussed.

      ‘Yanis gifted me the Gold Coast apartment, and the beauty clinic,’ she said at once, perturbed beyond rational thought. ‘I don’t want or need anything else.’

      ‘Those weren’t my father’s wishes. Nor,’ he added quietly, ‘are they mine.’

      ‘I’ll contest Paige’s will in your favour,’ she declared vehemently.

      ‘Impossible. That eventuality has already been foreseen and legally negated.’

      ‘It can all accumulate and be held in trust.’

      His smile held a tinge of cynicism. ‘Idealistic, Leanne, but scarcely practical.’ He regarded her carefully. ‘Paige and Yanis nurtured the hope that we might eventually become romantically attached, and it would give Paige peace of mind to believe that their fondest wish has eventuated. As it is, she’s consumed with anxiety over the men who will beat a path to your door, professing undying love in order to enjoy a free meal-ticket for life.’

      Her eyes widened, their blue depths darkening measurably as she wrestled with a desire to please her mother and the fear that she’d never emerge from such subterfuge unscathed.

      ‘I’m no longer fifteen, and I do possess a degree of common sense. I don’t think I need a protector.’ Not you, she added silently. Dear lord, never you.

      ‘We’re discussing Paige,’ he reminded her, with velvet softness.

      ‘I don’t want to deceive her,’ she offered slowly.

      ‘Yet you love her very much,’ he pursued, and she shivered inwardly. ‘Enough to enter into a pretence that will make her happy, and ensure her peace of mind?’

      ‘What do you want, Dimitri? My unequivocal agreement to enact a lie?’

      His eyes hardened fractionally, and his mouth curved to form a wry smile. ‘Will it prove so difficult given the limited time-span?’

      She closed her eyes, then slowly opened them. ‘You know how to twist the knife, don’t you?’ she countered with a trace of bitterness.

      His gaze didn’t falter as he reached for his glass. ‘Will you have some fruit, or would you prefer coffee?’

      How could he sit there and switch so calmly from something of such personal magnitude to a mundane selection over lunch? Even as she contemplated the silent query, the answer followed. Dimitri was an astute businessman, well-versed in the cut and thrust utilised by power-brokers all over the world. He clinched deals worth millions, dealt with hardliners in the financial arena, and undoubtedly annihilated lesser minions on a day-to-day basis. Against such a formidable force, what chance did she have?

      ‘Chilled water,’ Leanne indicated, viewing him with circumspection as he took the carafe and refilled her glass.

      ‘Tell me about the beauty clinic,’ he encouraged with apparent interest, and she suffered his appraisal with unblinking solemnity, all too aware of what he saw, for it was an image she knew in detail.

      Pale, fine-textured skin, a delicate bone-structure, a wide, generous mouth framing even white teeth, a nondescript nose, wide-spaced deep blue eyes, and shoulder-length natural ash-blonde hair.

      ‘It’s successful,’ she dismissed with a negligible shrug. ‘Women like to look good, and most are prepared to spend money in the name of beauty.’

      ‘Merely for self-gratification?’

      ‘Of course. And pleasing a man.’ She could recall instantly the features of several socialites who devoted much of their morning hours on a regular basis to one beauty treatment or another. Aromatherapy, a facial, brow and lash-tinting, massage, waxing, manicure and pedicure, to mention a few. When that failed to revive the passage of nature satisfactorily, they resorted to the skill of cosmetic surgery. Chasing elusive beauty and maintaining it was an expensive pastime, and Leanne was a skilled beautician, dedicated to her craft.

      Dimitri reached forward and extracted a peach from the fruit bowl which he proceeded to peel and stone before offering her a segment. ‘No?’

      The need to be free of his disturbing presence was overwhelming, and she excused herself from the table.

      ‘I’ll be caught up in the city for most of the afternoon,’ he revealed as she got to her feet. ‘Be ready at six. We’ll visit Paige, then go on somewhere for dinner.’

      Leanne was unable to resist the query. ‘Won’t Shanna object?’

      His gaze was remarkably level. ‘Shanna has nothing to do with my taking you to dinner.’

      ‘You could always drop me home, then meet her later.’

      ‘This conversation is going nowhere, Leanne,’ Dimitri drawled hatefully.

      ‘In that case, I’ll give Eleni a hand clearing the table, unpack, then visit Paige,’ she returned with the utmost politeness, and his husky laughter made her want to lash out in anger. Except that such an action would invoke his temper, and she’d already insulted him. To do so again on the same day would be the height of folly.

      * * *

      It was almost two-thirty when Leanne entered her mother’s suite and her heart contracted as Paige complimented gently, ‘Darling, you look so well.’

      What could she say in return? It was difficult, much more difficult than she’d envisaged, and she simply pulled a chair close to the bed and sat holding Paige’s hand.

      ‘Dimitri is very fond of you,’ Paige offered huskily. Perhaps medication had eased her pain, for she didn’t seem to be under quite so much strain. ‘Anything you need, he’ll advise and guide you. He’s given me his word.’

      Leanne wanted to cry, and her vision began to shimmer with the onset of tears. Oh, dear God, she agonised, help me.

      ‘Yanis loved you so much, almost as much as I do. He adored having you as his daughter.’

      ‘He was a wonderful man.’

      ‘Yes,’ Paige agreed simply. ‘As is his son.’

      No. The single negation was a silent scream which seemed to reverberate inside her brain. Don’t do this to me. She longed to say that Dimitri had been the embodiment of her fantasy hero, as seen through the eyes of a teenage child. Her problem was in discovering he had feet of clay.

      ‘Everything I have will be yours. Property, jewellery,’ Paige continued after a long pause. ‘It amounts to a very sizeable inheritance, darling.’

      Leanne felt her chest tighten with emotional pain, and her throat began to constrict as she attempted to gain some control over her turbulent emotions. ‘I don’t think I want to talk about it. It hurts too much,’ she whispered.

      ‘But СКАЧАТЬ