His Virgin Mistress. Anne Mather

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СКАЧАТЬ you ask?’ Joanna was rueful. ‘This place is amazing. It’s everything you said it was and more.’

      ‘I am glad.’ Constantine raised her hand to his dry lips. ‘I want you to enjoy your stay. I want you to feel at home here. I know Demetri may be difficult for a while, but he will get over it. Besides, so long as I am ostensibly recuperating he will have little time to fret about our relationship. Between now and the wedding there may be occasions when he has to leave the island. With my work to do as well as his own…’ He allowed the words to trail away. ‘You understand?’

      ‘I can’t wait.’ Joanna pulled a wry face. Then, withdrawing her hand from his, she got to her feet again. ‘But are you sure about this? What is Alex going to think when she finds out I’m here?’

      ‘Alex will love you,’ said Constantine firmly. ‘She is not like Demetri or Olivia. She is younger; less cynical, shall we say?’

      ‘All the same…’ Joanna lifted the heavy weight of her loosened hair from her neck, enjoying the coolness of the air-conditioning on her hot skin. ‘I can still go back to England, Constantine. I wouldn’t mind.’

      ‘I would.’ His response was unequivocal. ‘My dear, the reasons I asked you to come to Theapolis have not changed. I need you. I need your strength and your companionship. And, most of all, I need your support.’

      ‘You have that, of course.’ Joanna sighed. ‘I’m just not sure whether I can go through with it.’

      Constantine pushed himself to his feet. ‘Because of me?’ he asked. ‘You find me so repulsive?’

      ‘Don’t be silly.’ Joanna touched his cheek with a tender hand. ‘You’re a very attractive man. I’ve always thought so.’

      ‘You have?’ He was sceptical.

      ‘Yes.’ She hesitated a moment, and then cupped his face between her palms and bestowed a warm kiss at the corner of his mouth. ‘Now, stop fishing for compliments and tell me what you think I should wear for dinner this evening.’

      ‘What you are wearing at present seems eminently suitable to me,’ declared Constantine gallantly, his hands reaching for her waist to hold her in front of him. ‘You always look beautiful.’

      Joanna shook her head, but before she could think of a response there was a knock at the outer door.

      ‘Beno mesa!’

      Almost automatically Constantine replied, bidding the caller to enter, and Joanna turned her head as the foyer door opened.

      Demetrios appeared moments later, pausing on the threshold of the sitting room. He, too, had evidently taken a shower. Water sparkled on the sleek darkness of his hair, contrasting with the pearl-grey elegance of his suit. A dark blue, body-hugging tee shirt completed his outfit, and Joanna was instantly conscious of the intimacy of the scene he had interrupted. Both she and Constantine were scantily clad, and Constantine’s hands on her body looked undeniably possessive.

      She didn’t know which of them was the most disconcerted by Demetrios’s arrival. To his credit, Constantine seemed only mildly curious about his son’s purpose in coming here, but Joanna was definitely uneasy. And Demetrios himself was evidently taken aback by his father’s presence in her suite.

      Yet, what had he expected? she asked herself a little wildly. Why did he think Constantine had brought her here, if not to enjoy her company? Surely he didn’t think his father was too old to enjoy female companionship? And, most pertinently of all, what was he doing coming to her apartments uninvited? If anyone had any explaining to do, it was him.

       CHAPTER TWO

      ‘DEMETRI?’

      His father was obviously waiting for an explanation, but right now Demetri didn’t have one to give him. He was still stunned by the sight of his father’s hands on Joanna Manning’s hips. Brown hands, already showing the spots of age, were dark against the scarlet satin of her wrapper. A wrapper that he suspected was all she was wearing. Khristo, what had they been doing? Taking a shower together?

      His imagination ran riot. He hadn’t realised her hair would be so long, but she had evidently washed it and now it tumbled pale and silky about her shoulders. The scarlet wrapper, too, was unknowingly provocative, drawing his attention to the slender shapeliness of her body, outlining her hips and the long, long length of her legs.

      To his disgust, his body stirred. He could feel his arousal pushing against the hand he’d thrust into his trouser pocket, and he quickly withdrew it. Then, angry at the immaturity of his reaction, he tried to pull himself together. His father was waiting for a reply and he had no wish for the old man to guess he was in any way attracted to his—he sought for a suitably insulting description—his paramour.

      ‘I—good evening, Papa, Mrs Manning,’ he essayed politely. ‘I trust you have found everything to your satisfaction?’

      His father’s brows drew together. ‘We have been here two days already, Demetri,’ he reminded his son shortly. His hands fell away from Joanna’s body. ‘I cannot believe that concern for our welfare is the reason you have chosen to invade our privacy at this time.’

      It wasn’t, of course. But then, he hadn’t expected to encounter his father at all. It was Mrs Manning he had come to see. He had hoped—rather foolishly, he acknowledged now—that they might have a few moments of private conversation before his father interrupted them.

      ‘I—wanted to speak to you, Papa,’ he said, improvising swiftly. And perhaps it was just as well that his father was here after all, he conceded. His reaction to this woman had been totally unexpected, and it would have been horribly embarrassing if Constantine had not been there and she had noticed his discomfort. Theos! The back of his neck was sweating. What the hell was the matter with him?

      ‘And you surmised I would be here, with Joanna?’

      His father was not a fool, and Demetri had to think fast to find an answer. ‘I—tried your apartments, but could get no reply,’ he muttered, hoping that Philip, his father’s manservant, wouldn’t contradict him. ‘But it doesn’t matter now. I can see you are—’ the words almost stuck in his throat ‘—occupied with other things. It can wait until tomorrow.’

      ‘I am sure it can.’ Constantine was clearly waiting for him to leave, and Demetri permitted himself only a brief glance at Joanna before striding out of the room.

      In the hall outside, Demetri paused for a moment, breathing deeply and running decidedly unsteady hands through the thickness of his hair. He felt unnerved, shaken, and although he knew he should get the hell away from there, he was strangely reluctant to do so. It felt as if the image of the two of them together was emblazoned on his memory, and he knew it was going to take more than the slamming of a door to get it out of his head. And how sensible was that?

      He glanced back over his shoulder, half-afraid that he was being observed, but the door was still firmly closed and no sounds were audible from within. His father and his mistress had evidently resumed whatever it was they had been doing before his arrival, and he didn’t need a crystal ball to guess what that was.

      Na pari i oryi!

      He swore silently, and then, gathering himself, strode СКАЧАТЬ