Jacqueline Baird - Mediterranean Tycoons

Alex winced. Her barb had hit home. ‘All right.’ He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. ‘I will say no more. Run along to bed. You’ve just reminded me, I have a call to make. My mother has to be told before Leo’s latest escapade appears in the press.’

Lisa did not hesitate; she spun on her heel and headed for the dressing room.

Quickly selecting a plain white cotton tee shirt, she shot into the bathroom and stripped off her clothes. She completed her bedtime ritual in five minutes flat and walked into the adjoining bedroom. She stopped and stared at the huge bed and a vivid image of Margot standing in the exact same spot last night filled her mind.

It was no good; she could not get into bed with Alex and pretend nothing had happened. She simply could not do it. Turning, she headed for the door.

‘I need a shower and shave, but I won’t be long.’ Alex strolled in from the dressing room, casually rubbing his jaw with his hand.

Lisa stopped at the sound of his voice and glanced at him, her eyes widening on his virtually naked body. Hot colour flooded her cheeks and she was helpless to look away. He was all tanned satin skin, sheathing rippling, hard-packed muscle and sinew, with a smattering of curling black body hair arrowing down over his flat belly to disappear beneath the band of a pair of black briefs that enhanced his masculine attributes rather than concealed them. She breathed in deeply and looked up, her wide blue eyes meeting deep brown.

In one lithe stride he was at her side. ‘Why the blush? I am covered, and you have seen me naked before,’ he teased.

‘Yes, me and countless other women, I’m sure,’ she snapped, brushing past him.

‘Not so fast.’ Alex’s hand curved around her arm in a grip of steel. ‘Now what is eating you?’ he demanded, his eyes narrowing angrily on her furious face.

‘Nothing, nothing at all. But I am not sleeping in that bed with you,’ she told him bluntly. ‘I suddenly realised there is not room on your bedpost for another notch, and I have no intention of being one of the multitude again,’ she said with biting sarcasm.

‘For heaven’s sake, Lisa, it is only a bed.’

‘Yes, I can see that, but somehow I had this weird idea the marital bed was something special. You, on the other hand, have shared that one with so many women I doubt you even know the score.’ To her intense satisfaction she saw a dull tide of red darken his chiselled features. She realised she had actually managed to get through his arrogant exterior and embarrass him.

‘You are far too sensitive for your own good,’ Alex snapped, and, dropping her hand, he continued, ‘But I take your point. Though for your information I can keep count, and it is nowhere near as many as you imagine.’

‘That’s the problem, I don’t have to imagine,’ Lisa responded, her eyes blazing up at him in hurt and anger. ‘It’s one thing to know your husband has had lovers in the past, but it’s quite another to be presented with one of them naked, and by your bed.

‘Our bed, Lisa,’ he replied with silken emphasis. ‘Margot and her ilk belong in the past. Accept it.’

His arrogant command made her blood boil. ‘As Margot had to,’ she sneered. Why she was defending the other woman, she had no idea, but he made her so mad. ‘That woman loved you; I could see it in her eyes.’

‘Love.’ Alex lifted a shoulder in an infinitesimal shrug. ‘Whatever that means, it was not something Margot was ever afflicted with.’ His dark eyes mocked her. ‘Now money, yes.’

A chill ran over Lisa’s flesh and extinguished her anger at a stroke. She felt curiously calm. ‘You don’t believe in love,’ she said softly, the effect of his ‘Whatever that means’ slicing at the very heart of her.

Alex snorted in disgust. ‘With a father like mine, what do you think?’ he drawled. ‘The man falls in love at the drop of a hat, or maybe the drop of a dress would be more appropriate.’ His harsh laugh sounded the death knell of Lisa’s hope. ‘He compounds his stupidity by marrying them. Substitute sex for love, then you’ll be nearer the truth.’

Appalled, she stood glued to the spot. Alex meant what he said; he really did not believe in love. It was several seconds before she could speak. ‘Why did you marry me, Alex?’ she asked quietly, her blue eyes holding his.

Apparently surprised, he raised his eyebrows sharply above his dark eyes, and, catching her by the shoulders, he drew her against him. ‘I married you, Lisa, because I wanted you on sight.’ He lifted a strong brown hand and let his fingertip trace the bow of her top lip in a fleeting gesture that made her body tense. ‘After spending only one day with you I knew I had to have you. You are all I ever wanted in a wife,’ he said softly, his dark eyes smiling into hers. ‘Believe me.’

If his words were meant to reassure her, they failed miserably. Something deep down in Lisa shrivelled up under his charming smile. He didn’t even realise his answer was an insult, she recognised sadly. Shrugging her shoulder free of his hand, she stepped back. ‘Why me, and not Margot?’ she asked quietly.

‘Really, Lisa.’ His dark gaze scanned over her stiff figure, a frown pleating his brow. ‘You are not that naive. Margot is an actress.’ He said it as if he was talking to a child, the exasperation in his tone clearly evident.

She shook her head in disbelief. The arrogant conceit of the man was absolutely unbelievable, and, raising her eyes to his, she prompted. ‘Well, I’m a working girl.’ She could not let it go. She was so vulnerable where he was concerned, loving him as she did. She had to know the worst, then maybe she could begin to get over him.

‘Don’t be so obtuse.’ His deep brown eyes clashed with her brilliant blue ones. ‘There is a world of difference between a thirty-something ambitious actress, and an intelligent, pure young woman who works and is protected by her family.’ Alex’s sensual mouth slanted sardonically. ‘The first is strictly mistress material, and you, my darling Lisa, are the type men marry.’

‘I see,’ Lisa murmured, and closed her eyes for a second, fighting back the tears. She had fallen in love with a man who did not believe in the emotion.

‘No, you don’t see.’ His voice tickled her ear and her eyes flew open. Alex had moved, and she stiffened as he slid a large hand around her waist and pulled her in to the hard heat of him. ‘I married you because I was desperate with wanting you. No woman has ever affected me the way you do. And, much to my delight, I have discovered you have an endless capacity for enjoyment that perfectly matches my own,’ he opined huskily. Lisa shivered as he pressed his lips to the pulse beating frantically in her throat. ‘Now, let’s go to bed, hmm.’

Afterwards, she would decide it was the softly drawled ‘hmm’ that had finally caused her to flip her lid…

Lisa curled her fingers into a fist, and swung with all her might, catching Alex a glancing blow on the side of his head. His arm fell from her waist and she turned on him like a mad thing. ‘You have the most enormous ego of any man in the world, and you are deaf to boot,’ she snarled.

Alex’s hand came down on her slender shoulders and held her slightly away from him. ‘What the hell was that for?’ he demanded harshly.

‘I am not sleeping with you in that bed. Got it?’ she yelled. How he had dared to suggest it after what he had just revealed beggared belief.

‘Enough!’ Alex held up his hands, setting her free. ‘Sleep in the guest room tonight, if you must. I will have the bed replaced tomorrow.’ And with a last grim look at her red, furious face, he strode across the room into the bathroom.

Lisa slipped into the room she had occupied the night before and climbed into bed. She was exhausted, but the thoughts crowding her mind would not let her sleep. For a deliriously happy bride returning from her honeymoon only a few short days ago, confident in herself and the love of her husband, the past two days seemed like a horror story. But they were all too real and she had to face up to reality. Alex had his own reason for marrying her and it was not love.