Emma Darcy - Irresistible Greeks - Red-Hot and Rich - His Reputation Precedes Him / An Offer She Can't Refuse / Pretender to the Throne

Eva’s efforts to free herself proved totally ineffective as Markos’s arms tightened about her. ‘Let go of me!’ she said fiercely under her breath.

His only answer was to give her an amused glance before turning to look at the woman still standing in the doorway. ‘Are you ready to leave for the day…?’

The woman looked flustered. ‘I was about to, yes. I—Yes.’

In stark contrast, Markos appeared completely at his ease as he nodded. ‘Thanks, Lena, I’ll see you in the morning.’

‘Mr Lyonedes. Ms Grey.’ The woman Markos called Lena didn’t meet either of their gazes before she quickly turned and left the room, closing the door briskly behind her.

‘I asked you to let go of me!’ Eva instructed, agitated as she once again pushed against the solid muscle that was Markos’s chest. That particular moment of madness was definitely over.

‘Do I have to?’

‘Yes!’

‘Why?’

Eva glared up at him. ‘Because I asked you to.’

He regarded her with amused green eyes. ‘And do you always get what you ask for?’

Sometimes Eva got a lot more than she asked for! For instance, she hadn’t asked to be attracted to this man. Just as she hadn’t asked to enjoy his experienced lips moving so surely and sensually against and over her own. Or to feel her heart almost leap out of her chest as she recognised her own desire to feel and taste the hardness of Markos’s obvious arousal throbbing against the heat of her thighs. All of them were emotions Eva had believed herself to be incapable of feeling. Emotions she didn’t want to feel!

Her eyes narrowed. ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you…’ she murmured, before reaching behind her to grasp one of his hands, bringing it forward before bending the wrist up at a painful angle as she slipped deftly out of his arms before releasing him.

‘Ouch!’ Markos frowned as he grasped his pained wrist. ‘Where did you learn to do that?’ He eyed her with bemusement once he was sure nothing was broken.

‘Self-defence classes.’ She briskly straightened her jacket before checking that her hair was still neatly secured at her nape, sincerely hoping that Markos couldn’t see that her hands were trembling as she did so. ‘A necessary evil since I moved to New York.’ She shrugged unapologetically.

‘Hmm.’ Markos grimaced as he once again leant back against his desk. ‘You never did tell me the reason you moved to New York.’

She raised dark brows. ‘Probably because that’s another one of those things I consider personal.’

Markos regarded her from between narrowed lids for several long seconds. ‘There was obviously a man involved,’ he finally murmured speculatively.

She gave a derisive laugh. ‘What a typically arrogant male conclusion.’

He shrugged broad shoulders, unconcerned. ‘That’s probably because I am a typically arrogant male.’

‘And obviously proud of it,’ she scorned.

Markos wouldn’t say he was proud of it. It was just the way it was. His father and uncle had founded Lyonedes Enterprises before he was even born, and he and Drakon had added considerably to the success of the company’s businesses worldwide since taking over completely when his Uncle Theo died ten years ago. There would be little point in Markos denying that this success, and the power that came along with it, had resulted in a certain assured arrogance in both himself and Drakon.

He grimaced unapologetically. ‘It is what it is. And you, Ms Evangeline Grey, are deliberately trying to change the subject from my original question,’ he added knowingly.

Yes, she was. Because Eva was uncomfortably aware she didn’t want to answer Markos’s original question. Divorce, the ultimate admission of the failure of a marriage, was something that not even Eva’s parents had succumbed to—even if they should have done so years ago, rather than slowly destroying each other with the bitterness of their disappointment. Eva wasn’t in the least proud of her failed marriage, and nor did she wish to talk about it.

Her chin rose determinedly before she turned Markos’s earlier comment back on him. ‘It is what it is.’

Which told Markos precisely nothing. ‘I can easily make the necessary enquiries that would give me the answer to that question…’

Her mouth tightened. ‘That’s your prerogative.’

‘But I won’t,’ Markos concluded dryly. ‘I would so much rather wait for you to tell me about yourself than listen to inaccurate gossip,’ he added, in answer to her questioning look.

Her face flushed. ‘If that was a dig at me for the things I said to you on Saturday—’

‘It wasn’t,’ he assured her softly. ‘I would just rather wait for you to confide in me.’

She gave a dismissive snort. ‘Then you’ll be waiting a long time.’

Patience had never particularly been a part of Markos’s character, but he had a feeling that where this intriguing woman was concerned it might well be worth the wait…

‘I have no plans to leave New York for the foreseeable future, Eva,’ he said huskily.

Eva was well aware of that—which was why, after the mess she had made of things with this man, she was seriously considering relocating her office to Outer Mongolia, or possibly Antarctica—anywhere but New York!

Because this second meeting with Markos Lyonedes had shown her that he wasn’t at all what she had assumed he was after listening to Donna bemoan how callously he had brought an end to their relationship. He was arrogant, yes, but it wasn’t the over-bloated self-aggrandizement Eva had expected to find—more an inborn confidence in who and what he was. Markos had demonstrated that he was capable of dealing with, and returning, any challenge she might care to give him. He also had a wicked sense of humour, which he was just as likely to turn on himself as he was anyone else. There was something very appealing about a man who could laugh at himself.

And Eva defied any woman to remain unaffected by that heady combination of charming self-assurance and devastating good-looks.

That brief and thankfully interrupted kiss they had shared had certainly proved to Eva that she wasn’t immune to anything about Markos Lyonedes.

A man whose wealth and charm was everything and more than Jack, her ex-husband, had been…

Which was more than enough reason for Eva to take herself out of Markos’s insidiously seductive company. Right now!

‘Then I hope you enjoy the city,’ she told him lightly. ‘Now, if you will excuse me…’

‘Haven’t you forgotten something?’

Eva paused before turning back reluctantly to answer that softly spoken query. ‘Have I?’

He gave a mocking inclination of his head. ‘You haven’t been up to look at my apartment yet.’

She tensed warily. ‘Up…?’

Markos gave a husky chuckle even as he glanced pointedly towards the ceiling above them. ‘Up.’

Markos’s apartment was on the floor above this one? All this time there had been a bedroom—probably several—right above them? Oh, good Lord…!

Eva drew in a deep breath before speaking. ‘I think you’re right. It really wouldn’t be a good idea for me to work for you—’

‘Coward.’

‘I beg your pardon?’ she gasped softly.

Once again he shrugged those broad shoulders. ‘I called you a coward.’

‘Because I don’t want to work for you?’ She eyed him incredulously.

Markos shook his head slowly. ‘Because we both know the reason you don’t want to work for me.’

Her jaw tightened. ‘Which is?’

‘You’re afraid.’

‘You think I’m afraid of you?’ she said disbelievingly.

‘I think that you’re afraid of how you feel when you’re with me,’ Markos corrected softly. ‘You’re more comfortable in the company of a man like Glen Asher because you know you can manipulate and control him in a way you would never be able to do with me.’