Margaret Barker - In the Greek's Bed - The Greek Tycoon's Wife / The Greek Millionaire's Marriage / The Greek Surgeon

Katie watched the bubble that had travelled the farthest ping on a mirrored surface. ‘What do you want?’ she called crossly.

‘Do you want anything from room service? I’m ordering some supper.’

Her stomach responded to the offer with a hungry growl. ‘No.’

‘You hardly ate anything at dinner.’

‘And whose fault is that…?’

‘You ought to have something,’ Nikos persisted, choosing to ignore her indignant accusation.

‘What are you going to do, force-feed me?’ She winced at the sound of her own voice. God, this is starting to sound more and more like a playground squabble . One of them had to start acting like a grown-up. ‘Actually…Nikos…’ she began tentatively. Why was it so hard for her to say his name? ‘I wouldn’t mind a sandwich? Nikos…?’ she called, but there was no response. She shrugged; he obviously hadn’t hung around.

Katie sank back down into the scented water but found it impossible to recapture her relaxed mood, so after washing her long hair until it was squeaky clean she climbed out of the roll-top bath. As she reached for a towel she caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror—how could she not? The ceiling was about the only place in the bathroom that didn’t have a reflective surface.

She barely registered the fleeting image she had of the tall girl with long, slim legs, flat belly and firm, fairly full breasts with small pouting nipples that stood out darkly against pale honey skin. She picked a large soft towel from the pile on the vanity unit and was about to dry herself when an impulse made her turn and rub some of the condensation from the nearest mirror.

Towel still in her hands, she extended one leg in front of her and pointed her toes, watching the effect of her balletic pose in the mirror. Thoughtfully she replaced her foot on the tiled floor then turned, viewing her body critically from several angles. How, she wondered, would a stranger view this body? Would they notice that her hip bones were too bonily prominent or detect that, viewing from this angle, you could see that her right breast was just fractionally fuller than the left?

She ran her fingers slowly down the damp flat contours of her belly; the sensitised nerves in her abdomen quivered under her touch. She found herself staring into her own eyes…they were darkened, alien, the pupils dilated. She shivered, not from cold because her skin was hot to the touch.

‘Oh, my goodness!’ she gasped, wiping a shaking hand across her lips, which appeared pinker and fuller than usual— as if I’d just been kissed. Who am I kidding? It’s no stranger’s eyes I’m trying to see myself through, but a very specific pair of eyes—inky- dark fathomless eyes .

It was bad she was thinking about Nikos looking at her naked, but infinitely worse was the inescapable fact she was getting seriously aroused thinking about him doing so!

Shaking with reaction, she covered her shamefully engorged nipples with her crossed arms and stumbled towards the washbasin; gulping, she turned on the cold tap. The cold water she splashed on her face did clear her head but not her deeply troubled thoughts.

I’m about to marry one man and I’m thinking this way about another .

‘What does that say about me?’ she demanded of the image in the mirror. The fact that she was actually married to the object of her lustful fancies was not, considering the exceptional circumstances, relevant.

Maybe it was time to admit what she had with Tom was not a basis for a lifelong commitment? She shook her head, rejecting the idea. Friendship and respect lasted longer than lust—this inevitably led her thoughts full circle back to Nikos.

‘I will not let him do this to me!’ she gritted out loud. Only an idiot would want a spectacular burst of showy fireworks when they could have a steady, slow-burning flame. But did she?

Shaking the excess moisture off her face, she took a deep breath and began to rub herself vigorously with a towel. Long before she’d finished her skin was pink and tingling.

When Katie went back through to her bedroom the door to the sitting room shared by the two bedrooms in the large, luxurious suite was open. She couldn’t hear any signs of life beyond it, but just in case she tiptoed quietly towards it with the intention of surreptitiously shutting it. She’d feel safer with a visible barrier between them… but would he , the sly voice in her head wondered… if he knew what you were thinking?

That was never going to happen!

Pretending she wasn’t attracted to him was not going to work any more—actually it never had worked particularly well to begin with—neither could she blame it on the heightened emotions surrounding the fire. The truth was every time she looked at him she was overwhelmed by a mindless hunger with an emphasis on the mindless. Lust was something she could deal with, she told herself without a great deal of conviction.

If only, she thought wistfully as she grasped the door handle, Nikos could be as easily shut out of her thoughts. As part of her new honesty policy she acknowledged it was going to take a lot more than two inches of polished mahogany to accomplish that— yes, that’s going to take a bit of good old-fashioned self-control, she told herself sternly, so stop acting as if you don’t have any choice about this!

‘There’s always a choice!’ Katie grimaced to hear the lack of conviction in her voice— once more with feeling, girl! ‘There’s always a choice…?’

She frowned and leaned her weight against the door, which, only half closed, had come to an abrupt halt. She grunted softly and gave a shove just as the obstacle revealed itself to be a six-feet-five-in-his-bare-feet obstacle!

Her stomach dipped dramatically as she angled a dismayed look up at his lean, imposing features.

Oh, heavens! Not only could she not get him out of her thoughts, her assumption she could physically shut him out was proving to be optimistic as well!

‘Sorry, I didn’t see you there.’ She smiled tensely as he opened the door fully, and tightened the belt on the calf-length hotel robe. As befitted an up-market hotel, the robe in question was as sumptuously rich as the décor; in fact it was so fluffy and comforting it was hard to tell she had a waist.

Only Katie didn’t feel particularly comforted wearing it; it wasn’t the provocative nature of this modest get-up that bothered her, but what she was—or rather what she wasn’t —wearing underneath!

Her glance skimmed over Nikos in what she hoped was a casual way, not likely to be misconstrued as an I-want-to-rip-your-clothes-off sort of way! It revealed that, like herself, he had used the time to bathe, but unlike her he did not have to rely on the robes the hotel supplied. He had changed into casual light-coloured jeans and a polo shirt in a slightly darker silky fabric.

This relaxed version of Nikos was equally devastatingly attractive as the formal one.

‘Were you talking to yourself…?’

Katie, lips clamped tight, shook her head vigorously.

One dark brow quirked. ‘I thought I heard something.’

‘I must have been thinking out loud…’

His lips quivered faintly. ‘But not talking to yourself.’

His mockery made her want to hit him, which was not a civilised response, but somehow civilised was hard to achieve around Nikos.

‘Sorry if it disturbed you. Goodnight?’ she added with more hope than expectation of him taking the hint. He was not big on taking hints.

‘You thought I was asleep, perhaps?’

A perfectly innocent question, but something about the gleam in his slightly narrowed eyes made Katie suspect some sort of trap in his seemingly innocuous words.