Annie West - The Greek Tycoon's Unexpected Wife

He didn’t like the feeling one iota. Or the sensation of matters being beyond his control. That he, who prided himself on his well-regulated world, should be caught in this preposterous situation, barely one step removed from bigamy—it was untenable!

‘What do you want?’ Her voice was a fraction rough, proof that she wasn’t as calm as she tried to appear.

He paced into the room, ignoring the spike of heat in his bloodstream as he approached her. That was the ultimate insult to his pride and his intelligence. The fact that, even recognising her as a greedy opportunist, he wanted her, with a potent longing that astounded him.

Lust had never been so urgently consuming. He had to fight the raw compulsion to reach out and feel her soft flesh beneath his, lose himself in her.

He, a man of honour. Who had just vowed to marry another woman!

No matter that he’d chosen his fiancée because of her impeccable credentials in meeting his requirements for a wife, hostess and mother of his children. No matter that their emotions weren’t engaged, or that they’d yet to consummate their relationship. He owed her his loyalty.

He’d spent the night coming to terms with the unpalatable fact that it was Tessa Marlowe who stirred his blood, not his fiancée, Angela. He wouldn’t grant this woman the satisfaction of realising it.

‘I’ve come to see if you need anything.’

Her fine brows arched up and the look she sent him could have befitted a supercilious monarch. She really did have attitude.

But they both knew it was a bluff. He had the power to break her if he chose, despite the fact of the marriage contract they’d signed. Money spoke loud and clear. Always. And his sort of wealth could achieve almost anything. She’d do well to remember that.

‘What more could I need when my host is so…generous with his hospitality?’

Despite himself, Stavros felt his mouth kick up at one corner in appreciation of her reckless courage. Obviously, despite the doctor’s concerns, she was fit enough to fight.

He’d come in here expecting to see her languishing at death’s door. Severe physical and mental exhaustion, the doctor had said, plus borderline malnutrition and the after-effects of giardia from drinking tainted water.

For a while there, Stavros had seriously questioned whether he’d misjudged her. But, seeing her now, it seemed clear the doctor had taken her word about the symptoms and been duped by an excellent actress. As for the malnutrition—starving herself in order to get her hands on several million dollars wasn’t out of the question. Unfortunately Stavros had first-hand experience of women unscrupulous enough to do even that. He was long past the age when a sob story and a show of feminine weakness might impress him.

‘Don’t get too comfortable,’ he said abruptly, his deep voice vibrating with disapproval. His straight brows arrowed together and Tessa knew instinctively that he held on to his temper by a thread. ‘You’ll remain just as long as it takes to devise a solution to this problem.’

‘The solution is simple.’ She’d worked out that much already. ‘All we need to do is annul the marriage. There must be grounds for that.’

He stalked closer and immediately the spacious room shrank around them.

‘Non-consummation, perhaps?’

Tessa’s whole body thrummed in reaction as she looked up into those watchful grey eyes. They weren’t cold any more, she suddenly realised. There was more fire than ice in his expression, and a flash of something that made her insides twist.

Tentatively she slid one foot back a fraction, but there was nowhere to go with the window right behind her. He was still a pace away from her but the intensity of his gaze made her feel cornered and way too vulnerable.

‘That’s an option.’ Tessa had to tilt her face higher to look him in the eye.

‘Ah, but that might be difficult to prove. What evidence can we provide?’ One sleek, dark eyebrow winged upwards, emphasising his sardonic expression.

‘I’m sure the authorities would be willing to accept our word for it. After all, we were only together for a couple of hours—’

‘That’s not convincing.’ Slowly he shook his head but his gaze remained fixed on her, riveting her to the spot. ‘A couple of hours are more than enough time to consummate a marriage.’ His voice dropped a notch so the words rolled across her flesh like an echo of distant thunder. Tessa shivered as she watched his eyes narrow and his expression change. There was something dangerous about that glint in his eyes. Something feral.

‘Or are you, perhaps, doubting my virility?’ he added in an undertone.

He didn’t move, didn’t approach, yet she felt him encroach further into her space. Tessa found her hands splaying wide for support on the window ledge behind her.

‘Don’t be absurd! I…’

He did crowd her then. With a single long stride he obliterated the distance between them and his heat blazed, raw and unnerving, against her trembling body.

Tessa’s nostrils flared in response to the spicy, masculine scent of his skin. Her chest heaved as she sucked in a calming breath and she forced her gaze to flick away from the intimidating wall of his chest, mere centimetres from her breasts. A wave of sensation washed through her, a purely feminine awareness. Her nipples puckered and tightened as if with cold. But she wasn’t chilled. Instead her flesh was heating. A wave of fiery warmth spread from her chest up her throat, and Tessa knew that any second now she’d be blushing.

‘Or perhaps it’s a personal demonstration you’re after?’ The words contained a sharp, sarcastic sting.

Automatically Tessa shook her head, horrified at how fast the conversation had got out of hand.

‘No!’ The denial burst from her mouth, strident and appalled.

Reluctantly she focused on his eyes, dark now with unholy anger. Or was it amusement?

She drew in a sharp breath, forcing herself to ignore the graze of her chest against his linen shirt as he leaned closer.

The devil was baiting her! Deliberately toying with her, testing her limits with the unspoken threat of his big body. He wanted her to panic.

‘This has gone far enough.’ She struggled to sound calm, knowing that was the best way to end this torment. ‘I wasn’t questioning your masculinity. I was simply observing that the circumstances of our…wedding would support us when we said it was a marriage in name only.’

There, she sounded reasonable. Only a little breathless.

He scrutinised her as if he could read her every secret in her face.

‘So you believe the circumstances prove we didn’t have sex?’

Her eyes widened. ‘It was hardly the time or the place. A civil war had just broken out around us!’

‘And yet it’s a proven fact that in situations of extreme danger, people find comfort in the sexual act. I believe it can be quite a compulsion.’

Had he leaned closer? Or had she swayed towards him? She couldn’t be that unsteady on her feet.

‘But we didn’t even know each other!’ Any logical person would see that theirs had been a paper formality, not a real marriage.

‘Interesting.’ He spoke unhurriedly and she watched his mouth form the word. Despite her uneasiness there was something almost hypnotic about the way those firm lips moved. ‘So your contention is that strangers don’t have sex? I don’t find that particularly convincing. Or are you arguing that you would never do such a thing?’

Again, that interrogatory tilt of an eyebrow. It reinforced the imposing, dominant angles of his face, reminding her irresistibly of a fallen angel, beautiful and oh-so-dangerous.

Tessa’s hands balled into fists as she repressed the panicky need to try to force him away from her. She knew it would be futile. He was larger, stronger and far nastier than she was. He’d probably enjoy watching her flail against his superior strength. But she wouldn’t give him that cheap satisfaction.