JACQUELINE BAIRD - A Devious Desire

The lazy smile, the long body stretched out only feet from her were having a totally alien effect on her. She opened her mouth to say no, but was horrified at the odd constriction in her throat. She swallowed hard.

‘Yes, of course she will,’ Anna answered for her. ‘Mykonos is not to be missed.’

‘I don’t know,’ Saffron heard herself murmur; she knew intuitively that being alone with Alex Statis represented a danger she was not sure she could handle.

‘Of course you will, dear,’ Anna insisted.

Saffron glanced across at Alex; the amusement in his eyes was obvious; he knew she wanted to say no, and was daring her to…‘Yes, that would be lovely,’ she heard herself gush, and missed the flicker of cynicism in Alex’s dark eyes.

‘Good. Well, if you will excuse me, ladies, I have work to do.’ Rising to his feet, Alex smiled gently at his mother. ‘Round one to you, Mama.’

His austere features relaxed in a genuine smile that took years off his age and, though his comment puzzled Saffron for a brief second, she saw the man behind the ruthless mask. She sucked in her breath, her green eyes wide with wonder; he looked almost beautiful. But as he glanced briefly at her the tenderness vanished, to be replaced by a glittering predatory glow that turned his deep brown eyes almost golden.

‘I’m looking forward to showing you Mykonos. I want to see your reaction to the place.’

A frisson of some nameless emotion slid down her spine. Fear! No. Anticipation of a day out, Saffron told herself sternly, nothing more! She refused to acknowledge her inexplicable violent attraction to Alex. ‘I’m sure it will be delightful,’ she offered with a cool smile, but had to turn her head away to stare at the sea. In her mind’s eye the sight of him standing so tall and broad, scantily clad in shorts and shirt, was doing something very peculiar to her breathing.

Saffron stood leaning on the ship’s rail, Anna beside her, as they watched the crew lower the gangway and the boat that in a few minutes would take Alex and herself ashore. The island of Mykonos looked everything Anna had told her as they had lounged around the boat all morning, relaxing and chatting.

The yacht had dropped anchor in the bay of Mykonos Town, and the view was spectacular—sparkling white houses, the blue-topped domes of the small churches the place was famous for dotted among them, along with the impressive row of windmills, six marching in a line along the horizon. Tearing her gaze away from the beauty before her, Saffron tried once more to persuade Anna to accompany them.

‘I’ll help you down into the boat, Anna. You will be all right, I promise. It seems a terrible shame for you to miss going ashore.’

‘Rubbish! I can see all I want from here. Don’t forget, Saffy, I have been here countless times.’

‘Well, if you’re sure.’

‘Positive. I want you and Alex to forget about me and don’t come back until you have seen the sunset from Little Venice.’

Before Saffron could reply Alex was at her side. She glanced up at him and her heart jumped. He had changed from the morning into a pair of navy shorts and a navy and white patterned silk shirt, and he looked devastatingly attractive.

‘Ready, Saffron?’ He drawled her name like a caress, sending tingles down her spine. ‘Got your bathing suit?’ he demanded, his dark eyes gleaming knowingly down into hers. He knew exactly how he affected her and obviously found it amusing.

‘Yes,’ she said frostily, swinging her beach bag, and would have preceded him down the gangway but a hand on her arms stopped her.

‘Gentlemen first in this instance, then if you fall I am in front of you to prevent a hasty descent into the sea,’ he explained, before releasing her arm and stepping on to the ladder.

The small boat reached the shore in minutes. A hire car was waiting for them and moments later they were speeding out of the town and into the countryside.

‘I thought we were going to see the town,’ Saffron prompted, a bit miffed that Alex appeared to have a different idea.

‘We will later; first we will drive around the island, go for a swim maybe. There are some magnificent beaches. One or two nude ones if you prefer.’ He shot her a wicked sidelong glance.

‘No way,’ she snapped back.

‘Why not? It will be nothing we haven’t seen before after this morning.’

A telling tide of red suffused her face as for a second she saw in her mind’s eye Alex as he had been that morning in her room—almost naked.

Alex laughed out loud at her obvious discomfiture. ‘OK, you win; bathing suits it is.’

It was like a day out of time for Saffron. After that one bit of teasing in the car Alex set out to be charming company, and Saffron found her antagonism vanishing in a puff of smoke.

They lunched on succulent fish on a bed of rice and fresh vegetables, at a small cafe alongside an almost deserted beach. Afterwards they lingered over their wine, and eventually strolled along the beach.

She found Alex an informative and amusing conversationalist as he told her something of the island’s history. Apparently not that long ago it had been just another tiny Greek island inhabited by shepherds and fishermen. But the stylised form of building all white with the distinctive blue touches had been seen as so picturesque that a crafty local had decided they should cash in on the tourist trade. Now it was extremely popular with all the cruise liners, but was never overrun, simply because the bigger ships could not dock. The only way ashore was by tender.

By mid-afternoon the sun was much stronger in the sky and Alex suggested that they rest for a while. From the small duffel bag he was carrying he withdrew a towel and spread it on the golden sand, and Saffron followed suit, cautiously laying her own towel a foot away from his.

‘Spoilsport,’ he murmured as casually he slipped out of his clothes and stood before her clad only in tiny black swimming-trunks that left little to the imagination.

Saffron gulped and dragged her gaze away from such a blatant display of sheer masculine perfection. He might be nearly forty, she thought, but not a spare inch of flesh marred his tall, muscular frame; he had the body of a man in his prime, and she was beginning to wonder at the wisdom of being alone with him.

‘Race you to the water,’ Alex challenged, and she had to look up at him.

‘You go—I’ll catch you up.’ She needed a couple of minutes alone to still her erratically beating heart. She watched as with a casual nod he turned and began to run down to where the turquoise water met the silvery sand. He was as enticing from the rear as from the front, his broad tanned back tapering down to gorgeous lean hips and long, muscular legs. God! What was she thinking of? In a rush she slipped off her plain denim skirt and the neat short-sleeved shirt she had worn over her swimsuit.

She glanced down at herself, and wondered if the suit had been such a good idea. She had bought it for the cruise, thinking it was more conservative than a bikini, but now she had grave doubts. In jade-green, it was a simple figure-hugging Lycra suit with high cut-away legs almost to her waist, strapless and slashed straight across her breasts. Suddenly she saw just how provocative it was. How come she had never noticed before? she groaned silently, but it was too late to do anything about it now, and, taking a deep breath, she ran down and into the water. She could see Alex’s head bobbing in the distance; he was a magnificent swimmer, but she had a sneaky suspicion that he was the kind of man who would do everything magnificently.

Saffron did not bother to try and compete; she could swim but was no great shakes, so she stayed near the shallows and floated for a while, enjoying the soothing stroke of the water against her sun-warmed flesh. Occasionally she glanced at Alex, who appeared to be heading determinedly towards an outcrop of rock that to Saffron looked miles away. He swam with a rhythmic determination that she could only marvel at. Slowly, with a sigh—it wasn’t disappointment at Alex ignoring her, she told herself firmly—she made her way back to shore.