JACQUELINE BAIRD - A Devious Desire

They laughed together, and then in unspoken accord turned their attention to the view from the balcony, as the sun turned to brilliant scarlet and slowly sank towards the horizon.

The music changed and Saffron recognised it immediately; the opera was a secret passion of hers. ‘Rossini—my favourite composer!’ she exclaimed. ‘The overture to The Thieving Magpie, I think.’

‘You like his overtures?’ Alex’s dark eyes lingered over her fine features, taking note of the mass of hair that rivalled the sunset in its colour.

‘Yes, I adore them,’ she said, slightly uneasy at his unwavering scrutiny. ‘I have quite a collection.’

‘Yes, I can see why. You’re a romantic and as impetuous, pulsing and sometimes as abandoned as Rossini’s music. It’s all there in your cat’s eyes and your magnificent hair—your passionate nature.’

Saffron was about to deny his reading of her character angrily, then realised that what Alex had said about the music was true. Did her love of Rossini disguise an impulsive passionate nature? The thought worried her… She was here on a Greek island with a man she hardly knew…And, lost in her own thoughts, she barely heard his cynically murmured comment.

‘Let’s hope the title does not accurately reflect you as well.’

She glanced warily across at Alex; his dark eyes caught and held hers. For a long moment the sunset, the surroundings disappeared; they were the only two people in the universe, and something deep and compelling seemed to flow between them.

‘You agree with me,’ Alex husked softly, and she did not think he was talking only about the music. She forced herself to look away and, picking up her glass, drained it, making no response. She couldn’t…she was terrified. After one day with Alex, a few kisses and now a glance and a simple observation on her choice of music, the man had made her recognise her own sexuality in a way she had never considered before. She had always thought of herself as a passionless sort of girl, if not frigid. Sex and romance played no part in her life. With a sense of shock she realised that the be-all and end-all of her life for years had been her burning ambition to succeed on her own. She had no close friends, except perhaps Eve, who was now dead…

She turned and gazed at the sea; the Statis yacht, aptly named Lion Lore, rode at anchor and as she watched the coloured lights from prow to stern flashed on, as the sun sank below the horizon in majestic glory, turning the sea blood-red.

‘You must visit the outdoor opera in Verona; it is an experience not to be missed.’ His hand covered hers on the table. ‘Will you let me take you, Saffron?’ he asked in that throaty, sexy voice of his, his thumb teasingly stroking her palm.

In that second she realised she wanted to say yes! But she knew he was asking for a lot more than an evening at the opera and, snatching her hand from his, she jumped to her feet. ‘It’s time we left. Anna will need me.’

‘She’s not the only one,’ Alex taunted softly as he led her out into the balmy night air. Stopping at the edge of the water, he turned her to face him, linking his hands loosely around her waist.

Saffron tensed. Why did his words sound like a threat, she wondered, when his every look and touch promised her delights she could only guess at, and secretly longed for…?

‘Funny. For a girl with a passion for overtures…’ he bent and brushed the top of her head with the lightest of kisses ‘…you are very slow on picking up on them.’ His dark eyes smiled teasingly down at her.

Saffron grinned, her tension vanishing. ‘God, that was a terrible pun, Alex!’

‘It worked—it made you smile.’ And, holding hands, they made their way back to the yacht.

DINNER was again an informal affair; Anna had arranged for a hot and cold buffet to be served, unsure at what time Alex and Saffron would return.

Once more in the company of the older woman, Saffron sighed with relief, and the tension of the afternoon and her complete capitulation to Alex’s sexual charm faded to the back of her mind as the three of them partook of a leisurely meal on the rear deck beneath the star-studded canopy of the night sky.

Saffron sipped her wine and cast a speculative glance beneath her thick lashes at Alex. He and his mother were discussing some people they knew and Saffron was quite happy to let the conversation wash over her as she secretly studied him. He wasn’t really handsome—his features were too hard-cut and there was a certain ruthless hauteur about him that said, Watcher beware!—and yet he fascinated her as no other man she had ever met had.

Why was that? Why did she find herself wondering what it would be like to lose her virginity to a potent, sensual man like Alex Statis? Under her dress she felt her breasts go suddenly heavy; she trembled and folded her arms defensively across her chest, sitting straighter in the chair and fighting down the colour rising in her throat.

Why did he affect her so intimately? And, more important, why did she think she knew him? she asked herself for the hundredth time. He was way outside her sphere of experience, and yet there was something…! He was dressed as casually as usual in cream trousers and a blue knit polo shirt, his bare feet slipped into a pair of navy loafers, and yet the feeling of leashed power just below the surface was blatantly apparent. She’d bet he was a dynamic businessman, and she wondered just what kind of business he was in. Anna had told her the cruise line was now only a tiny part of Alex’s business interests. He kept it going in deference to his late father, but he had expanded into a host of other projects.

‘Sorry, ladies, but I have work to do.’ Saffron was jolted back to awareness by the sound of Alex’s voice. Startled, she looked up as he rose to his full height— well over six feet—and for a moment his dark gaze settled on her upturned face.

‘Don’t keep Mama up too late, will you, Saffron? We have guests arriving tomorrow.’

‘Hmmph!’ Anna’s inelegant snort prevented Saffron from answering. ‘It’s time you got yourself a decent wife and presented me with a few grandchildren, instead of fooling around.’

‘I might surprise you and do just that, Mother.’ He held Saffron’s gaze even as he responded to Anna. ‘What do you think, Saffron? Would I make a good husband?’ he asked with mocking amusement.

‘I wouldn’t know; I don’t know you,’ she said coolly and, turning her head, she caught the oddest look on Anna’s face.

‘Then I’ll have to make sure you do,’ Alex murmured, before moving to drop a brief kiss on the top of Anna’s head and adding, ‘You promised to behave yourself, Mama, so make sure you do.’

Saffron’s puzzled glance slid between the two of them. ‘What was that about?’ she asked when Alex had gone. ‘You always behave yourself.’

‘Yes…well…you haven’t seen the guests yet,’ Anna replied with dry irony, and Saffron could get no more out of the woman, though she did try as she saw her safely to bed.

By seven o’clock the following evening Saffron was beginning to see what Anna had meant. The boat had docked earlier in the day at an exclusive marina on the Athenian riviera some half an hour’s drive from the centre of Athens. She hadn’t seen Alex since breakfast that morning, when to her astonishment, on leaving the table, he had kissed his mother as usual and then bestowed a brief kiss on her—Saffron’s—softly parted lips as well, with the muttered comment, ‘As set-ups go, you’re the best yet.’

Blushing fiery red, Saffron had glanced at Anna to see her smiling like a Cheshire cat. ‘What was that about?’ she’d asked suspiciously.