Kay Thorpe – The Thirty-Day Seduction (страница 2)
“This is Chelsea Lovatt, Nikos,” declared Dion, sounding just a mite confrontational to Chelsea’s ears. “An English friend come to spend a few days.”
“Chelsea?” queried the older man, not having shifted his stance. “You’re named after a district of London?”
“I’m named after a character in a book my mother read while she was carrying me,” Chelsea answered lightly, gathering her wits. “I think she hoped I might turn out the same.”
The curl increased a fraction. “And did you?”
“I’ve no idea,” she parried. “I never read the book.” She put out a hand, registering the surprise that sprang momentarily in his eyes. “I’m honoured to meet you, Kirie Pandrossos.”
The dark head inclined, revealing the merest hint of grey at the temples as a shaft of sunlight touched the thickly curling pelt of his hair. His hand was cool to the touch, fingers closing over hers in a grasp of tempered steel, sending a thrill like an electric shock the length of her arm.
“The honour is all mine,
Chelsea resisted the urge to snatch her hand away the moment he released it, feeling the tingle still in her fingers as she thrust them into the pocket of her shorts. Having met the man, she was beginning to realise just how formidable a task she had set herself. She was here under false pretences to start with, which was hardly going to help her case. There was every likelihood that he would have her deported-from the island, at leastthe moment he discovered her real purpose.
Never say die, she told herself firmly, refusing to give way. Challenge was her lifeblood.
“Will you give us a lift to the house?” asked Dion.
“I’d scarcely leave you to await other transport,” returned his cousin. He turned to open the Range Rover’s front passenger door, noting Chelsea’s involuntary hesitation with a sardonic little smile. “I don’t bite. Not unless I’m provoked. If you’d feel more comfortable in the rear, however…”
“I’m happy to sit anywhere,” she said airily, mentally girding her loins again. “Thank you,
“You may call me Nikos,” he declared as she slid into the seat.
“Thank you, Nikos, then.” Chelsea took care to eradicate any hint of irony from her tone. “I’m not much for formality either.”
Dark eyes dwelt for a meaningful moment on the long stretch of lightly tanned leg, even further revealed by the pull on her shorts. “So it may be assumed.”
He closed the door before she could come up with a response, leaving her feeling more than a little overexposed. Dion had donned his shirt again before leaving the boat, but had given her no reason to believe herself inadequately dressed. Considering the scanty wardrobe she had with her, she was probably going to have a problem meeting the criteria anyway, she reflected ruefully. The things she’d packed had been chosen for their lightness of weight and washability rather than propriety.
Dion got into the rear seat, leaving his cousin to go around and slide behind the wheel. The car was turned about in three short, sharp moves and headed up the curving incline between the trees. Acutely aware of the muscular thigh she could see on the periphery of her vision, Chelsea turned her attention to the view from the side window as they breasted the final rise and emerged from the tree line.
From here she was looking directly towards the mainland, some five or six miles distant, the mountainous horizon line hazed by heat. Close by lay another, very much smaller island, bearing what looked like the crumbling remains of a small tower on its highest point.
“Does the ruin over there have any significance?” she asked with interest, anticipating some historic provenance.
“It’s just a ruin,” said Dion.
“All that’s left of what was once a tiny chapel,” expounded his cousin. “We’ve never taken the trouble to explore its origins, but you’re at liberty to do so, should you wish it.”
Chelsea gave him a swift glance, struck by the strength of the carved profile with its high-bridged nose and clean jawline. His mouth was well-shaped, lips firm. Wonderful to kiss, came the unwonted thought, hastily discarded.
“That’s very kind of you,” she said, “but I’m hardly going to be here long enough to start looking into historical detail.”
“You have other commitments?”
“Well, no. At least, nothing concrete. I’m just going where the fancy takes me for the next few weeks-seeing as much of the islands as I can.”
“Alone?” The tone left little doubt of his opinion. “Is that wise?”
“I can take care of myself,” she returned without undue emphasis. “And travelling alone means I only have myself to please.”
“You have family back home?”
“Parents, yes.”
“They saw no harm in allowing you to do this?”
Her laugh was just a little short. “They have every confidence in me.”
“But obviously little authority over you.”
“In my country, women my age are considered old enough to govern their own lives.”
“In
“No one I plan on marrying, if that’s what you mean.” Chelsea was fast losing patience with this inquisition. “I’ve no interest whatsoever in marriage.”
Nikos gave her another of those swift, assessing glances. “You should think seriously about it while you still have the time.”
About to let fly with a pithy answer, Chelsea caught herself up. Considering the reason she was here at all, she was hardly doing her case much good by getting ratty with the man. She needed to cultivate him, not antagonise him. What she didn’t need at the moment was to let drop any hint of her true colours.
“I appreciate your concern for my welfare,
The overture made no visible impression. “You were to call me Nikos,” was all he said.
Quiet up until now in the back, Dion obviously decided it was time he made his presence felt. “My sister will be happy to have you here,” he said. “She’s always complaining of the shortage of feminine companionship. Florina is unmarried too-although she hopes to be wed before
Chelsea hoped he was right. Being here under false pretences was bad enough, without finding herself at odds with any member of his family. Abandoning the whole idea would probably be the wisest course, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Not while there was any chance at all of achieving her aim. Nikos would be a hard nut to crack, but she might just manage it if she put her mind to it. First and foremost, she had to get beneath that guard of his.
“If she speaks English as fluently as the two of you do there’ll certainly be no problem in communicating,” she said. “My Greek is pretty basic as yet”
“Travel broadens the vocabulary,” said Nikos. “As does tourism also.”
Chelsea’s brows drew together. “You’re involved in the tourist industry?”
“The whole of Greece is involved in the tourist industry,” came the dry return. “Our economy, to a great extent, depends upon it”
“I shouldn’t have thought you met all that many tourists yourself, though,” she ventured, unable to visualise this man mingling with the average package dealers. “The island being private, I mean.”
“Our lives are hardly confined to Skalos,” he said, making her feel a bit of an idiot
“Does Dimitris know yet that he’s to have a birthday party?” asked Dion, before she could make any further comment. “Or is it still to be a surprise?”
“Better he should be surprised rather than disappointed should anything go amiss,” his cousin replied. “Do you like children?” he added to Chelsea.
“I couldn’t eat a whole one,” she quipped before she could stop herself, drawing a splutter of laughter from the rear. “Sorry, that was crass,” she apologised, neither daring nor caring to glance in Nikos’s direction. She added cautiously, “I like
“You’ll love Dimitris,” Dion assured her. “He’s a real little character!”
“You’re welcome to attend the party if you wish,” invited his cousin, leaving Chelsea feeling that the younger man hadn’t left him much choice.
An opportunity to see the Pandrossos homestead was hardly to be turned down, however, though it seemed necessary to at least make the gesture.
“That’s very kind of you, she said formally, “but I wouldn’t want to intrude on a family occasion.”
Nikos drove the car between double iron gates, expression unrevealing. “Dimitris is the only child in the family, so we must go outside of it for companions for him. We have guests coming from the mainland too, so there’s no question of intrusion.”
“In that case, I’d very much like to come. “Thank you, ki… I mean, Nikos.”
His nod was a mite perfunctory. “Think nothing of it.”
Sparkling white in the sunlight, the house that came into view was more modem in design than Chelsea would have anticipated-a single storey spreading out in several directions, as if bits had been added almost as afterthoughts. A disappointment in many ways, she had to admit.
Nikos drew up before the arched doorway, but declined to accompany the two of them into the house.