Ким Лоренс – In the Greek's Bed: The Greek Tycoon's Wife / The Greek Millionaire's Marriage / The Greek Surgeon (страница 8)

His frosty manner was not one that invited sympathy; despite this, Katie’s attitude tumbled abruptly from extreme hostility to aching pity. Notwithstanding his terse tone, she was convinced that behind that stony façade he was hurting.

She knew of course it was probable that the Peter factor had something to do with her response—up to this point they’d had nothing in common, but now she knew that they’d both lost their brothers in motor accidents. Though the circumstances were very different, she felt, quite illogically, that some tenuous link had sprung up between them—not enough to make them inseparable friends, but maybe it just made him seem a little more human, more fragile. Fragile…? She glanced up at his tough profile and shook her head; maybe that was taking it too far.

It was ironic, considering that she’d been trying to discover a weak spot in his defences all evening, that now she had actually found one all she wanted to do was kiss him better. Kiss…don’t go there, Katie. But of course she did.

Her active imagination had rapidly progressed beyond the kissing scene; by now things had got a lot further! Katie stopped herself; she was sure Nikos Lakis was the person in the universe least likely to need to be kissed better.

‘I’m sorry about your brother.’ I suppose I just don’t have the killer instinct.

Nikos’s dark, well-defined brows drew together as he watched those extraordinary sapphire-blue eyes fill until they glistened luminously with unshed tears. It struck him as bizarre that someone so hard-nosed and single-minded should have tears to spare for someone she had never even met.

This unexpected display of empathy was totally incompatible with the character of the woman that he had in his mental file marked ‘Katerina Forsythe’. Nikos scowled; he didn’t want her to be more complex than the two-dimensional character he had imagined. Mostly he considered himself pretty flexible and open to new ideas, but in this instance he was extremely resistant to revision.

‘And I’m sure you’re an excellent driver,’ she added generously. ‘But I’ve no intention—’

His deep, strangely abstracted voice cut softly across her rambling rejection. ‘I thought that day I first saw you that you were wearing tinted contact lenses, the colour of your eyes was so…extreme. But the colour is real, isn’t it?’ His expression took on an almost accusing cast as he gazed down into the clear blue of her widely spaced, darkly fringed eyes.

The total unexpectedness of his comment made her blink, or maybe the intensity of his regard had something to do with her need to break the contact? It surprised her that he’d even noticed what colour her eyes were, let alone given the shade any thought.

‘Of course it’s real.’ For some inexplicable reason her heart began to act as if she’d decided to sprint across the lobby.

Nikos cleared his throat and ran a long-fingered hand through his dark glossy hair. ‘It is a very unusual colour—almost violet. Did you inherit your colouring from your mother?’

The tight feeling in her chest made her voice sound unusually breathy when she replied. ‘No, my mother was very dark. It was Peter who inherited her colouring.’ Her expression softened as she thought of Eleri’s glossy jet-black hair and golden skin. ‘Dad was a blue-eyed, redheaded Scot.’

‘Was? Is he dead?’

‘They both are.’

‘So there is just you and…Peter? Or do you have other siblings?’

Katie shook her head. ‘No, it was just us two—and Peter, he died.’

‘Long ago?’

‘Seven years.’

He nodded, but did not comment further on what she’d told him.

Katie wasn’t quite sure why she had told him. Peter wasn’t a subject she discussed with anyone, though sometimes the weight of her secret made her long to share the burden with someone.

‘I know my presence disturbs you, Katerina…’

And then some! ‘Are you surprised? I wasn’t expecting Tom’s billionaire friend to turn out to be the penniless man I married seven years ago?’

If Nikos heard the unspoken question in her resentful observation he chose to ignore it. Katie was starting to get the idea he did that a lot.

‘If you put aside your animosity…’

Katie was unable to restrain her incredulous laughter; as if he were the soul of impartial reason! ‘I don’t think I’m the only person with an animosity issue here, mate.’

‘If you stop spitting and snarling for a minute you might recognise that we have things to talk about.’ His brows lifted to a quizzical angle. ‘Don’t you agree?’

Katie opened her mouth and then closed it again; she could hardly deny it. You couldn’t really meet up with a man you’d just requested a divorce from and not talk.

‘Now seems an excellent opportunity,’ he continued, his eyes observing the inner struggle very clearly revealed on her expressive face.

Katie swallowed and, without looking directly at him, nodded her consent.

CHAPTER FOUR

FOR someone who’d wanted to talk, Nikos showed precious little inclination to do so once they were in his car—predictably a low-slung luxurious sports car. In Katie’s present mood she’d have criticised his driving had the opportunity arisen, but it didn’t. He proved to be competent but not dangerously erratic as many men were when placed behind the wheel of a powerful car.

Other than ask directions as they’d left the hotel he had said nothing at all.

She cleared her dry throat, and swallowed; it seemed it was up to her to break the ice. She wondered what to say.

‘Why are you here?’

It wasn’t exactly slick, but you had to start somewhere.

‘When we spoke on the phone Tom could not stop talking about the woman of his dreams. I was naturally curious to see this paragon.’

Sarcastic beast. She eyed him with dislike. ‘And that was it?’ She gave a sceptical snort. ‘I don’t believe in coincidences.’

‘Neither did I until I opened my mail immediately after speaking to Tom. When I read Harvey’s letter relaying your request for a speedy dissolution of our union I realised why the name Katie Forsythe seemed so familiar. Katie…Katerina…I thought I’d check it out. I dropped in on Harvey on my way here and tried to get your address. Being an exemplary example of the legal profession and impervious to bribery, he refused…’

‘You didn’t try and bribe Harvey!’ Katie exclaimed in a scandalised tone.

Nikos spared her a fleeting glance that made her feel ridiculously gauche before he returned his attention to the narrow, ill-lit road. ‘It was much simpler and more rewarding to take a look at his laptop when he was called from the office.’

This offhand attitude to such sneaky actions confirmed Katie’s first impressions of his character—the man was totally without scruples. Something she would do well to keep in mind in her dealings with him.

‘It might interest you to know that Harvey told me he’d personally guarantee your integrity,’ she choked, regarding his perfect profile with disgust mingled with unwilling appreciation. There was a lot to appreciate: his jaw was firm without being chunky and, even though it was probably due to generations of inbreeding amongst the ruling classes, a lot of men might have sacrificed a sense of humour—you couldn’t count warped—for strong features of such staggeringly perfect dimensions.

If that doesn’t shame him, nothing will.

It seemed he was shameless.

‘That would explain why he didn’t take the most elementary security measures.’ Katie looked at him blankly. ‘He left the thing turned on when he left the room.’

‘God knows where Harvey got the idea that you were some sort of paragon of virtue.’

‘I think he received his information on my exemplary character from a prejudiced source.’

‘And that would be?’

Nikos’s mobile lips twitched at the corners. ‘Caitlin.’

A woman, that figured, Katie thought darkly. ‘What exactly did you find out when you illegally accessed Harvey’s computer?’ she interrupted uneasily.

The idea of Nikos Lakis knowing chapter and verse the intimate details of her history was not a comfortable thought.

Harvey was the only one other than herself who knew the entire story of Peter’s death; the rest of the world thought, as she had until the letter written in that familiar hand had dropped on her doormat the day after his funeral, that her twin’s death had been a tragic accident—a young man fond of speed who took a bend too fast on his motor cycle.

For a long time she’d just held the letter, afraid to open it and read words that seemed to come from the grave.

‘Sorry, Katie,’ she’d read, ‘but I just can’t bear the guilt.’

Katie had read on in denial, unable to think of her brother so young, so filled with life, being in such despair that he had taken his own life. It’s not possible…I would have known…I should have known…!

‘I thought I’d killed the guy, I should have stopped but I panicked and rode away. The guy lived but he’s going to be paralysed for life.’

Katie had cried; she’d cried for a long time. She’d cried for her brother and she’d cried for the man whose life his recklessness had ruined.

‘Why didn’t you come to me?’ she’d yelled at the happy, laughing face beside her own in the framed photo. ‘You always come to me!’ It was true the twins had always turned to one another for support in times of crisis; they’d always presented a united front against the world.