Mediterranean Tycoons

CHAPTER TEN

‘SIT.’ Rion indicated a chair in front of his desk and walked around to take the seat behind it. He let his eyes rest coolly on Selina.

She was wearing the black dress she had worn for her grandfather’s funeral. Her hair was pulled back into a single thick plait to hang down her back, her face was carefully made up, and high-heeled shoes were on her dainty feet. He watched her smooth the skirt of the dress over her hips and thighs as she sat down, placing the black satchel she carried on her lap. She looked elegant and businesslike, but in his mind’s eye he was picturing her gorgeous body naked—her soft skin, the perfect breasts he had tasted so many times. Only last night she had been like a living flame in his arms. They had made love well into the early hours of the morning. Yet now she sat there, seemingly cool and composed, wanting the money …

Selina glanced around the huge office—all glass and steel, hard like the man. They’d met the lawyer over breakfast and pretended they were good friends while Kadiekis explained the handing over of her grandfather’s shares to her so she could sell them to Rion before the estate was finally wound up. That way the provision they had agreed for Anna was guaranteed and all debts would be covered. There would still be a healthy amount of money left over for Selina. She had signed the paper he’d given her, confirming the fact, and another notified document to cancel the guardianship. That had been fraught enough. Especially when he’d given the share certificates straight to Rion for safekeeping, as though she was some silly woman who would lose them before she got ashore.

But the trip from the marina in a chauffeured car to Rion’s office in Athens had taken almost an hour, and been a whole lot worse.

Rion had worked on his laptop or made calls the whole time, never saying a word to her. Not that she had wanted him to, but sitting beside him in the close confines of the car with the slight scent of his cologne tantalising her nostrils, she had been intensely aware of him. Wearing an immaculate grey suit, with his black hair swept back from his brow, he’d looked broodingly attractive, and she hadn’t been able to help noting every tiny movement he made—his arm touching hers when he raised the phone to his ear, the deep velvet tone of his voice, the accidental brush of his thigh against hers with the movement of the vehicle.

By the time she’d got out of the car she’d been hot, tense, her nerves wound tight as a drum. And her nervous tension had not improved when he’d taken her arm and led her into what was obviously a new building—nothing like the old office she had visited once when they were married. Then he’d urged her into the elevator, and now had ordered her to ‘Sit.’

‘I am not a dog,’ she said tartly, to break the growing silence.

‘No,’ he said, and lifted a black brow.

The insult, not spoken but implied, enraged her. This was the man she had stupidly, eagerly given her body to last night—and her heart and soul, if she was honest, because she’d known it would be the final time.

‘Trading insults is your thing, Rion. Why am I not surprised?’ she sneered. ‘You traded me once for a company, and again for sex. You’d trade with the devil himself—Bratchet for one. Now, give me the form to sign. Why we could not have done this on the yacht I will never understand. Then let me get out of here.’

‘You are overreacting to an imagined insult. And let’s get one thing straight,’ he said curtly. ‘I would never have married you to acquire the Stakis shipping line. I married you because I’d had unprotected sex with you. With the possibility you might be pregnant it seemed the right thing to do at the time.’

Appalled, Selina stared at him, the air between them crackling with tension. ‘My God—and that is supposed to make me feel better? Just give me the damn paper to sign.’

Not a muscle moved in Rion’s face as he pushed the relevant documents across the desk. He was within a hair’s breadth of losing his temper with her, but with a terrific effort of will he controlled the urge to shake some sense into her. She wanted him. He wanted her. But she blew hot and cold for no apparent reason and arguing with her would get him nowhere. The day wasn’t over yet, and with business out of the way he had plans to end it with Selina in his bed.

‘This is a copy of the official notification from Kadiekis agreeing to the sale of your grandfather’s shares to me before the estate is wound up. You’d better keep that. And these are the share certificates, which you might like to check to make sure they add up to what I told you. Finally, a transferral form, which you should read and sign where indicated.’

‘I don’t need to read it. Just give me a pen.’

‘Is that wise? How do you know you can trust me?’ he asked with a cynical arch of an ebony brow. ‘From what you just said, you don’t have much of an opinion of me.’

Mr Cool, Selina thought—while she was getting madder by the minute. ‘No, I don’t. At least not on a normal human level. But when it comes to a deal I know you are meticulous to the nth degree,’ she mocked. And, picking up the pen he had pushed across the desk, she signed the document. Standing up, she handed it to him. Then, placing the copy of the agreement he had suggested she keep in her satchel, she took out a notepad and wrote down her bank account number. Tearing it off, she held the page out to Rion.

‘You will need this. When you and Kadiekis have settled everything I would like any money that is left transferred to this account. That way we need never communicate again.’ The quicker she got out of here the better. She was perilously close to losing her temper altogether and telling Rion exactly what she thought of him. She might love him, but as a man he was a waste of space …

Rion’s eyes narrowed sardonically on her beautiful face. ‘I do have to sign as well, Selina.’ He knew she was hiding something. Her mention of Bratchet and the devil in the same sentence had set him thinking, and he was determined to find out what it was. Taking the document, he signed it. ‘Did you notice how much money you will receive?’ he asked, hoping to delay her. Taking the note from her hand, he felt her flinch as their fingers touched.

‘What you said a fortnight ago, I presume.’

‘Yes, that is correct.’ Glancing at the number on the note he wrote something else on it and turned to the computer on his desk. ‘I’ll enter your account number in the relevant file, and I might as well arrange the transfer of the shares now with my broker.’

In a matter of minutes it was done. Then, rising to his feet he walked around the desk and handed the note back to her.

‘In the unlikely event that anything goes wrong and you need to contact me, my personal cell phone number is on there.’ She took it, avoiding touching him this time, he noted. ‘Have you thought what you are going to do with the money that is left?’ he asked, wanting to delay her departure. He saw relief mingled with the anger in her expressive eyes.

‘Give it to a children’s charity,’ she said, pushing the note into her handbag and slinging it over her shoulder. ‘Now I’ll be on my way.’

‘The same children’s charity as before, I presume?’ he prompted, not convinced by her glib reply any more than he had been the first time.

‘Yes.’ She turned to go.

‘Not so fast.’ He wrapped his hand around her upper arm and spun her back to face him. ‘You and I are not finished yet.’

Selina glanced at Rion, furious at his bullying tactic to delay her. She had had enough. ‘We were finished years ago.’ She tried to pull her arm free but he simply tightened his grip, his fingers digging into her flesh, and she lost her temper completely. ‘My God, Iris did me a favour, telling me about you.’

‘Iris?’ He looked puzzled. ‘Telling you what?’

‘You are supposed to be brilliant—work it out,’ she snapped.

His other hand slid up her back to catch her long silken plait and tug her head back. ‘Cut out the sarcasm and tell me.’

Held in his firm grip, Rion’s eyes boring down into hers, she registered the implacable determination in the dark depths. Refusing to be intimidated, she thought, why not? Their business was concluded, and Rion could do with being taken down a peg or two.

‘It wasn’t my grandfather who told me about the marriage deal, as you seem to think. It was your half sister, Iris.’

‘Iris? I don’t believe you. She did not know.’

‘Yes, she did. She heard her parents talking in the car on the way back from our engagement party. How ironic is that?’ She felt him stiffen, his hand falling from her hair—though he still kept hold of her arm. Shaking her head, she eyed him contemptuously. ‘And she told me a lot more. The day you threw me out you told her never to speak to me again, but she did. Jason was her boyfriend. Iris had told him to follow her up to her bedroom—right at the top of the stairs. But he was drunk. He turned left and passed out in my bed. I never knew he was there because I’d gone to bed early with a couple of strong painkillers.’

Selina was on a roll. Everything Rion had denied her the right to tell him came spilling out with a vengeance.

‘Iris knew the truth. Jason told her he’d heard a noise in the hall, woken up. He saw red hair on the pillow and realised his mistake. Horrified, he dashed out of the bedroom. I begged her to tell you, but she was too frightened of what her bossy older brother would do. Knowing you, I can’t say I blame her—and in fact, as it turned out it was lucky for me. She told me about the marriage deal and what a womaniser you are. Who did you think showed me the shots of you and your lady friends on the computer? I didn’t have one at the time. Who do you think told me the woman you really loved and wanted to marry was Lydia, but she married someone else?’

Shocked rigid, Rion stared down into angry golden eyes glinting with shards of green and knew she was telling the truth. The story was so bizarre it had to be true. That Iris, his half-sister whom he had always protected, had been dating the boy and had known the truth all along and refused to tell him horrified him. All this time he had thought Selina had betrayed him, and she hadn’t …

A great wide chasm opened up in his mind, filled with memories he had banked down for years. The innocence Selina had gifted him, their wedding day when he had watched her walk down the aisle and thought her the most beautiful bride he had ever seen, the love she had given him unconditionally and he had taken for granted. How could he have been so arrogant, so stiff-necked with pride as to throw her out? What did that make him? And he had taken one look at Selina on the beach at Letos the night before the funeral and wanted her so badly he had blackmailed her into his bed.

‘Why didn’t you—?’

‘Tell you?’ Selina jeered, cutting him off. ‘You refused to see me, speak or listen to me, remember …?’ She saw him flinch. He had a right to. He didn’t like the truth. ‘Then you had the audacity to try to name me as the adulterous party. What a joke, given your reputation. I told Beth what had happened and thanks to her and her dad I fought you and won. It was the best thing I ever did. Beth reckoned you got off lightly. I should have demanded more money. But it was enough for me to get my self-esteem back, and the whole affair taught me a lesson I will never forget.’

‘What would that be?’ Rion asked not sure he wanted to know the answer. But he wanted to keep her talking while his mind grappled with the enormity of what she had revealed. What had he done?

‘To work hard, get a career and never count on a man to take care of me. With the shining examples of my biological father, my grandfather and my ex-husband I find it remarkably easy to remember,’ she said sarcastically. ‘Now, if you don’t mind, I am leaving.’ And, tightening her grip on her satchel, she pulled her arm free.

‘No, not yet.’ Thinking fast for a reason to make her stay, he said, ‘I have not given you the salary you’ve lost for the last two weeks. I said I would.’

‘Forget it. I have.’

‘No. What I am trying to say is I owe you an apology, Selina—more than an apology. I don’t expect you to forgive me for not trusting you when we were married, but you have to admit finding a half-naked man dashing out of our bedroom looked bad.’

Selina couldn’t help it—she laughed … if a little hysterically. Rion could not be contrite in a million years. ‘Even when you try to apologise you still have to qualify it with your opinion. You could have asked.’ She put a finger on her chin and flashed him a pseudo-pensive glance. ‘Oh, no, you couldn’t. You wouldn’t speak to me!’

His lips twisted. ‘Cute, Selina. But please listen. I am serious. I have done you a terrible injustice—more than one.’ Grasping her shoulders, he held her still. ‘I want to make it up to you any way I can.’

She looked up and caught the grim urgency in his expression, the sincerity in the dark eyes that bored into hers—and the underlying gleam of awareness in the glittering depths. His great body was too close. She felt the pressure of his strong hands, the flexing of his long fingers on her arms, and knew she had to get out of here fast—before her traitorous body succumbed once again to the wonder of his.

‘More money? Forget it.’ She had to get away with her pride intact. It was all she had left.

‘No … yes. I mean I will marry you again—have a home, children.’ Rion was almost as shocked as Selina looked by what he’d said. Then like a lightning strike, electrifying in its intensity, it hit him. He actually meant every word …

During the time he had spent with Selina on the yacht he’d been more relaxed, more alive, and had more genuine fun than at any other time in his life. But it wasn’t just sex. It had never been just sex with Selina, but love. He had made love to her, and been too blinkered, too arrogant to see it until now. He loved Selina …

Selina’s lips parted in shock and for a moment her foolish heart leapt. Then reality clicked in. Nothing had changed. Rion didn’t love her.

‘Marry you again …? Are you mad …?’

She recognised his proposal for what it was. For once in his life the great Orion Moralis was feeling guilty. Well, he could drown in that for all she cared. He had made her feel guilty even when she had done nothing wrong. If he thought he could salve his conscience by marrying her again he was in for a big surprise. She was amazed he had the cheek to ask. In fact she was insulted and, feeling about him as she did, it hurt. And he had hurt her enough already to last a lifetime …

‘As for a home and children—you have to be joking. I don’t like the company you keep.’

‘A simple no would have sufficed. And what the hell do you mean by “the company I keep”?’ Rion demanded, his grip tightening.

For an instant she felt afraid. But she refused to be intimidated by a man—any man …

‘Bratchet for one,’ she sneered. Rion led a gilded life, and it was time he learnt not everyone was so fortunate. ‘I know you didn’t believe me, but I did give your money to a children’s charity. A charity that is needed because of depraved perverts like him, who put a boy of eight in hospital. It made my flesh crawl to shake his hand.’

She looked Rion straight in the eyes and told him about the charity Beth and Trevor ran, of which she was a silent partner and one of the main supporters. She felt him tense but spared him nothing, telling him the painfully tragic details with all the passion of a caring woman committed to the cause.

Rion let his hands fall from Selina’s shoulders. He could not believe what he was hearing. Of course he had heard as much as any normal person about the trade in child sex, but as he listened to her with growing horror his face paled. He was appalled at what she told him, and appalled at how badly he had misjudged her and how spectacularly he had failed to protect the innocent girl he had married from ever having to come into contact with such a sick, depraved side of life.

‘I had no idea,’ he murmured.

‘Why would you? In your world business and money is God,’ she said flatly. ‘Though you would be surprised how many very wealthy men like Bratchet use and abuse children. Perversion cuts across all levels of society and it costs money to fly to Cambodia,’ she opined cynically.

‘And you compare me with Bratchet?’ Rion queried hollowly.

‘No.’ She knew Rion’s sexual preferences all too well. Seeing him standing there watching her with dark haunted eyes, she felt her heart swell with love and compassion and knew it was time to go. ‘But people are usually judged by the company they keep, and as you said yourself yesterday, you would do business with a serial killer if it was legitimate and a good deal.’

Now Rion knew what she had been hiding—why she had refused to go on the dive. And, worse, he realised that one exaggerated throwaway comment he had made had killed any hope he had of keeping Selina.

‘I know it is a lot to ask, because it is your precious business, but do me a favour when you speak to Bratchet again: don’t mention what I have told you. When you caught me on the phone the other night I wasn’t calling Aunt Peggy, but Trevor, to tell him I’d seen Bratchet and learnt he was heading back to the Far East. His sort never change, and with luck he might be caught and not be able to buy his way out again.’

‘You have my word,’ Rion promised quietly, but inside he was a seething mass of emotions—fury at Bratchet, and at himself for being so blind, so arrogant he had refused to recognise the love he felt for Selina until now, when she was leaving him.

‘Thank you. And, hey, look on the bright side. If Bratchet is arrested you might get his company even cheaper and we’ll both win,’ she said facetiously.

Rion slowly shook his head, the hint of a smile quirking the corners of his mouth. ‘You are an incredible lady, Selina.’ Sadly he resigned himself to the fact she was never going to be his. He didn’t deserve her after all he had done. ‘I’ll arrange you a flight back to England.’

‘No need. I have already got my flights booked for Cambodia. I usually spend a month every year helping Beth and Trevor—though it is only going to be three weeks this time.’

Her eyes lifted to his and Rion saw the disdain in their amber depths. He knew she was remembering why her trip had been cut short. As was he. And if it was possible to feel worse he did.

‘Then let me make a donation to the charity,’ he offered.

‘It is simple. Just mail the Taylor Foundation.’ Selina reeled off the e-mail address. ‘But I would make it anonymous. Beth is a real crusader for justice—much more high-minded than me.’

Rion didn’t try to stop her when she turned to leave. Didn’t even touch her. He didn’t dare.

‘Your luggage is in the car. I’ll tell the chauffeur to take you where you want to go.’

His original thought of persuading Selina to stay a night or two more with him, never mind marry him, was dead in the water and, moving to sit at his desk, he simply nodded as she walked out of the door.

Half an hour later Rion hadn’t moved, but still sat with his head in his hands. He knew with gut-wrenching certainty that the same day he had finally realised he loved Selina he had lost her …

The phone rang and he ignored it. His secretary walked in and he told her he was not to be disturbed for the rest of the day.

He glanced around his state-of-the-art office and rose to his feet to walk to the vast glass wall. He gazed out over Athens but it did nothing for him. He had health, wealth, work he enjoyed—a great life by any standard. Yet the one person he needed was forever unobtainable to him, and the pain was crippling.