Smokescreen Marriage

‘Take me back to the ground floor, please.’ Kate was shaking suddenly. ‘I want to go home—now.’

‘It will be safer for you to remain at the hotel tonight.’ He paused. ‘I have a confession to make to you, thespinis. I sent Takis to spill your drink deliberately.’

‘You must be crazy.’ Kate felt dizzy suddenly. ‘You can’t hope to get away with this—even if you do own the place.’

‘Ah,’ he said softly. ‘So you know who I am.’

‘Your fame goes before you. But I’m not interested in being added to your list of conquests.’

He laughed. ‘You flatter yourself, my red-headed vixen. My motives, for once, are purely altruistic.’

The lift doors opened, and Kate found herself being marched along a wide corridor towards a pair of double doors at the end.

‘No.’ There was real panic in her voice. ‘I want to go home.’

‘So you shall,’ he said. ‘In the morning when I am sure you have suffered no lasting ill effects.’

‘Ill effects?’ Kate echoed, as another wave of dizziness assailed her. ‘What are you talking about.’

He said flatly, ‘Your drink was spiked, thespinis. I saw your companion do it.’

‘Spiked,’ Kate repeated. ‘You mean—drugged? But—why?’

He shrugged. ‘To make you more amenable, perhaps.’ He opened the door, and guided her into the room beyond. ‘There is something called the date-rape drug. You may have heard of it.’

She said numbly, ‘Heard of it—yes. But you must be mistaken. It can’t be true…’

His mouth twisted. ‘If the man you were with had asked you to sleep with him tonight, would you have agreed?’

She gasped. ‘God—no. He’s repulsive.’

‘But might not take rejection well, all the same,’ he said drily. ‘Which is why you must not return to your apartment tonight.’

‘But I have to.’ Kate was shaking. She put a hand to her forehead, trying to steady herself. Collect her thoughts. ‘My—my things are there. I’m going back to England tomorrow. Besides, they may have drugged Lisa too.’

His mouth curled. ‘I doubt they would need to.’

She said hotly, ‘You have no right to say that. You don’t know her.’

He smiled faintly, ‘I admire your loyalty, thespinis, if not your judgement. Now, I think you should lie down before you fall down,’ he added with a slight frown.

‘I’m—fine,’ Kate said thickly.

‘I don’t think so,’ he said, and picked her up in his arms.

She knew she should protest—that she should kick and fight, but it was so much easier to rest her head against his shoulder and close her eyes, and let him carry her.

She could feel the warmth of his body through his clothing. Could smell the faint muskiness of some cologne he wore.

She sensed a blur of shaded light, and felt the softness of a mattress beneath her. Dimly she was aware of her zip being unfastened and her dress removed, and tried to struggle—to utter some panicked negation.

A woman’s voice spoke soothingly. ‘Rest easily, little one. All will be well.’

Kate felt the caress of clean, crisp linen against her bare skin, and then the last vestiges of reality slid away, and she slept.

She dreamed fitfully, in brief wild snatches, her body twisting away from the image of Dimitris bending towards her with hot eyes and greedy hands, her voice crying out in soundless horror.

Once, there seemed to be a man’s voice speaking right above her in Greek. ‘She could solve your immediate problem.’

And heard a cool drawl that she seemed to recognise in the wry response, ‘And create a hundred more…’

She wondered who they were—what they were talking about? But it was all too much effort when she was tired—so tired.

And, as she drifted away again, she felt a hand gently touch her hair, and stroke her cheek.

And smiled in her sleep.

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