Ruthless Revenge: Sinful Seduction: Demetriou Demands His Child / Olivero's Outrageous Proposal / Rafael's Contract Bride

CHAPTER NINE

IOLANTHE LEANED FORWARD, her hands on the railing of Alekos’s super yacht, and lifted her face to the sea breeze. She’d been dreading these next few weeks with Alekos, not only for Niko’s sake, as he would naturally resist any change, but for her own. A few weeks in Alekos’s company and her resolve to be strong and independent would start to crack and crumble. She felt it. She knew it.

Still, she found she was enjoying this moment, with the sun warm on her head and the sea air cool on her face. The Aegean stretched before them in an undulating blanket of blue-green; Alekos had told them his private island was a few hours’ sail from the mainland.

Niko had been surprisingly adaptable, if a bit wary, about this sudden holiday. He sat now under an awning on the deck, his laptop opened on the table before him as he worked on another app.

Iolanthe watched out of the corner of her eye as Alekos approached him, his manner relaxed and easy. Out here on the sea, the wind ruffling his dark hair, his skin looking bronzed under the hot Greek sun, Alekos seemed just as formidable and attractive as he did in his office in Athens, dressed in an immaculate suit. Now he wore board shorts and a white T-shirt that the wind whipped against his chest, outlining his pectoral muscles and reminding Iolanthe of how she’d once stroked and touched his chest. She’d called him exquisite.

The memory made her cringe even as a treacherous heat flooded through her. Ten years on Alekos was just as devastatingly sexy, if not more, than he had been back when she’d been a starstruck innocent.

She tried now not to eavesdrop on his conversation with Niko, and in truth there wasn’t much to overhear. Alekos’s relaxed questions were met with tense, monosyllabic answers, her son’s gaze not moving from the computer screen.

Maybe she shouldn’t have allowed Niko to bring his laptop, but she knew it acted as a security blanket for him, as well as a confidence-booster. Away from his computer Niko was a socially awkward and uncertain child. In cyberspace, designing apps and interacting online, he was a boy genius.

Alekos left Niko to his laptop and joined her at the deck, making all of Iolanthe’s senses go on high alert. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he rested his hands on the railing—strong brown hands that she remembered the feel of against her skin.

‘This is all amazing,’ she murmured as she looked away. ‘A yacht...a private island...’ From the moment Alekos had picked them up that morning, she and Niko had experienced unprecedented luxury, from the stretch limo outfitted with video screens and a minibar to the super yacht they were now taking to Alekos’s own private paradise. Iolanthe suspected the unaccustomed treats were what was smoothing Niko’s transition from comfortable, secure routine into the unknown. So far he’d been surprisingly, quietly amenable to everything, although Iolanthe knew better than to coast along, assuming that was how it was always going to be. Still, she was enjoying the brief reprieve.

‘I thought you were used to luxury,’ Alekos remarked. ‘As the only child of a very rich man and then the wife of another very rich man.’

‘Lukas wasn’t as rich as all that,’ Iolanthe said before she could stop herself. Alekos frowned.

‘What do you mean?’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ she dismissed. She didn’t want to enlighten Alekos on the sorry state of her financial affairs. ‘In any case, I never travelled or experienced this kind of luxury. Not,’ she amended, ‘that I’m a poor little rich girl, crying over what I didn’t have. The country estate I grew up on was very well appointed.’

‘And you stayed there your whole childhood?’

‘Yes, except for the occasional trip into Athens. My father wanted to keep me sheltered.’ Her mouth twisted. ‘He was a very old-fashioned man.’

‘Do you miss him?’ Alekos asked, and Iolanthe heard a note in his tone that she couldn’t quite decipher. She didn’t think she liked it.

‘Yes, although sometimes I think I miss what we could have had if...if things had been different.’

‘You mean if we...’ He gestured between them, and then to Niko.

‘Yes.’ She bit her lip. ‘He was so angry and disappointed in me, and I’m not sure I can even blame him. But even though I disappointed him, he loved Niko.’ She smiled at her son bent over his laptop. ‘For that alone I can’t hold anything against him. And Niko adored my father.’ Talos’s admittedly sporadic attention had been a balm after Lukas’s continuous rejection. ‘His death affected him badly.’

Alekos didn’t say anything for a moment, his hooded gaze remaining on the sea. ‘Your mother died when you were young,’ he stated finally.

‘Yes.’ She slanted him a questioning glance. ‘How did you know that?’

‘I read it in a business journal.’ His mouth twisted. ‘“Talos Petrakis the Family Man”.’

‘He was a family man,’ she defended. Now she really didn’t like his tone. ‘Just a very traditional one.’ And she’d chafed against the bonds of duty her father had put on her. Still, she didn’t want Alekos criticising him, for Niko’s sake if not her own.

Alekos nodded, shifting restlessly, his hands tightening on the railing. ‘Of course.’ He didn’t sound as if he believed her. ‘Anyway, it must have been difficult to grow up without a mother.’

‘I never knew anything else.’ She glanced at him, trying to assess his mood. He’d seemed relaxed when he’d first joined her at the railing, but now he looked tense. ‘From what you said the other night, it seems like you grew up with neither.’

‘That’s correct.’ He made it sound as if she’d got a right answer on a maths test.

‘It must have been very hard for you,’ Iolanthe persisted. Having this conversation made her realise how little she knew this man—and how much she now wanted to. Understanding him a bit better could only help their dealings with each other...whatever those ended up being.

‘It was what it was,’ Alekos answered, squinting as he looked out at the glittering horizon.

‘You said that before, but it doesn’t really mean anything.’ Alekos just shrugged. Clearly he didn’t like talking about himself, or at least about his childhood. She decided to change the subject. ‘Did you make some headway with Niko?’

‘A beginning. He seems wary of me. Distrustful, even.’

‘He’s wary of everyone. You shouldn’t take it personally.’

Alekos nodded slowly, but the answer didn’t seem to satisfy him. With a sinking feeling Iolanthe wondered if Alekos would be on a mission to change Niko or try to fix him. She wanted Alekos to accept and even love their son for who he was, but she knew that would take time.

‘So tell me where we’re going,’ she said, injecting a note of brightness into her voice. ‘I heard “private island” but not much else.’

Alekos turned to her with a smiling glance, and for a few seconds Iolanthe could only blink under that topaz gaze. It had her tumbling back ten years, preening shyly under his masculine admiration. She had to remind herself that the situation was very different. She was different.

‘I suppose one private island in the Aegean is quite like another,’ he said with a little laugh.

‘I wouldn’t know.’

His smiling glance morphed into a frown of surprise. ‘You’ve been on Callos’s island, haven’t you?’

‘No. It was for business only. Entertaining clients, that sort of thing. It used to belong to my father, and he gave it to Lukas before he died. But it was never meant to be a family home.’

Alekos’s frown deepened. ‘But it was in your family for generations.’

‘You seem to know a great deal about my family,’ Iolanthe returned, her voice coming out a little more sharply than she’d intended.

‘Not as much as I thought.’ Alekos’s gaze rested on her thoughtfully, and Iolanthe’s mouth twisted wryly.

‘You thought I was a spoiled princess.’ She sighed as she stared out at the shimmering sea. ‘I suppose in some ways I was. My father was strict but growing up in the country I had plenty of freedom and luxury, lonely as it was. But since marrying Lukas...’ She pressed her lips together, not wanting to mention her marriage. The unhappiness that had burrowed deeper and deeper, a canker that by the end had poisoned everything.

‘You weren’t happy in your marriage,’ Alekos stated quietly, and wordlessly Iolanthe shook her head. She didn’t trust herself to say anything more.

Alekos rested his hand over hers on the railing, the contact jolting her right down to her toes. ‘This is a new start, Iolanthe. It can be. For all of us.’

She looked up at him, achingly conscious of the feel of his skin on hers. ‘Do you need a new start?’

‘I want to have one with you and Niko.’

Too unsettled by his surprising honesty to reply, Iolanthe slid her hand out from under his. ‘I should go check on Niko.’

Alekos glanced back at Niko, who was still immersed in his laptop. ‘He’s fine—’

Iolanthe didn’t answer, just hurried towards her son. What did Alekos mean, a new start for all of them? What was he envisioning? When he’d first proposed marriage, Iolanthe had envisioned a loveless union created for expediency’s sake. Just as her marriage to Lukas had been.

But for a moment, with Alekos’s hand on hers, she’d felt as if he’d been suggesting something else. Something more, something that harked back to that first magical night. And some desperate part of her soul longed for that.

‘How’s the app?’ Iolanthe asked as she slid on the bench across from Niko. ‘Still tracking zombies?’

Niko gave a little shake of his head. ‘I finished that one.’

‘What do you do with your apps, Niko?’ Iolanthe didn’t really understand the world her son inhabited, of online gaming and mobile apps and the rest of it. She barely used her mobile phone; she had few friends to call. Caring for Niko and being married to Lukas had completely limited her social interactions.

Niko shrugged. ‘Nothing much. Show them to some people online.’

‘Maybe you could market them,’ Iolanthe suggested. ‘Sell them through Petra Innovation.’

Niko hunched his shoulders, shooting her a dark look before looking away. ‘Father wasn’t interested in them.’

A lump rose in her throat, which she swallowed down. ‘I’m interested in them, Niko.’ Except she might not have a Petra Innovation to help develop her son’s interests and ambitions. ‘Alekos might be interested in them,’ she added. ‘Why don’t you show them to him?’

Niko shot one look at Alekos, still standing at the rail, and shook his head. ‘No.’

Iolanthe decided not to press. She knew that Niko was afraid of rejection, just as she was. Alekos might be whisking them away to his private island, but Iolanthe still didn’t trust what he wanted from them in the long term. What if, after a few days, he grew tired of them? Impatient with Niko’s quirks and bored of her? He’d certainly bored of her quickly the last time they’d spent any time together.

Trying to ignore the nerves now churning in her stomach, Iolanthe smiled at Niko and left him to his laptop. She’d brought a book but she didn’t feel as if she could concentrate to read. She closed her eyes instead, trying to enjoy the sun on her face and simply be.

She must have dozed off without realising because the next thing she knew Alekos was standing in front of her, blocking the sun, a hand on her shoulder. ‘You’ll get sunburned.’

Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at him dazedly. With the sun behind him he looked dark and tall, forbidding and sexy. She pressed one hand to her cheek, shaking her head to try to clear the cobwebs. ‘I’m under the awning.’

‘The sun’s moved.’ Alekos cocked his head. ‘You’re going to have a red stripe down your face if you’re not careful.’

‘I put sun cream on,’ Iolanthe said as she moved farther under the awning. She didn’t relish the thought of sporting a ridiculous-looking sunburn.

‘Lunch will be ready in a few minutes,’ Alekos said as he slid onto the bench next to hers. His thigh nudged hers and Iolanthe felt her senses see-saw crazily from just that brief contact. She froze, unsure whether to inch away from him or act as if she hadn’t noticed.

‘When will we arrive at the island?’

‘Another hour or so.’ He turned a smiling glance on his son. ‘Still surfing the Internet, Niko?’ He spoke lightly but Iolanthe could see the worry in his eyes, feel it in the taut length of muscle next to her leg. He wanted to bond with Niko.

‘Yeah.’ Niko ducked his head, not looking at Alekos, and Iolanthe knew he didn’t want to tell Alekos about the apps because he didn’t want to risk scorn or derision. Lukas’s silent rejection of her child ran deep.

The member of Alekos’s staff who had been discreetly seeing to their needs on the yacht now called them to the aft deck where a table and chairs had been brought out, set for what looked like a lavish lunch.

‘This is amazing,’ Iolanthe murmured as Alekos pulled out her chair. She surveyed the spread of different pitas and dips, several fresh salads and a tray of roasted meat with appreciation.

‘Dig in,’ Alekos said lightly as he popped the cork on a bottle of sparkling wine and poured Iolanthe a very full glass.

She gave an uncertain laugh. ‘It’s the middle of the afternoon...’

‘We’re celebrating.’ Alekos’s eyes met hers, and she saw both heat and expectation in their tawny depths. The knowledge that he still desired her, that something might actually happen between them again, sent alarm bells jangling in her head and heat pooling low in her belly.

‘Why not?’ she murmured, and took the glass of bubbly from him.

Alekos sat opposite and served everyone from the different dishes, asking Niko what he preferred, keeping the conversation light and easy. Iolanthe watched out of the corner of her eye as the tension that had kept her son’s slight body rigid slowly eased. He didn’t talk much and he only picked at his food, but it was progress.

After they’d eaten Niko went to sit farther on the aft deck, facing the sea, watching the water churn and foam as the yacht cut smoothly through the water.

Iolanthe watched him with wry pleasure. ‘You’ve managed to pry him off his laptop.’

‘I think it’s most likely the surroundings rather than me,’ Alekos answered, topping up both of their glasses and leaning back in his chair.

Iolanthe already felt pleasantly relaxed and slightly muddle-headed from the wine. After the near-constant levels of stress of the last few months—or years, if she was honest—it felt rather wonderful.

And the surroundings Niko was currently enjoying were incredible—azure sky, lemon-yellow sun, and sparkling aquamarine water in every direction. ‘Still, it’s a blessing,’ she said as she took a sip of the sparkling wine. It was crisp and bubbly on her tongue. ‘And I’ve learned not to take those for granted.’ She spoke the words unthinkingly, too relaxed to guard her tongue, and Alekos swept her with a considering gaze.

‘How have you learned that, Iolanthe?’

Something about the way he said her name, taking his time with the syllables, made a tremor go through her. Just seeing him there sprawled in his chair, the T-shirt moulded to his chest and the board shorts emphasising his long, muscular legs, the wind ruffling his dark hair, caused another tremor. He was so beautiful, with his bronze skin and topaz eyes and air of utter masculine authority. Her gaze fell to his fingers cradling his wine glass and she remembered what those fingers had felt like on her body, touching her in secret places. Quickly she looked away.

‘I suppose it’s called growing up,’ she said with a wry smile. ‘Happens to everybody.’

‘Maybe,’ Alekos allowed. ‘But some people have to grow up more quickly than others.’

‘Like you did?’ She’d rather talk about him than herself, and in truth she was curious about his past and the few references he’d made to it.

‘Yes, I suppose I had to grow up fast,’ Alekos said. His voice was measured, a little wary.

‘Tell me,’ Iolanthe said. ‘Considering our...situation, we should get to know more about one another.’

Alekos looked as if he was about to resist but then he caught sight of Niko gazing out at the water and he said, reluctance audible in his voice, ‘What do you want to know?’

‘You said you lost both your parents when you were young.’

A terse nod. ‘My father left when I was four years old.’

‘You mean...he just walked out?’

‘That’s exactly what I mean.’ Alekos shrugged, rotating his glass between his fingers as he gazed down into its swirling depths. ‘Plenty of men shirk their responsibilities to their families. I never intend to be one of them.’

Guilt assailed her then, as piercing and accurate as an arrow. ‘That’s what you said...’ she began, and Alekos’s gaze narrowed.

‘When?’

‘Then. That night.’ And just like that the memory of that evening seemed to shimmer in the air between them, and Iolanthe felt her limbs tremble with weakness as desire flooded through her. How could it still be so strong, after all these years? After all the sadness? But maybe her reaction to Alekos was simply because she hadn’t felt desire or experienced male attention for a long, long time. For the entire length of her marriage.

‘Yes, I did say that then,’ Alekos said. His gaze was trained on hers, seeking, burning. ‘And I meant it.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she said quietly. ‘I hadn’t realised about your past...’

He shook his head. ‘I didn’t tell you. And the truth is...’ He glanced down at his glass again, his expression shadowed. ‘I didn’t act charitably towards you then. That night or after.’

Iolanthe could feel her heart bumping in her chest. She’d never expected Alekos, so cold and arrogant and unyielding, to admit even that much. Deciding the mood needed to be lightened, she gave him a small, wry smile. ‘Wait, was that actually an apology?’

He smiled back, slow and sensual, making her senses somersault. ‘Something like it.’

‘I’ll take it. Thank you.’ She took a deep breath. ‘And I didn’t act charitably towards you in keeping my pregnancy from you. I’m sorry.’

‘Apology accepted.’

Was it that easy? They’d said their apologies, they could draw a line across the past, and start afresh? Did she even want that? Confused by her own muddled feelings, Iolanthe took another sip of wine, gazing out at the horizon to keep from looking at Alekos with what she feared might be hunger in her eyes.

Being here with him like this, when he seemed warm and approachable and sexy, brought back too many memories. Wonderful memories, and other, awful ones corroded by confusion and hurt. Tangled together, they made her more uncertain than ever, not knowing how to feel.