gentle affection in her voice for Stelios evoked a feeling in Andreas that he refused to acknowledge was envy. His mother had not shown him tenderness or affection when he was a child, and since he’d reached adulthood he’d avoided emotional relationships, assuring himself that he neither wanted nor needed love. He swore silently, irritated that Isla made him question the status quo of his life that he’d been perfectly content with until now.
‘Perhaps Stelios is tired for another reason,’ he growled. Isla looked puzzled and he elaborated. ‘You are a lot younger than my father and he might be wearing himself out trying to keep you happy in the bedroom.’
‘Your father and I are not lovers,’ she said stiffly.
‘Why not?’ Andreas’s eyes narrowed when she did not answer. ‘I’m curious about your relationship with Stelios. I watched the two of you at dinner last night and I’d swear you do not feel any sexual attraction for my father.’
‘Not everything is about sex,’ she snapped. ‘Relationships—meaningful relationships, not the love-’em-and-leave-’em kind that you only seem capable of—are about mutual respect, friendship and trust.’
Andreas frowned, unsettled by her fervent words. In an ideal relationship those were the qualities he would want. But he did not believe in happy ever after. Isla certainly sounded convincing, but he was sure she had an ulterior motive for wanting to marry his father. His conscience pricked that he wanted to believe the worst of her. If he believed that she was untrustworthy, it might end his annoying fascination with her. His jaw hardened.
‘My guess is that you are determined to make Stelios wait until after he has married you before you will allow him to take you to bed. As his wife you will have access to his fortune.’
Isla drew an audible breath and swung her hand up to his face, but Andreas’s reactions were quicker and he captured her wrist before she could strike him. ‘I wouldn’t,’ he advised softly.
‘You have a vile mind.’ She was breathing hard and her breasts rose and fell jerkily. Her grey eyes darkened with temper but Andreas could feel the pulse in her wrist beating erratically beneath his thumb. The air between them prickled with sexual awareness and he was certain that Isla felt it as intensely as he did. Her voice cracked when she spoke. ‘I’m not surprised that Stelios doesn’t—’ She broke off and dropped her gaze from his.
‘My father doesn’t approve of me. Is that what you were going to say?’ he drawled. It shouldn’t hurt as much as it did. He and Stelios hadn’t seen eye to eye for years.
‘He doesn’t feel able to confide in you,’ Isla muttered. ‘I wish you would talk to Stelios and resolve the differences between you, before...’
‘Before...what?’ Andreas’s brows rose. But whatever Isla had been about to say she clearly thought better of it. She pulled her wrist out of his grasp and turned and walked away. He watched her go and cursed beneath his breath.
The differences between him and his father were not easily resolvable. Stelios had been a largely absent parent when Andreas was young, spending the majority of his time running Karelis Corp, and later with his English mistress. But Andreas was no longer a teenager who saw everything as black or white. He understood how his mother’s poor health—she’d often reminded him that she had suffered a stroke due to complications during his birth—must have put a strain on his parents’ relationship. He had never felt loved by either of them. He was the Karelis heir, born and raised to take over the company which had been started by his great-grandfather. His father had not forgiven him for putting his motorbike racing career ahead of his duty—especially as Stelios had put duty to his family before his personal happiness.
Nefeli’s birthday party could not come round soon enough, Andreas brooded as he resumed his seat at the table and forced himself to eat the spanakopita that Toula had made for him. In a few days he would return to California and concentrate on managing Aeolus Racing. Maybe he’d look up the redhead who had flirted with him in a bar before he’d left for Greece. It was weeks since he’d had sex, and celibacy was not a natural state for him. Frustration was no doubt the reason for his inconvenient attraction to his father’s fiancée.
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