as though discussing the weather. ‘As I was saying, your uncle is in need of a substantial loan. A loan to keep Demarchis Shipping afloat…literally. This puts me in an interesting position, wouldn’t you say?’ He didn’t wait for her answer. ‘I was quite prepared to do business with Alexei, as it suits my needs, too, but now things are intriguingly different. Needless to say, it won’t make the slightest bit of difference to me should I choose not to help him. But it would make all the difference in the world to him…and your family.’
The lines in his face were unbearably harsh and Kallie quailed at how time and circumstances had turned this man into such a lethal combination of sheer ruthlessness and icy cool. And at the part she had unwittingly played.
He continued unflinchingly, ‘He’s a tough old dog, but he’s exhausted every other avenue and, as he told me himself, I’m his last hope…’
Kallie was stung with guilt that she hadn’t known, that her uncle hadn’t confided in her. That she could somehow be instrumental in potentially doing damage to her family hurt her unbearably. Yet still, even through this, she was so aware of Alexandros across the table that she felt dizzy with his presence.
‘How have they not told me—I mean, how is this possible?’
She suddenly looked very young and lost and alone to Alexandros. Her eyes were huge, shimmering, blue and green. And he felt something twist in his chest before he ruthlessly quashed it back down.
‘Who knows? By selling your shares so promptly, by coming here to Paris, moving away from the UK—your mother’s own home, and your father’s adopted home—perhaps Alexei and your family thought you were taking a stand away from them, weren’t interested in their problems.’
It killed her that he could deduce this, but she hadn’t. And the familiar wave of grief washed through her. She lifted pain-filled eyes to his, speaking without thinking. ‘It wasn’t like that. It just became too much. After the funeral, the business was all they could talk about. All they ever talked about. My father had as good as taken his own life, and my mother’s with him and no one wanted to talk about that. It was Demarchis Shipping this, Demarchis Shipping that…’ She broke off when her voice caught and she desperately blinked back the sting of tears, hating that he might see any hint of vulnerability.
She strenuously fought to hide the brightness from his narrowed gaze and only looked back when she felt more under control. He had an intense look on his face. And then it was gone. Replaced with that implacability again. She hardened her own jaw.
The emotion that had softened her features could have been a figment of Alexandros’s imagination and he felt himself flounder slightly. This wasn’t going exactly how he’d imagined it. He wanted to reach over and run the pad of his thumb across her cheeks, down to her lips…cup her delicate jaw. He was fast losing the thread of why they were there. All he wanted was to stop talking and take her to bed. Spread her underneath him. The speed with which this woman had taken over his senses shocked him.
Kallie felt anger boil up at the unfairness of it all. All she had done had been to bare her heart and soul to this man. And he had crushed that into the dust. Before the story had even erupted. She jabbed a finger towards him. ‘Look, Alexandros, I can’t undo the past any more than you can, with all your money. And I wasn’t alone out there that night. I may have…initiated things. I tried to tell my parents, to explain…but they wouldn’t listen.’
He held up a hand, derision on his face. ‘Please. It’s a bit late to try and tell me that you defended my honour when you cold-bloodedly arranged for the photo and the breathless story in the papers—that shows a level of premeditation on a par with the most corrupt politician. But…’ he silenced her protest with a look ‘…there is one way that Alexei need never know about this, one way that I will give him his loan, help him out of this situation he’s become embroiled in.’
She flushed at yet another indication of how much he knew and focused on how she could avert a disaster within her family. ‘How’s that?’
‘You, Kallie.’
And then before his words could sink into her head, which felt like it might explode, he asked her abruptly, ‘Do you remember my uncle Dimitri?’
She nodded, her brain still scrambled, trying to make sense of everything.
‘He died a month ago.’
‘I didn’t hear that he was unwell. I’m sorry,’ she said stiffly, wondering where this was going.
He shrugged, his face closed, belying the fact that he had loved Dimitri like a father. Something he would have credited Kallie with knowing…once.
‘It was sudden.’ His black gaze fixed on Kallie. ‘It’s part of the reason I’ve asked you here.’
Along with the burning desire that holds you in a grip so tight you have to shift in your seat every two seconds.
A pulse beat at his temple.
Kallie’s face felt rigid. She couldn’t help the sarcastic response. ‘Well, I was wondering…You were hardly calling to reminisce about old times.’
Shut up, Kallie!
He didn’t seem to notice her self-flagellating turmoil. The waiter appeared, removing their plates. Kallie refused dessert, ordering a coffee, Alexandros asked for a liqueur. He waited until his drink arrived before fixing her with that intense gaze again. He wasn’t going to make this easy. Kallie’s full armour was erected against him.
‘I have to admit that bumping into you was a shock…but also perfect timing, a certain kind of serendipity, if you will.’
She looked at him warily. ‘Timing, for what exactly?’
He looked at her across the table. He clenched his jaw and refused to let his gaze drop to that shadowy line of her cleavage, the gem on the end of that same pendant swaying back and forth, kissing her skin. Skin that looked soft and…He clenched his jaw even harder and focused with effort.
Think of what you need. Focus on business. This is business. And revenge…Nothing else.
Alexandros valiantly concentrated on that and not on Kallie’s all too grown-up charms. There’d be time for that later, he vowed.
‘I need a convenient wife, and you, Kallie, I’ve decided, are going to oblige me.’
Kallie looked at him dumbly, shock washing through her body.
‘I’M SORRY?’
‘You should be, Kallie. It’s time to start atoning for what you did seven years ago. I bet you never thought it would catch up with you. I have to admit, I hadn’t planned on doing anything, I was quite happy to settle for never crossing your path again, but bumping into you the other night, together with a slightly…’ His mouth twisted as he looked for words. ‘Unfortunate set of circumstances that I’m in, has all been very fortuitous.’
A nightmare. She had to be stuck in some kind of nightmare. This couldn’t be real. Kallie’s mind disengaged from everything. She looked around dumbly and could see couples dining. Lovers holding
