It was a large, airy room with a wooden floor and pale grey walls hung with photographs of his various hotels. His desk was in front of the massive window with its views over Athens, and in one corner was a trio of armchairs. Against another wall was a series of bookcases. It was clean and clinical and efficient. Like the man himself.
She headed towards the desk, prepared to sit in the seat opposite him, as she had before, but instead he steered her towards the armchairs. ‘We’ll be more comfortable here.’
Dione did not want to be comfortable; she wanted to say what she had to say and get out quickly. Not the right sort of thought when Theo was her prospective husband—though actually she was hoping that he’d had a change of heart. A hope that was quickly dashed when he flashed his wolfish teeth.
‘Can I presume that the reason you’re here is to declare that you’ll marry me after all?’
Two pairs of brown eyes met and warred, and Dione was the first to look away. ‘I’d like to be able to say no,’ she snapped, ignoring the stammer of her heart. This man was lethal. Deadly attractive but a danger all the same.
‘You’re a free agent.’ The words were tossed lightly and dismissively into the air and Dione gained the impression that he couldn’t care less. That this was all some sort of game to him.
‘Meaning you’ve changed your mind?’ she enquired sharply, mentally crossing her fingers that this was so.
‘Not at all.’ It was a simple, matter-of-fact answer; he was giving her no help whatsoever. In fact he was enjoying her discomfort.
‘In that case,’ she said in a voice not much above a whisper, ‘I’ll do as you ask.’
‘I’m sorry, I can’t hear you.’
Damn the man! A satisfied smile played about his sculpted lips and his eyes were filled with amusement. She felt pretty sure that he had heard. He just wanted to hear her say it again. He liked seeing her squirm.
‘I said, I’ll do as you ask.’ There, was that loud enough for him? She’d projected the words as though she was throwing a missile, hoping they’d smash into his face and wipe some of the pleasure off it.
No such luck! His smile widened and deepened and he leaned forward and took her hands into his. ‘There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?’
Dione huffed and said nothing.
‘You’re not happy?’
‘No, I’m not.’
‘But I’m guessing your father’s delirious?’
‘He was pleased, yes.’
‘He must really have hit rock-bottom.’
Dione flashed furious dark eyes at him. ‘He has, and he’s in hospital fighting for his life because of it.’
Theo frowned. ‘I didn’t know that.’
‘There’s a lot about my father you don’t know.’
‘And a lot I do,’ he growled. ‘He’s unscrupulous. I bet he had no hesitation in saying you should marry me. How he could have produced a daughter like you I don’t know.’
‘How do you know I’m not unscrupulous too?’ she riposted, wishing she could jump up and run. This was the most humiliating experience of her life.
‘I’m good at reading people.’
‘How do you know that if I marry you I won’t take you for every penny you’ve got?’ she slammed at him.
‘Because I’ve already had a contract drawn up. I—’
‘You’ve what?’ interjected Dione in horror. ‘You were that sure I’d say yes?’
‘Absolutely,’ he agreed, stretching out his long legs and linking his hands behind his head.
He looked so relaxed she wanted to take a swipe at him, knock some of that pleasure off his damnably handsome face. ‘You bastard!’
Theo’s well-shaped brows rose. ‘Tut, tut, Dione! Here was I, thinking you were a lady.’
‘You bring out the worst in me,’ she savaged.
‘It’s not all I plan to bring out in you,’ he said with a cruel smile. ‘Let’s get down to business. You are here to say that you will marry me in return for me bailing your father out of trouble?’
Dione swallowed hard, ignored the little voice inside her head that told her to get up and run, ignored the thought of a nice, safe English marriage to Chris Donovan, and nodded.
His lips curved in satisfaction. ‘I never thought I’d say this, but your father’s a very lucky man, do you know that? Not many girls would do this for their father. Pray tell me, why do you love him so much? Or is it perhaps because you fear him?’ He saw the flicker in her eyes and nodded. ‘He has you in the same stranglehold as everyone else. I pity you, Dione, having a father like that, though I applaud what you are doing.’
‘Only because it’s in your favour,’ she snorted, deeply annoyed that he had summed up the situation so correctly. Did everyone know that her father was a control freak?
‘As I said, I’ve had a contract drawn up; all you have to do is sign it.’ He rose from the chair and strode across to his desk.
Dione watched, her heart aching with a pain she had never felt before. Sorrow, anger, despair. Not that she let Theo see any of this. When he returned to his seat she lifted her chin and sat that little bit straighter. ‘I have a few stipulations of my own before I sign anything.’
Dark brows rose. ‘Are you in any position?’
‘I think I am.’
He lifted broad shoulders. ‘I beg to differ on that point, but go ahead. Unless, of course, you’d like to read my contract first? You might be pleasantly surprised.’
Dione privately doubted it, but maybe she ought to take a look before she jumped in with her own criteria.
It wasn’t a long document, but in essence it gave him full power to treat her as he liked in return for helping her father out of his financial troubles. ‘To become my wife in every sense for as long as I desire,’ were the words that sprang out from the page.
Not on his life!
She thrust it back at him. ‘No! Absolutely no!’
‘To what exactly?’ he enquired insouciantly. He had clearly expected her denial and was now going to take great pleasure in having her spell it out to him.
‘I will not go to bed with you.’ When all her friends had been sleeping around Dione had kept her virginity, saving it for the man she would eventually marry—someone she loved and respected. She had thought Chris that man until very recently. But she was definitely not giving herself to Theo Tsardikos. Not ever! ‘Nor will I remain married to you for longer than one year,’ she added stormily. ‘In all
