his. The sultry gleam in his eyes filled her with trepidation, and at the same time a fierce jolt of shameful excitement.
She was exquisite, Thanos acknowledged, his heart kicking in his chest. He hated himself for his reaction to her, for the urgent tide of desire that swept through his body that weakened and unmanned him. He knew Tahlia possessed the morals of a whore, and he knew the pain she had caused his sister, but his awareness of her consumed him and overrode every other consideration but his need to make love to her.
He inhaled sharply, re-imposing control over his hormones, and trailed his eyes over her in a cool assessment.
‘Very nice,’ he drawled, watching in fascination as twin spots of colour flared on her pale cheeks. Her ability to blush at will was a useful trick in her armoury, as was her air of innocence, he reminded himself impatiently. But he could not prevent himself from reaching out and tracing the fragile line of her collarbone. Her skin felt like satin beneath his fingertips, and her long pale amber hair fell in a curtain of silk around her shoulders. He brushed it aside to reveal the slender column of her throat, then lowered his mouth to the pulse beating frenetically at its base. She smelled divine, her light floral perfume tantalising his senses and driving every thought from his head other than his burning need to possess her.
Tahlia held her breath when Thanos trailed his lips along her jaw in a feather-light caress that sent a tremor through her. Was he going to make love to her right now? Remove her bra and knickers and stroke his strong hands over her naked body before tugging her down onto the sofa? His mouth was tantalisingly close, and the gleam in his eyes filled her with apprehension—and at the same time a wild and uncontrollable excitement. There was no point in kidding herself; she wanted him to kiss her. She snatched a frantic little breath as he slowly lowered his head.
He claimed her mouth in a kiss of determined intent, forcing her lips apart and thrusting his tongue between them to explore her with erotic thoroughness. To her shame, Tahlia was lost from the first touch; he was so big and powerful, and she knew that if she fought him she would lose. Besides, she did not want to fight him, she acknowledged with searing honesty. Heat was coursing through her veins, and she felt boneless and supremely conscious of the melting warmth pooling between her thighs.
He increased the pressure of his mouth and slid one hand into her hair, while the other roamed up and down her body, skimmed her hips and slender waist, then curled around one breast. The brush of his thumb pad over her nipple caused it to harden beneath her sheer lace bra.
She had not expected the firestorm of emotions that raged through her. Her whole body seemed to be burning up, and the throbbing hardness of Thanos’s arousal thrusting into her pelvis turned the fire into a raging inferno. She slid her hands over his chest, feeling the heat of his body through his silk shirt, and suddenly it was not enough. She wanted to feel his bare flesh beneath her fingertips. Fingers shaking slightly, she began to unfasten his buttons, revealing olive-gold skin covered with fine dark hairs, but before she had reached halfway down his abdomen he lifted his head, and his hands closed over hers in a vice like grip.
‘Your eagerness to share my bed is flattering,’ he drawled, watching dispassionately as colour surged into Tahlia’s cheeks. ‘But we have an early start in the morning, and I prefer to wait and enjoy you at my leisure.’
He had known from the moment he had taken her in his arms that one night would not be enough to pacify the ravenous beast that had taken charge of his body, Thanos acknowledged. His desire for her was beyond anything he had experienced with any other woman, and he would not be satisfied with a hurried sex session—a few snatched hours of pleasure before he left for an urgent business meeting tomorrow. For reasons he could not fathom Tahlia was a drug in his veins, and he intended to make her his mistress for as long as it took to slake his hunger for her.
‘We have an early start?’Tahlia mumbled, so excruciatingly embarrassed by her ardent response to him and his cool rejection of her that she wanted to crawl away and die. ‘I don’t understand.’ Had he changed his mind about wanting her? Sick fear surged through her. Had he ordered her to take off her dress because it had amused him to tease her before he revealed that he would not buy Reynolds Gems?
‘It’s quite simple,’ he told her, picking up her dress and handing it to her. His harsh, ‘Cover yourself,’ brought another flare of scorching colour to her cheeks. ‘I’m flying to the Greek island of Mykonos to visit my new hotel first thing in the morning—and you’re coming with me. I shall require your services for one month,’ he continued smoothly, ignoring Tahlia’s gasp of shock. ‘That should satisfy my more basic urges. I’ve no doubt I’ll have grown bored of you after you’ve shared my bed for a few weeks.’
‘I’m not going anywhere with you and—and certainly not for a month,’ Tahlia stammered when she finally found her voice. She wobbled precariously on her high heels as she stepped into her dress and tugged it up over her hips, with scant regard for the fragile material. She thrust her arms through the straps, gasping when Thanos spun her round and slid the zip up the length of her spine.
He swung her back to face him and cupped her chin in his hand, forcing her to meet his sardonic gaze. ‘You are exceptionally lovely, Tahlia, but even you must admit that a six-figure sum for one night of sex with you would be an extravagance—even for a billionaire.’
She blanched at the flare of contempt in his eyes, and accepted that she had taken leave of her sanity when she had agreed to sell herself to him. ‘I have responsibilities here—commitments, a job…’Although she would not have one for much longer if Thanos bought out Reynolds Gems, she acknowledged dismally. The future was frighteningly uncertain. ‘I can’t spend a month in Greece with you,’ she said dully. ‘It’s impossible.’
Thanos shrugged and withdrew his mobile phone from his trouser pocket. ‘That’s a pity, because I was just about to call Steven Holt and instruct him to proceed with buying Reynolds Gems. But if you’ve changed your mind I’ll tell him not to go ahead.’
She was halfway across the room, heading for the door. But his words stopped her in her tracks. She turned slowly back to face him, her brain whirling. ‘You can’t phone him now—it’s almost midnight,’ she pointed out.
‘I can do whatever I like,’ he informed her, with a supreme arrogance that took her breath away. ‘I did not make my fortune by working nine till five. My employees know that I expect them to be available whenever I need them.’
Presumably he would have the same expectation of her if she went to Greece with him? A tremor ran down Tahlia’s spine at the thought. She could carry on walking out of the door and out of Thanos’s life—and all her instincts were screaming at her that she should walk away—but he was offering her the chance to save Carlton House from repossession, the voice in her head argued. The price was high. Could she survive a month as Thanos’s mistress? What was one month compared to the rest of her parents’ lives?
She snatched a breath and squared her shoulders as she met his hooded gaze. ‘I want written assurance that you will honour our deal. I’m afraid I don’t trust your word.’
Anger surged through Thanos at her disdainful tone, but he refrained from pointing out that she was not in a position to demand anything. ‘My legal team will take care of it,’ he told her dismissively. ‘Would you like your duties to be listed—how many times a night I will expect you to pleasure me, perhaps a description of positions…?’
‘That won’t be necessary,’ Tahlia said sharply, conscious that her face was burning hotter than a furnace. ‘I just want to be sure my father’s financial worries will be over.’
‘How very altruistic of you,’ he
