by Kali Anthony
Such a brave statement. Christo smiled. He’d been told he looked wolf-like when he did, so he tried for a less predatory edge. Elena shuddered, and wilted a fraction. Ah, so he’d failed. Again.
He sighed, reaching into his pocket for his phone. Pressed speed dial. ‘Raul,’ he said evenly, ‘I need you. Miss Drakos would like to dance.’
He’d attend to Thea soon enough. From the corner of his eye he glimpsed her, standing straight. Stiff. Glancing at the door. Would she run or hold her ground? He suspected the former and hoped for the latter. Why? It was hard to say. He was used to women running when life didn’t meet their expectations. His mother had been the finest advocate of that coping strategy.
Raul, his appointed head of security and best man, arrived at the door. Elena was the maid of honour. She was required to dance with Raul at some point. Now was an opportune time as any.
‘Elena stays.’
The lady speaks. Although it was more like a hiss. Quiet. Serpentine. Curling a chill tight on his spine.
He ignored it. ‘Elena, you’ll dance with Raul now.’
Christo had little doubt she’d leave. His commands were invariably followed. Raul held out his hand. His prospective dance partner took it, removed her ridiculous hat, placed it on a chair and left the room with a tearful ‘Sorry...’ to Christo’s bride. Such a touching moment.
He turned his attention to Thea.
She didn’t wilt. She stood rigid. Head held high. So fierce and proud. Dressed in jeans and leather with exquisitely coiffed and braided hair. All contradiction—such a heady mix.
A tantalising buzz thrummed through him.
‘How long were you hiding there?’ she asked.
Christo would allow her some questions. He had a lifetime to get answers of his own.
‘Long enough.’
‘And you watched us dress?’
He shrugged. ‘There was nothing to see.’
She’d been half dressed already. Yet even in the darkened room Thea had blinded him. Her gentle curves. The slender waist. That crushing corset. An interesting foil for jeans and heavy boots... Everything about her had proved interesting tonight.
‘I didn’t realise my husband lurked. I would never have married you if I’d known. Lurkers can’t be trusted.’
He laughed. Such an unfamiliar thing it sounded more like a bark. Thea didn’t flinch. Most people would have.
‘That’s something I’ve never been accused of. I’ll add it to the list of my many documented achievements.’
His laughter seemed to increase her courage. She took a step forward. Still clutching her gloves, helmet and a white envelope. He wanted that envelope.
Instead of taking it, as he would in due course, Christo allowed her another question. He knew it was coming. Her brows creased in a slight frown and her mouth was opening and closing a fraction, as if silently practising the words.
‘How did you find out?’
Her voice stroked soft as a feather over his skin. The perfect balance of seduction and wheedling. Lashes downcast. Deferential. If she’d been close enough no doubt she’d have placed a fine-boned hand on his. Gazed into his eyes. Perhaps granted him a few false tears. Such a subtle act, and all too familiar.
He despised it.
‘Take care, Thea. I don’t endure theatrics.’
She tossed her head and the artfully placed curls of her hair flicked and bounced. ‘I’m no performing seal.’
‘Then what’s today been about, if not a performance?’
He’d known she had spark. That much had been evident in the interminable parades he suspected her father had imposed upon her each time Christo had visited their ostentatious home. Thea’s beauty shone fierce and bright, and such beauty came from intelligence. Yet she’d attempted to hide it from him until today.
When he’d lifted her veil there it had been, boiling through her icy veneer. Those eyes...tight and burning with hatred. He’d almost recoiled, witnessing the wild creature beneath. And then her face had smoothed, as if a wave had washed away writing on sand, and it had gone.
But he’d watched her at the reception. She and her friend wandering to and from this room. The furtive whispers between them. After one trip Thea’s skirt had hung more loosely. After another the hem had dragged on the floor. So he’d schooled Raul, had the door to the alley placed under guard and silently thwarted her plans.
Creeping into this room to wait in the darkness was beneath him, perhaps. Still, he’d needed to witness the deception personally. It would serve as a reminder of why he couldn’t trust.
Thea hadn’t taken long to reveal herself.
‘Today? It was about escaping you.’
The words might sting, but he was used to his parents’ rejection so what did one more matter? He’d been the child they’d weaponised to hurt each other, not loved for being their son. That was what the people closest to you were capable of.
He’d inured himself against the pain of those boyhood lessons years ago. Never again would he beg for meagre crumbs of affection from another’s table. All he dealt in now were cold truths and hard cash. And Atlas Shipping, the company his grandfather had founded, was his ultimate and only reward for being born into the misery of his family.
Christo walked towards Thea, towering above her. At six foot four, he towered above most people. It was an edge which many might exploit, but he refused to be known as a bully.
He rolled his tight shoulders. Swallowed down the anger roiling in his gut. Tried again for a smile which was conciliatory. Who knew whether it had worked? As she looked up at him Thea’s face was as blank as a fresh sheet of paper.
‘You want an escape, and yet I still have you.’
Christo plucked the envelope from her hand and slid it into the inner pocket of his tuxedo. Thea wasn’t expecting it. She broke a little. A slump of her shoulders. A tremble in her bottom lip. Her freedom had been stolen, as his had been.
Would she understand? He almost felt sorry for her in that moment, but finer feelings had no place here. Later he might make time to regret what he had to do. Not tonight.
‘Wait. I can’t... I won’t...’
Emotion ran high in her voice as it quavered and cracked. Nothing moved him. He had no choice. She’d realise soon enough and then a deal could be struck—although only on his terms, because her compliance was essential.
‘Did you really think your childish plan would work?’ He schooled his voice, low and sharp as a blade. He’d witnessed grown men crumble at this tone. ‘That I wouldn’t notice the switch immediately with only that monstrosity of a headpiece as a disguise?’ He nodded to the discarded hat.
She dropped her helmet and gloves onto a chair. Brushed a fine strand of hair behind her ear. ‘It was all about misdirection.’
‘So now you’re playing conjuror’s tricks?’
‘I was supposed to be a happy, blushing bride—not a prisoner planning an escape. People saw what they wanted to.’
Well, her confidence was misplaced. Time to show her.
He cupped her chin in his right hand, felt Thea’s perfect skin, silky and warm under his fingers. Her lips thinned, but she didn’t move.
‘I see your cognac eyes. Your skin like mountain honey. And your hair rich as dark chocolate,’ he said, his voice pitched soft as a caress. ‘I see your haughty grace as you walk. The ferocity in your gaze. I see who you try to hide. I see you, Thea.’
A new look flickered across her face. That look he understood. Those incendiary eyes were all flash and fire. He wanted to set her alight and watch her burn. But he wouldn’t. He wasn’t weak, like his father. Falling for lies about love. Letting a woman trap him into marriage. Love was for vulnerable fools. Not him. Having once been a weapon, he’d learned how to defend himself. And love was the deadliest weapon of them all.
Yet as he looked down a
t her, Thea’s glorious lips parted. Her pupils went dark and wide. So he dropped his head and brushed his lips across hers as a test. For effect. She gasped when he pulled away.
‘Elena is a pretty dark-haired, brown-eyed girl,’ he said, his lips burning where they’d touched hers. ‘But she could never pass as you. You’re a fool to imagine it.’
He released this new Thea. This aware Thea.
She raised shaking fingers to her lips. He took her free hand, dropped the rings back into it. She snatched her hand away and looked down at them, eyes still wide. Not so good at hiding now. Her mouth fell open, her skin paling to ivory.
He knew that look too. Horror.
His stomach clenched. He’d felt much the same when he’d realised he required a bride. A cruel trick of his father’s. Christo had sworn off marriage until Hector’s actions made it necessary. His father had procured secret loans from Thea’s. Failed to pay the crippling interest. Become indebted to a man who had demanded Christo’s marriage to his daughter to stop the impending foreclosure.
Christo didn’t want this debacle any more than Thea did. Still, no matter how distasteful the task, he’d do whatever was required to save Atlas Shipping. To secure his birthright, his inheritance and the company his father had nearly destroyed.
‘It would have worked,’ Thea whispered. ‘It would have.’
‘Perhaps if you’d married anyone else. Unfortunately, you married me.’
Thea’s hand clenched into a fist, tight around the rings. ‘And what’s so special about you?’
‘I understand people.’ He’d learned as a child. So he knew when to hide from his hostile mother. To avoid his mercurial father. For Christo, people were transparent as glass. ‘It’s why I’m unparalleled in business.’
‘I’d say you have an unparalleled ego.’
He stalked past Thea and opened the rear door of the room. The gritty smell of real life wafted in from the alley behind. He spoke to the man outside and ordered him in.
‘An ego’s only worth something if it’s backed by ability. Which I have. You see, Thea, your plan wouldn’t have worked.’ He stood back and let her take in the hulking security guard he’d posted outside. ‘There was no chance you’d escape. Every exit was being watched. Your transportation is now safely in my garage. You’d failed even before you’d begun. Accept it.’
He nodded to his man, who left the room. Thea watched him go, realisation spreading across her face.
‘I’m not a slave to be traded. I won’t stay with you. This marriage is a sham.’
In some ways, he agreed with her. Yet here he stood, with a gold wedding band prickling on his finger. Thea still held her rings. He needed her to put them on. If she did, he’d won—for tonight.
‘You’re asking me to return you to the tender care of your father?’ A man Christo suspected didn’t have a sentimental, loving bone in his body.
Thea grabbed the back of a spindly chair, clutching it till her fingers blanched. ‘I’m asking you to let me go.’
‘No.’
Christo had heard whispers about Tito Lambros. He was reported to be cruel and vindictive. The bitter burn of loathing coursed like poison through his veins. That his father’s negligence had allowed such a man to hold Christo’s future in his hands...
There was a great deal he needed to learn about Thea’s family—some of which he might be able to use. But that could wait. Now it was time to give her something to cling to. Hope.
‘You’ll come with me as my wife and we’ll discuss the situation in which we find ourselves. That’s my promise. But we’re leaving now.’
She looked down at her clothes and back at him. Her liquid amber eyes glowed in the soft lights. ‘I can’t go dressed like this!’
No more delays. She glanced at the door again. He didn’t want a scene. Her tantrums could occur at his home, where any witnesses would be paid to hold their silence.
‘You look perfect,’ he said, waving his hand in her direction. ‘It shows a flair for the dramatic—which you’ve proved to have in abundance tonight. Our exit will be unforgettable.’
She seemed to compose herself. Thrust her chin high, all glorious defiance. ‘But my hat... I told everyone about it. I can’t disappoint them.’
‘Life’s full of disappointments. Tell them it wouldn’t fit over your magnificent hair.’
Thea’s lips twitched in a barely suppressed sneer, her eyes narrow and glacial. The look she threw him would have slayed a mere mortal. Luckily for the most part he felt barely human.
‘Rings,’ he said.
She jammed them carelessly on her finger. Victory. He held out the crook of his arm and she hesitated before slipping hers through it. All stiff and severe. But her body still fitted into his in a way which enticed him. Caused his heart to thrum, his blood to roar. Strange. Intoxicating. All Thea.
‘Now, smile,’ he said.
She plastered on a mocking grimace.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear. ‘Like you mean it, koukla mou.’
‘I’ll smile when you say that like you mean it, Christo.’
And he laughed.
This second laugh was more practised. More familiar—like an old memory. But the warmth growing in his chest was real. Beyond all expectations, he was enjoying her. For his sanity, perhaps a little too much...
CHAPTER TWO
THEA TUCKED INTO a corner of the limousine, far away from her newly minted husband. No one had noticed her biker chic clothes as they’d left the reception venue. They hadn’t paid much attention to her at all. Everyone had been congratulating Christo. Shaking his hand. Wishing him happiness. The only tears for her had been shed by Elena.
Thea didn’t have time for tears. She had to pull herself together. Devise another plan. Her focus needed to be on the future—which now sat in a white envelope in the pocket of Christo’s jacket.
But how to get it?
She looked over at him. His long, lean legs stretched out, relaxed. His face illuminated by the cool glow of his phone. Some might call him handsome. Incredibly so, with his regal nose, strong jaw and high-cut cheekbones, all cast in a way to make a sculptor swoon. She, on the other hand, loathed the sight of his testosterone-fuelled perfection.
Though seduction might work... It was their wedding night, after all. She could try. Croon something...she wasn’t sure what...slip a hand beneath his jacket, kiss him...
Christo’s mouth formed a disapproving line as he tapped at his phone. She’d already had a taste of that mouth. The soft, chaste kiss at the altar. That shocking moment when he’d brushed his lips against hers at the reception venue and they’d sparked as if touched by a live wire.
She lifted her hand to her mouth, which still tingled.
Even if she could grab the envelope at the perfect moment, what then? She shook her head. A few grains of rice clattered from her hair onto the leather seats. The element of surprise was gone, so she couldn’t try that approach. There must be something else.
Christo turned to peer at her. One eye was shadowed in darkness. The blue light from his phone turning the other inhumanly green. The effect made him look something like a pirate.
There was no way she was going to let him plunder her treasures. Her fresh plans started now.
‘Where are we going?’
‘Home.’
‘No honeymoon? Christo Callas—ever the romantic,’ she said, placing a hand to her heart. ‘I’m so lucky.’
‘You want romance?’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re the one who pronounced our marriage a sham. Had you not, we’d have been on our way to a week of wedded bliss on my island.’
An island? Typical. Though, come to think of it, not even her father had one of those. ‘You had to cancel? How inconvenient.’
‘For my staff, perhaps. Though I admit standing down the jet w
as an irritation.’
Something about being the cause of one of his irritations irked her. ‘So...what? If I’d been a good girl, in exchange for my freedom I’d have been rewarded with a joy-ride and some time at the beach? Lucky me. Would you have supplied chocolate mints on my pillow too?’
He wasn’t looking at her now. Instead he studied the dull glow of the city, which washed his imposing form with gold light. The breath caught in her throat. For a moment she forgot who he was, transfixed by the beauty of the picture.
‘An island in the Echinades, a home in the mountains, a yacht berthed in...’ he opened the calendar on his phone and checked something ‘...Monaco and an apartment in New York—any of which you could have flown to in my jet. And that’s amongst other things. The rewards are many and varied for a good girl, as you put it.’
Thea had come from wealth—though nothing like this. She and Elena had discussed it when her father had made terrifyingly clear she had to marry to prevent Alexis rotting in a jail cell. They’d talked about Thea enjoying the considerable fruits of Christo’s fortune.
Could she do it now? Christo would spend his days in the city, working. She could go anywhere. New York? That was where her mother had promised to take her all those years ago. Before she’d died, when life had held some hope. She’d like New York, she supposed.
And then came the reality of the price she’d have to pay. Because there was always a price. Her body was the currency of this union.
Never.
‘I’m not prostituting myself for a chance to dip my toes in the Aegean or for a ride on your boat!’
‘Yacht. Crewed by forty. And that’s what marriage is about. Fair exchange for services rendered.’
Yes, marriage was a cruel snare. She’d seen it imprison her mother, and other women too. The wives of her father’s friends. Locked in gilded cages where they fawned and simpered for attention from callous men. She’d planned never to be fooled by that trap, no matter how cunningly laid. The lure of money or circumstance...or love would never bind her to another...
‘So cynical,’ said Christo. ‘On your wedding day too. You could have refused the offer at any time until we were pronounced man and wife. Yet here we are.’
