by Kim Lawrence
Then a minute, an hour, a lifetime later—time had stopped having much meaning—that laugh had come again as he’d rolled her onto her back, pinned her hands above her head with one hand and slid the other between her legs...
‘You should be careful—you almost hit forty miles an hour then.’
His voice jolted her free of the images playing in her head and she drew her bottom lip over her upper one to blot the beads of moisture there. She felt the heat that suffused her body travel up her neck, threatening her with the mother of all blushes, so she dealt with it by choosing to pretend it was happening to someone else and it was this anonymous person who was feeling the shameful ache between her legs, not her.
‘I’m trying to concentrate,’ she snapped, glancing guiltily in the rear-view mirror, relieved when she saw that Eugenie was busy texting on her phone.
He looked at her fingers, which were locked, knuckles bone white, on the wheel. ‘Do have you points on your licence or something?’
‘Or something,’ she said in a flat little voice.
He glanced in the mirror. ‘She’s texting again.’
‘You don’t know many teenagers, do you?’
‘It’s a day for new experiences, it seems. Is there a reason you drive this old thing?’
‘Reliability.’ A very underrated commodity.
‘I have a reliable lawnmower but I don’t go to work on it.’
‘You could always get out and thumb a lift with your friend Fred.’
‘That’s a difficult choice. He has terrible taste in country and western music...anything involving heartbreak and tragic lives and he’s happy. But if I stay with you, I might never walk again.’ He grunted as he attempted to stretch out one leg in the confined space, while beside him she released her death grip on the steering wheel long enough to push a strand of hair behind her ear. Though her hair was almost dry now, the scent of her shampoo still permeated the enclosed space.
Seeing the action out of the corner of her eye, Chloe permitted herself a smirk, which she suddenly doused, feeling ashamed. Maybe she should have allowed him to take Eugenie; after all, he was her uncle.
Had she done the right thing?
The obvious thing would have been to check with Tatiana, but the thought vanished as a sharp pain made her wince and she moved her head to try and ease it. Reluctant to take her eyes off the road, especially as they had just passed a road sign that announced they were approaching a series of tight bends, she twisted her head sharply in the hope that the action would free the earring that had got tangled in her hair, but instead it just tugged harder, bringing tears to her eyes.
‘Let me help...’
‘I’m fine!’ she snapped, unable to keep the note of panic from her voice, but then his long fingers brushed her neck and she flinched, desire clenching like a fist low in her belly.
It was crazy, she knew that, but recognising this fact did not lessen the physical impact, although she didn’t have to embrace it!
‘These things are lethal,’ he said, lifting the weight of her hair to lessen the tug of the earring on her earlobe.
One element of her discomfort eased, Chloe stared straight ahead. Having her earlobe torn or her hair wrenched from her scalp would have been a hell of a lot more comfortable than feeling the warm waft of his breath on her cheek.
‘They’re one-offs, hand forged, the silversmith is a friend...’ She spoke quickly, trying to distract herself.
She remembered reading somewhere that the ear had a lot of nerve endings, and all of hers were definitely screaming right now.
His brows drew together in a dark line of disapproval. ‘Your earlobe is bleeding; you must have one hell of a high pain tolerance.’
An image floated into her head of her in hospital, repeatedly pressing the pain-relief button that for weeks had never left her hand. ‘Not really.’ Actually, not at all, she corrected silently, thinking of the lovely floating feeling after she’d pressed that button. The pain had still been there in the background, but she had been able to float above it.
She felt rather than saw him looking at her.
‘I fainted when I had them pierced, although that might have been the...ouch, be careful!’
‘Sorry. Hold on, I’ve almost finished...’
Almost was not soon enough. It seemed to take for ever for him to unwind the silver spiral. Her relief was so intense when he gave a grunt of triumph and leaned back in his seat that she would have punched the air in triumph had she not had such a tight hold of the steering wheel. Instead, she contented herself with heaving a huge sigh.
‘Cool!’ Eugenie, her earphones now dangling around her neck, leaned forward and snatched the silver spiral that dangled in her uncle’s fingers. ‘Where did you get them from? I’d love a pair.’
‘A friend of mine makes them.’
The girl moved forward asking eagerly, ‘Boyfriend?’
Aware that beside her Nik was now sitting with his head bent, fingers pressed to the bridge of his nose, she shook her head. ‘Her name is Layla.’ She slid Nik a sideways glance and lost the fight against her concern. ‘Do you have a headache? There should be some painkillers in the glove box and a bottle of water—’
‘I’m fine.’ He let his hand fall from his face and exhaled slowly. The headaches hit without warning, but he never took medication. Perhaps he deserved the pain, not that it ever left him feeling cleansed of his sins.
‘Uncle Nik is never ill. He’s bulletproof literally,’ she enthused with awe. ‘He never got a scratch when he was working in war zones,’ she chattered on, lifting the earring to her own ear and craning her neck to admire the effect in the rear-view mirror. ‘Mum says the only thing he’s got is survivor’s guilt...’ She stopped abruptly as her uncle caught her eye. ‘Well she might have said something like that but I don’t quite recall.’
Chloe couldn’t see Nik’s face but she could feel the raw tension vibrating off him.
In the back seat Chloe gave a sigh. ‘How much longer? It’s not mine,’ she added when the audible sound of a vibrating phone suddenly echoed through the car.
Nik swore. His phone had fallen in the gap between the seats and, eyes still closed, he reached out a long arm for it.
Chloe gave a grunt as an elbow landed in her ribs.
‘Sorry,’ he muttered and, delving further, he gave a grunt of triumph as he managed to get his fingers around it.
‘Your mother,’ he said to Eugenie after reading the text message, before switching his attention to Chloe. ‘Telling me not to bother, not to worry, that she arranged for someone else to pick you up... I contacted her when I started out but she must have sent this straight away. Looks like you’re calling the shots here.’
Embarrassed, Chloe shook her head. ‘You’re Eugenie’s uncle.’
‘My sister must really trust you, but it might take me a while to work my way back into her good graces.’
‘She’ll understand.’
He huffed out a laugh. ‘Why should she?’
‘It’s what family do. Where were you anyway? Not that I have any right to ask, I know...’
‘My secretary has the flu and her stand-in hadn’t charged my phone.’ Louise always did it for him. ‘And when I said I didn’t want to be disturbed I made the mistake of assuming she would know that didn’t include family emergencies. She let all Ana’s calls go to the messaging service and when I tried to ring her back there was no signal. Then when I asked her why she hadn’t put the calls through she just burst into tears.’
‘Poor woman, she was probably scared of you.’
He gave a snort of disbelief. ‘Then she’ll be much happier working elsewhere.’
Chloe was shocked. ‘You didn’t sack her!’
‘My father would have, whereas I’m a much more tolerant employer and, employment laws being what they are, I just shipped her back to the department she came from.’
‘You’re afraid to let anyone see you have a heart,’ she char
ged and, expecting to see him discomfited by her discovery, she turned her head to look at him, but found a very different expression on his face.
She looked away quickly, but not before the need she had seen shining in his eyes had awoken the same feeling in her belly.
He shot a quick furtive glance in the back before announcing very quietly, ‘I have a heart and I am very anxious to prove it to you.’
‘It’s not your heart you’re offering me.’
‘All parts of my anatomy are on offer.’
She shivered and stared ahead. ‘I’m not discussing this with you now.’
‘Later, then.’
A hissing sound of frustration escaped her clenched teeth.
‘Chloe...’
Chloe started guiltily at the sound of the curious voice from the back seat. ‘Do you live in a castle?’
‘My sister does, but where my mum and dad live is more properly termed a fortified home.’
‘Normal people do not live in castles.’
‘Normal people do not have a rota for the shower because there’s never enough hot water to go around! Trust me, we are not at all glamorous—in fact, we’re just a little bit last century. I was at college before I ordered my first takeaway pizza.’
‘God!’ Eugenie breathed.
‘Take the next exit,’ Nik said suddenly as they approached the roundabout. ‘You just went past it,’ he said with an air of resignation.
‘Roundabouts are made for going around.’ On this note of logic she did so for the third time.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THEIR PROGRESS THROUGH the private airport was swift. Once they were on the plane one of the male attendants drew Nik apart as Chloe and Eugenie were seated.
Their conversation in rapid Greek lasted a few moments.
‘I’m travelling up front,’ he said to Chloe as he moved past her.
‘Can I come too?’ Eugenie cried in the act of unclipping her belt.
‘You’re grounded, or I’m assuming you will be, so no...behaving badly doesn’t get rewarded, kiddo.’ He flicked her nose affectionately with his finger and walked on, vanishing through the cockpit door.
‘I’m going to get my pilot’s licence as soon as I’m old enough. Uncle Nik got his when he was seventeen.’
Did that mean he was flying the plane now? Chloe wondered, tensing a little as the plane started taxiing; she was fine with flying but the take-off and landing always tied her stomach in knots.
Once they were in the air, Chloe accepted the offer of tea but refused anything to eat. Eugenie, who seemed to have recovered from her brush with the law, tucked into some hot beef sandwiches.
She finished and sighed in pleasure. Chloe pointed to her chin and the teen wiped away the spot of relish there.
‘So how long does it take to get to Spetses airport?’
The girl looked surprised by the question. ‘Oh, there isn’t an airport on the island. We land at the small private airport just on the mainland opposite and then we’ll fly over on the helicopter.’
Questioning her decision not to simply hand Eugenie over to her uncle when she’d had the chance, Chloe took a sip of her tea. The return flight might not be as simple to organise as she had imagined.
* * *
On the helicopter trip over from the mainland Chloe sat next to Eugenie, who went into tour-guide mode the minute they took off. By the time they landed Chloe felt pretty well informed about the island of Spetses and its aristocratic heritage; she could have written a paper about the colourful mansions, the history of blockade running, its significance in the Napoleonic wars, and its long association with the master sailors.
While Chloe was being educated, Nik sat next to the pilot in the cockpit. The two men obviously knew one another pretty well and, with his sleeves rolled up and his dark hair tousled, Nik looked relaxed and very different from the man she remembered from that night in the bar.
Or for that matter from any time since.
It would be very easy, she mused, to let her defences down with this Nik. Just as well she was only here to chaperone Eugenie.
She turned her head at the sound of a phone ringing, struggling to make itself heard against the noise of the helicopter.
‘It’s Mum, for you,’ Eugenie said, holding her own phone out for Chloe.
Chloe pressed the phone close against her ear, raising her voice above the background noise. ‘Hello.’
‘How can I ever thank you, Chloe?’
‘No thanks required. I’m glad I could help.’
‘How is she?’
‘Fine.’ She gave the worried-looking teenager a thumbs-up signal. ‘I know a great deal about Spetses now. Did you know that Spetsiots were heroes of the War of Independence?’ Chloe was pleased to hear the older woman laugh, then listened to her friend launch into another fulsome apology for imposing on her. ‘Eugenie was no problem,’ she said honestly, adding when Tatiana made sceptical noises, ‘It was good practice for when I have my own children...’ She lifted the phone away and waited for the static crackle to subside before shouting, ‘I said it was good practice for when I have my own children!’
It was only when she realised the signal had cut out and she lowered the phone that she realised Nik was standing right beside her, so there was zero chance he’d not heard every word she’d said. But if she’d had any doubts his first comment dispelled them.
‘Thinking of starting any time soon?’
Working on the assumption that if she ignored her blush he might not notice, she managed a small laugh. ‘My body clock is not ticking too loudly just yet.’
‘Just wanted to say, another five minutes and we’ll be landing.’ He turned away and moved back to the cockpit.
Once he’d gone, Chloe closed her eyes and pushed her fist against her mouth to stifle her loud groan. The other hand was pressed to her chest, where her heart was performing all sorts of life-threatening gymnastics.
It was ridiculous...bewildering and humiliating. Why did she react this way to him? What was it about him that seemed to tap into something inside her...a need...a hunger...? An image of the answering hunger she had glimpsed in his eyes flashed into her head and her heart gave a heavy traitorous thud then started cantering crazily again.
She was complaining a hell of a lot, Chloe reflected, but if she really didn’t want Nik chasing her, throwing temptation in her way, why hadn’t she done something about it?
She could.
And she knew it. There was a fail-safe way, a one-hundred-per-cent-guaranteed method to make him back off at her disposal... It wasn’t as if she’d even have to show him; just using the words would have the desired effect. She could casually throw into the conversation that she had some ugly scars and always would have.
In Nik’s head she was perfect. She inhaled and lifted her chin, a little smile playing across her mouth. She had been perfect and she had taken it for granted. Strange how you didn’t appreciate something until it was gone.
The smile vanished and along with it the enduring sadness; she’d been lucky and she knew it. She no longer wallowed in self-pity or asked herself why it had to happen to her.
She contented herself with imagining that one day there would be a man in her life; of course, he might not make her think of passionate, all-consuming sex the moment she saw him but there were other, more important things in a relationship...deeper things that lasted the test of time.
It would be nice to have both, but she was a realist and she knew few people were that lucky.
* * *
They had disembarked the helicopter when Nik joined them, his tall, broad-shouldered figure drawing glances from the handful of fellow travellers that hovered nearby. Watching his approach through the shield of her lashes, Chloe had to admit it was not surprising he drew every eye; he might be the most irritating man on the planet with an ego to match, but he was also the most supremely elegant and by far the sexiest.
‘If you don’t mind I’ll hang arou
nd for a bit and hand Eugenie over to her mum personally,’ she said.
There was a slight time delay before he responded and the enigmatic smile that briefly tugged at the corners of his mouth troubled her, but as she’d been geared up for an argument his non-reaction was a bit of an anticlimax.
‘The car should be waiting; it’s this way.’ His gesture invited Chloe to step ahead of him.
The waiting car was another long, shiny monster, and as they approached the driver jumped out, a Greek version of Fred.
Nik called out to him in Greek, the man called something back in response and walked around to the passenger door, but before he had a chance to open it an open-topped Jeep driven at speed drew up behind it. Chloe stepped back from the cloud of dust it threw up, but before it had even settled Tatiana, wearing a cotton shirt over a tee shirt and shorts, her shiny bell of dark hair pulled back off her make-up-free face in a severe ponytail, jumped out.
Chloe felt the teenager beside her tense and heard her sharp intake of breath, before she stuck out her chin and quavered out defiantly, ‘Before you say anything—’
‘How could you?’ her mother ground out.
‘I...’ Without warning the youngster’s belligerence vanished and she started to sob heartbrokenly. A second later she was in her mother’s arms being told everything would be all right. Chin resting on her daughter’s head, a shiny-eyed Tatiana shot a look of gratitude in Chloe’s direction.
‘We are so, so grateful to you, Chloe.’
‘It’s fine. I’m glad I could help.’
The image of Chloe sniffing into a tissue at the scene in front of her while she blinked hard made something tighten in Nik’s chest, but he ignored it and drawled out sarcastically, ‘Are you going to cry too?’
‘I am not crying!’ Chloe snapped back, blowing her nose hard.
‘Do you mind travelling back with Nik?’ Tatiana asked, glancing at her brother for the first time. ‘I could do with talking one to one with this one.’ She kissed the top of her daughter’s head. ‘Alone.’
Chloe minded very much. In fact, the idea of sharing the back seat of the limo with Nik filled her with horror, but she hid her feelings behind a smile and shook her head.
