The Cozakis Bride

by Lynne Graham

  Disturbingly, just as they had discussed many years before, it was a traditional Greek wedding ceremony. Nik's godfather played a leading part in the rites, their wedding rings were blessed and then exchanged, and Nik held her hand through­out. Orange blossom crowns were placed solemnly on their heads. They drank from the same goblet of wine. Then they traversed the bible table three times in order to symbolise their promise to preserve their marriage for ever. By the end of it all Olympia was feeling like a real bride and very con­fused by the sensation.

  Emerging from the church into the spring sunshine, and smiling widely for the waiting cameras, she said impulsively, I wasn't expecting anything like that...it was a beautiful ceremony.'

  'Celebrating one's cultural heritage is fashionable these days,' Nik countered dryly. 'Also a good way to personalise the corporate image.'

  Olympia stiffened, no longer in any danger of forgetting the fact that their marriage had more in common with a busi­ness merger than a personal event.

  'But I believe I'll stop short of the flying of a flag on the roof tonight and having it lowered once I've enjoyed my bride,' Nik completed with dulcet cool.

  Her cheeks burning, she turned outraged sea-jade eyes on him. 'You will not enjoy me!'

  Joining her in the limousine, Nik dealt her a slumberous look of amusement.

  'I mean that,' Olympia warned him, staring rigidly out of the tinted windows as the car pulled out onto the road.

  A lean hand closed over hers. She yanked her fingers free again. The next moment Nik closed his strong hands round her waist and simply lifted her across the back seat into his strong arms. 'You were saying, Olympia?'

  'Let go of me!' she gasped in sincere shock, colliding with smouldering amber-gold eyes as he brought her down on his long hard thighs with shocking ease.

  'When I'm ready.' Nik curved long fingers to her chin, bringing her so close she was gazing right into his stunning eyes. 'What beautiful skin you have...'

  Her heart thudded against her ribs, her pulses leaping. 'Are we on the way to a reception?'

  ‘Thank you for reminding me...' Dropping his hand to reach for the car phone, without releasing her from the hold of the powerful arm which still enclosed her waist, Nik stabbed a single button with his thumb and spoke with the chauffeur in Greek.

  Then he turned his attention back to Olympia.

  'Please let me sit on the seat,' she said, in an acidic tone which would have sent a weaker man into cringing retreat.

  'You're going to have to work on that sour attitude, Olympia,' Nik censured in husky reproach. 'I don't like it.'

  She breathed in very deep. 'Do you think I give a damn what you like?'

  Engaged in pointedly surveying die provocative rise and fall of her full breasts above the lace-edged bodice, Nik slowly lifted his spiky black lashes again, to rest his gaze on her flushed and furious face. 'I'll train you free of charge... after all, I expect to enjoy the results. Now, where were we?' be enquired lazily, his breath fanning her cheek, that dark deep drawl sending tiny little vibrations down her taut spine. There was a soft snap as something whirred shut. 'What was that?' she muttered, already finding it difficult to con­centrate. The atmosphere closed round her again, her throat catching, an extraordinary awareness of her own body taking hold of her.

  'Just ensuring our privacy.' His tone was mesmeric as he framed her face with long fingers, letting a thumb intrude between her moistly parted lips. 'You have a very lush mouth, Olympia...'

  Focusing helplessly on his golden eyes, a snaking little quiver assailed her. Heat curled low in the pit of her belly, making her push her thighs together to minimise the sudden ache. All her senses were centred on him with fierce inten­sity. As she recalled the taste and the feel of that wide, sen­sual mouth, she trembled, raised an involuntary hand and let her fingers slowly slide into his luxuriant black hair, drawing him closer, wanting, needing...

  He let the tip of his tongue trace the tremulous fullness of her lower lip and she let her heavy head fall back, exposing her throat, jerking with a low gasp of tormented pleasure as he pressed his mouth hotly to the tiny pulse flickering wildly above her collarbone. The urgency inside her was building at an insane rate. She wanted his mouth so badly, and then he let his long fingers expertly explore the curve of her breast through the fitted bodice of her gown and trace the prominent bud of a straining nipple. She moaned out loud, pressing her hand to the back of his, struggling to get air back into her lungs, feeling as if she was on fire. Nik withdrew his hand and leant back. 'Making love in cars really does get you going fast...' he conceded lazily. 'Or maybe it's me you're hot for this time... What do you think?'

  As that insolent assessment penetrated, Olympia jerked her head up so fast she wrenched her neck, her passion-glazed eyes stricken. For a soundless beat of time Nik studied her with measuring eyes of gold. 'Challenge me and I'm ruth­less.'

  Olympia dragged herself from him and over to die far cor­ner of the seat, her abandoned body both throbbing and trem­bling. Perspiration beaded her short upper lip. She was dev­astated by the power he had over her, devastated by the essential weakness which lay within her. Never one to deny reality, she knew that the fact she had made no attempt to stop him touching her had been as good as encouragement And that fact filled her with shame.

  In the charged silence, Nik loosed a roughened laugh. 'A demonstration that hurt me too, but I'm not planning to con­summate our deal in the back seat of a limo.'

  Sending the shutters that blanked out the glass division between driver and passenger whirring back, Nik communi­cated with die chauffeur again. He had toyed with the idea of making love to her, Olympia realised in quivering shock 'Our deal', not our marriage. Not making love either, she adjusted sickly. Having sex would be a better description. And how could she have responded to him as she had? That insane craving for Nik Cozakis knew neither conscience nor pride. It was an overwhelming hunger which had left her pathetically weak in his eyes. And he had just dared to use that weakness to demonstrate how empty her words of defi­ance could be.

  When they arrived at the hotel where their reception was to be held, Olympia was in line for further unpleasant sur­prises.

  In a room set aside for the purpose, Spyros Manoulis awaited their arrival in the company of two lawyers. The dialogue was all in Greek. While Olympia looked on, feeling very uncomfortable, Nik and her grandfather put their sig­natures to several documents.

  he older man took her aside before he left the room and murmured ruefully, 'I want you to know that this was not my choice, Olympia.'

  A tide of colour burned her cheeks. She felt intensely hu­miliated. So even Spyros knew that his granddaughter was to be stripped of any possibility of being personally enriched by her marriage! Mortified by the older man's awareness of that revealing fact, she returned to the table and hurriedly scrawled her signature on the single sheet of paper set out for her. Having assumed that signing away her own rights of inheritance would be a complex matter when so large a busi­ness enterprise was involved, she was surprised but relieved that only one document appeared to be required.

  But then what did any of it matter? It was foolish of her to be so sensitive, Olympia told herself irritably. She wanted nothing from her grandfather, nothing from Nik either. Nor did she plan to be her husband's beneficiary for one day longer than she could help. How long would it be before Nik tired of their pretence and agreed to a divorce? It wasn't that uncommon for marriages to break up in the very first year, she reasoned, eager to see a light at the end of what promised to be a long dark tunnel. After all, she hated Nik Cozakis, and even in the short term keeping up the charade of being his wife would be a considerable challenge.

  Although her grandfather had forewarned her, when Olym­pia and Nik welcomed their guests she was embarrassed by the chilly reserve of Nik's patrician parents, Achilles and Alexandra Cozakis. They might have attended their son's wedding, but only, it seemed, in preference to publicising their d
isapproval by staying home.

  At first glance she didn't recognise Nik's kid brother, Per­icles. At twenty years of age, Peri Cozakis now towered over her. The younger man grinned, brown eyes sparkling with amusement, and only then did a sense of familiarity tug at her.

  'Peri... ?' she gasped.

  'Catch you later...' he teased, well-satisfied by her double take and passing on.

  'I wouldn't have known your brother,' she confided to Nik.

  'Well, he doesn't know you either, except as the good-natured girl who let him slaughter her at basketball.. .so leave his illusions intact,' Nik responded very dryly.

  Olympia paled. Dear heaven, she thought in growing dis­may and discomfiture, was what had supposedly happened in that wretched car park ten long years ago never out of Nik's thoughts for longer than ten seconds? They had been married for little more than an hour and already he had twice made references to that night.

  Registering that Nick was speaking to another guest, she lifted her head again, only to freeze. Katerina Pallas stood before her, her hand already extended in greeting but her dark eyes carefully veiled. 'Olympia...'

  As she surveyed her one-time best friend, Olympia's own hand simply dropped back to her side again without making contact. The memory of their broken friendship still pained her, and she had never had a friend that close again; betrayed so cruelly, and deeply hurt, she had lost faith in her own sex.

  'Perhaps we could talk later...' Katerina suggested with an uncertain smile before she hurriedly moved on.

  'How dare you?' Nik growled quietly, sending a wave of startled colour into Olympia's cheeks. 'How dare you insult a member of my family?'

  Shaken out of her self-absorption by his reaction, Olympia frowned.

  Nik dealt her a derisive look. 'I don't care how embarrassed you feel being faced with Katerina again, you will take care to greet her with the respect and civility she deserves!'

  'No.'

  What do you mean...no?' Nik stared down at her in blunt disbelief.

  'I'm not embarrassed and social niceties won't force me into insincerity for Katerina's benefit,' Olympia asserted tautly. 'So keep her away form me. She's just one big fake, and I wouldn't set out to be rude but I do have a temper!'

  Taken aback by her defiance, Nik drew in a fractured breath, his hard bone structure rigid beneath his golden skin. Only the approach of Spyros Manoulis and the necessity of the bride and groom taking their seats at the top table forced Nik to let that assurance go unchallenged.

  Olympia was surprised to register that she felt decidedly smug. Had Nik thought he had married a doormat he could wipe his feet on whenever he liked? Some things—well, plenty of things, Nik would discover he could not force. And he wouldn't like that. No, indeed, he wouldn't like that dis­covery at all. Even when Olympia had been head over heels in love with Nik Cozakis, she had recognised his innate con­viction in his own essential male superiority. With blithe ease Nik had simply assumed that he could lay down the law and that she would naturally accept that he knew best in every way and in every situation.

  'I really prefer you without make-up,' he had once told her. 'The natural look...'

  She had got more subtle, but she had kept on wearing it.

  'You're too young to go to clubs, under-age for alcohol as well,' he had reminded her, with an infuriating lack of sympathy. 'Your grandfather wouldn't approve, so you'll have to stay home.'

  'I'll got out to a club with Katerina then.'

  'You can forget that idea!' Nik had told her instantane­ously.

  And so they had had their one and only row, hours before the final break-up.

  And then, encouraged by Katerina, Olympia had broken in on the boys' night out and what had she found? She tensed, bitter recollection nipping at her. She had found out exactly why her fiancé hadn't wanted her around, cramping his style...

  After the long meal was over, Olympia was swept onto the floor by Nik to start off the dancing.

  'I thought we'd be smashing plates by this stage...tradition and all that,' Olympia heard herself say snidely.

  'One more crack of that nature...' His deep dark drawl sizzled above her head.

  'And you'll what?' she breathed, not liking the sound of her own voice, but in the grip of an uncontrollable need to scratch and draw blood.

  'You'll find out.'

  'Promises... promises... such a shame you were never very good at keeping them!' It was as if Olympia's tongue had developed a life all of its own.

  Long lean fingers curved to the nape of her neck, tipping her head back. Smouldering golden eyes blazed down into hers. And Nik caught her up into his arms and took her mouth with a dark, passionate force that went to her head like a drowning surge of alcohol. Taken by surprise, she had no time to put up the smallest defence and the world spun round her at dizzy speed.

  The deep thrust of his tongue into her sensitive mouth imitated a far more basic possession. His erotic mastery took her by storm. Her heart-rate rocketed, her pulses leapt, and every inch of her quivering body was engulfed in fiery responsive heat. A need as relentless as it was cruel tore at her with shattering efficiency, leaving her weak and trembling, wholly at the mercy of the physical craving he had unleashed

  As the music came to an end Nik threw back his head and slowly peeled her hands from his shoulders. Brilliant dark eyes scanned her dazed face. 'I like it when you cling, Olympia.'

  Gripped by a storm of sheer self-loathing, Olympia forgot that they had an audience and stalked away, only to find the escape from the now crowded dance floor blocked by Nik's younger brother.

  'It's time I got better acquainted with my new sister,' Peri told her as he folded her lightly into his arms. 'Peri, I...'

  The young Greek gazed down at her with surprisingly se­rious eyes. 'I'm sorry my parents are spoiling your wedding day.'

  Utterly taken aback, Olympia looked up at him in real discomfiture.

  Peri shook his dark head. 'I can't get over the way they're behaving and I want you to know that I don't feel the same way.'

  ‘Thank you,' Olympia muttered awkwardly.

  'But I'd be grateful if you'd tell me what's going on...'

  'Going on?'

  'Come on, Oily,' Peri urged, employing the nickname he had tagged her with as a boy. 'I was a kid ten years ago but I'm not now. Why is my cousin Katerina sidling about look­ing shifty all of a sudden, and why all this crazy secrecy about what split you and Nik up back then?'

  'Secrecy?' Olympia gulped, jolted by that faintly scornful reference to Katerina, not to mention the bald question which had followed. 'Looking shifty' was a remarkably good match of Olympia's opinion of Katerina. She had not enjoyed being forced to watch the other woman put on that convincing show of shy uncertainty in front of Nik.

  'I'd also like to know why my parents are embarrassing the hell out of me today. But, more than anything else, I'd like to know why Nik is standing back and allowing them to treat you as they have.'

  'Maybe your parents just don't approve of my back­ground.' Olympia was desperate to head him off, and belat­edly grateful that Nik had forewarned her. Naturally Peri was curious to learn what lay behind so much bad feeling in his own family circle, but she wished he hadn't chosen to open the subject with her.

  'They're not out of the dark, Oily,' the younger man re­proved. 'My mother wasn't choking back tears all the way through the ceremony just because you were born out of wed­lock!'

  Olympia compressed her lips, feeling she could have done without that news.

  'And considering how she felt about Gisele Bonner being Nik's long-term squeeze, her attitude surprises me even more,' Peri confided, patently unaware that he might be referring to a relationship she had not known about.

  Gisele Bonner. The name meant nothing to Olympia, but she somehow knew that she wouldn't forget it again in a hurry. Tilting back her head, she looked up at Peri and said with a cool she was far from feeling, 'You know, Peri...it's really not that unusu
al for parents to be disappointed with their new daughter-in-law.'

  'You're stonewalling me,' Peri complained, unimpressed 'But I warn you. I don't give up easily.'

  'And I don't surrender my bride that easily, little brother,' Nik interposed, curving a long arm to Olympia's taut spine and detaching her from the younger man with ease.

  Flushed and stiff, Olympia held herself back from Nik as he spun her away from Peri.

  'Peri talks a mile a minute...and he's got no discretion,'| Nik remarked curtly.

  Olympia was aware of his tension but unable to understand its source. If it hadn't seemed such a ridiculous idea she might have wondered what Nik hadn't wanted her to hear 'He wasn't indiscreet,' she said, and she meant it.

  After all, poor Peri was even more out of touch with events than he realised. He didn't know his brother's marriage was a business deal, and a normal bride would have known of any lengthy relationship previously enjoyed by her new husband. Gisele Bonner, Olympia thought helplessly again, her soft, full mouth compressing as she grew rigid as a stick of rock in the circle of Nik's arms. Probably a blonde. Nik liked blondes. Long-legged beautiful blondes, with big blue eyes and not a lot of clothes coverage, she recalled, in her mind's eye recalling the Italian model she had seen him with so many years before.

  ‘Excuse me...' Olympia said flatly, suddenly registering that she was still in desperate need of some breathing space. Before Nik could guess her intention, she had slid out of his arms yet again and walked off the dance floor to head for the cloakroom. But she only actually got within ten feet of that potential sanctuary before yet another unwelcome event took place.

  'Olympia?' Slender and petite in her stylish green suit, Katerina Pallas stepped right into her path.

  Shaken, and angered by such a direct approach, Olympia murmured tautly, 'What do you want?'

  'We used to be such close friends,' Katerina sighed in a plaintive little-girl voice, looking hurt.