Sleeping in Tino’s arms was almost the best part of all, Lisa realised. She had woken in the middle of the night, and now she traced the line of his lips with one finger. She gasped as he captured the tip in his mouth. ‘I thought you were asleep.’
‘Barely.’ He narrowed his eyes to look at her. ‘In fact, I need very little sleep.’
‘That’s good to hear.’
‘Isn’t it?’ he said, moving behind her. He nestled close so that he could touch her while he thrust into her. He played her well, judging her responses so finely that she angled herself shamelessly, moving so that he could see everything he was doing to her in the low light seeping into the room from the lanterns outside.
‘You’re quite a woman,’ he murmured later when they were lying twined around each other.
Lisa could only manage to mumble groggily and snuggle a little closer. She felt so safe, so content it was like returning home after an arduous journey…
‘Do you know how special you are?’ Tino whispered as he stroked Lisa’s hair. Her breathing was so even he knew she was asleep. And it was as well she couldn’t hear him saying words that would have misled them both—dangerous words…
Instinct warned him to pull back while there was still time. There was only one possible ending to this—and it was the same ending he had envisaged the day he’d walked into the Bond Steel boardroom. And she would hate him when he took the company from her…
Moonlight was streaming into the bedroom as Tino started up in bed wide awake. He had fallen asleep so deeply he could hardly believe the old nightmare had returned. Springing out of bed, he paced the floor. Halting by the window, he gazed out, seeing nothing.
How could a man admit to having nightmares? How could a man live with such images in his mind? Why wasn’t his will strong enough to get rid of them?
Hearing Lisa stir, he quietly opened the doors leading onto the balcony and stepped outside. Planting his hands on the stone balustrade, he stared out towards the horizon. Stella was the closest thing he had to a friend, and even Stella Panayotakis didn’t know all the things that had happened to him in the orphanage. It was better she never knew… And yet the past had made him the man he was today—it drove his every move. It had given him a private island, unimaginable wealth, and even worldwide respect—the only thing it could never give him was the capacity to love.
He glanced back inside the room where he could see Lisa’s hair spread out across the pillow like a cloud. Her face, deep in sleep, was pale and trusting like a child’s in the moonlight… His appetite to compete with her, to subdue her in every way, had deserted him utterly. If he had been capable of love, he would have loved Lisa Bond. But learning to love, like learning to feel, was a luxury he could never buy. And more importantly he had embarked upon a journey that no one else could share…a lifelong journey that demanded everything of him, a journey that drove him from deal to deal in the endless quest for money to fund his dream, to sustain his project…
It shamed him that he had set out to triumph over her. Taking Bond Steel from Lisa was one victory he didn’t need…but there was something he could do to salve his conscience. He would buy her small engineering works. He would give her the break she so desperately needed… He would give a little, just this once. She deserved that much—as that was all he could give. He would send the necessary information right away.
He would have liked to do more for her, but anything on a personal level was out of his reach. Straightening up, Tino stretched out his powerful limbs and turned his face up to the stars. He was a man people envied, a man who could buy anything he desired, but he was a man with nothing, because he had nothing to give. He had nothing to offer Lisa other than money and sex—and she deserved someone better than that. Someone better than him.
Lisa woke to another beautiful day. But then every day was more beautiful than the last on Stellamaris. Stretching languorously in Tino’s bed, she felt the empty space at her side and looked around for him. The room was empty. He would be swimming, she remembered, sighing deeply with contentment.
Propping herself up on the soft bank of pillows, she viewed the spacious room with interest. A mischievous smile curved her lips. She hadn’t taken it all in the previous night, because Tino had demanded all her attention.
It was much as she might have expected: a man’s space—marble floors, state-of-the-art sound centre, plain walls, neutral colours, and a couple of extraordinary pieces of modern art on the walls. Hockney, Lisa realised as she identified the vibrant images created by the British artist from Bradford.
Tino’s room. Smiling to herself, Lisa snuggled back on the pillows. She had never felt like this before… She had been waiting for Tino Zagorakis all her life. Even when she closed the biggest deal, or when she remembered the day her father had handed over the reins of Bond Steel to her—nothing, nothing came close to the way she was feeling now, after spending the night in Tino’s arms.
She had felt safe in his arms…in a man’s arms. She had felt cherished for the first time in her life. She had felt Tino’s arms around her, sometimes seeking nothing more than an affectionate hug, which had meant more to her than she could safely express without breaking down and spoiling the day with ugly comparisons.
She had never known affection; she had never known how wonderful a touch, a gesture, or just a simple look from someone who really cared for you could be. And then Tino had made love to her…really made love to her. So he really did love her a little bit, even if expressing his emotions didn’t come easily to him.
And what a lover. Lisa eased her body on the bed, feeling all the unaccustomed signs of lengthy lovemaking… But they’d had fun too. She had never in her wildest dreams imagined that sex could be such fun. And they had laughed together, as much as they had desired each other, and felt a ravening hunger for each other. They had laughed together…
She laughed now, dashing away tears of sheer emotion. She had never thought of herself as an emotional person before; she’d spent all of her life hiding her emotions, pretending they didn’t exist. But one night with Tino had reduced her to an emotional mess. What she felt for him was so wonderful, so unexpected, such a revelation, she didn’t have a clue how she was going to handle all the feelings competing for space inside her.
Leaping out of bed, she hunted for his bathroom. Doors, doors: closets, dressing-rooms—one with nothing but casual shirts and jeans, another with suits at one end, and those see-through-fronted drawers at the other, holding goodness knew what. She was laughing again by the time she found the bathroom. As she might have expected, it was fabulous. Clad in black marble, the shower alone was big enough for a rugby team! She wouldn’t waste time on a bath, though that was easily big enough for two… She had seen baths like it in magazines, but even in her own rather splendid bathroom at the villa there was nothing approaching this scale of opulence. Once she was showered, and dressed casually in cream cotton trousers and a sky-blue short-sleeved shirt, she knew exactly what she wanted to do…
What this room needs is a woman’s touch, Lisa reflected as she turned full circle still fixing her hair in a casual ponytail. Flowers…flowers like the ones Tino had sent to her room, only even better than those… She would go downstairs and seek the gardener’s help.
The kitchen was busy when she found the same young girl who had brought the flowers up to her room. Fortunately, Maria spotted her, and came across at once to see if she could be of help.
‘These flowers are for Kirie Zagorakis,’ Lisa explained, ‘Could you help me with them, Maria? Do you have a vase?’
‘Malista—of course, Thespinis Bond.’ Maria glanced back to where her colleagues were hurrying about.
Lisa thought the young girl looked a little anxious. ‘It seems very busy in here. Are you sure I won’t get you into trouble?’
‘No, I am happy to help you,’ Maria assured her. ‘Come over here, Thespinis Bond. You can arrange them at the sink we use for such things.’
&n
bsp; The flowers were magnificent. Lisa had chosen them to complement the reds, orange, green and pinks of the Hockney painting. Gazing round Tino’s room, she decided to set them on a low Swedish-style table opposite the picture.
Standing back to admire her handiwork, she sighed. ‘Perfect.’ Now all she had to do was to find Tino and spring the surprise on him. Why shouldn’t men have romantic gestures made to them? She could already picture them, arms linked as she dragged him along, teasing him… He would pretend to hold back… He would be puzzled, but laughing—they would both laugh. She couldn’t wait to see his face when she brought him back to his room…
Tino frowned as he cut the line. Lisa wasn’t in her room. No one in the house seemed to know where she had gone. He should have woken her…but she had looked so peaceful. She would be down on the beach, he guessed, and if so it would be hours before she returned…
He rang the housekeeper, and asked her to send someone down to the beach to find Thespinis Bond for him. The kitchen was in uproar, he could hear all the hectic preparations in the background. It pleased him to know that his household was equal to any task he set them. He ran a tight ship, a successful ship; everything on Stellamaris ran like clockwork…
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘LISA—’
Lisa blenched as Tino sprang to his feet.
She felt sick…sick and stupid all at once. It wasn’t a feeling that crept up on her as she gazed around the room Maria had directed her to; it hit her straight in the stomach like a blow.
The men gathered around the boardroom table were all in business suits—lightweight, but formal nonetheless. Tino, of course, was dressed casually, but in his own particular style that denoted rank as well as authority. His jeans were expensive, his shirt beautifully tailored, and as always he was immaculately groomed. His thick, wavy black hair—the same glossy black hair she had laced her fingers through, moulding the scalp beneath with an urgency approaching frenzy when he had made love to her; that hair—was swept back from his handsome brow and was still slightly damp, as if he had only just emerged from the shower after his swim…
Everyone was staring at her…and these were hard-bitten men, her men, along with Tino’s board of directors—chosen for their business acumen, not for their compassion. She was horribly exposed—without make-up, her hair casually arranged, her feet bare, her clothes simple.
To Tino’s credit, he came around the table to her at once.
‘Excuse us, gentlemen. I will be back with you shortly.’
Guiding her out, he closed the door behind them quietly and leaned back against it, as if to ensure they could not be followed. Lisa managed, ‘I didn’t realise—’ before Tino shut his eyes, as if he accepted part of the blame…as if she should have known, as if the moment she had walked into the room had been as agonising for him as it had been for her.
‘No one could find you. Where the hell were you?’
‘In the garden.’ Her voice was shaking. ‘In the kitchen, and then back in your room.’
‘They must have missed you. I tried to find you, Lisa, to warn you I’d set up an emergency meeting—I sent people to find you.’
‘I don’t understand… What’s everyone doing here?’
‘You wanted this deal so badly…I thought if I brought everyone over—’ He stopped and looked at a point somewhere over her head. ‘I wanted to give you the best chance. My people have identified a better deal with Clifton—but you already know that.’
‘Tino?’ Her voice sounded small, and wounded, and Lisa hated herself for the weakness, but she wasn’t in charge of her body now, or her powers of speech.
‘You’d better go and get changed—’
Tino sounded so cool, so businesslike, so logical…so distant…
‘I will call for coffee—it will distract them,’ he said, as if he was thinking out loud. ‘By the time you return, they will have forgotten. When you come back, they will have forgotten what they saw, and think only of business, of the money to be made.’
There was nothing in his eyes for her, Lisa realised. Nothing. Even now that he was looking straight at her, there was nothing there, nothing at all… She might have imagined what had happened between them the previous night for all the recognition there was in that stare. It was back to business. ‘You’re quite sure of all this, are you, Tino?’ she said coldly. ‘You’re quite sure they will have forgotten what a fool I just made of myself?’ She hardened her mouth, her face, her mind, and her heart, kicking herself back into cold, emotion-free business mode. Jack Bond was right, after all—there was no room for emotion in business.
‘I’ll be back in exactly a quarter of an hour,’ she said briskly when Tino didn’t say a word. ‘I’ll want to start the meeting promptly, so see the coffee is cleared away by then.’
Lisa spent the rest of that day with her head buried in figures, balance sheets and predictions. She had never welcomed them more.
Tino was right about one thing: there had been a brief tension when she’d walked back into the room. But once she was safely dressed in business armour—sharp suit, crisp white blouse, heels clacking in a steady, reassuring rhythm across the marble floor—her confidence had quickly been restored. Everyone could see that everything was back to normal: her hair neatly dressed in its customary chignon, her lips carefully outlined in peach, her make-up applied with a steady hand… Only her heart was in pieces, and that was the one thing no one could see.
Lisa had her head bent over the document under discussion and was almost caught out when everyone around her started shuffling papers. The meeting was over. She added a few last thoughts to cover for her abstraction, and then tensed when Tino had the final word…
‘I would like you all to be my guests this evening at dinner. Shall we say nine o’ clock, gentlemen…and Lisa?’
He didn’t look at her directly. She might have been someone he had only just met, another suit who had come to Stellamaris on the same flight as the rest. She added her own half-hearted grunt to the general murmur of acceptance, and then, collecting up her things, she started to load her briefcase.
‘Lisa.’
Lisa flinched even though it was only her PA, Mike, calling to her. She was a bundle of nerves on top of everything else. That was what happened when you let your guard down—everything went to pieces. She turned around smiling, mask in place—or so she thought. Mike quickly drew her out of earshot.
‘Shit, Lis’! What’s happened?’
Lisa stared in amazement. Mike…beautiful Mike, with his astute blue eyes, carefully shaped brows, and expensive highlights neatly sculpted to his gorgeous, gorgeous face, never swore, never called her by a pet name, even though they had known each other for years. Was it that obvious? ‘Is it obvious, Mike?’ she asked him in a tense whisper, glancing around.
Taking her arm, he turned her so she faced the wall, so they both did. He put his head very close to hers, and put his arm around her protectively. ‘Are you OK, Lisa? Can I do anything for you?’
What was happening to her? Lisa wondered, fighting back tears. Was she falling apart? She felt a handkerchief pressed into her hands, and nodded briskly, applying it to her mascaraed eyes as cautiously as was practicable when you were mopping up a waterfall.
‘No, that’s fine—you keep it,’ Mike said when she absent-mindedly attempted to hand the ruined silk back to him.
She made a mental note to buy him a dozen more to replace it the moment she got back home.
‘Lisa!’ Mike hissed imperatively out of the corner of his mouth. ‘Can I do anything for you, anything at all? Can I get you out of here?’
She saw the sense in that. ‘Yes, please, Mike, that would be great.’
Putting a shielding arm out in front of her face, Mike swept them both out of the room as only he could, with élan, with chin tipped at a formidable angle, as if he were protecting the Queen of England from unwanted attention.
‘That was a great exit,’ Lisa admitted shakily when t
hey reached the drive. Taxis were pulling up ready to take the men back to the Zagorakis guest house.
‘Your voice is still wobbly,’ Mike observed, ‘and your face is a mess.’
‘Thank you for your honesty—I think.’
‘Someone has to be honest with you, Lisa.’
Lisa turned to look at him. ‘You’re right. I value your opinion… You do know that, don’t you?’
‘Thank you,’ he said, preening a little. ‘It’s always nice to hear that you do.’
‘In future, I’m going to be very different.’
‘Not too different, I hope.’ Mike frowned. ‘There is a certain kudos in being the trusted advisor of one of the most difficult women in business today.’
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