The Mediterranean's Wife by Contract. Kathryn Ross
He spoke about commitment and love as if they were things to be avoided at all costs. And he’d obviously broken hearts by the truckload.
Yet he had been genuinely pleased for his brother and Jo.
She couldn’t quite work him out.
Not that she wanted to work him out, she told herself firmly.
Their relationship was never going to be anything as serious as Theo and Jo’s. Neither of them were ready for settling down, it was the wrong time, the wrong place. Andreas was totally consumed with his business deal and she was too wary to commit herself to just a holiday romance—she had a good job to go back to.
So why did she feel like this? she wondered angrily as she got her suitcase out and started to pack. Why had she waited and waited last night for her mobile to ring?
Somehow over the last week reality had been swept away on a tide of emotion that she had never experienced before. Maybe it was something to do with the beauty of the surroundings and the way Andreas had wined and dined her; perhaps she had even been caught up with the mood of romance that surrounded Jo and Theo she thought rationally as she folded T-shirts and shorts.
And then she remembered the way Andreas could kiss her and her hands stilled. Deep down she knew her feelings weren’t anything to do with their surroundings, Andreas’s attentive generosity or even Theo and Jo’s wonderful love for each other. It was the way Andreas made her feel. The way he’d been able to send shivers of pleasurable anticipation through her with just a look. The way he could kiss her and set her totally on fire.
No one had ever done that to her before.
But she wasn’t stupid; she’d tasted the danger in his kisses, knew that beneath the charming urbane exterior there was the steely heart of the predatory male.
He was the type of man who would normally have made her run for the hills, yet something strange had happened when he’d touched her; he terrified her, yet he’d captivated her.
And because he had treated her with restraint and respect she’d even started to imagine that she meant something to him…Stupid, she told herself as she started to fling clothes into her suitcase now without bothering to fold them. The sooner she got away from here and back to reality, the better.
There was a knock on the door and Carrie glanced at her watch. Jo was early! The realization that it was almost time to say goodbye to her best friend struck through her like ice.
‘I wasn’t expecting you for another hour…’ Her voice drifted off as she swung the door open and found that it wasn’t Jo, it was Andreas outside. Surprise and pleasure flooded through her. ‘Oh…it’s you!’
Hastily she tried to pull herself together. Every time she saw him she couldn’t believe how gorgeous he was. But didn’t he just know it, she reminded herself quickly as his dark intense eyes seem to sear into her and he smiled that confident smile of his.
He was wearing a suit and a blue shirt that was open at the neck, and he looked as if he’d come straight from a business meeting. It made Carrie feel very self-conscious about her own dishevelled appearance.
‘I wasn’t expecting you!’ She tightened the belt of her blue silk robe. ‘I thought it was Jo.’
‘Are you disappointed?’ he asked teasingly.
She didn’t respond to the warmth of the enquiry. He was so damn sure of himself, she thought with a dart of anger. ‘I’m just surprised,’ she answered instead as she stepped back to allow him in. ‘When I didn’t hear from you yesterday I thought you’d probably forgotten that I leave today.’
‘No, I didn’t forget. I just got tied up with business in Athens.’
She noticed he didn’t bother to try and apologise—didn’t try to explain why he hadn’t phoned her when he had said that he would.
As he moved further into the room his glance moved to the open door and the suitcase on the bed.
‘You’re lucky to have caught me,’ she said lightly. ‘I leave in an hour.’
He turned to face her and as their eyes connected she could feel the chemistry swirling between them like a living entity…entwining around her heart, enticing her with invisible strings to step closer into his arms.
It took all of her self-control to stay where she was.
She had her pride, and he was probably only here to say goodbye. ‘So how is business going?’ she asked lightly. She wasn’t really interested; it was just something to say—something to cover the overwhelming feelings of need and confusion swirling inside her.
‘Hard to tell. It’s early days.’
She nodded. ‘Theo told me last night that you were at a delicate stage of negotiation.’
‘Did he?’ Andreas shrugged nonchalantly.
His laid-back attitude stung. She’d suspected last night that Theo was making excuses for his brother’s absence—but at least he had been trying to spare her feelings! ‘I hope the deal works out for you,’ she murmured, ‘but you know what I think about high-risk ventures.’
He looked amused. ‘Well, luckily I haven’t come to discuss my business strategies with you, Carrie.’
‘Haven’t you?’ She glared at him and raised her chin defiantly. ‘So what are you here for?’ she asked angrily.
To her surprise he reached out and took hold of her arm…pulling her closer. ‘I’ve come for this…’
Before she could move away, his head was lowering, his lips capturing hers in a fiercely possessive kiss. She tried not to respond—she was upset at his high-handed manner…still reeling inside from the way he had just ignored her for the last two days.
But, hell, he could kiss and she wanted him so badly, and before she realized what she was doing she was kissing him back hungrily.
Slowly she started to wind her arms up and around his neck.
‘That’s better.’ He murmured the words with satisfaction as his hand stroked under the silk of her gown, finding the curve of her breast. ‘This is our unfinished business…everything else doesn’t matter.’
Her eyes closed on a wave of ecstasy as his fingers stroked provocatively over her. But even as she started to give herself up to the pleasure of his caress her mind was still whirring. Everything else did matter. As much as she wanted this, she couldn’t shut out reality—he had ignored her for two days with not even the courtesy of a phone call, and her air ticket for home was sitting on the bedside table.
The reminder enabled her to pull away from him and draw the silk of her gown closer around her naked body. ‘Andreas, I leave in less than an hour.’
‘Yes—I realize that. But as I was saying, we’ve got unfinished business.’ He looked at her with dark brooding eyes. These last couple of days he had purposefully distanced himself from her—told himself that it was for her sake as well as his own. She was so young, her whole life stretching ahead of her, and if she stayed and they got deeply involved, pretty soon she’d want a level of commitment from him that he was unwilling—unable—to give.
He was at a crossroads—a place he didn’t want to be. He’d been heavily involved in a relationship once before and it had been a big—no, huge—mistake. He wasn’t going down that route again.
‘Andreas, I don’t think you heard me. I leave for England in an hour.’ She repeated her words fiercely, her eyes wide blue pools of shimmering emotion.
And suddenly he knew that, however selfish it was, he couldn’t let her go. ‘So why don’t you tear up that air ticket and stay?’
Carrie stared at him. The quiet words made her heart pitch with so much emotion that for a few seconds she couldn’t think straight, and deep down she realized she’d wanted him