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CHAPTER ONE
MADDISON stared at her younger brother in abject horror.
‘What do you mean you sank his yacht?’
A petulant scowl took up residence on Kyle Jones’s nineteen-year-old face.
‘He deserved it.’
‘Oh, my God.’ She put her head in her hands as she struggled to gain control of her sky-rocketing emotions.
‘I thought you’d be happy,’ Kyle said with a hint of pique. ‘After all, he’s the one who ruined Dad. I thought you’d be pleased I made a stand at long last.’
‘Kyle.’ She lifted her tortured gaze to his. ‘Do you have any idea of what you’ve done?’
He set his shoulders defiantly. ‘I don’t care. He had it coming to him.’
Maddison shut her eyes. ‘I can’t believe I’m hearing this.’
‘It’s all right,’ he reassured her. ‘He has no idea who did it.’
She opened her eyes to face him. ‘How can you possibly know that for sure? People like Demetrius Papasakis always know who their enemies are.’ She got to her feet in agitation and paced the room. ‘You do realise what this means, don’t you?’ She turned to face him once more, her expression pale with worry.
Her brother gave a dismissive shrug. ‘What are you so worried about? He’s never going to know it was me.’
‘Of course he’ll know it was you! You’ve already got a police record! It’s not going to take him long to put two and two together and come up with your name, and once he does you can be certain of one thing—he’ll make sure you end up in prison.’
‘I’m not going to prison,’ he said emphatically.
‘No, you’re not. At least not if I can help it.’ She gnawed her bottom lip as she hunted her brain for a solution.
‘I’m glad I did it, no matter what you think.’ An element of proud defiance had entered Kyle’s voice. ‘Anyway, it’s not as if he can’t afford another yacht; he’s positively loaded.’
‘That’s the whole trouble, don’t you see?’ Desperation was creeping into her tone but there was nothing she could do to stop it. ‘Unlike us, he can afford the very best legal advice. You won’t have a leg to stand on, especially after that last car you stole.’
‘I didn’t steal it,’ he protested. ‘I borrowed it.’
‘Don’t split hairs, Kyle. You know you stole it and you were incredibly lucky to get out on bail, which I might remind you at this point I have yet to pay back to the bank.’
‘I’ll pay you back when I get a job,’ he promised.
Maddison sighed with frustration. ‘And when is that going to be? You’ve already had three jobs, none of them lasting more than a week. I can’t keep covering up for you; at some point you’re going to have to take responsibility for your own life. You’re nineteen years old, more than old enough to drive and vote. It’s about time you stopped blaming everyone else for what’s gone wrong in your life and make something good happen instead.’
‘Demetrius Papasakis wrecked our lives,’ Kyle said bitterly. ‘How can you simply sit back and let him get away with it?’
‘There are better ways than sinking million dollar boats,’ she pointed out wryly. ‘We could have gone to him and stated our case, perhaps fought for compensation.’
‘Oh yeah, right.’ His voice was scathing. ‘He’d laugh in our face; he couldn’t give a fig for what happened to Dad when he lost his job. And besides, look at the way he treats the latest women in his life; that man doesn’t have a conscience.’
Maddison couldn’t agree more, but didn’t want to encourage her brother’s fiery temper. Hardly a day went past without one of the Sydney papers revealing the latest antics of the billionaire playboy, a six-foot-three Greek god of a man with too much money and not enough scruples.
Their father had worked for Demetrius Papasakis as an assistant accountant in the Papasakis hotel chain for years, only to be dismissed without a fair hearing when a question had been raised about the supposed misappropriation of funds. The mud thrown had stuck, and within weeks their father had collapsed with a fatal heart attack, which Maddison knew had been due to the intolerable strain he had faced at the time.
‘People like Demetrius Papasakis usually get their comeuppance in the end,’ she said instead. ‘The trick is to hang around long enough to witness it.’
‘Maybe you’re right.’ The edge of her brother’s mouth lifted in a small smile. ‘According to yesterday’s paper, Papasakis is currently in the middle of yet another relationship scandal, a rich divorcee this time, the ex-wife of one of his business rivals.’
‘At the moment I’m not too concerned about the trouble Demetrius Papasakis may or may not be in,’ she said. ‘The thing I’m concerned with right here and now is how we’re going to get you out of the firing line until the dust settles over this boat episode.’
‘I’m not afraid of Papasakis,’ he said with a lift of his chin.
‘I know, more’s the pity,’ she answered wryly. ‘But I am. He’ll stop at nothing to pay back a misdemeanour such as this and I don’t want to make it too easy for him to do so.’
‘What do you think I should do?’
Maddison took a deep breath of resignation before answering. ‘You’ll have to go into hiding.’
‘Run away, you mean?’ The look he sent her was brim-full of male affront.
‘Not in so many words,’ she reassured him. ‘I have a friend who is working as a nanny on a cattle property in the Northern Territory. In her last letter she told me of the trouble Gillaroo is having recruiting reliable station hands. I can just about afford to pay for your airfare to get you there. After that the rest is up to you.’
‘A station hand?’ Kyle wrinkled his nose.
‘Listen, Kyle.’ She eyeballed him determinedly. ‘I’m running out of both money and patience. This is your last chance. If you don’t take it I’m going to have to wash my hands and leave you to face the music, but let me warn you the sort of music Papasakis will want to play won’t be to your taste.’
‘All right,’ he said. ‘I’ll do it, but only because you want me to, not because I’m scared.’
‘Believe me, you don’t have to be scared,’ she said with feeling. ‘I’m scared enough for both of us.’
Maddison had not long returned from the airport after her younger brother’s departure when the doorbell of her small apartment rang. A flicker of fear brushed the floor of her stomach as she went to answer it, her instincts warning her off opening the door.
The tall, intimidating figure of Demetrius Papasakis stood framed in the doorway, his brown, almost black, eyes glittering as they insolently raked her from head to foot.
Shock rendered her momentarily speechless. How had he known where she lived? And, more to the point, what did he know about her brother’s activities the night before?
‘Miss Jones, I presume?’
‘Th…that’s correct.’ It annoyed her immensely that her voice had sounded distinctly husky. ‘How can I help you?’
‘I’d like to speak with your brother.’
Her eyes flickered briefly away from the dark intensity of his.
‘He’s not here right now.’
‘Where is he?’ The three words were as sharp as daggers, accusing almost.
‘I don’t actually know.’ She reassured herself that it was the truth; she had no idea what part of the continent Kyle was currently flying over.
‘Don’t play games with me, Miss Jones,’ he warned her silkily. ‘I have an issue to discuss with your brother and it would be in his best interests to hear me out.’
‘I’m sorry I can’t help you.’
She began to close the door in his face but before she could get any weight behind it, he reached out a lean hand and the door slammed back against the wall with a resounding thwack.
She shrank back, her hand going shakily to her throat.
He stepped through the doorway and closed the door behind him with exaggerated care.
‘I wouldn’t like your neighbours to overhear what I have to say,’ he said.
‘I’d like you to leave.’ She stepped back another step. ‘Right now.’
‘Before or after I call the police?’ He unhooked his mobile phone from the waistband of his trousers.
She swallowed the constriction in her throat as his lean brown fingers began typing in some numbers.
‘What’s it to be, Miss Jones?’ His forefinger paused over the last digit.
Maddison bit her lip.
‘I have your brother’s probation officer’s telephone number right here,’ he said. ‘Perhaps you’d like to speak to him about your brother’s whereabouts last night?’
‘He was here, with me,’ she said in a thin voice.
He lifted a sceptical brow. ‘You expect me to believe that?’
‘Believe what you like.’
‘You’re playing a dangerous game, Miss Jones. Perhaps I’m not making myself clear.’ He stepped closer to where she was backed up against the wall. ‘I’m not leaving here without information about your brother’s whereabouts.’
‘I hope you’ve brought a toothbrush then.’ Her sapphire-blue eyes flashed with fire. ‘I don’t have a spare.’
His eyes glinted with reluctant amusement at her show of spirit.
‘Are you offering me your bed?’
‘Not a chance,’ she returned primly. ‘You’re not my type.’
He leant one hand on one side of her head and surveyed her up-tilted face in a leisurely manner.
Maddison sucked in a sharp little breath when his fingers captured a strand of her ash-blonde hair, coiling it repeatedly until she was forced to take a tiny step towards him. She could feel the heat of his body this close, his dark eyes so mesmerising she felt as if he was seeing through to her very soul, laying all her innermost secrets bare. She could pick up a faint trace of his citrus-scented aftershave in the air surrounding them, and her bare leg beneath her skirt felt the unmistakable brush of a hard muscled, very male thigh.
‘Now, let’s try it one more time.’ His voice was a silky caress across the sensitised skin of her lips. ‘Where is your brother, Miss Jones?’
She sent her tongue out to the tombstone-dryness of her lips. She saw his dark eyes follow the movement and the breath in her chest tightened another notch.
‘He’s…away,’ she croaked.
His brows snapped together in a frown. ‘Away?’
She nodded.
‘Where?’
‘Interstate.’
‘Which state?’
‘I can’t tell you.’
‘You will tell me, Miss Jones.’ His voice was velvet-covered steel. ‘Even if I have to force it out of you.’
‘I’m not afraid of you.’
‘Are you not?’ Amusement gleamed in his eyes. ‘Then you should be.’
‘Do your worst, Mr Papasakis.’ She lifted her chin. ‘I’m not easily intimidated.’
‘Then I shall have to be very creative and think of an effective tool to bring about your capitulation.’ His smile was deliberately sensuous. ‘Now won’t that be fun?’
She didn’t trust herself to reply. Hatred seethed in her belly until she was sure she’d explode with the effort of keeping it under some semblance of control. She knew enough about him to know he wouldn’t rest until he exacted some sort of revenge, but as long as she had breath she wasn’t going to let him get within a gnat’s eyelash of her brother.
‘Nothing to say, Miss Jones?’ he asked after a tight little silence.
She set her mouth in an intractable line. ‘Get out of my apartment.’
‘Say please.’
‘Go to hell.’
‘Now, now, Miss Jones, that’s not very hospitable of you, is it?’
‘If you don’t leave I’ll scream.’
‘I just love it when a woman screams,’ he drawled suggestively.
Maddison’s face suffused with outraged colour. ‘You’re disgusting.’
‘And you are aiding and abetting a criminal.’
‘My brother is not a criminal,’ she ground out through clenched teeth.
‘You’re living in a fool’s paradise, Miss Jones,’ he warned her. ‘He’s already got a record. One more strike and he’s out—or should I say inside?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she hedged, her cheeks instantly heating.
‘Perhaps you will when I tell you I have proof of your brother’s lawbreaking tendencies.’
She gave him a nervous glance, uncertain whether he was calling her bluff or not.
‘What sort of proof?’
‘The sort of proof which will convict him.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘He was seen on my boat last night,’ he said.
‘So?’
He gave her a hard look. ‘My boat is now at the bottom of Parsley Bay.’
‘I hardly see that someone stepping on to a boat immediately makes them responsible for sinking it,’ she said. ‘Or at least not someone with the small body mass index of my brother.’
‘Very funny.’ His eyes challenged hers.
‘What about fingerprints?’ she asked. ‘Got any of those?’
He held her look for far longer than she would have liked.
‘I’m sure you know fingerprints are a little difficult to find when a boat has been submerged for several hours.’
‘What a shame,’ she said without sincerity.
‘But—’ he deliberately paused for effect ‘—your brother did oblige me by leaving a calling card.’ He took something out of the breast pocket of his shirt and held it up for her to see.
Maddison swallowed.
‘Recognise this?’ he asked.
For endless seconds she stared at the sterling silver surf chain she’d given Kyle for his eighteenth birthday.
‘No,’ she lied.
‘You’re predictable if nothing else.’ He pocketed the chain once more.
‘That chain could belong to anybody,’ she pointed out.
‘Anybody, that is, with the initials KBJ,’ he put in neatly. ‘What does the B stand for, by the way?’
‘None of your business.’
‘While we’re on the subject of names, what is yours?’
‘That’s also none of your business.’
‘I’m making it my business.’
She didn’t care for the implacable threat in his tone but she knew there was little she could do to stop him finding out everything he needed to know and more. He quite clearly knew too much as it was and it made her increasingly uneasy.
She lowered her gaze after a lengthy silence and muttered, ‘My name is Maddison.’
‘Maddison.’ His tongue caressed her name and she gave a little involuntary shiver of reaction. ‘It suits you.’
He stepped away from her and she let out her breath in relief. She watched him as he wandered about her small sitting room, stopping to pick up a book from the coffee table as if he owned the place. She had to admit he had an incredible air of authority about him. She imagined it came from his considerable wealth; no doubt he was used to calling all the shots. His height, too, only added to that authority, as did his immaculate mode of dress. Designer suits, she decided, could have no better hanger than the leanly muscled frame which spoke of a man who obviously enjoyed and played a lot of sport. A broad chest, lean waist tapering to even leaner hips and long hard thighs beneath. His thick, closely cropped curly hair was as black as the ace of spades and his eyes were intelligent and astute, his mouth firm but full enough to hint at a brooding sensuality. His jaw was shadowed as if shaving once a day was not quite enough, which only added to the aura of unmistakable masculinity that oozed from each and every pore of his body. He caught her eyes on him as he turned to look at her.
‘Maddison Jones, I have a bargain to drive with you.’
‘What sort of bargain?’ Her tone was suspicious.
He put the book he was holding down before answering.
‘As you can imagine the loss of my yacht has incurred considerable expense.’
‘What sort of expense?’ she asked cautiously.
His dark eyes held hers.
‘One point five million dollars, to be exact.’
She couldn’t disguise her indrawn breath in time. ‘Oh, my God!’
‘Yes, I said as much at the time,’ he admitted wryly, ‘Or at least words to that effect.’
She could just imagine the sort of words he might have used.
‘I don’t see what this has to do with me.’
‘It has everything to do with you, especially since you’re so determined to protect your brother.’
‘What do you mean?’
He gave her a leisurely look.
‘Since you’re so obviously lying to cover Kyle’s tracks, I guess that leaves me with no choice but to deal directly with you.’
‘I can’t pay back that amount of money.’
‘Not many people can,’ he agreed. ‘But that’s not to say you couldn’t in your own inimitable way redress the balance.’
‘I can’t imagine what you’re getting at.’
‘I’m offering you a position, Miss Jones.’ He smiled seductively and then added smokily, ‘Maddison.’
She gritted her teeth against the sound of her name on his lips.
‘What sort of position?’
‘The sort of position most women would clutch at with both hands.’
‘I’m afraid I’m not quite up to date on what most women would do for the simple reason I am not most women.’
‘You surprise me, Maddison. I had you picked as an opportunist, not unlike your father and brother.’
‘My father did nothing wrong.’
He inclined his head.
‘I respect your very obvious loyalty but your father proved his guilt by bowing under the pressure of accusation.’
‘An accusation that was uncalled for and totally false!’ she retorted hotly.
‘It’s understandable you would cling to that view but I have reason to believe otherwise.’
‘You wouldn’t recognise the truth if it jumped out of your over-stuffed wallet.’
‘I beg to differ, Miss Jones. I have a great understanding of the truth. What remains to be seen is whether you do as well.’
‘You can’t make a criminal out of my brother.’
‘I can and I will if I have to,’ he assured her. ‘But for the time being I’m prepared to suspend my judgement on your brother as long as you do what I suggest.’
‘I can’t imagine what scheme you have in mind,’ she said scathingly.
‘Can’t you?’
She gave him an icy look. ‘No doubt it has your unscrupulous desires at its centre.’
‘Desire is a very good choice of word.’ He smiled. ‘I like the sound of that.’
Maddison didn’t like the tone of his voice; it seemed to suggest a growing intimacy between them she didn’t want to acknowledge in any shape or form.
‘What do you want from me?’ she asked. ‘I have no money worth speaking of and I think I’ve made it more than clear I have no intention of revealing the whereabouts of my brother. What else is there?’
He took his time answering. She was intently conscious of his lazy surveillance, the fine hairs on the back of her neck rising in reaction to his studied gaze.
‘I think you might prove to be very useful to me,’ he said. ‘Very useful indeed.’
‘I can’t imagine what you mean.’ She sent him another nervous glance.
‘I have a proposition to make.’
‘What sort of proposition?’
‘The sort of proposition that will clear your brother of all charges, wipe his slate clean, if you like.’
A flicker of hope burned and died in her breast within seconds. She didn’t trust him; he had all the aces in his hand and he would throw them on the table at any moment, she was sure.
‘Just how far are you prepared to go to protect your brother?’ he asked after another tight little pause.
‘As far as it takes.’ She lifted her chin a fraction.
His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. ‘As far as having a relationship with me?’
She held his direct look without speaking, her heart skipping a beat in her chest.
‘I need the smokescreen of a new alliance. You could prove to be very useful in my current circumstances.’
‘I can’t imagine how.’ She finally found her voice.
‘I need a cover,’ he said. ‘I have a situation, so to speak; I need an alibi, the ironclad sort.’
‘I don’t think I can help you.’
‘On the contrary, I think you can. I want you to pretend to be my current mistress. How would you feel about that?’
‘Do you want the truth or politeness?’
‘Both.’
‘Well—’ she tilted her head at him ‘—for a start I would never allow myself to be your mistress.’
‘What about as my wife?’
‘That’s even more unlikely.’
‘What about if you had no choice?’
She gave him an arctic look. ‘I would always have a choice.’
‘Not if your brother’s freedom depended on it.’
Maddison felt cornered and she was sure he was aware of it.
‘What do you mean?’ she asked, trying to buy time.
‘It’s easy.’ He gave her an unreadable look. ‘I can call Kyle’s probation officer right now to tell him he’s flown the coop, or you can agree to do a favour for me, simple as that.’
‘You want me to pretend to be your wife?’
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘I’ve changed my mind. I have much more specific plans for you.’
She gave him a blank stare. ‘I don’t think I’m following you.’
‘I don’t want you to pretend anything,’ he said smoothly. ‘I want you to actually be my wife.’
Her mouth dropped open in shock. ‘You can’t possibly mean that!’
‘In time, Maddison Jones, you will come to learn that I mean everything I say.’
She could well believe it, but didn’t want to add to his already monumental ego by expressing it verbally.
‘You surely can’t expect me to agree to this outrageous proposal,’ she said instead.
‘I think I’ve made it clear what will happen if you don’t,’ he answered. ‘Kyle will find himself in a four-by-four cell, playing cards with who knows what unsavoury inmates.’
She closed her eyes against the image his words conjured. Her brother was wilful and wayward, but he didn’t deserve imprisonment, and she would do everything in her power to stop it happening.
‘I…I need some time to think about this.’ She avoided his eyes.
‘I’ll give you a week, no more.’
‘A week?’
He gave a single nod. ‘But, let me warn you, I’ll be following your every move, so if you have any plans to escape, forget them.’
He reached into his back pocket and handed her a business card. She took it with nerveless fingers and stared at it sightlessly for a long moment.
‘You can reach me on that number when you’ve made your decision,’ he informed her. ‘I’ll tell my secretary to expect your call by five p.m. on Monday.’
She wished she had the courage to tear the card into a thousand pieces, and if it hadn’t been for Kyle she would have, but instead she closed her palm around it, feeling its sharp edges digging into her flesh like an instrument of torture. She lifted her gaze back to his unwavering one, the cold fingertips of fear edging their way up her spine at the self-satisfied gleam reflected in his black-hooded eyes.
‘I’m assuming from all this that your boat wasn’t adequately insured,’ she said.
‘It was very adequately insured,’ he informed her. ‘But this is my way of ensuring I get the best possible return.’
The predatory look he gave her caused her stomach to turn over unexpectedly.
‘You’re taking a very big risk; you don’t know where I might have been or who I’ve been with.’ She was deliberately provocative, even though she had never been so close to a man until he’d stepped into her personal space a few minutes ago.
‘I have no real interest in your sexual proclivities,’ he said dismissively. ‘This will not be a real lasting marriage.’
‘It’s to be temporary?’ She clutched at the life-line hopefully.
‘Of course.’ His eyes glinted darkly. ‘Isn’t every marriage?’
She didn’t have it in her to argue the point, even if she’d wanted to. She’d read the latest figures on marital success and they weren’t all that promising.
‘Aren’t you worried I might take you to the cleaners at the end of our…arrangement?’ she asked.
‘Not at all. By the time our marriage is annulled you’ll be very much aware of what sort of outcome such an action would produce.’
She lifted her chin at the thinly veiled threat behind his words.
‘Do I have your word the marriage would stay in name only?’
‘I can assure you, Maddison, my physical needs are being very satisfactorily catered for elsewhere. I have absolutely no interest in chasing you around the bedroom. You will be able to sleep in peace.’
She knew it was highly inconsistent of her to be annoyed by his callous dismissal of her attractiveness to the opposite sex; she knew she was hardly model material but surely she wasn’t ready for the shelf yet?
‘So, if I agree to this arrangement it is safe to assume I’m to turn a blind eye to your activities for appearance’s sake?’
‘You will not only turn a blind eye, you will do everything in your power to maintain the illusion of a happy union whenever we are in public, which means, of course, the same freedom I enjoy will not be available to you.’
‘Meaning?’
‘Meaning any dalliances you might be tempted to conduct will have to be temporarily shelved until such time as our marriage is over.’
‘So you can have your cake and eat it too, but I must not?’
‘That’s correct.’
‘That’s archaic!’
‘That’s the deal, take it or leave it.’
She longed to tell him what to do with his preposterous proposal but a vision of her brother in handcuffs flitted unbidden into her mind and she snapped her mouth shut.
‘Don’t forget, Maddison, I’m doing you a very big favour here. One point five million dollars is a huge debt for someone in your position to pay. This way the debt can be cleared within a short space of time. Your brother can stop looking over his shoulder and you can walk away with a clear conscience knowing you saved him from a fate thought to be worse than death.’
‘What sort of time-frame are you thinking of?’ she asked, her insides twisting painfully.
He pursed his lips for a moment in a gesture of deep thought.
‘At a guess I’d give it six months. Any longer and you might be tempted to get a little too attached to the role.’
‘You must be joking.’ She gave him a scathing glance.
‘One can never be too sure,’ he said with another one of his secret smiles. ‘Women have rather an annoying habit of becoming clingy at times.’
‘It must be your money,’ she shot back. ‘It can’t possibly have anything whatsoever to do with your personality.’
His sudden laughter surprised her; it had a deep masculine sound to it that sent an arrow of sensation up her back as if he’d reached out and touched her with his long fingers. It made her feel as if she’d inadvertently uncovered an even more dangerous facet to him, the ability to slip under her defences and catch her off guard.
‘Maddison Jones—’ his eyes twinkled with lingering amusement as he surveyed her mutinous features ‘—I’m looking forward to hearing your decision next week. I think our little arrangement could prove to be very entertaining, very entertaining indeed.’
Before she could think of a suitably stinging reply the door opened under his hand and he was gone, leaving her standing there with his business card tightly clenched in her hand.
She opened her palm and winced when she saw the tiny pinprick of blood one of the sharp edges had drawn from her soft flesh. She couldn’t help wondering if it were some sort of omen, or perhaps a warning specifically aimed at her; if she were to allow herself to get too close to someone like Demetrius Papasakis she would be, in the end, the only one to get hurt.
07-11-07, 07:34 PM
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Melanie Milburne - THE GREEK’S CONVENIENT WIFE
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