The Greek's Forgotten Wife (Boarding School #1) (7 page)

He smiled, almost laughing at the way she was trying to placate him.  Good strategy, he thought.  Unfortunately, she wasn’t going to dissuade him.  Not even a little.  “I don’t want another woman.  I have you.  You are already my wife.”

Her teeth clenched with that infuriating answer.  “Find someone else.”

He shook his head, enjoying the fire in her pretty, brown eyes.  “You either agree to be my wife, Sasha, or I take control of that account.  I’m not bluffing on this.”  He reached out and touched a dark strand of hair, twirling it around his finger.  “Once you get to know me a bit better, you’ll understand that I never bluff.”

She felt her throat close at his threat and stared at him, trying to figure out a way around him.  “You can’t be what I want in a husband.”

He pulled her closer, enjoying the way her body fit so perfectly against his.  “I gave you what you wanted last night.”  He bent down and nibbled on her neck.  “Several times, if my memory is correct.”

“That’s just sex,” she whispered, falling under his spell despite her mind telling her repeatedly to pull out of his arms.  She wanted so badly to move away from him, to push him away.  But she found herself lifting her hands, touching his chest and actually moving closer to him. 

“That’s a start.”

She shook her head, trying to deny what he was making her feel but it was pointless.  He was too experienced and she was….well, she’d been locked away here for too long and she’d dreamed about him too often over the years.  Her body was desperate for his touch, the way he could make her feel.  It was as if he had some sort of magic touch and knew all of the right places that could make her body sing. 

She hadn’t even realized that his fingers had already undone the button and zipper on her capris but he lifted her up, out of the pool of clothing as he carried her over to the bed.  Within moments, he’d already discarded the rest of her clothing.  She stood in front of him, naked and trembling with both anticipation and nerves.  His dark eyes surveyed her nakedness with a strange look.  She couldn’t quite interpret that gaze but…it felt like possession.  Triumph!  Her hands moved nervously up to hide herself but he wouldn’t let her, holding her hands away from her body while he looked his fill. 

“You’re my wife,” he growled and quickly divested himself of his own clothing.  Within moments, he had lifted her up again and placed her in the center of the bed.  “And now I’m going to show you what that means.” 

Sasha trembled with that promise.  She had no idea what he was about to do, but everything felt different today.  Or maybe she was just more aware of what he might do to her, of how he could make her react.

“What are you going to do?” she whispered, her arms curving over her breasts as shyness overwhelmed her. 

Damon took her hands away, his eyes moving over her soft curves.  “I’m going to make love to you.  Again and again until your mind accepts me as your mate,” his eyes moved over her soft curves, “just like your body has already accepted.”

And with those words, his head dipped down lower, capturing her lips. 

Sasha lifted her hands to push his head away but her fingers found the silky thickness of his black hair instead.  She didn’t want this!  She didn’t want him to…Oh my!  His fingers skimmed down her spine, causing her to curl her body closer to his.  Her nipples rubbed against the rough hair on his chest and she shivered with the need that fired inside of her, hotter than the previous night! 

“Damon!” she gasped when his hands moved around her body, cupping her bottom and lifting her body against his.  And then she was shocked when he turned her around.  She gripped the thick comforter of the bed with her fingers, not sure what he was going to do.  When he lifted her hips, she shook her head.  “Not this…”  Once more, his hand moved down her spine and she gasped as her body curved once more.  When he entered her from this angle, she was so shocked, so horrified, she turned her head to tell him to stop but then he filled her up and it was the most intense sensation.  Her mouth was hanging open as he slowly moved in her body.  With every thrust, she screamed and shook her head, denying that this was as magically perfect as it really was. 

When his hand moved around her body and touched her in that spot, she screamed, her body convulsing over and over again.  Sasha wasn’t sure, but she might have passed out for a moment.  By the time she could open her eyes once more, she was still gasping for breath and Damon was pulling her against his side, his breathing uneven as well.  She stared at his chest, unable to look into his eyes after that crazy experience. 

All she knew was that this was insane.  How could her body betray her over and over again?  Why was she such a slave to him when he touched her in any way? 

Sasha didn’t have any answers. 

Sasha stared at the text, furious that he would give her an order.  “Meet me for lunch.  Timon will get you to the restaurant.”

That was it?  No request, no reason for a lunch meeting?  No inquiry as to her plans for the day or even a greeting?  Just a command for an appearance.  He hadn’t even given her the respect of naming a time.  She had to go to Timon to get details.  The nerve of that man!  Apparently, she was so unimportant, and he assumed that anything she had going on today would be less important than meeting him for a meal on his schedule.

Chloe bustled onto the sunshine filled patio, setting down a fresh pot of tea.  “You look like you’ve just swallowed something horrible,” she said.  “But since you haven’t eaten anything in the past twenty-four hours, I’m guessing it is just because you’re starving.  And that’s not an option, you know.  He’ll just tell me to make all of your favorites in an effort to tempt you and since you don’t have any favorites, you eat anything I cook, he’ll just growl.  And then you’ll start snapping at him and…” she chuckled.  “Well, then you’ll disappear for a few hours and my food will get cold.  Again.”

Sasha couldn’t hide her amusement at Chloe’s words.  Unfortunately, Chloe was right.  “What do you suggest?” she asked.

“Eat, my lady.  Don’t let the man control everything about you.  Stay healthy and eat food because you’ll need your wits about you to make this whole thing work, love.”

With that bit of advice, she bustled off, back to her kitchen. 

Sasha realized that the kind woman was right.  She needed to eat and keep her blood sugar level up so that she’d have the courage, and the strength, to fight this man.  Because there was no way she was going to fall into his plans.  She had no faith that he truly wanted to be a husband.  He would simply get her pregnant and then leave her for months on end again, until he had another inkling to be with his “wife.” 

This relationship was a trap.  One that she would not succumb to!  She couldn’t get pregnant! 

Picking up her fork, she finished off the fruit that Chloe had cut up for her, and even ate a piece of toast, feeling much better now that she had a full belly.  Chloe was right.  Sasha really did need all of her strength when she was dealing with Damon.  He wasn’t a man who should be taken on with an empty stomach.  He was too smart, too powerful and too experienced at getting the upper hand in every situation. 

Not this time though.  She would win this battle!  She refused to be the little woman who stays at home, pregnant and surrounded by children while Damon gets tired of her and goes off to visit one of his mistresses. 

She refused to be that woman any longer!  Six years was plenty of time to have that role.  She was passing it off to someone else now. 

So when Timon dropped her off at the restaurant later that day, she was feeling very much in control.  She’d chosen a crisp, linen suit in a muted shade of tan.  She hated this dress almost as much as she hated the jewelry.  It had been a present from Damon several years ago and she was making a statement.  He’d sent it to her and she’d initially thought it had been an error, that he’d meant to send it to someone else.  But as she’d perused the Internet that day, she’d realized that none of his mistresses wore the same size as her. 

She knew that the color made her look sick and that was the whole point.  He’d sent her another thoughtless gift, proving once again that he rarely thought about her except as an obligation and a way to regain ownership of his ancestral home.  When donning the dress earlier, she hadn’t done anything with her makeup to counter that effect.  In fact, she’d gone out of her way to allow the dress to wash out her complexion, showing Damon exactly how inappropriate and thoughtless the gift had been.  She could have added a brighter color of lipstick, but she’d gone with a more muted mauve, something that would go with the dress, not with her skin color.

The waiter was very solicitous as he brought her a glass of ice water.  “Can I have some white wine?” she asked.  The look in the man’s eye grabbed her attention and, when he hesitated, she suspected something was wrong.  A few moments later, the man brought her a glass of chilled chardonnay, but he also placed a plate of antipasto in front of her as well. 

Looking up at the nervous man, she shook her head.  “I didn’t order this,” she told him.

The man shuffled on his feet.  “I have instructions from your husband, Ms. Galanos,” he told her anxiously. 

Sasha sighed.  “I understand,” she reassured him.  “Thank you very much for the appetizers.  This looks lovely.”

The man scurried away, eager to be out of the line of fire. 

Sasha sipped the wine and nibbled on the food, glancing at her watch every few minutes while fuming at Damon’s meddling, not to mention his tardiness.  She’d been told that he would be here at twelve-thirty.  It was now one o’clock.  Enough was enough, she told herself furiously.  She had spent six years waiting for this man.  Now she’d given him another thirty minutes of her life that she’d never get back. 

Sasha stood up, furious with him for doing this to her again.  And she was furious with herself for even waiting on him!  How many times did she have to be alone, waiting for the man before she took control and stood up for herself? 

She grabbed her purse and tossed a few bills onto the table to cover her wine and the appetizer.  With a flick of her wrist, she ignored the rest of the meal and walked out of the restaurant.  Just as she was stepping back out into the sunshine, Damon stepped out of a limousine which had obviously just pulled up in front of the building. 

“Sasha,” he called to her as she started to walk down the sidewalk to where the shops were.  “Did you just arrive?” he asked, easily catching up with her and taking hold of her arm.

Sasha looked down at his dark fingers against her pale skin, then up into the man’s strange, amber eyes.  “No.  You asked,” she said sarcastically, “me to be here at twelve-thirty.”  She looked at her watch.  “It is now after one o’clock.  I’m finished with my meal.”

Inwardly he cringed.  Obviously his wife didn’t appreciate his tight schedule.  “Stay and have a lemonade with me while I eat.”

She shook her head.  “No thank you.  I had a glass of wine already.  And if you’d bothered to show up on time, I would have had lunch with you but since you kept me waiting, again, I am leaving.”

He rubbed the back of his neck with frustration.  “I had a meeting that ran over.  It couldn’t be helped,” Damon said, still not releasing her arm. 

He most likely thought his excuse would be enough.  And probably for his mistresses, it would be.  Or if he’d said that six years ago, she would have been pathetically pleased to wait for him.  But not anymore.  “First of all, you commanded me to show up here, regardless of anything I might have had on my schedule today.  You were arrogant in assuming that I would be here with nothing on my schedule but do your bidding.  Secondly, since your meeting was more important than I am, then I hope it was successful.  But that meeting was not more important to me.  You wasted my time.  I won’t let you do that again.”  With that, she jerked her arm out of his hand and hurried down the sidewalk, fighting back the tears of frustration and humiliation.  He hadn’t even taken the time to call her, tell her that he was delayed.  She meant nothing to him!  She was lower than his secretary because that woman probably knew what was going on her husband’s life more than she did!

She slipped into the limousine and closed the door when Timon appeared to be hesitating.  She wasn’t going to wait around for Damon to berate her about anything.  She was finished!  “Take me to the airport,” she told her driver, ignoring the surprised expression on Timon’s features when he stepped into the vehicle next to the driver.

The man turned around and she noticed that he was speaking into his cell phone.  “I am ordered to take you home, ma’am,” he said, his eyes showing his confusion.  No one disobeyed Damon.

Sasha bit the side of her mouth, trying very hard not to put Timon in any sort of danger or his employment in jeopardy.  Two men had already been fired because of her.  She’d found jobs for them with another agency, giving both men outstanding references.  But now Damon was intruding on her life once more and Timon was the minion at Damon’s beck and call.  There was no way she would simply follow that man’s orders!  It just wasn’t going to happen! 

She thought quickly, trying to come up with a different plan.  Obviously, she wasn’t going to get to the airport very easily.  Not if Timon had anything to say about it.  And the guy already looked worried, obviously concerned about contradicting his employer’s orders.  “Okay, no airport.  I’m going to have tea with Ms. Ballas.  She’s close enough to the villa to be considered following Damon’s orders, right?” she asked him on a spur of the moment decision.  “Would you like to join us?”

It took a great deal of effort to not laugh at Timon’s expression.  Ms. Ballas was the village chatterbox.  She even gave Sasha a headache whenever she had to visit.  Once the elderly woman started talking, there was no stopping her. 

“I will accompany you,” he told her.  Sasha heard the pain in his voice.  “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to just go home and have Ms. Ballas come to you?” he offered hopefully.  That would allow him to head to the guardhouse instead of standing in the room with her. And it would also allow him to follow his employer’s instructions perfectly. 

“Oh, definitely not!” she replied.  “No, let’s just head back to the village,” she told Timon.  She sat back against the plush, leather seats, biting the end of her thumb as she worked through a plan. 

There was absolutely no way she was going to be at home waiting for her husband tonight.  No way!  She’d waited for six years and she’d waited at the restaurant, giving up her plans for the day only to be stood up.  By her husband!  It was humiliating that he thought she would jump whenever he said jump.  He was going to have to learn that she wasn’t that kind of a woman. 

And maybe he would get so sick of her defiant nature, he would go back to his more willing and pathetically eager mistresses and leave her in splendid peace. 

That’s all she really wanted, she thought as the town landscape turned into more wild, rugged terrain as they left the city and headed back to the villa.  She didn’t need the enormous house or all the servants, although she would miss Chloe and Danizia terribly when she went back to London.  But it had to be done, she thought with sadness.  She could not lose herself in loving Damon only to have him go off and stomp on her heart once more. 

No, she had to find her independence. 

An hour and a half later, Sasha sat on the uncomfortable, wooden chair, listening to Ms. Ballas gabber on about…something.  Sasha tried very hard to listen, or at least nod her head at the appropriate moments.  But her mind simply was not able to focus on the woman’s chattering.  Her mind was completely focused on her husband. 

“Are you okay, dear?” Ms. Ballas asked, looking at Sasha curiously.

Sasha jerked back to the present, pulling her mind out of memories of the night before.  And this morning.  Goodness, she thought and considered fanning herself as the heat stirred inside of her.  “I’m fine,” she lied to the elderly woman. 

Ms. Ballas chuckled.  “I’m sure you are, now that your handsome husband has come back.  I understand things are heating up back at the villa.”  Her eyes watched as Sasha’s cheeks flamed red once again.  “I guess the rumors are true,” she laughed. 

Sasha set her delicate china cup back on the small, wooden table in front of her.  “It has been a lovely visit, Ms. Ballas,” she said.  “But I need to hurry back home.”

The woman smiled brightly.  “Eager to get back to that man of yours?” she suggested.

Sasha didn’t answer that.  Taking the woman’s hands in hers, she said, “Thank you for the tea.  Would you mind if I slipped out the back door?  I’d like to walk back to the villa.  It’s a beautiful day.”

“Of course dear!” she said and moved so that she could open the back door.  “Say hello to your husband for me, dear!”

Sasha waved to the woman as she walked carefully down the steps and out behind the stone fence line.  It wasn’t really a good day to walk, and the heels she’d worn with this ugly dress weren’t good for walking, but she only had to make it to the edge of the village.  She could catch a ride with the mail carrier after he finished his rounds, but she picked up her step, noticing the time.  She’d have to hurry if she was going to make it to the main street in time to catch a ride with him. 

Surely Damon couldn’t blame Timon for her sneaking out the back door.  He might become angry with her, but Timon was doing his job, waiting for her just outside the front door of Ms. Ballas’ cottage. 

“Danido!” she called out, breathless and frazzled but she’d made it to the drop off point just as the delivery guy was about to pull away.  “Danido!” she called again.

He popped his head out of the truck’s window and spotted her.  Lifting his hand, he waved to her.  “Ms. Galanos!  What a pleasure!”

Sasha smiled and stopped by his truck, trying to catch her breath. “I need a favor,” she said, still breathing hard.  “I need to go into town.  Could you give me a ride?”

The man looked at her, confused, but he smiled and nodded his head. “Of course!  My truck isn’t as nice as…”

“Oh, it will be wonderful!” she interrupted him before he explained how luxurious her husband’s mode of transportation was.  She hated those limousines!  She hated the bodyguards that followed her around all the time and she hated the villa simply because Damon wanted to keep her there, barefoot and pregnant, completely dependent on him.  And most likely alone once he had her pregnant!  Oh, the man just infuriated her!