Marriage At His Convenience. JACQUELINE BAIRD

whispered, the full horror of Spiro’s revelation finally sinking into her troubled mind.

      ‘You don’t have to take my word. You can go back into your apartment and bury your head in the sand like an ostrich for one more night. Or you can come with me and see for yourself.’ A challenging smile curved his full lips. ‘If you have the nerve.’

      Amber had never refused a challenge in her life and she was not going to start now. Besides which, she did not believe Spiro. Her heart would not let her…

      CHAPTER TWO

      AMBER, tall and sophisticated in the black silk dress with jewels gleaming at her throat, handed her shawl in to the cloakroom attendant, and turned back to Spiro.

      ‘Ready.’ She smiled. Spiro had to be mistaken, she told herself yet again, her golden eyes straying to the wide open doors of the private function room where the party was being held.

      ‘Take my arm, Amber.’ Spiro picked up her nerveless hand and slipped it through his arm as they walked into the elegant room.

      Lucas Karadines saw Amber before she had even got through the door. She looked sensational. Shock held him rigid for a second, then he looked away hastily but not before seeing her companion, Spiro! Lucas’s black eyes closed briefly. Oh, hell! He almost groaned out loud. For the first time in his adult life he felt about two inches tall. He knew deep down he should have made the effort to see Amber some time today and finish their relationship, but he had been reluctant to do so. But what the hell was she doing here? He did not need to ask. Spiro, of course. Spiro would find it amusing.

      He felt a tug on his sleeve, and looked down into the round open face of Christina. Thank God his betrothal to Christina was not to be announced until next week—at least that would give him time to explain to Amber. He would not wish to hurt her for the world. His dark eyes were fixed on Christina, but more worrying was that in his mind’s eye he was seeing the stunningly sensual naked figure of Amber, the night he had given her the necklace as a birthday present, the emeralds blazing around her neck her only adornment. Brutally he squashed the image, much the way he would like to squash Spiro for putting him in this position. Determinedly he smiled down at Christina, and, slipping an arm around her shoulder, continued the conversation with their respective fathers.

      Amber’s golden gaze urgently scanned the crowded room, hoping against hope she would not find the man she was looking for. Then she spotted Lucas. It was two long months since she had seen him, and she could not help it as her eyes drank in the sight of him. Why he was here instead of New York didn’t matter, he was here…now…

      He was the tallest, sexiest man in the room. His superbly muscled frame was clad in a black dinner suit, the exquisitely tailored jacket fitted perfectly across his broad shoulders, the pure white of the dress shirt he wore contrasted starkly with his bronzed skin. Her heart squeezed in her chest, her gaze slanting down over the long, elegant length of him with loving, hungry eyes. She knew every inch of his magnificent body as intimately as she knew her own. She would have gambled her last penny that neither one of them could have walked into a room without the other being instantly aware of it. She waited for his head to turn, for those incredible dark eyes to meet hers, for his smile of delighted recognition. But she was wrong… Lucas wasn’t aware of her at all…

      She blindly allowed Spiro to lead her slowly through the crowd of guests; she had eyes for no one but Lucas. He was standing at the far end of the room with a group of three other people: his father, another elderly gentleman, and a young girl. He was smiling down at the girl with a look of such tenderness in his eyes that an inexplicable fear made Amber’s blood run cold. His head was slightly bowed, his shoulders curved in a protective attitude towards the girl, and Amber’s heart froze in her breast. She was vaguely aware of the long table they were standing beside; for a second her eyes flickered to the centre point, a magnificent ice sculpture of a sailing ship. Wildly whimsical, she wished she could get in it and sail away, but inevitably her gaze was drawn back to the small group. It was just a business deal, it had to be, she told herself. She dimly felt Spiro squeeze her hand, and heard through the roaring in her ears.

      ‘I hate to say it, Amber, but I told you so…’

      ‘Thanks.’ She cast a furious sidelong glance at Spiro; he was enjoying this. ‘But it still does not mean you are right. Lucas might not have had time to call me if, as you say, he had a business meeting this afternoon.’ She had to hope; she could not face the alternative or it would destroy her.

      ‘If you believe that, you will believe anything. Where’s your pride, girl?’ Spiro queried, raising one elegant brow, but, sensing her distress, he added, ‘Chin up, Amber. Don’t let the devil get you down.’

      ‘He is not a devil,’ she defended Lucas, but without her usual conviction, and, glancing back at the group, she finally looked at the young girl at Lucas’s side.

      She was short and very Greek with an olive-skinned complexion and long black hair tied back in a ponytail. Pretty if a little plump. The dress she was wearing was a concoction in pink satin with a gathered skirt, probably ruinously expensive, but it did nothing for the girl’s figure. The girl was gazing up at Lucas, with a dreamy smile on her face. One of her hands rested on his arm, and the other was on his chest—there was no mistaking the intimacy of the gesture.

      ‘Is that child Christina Aristides?’ Amber asked. ‘The daughter you mentioned.’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Then you’re wrong, Spiro. Lucas is no cradle-snatcher and that girl is young enough to be his daughter.’ Her gaze strayed helplessly back to the dark head of her lover, and at that moment his head lifted, and his dark eyes clashed with Amber’s.

      She stared at the man she loved with all her heart, and she saw the coldness in his hard gaze as their glances locked. He did not even look surprised to see her. But she noticed his pupils dilate slightly, and the flare of desire in his eyes before he lowered his gaze, to sweep down over the shapely length of her and return blandly to her face.

      Lucas Karadines shifted uncomfortably and shoved his hand in his trouser pocket. He had thought he had got himself under control enough to look at her again, but his body thought otherwise, much to his disgust. What the hell was she doing here with Spiro, anyway? He had told her to keep away from Spiro and she had deliberately defied him. But then that was Amber—she took a delight in challenging him on every level. A trait he could put up with in a girlfriend but not a trait a man wanted in a wife.

      She looked stunning as always, her waist-length chestnut hair gleaming gold in the artificial light, the sleek black dress lovingly clinging to every curve of her magnificent body. Every man in the place was secretly eyeing her, he knew. She was sex personified, and his body had reacted instantly. He cursed under his breath. No man in his right mind would marry a girl like Amber, a girl who would have to be guarded every minute of every day from other predatory males. He smiled down at the young girl by his side. He had made the right decision; Christina would never cause him a moment’s worry. Then he eyed Spiro again, and any guilt he was feeling at his own behaviour he transferred to Spiro. He might have guessed it was his damn nephew’s entire fault. He had done it deliberately to embarrass him.

      Amber watched Lucas shove his hand in his trouser pocket and knew he still wanted her. The beginnings of a smile curved her full lips as she waited for him to acknowledge her. But his desire was quickly replaced by anger as his dark eyes moved to narrow on her companion. The smile died from her lips before it was born as Lucas, with a dismissive arch of one dark brow, turned slightly and said something to his father, and then, smiling at his young companion, he took her hand in his and moved through the crowd, stopping as various people spoke to them.

      Amber took the drink Spiro handed her and immediately took a long swallow; she needed something, anything. She was shaken to the core; she had never felt so utterly humiliated in her life. It was like being trapped in a nightmare, unable to move, or breathe. A frantic glance around the room, and she was amazed no one seemed to be aware of the enormity of what had just happened. Lucas had looked at her as if she was of no more interest to him than the dirt beneath his feet. It had to