The Greek's Bought Wife. Helen Bianchin

Nic and Vasili Leandros might share the same father, but as men they were as chalk to cheese.

      Whereas Vasili had borne an air of insouciant youth, Nic Leandros possessed an indefinable quality that meshed ruthlessness and power…and combined it with a sexual chemistry no woman could successfully ignore.

      Raging hormones had to be the reason why she felt vaguely off balance. It couldn’t be the man unsettling her.

      ‘You want to conduct this conversation on the doorstep?’

      Oh, Lord. She’d just emerged from the shower. ‘You’ll have to wait while I get dressed.’ And she shut the door in his face.

      It took only minutes to step into underwear, jeans, add bra and tee shirt. She didn’t bother with her hair. As for make-up…forget it.

      He was there when she pulled back the front door, his tall frame seeming even more threatening than before.

      Men of Nic Leandros’ ilk weren’t used to having doors shut in their faces, she perceived with a certain wry humour as she silently indicated he could enter.

      ‘Thank you.’ His voice was dry, and held a degree of impatience as he followed her into the suite.

      Tina turned to face him, aware of the need to take control.

      ‘Let’s get this over with, shall we?’

      One eyebrow rose, and his gaze remained steady. ‘Dispense with polite conversation?’

      She lifted a hand and smoothed back a wayward fall of hair, only to silently damn the visible indication her nerves were twisting every which way but loose.

      ‘Why pretend civility when we have opposing agendas?’ Tina queried, and saw those dark eyes harden fractionally.

      ‘Can you blame Stacey and my father for wanting to share a part of their grandson or granddaughter’s life?’ he queried quietly.

      ‘Do you think I don’t know where this is leading?’

      ‘Enlighten me.’

      ‘Let’s see.’ She tilted her head and began listing probable possibilities. ‘What comes next? Any minute soon you’ll present several attractive reasons why I should agree to your parents’ desire to assign the Leandros name to Vasili’s child.’ She paused and drew in a deep breath.

      Nic Leandros dominated the room, his presence a compelling entity that disturbed her more than she was prepared to admit.

      ‘If I agree, the heat will be on for it to be raised and educated according to Leandros tradition.’

      ‘And that’s a problem…because?’

      He didn’t get it. ‘I’ll lose control.’

      ‘Any decisions made will, of course, be reached by mutual agreement.’

      ‘Oh, please.’ Tina raked his features with evident cynicism. ‘Give me a break.’ Her gaze speared his. ‘How long will it take your parents to lodge an unfit parent complaint after the birth?’ She closed her eyes, then opened them. ‘Deny that’s the master plan.’

      A muscle tensed at the edge of his jaw. ‘I doubt anything of the sort has entered Stacey’s mind.’

      ‘But it will, eventually.’

      Her fierceness and her fragility were a contradiction in terms, something he found intriguing.

      ‘When I return to work and put the babe into a day-care nursery?’ She felt as if she were on a runaway train. ‘Employ sitters on the rare occasion I feel the need to socialise?’

      ‘It’s my parents’ intention to provide handsomely for the child’s welfare.’ He waited a beat. ‘The ball is in your court. Name your terms.’

      ‘And they’ll be met?’ She lifted a hand and ran it wearily over her hair. ‘Thanks, but no, thanks.’

      He’d tabled each stumbling block and had a strategy for every one of them. It was just a matter of time…‘Perhaps you’d care to elaborate why?’

      ‘I don’t see how a one-night stand qualifies the right for the child to assume its deceased father’s name.’ If she’d hoped to shock, she gained no visible reaction from his expression. ‘Especially when I had no intention of making it my own.’

      Nic’s eyes became hooded. ‘Vasili meant nothing to you?’

      Tina took her time with the question. ‘We played the boyfriend/girlfriend game.’ She paused fractionally. ‘It was…convenient. For each of us.’ She had no obligation to relay why.

      ‘The age difference didn’t bother you?’

      Her chin tilted a little and her eyes acquired a dangerous gleam. ‘Are you implying Vasili was my toy boy? We were friends.’

      ‘Yet you moved in with him.’

      Explanations tended to become complicated. Yet Nic Leandros was entitled. How else would her decision make any sense?

      ‘I sold my apartment,’ Tina defended. ‘I was in negotiations to buy another. Vasili suggested I move in with him instead of securing a hotel room or renting short-term.’ It had seemed so logical at the time, and she’d insisted on contributing towards food and utilities.

      ‘And shared his bed,’ Nic accorded in a hateful drawl.

      Her chin tilted a little, and her eyes blazed green fire. ‘Once.’

      Dammit, that was all it took. Once. A little too much champagne, a friendly kiss that had become more, and somehow they’d ended up in the same bed.

      She dimly remembered voicing a half-hearted protest as instinctive wisdom had fought against the persuasiveness of Vasili’s mouth, his hands. Then it had been too late. The sex had been less than noteworthy. Not that she’d had much experience to compare it with.

      All the pent-up emotion of the past few weeks caught up with her. ‘I should disillusion your mother…sorry, stepmother?’ she offered the correction. ‘Your father? Paint a false picture of a relationship that was only friendship?’ She was on a roll, unable to stop. ‘Enlighten them that the conception of their coveted grandchild was a mistake? Dammit,’ she said forcefully, ‘a meaningless, forgettable mistake.’ She wanted to hit something, throw something. Anything to rid the impossible anger that burned within…at herself, for being so senseless.

      ‘Obviously there were no precautions taken.’

      Tina heard the words, and only just refrained from hitting the man who uttered them. ‘Obviously.’

      ‘Yet you’ve taken no steps to abort the foetus.’

      She drew in a sharp breath and pressed a protective hand to her waist. ‘No.’

      Nic’s eyes narrowed. ‘Would you have, if my parents had been unaware of the pregnancy?’

      Tina didn’t hesitate. ‘No.’

      The insistent ring of a cellphone sounded loud in the silence of the room, and Tina watched as he withdrew the unit, checked the caller ID, and registered his irritation as he thrust the cellphone back into his jacket pocket.

      ‘Have you eaten?’

      Her eyes widened. ‘Excuse me?’

      ‘Dinner.’ His voice held an element of impatience.

      He was talking of food? ‘I don’t see that’s a relevant question.’

      ‘It’s relevant if you haven’t eaten.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘I’m suggesting we share a meal.’

      ‘Again…why?’

      She irritated and fascinated him at the same time. She was also the first woman in a long time to refuse his invitation.