Mistresses: Blackmailed With Diamonds / Shackled with Rubies. Robyn Donald

gave a strangled gasp and knocked his glass over. Cheap red wine poured over the tablecloth and dripped slowly on to the floor. ‘Angie? You asked this man to marry you?’

      ‘Very enlightened, don’t you think?’ His tone casual, Nikos reached out and closed strong fingers round Angie’s wrist, jerking her to her feet. ‘Some men might be put off by such brazen behaviour but I get very turned on by a woman who knows her own mind. In my experience they’re usually complete animals in bed.’

      Deeply humiliated by his words and the fact that he hadn’t made the slightest effort to lower his voice, Angie tugged at her wrist, aware that Cyril was gaping at her along with just about every other person in the restaurant. ‘Let me go.’

      Nikos tightened his grip and tugged her against him. ‘To have and to hold,’ he reminded her in smooth tones. ‘At the moment I’m doing the holding bit, but later on we’ll get to the “having” part of the arrangement and I predict that it will be extremely interesting.’

      Unbelievably shocked and wishing she could just melt through the floor, Angie yanked at her wrist but failed to free herself. She couldn’t remember a moment in her life when she’d felt so completely humiliated. ‘I think we should continue this conversation outside.’

      ‘I entirely agree. I’ve never really been into the whole group thing.’ Nikos summoned a waiter with an imperious lift of his free hand. ‘And, speaking of which, you ought to know that I don’t actually allow my future wife to dine with another man, so if you want to say goodbye then do it now while I settle the bill. But no physical contact, please, especially no kissing.’ He handed a card to the waiter and Angie took a step backwards, feeling physically sick at the thought of actually kissing Cyril.

      ‘It’s typical of you to reduce everything to the physical. My relationship with Cyril is on a much higher level than anything you can possibly understand,’ she said tightly and Nikos gave a careless shrug of his broad shoulders.

      ‘I don’t really care what level my relationships are on providing they’re conducted in the horizontal plane.’

      Angie enjoyed a brief but satisfying mental image of Cyril standing up and thumping Nikos hard but in reality he sat frozen in his chair, a look of stupefied disbelief on his face. And anyway, she thought gloomily, there was no doubting who the winner would be in any physical encounter. A man like Cyril, with his slightly bony hairless wrists sticking out from beyond a jacket that was much too small for him, was absolutely no match for Nikos, who was a prime specimen of athletic, muscled Greek manhood.

      She gave a frown and a slight shake of her head, horrified by the direction of her thoughts. Cyril was a respected academic. A civilised person. He wouldn’t ever stoop so low as to indulge in physical confrontation and she wouldn’t want him to. She didn’t approve of such behaviour. On the other hand, she would have at least expected him to use some of his intellectual skills to deliver an appropriate verbal put-down.

      She turned to him, frustrated that he would allow himself to be treated so badly. ‘Cyril—say something.’

      ‘Yes, please do feel free to contribute to the discussion.’ Nikos raised an eyebrow in mocking anticipation and Cyril spluttered slightly and half rose to his feet.

      ‘I—I can afford to pay for our meal.’

      Angie ground her teeth and Nikos gave a half smile, clearly all too aware of her frustration. ‘I’m sure you can in a place like this. Consider it compensation,’ he drawled in a bored tone as he settled the bill and pocketed his card. His eyes rested on Angie for a long moment, his gaze faintly mocking. ‘Although, on reflection, you should probably be the one paying me to take her away. I’m doing you a favour. She would have made you miserable.’

      ‘And you think she can m-make you happy?’ Stammering and virtually incoherent with shock and surprise, Cyril rose to his feet but Nikos gently pushed him back into his seat.

      ‘She’s going to make me extremely unhappy,’ he said softly, ‘which I believe was her intention when she proposed. But nowhere near as unhappy as I intend to make her. And at least I know I won’t be bored.’

      Without giving the shell-shocked Cyril time to compose a suitable response, Nikos strode from the restaurant, virtually dragging Angie after him. He pushed his way through the door of the restaurant and out on to the pavement without breaking stride and virtually threw her into the back of the black limousine waiting on the kerb.

      Chapter Four

      SPRAWLED inelegantly over the sumptuous leather seat, Angie tried to right herself. Her hair had tumbled from the knot at the back of her head and her cheeks were flushed. Her loss of dignity disturbed her and she rounded on him in anger. ‘How dare you create such a scene in a public place? And you were unforgivably rude to Cyril. You’ve just left him sitting there!’

      Nikos leaned forward and issued a string of instructions in rapid Greek. Instantly the driver manoeuvred the car into the traffic.

      ‘If he cared that much then he shouldn’t have let me take you away.’ He settled himself back in the seat. ‘And you were just dying for him to stop me, weren’t you? Just longing for him to stand up and thump me.’

      The fact that he’d been able to read her so well was extremely frustrating. ‘Cyril would never do anything so grossly uncivilised.’

      ‘No, he probably wouldn’t, but try not to be upset about it.’ His tone sympathetic, he stretched his long legs out in front of him, the expression on his handsome face unbearably smug. ‘You’re with a real man now.’

      She stared at his cold, handsome face in disbelief. ‘You’re insufferably arrogant. I don’t know how any woman can stand you.’

      ‘Well, if Cyril is an example of your taste in men then I can understand your confusion.’ His voice was a languorous drawl, his eyes lingering on her face in mocking contemplation. ‘But the truth, agape mou, is that you find me almost unbearably exciting, don’t you? You can’t stop making comparisons and you just hate that because you like to think that you’re above having such a basic human need as a desire for sex, but secretly you’re absolutely longing for it.’

      She gasped. ‘I don’t find you exciting.’

      ‘You do. It’s just that you don’t recognise the feeling because up until now your life has been totally devoid of the feeling and I’m sure that’s entirely natural if you’ve been mixing with men like Cyril.’

      ‘I repeat,’ she said with a soft gasp, ‘I don’t find you exciting. And I’m certainly not longing for sex. Why do you have to reduce everything to its most basic? If you must know, I happen to be more interested in the human mind than the human body.’ She knew her cheeks were pink but couldn’t help it. She’d never had a conversation like this before in her life. Sex wasn’t something she talked about.

      ‘The human race is basic. If it wasn’t then we wouldn’t survive.’ Thick, dark lashes lowered slightly as he studied her. ‘Man was born with an urge to procreate. It’s an entirely inbred and natural urge.’

      She felt the slow spread of warmth between her thighs and her hands clenched into fists on her lap. ‘I suppose that’s your justification for your irresponsible sex life.’

      ‘Active sex life,’ he corrected her gently. ‘Active.’

      The term conjured up more images that she didn’t want to face. Nikos, his hard athletic body entwined with that of some pathetically willing woman. ‘So you’re just doing your bit for mankind?’ She used sarcasm to hide the growing tumble of emotions inside her.

      ‘I’m saying that hot sex between a man and a woman who are attracted to each other is entirely natural.’

      Hot sex? The colour in her face deepened and she grew more and more uncomfortable. ‘You’re entitled to your opinion, of course, but some of us have