The Millionaire's Virgin. Sophie Weston

elbow, and drew him to one side, leaving Lisa standing alone out of earshot. And when Mike half turned to her, Tino put his hand on his arm and drew him back again to say something more. To Lisa’s amazement, Mike, her right- hand man, her PA, her friend, walked away without another word, and when she tried to go after him Tino caught hold of her arm and held her back.

      ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ she demanded, looking down at his hand on her arm.

      ‘I might ask you the same question,’ he replied icily.

      ‘It’s clear you don’t want me here, so I’m going to where I am wanted.’

      ‘You’re talking like a spoiled brat, Lisa.’

      He led her back inside the house, and closed the door. ‘Did you have to make such an exhibition of yourself?’

      ‘Do you have to hold my arm so tightly?’

      He released her immediately. ‘You’d better come into my study and we’ll talk there.’

      ‘We’ve nothing to discuss.’

      ‘So, this is the thanks I get?’

      ‘Thanks? For what?’ Lisa demanded incredulously. ‘For making a fool out of me?’ She tried to push past him and go outside again to find Mike, but he blocked the door.

      ‘All this is for you, Lisa.’

      ‘And you didn’t think to tell me you had called my people over?’

      ‘I wanted to surprise you.’

      ‘Well, you certainly did that.’

      ‘I tried to find you… I tried to warn you they were here, but no one knew where you were.’

      Lisa smiled bitterly. ‘Maybe because I was doing something for you.’

      ‘What?’

      ‘It really doesn’t matter now.’ She reached past him to the door handle. ‘Let me out of here now, Tino.’

      ‘Or what?’

      ‘I call for the police, and tell them you’re holding me against my will?’

      Tino held her stare. ‘On Stellamaris, I am the police.’

      ‘Well, I’m happy for you. Now will you call for a taxi to take me to the guest house, or do I have to make that call?’

      Seizing her arm, he marched her down the corridor towards his study. When they got inside, he slammed the door and stood with his back to it. ‘Would you mind telling me what all this is about?’ His angry gesture encompassed every inch of Lisa, from her beautifully coiffed hair to her shell-pink toenails peeping out of the glamorous sandals, and before she could answer he added, ‘Did you have to make such a show of yourself in front of all those men?’

      ‘Are you jealous, Tino?’

      ‘Jealous? Of a tramp?’

      Her stinging blow caught him full on the face, shooting his head back. He stared at her in total disbelief, nursing his chin.

      Lisa could hardly believe what she had done. She hated violence of any sort. She despised it. And now she had sunk to the lowest level possible. It didn’t matter that Tino thoroughly deserved it; nothing would ever excuse such a loss of control. ‘I should never have done that.’

      ‘You pack quite a punch.’ He nursed his chin.

      ‘That was unforgivable.’ She had never lost control before, not even to the extent where she had cursed at someone. She didn’t know herself any more, and she didn’t like the person she had become.

      ‘I’m sorry too.’

      She looked at him.

      ‘I shouldn’t have called you those names.’

      They were apologising to each other? What was happening? They had plumbed the extremes of emotion together, and now the carefully controlled Tino Zagorakis was bending towards the equally unyielding Lisa Bond?

      ‘Stay on.’

      ‘What?’ Now she was astonished.

      ‘Stay on at the Villa Aphrodite until Friday, as we agreed. We haven’t finished our discussions yet—and this is a big place, Lisa. I’ll keep out of your way; you keep out of mine.’

      If there had only been business between them, that would have made perfect sense… And there was only business between them, Lisa reminded herself. Tino had just made that clear. So, why couldn’t she stay?

      But where had it all gone? Where had all the passion and tenderness gone? If this was the life expectancy of the average love affair, she could do without them. She should have known the closeness between them was only an illusion. As Jack Bond had said when he’d thrown earth on her mother’s coffin: ‘Any woman who expects too much out of life is destined to be disappointed.’