Dangerous Alliance

‘Paige,’ he insisted quietly. ‘Her wishes, and what we intend to do about them.’

Dear lord, he didn’t pull any punches—just aimed straight for the jugular. ‘There isn’t a thing I wouldn’t do to please her,’ she assured him without hesitation.

‘Without exception?’

She didn’t need to think. ‘Of course.’

Dimitri regarded her in silence for several long seconds, his gaze infinitely speculative beneath faintly hooded lids. ‘Even assuming the pretence of a romantic alliance with me?’

CHAPTER TWO

FOR an instant Leanne was robbed of the power of speech, then the colour drained from her face, leaving it pale.

‘I don’t find that suggestion very amusing,’ she said at last.

Dimitri’s eyes never left hers, their dark depths faintly brooding, and she had the instinctive feeling that he had already weighed all the angles and was intent on playing a manipulative game.

‘I’m perfectly serious.’

The breath seemed suddenly locked in her throat, and she swallowed compulsively in the need to regain her voice. ‘Why?’

‘Paige is concerned for your future,’ he offered, noting the faint wariness which was apparent.

Logic vied with rationale, then mingled with a degree of angry resentment. ‘I’ve lived an independent life for more than four years. My future is secure, and afterwards...’ She trailed to a halt, then forced herself to continue. ‘I’ll simply return to the Coast.’

‘Where you’ll become an easy prey for fortune hunters,’ Dimitri accorded indolently.

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she denied at once. ‘This house, everything, will revert to you.’

‘The house, yes. However, there are annuities you will inherit from a number of Kostakidas-affiliated corporations. There’s also an apartment in Athens, a home in Switzerland, and a villa in France. Jewellery, stocks, shares. Gifts Yanis bestowed on Paige during his lifetime. All of which will become yours.’ He paused slightly, watching her expressive features carefully as the effect of his words sank in. ‘Added together, their worth totals several million.’

It was almost impossible to comprehend, for, although she’d known her late stepfather’s personal wealth had been measured in millions, she’d had no idea of its extent. It wasn’t something she or Paige had ever discussed.

‘Yanis gifted me the Gold Coast apartment, and the beauty clinic,’ she said at once, perturbed beyond rational thought. ‘I don’t want or need anything else.’

‘Those weren’t my father’s wishes. Nor,’ he added quietly, ‘are they mine.’

‘I’ll contest Paige’s will in your favour,’ she declared vehemently.

‘Impossible. That eventuality has already been foreseen and legally negated.’

‘It can all accumulate and be held in trust.’

His smile held a tinge of cynicism. ‘Idealistic, Leanne, but scarcely practical.’ He regarded her carefully. ‘Paige and Yanis nurtured the hope that we might eventually become romantically attached, and it would give Paige peace of mind to believe that their fondest wish has eventuated. As it is, she’s consumed with anxiety over the men who will beat a path to your door, professing undying love in order to enjoy a free meal-ticket for life.’

Her eyes widened, their blue depths darkening measurably as she wrestled with a desire to please her mother and the fear that she’d never emerge from such subterfuge unscathed.

‘I’m no longer fifteen, and I do possess a degree of common sense. I don’t think I need a protector.’ Not you, she added silently. Dear lord, never you.

‘We’re discussing Paige,’ he reminded her, with velvet softness.

‘I don’t want to deceive her,’ she offered slowly.

‘Yet you love her very much,’ he pursued, and she shivered inwardly. ‘Enough to enter into a pretence that will make her happy, and ensure her peace of mind?’

‘What do you want, Dimitri? My unequivocal agreement to enact a lie?’

His eyes hardened fractionally, and his mouth curved to form a wry smile. ‘Will it prove so difficult given the limited time-span?’

She closed her eyes, then slowly opened them. ‘You know how to twist the knife, don’t you?’ she countered with a trace of bitterness.

His gaze didn’t falter as he reached for his glass. ‘Will you have some fruit, or would you prefer coffee?’

How could he sit there and switch so calmly from something of such personal magnitude to a mundane selection over lunch? Even as she contemplated the silent query, the answer followed. Dimitri was an astute businessman, well-versed in the cut and thrust utilised by power-brokers all over the world. He clinched deals worth millions, dealt with hardliners in the financial arena, and undoubtedly annihilated lesser minions on a day-to-day basis. Against such a formidable force, what chance did she have?

‘Chilled water,’ Leanne indicated, viewing him with circumspection as he took the carafe and refilled her glass.

‘Tell me about the beauty clinic,’ he encouraged with apparent interest, and she suffered his appraisal with unblinking solemnity, all too aware of what he saw, for it was an image she knew in detail.

Pale, fine-textured skin, a delicate bone-structure, a wide, generous mouth framing even white teeth, a nondescript nose, wide-spaced deep blue eyes, and shoulder-length natural ash-blonde hair.

‘It’s successful,’ she dismissed with a negligible shrug. ‘Women like to look good, and most are prepared to spend money in the name of beauty.’

‘Merely for self-gratification?’

‘Of course. And pleasing a man.’ She could recall instantly the features of several socialites who devoted much of their morning hours on a regular basis to one beauty treatment or another. Aromatherapy, a facial, brow and lash-tinting, massage, waxing, manicure and pedicure, to mention a few. When that failed to revive the passage of nature satisfactorily, they resorted to the skill of cosmetic surgery. Chasing elusive beauty and maintaining it was an expensive pastime, and Leanne was a skilled beautician, dedicated to her craft.

Dimitri reached forward and extracted a peach from the fruit bowl which he proceeded to peel and stone before offering her a segment. ‘No?’

The need to be free of his disturbing presence was overwhelming, and she excused herself from the table.

‘I’ll be caught up in the city for most of the afternoon,’ he revealed as she got to her feet. ‘Be ready at six. We’ll visit Paige, then go on somewhere for dinner.’

Leanne was unable to resist the query. ‘Won’t Shanna object?’

His gaze was remarkably level. ‘Shanna has nothing to do with my taking you to dinner.’

‘You could always drop me home, then meet her later.’

‘This conversation is going nowhere, Leanne,’ Dimitri drawled hatefully.

‘In that case, I’ll give Eleni a hand clearing the table, unpack, then visit Paige,’ she returned with the utmost politeness, and his husky laughter made her want to lash out in anger. Except that such an action would invoke his temper, and she’d already insulted him. To do so again on the same day would be the height of folly.

* * *

It was almost two-thirty when Leanne entered her mother’s suite and her heart contracted as Paige complimented gently, ‘Darling, you look so well.’

What could she say in return? It was difficult, much more difficult than she’d envisaged, and she simply pulled a chair close to the bed and sat holding Paige’s hand.