The Mediterranean's Wife by Contract

Andreas frowned. He didn’t want to forget it—but nor could he proceed…not now…not with any conscience.

‘Anyway, we said we’d head back to land now, didn’t we?’ she said quickly.

‘Yes, dry land and sanity.’ He turned away from her and headed up to the bridge. She was off limits, he told himself firmly. And that was the end of it.

Carrie picked up one of the towels that Andreas had left out for her earlier and wrapped it around her slender figure. She was trembling with cold—yet the sun was blazing down on her. It was the strangest feeling.

CHAPTER THREE

CARRIE was sure there would be a strained silence between them in the car on the way home, except that as soon as Andreas switched on his phone and put it into hands-free mode it kept ringing. He took one call after another as he drove slowly back along the coast road.

Carrie couldn’t understand a word he was saying, but it was obviously all to do with business because he dealt with each call in the same serious, crisply concise voice.

‘My apologies, Carrie. I employ a team of accountants and yet they still need me to hold their hands,’ he muttered in annoyance as he started to say something to her and the phone rang again.

‘That’s OK.’ She shrugged and looked away from him. In truth she was glad. She couldn’t wait to get away from him, pretend that this afternoon hadn’t happened.

He finished his call just as the gates to her apartment complex loomed and as soon as he pulled up outside she reached quickly for the door handle.

‘Well, I hope your takeover deal goes well for you.’ She smiled at him. ‘And I’ll see you around some time.’ She’d been practising the goodbye line for the last few miles and she was pleased that it sounded casual enough.

She hadn’t intended waiting for his reply, but his voice held her back as she turned away.

‘Haven’t you forgotten something?’

‘Have I?’ She looked back at him with a frown.

‘An invitation for coffee would be good.’

Her heart rate increased. She didn’t really know how to handle this situation. Part of her was desperately pleased he wanted to come in with her and the other side of her was telling her fiercely to walk away now and not prolong the agony of wanting him…

‘I don’t think it’s a good idea.’ She lifted her chin a little.

‘I think it’s a very civilized idea.’ He smiled. ‘Let’s not be awkward around each other, Carrie. I’m thirty-four and a man of the world. You’re twenty-two and a virgin and I respect you for that.’

Her face flamed with colour.

‘Besides, I’d like my shirt back.’ His eyes flicked with wry amusement to the garment he’d given her to wear. It drowned her slender frame, yet she still managed to look sexy in it…How was that?

‘I’ll wash it and give it to Theo for you.’ She tipped her chin up a little higher.

‘No need, just give it back to me now.’ Why did he love teasing her so much? he wondered as he watched the consternation and the fire in her beautiful eyes.

She turned away and got out of the car. ‘I suppose you’d better come in, then.’

The grudging invitation made him smile and he reached for his phone and followed her.

The inside of the apartment was basic but pleasantly decorated. From his seat at the breakfast bar Andreas could see into a bedroom that contained two single beds.

He switched his attention back to Carrie as she flicked the kettle on. Her hair had dried in long flowing curls; she looked like a girl from a Pre-Raphaelite painting, young and yet somehow incredibly fragile as she looked over at him.

‘I’ll just change out of this shirt.’

He nodded and watched as she disappeared into the bedroom and closed the door. He would leave as soon as he’d had a coffee and she’d returned the shirt, he vowed. He had no business pursuing a virgin. Happily ever after wasn’t for him, never would be. And something told him that innocent Carrie wouldn’t really want to settle for less.

A few minutes later she reappeared wearing a blue fitted T-shirt over jeans and put his shirt down on the table beside him. ‘Thank you.’ Her voice was stiffly polite.

‘My pleasure,’ he replied and smiled to himself as she turned hurriedly to make the coffee.

She looked great in the jeans, they curved over her bottom, emphasizing how pert and toned she was.

He still wanted her. What the hell was the matter with him? he wondered angrily. He knew a million women with great figures—so what was he doing here? He should be heading back to his office. There was a mountain of paperwork waiting for his attention.

Yet still he sat on. Because he was more intrigued by Carrie than ever.

She put the coffee down in front of him just as his phone rang and he answered it impatiently.

‘Now you know why I suggested going out to sea today,’ he told her with a smile as he ended the call a few moments later.

‘Theo told me that you never stopped thinking about business,’ she said as she took the seat opposite him. ‘I take it you enjoy it.’

He shrugged. ‘It’s become a way of life, I suppose. We grew up in Athens in complete poverty and I vowed back then that I wouldn’t rest until I’d got us out of it.’

Carrie met his gaze. ‘And obviously you did that.’

The simplicity of the statement made him laugh. ‘Yes. But the thing is, the deeper you get involved with business, the more the responsibilities spiral.’ He didn’t tell her that he employed a lot of people, that he was backing Theo with an expansion plan for his diving business or that he’d just bought his father a house back on the island of Mykonos.

‘It’s addictive, you mean.’

‘I don’t think I’d go as far as to say that, but I like the challenge.’

She nodded. ‘And I suppose being single and without children it’s easier to immerse yourself in it, take bigger risks along the way.’

‘I suppose it is…’ He fell silent, her insightful remark taking him aback.

‘My father was a wheeler-dealer in his day. But never gave a thought to his responsibility for others.’ She frowned as she thought about her childhood. ‘He was always looking for the next big deal.’

‘And was he successful?’

‘At first—but unfortunately he didn’t know where to stop. Contentment wasn’t a word he understood and risk-taking became a way of life.’

‘He went bankrupt?’

She nodded. ‘Yes. Took one risk too far and lost everything.’

For a moment she fell silent. The personal cost had been even higher than the financial one. Her mother’s health had crumbled and so had their marriage. Carrie had only been ten but she remembered the trauma and the feelings of helplessness as sharply as if it had been yesterday.

She pushed the silky weight of her long hair back from her face, trying to dismiss the memory. ‘However, he was forever the optimist. He’s probably out there somewhere right now looking for the next big deal.’