The Mediterranean's Wife by Contract

Andreas frowned. ‘I assumed that your parents were both dead. Jo told me that you grew up together in a foster home.’

‘We did. But my circumstances were different to Jo’s. I wasn’t orphaned. My mother died, but my father decided to go off looking for his fortune elsewhere and having a ten-year-old along with him was a bit of a handicap. So he left me to social services.’

She saw the look of shock on Andreas’s face and shrugged. ‘Some people aren’t cut out to be parents, are they? And in the long run he probably did me a favour.’

Behind the brave words he heard the edge of sadness in her tone. ‘Do you know where he is now?’ he asked gently.

‘I think he’s in the States. I tried to trace him a few years ago and found out he was in Chicago and that he’d remarried. I left my contact details for him, but he never got in touch.’

‘Some men don’t deserve families,’ Andreas muttered.

‘Well, it worked out OK,’ Carrie continued swiftly, ‘because I met Jo and we are like family. She’s the sister I never had, if you know what I mean.’

‘Yes, I know what you mean.’ He smiled.

His phone rang again and impatiently Andreas flicked it open and answered it.

Carrie finished her coffee and tried not to allow her eyes to linger on him. She couldn’t believe that she had just opened up and told him all about her family! It was crazy. One moment he infuriated her…the next she felt as if she could melt in the warmth of his gaze…

He hung up and glanced across at her. ‘Unfortunately I’m going to have to go.’

‘Yes, of course.’ She tried desperately to mask her disappointment. It was for the best—she didn’t want to be a notch on anyone’s bedpost, even someone as good-looking and enthralling as him. And at least by having this coffee together they’d broken the awkwardness between them, so that if they had to meet again due to Theo and Jo it would be tolerable. Maybe that was why he’d wanted to come in.

She stood up and walked with him towards the door. ‘Thanks for an…interesting afternoon.’ She’d been going to say enjoyable afternoon and thought better of it.

‘Maybe we can do it again some time.’

‘Who knows?’ She tried to match his flippant tone. ‘Maybe if you are passing and I’m in, we could fit another coffee between phone calls.’

‘Perhaps, then, I should just say goodbye for now, Carrie. But I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon.’

And then he was gone, striding away from her without a backward glance. So damn arrogant, she thought angrily, yet somehow utterly irresistible.

CHAPTER FOUR

CARRIE OPENED THE BLUE shutters and bright sunshine flooded into the cool interior of her apartment.

It was Sunday morning, the last day of her holiday and time to go home. Somewhere a church bell was tolling, the sound echoing down the narrow cobbled streets of the village. Carrie leaned against the window sill and allowed the heat and the tranquillity of the morning to wash over her.

She’d thought Andreas would have come to her last night, that he would have wanted to make the very most of their last evening together—but he hadn’t. Of course he’d happily seen her over the past few days, on his terms! She hadn’t been able to say no when he’d invited her out to dinner a couple of days after their trip to the reef. Nor had she had the strength to refuse his subsequent invitations. The truth was, she was wildly attracted to him, and she’d naively jumped at every chance to spend time getting to know him.

And now he’d seemingly tired of her. She didn’t know whether to feel sad or just plain angry. He could at least have had the decency to phone her and tell her he wouldn’t see her before she left.

But what did she expect, she asked herself furiously, when it was just a holiday fling and Andreas was a busy man?

Carrie raked a hand through the long length of her blonde hair as she thought back over the holiday. So much had happened—including the momentous news of Jo and Theo’s engagement. And Jo had taken the decision to remain in Greece.

The four of them had enjoyed a celebratory dinner two nights ago. It had been a very joyful occasion. Carrie was going to miss her friend, but she was so happy for her.

But she hadn’t seen Andreas since.

After the dinner he’d told her he was too involved with work to make a definite next date, and that he’d ring her.

That was the last she’d heard from him.

She wished now that she had never got involved with him—had never allowed herself to start believing that he might actually care about her. Especially when he’d made it quite clear up front that he wasn’t looking for a serious relationship.

At least she hadn’t been stupid enough to sleep with him.

But how much of that decision had been down to her good sense and how much had been down to his restraint, a traitorous little voice asked her mockingly. Because she did want him, in fact so much so that she ached for him. And he knew that. There had been a few times when he had kissed her at the end of an evening and she had been a whisper close to just begging him to sate her.

She turned away from the view of red-tiled rooftops and shimmering blue sea. It was just as well he hadn’t come to her last night—because she might have done something she would have regretted.

She’d had a narrow escape, she told herself angrily as she glanced at her watch. Obviously the man couldn’t really care less about her! If he did he would at least have phoned her last night to say goodbye.

It was time to start packing. Jo would be here to give her a lift down to the ferry terminal in an hour.

Carrie could hardly believe that Jo wasn’t going to come back to London with her. It was going to be so strange not having her around any more, but she had no doubt that her friend was doing the right thing; Theo was such a nice, steady and reliable kind of guy.

The same could never be said of Andreas, she thought disparagingly. He spoke about commitment and love as if they were things to be avoided at all costs. And he’d obviously broken hearts by the truckload.

Yet he had been genuinely pleased for his brother and Jo.

She couldn’t quite work him out.

Not that she wanted to work him out, she told herself firmly.

Their relationship was never going to be anything as serious as Theo and Jo’s. Neither of them were ready for settling down, it was the wrong time, the wrong place. Andreas was totally consumed with his business deal and she was too wary to commit herself to just a holiday romance—she had a good job to go back to.

So why did she feel like this? she wondered angrily as she got her suitcase out and started to pack. Why had she waited and waited last night for her mobile to ring?

Somehow over the last week reality had been swept away on a tide of emotion that she had never experienced before. Maybe it was something to do with the beauty of the surroundings and the way Andreas had wined and dined her; perhaps she had even been caught up with the mood of romance that surrounded Jo and Theo she thought rationally as she folded T-shirts and shorts.

And then she remembered the way Andreas could kiss her and her hands stilled. Deep down she knew her feelings weren’t anything to do with their surroundings, Andreas’s attentive generosity or even Theo and Jo’s wonderful love for each other. It was the way Andreas made her feel. The way he’d been able to send shivers of pleasurable anticipation through her with just a look. The way he could kiss her and set her totally on fire.

No one had ever done that to her before.

But she wasn’t stupid; she’d tasted the danger in his kisses, knew that beneath the charming urbane exterior there was the steely heart of the predatory male.

He was the type of man who would normally have made her run for the hills, yet something strange had happened when he’d touched her; he terrified her, yet he’d captivated her.

And because he had treated her with restraint and respect she’d even started to imagine that she meant something to him…Stupid, she told herself as she started to fling clothes into her suitcase now without bothering to fold them. The sooner she got away from here and back to reality, the better.

There was a knock on the door and Carrie glanced at her watch. Jo was early! The realization that it was almost time to say goodbye to her best friend struck through her like ice.

‘I wasn’t expecting you for another hour…’ Her voice drifted off as she swung the door open and found that it wasn’t Jo, it was Andreas outside. Surprise and pleasure flooded through her. ‘Oh…it’s you!’

Hastily she tried to pull herself together. Every time she saw him she couldn’t believe how gorgeous he was. But didn’t he just know it, she reminded herself quickly as his dark intense eyes seem to sear into her and he smiled that confident smile of his.