Mediterranean Tycoons: Masterful & Married: Marriage At His Convenience / Aristides' Convenient Wife / The Billionaire's Blackmailed Bride

‘What exactly do you intend doing with this place?’ Lucas asked, picking up her suitcase in one hand, his other hand settling at the base of her rigid spine as he urged her away from the house.

‘Why, nothing,’ she informed him dulcetly. ‘I expect to be back at work in three months.’ Lucas wasn’t getting it all his own way. He had ridden roughshod over all her objections, charmed her father, and bribed her boss to give her a three-month sabbatical, by the simple expedient of becoming a client of Brentford’s. He might have blackmailed her into marriage, but he was definitely not blackmailing her into his bed again.

‘Well, it is a bit small, but I suppose I could get used to it,’ Lucas murmured.

Amber tensed. ‘What do you mean by that?’

His sensuous mouth tilted at the corners. ‘Why, Amber, darling, once we are married, what is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine.’

Amber’s eyes widened in astonishment at his words. ‘You’re joking.’

‘If you want us to live in a cottage rather than a mansion,’ he said, shrugging his broad shoulders. His dark eyes watched the myriad expressions flicker across her exquisite face, and then flicked appreciatively over the soft curve of her breasts, the narrow waist and on down over the slender hips and long legs. ‘I don’t mind,’ Lucas said huskily, his dark eyes dancing wickedly.

He was laughing at her; she should have been furious. ‘But—but, I—I mean you have just agreed the marriage is strictly business,’ Amber stammered to a halt. He was handsome, a rampantly virile male, and she stared at him, her breath catching in her throat.

‘I know exactly what you mean, Amber,’ Lucas emphasised dryly. ‘You are angling for a fight and I flatly refuse to give you one. Business marriage or whatever! If my competitors are to be convinced, we have to live together for as long as it takes. Now relax, the sun is shining, it is a beautiful day, and tomorrow will be even better. Get in the car and let’s go.’ With a broad grin he urged her out onto the road and into the passenger seat of a black BMW.

She watched him through lowered lashes as he slid into the driving seat after depositing her suitcase in the back. Why had she even imagined for a moment that she would be able to resist Lucas, deny him her body? If he wanted her he only had to smile at her, and she was lost. Why had she even tried to pretend she hated him? She loved him, and the realisation of exactly how vulnerable she was hurt like hell. But it made her all the more determined to defy him.

Starting the car, Lucas turned his dark head and smiled at her again. ‘I have a surprise for you when we get to the airport.’

Her own vulnerability to his blatant masculine charm made her respond with biting sarcasm. ‘Let’s hope it is the same surprise as the last time you said that to me. You are marrying someone else…’

Lucas stiffened, his smile vanishing, his dark eyes staring straight ahead, watching the road. Amber noticed the dull stain of red on his cheekbones and for a second thought he was embarrassed until he spoke. ‘No, this time it has to be you. I have no choice.’

Amber opened her mouth to argue and stopped. Shrinking back in the seat, she let her thoughts loose, and winced at her own conceit. She had been so incensed at being conned into marrying Lucas, convinced she was making a great sacrifice for her family; she had never thought for a moment how Lucas had to feel. He had loved his first wife, Christina, and now because of Spiro’s will he was stuck with either trusting Amber, or marrying her. His only other alternative was facing a takeover battle for his business.

A very chastened Amber said, ‘It is not too late. We don’t have to marry. You can trust me to give you Spiro’s legacy, Lucas. I won’t betray you.’

A large tanned hand dropped from the wheel to curve over her thigh. Involuntarily her leg flexed, electric sensation tingling down to her toes. Lucas shot her a deep and unfathomable look.

‘Sorry, Amber,’ he said softly, ‘but I do have to marry you.’ With a brief squeeze of her leg, he returned his hand to the steering wheel.

With her thigh still burning from his touch, she couldn’t think of a thing to say. She closed her eyes to be alone with her thoughts. He had said sorry. Did he mean he was sorry for her? Or sorry for himself because he had to marry her?

Trying to fathom out how Lucas’s mind worked was doing her head in, and, opening her eyes, she looked out of the passenger window and realised they were approaching the airport.

CHAPTER EIGHT

‘SO WHAT is the mysterious surprise?’ Amber finally demanded. The long silence, the heightened tension in the close confines of the car, had her nerves stretched to breaking-point.

‘You will soon find out,’ Lucas said curtly, bringing the car to a halt at the entrance to the airport terminal and, without so much as looking in her direction, he proceeded to unfasten his seat belt. Whatever the surprise was, Lucas obviously had no intention of enlightening her.

‘Get out.’ The terse command did nothing for Amber’s growing resentment at his high-handed manner. She cast him a fulminating glance but it was wasted as he was already sliding out of the driver’s seat, his back towards her.

Amber scrambled out of the car with more haste than elegance, and, straightening up, she flicked her mane of chestnut hair back from her shoulders and looked around.

Lucas stood a couple of feet away. She watched as he lifted an elegant tanned hand and, magically, a small, rather wizened man appeared and caught the car key Lucas threw in his direction. The older man looked vaguely familiar to Amber and, walking forward, she stopped at Lucas’s side as the strange man withdrew her suitcase from the car, handed it to Lucas and said something in Greek.

Watching Lucas respond in the same language and smile down at the other man, Amber was diverted from her simmering anger by trying to figure out where she had seen him before. Then the old man lifted his head, grinned at her and she remembered.

‘Why, it’s you,’ the asinine comment slipped out, but the man had turned and was already getting into the car. ‘That’s the man that called at the apartment,’ Amber said impulsively, tilting her head to look up at Lucas. ‘I remember him.’ She beamed, pleased at having placed the stranger.

One dark brow arched sardonically as their eyes met. ‘Ah, yes! The symbolic castration! I don’t think a trip down that particular memory lane is appropriate, given we are to be married tomorrow,’ Lucas drawled cynically.

Instinctively her eyes dropped to a certain part of his anatomy; realising what she was doing, she quickly glanced back up at his face. ‘No. No…’ she stammered. She had forgotten her vengeful reaction when she’d destroyed the crotch in his trousers, and felt colour burn up through her skin. Through anger, she decided staunchly, not embarrassment.

The look he cast her held a tinge of amusement that was apparent in his voice. ‘It was probably no more than I deserved, given the circumstances. Forget it—I have—and give me your passport, we have to get a move on.’

Whether it was embarrassment, anger, or sheer shock that Lucas had actually admitted he might have been at fault, which was surely a first for the great Lucas Karadines, it did not matter. Amber was flustered enough to delve into her bag, withdraw her passport and hand it to him without a murmur.

‘Good girl.’ And, cupping a large hand around her elbow, he led her through the airport.

Following his broad back up the steps to the aircraft, Amber fumed at the sheer arrogant confidence of Lucas. He had swept them both through customs, with an ease that lesser mortals could never aspire to. She watched him smile at the stewardess waiting at the entrance door to the plane, and saw the stupid girl simpering all over him. By the time Amber reached the door, the same girl simply bared her teeth at Amber.

Walking into the cabin, Amber stopped dead.

‘Surprise, surprise,’ a cacophony of voices shouted.

Amber’s mouth fell open in shock, her golden eyes widening to their fullest extent. Everyone and their granny were on the aircraft, she registered in stunned amazement.

Lucas stepped forward to curve a confident arm around her rigid body. ‘This is your surprise…I thought you would appreciate your family attending our wedding.’

She forced a smile to her lips, while her eyes scanned the interior of the cabin. Her father, his wife Mildred, her half-sister Julie, Julie’s husband Tom and their son plus Mark’s wife Mary and her three girls were all on board.

But the biggest surprise to Amber was Tim’s presence. In a flurry of greetings and with the aircraft door closing and the captain announcing take-off, it was some time before Amber caught her breath long enough to look up at Lucas, who had somehow manoeuvred her into a seat and fastened her seat belt.

‘Why didn’t you tell me? I thought this was supposed to be a quick civil wedding and an even quicker divorce,’ she hissed as the roar of the engines signalled lift-off. ‘Why on earth involve my family?’

Lucas’s dark head bent towards her, one arm resting lightly over her slender shoulders. ‘I am Greek, we are very family orientated,’ his deep voice murmured against her ear. ‘And, though I have lost my family, it would be unthinkable to exclude yours,’ he declared, the warmth of his breath against her face sending her pulse-rate rocketing.

Amber stared at him, and Lucas stared levelly back at her, his hooded black eyes giving nothing away.

‘But Tim as well, I thought…’ She didn’t know what she thought.

‘He is your lifelong friend,’ he explained with a casual shrug of his broad shoulders. Against her will, Amber’s eyes were drawn to those same shoulders, straining under the cotton knit polo shirt, and gulped. The popping of a champagne cork was a welcome diversion.

Seat belts were unfastened, and the luxurious comfort of the private jet was enjoyed by everyone. Amber found herself seated on a soft hide sofa, with Lucas apparently glued to her side. She could feel the heat of his thigh through the thin silk of her dress, and almost snapped the stewardess’s hand off when she offered her a glass of champagne. Amber needed to cool down quick…

The flight took on a party mood, champagne flowed freely, and toasts were drunk to the engaged couple. Lucas responded by taking the opportunity to sweep Amber into his arms and kiss her thoroughly, much to the delight of everyone except Amber. Who, as soon as she could without it looking obvious, got to her feet and put some distance between them. She engaged Mary in conversation only to have the woman gush all over her, because her three girls were to be bridesmaids.

It was the first Amber had heard of it, and she downed another glass of champagne as more toasts were drunk to just about everyone.

When Sir David raised his glass and offered a toast to his son Mark who unfortunately could not be with them, Amber glanced warily across the cabin to where Lucas was in conversation with Tim. Her fiancé lifted his head, his black eyes clashing with hers as he raised his glass to her, and smiled a chilling smile that was more of a warning.

But, fortified with another couple of glasses of champagne and a delightful cold lunch to settle her nervous stomach, Amber had forgotten the moment by the time the aircraft landed.

‘Are you all right?’ Lucas asked softly, his hand on her elbow as he guided her towards one of the waiting cars.

‘Yes, never better.’ Amber flashed him a smile—somewhere over Europe she had given up worrying, or some time after the fourth glass of champagne. ‘Where are we going or is that another surprise?’ she asked blithely.

Handing her into the back seat of a luxurious chauffeur-driven, air-conditioned car, Lucas lowered his long length in beside her, and, casually throwing his arm over her shoulders, he hauled her into his side. ‘We are going to the latest Karadines luxury hotel complex, about an hour’s drive up the coast from Athens.’ He looked down into her flushed, beautiful face and his eyes gleamed with triumph, and something else Amber was too inebriated to recognise.

‘Does that suit you?’ he asked with an indulgent smile.

Lucas Karadines could afford to be indulgent. He congratulated himself as he settled her pliant body more comfortably against him; his long fingers lightly squeezed her upper arm. He had her. Amber was here in his car, in his country, and tomorrow she would be his in every way known to man. ‘Amber?’ he queried, but her eyes had closed and she was fast asleep.

Amber’s eyelids flickered half open and closed again. She nuzzled her head into the warm human pillow, blissfully aware of Lucas’s arms enfolding her in a warm embrace.

She opened her eyes again, and let her lips brush against the strong brown column of his throat. Her tongue flicked out, and tasted the warm, smooth skin. Amber breathed in the familiar masculine scent of him and sighed with pleasure. She felt the tightening of his fingers at her waist and stirred, tilting her head back to look up into his much-loved face. ‘Lucas,’ she murmured his name, still in that no man’s land between sleep and wakefulness.

Through half-closed eyes, she saw his dark head descending, the mobile mouth with just the hint of a smile, and her tongue stroked out over her softly parted lips in sensual anticipation.

His mouth covered hers, and she sighed her acceptance as his tongue gently explored the soft dark interior, and she reciprocated. His lips were firm yet sensuous, his touch so light, she mused languidly. His strong hand closed over her breast, and she groaned, the nipple peaking in instant reaction to his touch. She snuggled closer and let her own hand drop to his thigh and gently stroke upwards. She heard his hiss of breath and felt his instant reaction. His long, hard body was savagely tense; her slender fingers traced the outline of his rampant arousal through the fabric of his trousers. His dark head bent and he muttered something violent in Greek and captured her mouth again with a raw passion, a ferocious urgency that took her by surprise. Her head swam and she could hardly breathe. Fire scorched through her veins. She heard him moan, and the blast of heat was overpowering. With a violent curse Lucas lifted his head. Amber surfaced abruptly from a whirlpool of passion.

A blast of hot air had invaded the air-conditioned interior of the car. The door was open…

‘Come on, you two, we are waiting.’ A deep masculine voice laced with laughter echoed in Amber’s head, and suddenly she was wide awake. Appalled at what she was doing, she jerked back and clasped her hands tightly together across her chest, staring into Lucas’s dark face with horrified golden eyes.

‘Christo! Don’t move,’ Lucas growled, his arms tightening around her, shielding his body with hers. ‘Give me a moment,’ he husked with one strong hand stroking slowly up and down her back, his breathing ragged. ‘You have the most damnable timing, Amber,’ he informed her, slowly withdrawing his arms from around her trembling body.

A rueful smile twisted his firm lips, but the heat in his hungry gaze as he stared into her upturned face was sent wild colour surging over her cheeks. Lucas still wanted her every bit as much as she wanted him. The realisation sent her into renewed shock.

‘I must have been drunk,’ she muttered, sliding back along the seat to her own side of the car, mortified that she had betrayed herself so publicly. For a moment she had travelled back in time to the younger Amber when she’d fallen madly in love for the first time and had believed her feelings were reciprocated. Hastily she lifted her hands and swept back the wild tumble of her hair behind her ears.

‘Then I will have to make sure I feed you champagne for the rest of our lives.’ Lucas drove raking fingers through his thick black hair, much the same as she had just done, and stared at her. Dark eyes met her bemused gold, his lips curved back over brilliant white teeth in a dazzling genuine smile, the like of which Amber had not seen in years, and her own eyes widened in wonder. ‘But if you keep looking at me like that I think the champagne may be superfluous,’ Lucas prompted softly. ‘Come on.’

It was a very subdued Amber that stepped out of the car. How had she imagined for a second that she could marry Lucas and not go to bed with him, when a simple smile had her panting? Her knees felt weak and she was actually grateful when Lucas slid a strong arm around her waist as he introduced her to the man who had so casually interrupted them.

‘This is Joe, my right-hand man, and tomorrow my best man.’

Amber looked up into the laughing grey eyes of the tall, brown-haired man. ‘How do you do?’ she said formally.

‘Great for having finally met you,’ he responded with a trace of an American accent.

‘You’re American,’ Amber said stiltedly. If she had not been feeling so embarrassed she would have immediately liked the man.

‘Greek-American and you are very English, and very beautiful, exactly as Lucas described you.’ He smiled broadly. ‘Pity he saw you first.’

‘Cut that out, Joe; the lady is mine,’ Lucas said possessively. Amber watched as the two men exchanged an expressive look, and then they were all entering the vast foyer of the hotel.

Immediately Amber’s family surrounded them, while Joe, with a few swift commands, had their luggage taken care of. Lucas confidently listed the features of the complex at Sir David’s request. Set in two hundred acres with its own golf course, shooting range, and private beach with every kind of water sport available, it was a holiday paradise. Private chalets were scattered all around the complex. But he had arranged for everyone to stay in a number of suites in the main hotel building, as it was more convenient.

Without a word Lucas took hold of Amber’s arm and led her towards a lift. The doors swung open as if waiting for his arrival and he urged her inside.

For the sake of something to say, Amber offered, ‘Joe seems a really nice man.’

The look Lucas cast her held a hint of wry acceptance and something more she did not recognise. ‘Implying I am not?’ he taunted gently.

‘I never said that.’ She tensed, suddenly feeling claustrophobic in the small enclosed lift.

‘Relax, Amber—I was joking. All the ladies like Joe. The trouble is, he likes all the ladies. All being the operative word.’ Lucas, his eyes glinting, flicked Amber a teasing glance, asking her to share his humour.

Lucas in a light-hearted mood was impossible to resist, and a reluctant smile parted her full lips. She could imagine Joe as a ladies’ man with no trouble. He had the good looks and easygoing charm, and the banter girls the world over fell for.

‘And of course you don’t,’ she mocked.

His hand reached out and caught hold of Amber’s, spreading her fingers as he threaded his own through hers. ‘No, I only want one.’ And the look he cast down was serious, his black eyes penetrating on her lovely face. ‘And I’ve got you,’ he murmured, leading her out of the lift. Amber was powerless to control the sudden acceleration in her pulse, or to deny his hand holding hers was oddly reassuring.

Twenty minutes later she stood in the centre of the elegantly furnished sitting room, and looked around in wide-eyed awe. ‘It’s magnificent, Lucas.’ She turned her beautiful face towards him and grinned. ‘It’s bigger than my cottage. I could live in here.’ He had just given her a tour of the suite. From the long balcony with magnificent views over the bay, through the stylish bedroom with a king-sized bed, from which she had hastily dashed out into the bathroom, with double shower and whirlpool bath all in the finest marble.

‘I’m glad you like it. My only regret is I cannot stop and share it with you now. But have patience, tomorrow will be a different story,’ he declared with all the arrogance of a supremely confident man. ‘And the experience will be all the more erotic for the anticipation, I promise.’

Amber flinched. After her performance in the car it was hardly surprising; he thought she was a pushover. But then Lucas was a typical alpha male, strikingly handsome, lethally sexy, wealthy, sophisticated, and great in bed, and the combination was irresistible. She doubted he’d ever met a woman in his life that would not be happy to fall into his arms at the first opportunity. But it galled her to think he thought she was one, and that he had to apologise for leaving!

She straightened her shoulders, her proud gaze narrowing on his face. ‘Providing I am still here. After all, there is nothing to stop me changing my mind, a woman’s prerogative and all that,’ Amber pointed out. That should give the arrogant devil something to worry about.

Tall and powerful even in casual clothes, Lucas watched her, not a flicker of any emotion showing on his handsome, hard-boned face. ‘I’m sure you can leave,’ he said softly, moving swiftly across to where she stood. ‘But you won’t.’ Tilting her chin with one long finger, he added, ‘That is the second reason for your family’s attendance at the ceremony. You might want to walk out on me, but no way will you walk out on them…’ He shook his dark head. ‘Leaving them dependent on my hospitality. I know you too well, Amber.’

Amber squirmed at her own stupidity. She had actually bought his fairy story on the plane about her family. His second reason was much more believable. The devious devil—in that second she hated him. ‘You really are a swine,’ she hissed. The fact that his assumption was also correct did nothing for her temper.

His perfectly chiselled features froze into impassivity, but not before she saw the flare of anger in the depths of the hard black eyes that held hers.

‘It won’t work.’ Lucas’s fingers tightened slightly on her chin. ‘I told you earlier, I am not going to argue with you, so stop trying.’ His thumb traced along her full lower lip, and she could not repress the shiver that rippled through her.

‘You want me and I want you, so stop fighting it. With our history it is inevitable.’

‘No,’ she denied, but her body inexplicably swayed forward like a moth to a flame, her golden gaze captured by the simmering sensuality in his night-black eyes.

‘Yes.’ Lucas smiled a wry sexy twist to his firm lips. His hand dropped from her face. He ached for her with a hunger, a pain she had no knowledge of. But he dared not touch her again. Not yet! He’d made one mistake, and he was not about to risk making another until he had his ring safely on her finger. ‘But not now—I have some business to attend to in Athens, but I will be back to take you to dinner at nine. If you need anything, speak to Joe or Reception.’ Lucas bent and dropped a swift kiss on her full lips and left.

Tense and frustrated at her own inability to resist him, Amber paced the length of the room and back, her mind a seething mass of conflicting emotions. Was she a woman or a wimp? A few hours ago she’d been determined her marriage to Lucas would be in name only. But one touch and she melted like ice in a desert. And he, damn him, knew it!

By eight in the evening Amber was almost at boiling-point. The first shock had been Reception delivering a wedding dress to her room and a handful of bridesmaid dresses, closely followed by Julie and Mary and her daughters. Amber had stood in the middle of the room like a statue as the other two women had shoved the girls into masses of white froth while Julie had explained it had all been Lucas’s idea. He was such a considerate man, she had rhapsodised.

Apparently, he had explained, because it was a second marriage for him Amber was being stubborn and insisting on keeping it low-key—a simple suit had been mentioned. But he did not want to deprive Amber of a white wedding. So he’d asked Julie to choose the gowns for the occasion.

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