Buch lesen: «A Devious Desire»

CHAPTER ONE

SAFFRON flopped back down on the plastic chair at the roadside cafe and grinned at the elderly lady seated at the opposite side of the table. ‘I’ve paid the bill and asked the proprietor to call us a taxi. It’s half six and we have to be back on board by seven.’

‘Don’t fuss, child, and finish your wine.’

‘Your wish is my command,’ she quipped. ‘But remember that is your third glass. Don’t blame me if your arthritis plays up later on.’ And with a wry smile tugging her wide mouth Saffron picked up her glass and sipped the sparkling wine. She hadn’t the heart to deny Anna a few moments longer at the cafe in the ancient walled town of Rhodes. A cafe Anna had spent hours trying to find!

‘What was so important about this particular place?’ Saffron asked for the umpteenth time, but not really expecting an answer. Anna had been very secretive about the reason behind her search for this cafe, but Saffron wasn’t complaining.

A month ago she had been working as a beauty and aromatherapist for a London agency that provided a personal service to clients in their own homes, and also to a few of the more enlightened city hospitals, when a request for a home visit from Anna Statis’s doctor had arrived. The lady had had a fall and badly bruised her shoulder, which, combined with arthritis in her knee, had left her in a little difficulty with mobility. He had considered that aromatherapy might help her. Saffron was given the job. Ten days later she had a six-month contract as Anna’s personal therapist, and for the past week they had been cruising the Greek Islands on the liner the Pallas Corinthian. Life could not be more perfect. Saffron sighed in contentment, and raised her glass to her lips.

They had just spent an enjoyable afternoon walking around Rhodes, discovering the Street of the Knights and marvelling at the inns that housed the Knights of St John. Then finally they had found this small bar, much to Anna’s delight and Saffron’s relief; she did not want the old lady overtired.

‘My son was conceived here.’

‘What?’ Saffron jerked upright and swallowed the wine, almost choking with laughter. ‘You’re having me on. In a pavement cafe?’ Her sparkling green eyes clashed with misty blue ones.

‘It is true. I was a dancer on a cruise ship. Very daring for a well brought up English girl in my era. The ship visited Rhodes regularly and I met and fell in love with a handsome Greek, Nikos Statis, and in a room above this café my son Alexandros was conceived forty years ago this week.’

Saffron glanced at her employer, not sure whether to believe her. In her mid-sixties, her once blonde hair, now white, was swept up in a loose chignon, revealing the delicate features of a still beautiful face, but a sad, reminiscent smile hazed her blue eyes.

‘And now you’re back again. How romantic,’ Saffron murmured. But privately she had her doubts. Within a week of taking up her live-in job as Anna’s therapist she had watched in awe as the old lady had persuaded her doctor that what she needed to make a quick recovery was a cruise! Anna might look fragile, but she had an amazing ability to get her own way.

‘Romantic! I thought so at the time,’ Anna continued softly. ‘But I was wrong—so wrong.’

Saffron was intrigued and, eager to hear more, prompted, ‘Wrong…?’

‘Some day I will tell you my life story. I feel the need to tell someone, and in the short time we have been together I feel closer to you than I have to anyone in years. Probably because you have been on your own and lonely most of your life and so have I.’

‘But you have a son.’ Anna was always talking about him, but he neglected the woman shamefully. As far as Saffron was aware he had never so much as called his mother since she had started working for Anna.

‘Yes, true.’

Obviously they were not close. A typical selfish male, Saffron thought, but at that moment a taxi drew up at the kerb, and she knew any further revelations would have to wait.

Anna drained her glass and in a lightning mood change grinned. ‘Finding this place today has helped me to lay some ghosts. But now we’d better make tracks, hmm?’

‘Yes,’ Saffron agreed and, standing up, she added with a smile, ‘I’m glad we found your cafe. You do look more content.’

‘Content! Yes, do you know I really think I am? Thank you, Saffy.’

With a tender glance at her boss, Saffron swung her shoulder-bag over her shoulder and gently put a hand under a frail elbow, helping Anna to her feet. She waited and watched as the other woman gave one last lingering look at the top floor of the building and was just about to help her into the car when to Saffron’s astonishment someone yelled, ‘Get the hell out of the way!’ and grabbed the strap of her bag, hard fingers scraping her bare flesh.

Her hand slipped from Anna and she cried a warning. ‘Look out! A thief!’

Years in an orphanage, and looking after herself for most of her life, along with classes in self-defence, had taught Saffron something, and with lightning reflexes her arm shot up, her finger and thumb nipping the front of her attacker’s throat while her knee crashed up and into a very male groin. Spinning on her heel, she gently pushed Anna back into her seat. ‘Don’t worry, Anna, I’ve got it under control.’

Saffron shot her a worried glance, and was amazed to see that Anna was not in the least fazed by the unpleasant incident. In fact she was smiling, then chuckling, then laughing!

‘It’s not funny—we were nearly robbed.’

‘Oh, Saffy, dear, if I ever had any doubt about your suitability for the job, I don’t now!’ Amid much laughter mingled with very masculine groans she went on, ‘I have never seen anything so funny in my whole life.’

Saffron, adrenalin still pumping, had no idea how magnificent she looked. At five feet five, with her red-gold hair a wild tangle about her lovely face, and dressed in neat white tailored shorts, braless under a navy strapless tube-top, her green eyes flashing fire, she looked like some avenging Valkyrie.

‘What is so funny?’ she demanded, and then spared a glance for the man she had felled. ‘This man was trying to attack us.’ She could not see his face, but she could hear his moans. He was folded double and clutching a very private part of himself.

They had gathered quite a crowd, including the proprietor of the café, who asked, ‘Shall I call the police?’

The police…Saffron hesitated. They had to be back on board soon; if they were delayed by the police they would miss the boat. She glanced at Anna, only to see the other woman wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes with one hand while waving the other frantically in the air as she got out over her amusement. ‘No police, no police.’

‘Then let’s get in the taxi and go.’ Saffron was suddenly conscious of the crowd and being the centre of attention and she did not like it. She hitched her bag more firmly on her shoulder and cast an uneasy glance at her assailant, who had dragged himself to the seat she had recently vacated, and she saw his face…

Night-black hair fell in tousled curls over a broad forehead; perfectly arched brows framed glittering black eyes. The nose was large and slightly hooked, the jaw square, and wide mouth completed the rugged features, but the lips were pulled back in a grimace of pain. Her gaze dropped to his broad shoulders; a plain white T-shirt clung lovingly to a broad chest, the faint trace of dark body hair showing through the fine fabric, and brief denim cut-offs exposed the considerable length of tanned muscular legs, also with a downy covering of black hair. He looked dangerously tough, and suddenly Saffron had serious doubts about what she had done. Her legs felt weak, and she was amazed at her own success in overpowering him. If she had got a good look at him before, she would never have tried…

Odd! He also looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t be…Dismissing the uncomfortable thought, she said quickly, ‘Come on, Anna; get in the taxi. We don’t need to bother with his sort; the police will catch him soon enough.’ She opened the car door and put her other hand under Anna’s elbow, urging her up and into the taxi. She was desperate to get away. The man looked as if he was getting his wind back and Saffron did not want to be around when he did.

‘No, no, Saffy, you don’t understand,’ Anna said, still chuckling. ‘This is my son Alexandros. Alex.’

‘What? Your son!’ Incredulity widened her green eyes to their fullest extent. ‘I don’t believe you. He can’t be…’

‘But he is. Honestly…’ Anna, finally controlling her amusement, answered seriously.

‘Thank you, Mother. I’m glad you found my distress so hilariously funny.’ A deep rich voice broke into the women’s exchange.

Saffron felt as if she had been pole-axed, then her lips began to twitch in the beginnings of a smile as she thought that actually it was the man who was pole-axed, and by her! She knew it was completely the wrong time to find the situation amusing but she could not help it— a snort of laughter escaped her before she could control herself.

‘And as for you, whoever you are,’ the deep voice continued harshly, ‘I would not laugh if I were you; if anyone is calling the police around here it will be me for your completely unwarranted attack upon my person.’

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, Alex, listen to yourself! You sound like a pompous ass,’ his mother responded, and, grabbing Saffron’s arm, she added, ‘I think you’re right, dear; let’s get in the taxi and go; we don’t want to miss the boat.’

But their escape was not to be so easy. With a speed that belied his great size and his recent injury, Alex was on his feet and ushering his mother and Saffron into the back seat of the cab. Sliding in beside them, he then issued instructions to the taxi driver in Greek, and they were on their way.

‘Now, Mother, perhaps you will tell me what you are doing with this red-headed devil——’ he cast a venomous glance at Saffron who was squashed between them, and then looked past her to his mother ‘—on a cruise ship touring the islands.’

‘Having a holiday,’ Anna said bluntly. ‘Saffy is my new companion—and before you say another word Dr Jenkins thoroughly approves.’

Saffron felt the dark eyes fixed on her, but she kept her head bent, hiding her face. After the excitement of the past half-hour, she was slowly beginning to realise just what she had done. Assaulted her employer’s own son. So much for the job of a lifetime, she thought morosely. She had been counting on this six-month contract with all living expenses provided to boost her bank balance to the magical amount that would enable her to set up her own beauty clinic. She could see her dream disintegrating before her eyes. Burnt to ashes by the heat of anger that shimmered between the taxi’s occupants.

Suddenly Alex aimed a torrent of rapid-fire Greek at Anna, and as if to punctuate his words he stretched a long arm along the back of the seat to touch his mother’s shoulder. At the brush of his arm against the back of her neck Saffron almost jumped out of her skin, a tingling awareness making the small hairs on her neck stand on end. Immediately she was shockingly conscious of his powerful masculinity and bitterly resented the fact.

She had met his type before—hard and ruthless. Even his mother had hinted that they were not very close, and she was lonely. Now Saffron could understand why, given the autocratic way he had bundled them both into the taxi like so much unwanted baggage. ‘Arrogant pig!’ she thought, then to her horror realised that she had spoken out loud, and the full fury of glittering black eyes was turned on her red face.

‘Woman, if you want to live to see tomorrow I suggest you keep your mouth shut. You have done quite enough harm already. Kidnapping Mother, attacking me…One more word and you will be in a Greek gaol so fast your feet won’t touch the ground——’

‘That’s enough, Alex,’ Anna cut in sternly. ‘A taxi is not the place to argue, and in any case we have arrived.’

Alex, without another word, got out of the car and walked around the other side, opening the door for his mother. Saffron slid out on to the dock and glanced up at the cruise liner, then rather warily over the top of the taxi at the other two. As she watched she saw Alex smile and bend down to brush a light kiss on the top of Anna’s head before paying the taxi driver then gently taking her arm and leading her up the gangway.

Saffron hesitated. Perhaps she was wrong. Maybe Alex did not neglect his mother. As she thought back to the scene at the café it struck her. For a woman who said she hardly saw her son, Anna had not been in the least surprised when he had suddenly appeared. In fact she had thought it a huge joke. Odd. Very odd…

A soft sigh fluttered past Saffron’s lips. What did it matter? She had little doubt that in a very short time she was going to be out of a job. It would have been nice to finish the cruise but if the murderous expression on Alex Statis’s face earlier was anything to go by she would probably be on the next flight out of Rhodes back to England.

But in that she was mistaken…

Once back on board she deemed it wise to give mother and son some time alone and grasped the chance to speak to a fellow traveller, a nice American gentleman who was travelling alone. She listened to him wax lyrical about the beauty of Lindos—the destination of the shipboard excursion that day—then slowly made her way to the cabin.

As soon as she walked in the door she immediately sensed the tension in the air. Anna was sitting in an armchair, her lovely face composed, her hands folded neatly in her lap, while Alex paced up and down the cabin like a caged tiger.

‘Don’t hurry, will you, Miss Martin?’ He fixed her with piercing black eyes, and she shivered at the force of his anger.

‘I wasn’t aware there was any hurry,’ she snapped back. ‘After all, we are on the boat for three more days.’

‘You are not.’ Saffron’s heart sank at his words. So she was to be sacked! But to her astonishment he continued, ‘You are to pack for the pair of you, and be ready to leave as soon as possible. I will arrange with the captain to delay sailing until you are ready, but hurry—every extra minute over departure time is going to cost me dearly.’

‘What?’ Saffron wasn’t sure she had heard him right. They were leaving the ship, but to go where? ‘Where?’ she exclaimed.

‘My yacht. And I have no time for questions. Mama insists you fulfil the six-month contract; she seems to think you are invaluable to her.’

His eyes swept over her from the top of her red head, lingering for a moment too long on the proud thrust of her breasts beneath the brief top she wore, and on down to her narrow waist, slim hips and long legs, then back to her face, his expression saying it all. He couldn’t see why! Then, with two lithe strides, he was beside her.

Her hands curled into fists as she fought down the instinctive urge to push him away; he was much too close. She stiffened, banishing the blush that rose to her cheeks with a mighty effort of self-control. There was something about the man that threatened her in ways she didn’t understand. Sexually, she freely admitted, but it was more than that. On some deeper, darker level he threatened her. She knew it instinctively, but not why. She raised her eyes to his harsh face and searched the rough-hewn features with the growing conviction that somehow—somewhere—she knew him. Then suddenly his words penetrated her puzzled mind.

‘I have met your kind before, and I am not so sure you’re of any value,’ he drawled cynically. ‘More likely a costly mistake.’

Saffron gasped in outrage at his comment, and raised her hand to slap the swine’s face. But he caught her hand in his and continued insultingly, ‘However, against my better judgement I have agreed to allow you to stay for my mother’s sake.’

Saffron felt the electric shock the length of her arm as his strong fingers tightened on hers deliberately. ‘Smile,’ he hissed, and added loudly for Anna’s benefit, ‘We have a deal, Saffron. Shake on it.’ And she was forced to comply with the social nicety before he finally let go of her hand.

She was still reeling when he bent his head and murmured, as he brushed past her through the open door, ‘But don’t think I’ve forgotten what happened earlier; I’m going to make you pay, you green-eyed witch,’ and left, slamming the door behind him.

Anger and fear mingled in her eyes. The arrogant devil! How dared he threaten her? For two pins she would walk out now, but, catching Anna’s expression, she fought down the impulse. The appeal in the older woman’s eyes was unmistakable.

‘I apologise for my son; he can be rather domineering, I know, but he does have my best interest at heart. You will still come with me, won’t you? I need you.’

‘I’m not sure it’s a good idea,’ Saffron said drily. ‘Your son and I are obviously not going to get on, especially after I nearly crippled him.’ A fleeting smile curved her mouth as she remembered his discomfort earlier.

‘That wasn’t your fault; I’m sure he won’t hold it against you, Saffy. In any case the yacht is huge and if I know Alex we will rarely see him; he always brings one of his women with him, if not more than one, and of course the family.’ She frowned, adding cryptically, ‘That is the main reason I wanted to come on a public cruise. It’s much more fun with strangers around.’

Saffron’s heart sank. How could a son treat his mother so cavalierly? Take her on holiday, then leave her to her own devices while he enjoyed himself with his latest sex object? She was sure that was all women meant to such an aggressively macho man as Alex and his own mother had more or less confirmed it

‘But the doctor did say you had to have no stress. Maybe it would be better for you if you told your son the truth. You fell and got a nasty shock, but soon you will be as good as new.’ Anna had sworn both her doctor and Saffron to secrecy over her accident, insisting that she did not want her son to know and fuss over her. Personally Saffron thought it was way past time her son fussed over her, instead of leaving her in London all the time while he apparently based himself in Greece when he wasn’t jetting around the world. ‘I’m sure if he knew he would stay with you, and you won’t need me.’

‘You don’t understand, dear. I can’t tell Alex; I know what he will say—that I’m too old to live on my own. He will insist on my giving up my London home and staying with the family. I would hate that. I like—I need my independence. Please say you will stay…’

Saffron sighed inwardly. She could not desert her charge, however much she might dislike the poor woman’s son. But ‘poor woman’ was not really accurate. She smiled to herself. Even the mighty Alex Statis had bowed to his mother’s demand and allowed Saffron to stay. Anna, despite her delicate old lady act, was obviously a wily old bird.

‘Yes, of course,’ she answered a touch wryly, and moved to the wardrobe, adding, ‘I’d better start packing.’

* * *

Saffron turned restlessly in the bed, and pushed the light satin cover down to her waist. But she knew it was not the heat keeping her awake—the yacht was fully air-conditioned—nor the low throbbing of its powerful engine as it ploughed through the Aegean Sea in the middle of the night. It was the intervention of the frightening, sinister figure of Alex Statis in her life.

With an efficiency she could only marvel at he had whisked her and Anna away from the cruise ship and, after a brief taxi ride, into a waiting helicopter; by ten o’clock the same evening, to her amazement, the helicopter had landed on a helipad on the top of a luxurious ocean-going yacht, anchored off the Greek mainland.

With a minimum of fuss a very correct steward had shown Saffron to her cabin on the top deck, and what a cabin! A large circular bed in a mahogany-panelled room with a matching en suite, the bathroom and toiletries all sparkling white with brass and mahogany trim. Anna’s quarters were even more luxurious, with a private sitting-room.

Saffron had tried to quiz her boss while unpacking, but for some reason the older woman had not been very forthcoming. However, while Saffron had gently brushed Anna’s hair, before settling her for the night, she’d begun to talk.

‘I guess I was being irresponsible to go off on my own that way—at least, Alex thinks so,’ she murmured softly, almost to herself, and then, looking in the mirror, she fixed Saffron with pleading blue eyes. ‘But you understand, don’t you, dear?’

Saffron didn’t, not one bit; her head was reeling at the events of the evening. Dinner had been an informal buffet, not because of the lateness of the hour—Greeks were used to eating late—but in deference to the fragile health of her charge, she was sure. After the meal Alex had taken one look at his mother and then told Saffron to see the lady to bed. Saffron had been only too happy to comply; for the last few hours she had been all too conscious of Alex’s eyes following her every move, studying her as if she were something the cat had dragged in, and the feeling had been unsettling to say the least.

She smiled at Anna’s reflection in the mirror. ‘Not really,’ she confessed simply.

‘No, I suppose not. It was an old lady’s fantasy to recreate the past. The Pallas Corinthian was the boat I worked on, you see, the one I later found out Nikos, my husband, owned…’

‘You mean you got me to book a cruise on your own shipping line?’ Saffron had wondered, when Anna had asked her to book the cruise, why she had insisted on the one particular ship. Now she knew.

‘Not exactly. Alex is in charge of the business, has been for ages, and he sold the liner to another company years ago. He has no time for sentiment. That’s why I couldn’t tell him what I wanted to do. But I’m glad we had our little holiday, Saffy; seeing Rhodes and the café today was enough, and thank you again, dear, for pan-dering to a sentimental old fool.’

Instinctively Saffron put down the brush and gave Anna a hug. ‘I don’t think you’re an old fool; I think you’re wonderful. And now do you want me to massage your shoulder before bed or not?’

‘No, not tonight. I’m tired enough to go straight to sleep.’ Rising, she touched Saffron’s cheek. ‘You’re a good girl to put up with me, but there is one little thing I would like you to do.’

‘Yes.’ Saffron realised that in the past few weeks she had grown to really care for Anna and, arrogant son apart, she would do anything for her.

‘Please don’t mention to Alex why I wanted a beauty therapist as well as a masseuse. I would hate him to know I can’t even lift my arm high enough to comb my own hair. He is an astute man, and would soon guess there was something more wrong with me than arthritis, and it would only worry him.’

Personally Saffron thought it was about time the globe-trotting swine did worry about his mother, but not by a flicker of an eyelash did she reveal her dislike of the man; instead she promised to say nothing.

Tossing and turning in the luxurious bed, Saffron tried to tell herself that nothing much had changed from this morning. They were still cruising but simply on a private yacht. So why did she have this weird feeling of foreboding? It didn’t make sense. She still had her job, in a week or two she and Anna would return to Anna’s comfortable mews house in the heart of London and Saffron would rarely, if ever, see Alex Statis again. All she had to do was keep her mouth shut and out of his way; that shouldn’t be too hard; she was just the hired help after all…

She closed her eyes and once more tried to sleep, but the vivid image of Alex leaning against the door-frame as she’d walked by him to follow Anna to her cabin seemed to be imprinted on her pupils. Casually elegant, his black hair swept back from his broad forehead, grey wings curling around his ears betraying his thirty-nine years, and a wide, sensual mouth that had hissed cynically as she’d passed him, ‘You can leave now. But I haven’t forgotten I owe you.’ That parting shot lingered threateningly in her mind.

Her eyes flashed open. ‘You can leave now,’ he had said, and something niggled at the back of her brain, a sense of déjà. vu. Had she met him before? No, it wasn’t possible; her mind must be playing tricks, or—perhaps the most likely explanation—she must have seen a photograph of him in his mother’s house. Yes, that was it—of course. And, closing her eyes once more, she finally fell into a troubled sleep where a tall, dark man stalked her dreams…

A knock on the door broke into her restless sleep and, slowly opening her eyes, she yawned widely.

‘Coffee, madam,’ she heard the steward announce, and responded.

‘Come in.’ Hauling herself up into a sitting position, she blinked drowsily, wondering if Anna was awake yet. Then it hit her, the events of the previous evening, and her eyes widened in horror on the approaching man, a gasp of outrage escaping her. ‘You…’

Alex, dressed in a brief white towelling robe belted loosely around his waist, revealing a wide expanse of hair-roughened chest and inordinately long, muscular legs, strolled to the bedside, a tray bearing a coffee-jug and cup on it in his strong hands. ‘Good morning, Saffron.’

‘G-g-get out of my room,’ she stuttered. The man wasn’t conventionally handsome, but he possessed a lethal attraction few women could resist, herself included. His tanned skin, the early morning stubble darkening his jaw gave him the rakish appearance of a swashbuckling pirate.

‘Now is that any way to greet your employer? Especially when he is delivering you sustenance.’

‘You are not my employer,’ she retorted, but his remark had reminded her of her duties. ‘But if you get out of my cabin I can dress and go and see Anna,’ she said, suddenly wide awake, and wary. She had no idea how lovely she looked, her red-gold hair tumbling in disarray around her shoulders, one long strand with a will of its own curving around the fullness of her breast, the skimpy spaghetti-strapped cotton nightie she was wearing barely covering her high, firm breasts.

‘You’re not a morning person…Pity, because you look absolutely delectable.’

How dared he flirt with her? Saffron’s angry eyes flew to his face and she was horrified to realise that his gaze was fixed rather lower on her body. Grabbing the luxurious satin sheet, she pulled it up to her chin. Just in time, as Alex sat down on the side of the bed. He was much too close, the bedroom was much too intimate, and he had no right to be here.

‘Will you get out?’ she cried, her temper rising.

‘Don’t look so terrified. You must have had dozens of men in your bedroom, a girl as beautiful as you.’

She had never had any man in her bedroom, and she was damned sure she wasn’t about to start with this overpoweringly arrogant specimen of the male sex. ‘Out,’ she snapped, indicating the door with her free hand.

‘Don’t flatter yourself, girl,’ Alex drawled cynically, his dark eyes sliding insultingly over her flushed face and rumpled hair. ‘I only want to talk before you see Mama. Why else would I wake you at seven in the morning?’ he asked mockingly.

Saffron could do nothing about the blush that suffused her whole body.

Alex slowly shook his head, one dark brow arching sardonically. ‘What a naughty mind you have, Saffron.’

The man delighted in teasing her, but she had promised to try and get along with him, so, ignoring his comment, she turned to where he had placed the tray on the table beside the bed and filled a cup with coffee. She took her time adding milk, before she dared turn back to face him.

‘Tell me, why Saffron? I always thought it was a spice. Are you spicy?’ he queried, a wicked glint in his dark eyes.

She slanted him a glance from beneath thick lashes then quickly looked down at the cup in her hand and took a long swallow of the hot coffee, before responding curtly, ignoring his innuendo, ‘Saffron is a plant that when dried yields a deep yellow, orangey dye. When I was born my parents took one look at my ginger hair and called me Saffron.’

A large hand reached out and picked up the loose curl that framed her breast. Alex twisted it around his long fingers, his knuckles brushing the tip of her breast. ‘Your hair is not ginger, it is gold, red, blonde, a collection of colours creating a living flame.’