And it wasn’t over yet.
Desire and anticipation hummed throughout her body as he carried her down the corridor to her room and placed her on that big white bed. She sat up, biting her sensitive lip as she wondered what he’d do now. She wanted him to stay close to her and do that again. All caution had burned away in the heat of her attraction to him.
But he pushed her back down on the mattress and then stepped back. ‘This time I think we really do need to walk away. I’m not ordering you. I’m asking you.’
‘Giorgos...’ she breathed.
He shook his head and backed away quickly. ‘Have mercy on me.’
Her heart lurched as he closed the door, leaving her alone in that beautiful bedroom. And she finally understood just what a wicked devil he was. He’d done exactly what he’d set out to do. He’d left her wanting.
More.
CHAPTER FIVE
KASSIE WOKE IN a rush, instinctively realising she’d slept late. Given the events of last night, the fact she’d had such a deep, dreamless sleep was incredible. But the big bed was decadently comfortable and the room temperature had been deliciously cool on her hot skin.
She quickly showered and dressed, adrenalin rippling through her veins as she darted along the labyrinthine corridor to his ‘lair’. She guessed he’d be there, at work already.
He was sitting at the large table, rather than on the sofa, clad in another of his suits. His frown didn’t lighten in the least as he glanced up from his open laptop to watch her walk into the room.
She closed the door and avoided looking at him by focusing on the papers in front of him. One sheet held an incredibly long list of engagements—dates, places, times, people who would be in attendance—but it was the newspapers next to it that claimed her attention.
Kassie’s thudding heart sank as she read the bold headlines. The media had gone after Giorgos in their coverage of the astounding news.
King Denied Romance!
Forced into Unhappy Engagement!
True love wins!
The photos they’d included of Giorgos were not kind—his expression was stern in every one—while each picture of Eleni showed her smiling and beautiful. In one she was looking up at her brother as if he were chiding her, but even Kassie understood now that he’d only wanted to do what was best.
‘Poor Eleni, bullied by her big brother.’ Giorgos’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. ‘Big, bad me.’
‘Oh, I don’t know.’ Kassie smiled. ‘It might be nice to have a protective brother...’
She almost wished she’d had one, to stand alongside her and stare down the jerks who’d harassed her.
She glanced at him. ‘Why have you gone all frowny face again?’
He was glaring at her. ‘I’ve already told you there is nothing brotherly about what I’ve done for you. Nor is there anything nice.’
He rose from the table and moved around to stand in front of her. That was all he did—just stood that little bit too close, studying her far too intensely with those gleaming eyes. And she reacted—aching for him to take those few inches closer to her.
‘Not brotherly,’ she choked. ‘I got that already.’
He fascinated her, and right now the shadows beneath his eyes were all too human, revealing hurt and worry. Had he got any sleep?
In embarrassment she realised far, far too late that while she’d had that ‘release’, he hadn’t. She’d gone to bed like the cat who’d got the cream and promptly fallen asleep, while he’d... He’d what?
She cringed as she realised she didn’t even know if he’d been aroused by what had happened. He’d made it all about her—her acquiescence, her pleasure—and taken nothing himself. He’d put her ahead of him. Just as he’d put Eleni ahead of himself now.
‘You’ve taken the blame instead of her,’ she said quietly. ‘Pinned yourself as the villain to protect her.’
‘The speculation will die down quickest that way,’ he said dismissively.
‘Eventually,’ she acknowledged. ‘But the commentary isn’t kind to you.’
He was being slammed in the press in a way he’d never been slammed before.
‘I can handle it.’
He shouldn’t have to. He’d only been trying to support his sister.
She skimmed the first paragraphs of the report. ‘So they’re saying you blocked her romance and that you don’t approve of her marriage.’
‘And they’re be right.’
‘You don’t really think that. I know you want her to be happy.’
‘Suddenly you think so much better of me?’ A smile quirked the corner of his mouth. ‘I’m thinking you must have slept peacefully last night.’
‘You’d never have let the marriage go ahead if you hadn’t decided to trust her.’ Kassie ignored his reference. He’d impressed her and, yes, that was quite a change from only a day ago. But it wasn’t because of the way he’d kissed her last night.
‘It was in the best interests of the country to get Eleni’s situation sorted quickly.’ He walked back behind the table.
‘It was in her best interests. She was your priority. Don’t deny that.’
‘She’s always been my first priority,’ he said dryly. ‘You just chose not to see it. But now it seems I’m not quite the monster you first thought.’
He frowned as he turned his laptop to face her. A news service was streaming on the screen.
‘It’s not just me they’ve latched on to. They’re still outside your apartment. And they’ve interviewed one of your co-workers. One who met Damon when he visited you. They put you and the hospital as the link between them.’
‘Just as you did.’ She shrugged.
She chose not to care what they thought of her. She’d heard it all when she was growing up.
‘But it wasn’t your fault.’ He turned to stare at the laptop screen again. ‘It was Eleni.’ He rubbed his hand over his forehead. ‘Nevertheless, it is better for them to think worse of me than her.’
‘You think they’d judge her if they knew the truth?’
‘Of course they would—you know that.’
‘The
re shouldn’t be anything wrong with a woman acting on her desires.’
He suddenly laughed. ‘Says you, the expert.’
She quietened, embarrassed and a bit hurt. He had no idea...
His expression turned regretful, and then surprisingly tender. ‘But it’s not like you don’t have any desires, is it, Kassie?’
She looked away from him. ‘Foolish ones. Ones that shouldn’t be acted on.’
‘Because you don’t want to be judged?’ He angled his head so he could keep looking into her eyes. ‘The way your mother was judged?’
‘I’ve already been judged. I was judged for years simply for being her daughter—the illegitimate child of the other woman,’ she said scornfully. ‘That fact made me an instant sex object in my home village when I was a teen and developed curves.’ Her gaze narrowed. ‘And boys and men don’t like it if you say no to them when they’ve cast you as the village floozy. Then they judge more. And then your reputation is sealed.’
He frowned. ‘Did no one defend you?’
‘Who was there?’
Her mother had kept to herself. Her schoolfriends had become jealous of the attention she attracted. She’d become isolated. And then her mother had got sick and she’d retreated completely.
‘That must have been tough on you,’ Giorgos said grimly.
‘It wasn’t so bad. I survived. And I no longer care what anyone says or thinks of me.’ She shrugged off his sympathy because she was stronger for her experience. ‘I just want to live my life the way I want to.’
‘That would be fair enough if you actually did. But you don’t. You don’t let yourself have that element to your life at all. And you’re right—a woman shouldn’t be judged at all differently from a man for having sexual desire.’
He glanced again at the screen.
‘You shouldn’t watch it,’ she said, because she did know how it hurt, even when you told yourself not to care.
‘I need to know what they’re saying so I can figure out my response.’
‘What’s your usual response?’
‘To say nothing. We never comment on personal issues within the royal family.’