But she knew suddenly with crystal-clarity and embittered frustration what the best punishment of all would have been...what would really hurt Alex Terzakis the most. To be forced to marry her to gain access to Nicky. A choky little laugh escaped her. Not that he would have agreed, of course, but how perfect a revenge that would have been. An insane idea, but oh, what a beautiful fantasy! Though why should it be a fantasy? a little voice asked. She should make that demand. It would at the very least get rid of him.
Questioning dark eyes, cool as a winter wind, rested on her. ‘I am glad that you find something amusin
g in this situation. I confess that I do not.’
Sarah sent him a veiled glance of pure poison. ‘You did ask me to name my price for Nicky...didn’t you?’
‘I wondered how long it would take for you to abandon the loving aunt act,’ Alex admitted, sending her a shimmering look of distaste. ‘Why did you waste my time with such a pretence?’
She had never come across anyone whose reactions were more impossible to predict. He talked as though he would give anything, do anything to get Nicky. But when success appeared to beckon he froze and surveyed her with judgemental revulsion. And he hadn’t even touched the tip of the iceberg yet, she reflected with bitter amusement.
She took a deep breath. ‘You’re not going to like my price,’ she sighed, strolling into the lounge, wanting to give him a little more space before he lost his temper and exploded. She just loved watching him fight for self-restraint.
‘I do not care what it costs to remove you from that child’s life forever,’ he asserted icily.
‘But, you see, it wouldn’t do that.’ Sarah turned back to face him, emerald eyes gleaming with provocation and unconcealed challenge. ‘Just how much do you want Nicky, Mr Terzakis? You see, the only thing I want is what you wouldn’t let my sister have...’
His gaze had narrowed but it was obvious that he hadn’t yet caught her drift. ‘Get to the point.’
‘It’s a little...delicate.’ Sarah was electrified by the sense of power he had given her.
‘You are no shrinking violet,’ he gritted with blistering impatience.
‘I want you to marry me.’ Sarah dropped it like a brick into a bottomless silence. ‘I want to be Mrs Alex Terzakis. In name only, of course,’ she added, gently ironic. ‘Hard as you may find it to believe, I find you highly resistible. The immense sacrifice of lying back and thinking of the greater glory of Greece would not be required from you.’
As she stopped speaking, she could not believe that she had actually said all that to him. But his unnatural stillness, the dark rise of blood accentuating his carved cheekbones and his stunned silence confirmed that she had. He was transfixed to the spot.
‘Cristos...you think that I would marry you?’ he demanded ferociously.
‘A fate worse than death, but so sweet a revenge,’ Sarah pointed out softly. ‘Am I to assume that I am even less acceptable than my poor sister? Well, you did ask me what I wanted—’
‘You cannot be serious...you are joking!’ Alex sent her a black intimidating glower of expectancy. ‘You could not ask such a thing of me and be serious—’
‘I could,’ she confirmed, revelling in his unwillingness to believe. Alex Terzakis in shock—what a glorious vision.
‘What kind of a woman are you that you can ask this of me?’
‘So, you are not a man of your word.’ Sarah savoured the condemnation, her jewel-like eyes shimmering over the sudden perceptible clenching of his golden features with helpless satisfaction. No, he didn’t like that—tough.
Alex Terzakis asked for everything he got. This past fortnight had been a nightmare for Sarah, a long, dark tunnel she’d had to force herself to keep on walking through. From the very hour of Callie’s death, this arrogant Greek had tormented her and intruded on her grief. Her sister’s death had meant nothing to him. Indeed it might well have been a relief. Yet he had dared to appear at Callie’s funeral, and on the selfsame day had offered her money in return for her sister’s baby. And still he was refusing to leave them alone!
‘It is out of the question,’ he drawled with unflinching candour. ‘But if it is possible I despise you even more for making such a demand.’
Sarah was bitterly amused by his response. Did he really imagine that she gave two hoots what he thought of her? He strode out to the hall, perceptibly eager to be gone.
‘Goodbye,’ Sarah said drily.
Without warning, he swung back to her, glittering dark eyes shooting over her, the faintest crease drawing his ebony brows together. ‘Did you demand marriage for the child’s sake?’ he prompted tautly, abruptly.
She really had shaken him up. Shorn of his usual sardonic aura, he looked forbiddingly serious.
‘What do you think?’ His question had thrown her, since she had only been playing a game with him by demanding the one thing that he would not give.
‘That revenge is a two-edged sword.’
Moments later she watched the limousine drawing away, accompanied by fluttering curtains on the other side of the street. She fell into bed, totally drained by exhaustion. How could she have asked him to marry her? To watch him break out in a cold sweat at the prospect of being tied to an unfeminine, malicious shrew? His opinion of her was immaterial, she reminded herself. His shattered reaction to her proposal had really been quite funny. Absently, she wondered why she wasn’t laughing...
* * *