‘What about it?’
‘How long would you envisage this going on for?’
He shrugged. ‘A year?’
‘A year!’ She gulped more wine back.
‘We would not have to live together that whole time,’ he back-pedalled. ‘Just for the first few months, while I was getting the deal through with Kosta.’
‘Live together?’ The words squeaked out, her eyes slamming shut in silent refutation of this very idea.
‘Well, yes. I mean, that’s kind of the point...’
Alice’s blood was rushing through her so hard and fast it was all she could hear. She gaped, her lips moving with no sound coming out.
When she finally dared to glance at Thanos, she found him watching her with a concentration that almost robbed her of all breath. ‘I can’t... I mean... I can’t live with you.’
He arched a brow. ‘No?’
Her cheeks weren’t pink now, they were bright red. ‘I’m not... I mean... I know you’re very...erm...sophisticated, but I’m not, and I’m not interested in the kind of relationship you’re...suggesting.’
He stared at her for several seconds and then burst out laughing, so she frowned, with no idea what he found so laughable.
‘Relax, Alice. I’m not propositioning you for sex.’
She felt as if she were about to have a heart attack. Mortification spread through her and she lifted the wine glass once more, drinking at least half of what remained in one quick sip.
It burned all the way down her throat, the unfamiliar flavour like acid. ‘You just said we were going to live together.’
‘Yes,’ he agreed with a shrug. ‘But behind closed doors, our relationship will be as it is now. Businesslike. Professional. Courteous. In fact, we probably won’t see much of each other, given how much I travel.’
‘And you’d continue to travel,’ she murmured, her heart rate slowing to something approaching normal.
He nodded. ‘I don’t see any reason to make huge changes to either of our lives, behind closed doors.’
‘But you wouldn’t see other women?’ she blurted out, wondering why that bothered her so much. Pride, she supposed. Pride, and her experience with Clinton, and having seen what her father was capable of. She didn’t want to be used by some man, made a laughing stock. Not again.
‘I do not really “see” women now,’ he pointed out with a lift of his shoulders.
‘But you couldn’t be photographed flirting with some supermodel at a party,’ she insisted. ‘If the whole point is to fool Mr Carinedes, then you’ll need to play the part of a doting newly-wed as much as I will.’
‘This is not exactly a hardship,’ he said with a dip of his head. ‘As you know, I am very motivated to succeed in this.’
‘I know,’ she whispered, gripping her wine-glass stem as though it were a lifeline.
‘I spend most of my time in Greece,’ he continued, as though this matter were dealt with. ‘I presume once I have arranged suitable accommodation for your mother, you will be able to join me there?’
Her mouth dropped open, her tongue darting out to trace the line of her lower lip; she barely noticed the way his eyes fell to the gesture.
‘Alice?’
‘I...yes.’ She nodded, painfully aware of the void that was her private life.
He took a moment to consider that and then smiled, relaxed, relieved. ‘So?’ He lifted a brow and her heart kerthunked hard against her chest in a vicious, imperious warning.
Because only a fool would fail to see the danger here. The danger in agreeing to marry a man like Thanos Stathakis, with more charm and sex appeal in his little finger than any man had a right to possess.
‘It would be purely business,’ she insisted. ‘I wouldn’t be marrying you for any reason except to get out of debt. And to help you,’ she admitted grudgingly, because it was true.