In the meantime there was no way she’d reveal anything so personal to Stavros Denakis. She didn’t even want to think about his derision if he realised her experience was so limited. The mood he was in, he wouldn’t believe her.
‘My contention,’ she responded, looking at a point over his shoulder, ‘is that the authorities will have no reason to doubt our story when we explain it to them.’
For a long, breathless moment she waited for his reaction, feeling the tension scream along the muscles of her neck and arms, down her stiff legs. Was this how a hunted animal felt, poised for flight in that instant of sighting a predator?
‘You may be right,’ he said at last, though his tone told her just what he thought of that possibility. ‘Or it may be easier to arrange a divorce.’
She shrugged. It didn’t matter to her, so long as the necessary steps were taken to release her from this marriage. Even now she found it hard to believe that she’d been married all this time without knowing it.
And the thought of being legally bound to Stavros Denakis…She shuddered. Once, if her secret fantasies were any indication, she would have thought it a dream come true to be wed to him, the handsome, dynamic man who’d rescued her. But that was before she knew what he was really like. How cold and hard and cynical.
‘I don’t care. Whatever the lawyers think will be quickest. Have you contacted them yet?’
‘So eager to escape our union ?’ Sarcasm edged his voice and twisted his lips.
She shrugged, trying to focus on anything but his proximity and the sparks of awareness exploding through her. He’s a bully, she reminded herself. An arrogant, egotistical jerk.
Yet there was something about him that made her long for his tenderness. Like the single, gentle touch of his lips on hers that had stolen her breath and sent trails of fiery heat twisting through her four years ago. The brief formalities had finished and the marriage celebrant had looked expectant, reminding them it was traditional to seal the nuptials with a kiss. She’d looked up at this stranger, watched his eyes darken almost to black. His head had dipped, he’d wrapped an arm round her shoulders and another round her waist, gently, careful of her bruises.
And he’d taken her to heaven. Just for the few moments their lips had clung. His embrace had tightened protectively, pulling her into his comforting warmth and solid strength. The world had spun away as her eyelids fluttered shut and she’d given herself up to the surprisingly delicate caress of his lips against hers.
The kiss had ended suddenly. He’d stared down at her, his brows angled together like now.
Then he’d looked puzzled. Now his expression was harder to read. But instinctively she knew that anger and distrust were there, hidden by his shuttered expression.
‘I’ve already contacted my legal staff,’ he said brusquely, ‘and they’re investigating the quickest way to achieve a legal dissolution.’
He turned away, pacing towards another huge window, and Tessa’s knees turned to trembling jelly as relief flooded her. She’d been so wound up with tension from confronting him that now it was an effort to stand. She reached out a hand to a suede club chair against the wall and slid into it, grateful that his attention was fixed on the view rather than her. She leaned forward, bracing her hands on her thighs and taking a deep breath.
‘It may take some time. They may need to check some matters where the wedding took place.’
That would delay things. After a bloody civil war, the tiny South American country was still barely functioning.
‘Do we really need to wait that long?’
He swung round to look at her, his face an impenetrable mask. ‘If we want to do this properly it must be legally binding. I want no loose ends.’
No mistaking the chill in that tone. If her muscles hadn’t already liquefied into a palsied mess, she’d have stiffened at the icy contempt that laced his words.
‘That’s fine by me.’ She turned her head and stared across the spacious apartment to the cluster of comfortable sofas on the other side of the room. Anything to avoid meeting his disbelieving gaze.
‘And I will have an additional agreement drawn up.’
‘Yes?’ Tessa followed the swirling design on the sofa’s upholstery with her eyes as if it were the most important thing in the room.
‘It will provide you with a settlement, on condition that you speak to no one, especially members of the Press, about our marriage. And that you renounce all further claims to my property.’
He thought she wanted his money. He’d made that abundantly clear last night. Even so it hurt to hear it again, the accusation in his tone.