‘I found it.’ Something fierce and feral glittered in his eyes. ‘Do you have any idea how frantic I’ve been? Wondering if you’re safe? If you’d got into trouble alone?’
He had to be kidding. After what she’d been through a ferry trip to Athens was a piece of cake.
‘I’m perfectly capable of—’
‘Perfectly capable of landing yourself in danger!’
‘Don’t be absurd. I can look after myself.’ She leaned forward, hands splayed on the sheet beside her for support. ‘I kept myself alive for four years through famine and civil war, didn’t I? I’m sure a trip to the Australian embassy is within even my capabilities.’
One corner of his mouth kicked up in a twist that might have signified amusement. Or pain.
‘Do you have any idea how beautiful you are, Tessa mou? I sit here and all I can think of is how much I want you. How badly I need you.’ The half-smile vanished, replaced by an expression as sombre as she’d ever seen.
Tessa felt the impact of that look, of his words, in the breathless hollow that was her chest.
‘Don’t…’ She’d had the strength to run away once. But to hear those words from his lips, read the wanting so clear on his face: it was a temptation no woman could withstand for long. She had to resist, to keep her self-respect and to find the resolve to start again, alone.
‘It’s true, Tessa. Absolutely true. I need you as I’ve never needed a woman before. I can’t breathe without you. I feel it here, the pain when you’re not with me.’ He thumped one hand hard against his chest.
Tessa found herself leaning closer towards him, stretching out her hand across the sheet as his tortured look cracked her already bleeding heart.
‘Don’t talk like that!’ She caught herself before her hand made contact with his solid chest. Welling anger warred with the instinctive need to comfort him. ‘You don’t need me. You don’t need anyone.’
His lips thinned into a grimace as he watched her hand drop to the bed between them. ‘I was convincing, wasn’t I, Tessa mou?’ He raked his fingers back through his hair in a gesture that said more about his frustration than any words could have done. She’d never seen Stavros look so lost, as if he was suddenly unsure of himself.
‘Sto Diavolo! I even convinced myself. I can’t blame you for not believing me.’
His hand, large, warm, engulfing, closed around hers and lifted it to the fine knit that covered his chest. His heartbeat thudded, heavy and agitated, against her open palm. Tessa’s eyes widened as she met his.
‘See what you do to me? What my own stupidity has done?’ He stared back at her. Gone was the arrogance she’d seen so often in his gaze. Now there was only pain and doubt. It was like seeing a man she’d never met before.
‘I’ve never been so scared in my life,’ he admitted, his deep voice cracking. ‘I’m petrified you won’t forgive me, Tessa.’ He dragged in a huge breath that made their joined hands rise and fall. His heart thudded out a frantic rhythm of pain and distress that matched her uneven pulse.
‘I don’t understand.’ She was too numb to work her way through this maze of strong emotion. ‘I just want to go home.’ She bit her lips on the childish wail that threatened to escape. This was too much, far more than any woman should have to take.
‘I love you, Tessa. Understand that, if nothing else.’ He lifted his free hand and brushed his thumb across her cheek, where the hot tears spilled anew. ‘Shh, don’t cry, little one. Don’t cry.’ It wasn’t a command but a hoarse plea that only made the tears gather faster in her eyes.
‘You’re not in love with me. I know that.’ How could he have fallen in love with her? ‘You don’t believe in love. And if you did, it would be with someone like the woman you’d already planned to marry.’ Someone elegant and sophisticated. After all, just a few weeks ago he’d been planning to marry her. The idea stabbed at Tessa’s heart.
‘Angela?’ His eyes widened as if in surprise. ‘No. I was never in love with her. It was an…arrangement. We both wanted marriage and she seemed the perfect choice.’ He paused, spearing a hand through his hair as if frustrated. ‘That was before I understood about real love.’
‘Don’t lie to me, Stavros! It’s too cruel.’ She turned her head away, but his hand moved to cup her cheek and, lord help her, she didn’t have the strength to pull out of his grasp. ‘Just because your father told you how I felt. It’s unfair of you to use that against me.’