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a cheap hotel?’ he snarled viciously. ‘Oh, yeah—some fantasy! Your—a woman’s—first time should be something special—something to remember. Not just thrown away!’

      He meant it! Skye could hardly believe what she was seeing. Theo truly meant this. It was in his eyes, in his voice.

      ‘Can’t you see?’ she pleaded with him. ‘That’s why I did it—why I was with you. I didn’t want your—my wedding night to be the first. That’s why I was there.’

      She’d thought she could make things better by explaining, but to judge from the change of expression, the searing burn of those deep-set eyes, she’d only managed the exact opposite.

      ‘To throw it away on any man you met?’

      He was taking it exactly the wrong way.

      ‘Not just any man…’

      And it had been special, she told him in the privacy of her thoughts, not daring to let on just how special that night had been. It was bad enough knowing it herself, but if she admitted to even a tiny part of it then she knew that it would rip her to pieces inside.

      ‘Oh, don’t tell me that you met me and instantly knew I was the love of your life,’ Theo scorned.

      ‘No—I’m not saying that.’

      ‘I could have been just anyone.’

      ‘No!’ Never. ‘And the hotel wasn’t that cheap!’

      Oh, why couldn’t she stop? It had been obvious from the start that her attempts to pretend that that night hadn’t mattered so much had failed painfully. Theo’s scowl, the way his black brows were drawn tightly together, the black eyes blazing beneath them were warning enough that she was blundering blindly into a dangerous minefield where at any moment things might blow up in her face. But still she couldn’t help herself. Couldn’t stop herself from blurting out totally inappropriate remarks that were only making matters worse.

      ‘It was to me!’

      The savage declaration made her jump like a startled rabbit. In fact, that was exactly what she felt like as he came towards her—a small, frightened rabbit, transfixed in the beam of a car’s headlights, wishing desperately that she could move.

      ‘I did exactly what you wanted. Took you exactly where you asked. “A quiet, decent hotel”,’ Theo said, and Skye realised that he was quoting her exactly.

      ‘But, of course, I didn’t know who you were then. If I had, then I might have…’

      Something about the icy glare he turned on her froze the words on her tongue, cutting them off completely. In dawning horror, she realised just what she was saying, the impression she was giving. A hot tide of red swept right across her face and her hands crept up to cover her mouth, trying to hold the dreadful words back.

      But of course it was far too late.

      ‘If you’d known who I was then what, Skye?’ Theo pounced on the foolish sentence. ‘Would you have held out for more, is that it, hmm? Would you have insisted on a five-star place, or asked for more? Traded your virginity for a night in a penthouse suite, perhaps—or a little room service?’

      ‘I didn’t ask for anything from you!’

      ‘Only a night of meaningless sex with an anonymous man.’

      ‘Yes! Yes, that was exactly what I was looking for!’

      Skye winced inside at the way that sounded. But she was beyond controlling her voice. Because the truth was that Theo was not reacting in any way as she had anticipated.

      Not that she had ever anticipated meeting up with the man with whom she had spent that crazy night in London ever again! She had thought that her one night of breaking out into the freedom that soon would be lost to her for ever would be her secret, and hers alone. That it would be totally anonymous, and no one would know.

      But there were two problems with that. One was that in no way at all could the sex have been described as ‘meaningless’. It had been wild; it had been wonderful. It had pitched her straight from blind innocence and ignorance into a world of sensation, of knowing—and of hunger.

      It had been special—so very special.

      And it had left an indelible mark on her for ever.

      But at least she had managed to keep the anonymous part to exactly that. And as a result she had been quite safe. Until she had come here to Helikos and come face to face with a black twist of fate in the form of Theo Antonakos.

      ‘And that was exactly what I got—and what you got as well. It was what you wanted too! Wasn’t it?’

      Had she actually been hoping for something else? If she had, then the stupid thought was crushed out of her by his swift retort.

      ‘Well, I sure as hell wasn’t looking for marriage!’

      ‘So there you are—we both got exactly what we were looking for. So why can’t you leave it at that?’

      ‘You know damn well why!’ he flung at her. ‘Because it can’t be left at that!’

      ‘Why not? Surely if we just put it all behind us and move on, then it can all be over and done with.’

      For Theo at least.

      ‘That isn’t going to work,’ Theo muttered, shaking his dark head slowly.

      ‘Why can’t it?’

      ‘Because of who we are—who you are.’

      ‘Me?’

      ‘You’re my father’s fiancée. That’s what makes the difference—all the difference in the world.’

      ‘But it doesn’t have to,’ Skye protested. ‘Only if we let it.’

      ‘Skye!’

      Her name was a violent sound of outraged fury on his tongue and he raked his hands through his hair, pressing them against the bones of his skull in exasperation.

      ‘Can’t you see that there is no “if we let it”?’

      ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

      ‘We have no choice but to let it!’ Theo told her fiercely. ‘You are going to marry my father…and…’

      ‘And?’ Skye prompted when he fell silent, seeming to hunt for the words.

      ‘Theos! Can you not see it? Can you not feel it?’

      ‘F-feel what?’ Skye stammered, though she had a terrible feeling that she knew what was in his thoughts. She knew what she had been hiding from for days and the thought of bringing it out into the open terrified her.

      ‘This thing that’s between us.’

      ‘There’s nothing between us,’ Skye put in hastily, terrified to even let the idea into her mind. ‘Nothing at all. I don’t know what you’re talking about!’

      Liar! his look said. You know exactly what I mean. Exactly what there is.

      ‘There’s an atmosphere—almost an electricity that’s in the air between us. I can’t keep my eyes—my hands—off you!’

      She actually turned white at the words. He watched the blood drain from her cheeks, leaving them pallid and ashen.

      He knew exactly how she was feeling. He’d tried to deny it himself at first. But then, like a fool, he’d kissed her. He’d kissed her in anger and contempt, but it hadn’t stayed that way. Other, more primitive feelings had swept through him like a tidal wave and he’d known just why he couldn’t leave the situation that way—why he couldn’t leave the island though, God help him, he’d tried!

      He still wanted her. Wanted her more than ever. He didn’t care if she was a gold-digger, didn’t care about

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