Mediterranean Tycoons - JACQUELINE BAIRD

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her by the shoulders, he drew her against him. ‘I married you, Lisa, because I wanted you on sight.’ He lifted a strong brown hand and let his fingertip trace the bow of her top lip in a fleeting gesture that made her body tense. ‘After spending only one day with you I knew I had to have you. You are all I ever wanted in a wife,’ he said softly, his dark eyes smiling into hers. ‘Believe me.’

      If his words were meant to reassure her, they failed miserably. Something deep down in Lisa shrivelled up under his charming smile. He didn’t even realise his answer was an insult, she recognised sadly. Shrugging her shoulder free of his hand, she stepped back. ‘Why me, and not Margot?’ she asked quietly.

      ‘Really, Lisa.’ His dark gaze scanned over her stiff figure, a frown pleating his brow. ‘You are not that naive. Margot is an actress.’ He said it as if he was talking to a child, the exasperation in his tone clearly evident.

      She shook her head in disbelief. The arrogant conceit of the man was absolutely unbelievable, and, raising her eyes to his, she prompted. ‘Well, I’m a working girl.’ She could not let it go. She was so vulnerable where he was concerned, loving him as she did. She had to know the worst, then maybe she could begin to get over him.

      ‘Don’t be so obtuse.’ His deep brown eyes clashed with her brilliant blue ones. ‘There is a world of difference between a thirty-something ambitious actress, and an intelligent, pure young woman who works and is protected by her family.’ Alex’s sensual mouth slanted sardonically. ‘The first is strictly mistress material, and you, my darling Lisa, are the type men marry.’

      ‘I see,’ Lisa murmured, and closed her eyes for a second, fighting back the tears. She had fallen in love with a man who did not believe in the emotion.

      ‘No, you don’t see.’ His voice tickled her ear and her eyes flew open. Alex had moved, and she stiffened as he slid a large hand around her waist and pulled her in to the hard heat of him. ‘I married you because I was desperate with wanting you. No woman has ever affected me the way you do. And, much to my delight, I have discovered you have an endless capacity for enjoyment that perfectly matches my own,’ he opined huskily. Lisa shivered as he pressed his lips to the pulse beating frantically in her throat. ‘Now, let’s go to bed, hmm.’

      Afterwards, she would decide it was the softly drawled ‘hmm’ that had finally caused her to flip her lid…

      Lisa curled her fingers into a fist, and swung with all her might, catching Alex a glancing blow on the side of his head. His arm fell from her waist and she turned on him like a mad thing. ‘You have the most enormous ego of any man in the world, and you are deaf to boot,’ she snarled.

      Alex’s hand came down on her slender shoulders and held her slightly away from him. ‘What the hell was that for?’ he demanded harshly.

      ‘I am not sleeping with you in that bed. Got it?’ she yelled. How he had dared to suggest it after what he had just revealed beggared belief.

      ‘Enough!’ Alex held up his hands, setting her free. ‘Sleep in the guest room tonight, if you must. I will have the bed replaced tomorrow.’ And with a last grim look at her red, furious face, he strode across the room into the bathroom.

      Lisa slipped into the room she had occupied the night before and climbed into bed. She was exhausted, but the thoughts crowding her mind would not let her sleep. For a deliriously happy bride returning from her honeymoon only a few short days ago, confident in herself and the love of her husband, the past two days seemed like a horror story. But they were all too real and she had to face up to reality. Alex had his own reason for marrying her and it was not love.

      Alex had taught her a hard lesson. To show one’s innermost feelings with total honesty was damaging to one’s health. Her marriage was over before it had really begun, though it broke her heart to have to admit it. She remembered all the times they had made love and she had spilled her heart out to him, declaring her undying love; it had never once occurred to her that Alex did not feel the same. More fool her…

      She turned restlessly on the bed. Being brutally honest with herself, she admitted, it seemed huge and empty without Alex to share it with her. But she was not going to give in, she vowed. Alex had blackmailed her into staying with him. He had said his earlier threat to keep her with him had been a joke, but she was not so sure. She didn’t know what to believe any more. All she knew for certain was she must keep Alex sweet until she found out exactly what he was up to with regard to Lawson’s.

      With her mind made up, she tried to sleep, but it was no good, she was wide awake. Slipping out of bed, she crossed over to her computer and switched it on. She had never felt so alone in her whole life, but blinking back the tears, she refused to cry. She E-mailed Jed. She needed to talk to someone, and the lonely hours before dawn in England were late evening in Montana; he might be on-line.

      To her relief he was there. Within a very short space of time, Lisa was confiding to Jed the whole sorry story of her hasty marriage.

      Jed listened and consoled, and his advice was optimistic. He pointed out she had not given the marriage much of a chance. Alex probably did love her, but was not capable of saying the words. She did not know for sure that he meant to take over her company. Why didn’t she ask him? There might be a simple explanation. Anyway, she was his wife and was entitled to half of everything he owned. So was she being totally reasonable?

      She replied. Was he simply sticking up for his own sex? Jed denied the accusation and reminded her she had been married in church, before God, and her vows were not something to dismiss lightly. They chatted for over an hour and Lisa, completely absorbed in what she was doing, didn’t see the bedroom door open, or the tall dark figure of the man watching her. Nor did she see the tenderness in the gleaming black eyes that lingered on her slender body crouched over the machine…

       CHAPTER SIX

      ALEX manoeuvred his red Ferrari between two massive stone pillars crowned by Lions, past open gates, and gunned the car up a long winding drive.

      ‘Are you sure this is the right house?’ Lisa queried irritably. She had overslept this morning, mainly because it had been five in the morning before she had got to sleep. Alex had awakened her with a cup of coffee, looking disgustingly fit in blue jeans and a blue knit polo shirt, ready to go. She had forgotten all about their house-hunting and, glancing at him now, in the close confines of the sports car, she wished he had done the same. But no such luck. Alex pursued everything with a ruthless determination that was impossible to ignore.

      Within half an hour of waking up Lisa had washed and dressed in white pleated trousers with a white and blue cropped top to match. She’d grabbed a piece of toast and had only taken one bite before Alex had marched into the kitchen. ‘Mrs Blaydon, I have ordered a new bed for the master bedroom. Someone will ring and tell you what time it is arriving. Be here.’ And, grasping Lisa’s free hand, he had hurried her out of the apartment and into the car.

      Alex’s voice broke into her troubled thoughts. ‘Of course I am sure. I am a brilliant navigator.’ His dark eyes flicked her a smiling glance.

      The car had breasted the top of a hill, and fifty yards on was the most impressive Georgian mansion Lisa had ever seen.

      Alex stopped the car at the foot of stone steps that led to the entrance door, and turned to Lisa. ‘You, my darling, should have eaten some breakfast, it might have improved your disposition,’ he opined mockingly.

      ‘And whose fault was that?’ she prompted. ‘You dragged me out of the apartment like you were taking a dog for a walk.’

      Alex burst out laughing, his white teeth flashing ‘You’re certainly no dog!’ His gleaming gaze slid over her mutinous face with genuine amusement, dropping to the proud thrust of her breasts against the soft cotton of her top, the slight glimpse of tanned midriff, and came back to her face. ‘Though you have been acting like a dog in the manger for the past couple of days.’ His dark eyes studied her intently for a long

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