Stranded with Her Greek Tycoon Read online

She reached out a hand to the rumpled sheets beside her. The high-thread-count linen was still warm. He must not be long out of bed—her side of the bed.

  She had slept the night with her soon-to-be-ex-husband.

  How warm and comforting it had been with him spooned against her. Yet she was glad it had not led to more. Today she would be flying more than fifteen thousand kilometres back to her life in Sydney.

  Cristos would like Sydney.

  Perhaps he could come visit. Perhaps—

  ‘You’re awake.’ Cristos turned to face her. ‘Come see.’

  The doors to the balcony had been shuttered the night before. Yes, she would like to see the view. She checked to see if her pyjama top had slid open in the night then slipped into her robe and the too-big slippers before heading to join him.

  It was the first time she had seen Cristos in the morning for a long, long time. Her heart flipped over inside her at the sight of his handsome, once so beloved face.

  His black hair was all ruffled and standing up in peaks. She had to shove her hands in her dressing-gown pockets to stop herself from reaching up to smooth it into place. His beard had grown overnight to shadow his jaw, a look she had always found incredibly sexy. She ached to stroke the roughness that contrasted with his smooth olive skin elsewhere, but kept her hands fisted firmly in her pockets. His extraordinary green eyes, framed with thick black lashes, still looked sleepy, half lidded and sensual.

  This was her Cristos. Not the Cristos she’d had to share with his fans. The man no one else saw, though they’d strived to give a taste of intimate, early-morning bedroom Cristos in countless photographic shoots and commercials. The captured images had come nowhere near the heart-rendingly beautiful reality of the man.

  For a moment, she thought he was going to lean down and kiss her and she was unsure how she would react.

  Kiss him back and drag him over to the bed?

  But the moment passed. Cristos stood aside to give her access to the balcony. Icy air needled her face. She soon saw the reason why. ‘Snow,’ she breathed. ‘It’s beautiful. Not what I ever expected to see on a Greek island.’

  ‘It’s not usual here,’ he said. ‘I told you, this is the coldest winter I can remember.’

  Heavy snow had fallen overnight and flakes still drifted slowly down. The balcony and its railings were frosted with it. She leaned forward to see as much as she could without venturing out onto the balcony in flimsy slippers and risking frostbite.

  Ahead of her was the sea, below the curve of the beach, and to each side forested hillsides that sloped down to the water. Everywhere but the water itself was covered in white. The trees. The beach. The boats moored at the resort dock. It was magical. A fairy-tale landscape. ‘You could make snowmen on the beach,’ she said, reaching up to catch snowflakes in her hands.

  ‘No doubt the kids will be doing just that very soon,’ he said.

  She pivoted to face him. ‘But we’ll all be leaving this morning.’

  ‘I doubt that,’ he said, leaning back against the doorframe.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Look at the sea,’ he said, indicating the white-foamed, choppy waters. Blue sky was struggling through gaps in the clouds but the sea still looked wild and forbidding.

  She shivered. ‘But you said we could leave today.’

  ‘Weather permitting was always the proviso.’

  ‘And you’re telling me the weather is saying “no way”.’

  ‘I’m afraid so. Even if we could get off the island, the roads will be closed, as will the causeway that links Lefkada to the mainland. They might have lost power in Nidri.’

  ‘You mean I’m still stuck here? For how long?’

  ‘Indefinitely, I suggest,’ he said. Was that a grin hovering around his mouth?

  ‘How will I get to the airport?’ she said, knowing how ridiculous the question sounded as soon as it left her mouth. ‘The airport will most likely be closed too, won’t it?’

  ‘Most likely,’ he said.

  Her voice rose with the panic that gripped her. ‘I’m meant to fly to Dubai this afternoon.’

  ‘I wouldn’t count on that,’ he said.

  ‘Damn! One night I could manage but this. Trapped here indefinitely. It’s unbearable.’

  ‘You’re welcome to stay here as long as you want.’ The grin burst into full, disarming life. ‘Not that you have any choice.’

  She stared at him. ‘You’re glad about this.’

  ‘Guilty as charged. Fate has dealt me an unexpected good hand. More time together.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Maybe a second chance with you.’

  A second chance.

  Her heart gave a betraying little leap at his words. But she shook her head. ‘It’s way too late to consider that.’

  He pounced. ‘So you have considered it?’

  Kissing him. Lying in that honeymoon bed with him so close. The thought had crossed her mind, in a ‘what if?’ kind of way. ‘No. That’s crazy talk,’ she said. ‘We’re strangers to each other now.’

  He frowned. ‘Do you really think so? That there’s nothing left of the people we used to be?’

  ‘I’ve changed since we were together. I’m sure you have too. We hurt each other in the past. One conversation isn’t enough to heal those old hurts.’

  ‘We can have more conversations.’ His gaze was intent.

  Her heart skipped a beat with panic. ‘Please don’t put pressure on me.’

  For a long moment he looked down at her. She felt her body stirring at his closeness. The only man who had ever made her feel like this. But she had to protect herself. Her life now was ordered and stable, not the wild swings life had been with Cristos. And that stability had been hard won.

  ‘No pressure,’ he said finally. ‘I’m just asking you to give our marriage a second chance.’

  ‘And I’m telling you I can’t do that. It’s been less than twenty-four hours.’

  ‘I still want you. You can’t blame me for trying.’ Maybe she would have been insulted if he hadn’t. As she’d told him before, she was confused about her reactions to him.

  ‘We could try to get to know each other again while I’m trapped here on the island,’ she said.

  ‘Why do I feel I’ve been handed the booby prize?’ he said. ‘But I’ll play it your way.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she said with relief and a curious sense of anticipation. ‘So, what will happen at the resort now? This room. Will we stay in here?’

  ‘I’m sure Dell and Alex will expect people to remain in their allocated rooms. You stay here. But I’m going to bunk down with my grandparents in their room.’

  She stared at him. ‘Why? There’s plenty of room here. I’ll take the sofa tonight.’

  His face tensed. ‘I cannot sleep another night in the same room as you, and certainly not in the same bed, without making love to you. It’s too much to ask of a man. Self-control can only go so far.’

  ‘It was difficult for me too,’ she said.

  ‘Don’t tell me that,’ he groaned. ‘It makes it worse.’

  She couldn’t look at him, scared of what she might see, how she might react. ‘What will people think about us in separate rooms?’

  ‘Who will know?’

  ‘Your grandparents might have an idea if you’re planning to be in their room. What will you tell them?’

  ‘That you couldn’t put up with my snoring and kicked me out.’

  ‘But you don’t snore.’

  ‘I hope not. But that’s beside the point. If you can think of a better excuse, tell me. I don’t want to tell them the truth.’

  She smiled. ‘I doubt Penelope would want the X-rated reason.’ He rolled his eyes in the way she had always found endearing. ‘What about the others?’ she said. ‘Do we keep up the pretence?’

 
‘It would be easier than making awkward explanations at this stage.’

  ‘I think so too,’ she said. They were on such friendlier terms it didn’t seem such a sham.

  He glanced at his watch. ‘The place is probably in an uproar with interrupted travel plans. I’ll get dressed, head down to the office and look at the weather reports on the internet. There’s WiFi in this room. Better check your phone for airline information on your flights.’

  ‘I’ll do that,’ she said, turning to head back into the room.

  He caught her by the arm to stop her. Turned her to face him. She looked up into that handsome face she had once loved so much. His eyes seemed to do an inventory of her features, as if memorising them. ‘I want to know you better, Hayley,’ he said in that deep voice. His slight accent became more pronounced, as it had used to in times of deep emotion.

  She caught her breath. ‘Me too. I mean, know you better.’

  Within minutes he had gone, leaving Hayley alone and realising the room felt very empty indeed without him.

  * * *

  For nearly two and a half years Cristos had been haunted by his last sight of Hayley, pale and drawn in that hospital bed. He’d let her down and he’d paid the price.

  She had changed. It wasn’t just the hair. It was the demeanour too. He liked that she was tougher, stronger, particularly as he wasn’t around to look after her any more.

  He’d always wanted to look after her and protect her. On their wedding day he’d made an extra, private vow. He would never treat his wife the way his father had treated his mother.

  His father hadn’t looked after his mother the way she’d deserved. He’d left her and himself as a child to fend for themselves while he was incarcerated. Then done nothing to mend his ways to avoid another prison sentence. Thankfully his grandparents had always welcomed his mother back to Nidri. But the welcome had not been without conditions—his mother had to be always grateful, never rock the boat and have a feasible story to explain why her husband was away on business for so long. Then, acting against all the family’s advice, she had always gone back to him, taking Cristos with her, until the time had come that he’d had to stay with his grandparents in term time to ensure some continuity of his education.

  He saw, now, that he took after his mother as much as his father. She had been a one-man woman, never giving up on the husband she’d loved and married against all advice. He was the same with Hayley. He’d wanted only her from the time he’d met her. No other woman had interested him. He’d persisted in his search for her long after he should have given up on her. He didn’t intend to give up now.

  CHAPTER NINE

  IT WOULD BE so easy to fall in love with Cristos again, Hayley thought. Too easy. Memories of how caring he could be wrapped around her with the same enveloping warmth as his body had provided, spooning hers last night. He had been everything she’d wanted before things between them had gone so wrong.

  After the miscarriage and her spiral into depression, she’d been forced to protect herself by putting a lid on her good memories of her husband. But the seal was beginning to loosen.

  Here on Kosmimo, she’d begun to recognise glimpses of the old Cristos—the man she’d vowed to love ‘until death do us part’.

  Not that those words had been spoken in the ceremony that had united them in law as man and wife. They’d murmured them to each other later, in the privacy of the big four-poster bed in a bed and breakfast near Durham where they’d spent their wedding night. Her new husband had wanted to make her first time special. He hadn’t thought that likely in her cramped room in the student house in the Viaduct.

  Cristos had been tender, patient and passionate. The pleasure he had brought her to had been so intense she had fallen apart in tears afterwards. She had sobbed, not because it had hurt—though it had a little—but in wonder and appreciation of the perfectly splendid man she had married. After that, each time they’d made love had been more memorable than the last as they’d grown to know each other’s wants and needs.

  He’d been surprised when she’d first told him she was a virgin and wanted to stay so until she got married. At twenty-two, she’d been a rarity. Gradually he’d got the story of why she’d taken such a stance. Her mother had fallen pregnant to her father at age nineteen. She’d ‘had’ to get married at an age when settling down had been the last thing on her fun-loving mind.

  ‘Fun-loving’ was hardly the term to describe the mother Hayley knew. Her mum had spent the rest of her life resenting her forced marriage and the man she’d experimented with but hadn’t been in love with. That pregnancy had resulted in Hayley’s older sister, Laura, who had shouldered the burden of being the reason for her mother’s unhappiness and her father’s long-suffering misery. Hayley had decided she would not have sex until she was married to a man where an unexpected pregnancy would be welcomed. Because, with the best will in the world, contraceptives could fail, as they had for her and Cristos.

  Now she paused on the threshold of the breakfast area, arrested by the sight of him sitting alone, dark head bowed over a laptop, a coffee cup shoved to one side. She had no doubt it was a self-imposed exile from the rest of the guests enjoying breakfast. Cristos would only be by himself from choice. Yet he seemed so alone.

  Her heart turned over at the sight. After she’d left she’d been so intent on hating him she hadn’t given much thought to how he’d been handling the split. Yet he’d never given up on her. She hadn’t realised the efforts he’d put into finding her—thanks to the protective barrier put around her by her parents. For a long time she’d thought he’d abandoned her. When her parents had finally admitted they had shielded her from him, she’d established a life on her own. Had been, she realised, too scared to see Cristos again until she’d got herself completely together.

  She had a sudden impulse to creep up behind him, wrap her arms around him and plant a kiss on the back of his neck as she’d often done. Then he would have pulled her into his lap, laughing and covering her face with kisses.

  Instead she slid into the chair next to him. ‘As you advised, I got through to the airline. My flight from Preveza is cancelled. Even if I could get to Lefkada, road transport to Athens wouldn’t be a possibility. Apparently there’s heavy snow all over the country and transport is in chaos.’

  He closed his laptop. ‘Then I guess you have to stop worrying and enjoy your bonus stay on Kosmimo.’

  ‘I intend to,’ she said. ‘I texted my boss. Being stranded on a Greek island isn’t a bad excuse for being late back to work. I feel like I’ve been let off school for a snow day.’

  She leaned closer so only Cristos could hear. Felt her heart trip faster at the familiar scent of his skin. ‘I’m sorry, Cristos. I know this isn’t your fault that I’m stuck here. I’ve been most ungracious. Thank you for putting up with me.’ On impulse, she kissed him on the cheek, closing her eyes for a brief second at the bliss of her lips on his smooth skin.

  His eyes widened and she realised it was the first physical contact between them she had initiated. She pulled back to put more space between them.

  ‘You’re very easy to put up with,’ he said with a slow lazy smile.

  ‘Can I get you some breakfast?’ she asked. ‘Cake?’

  * * *

  When they’d visited Athens on their honeymoon she’d been amazed to find cake as a breakfast staple alongside the usual breakfast offerings at their hotel. Cakes like those she’d expect at morning or afternoon tea.

  ‘None of that kind of cake at Pevezzo Athina. Remember, this is a holistic retreat style of resort. Here the cake is gluten free, dairy free and sugar free.’

  Hayley wrinkled up her nose in dismay at the thought. He laughed. ‘It’s surprisingly good. You’ll also find Greek yogurt, feta cheese, boiled eggs and fruit as well as some traditional Greek rusks that I think you might like. There’s also a bar with
lots of different teas.’

  ‘And coffee, of course,’ she said. Cristos had always loved his coffee, dark and thick.

  ‘Only the best,’ he said. ‘I’m on my second. I’ve already eaten breakfast.’

  Hayley glanced over at the buffet table. ‘Alex and Dell have done very well to rustle up that kind of breakfast, considering the resort is closed and they weren’t expecting all their guests to stay on.’

  ‘They live on the island in the house Alex built on the next bay. No doubt they stocked up with the Australian visitors in mind. I don’t know how long supplies will last if we’re here for more than a few days though.’

  ‘Surely the bad weather can’t last that long. The reports I looked up said it was a freak snowfall.’

  ‘Who knows?’ he said with an eloquent shrug of his shoulders. ‘I hope for all our sakes it clears up. Everyone here is being positive about it but that won’t last long.’

  ‘Like you said, I intend to make the most of it. With that in mind, I’d better go get some breakfast while the food lasts,’ she said, only half in jest.

  As she got up from her chair the overhead lights flickered, went dark, then came on again. There was a collective, accompanying gasp from everyone in the room.

  Cristos cursed. ‘Losing power is just what we don’t need.’

  Hayley’s engineer brain went into action. The company she worked for dealt mostly with large-scale, industrial solar-power plants but they also worked on smaller-scale projects like this one. ‘There might be snow covering the solar panels. And a slide of heavy, wet snow can break connections. What kind of battery storage do they have here?’

  ‘Enough for a few days, I assume,’ he said.

  ‘Diesel generator backup?’ she asked, her mind racing.

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Though they’ve never had to use it.’

  She thought for a moment. ‘I’ve volunteered to help clear up after breakfast. I think I could be of more help with restoring the power. I’ll go and see what I can do.’

  Cristos picked up his laptop. ‘I’ll come with you.’