Текст книги "The Greek Tycoon's secret child"

Автор книги: Cathy Williams

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 4 (всего у книги 10 страниц)

CHAPTER FOUR

NOW that her final project was done and dusted, Mattie had a sinking feeling that the hard work had only just begun.

That she would pass with flying colours, she had no doubt. She had been committed to the course from day one, had managed to hand almost all her work in on time, had been ahead of the rest for the past few months. But the course co-ordinator, a snappy-looking woman with a brisk attitude towards her students that bordered on the terrifying, had been blunt. Marketing was a competitive field and, marks or no marks, Mattie lacked experience. That she was brimming over with enthusiasm and talent unfortunately took second place to someone who had been working in the field for years. She would do her best but anything she came up with might involve disappointing pay and an ability to grapple with the bottom rung of the ladder without resentment.

The two employment agencies she had visited over the past week had more or less said the same thing but packaged a bit more attractively.

Mattie consoled herself with the thought that one week was not very long in terms of finding a job.

On another, less reasonable level, she was relying on the anxiety involved in a job hunt to keep her mind from swerving dangerously back to Dominic Drecos and the precipice she had almost succeeded in stepping off.

But at least she could relax a bit more now. No nightclub tonight and no Frankie.

He had been peculiarly silent on the topic of her completed course but had compensated for the temporary break in hostilities by spending most of his time out of the house.

When she had questioned him two days previously on his whereabouts, he had responded in his typically aggressive manner.

Mattie kicked off her shoes, let the undisturbed peace of the house settle over her, contemplated switching on the television but wondered whether she really needed to be bombarded by a choice of desultory eight-thirty Sunday-evening viewing, and decided against it.

Easier just to slouch in the chair, eyes closed, and let her mind roam.

It was a little disturbing to find that it was roaming an awful lot more on Dominic Drecos than it was on Frankie, even though there were a million and one things she knew she needed to sort out with her boyfriend, things that could no longer wait for a convenient moment.

What was Dominic thinking of her?

She had walked out of his apartment, left with the snapshot image of his dark, stunned face at her revelation.

Her imagination had been more than willing to fill in the remaining details. The revulsion he would have felt for her, for thinking that she had responded to him, led him on perhaps, when she had not been in a position to lead anyone on. She would have lived down to his worst expectations, would have confirmed his thoughts that she was nothing but a waitress in a nightclub, huffing and puffing and playing hard to get when in fact her morals were of a decidedly shady nature.

Maybe he had even considered the possibility that her behaviour had been nothing more than an act to try and hook him. The minute she started thinking along those lines, a whole host of other, nasty little thoughts sprang out from their dark corners and she was reaching for the remote control as a last-ditch effort at distraction, when she heard the peal of the doorbell.

Mattie hesitated. It took a few split-seconds to register that it couldn‟t possibly be Frankie because he had his own key, at which she caught herself heaving a sigh of relief and heading for the front door.

Her relief lasted precisely the precious few moments it took her to swing open the door and comprehend the fact that the person lounging against the doorframe in front of her was the last person she had expected to lay eyes on again. Ever.

„What are you doing here?‟ Antagonism laced her question but her heart had leapt treacherously inside her at the sight of him. This time in casual clothes and all the more impressive for it. Cream trousers, a cream shirt collar peeping out above the rugby-style jumper.

The colours accentuated his swarthy colouring in a way his dark work clothes hadn‟t and she had to fight not to let any expression show in her eyes.

„I thought I‟d drop by and size up the competition,‟ Dominic answered, getting to the point immediately and taking advantage of her momentary speechlessness to nudge his way through the door and into the house.

„You did what? Are you mad? And how did you find out where I live? No, let me guess, Harry told you!‟

He had strolled towards the poky sitting room, glancing up the narrow staircase en route, and now proceeded to look around him with unabashed interest.

„Hm. Interesting method of colour co-ordination. Somehow I had associated you with a lot more flair.‟ He finally turned to look at her. How did she manage to look so damn good in a pair of baggy jogging bottoms and a T-shirt that went a long way to hiding every feminine curve of her body? „So where is the boyfriend?‟

His tone was light but his eyes weren‟t. She could read the message there and it sent a shiver down her spine. He had come to confront her over her duplicity because he was a man who would not walk away from a liar without first making his feelings known. Never mind that rubbish about coming by to check out the competition.

„Out. And his name is Frankie. You can‟t stay here. If Frankie came home now, he‟d…‟

„He‟d…what?‟

„Look, if you want me to apologise for…for not telling you sooner, then OK. I apologise.

I should have told you from the very beginning.‟

„So why didn‟t you?‟

„Why didn‟t I what?‟ Mattie demanded. Even standing feet away from her, he still seemed to dominate the small room and drain her lungs of oxygen. And against him the room faded into ugly shabbiness that seemed to point accusingly in her direction. No wonder he had made that sniping little remark about being disappointed with the lack of flair.

„A cup of coffee would be nice. Black, no sugar.‟

„You can‟t stay for a cup of coffee! You shouldn‟t even be here! Harry isn‟t going to get away with this! Giving my private address to any and everyone!‟

„I‟m not any and everyone,‟ Dominic contradicted coolly.

„OK! Well, anybody who flashes an impressive business card and makes vague promises about being able to help him financially at some point in the future! You know what I mean! You have to leave. Now. Frankie could get back at any minute…‟

„I‟m beginning to think that you‟re scared of this boyfriend of yours.‟ She certainly wasn‟t in love with him. Not if she had responded to him the way she had. He had spent the past week at the mercy of a thousand thoughts about her, angry with himself for being taken in, furious because he still couldn‟t seem to get her out of his head and finally harshly reasoning that he was completely justified in doing his utmost to seduce her, considering she had strung him along.

„Does he hit you?‟ Dominic asked without taking his eyes off her face.

„Don‟t be ridiculous! Of course he doesn‟t hit me! Do you think I would ever stay put with a man who raised his hand to me?‟

„Then what are you doing with him, because you sure as hell don‟t love him?‟

„And you just know that, do you? After a couple of conversations with me, you‟re suddenly qualified to make conclusions about my personal life, are you?‟

The brooding intensity of his stare was shattering her composure as utterly as he had managed to shatter it a week ago when he had touched her.

He began walking towards her very slowly and Mattie backed away, then remembered that he was in her territory now, and uninvited, and stood her ground until he was standing right in front of her with his hands thrust into his trouser pockets.

„Got it in one. So tell me what you‟re doing here with a man you don‟t love when you‟d much rather be with me.‟

„You‟re an arrogant swine! You know that, don‟t you?‟

„Yes, but I still like to hear you say it.‟ His expression didn‟t change but there was a sudden ironic humour in his voice that had the ground beneath her feet shifting once again.

She sighed dramatically and gave up.

„I‟ll make you your coffee and then you go. Deal?‟

„No. But I accept the offer of the coffee anyway…‟

He followed her back into the tiny hallway and out through it into the kitchen. Mattie could feel him just there behind her, a dark, overpowering presence that was sending her nervous system into fierce overdrive.

She had grown quite accustomed to the house. Now, though, she was seeing it through his eyes. He‟d probably never been inside a place as small and unkempt as this one. A lifetime of wealth would have protected him from ever getting too close up and personal with this particular vision of reality.

And the kitchen wouldn‟t improve his ideas either.

At first, when she and Frankie had moved in, she had felt some enthusiasm to do something with the place. After all, it wasn‟t as though they were renting. The house had belonged to his parents, an ex-council house that had suffered from lack of essential home improvements. But life just seemed to get in the way of her good intentions. First there was Frankie, slumped in depression after his mother faded away in a hospital from lung cancer, leaving him the house and the memories but unfortunately no siblings with which to share the burden of her passing away. Then his own accident and his sharp spiral downwards. Not to mention her own time spent juggling jobs and study.

Who had time for stripping walls and plastering over cracks?

She held her head up high as she walked into the kitchen, switching on the kettle and reaching for a couple of mugs before finally turning to look at him.

„I can see what you‟re thinking. There‟s no need to make it so obvious.‟ Mattie folded her arms protectively and tried to insinuate a bit of distance between them, which was nigh on impossible because of the dimensions of the room.

„What am I thinking?‟ Dominic perched against one of the counters and gave her a long, measured look.

„You‟re thinking what a dump I live in.‟ The kettle was boiling. She spun around and began making the coffee, but her hands were trembling.

„Why don‟t you move out?‟ Big question and, if she but knew it, she might have guessed that he wasn‟t just referring to the house but to the man she shared it with.

Thinking about him was enough to make Dominic clench his fists in jealousy. Primitive, green-eyed, monstrous jealousy. An emotion he had never succumbed to in his entire life and one which left him shaken and confused. As emotions went, confusion didn‟t do it for him.

„Take one guess, why don‟t you? Here‟s your coffee.‟ She moved to sit on one of the pine chairs at the small kitchen table. „You can sit if you want.‟

„The money? Is that why you stay here?‟

„We don‟t pay rent for this. It was Frankie‟s parents‟. His father died when he was twelve and his mother left it to him when she died a few years ago.‟

Dominic sat down facing her. He wanted her to tell him everything, why she was here, why she had stayed here and not cleared off. What her relationship was with the boy. It sure as hell wasn‟t love because this house did not speak of love. No homely touches. No pictures of the two of them cluttering the surfaces. Nothing that seemed to have been bought with joint effort and affection.

Or so he told himself.

The alternative was that he had chased a woman who had a boyfriend, saw him as a nuisance and wanted him out of her life without further ado.

Pride fought against something else…whatever emotion it was that had driven him to come here tonight.

„When did you hand in your final paper?‟ he asked abruptly, surprising her with the change of subject, and Mattie allowed herself to relax a little bit.

„On Friday.‟

„I‟m surprised you‟re not out celebrating.‟

„On a Sunday?‟ No celebration. She had gone out to work as usual. Come home to an empty house and Frankie had not returned home until lunchtime the following day.

„You never told me where the boyfriend is.‟

„He‟s…he‟s out with some of his mates. At the local, I expect.‟ She looked away with a telltale flush.

„Spends a lot of time there, does he?‟

Mattie was horrified to find that tears had sprung up behind her eyes, and she tightened her jaw in an attempt to bite them back. She wouldn‟t cry. She had stopped crying a long time ago and she wasn‟t going to let this man get to her like this.

„You don‟t understand.‟ She took a few deep breaths and managed to get control of herself once again. Enough for her to raise her eyes to his although the unexpected gentleness of his expression was almost her undoing. „It‟s all right for you. You‟ve never known what it‟s like to open your eyes and know that each day is going to be a struggle. Sometimes it‟s easy just to give up and take the simplest road to dealing with things, which is usually the road leading to the nearest pub.‟

Dominic said nothing. He continued to nurse his mug and look at her.

„A lot of people face a life of struggle. Most people aren‟t born into privilege. But most of them don‟t become alcoholics in the process.‟

„Frankie‟s not an alcoholic!‟

„Why are you defending him? You work in a nightclub because, you tell me, the money‟s good and you need the money. From which,‟ he carried on inexorably, „I take it to mean that you need to pay the bills because he doesn‟t have a job.‟

Mattie‟s green eyes were stormy with helpless anger but she couldn‟t reply. He was right, after all.

„He…he‟s going to get one.‟

„In between his visits to the pub with his mates?‟ Dominic laughed harshly and saw her wince. „Are you sure he‟s with his mates?‟

„What do you mean?‟

„You know exactly what I mean.‟

They stared at one another in silence for a few tense seconds, and Mattie was the first to break it by rising to her feet and swinging around so that she wasn‟t looking at him. There was a stack of filthy dishes in the sink. She added her mug to them and began washing up, hoping that her hands weren‟t shaking so much that she would drop something.

„There‟s no one else.‟

„You sure about that?‟

„Why have you come here? To drag an apology out of me? You don‟t have to do that.

I‟ve already apologised.‟

„It occurred to me that maybe you and your boyfriend had plotted behind my back. The man who shares a pillow with a woman is a man who is inclined to be generous with his lover.

Maybe you figured between yourselves that if you managed to get me into the sack then it would just be a question of time before you could begin the process of bleeding me for money.‟ He hadn‟t considered anything of the sort, but he had to fire her up to anger, had to get her to spill her fury onto him and, in the process, her feelings, because she had been eating away at him for the past week.

Mattie spun around as though she had been struck.

„That is the most…most… horrendous thing you‟ve said to me yet! How dare you?‟

She walked towards him with the tea cloth in one hand, glaring. And Dominic just wanted to yank her down onto his lap and kiss the expression off her face.

„I‟m an extremely rich man. Wealth breeds suspicion.‟

„Then I feel very sorry for you indeed!‟

„It wouldn‟t be the first time that I‟ve been pursued by a gold-digger.‟

„If I recall, you were the one doing the pursuing!‟ She was standing directly in front of him now and leaning towards him in outrage at his suggestion.

„True. But maybe you‟re the clever opportunist who seized the chance when it presented itself…‟

„You‟re…you‟re…‟

„Someone accustomed to reading motives behind every action…‟

„I‟m not interested in your stupid money! And I would never hatch a plot like that with anyone!‟

„Not even with the man you defend so eloquently, not even the man you live with and love?‟

Dominic stared into the furious face that was pushed towards him.

„I don‟t love Frankie! I might live with him but I don‟t love him!‟

He heard her swift intake of breath as her brain caught up with her admission and he couldn‟t help himself. He half smiled and then raised both his hands to tangle into her hair and frame her face.

„And I never believed for one moment that you were a gold-digger…‟

„You tricked me.‟ Mattie pulled herself out of his grasp and realised that, rather than feeling angry at his verbal cleverness, she felt a certain reluctant admiration. The man had technique, that much had to be conceded. No wonder he was top of his tree.

She sat back down to look at him.

„So tell me why you‟re here.‟

„Because…because I can‟t afford to be anywhere else. No. That‟s not why. At least, that‟s not the whole reason.‟ She threw him that wary, narrowed glance that he was getting used to, the one that crawled under his skin and made him have unholy thoughts of possessing her, peeling away that defensiveness like the outer skin of an onion to reveal all the complex layers underneath.

„Then what is? Tell me.‟

Mattie looked down at her fingers resting lightly on the top of the table and then stole a glance at him.

„We sort of grew up together, then when we were teenagers we went out. Frankie was always the one the girls fancied. Good-looking, athletic…‟ She smiled to herself and Dominic felt a tight sensation of rage that even in retrospect this man could command a smile like that.

„He was going to be a footballer. That was all he‟d ever wanted. He‟d play for a team in the premier league, earn a fortune, fulfil his dream. Then when he was nineteen his mum died and he sort of collapsed.‟ She was still staring at her fingers and half talking to herself, but she could feel those dark, shrewd eyes on her face, watching her.

„By then, I was thinking of leaving him. I think I‟d outgrown him. I still liked him but…‟

Now, that was something she had never really admitted, not even to herself, but talking was putting everything into perspective.

„But you wanted to get on with your own dreams?‟ Dominic inserted the question without disturbing the atmosphere, and he saw her nod slowly.

„‟Course, I couldn‟t then. Couldn‟t walk away from him when he needed my support, so I kind of postponed the course I‟d applied for and carried on in my job. His mum and dad had bought this house from the council, oh, years ago. We moved in.‟ Mattie released one long, expressive sigh. „I think I could do with a drink,‟ she said abruptly. „Want one?‟

Dominic shook his head and watched her open the fridge door, frown, pull out a can of lager.

„I don‟t normally drink this stuff,‟ she said, sitting back down and tugging the tab open.

„But…‟ She shrugged and swallowed a mouthful of lager straight from the can, watching him over the rim so that he wondered whether she was doing that just for his benefit. Another little ruse to elucidate that she was not the kind of woman who daintily sipped her lager from a chilled glass or, rather, that she was the kind of woman who drank lager at all.

He had to take his hat off to her. This woman was like none other he had ever met.

„You moved in…?‟ he prompted delicately.

„We moved in. For a while it worked. Then he went out drinking one night and was involved in an accident. He was the passenger. Nothing serious, no one else involved…‟

„What happened?‟

„Car veered off the road and swung into a tree at the side. Trouble was…one of his legs was damaged.‟ She had only taken one mouthful, didn‟t really want any more than that. She had just needed the boost the touch of alcohol would afford her. Besides, she loathed drinking straight from the can. Now she cradled the cold can between her hands and looked at it.

„Not massively. But sufficient to ensure that he couldn‟t hope to become a professional footballer.‟

„A tough blow.‟ He barely needed her to tell him what had followed, although she did, in the same low, thoughtful voice. The inevitable slide downhill, the anger, the frustration, the pity she had felt that had kept her tied to him.

„So, you see, I‟m here for lots more reasons than simply the fact that I don‟t have to pay any rent.‟

„You could transfer the money you spend on keeping him into paying for something of your own…‟

„And how would Frankie cope?‟

It was all Dominic could do not to shake her. „Quite ably, I imagine,‟ he said instead, his voice silky, „because he would have to. The need to survive without your help might go a long way to killing off the need to drown his self-pity in drink.‟

Mattie stood up and he could see that her shutters were back in place. He was the millionaire and she was the streetwise kid. He had no doubt that she had come across boys from the other side of the tracks when she had been growing up. Had probably been targeted by one or two of them, with her amazing looks, and had developed a good line in switching off.

„I‟ll see you to the door, shall I?‟ She waited for him to stand up and then preceded him to the front door, where she waited patiently for him to finish his lazy stroll through the house.

„So there you have it. Now you can go away, safe in the knowledge that you weren‟t in any danger of being lured into parting with your precious millions by the likes of me.‟

„By the likes of you…‟ Dominic murmured, leaning against the door and looking down at her. „I can see why your boyfriend ended up taking refuge in the bottle…and whatever or whoever else he takes refuge in…but why the chip on your shoulder?‟

„I don‟t have a chip on my shoulder.‟

„Of course you do. A chip the size of a house.‟

„Because I haven‟t leapt joyfully into bed with you?‟

„Because you keep trying to make me see that the lines between us are inviolable.‟

„They are.‟ Underneath the insistence in her voice she could also hear panic and she hoped that he couldn‟t as well.

„Well, your affair with this Frankie character you grew up with didn‟t work out, did it?‟

The question, along with its obvious implications, hung in the air like an accusing finger.

Mattie shrugged.

„He needs me.‟

I need you too, was the first thought that rushed to Dominic‟s head and it left him shaken. Need? Need never entered his relationships with the opposite sex. Lust, yes. Want.

Affection. But never need and certainly never love, as he had discovered to his own cost.

„You‟re his caretaker.‟

„That‟s not true!‟

„Of course it is. Clucking around him, overlooking his shortcomings and doing yourself out of a life in the process.‟

The accusing finger was doing more than hover now. It was jabbing at her conscience like a knife.

„I am not doing myself out of a life! I‟ve just completed my course!‟

„For which, I presume, your beloved Frankie gave you all the unstinting help and support you wanted?‟ The answer to that one was written in the delicate blush that invaded her cheeks.

„He…he has his own personal demons to sort out,‟ Mattie mumbled, lowering her eyes so that she didn‟t have to meet the cool comprehension in his. She wished he would move from the door, so that she could pull it open and put an end to this hideous unravelling of her private thoughts, but he obviously was intent on staying put.

Until what? she wondered.

„And you‟re going to stay with him until he sorts them out?‟ Dominic enquired coolly.

„However long it takes? Make sure he‟s all right before you give yourself the opportunity to live your life the way you want to? You‟d better pray that no further mishap befalls him or else you might find yourself growing old in the company of a man you‟ve forgotten how to love. Pity is no basis for a relationship.‟

Mattie looked up at him, ready for a fight. Fighting might take the edge out of the truth that he was forcing her to swallow, as though he had every right.

„Oh? And what is? If you‟re so clever when it comes to relationships, I‟d love to know how come you‟re not in one.‟

Touché, Dominic thought wryly. He looked at her standing there, and wondered what she would do if he reached out and enveloped her in his arms. Which was what he wanted. That and a great deal more.

„Is this a case of I told you my life story, now you tell me yours?‟

„It‟s only fair, considering you‟ve spent the past hour preaching to me on what I‟m doing wrong in my personal life.‟

„What‟s my incentive for telling you my life story?‟ Of course, he had no intention of doing any such thing, but the alternative was to walk out of the front door he was currently managing to barricade, and he had no intention of doing that either.

„Fair play?‟

„Interesting concept.‟

This wasn‟t the fight she had been hoping for. This was flirting and all the more dangerous because it was subtle. Every nerve-ending in her body was standing to attention. The aggressive I-can-take-care-of-myself-thanks-very-much girl she had been at pains to display had taken a distinct back seat to someone she didn‟t recognise, to a kiss-me-senseless creature that made her giddy.

„I don‟t confide in people as a rule.‟ Dominic crashed through her jittery thoughts and his mocking smile made her feel even hotter and more bothered than she was already feeling.

„No?‟ Mattie asked faintly.

„No. People have a nasty habit of storing up confidences and then using them against you at some future date.‟

„There won‟t be any future date between us, so your secrets will be safe with me.‟

„You need to tempt me just a little bit more.‟

„Yes? And how would you suggest I do that?‟ Stupid question. He had led her with her eyes wide open straight into the little trap he had set. What he wanted her to do was obvious in the dark, slumberous expression in his eyes. And what was even worse was that it matched the hot thread of desire that was surging through her like a toxin.

„No way. I‟ve told you, I‟m not up—‟

The sentence was unfinished as his mouth claimed hers and hell, it felt good. She was aware of her half-hearted attempt to push him away, just a formality, then with a muted groan she was returning his kiss with shocking enthusiasm.

Her hands wound upwards, around his neck, and then her fingers were in his hair, pressing him towards her as her mouth responded to his probing tongue.

Their positions altered, with Dominic shifting away from the door, his mouth never leaving hers as he propelled her against the wall by the door, captured her there with his mouth and his hands, which wanted to touch everything even though he knew the wisdom of reining in that particular instinct at this point in time.

He contented himself with just feeling her melt beneath him and hearing her soft little moans that were driving him crazy with desire.

When they finally drew apart, their expressions were equally ragged.

„Tell me that again,‟ Dominic demanded, but in a voice that could melt ice. He played with her hair, tucking some behind her ears, twirling strands around his finger.

„Tell you what?‟

„That you‟re not up for…grabs? Was that what you were going to say?‟

„You‟re no good for me,‟ Mattie murmured. „I know you say that lines between people aren‟t inviolable and maybe they‟re not. But the way I feel, I would be the waitress to your tycoon and just feeling like that would make anything we had a farce.‟

Dominic repressed the urge to thunder some sense into her. They wanted one another.

The language of their bodies said it all. Wasn‟t that enough? he wanted to demand.

„You can‟t stay here,‟ he said instead. His voice was rough with suppressed emotion.

„I can‟t leave. Not yet.‟

„And, in the meantime, I walk away from what we have…‟

„We don‟t have anything.‟

„What we could have, correction.‟

„You‟ve learned never to confide and I‟ve learned never to speculate.‟ She was finally getting herself back into some semblance of control but his proximity was still suffocating her.

She wriggled and he immediately stepped back.

His face was dark and scowling, and she couldn‟t stop herself from feeling just the slightest kick at the sight. Then the reality of her situation closed over her again. Frankie. No job.

Waitressing in skimpy clothes to make ends meet. And this man who could take her in a minute, whose eyes made her burn, who was so totally unsuitable. In every respect.

„Go.‟

„This isn‟t the end.‟

Mattie gave another of her evasive shrugs. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but never got there because they both heard the key in the door at precisely the same time, and as she turned around she could feel his eyes scan her averted face urgently.

What the heck had she been thinking? That Frankie would never reappear? Had she been so caught up with Dominic Drecos that she had managed to completely forget all about reality?

This is reality, she told herself fiercely, and don‟t you forget it.

Frankie staggered in, adopted the usual belligerent expression he assumed whenever he was drunk and confronted by her, then noticed Dominic standing to one side, very still, not in the least embarrassed. That changed his expression, Mattie noticed. From glowering to stupefied, all in the space of a couple of seconds.

„Who the hell is he?‟ His words were slurred but his brain was still operating.

Dominic moved forward, not bothering to extend his hand in any form of greeting. Nor did he bother to introduce himself by name.

„Your replacement,‟ was all he said. Mattie could barely look at him. How could he?

Then he was gone. No rush. Just one last contemptuous stare at an inebriated Frankie.