Read Online In Petrakis's Power by Maggie Cox - Free Book Online Page B

folding even before he embraced her. A stunned gasp left her throat as he lowered his head and kissed her. As soon as his lips made contact she opened her mouth and he expertly inserted his smooth, silken tongue inside to make the kiss even more intimate.
    Every thought in her head vanished except the one that registered the fierce addictive pleasure of his taste and the sexy heated brand of his skin against hers. It feltas though a torch had ignited an unforgettable flame in her blood that no other man before or after him could ever hope to compete with … In the silence of her mind a renegade response came.
Okay … I’ll cope. It can’t be that difficult
.
    She enjoyed the kiss so much she was genuinely disappointed when Ludo eased the delightful pressure on her lips. Lifting his head to gaze down at her, he moved his hands from her waist to rest them lightly on her hips. Up close, his stunning sapphire eyes were matchlessly blue, like a sunlit Mediterranean sea in midafternoon. Even his dark blond lashes were impossibly lavish. It didn’t matter if he were rich or poor, Natalie decided. The man’s physical assets were simply amazing.
    ‘Hmm …’ He smiled. ‘That was nice.’
    She hoped he wouldn’t want a more detailed assessment from her on how
she
felt about the kiss. She might just have to tell him she’d like to try another one, just to make sure she hadn’t imagined the spine-tingling pleasure it had given her.
    ‘Can I take it that the idea of playing my fiancée is not as repellent as you might have thought initially?’ he teased softly.
    Natalie couldn’t help but be honest. ‘I’m sure you know that you’re far from repellent. But it still doesn’t make it easy for me to pretend I’m something that I’m not. I feel very uneasy about deceiving anyone, even in a good cause. Especially your parents.’
    Reaching towards her, Ludo moved some silken strands of hair away from her face and gently stroked his hand down over her cheekbone. ‘Because you arenaturally such a thoughtful person I know they won’t have a problem accepting you as my girlfriend,’ he asserted confidently.
    ‘A girlfriend is one thing … I could cope with that. But introducing me as your fiancée is much more serious, don’t you think?’
    Removing his hand from her cheek, he expelled a heavy sigh. The quirk at the corner of his exquisitely carved mouth suggested some exasperation. ‘Think of it as a harmless game of “Let’s Pretend”. Believe me when I say that you are not hurting anybody. After all, you will be getting what you want for your father, remember? That and an opportunity to visit your mother’s country … something you told me you’d love to do again.’
    Stepping away from him so that she might think straight, Natalie knew she had to make a decision. She sent up a silent prayer that it was the right one.
    ‘All right, then. I’ll do as you ask and go to Greece with you. But if when I’m there it becomes in any way difficult or untenable for me to keep up the charade of being your fiancée then do you agree I can go home, no questions asked?’
    Somewhat reluctantly Ludo nodded his head. ‘I will not be happy about it, but I will agree so long as you remember I am paying your father a great deal of money for his business. You at least owe me the courtesy of staying with me until I tell you I am satisfied.’
    ‘Satisfied?’ The hot colour started at the tips of Natalie’s toes and travelled in an all-consuming heatwave right up to her scalp. The word
satisfied
had many connotations, so why did she have to focus on the sexual onefirst? Transfixed by Ludo’s shimmering blue gaze, she didn’t have to search very hard for the answer.
    ‘Yes—satisfied that you have acted the part of my fiancée to the very best of your ability and played it as convincingly as possible.’
    ‘I’m no actress. I can only do the best I can. All right, then.’ Briefly withdrawing her gaze, she glanced down at