Read Online The Highest Stakes of All by Sara Craven - Free Book Online
Authors: Sara Craven
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Vassos Gordanis will never find her.
But there was still bewilderment under the brave resolution. Because if all he required was the novelty of an unfamiliar female body for a few hours, he surely he didn’t have to go to these lengths to get what he wanted.
Even without the lure of his millions, there were probably women in the world who might well be attracted by his particular brand of masculinity, even if she would never be one of them.
How could he do that? she wondered, pressing her hands to her burning cheeks. How could he just—strip off in front of her as if she didn’t matter—as if she wasn’t even there?
Was that really the way a man would behave with a girl he planned to seduce?
Or was it another deliberate insult? A succinct demonstration of how lowly a place she occupied in his scheme of things.
If so, why had he gone to all that trouble and risked all that money in order to acquire her? Because he certainly hadn’t been carried away by some passionate and irresistible desire.
When he’d touched her for the first time just now his fingers had been firm rather than caressing.
In fact, I’m not convinced that he really fancies me at all, she told herself. In which case, why— why am I here?
I was told you were beautiful …
Was that really enough to attract the attention of a man who could afford to buy anything and cause him to track her down?
If so, he must be seriously disappointed now that he had seen her. Perhaps he was already regretting that he’d wasted his time on such unpromising material, and her approaching ordeal would not be prolonged.
You don’t matter to him, she whispered silently. And he will never matter to you. Remember that, and you will one day be able to forget this and regain your own life.
She took a deep breath and, head bent, walked slowly back into the lamplit room.
‘It is a long way down, ne?’
The sound of his voice made Joanna start and come to an abrupt halt. She looked apprehensively across to where he stood, framed in the bathroom doorway, his expression faintly ironic as he watched her. He was wearing one towel draped round his hips, and drying his tousled black hair with another.
Even though he was marginally more covered than before, he still had far too much bronze skin on display, she thought, focussing her gaze on to the floor as heated colour rose in her face again.
‘Consider, too, the feelings of the unfortunate who would have to remove what was left of you from the pathway,’ he added.
‘Don’t worry,’ she returned curtly. ‘I had no intention of jumping.’
‘Or of looking at me directly, it seems.’ He sounded faintly amused. ‘But why run away so coyly, thespinis? I am made no differently from any other man.’
I’ll have to take your word for that, she told him silently, her flush deepening. Because you’re the only one I’ve ever seen naked.
Aloud, she said, ‘Perhaps I simply prefer—any other man.’
‘That is, of course, a possibility,’ he said musingly. ‘Yet my lack of clothing did not seem to disturb you while you watched me through your telescope.’ His smile mocked her. ‘Or did you think I would not recognise you once your face was clean?’
‘I was admiring the boat,’ she said curtly, hating him. ‘Your presence was—incidental.’
‘You had no premonition, Joanna mou, that we would encounter each other again—and so soon?’
‘If I had,’ she flung back at him, ‘I would have made sure I was long gone.’
‘You would not have got far without money.’ He tossed aside the towel he’d been using on his hair, and walked to the dressing table, picking up a comb. ‘Besides, my friend Levaux would not have permitted you to leave.’
‘Of course,’ she said. ‘He would have to obey the new owner’s orders.’
‘You are premature,’ he said. ‘The deal has yet to be finalised. That is the other reason I am here.’
At that, she did look at him. She said, her breath catching, ‘So
But there was still bewilderment under the brave resolution. Because if all he required was the novelty of an unfamiliar female body for a few hours, he surely he didn’t have to go to these lengths to get what he wanted.
Even without the lure of his millions, there were probably women in the world who might well be attracted by his particular brand of masculinity, even if she would never be one of them.
How could he do that? she wondered, pressing her hands to her burning cheeks. How could he just—strip off in front of her as if she didn’t matter—as if she wasn’t even there?
Was that really the way a man would behave with a girl he planned to seduce?
Or was it another deliberate insult? A succinct demonstration of how lowly a place she occupied in his scheme of things.
If so, why had he gone to all that trouble and risked all that money in order to acquire her? Because he certainly hadn’t been carried away by some passionate and irresistible desire.
When he’d touched her for the first time just now his fingers had been firm rather than caressing.
In fact, I’m not convinced that he really fancies me at all, she told herself. In which case, why— why am I here?
I was told you were beautiful …
Was that really enough to attract the attention of a man who could afford to buy anything and cause him to track her down?
If so, he must be seriously disappointed now that he had seen her. Perhaps he was already regretting that he’d wasted his time on such unpromising material, and her approaching ordeal would not be prolonged.
You don’t matter to him, she whispered silently. And he will never matter to you. Remember that, and you will one day be able to forget this and regain your own life.
She took a deep breath and, head bent, walked slowly back into the lamplit room.
‘It is a long way down, ne?’
The sound of his voice made Joanna start and come to an abrupt halt. She looked apprehensively across to where he stood, framed in the bathroom doorway, his expression faintly ironic as he watched her. He was wearing one towel draped round his hips, and drying his tousled black hair with another.
Even though he was marginally more covered than before, he still had far too much bronze skin on display, she thought, focussing her gaze on to the floor as heated colour rose in her face again.
‘Consider, too, the feelings of the unfortunate who would have to remove what was left of you from the pathway,’ he added.
‘Don’t worry,’ she returned curtly. ‘I had no intention of jumping.’
‘Or of looking at me directly, it seems.’ He sounded faintly amused. ‘But why run away so coyly, thespinis? I am made no differently from any other man.’
I’ll have to take your word for that, she told him silently, her flush deepening. Because you’re the only one I’ve ever seen naked.
Aloud, she said, ‘Perhaps I simply prefer—any other man.’
‘That is, of course, a possibility,’ he said musingly. ‘Yet my lack of clothing did not seem to disturb you while you watched me through your telescope.’ His smile mocked her. ‘Or did you think I would not recognise you once your face was clean?’
‘I was admiring the boat,’ she said curtly, hating him. ‘Your presence was—incidental.’
‘You had no premonition, Joanna mou, that we would encounter each other again—and so soon?’
‘If I had,’ she flung back at him, ‘I would have made sure I was long gone.’
‘You would not have got far without money.’ He tossed aside the towel he’d been using on his hair, and walked to the dressing table, picking up a comb. ‘Besides, my friend Levaux would not have permitted you to leave.’
‘Of course,’ she said. ‘He would have to obey the new owner’s orders.’
‘You are premature,’ he said. ‘The deal has yet to be finalised. That is the other reason I am here.’
At that, she did look at him. She said, her breath catching, ‘So
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