But here he was, about to make her day. Thanks to a twist of fate, he was about to give her all she’d dreamed of and more.
As he walked purposefully towards her he consoled himself with the knowledge that although she had won the first round, the second, third and fourth were going to be his.
She was also about to discover the truth behind that famous saying Be careful what you wish for…
This woman had made her wishes perfectly clear, but he was absolutely sure that by the time he’d finished with her she would be wishing she’d targeted a man less able to defend himself.
Angelos ground his teeth, furious and frustrated at the position he now found himself in. She was obviously the sort of woman who devoted her life to leeching from those better off than her. A woman with no scruples and no morals. She was the lowest of the low, and the knowledge that he’d been well and truly manipulated for the first time in his life did nothing for his temper.
If there was one word he would never have applied to himself, it was gullible.
He looked straight at her, and was instantly gripped by a spasm of lust so powerful that his brain momentarily ceased to function.
She was all woman.
From the tumbling blonde hair to the generous swell of her breasts and the soft curve of her narrow waist, she was entirely and uncontrovertibly feminine.
Over the past two weeks he’d been so furiously angry with her that he’d forgotten how incredibly beautiful she was. Her assets would not have been valued by any of the glossy magazines—her shape was too feminine for that—but she was a woman that any red-blooded male would fantasise about taking to bed.
Appalled at himself, Angelos dragged his gaze away from her and tried to refocus his mind.
It had been a long two weeks, he reminded himself as he searched for a logical explanation for his unwelcome and wholly inappropriate reaction to her. An extremely long two weeks.
Back in control, he risked another glance at her. This time he thought he saw guilt in her eyes and had to remind himself that guilt was connected to conscience, and this woman wasn’t familiar with either word.
‘Isabelle.’ He was unable to keep the contempt out of his voice and for a moment she just stared at him, wide eyed, her expression faintly puzzled.
Then she spoke, and her voice was husky and feminine. ‘Who is Isabelle?’
The denial on her part was entirely predictable, but all the same temper exploded inside him. ‘We are no longer playing “Guess the Identity”.’
‘But I’m not—’
‘Don’t!’ Driven to the limits of his self control, he growled the warning and she backed away a few steps.
As well she might, Angelos thought grimly, after the stunt she’d pulled.
‘Get in the car.’ He was too angry to bother with pleasantries, and he saw a flicker of panic in her eyes.
‘You’ve obviously mistaken me for someone else.’
He reached into his pocket and removed the evidence. ‘There’s no mistake. Next time you’re trying to remain incognito, don’t drop your ticket.’
She stared at the ticket in his hand, and it was clear that she didn’t know what to say.
‘Now I understand why you were so reluctant to introduce yourself.’ He watched the various emotions flicker across her eyes. Consternation, confusion—fear? ‘So now we’ve cleared up the sticky subject of your identity, let’s go.’
She was still looking at the ticket. ‘Go where?’
‘With me. This is your lucky day.’ He wondered whether it was possible for words to actually choke a man. ‘You’ve hit the jackpot.’
Her gaze shifted from the ticket to his face. ‘I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.’
So, not only had she won this round, but she intended to make him suffer by rubbing it in.
He was so livid that had he been a lion he would have savaged her on the spot and left her body for the hyenas.
As it was, the desire to walk away was so powerful that he actually stepped back from her. Then a vision of his father flew into his head and he reminded himself of the reason he was standing here now.
Cursing softly, he ran a hand over the back of his neck, wondering if there had been any change in his father’s condition.
Reminding himself that the sooner this was sorted, the sooner he could return to Greece and monitor his father’s progress in person, Angelos stood his ground. ‘Amazing though it seems, I’m about to further the acquaintance that you saw fit to initiate.’ Furious at finding himself manipulated by a set of circumstances that were now far beyond his control, he tightened his jaw. ‘Get in the car.’
‘I really need to tell you something—’ she sounded young, and just a little bit desperate, but he was too angry to feel sympathy.
He knew from personal experience that youth and greed existed happily together. Thanks in part to the numerous glossy magazines that made their profit from fuelling envy, there were plenty of people who wanted maximum lifestyle for minimum effort.
‘I’m not interested in anything you have to say. This time I’m doing the talking, and I don’t want an audience.’
She didn’t move, and the crowd of people behind her seemed to have grown larger. ‘I don’t see what there is to talk about.’
‘You’ll find out soon enough. Unlike you, I prefer to keep my personal business personal. Let’s go.’ Before someone recognised him and took a photograph that would appear in tomorrow’s newspapers. ‘My hotel isn’t far from here.’
‘Your hotel?’ Her expression grew suddenly frosty, as if he’d delivered the worst insult possible. ‘Pick another girl, Mr Zouvelekis. I’m not the sort of woman who likes to become intimately acquainted with the inside of a man’s hotel room—even less so when that man is a stranger.’
Her prim, dignified rejection was so at odds with what he already knew about her character that he didn’t know whether to laugh or punch something.
‘A stranger?’ He failed to keep the disdain out of his voice. ‘I’m the same stranger that you danced with, and we both know where that dance would have led. If you hadn’t shown your true colours so early in the evening, we would have ended the night naked in my hotel room.’
Her lips parted in murmured denial, but although her mouth was trying to form the right words, the chemistry between them was still sizzling.
Even while struggling against a shockingly powerful urge to wring her neck, Angelos found himself being distracted by the smooth, creamy perfection of her skin and the way her full breasts pressed against her white shirt.
No wonder he hadn’t been concentrating the night of the ball.
She was spectacular.
Exasperated with himself, he forced his attention back to her eyes. ‘Even if I wasn’t already aware of your reputation, Isabelle, your performance at the ball would have been more than enough to convince me that, quite apart from being that “sort of woman”, in fact your specialist subject is the inside of men’s hotel rooms.’
‘My reputation?’ She sounded astonished, as though it were news to her that she had a reputation, and he gave her a warning glance.
‘Now I know who you are, I can understand why you went to such extraordinary lengths not to introduce yourself. Next time you want to trap a billionaire, change