‘Do you think I would allow you anywhere near my sister?’ Thanos demanded harshly. ‘Melina has suffered enough, without having to hear your lies.’
He had also risen to his feet, and was surveying her with visible contempt. She could understand why he was angry, Tahlia conceded, but his refusal to listen to her and his determination to believe the worst of her sparked her temper.
‘I am not lying,’ she told him with quiet dignity. ‘And I am not the woman portrayed by the tabloids. I had no idea that James had a wife.’ Tears stung her eyes, and she lowered her head so that Thanos would not see them. She had felt a fool that night in the hotel, when James’s treachery had been revealed, but her emotions were of little significance compared to the pain—both mental and physical—that Thanos’s sister must be suffering.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she repeated shakily. She had been an innocent pawn in James’s game, but she still felt responsible for his wife’s terrible accident.
‘It’s too damned late to be sorry,’Thanos grated. ‘It’s a pity you did not feel this touching remorse before you slept with my sister’s husband.’
‘I never slept with him,’ Tahlia said quickly. ‘Although I realise that will be small comfort to Melina. I admit that I had intended to become James’s lover. The night that Melina found us at the hotel would have been our first night together.’ She swallowed, but forced herself to go on, aware that Thanos and his sister deserved her honesty. ‘I had fallen in love with James—although I realise now that I never really knew him at all,’ she added bitterly.
She was good, Thanos conceded grimly. She almost had him convinced that she was as innocent as she protested—and the shimmer of tears in those beautiful blue eyes was a nice touch. If it wasn’t for the story in the tabloids about her affair with another married actor he might have been tempted to believe her.
But perhaps he wanted to believe that Tahlia had been hoodwinked by James Hamilton because of his own inconvenient physical attraction to her? he brooded irritably. Today she was the epitome of understated elegance: her slim-fitting skirt skimmed the gentle flare of her hips, and the cut of her jacket emphasised her tiny waist, while her soft lilac-coloured blouse complemented her creamy complexion. The scattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks matched her red-gold hair, while the long lashes fringing those startlingly blue eyes were a slightly darker shade of gold.
She might be lovely on the outside, but inside she was rotten to the core, and all the evidence proved that she had known just what she was doing when she began her affair with James, Thanos reminded himself. He was not going to be duped by her lies simply because his hormones were raging out of control. His mouth tightened and he forced himself to move away from her, strolling across the room to stare out of the window at the view of the city.
Tahlia watched him, her eyes roaming over his broad shoulders and the arrogant tilt of his head. Despair settled like a lead weight in her stomach.
‘You never had any intention of buying out Reynolds Gems, did you?’ she said dully.
‘None whatsoever,’he replied coolly. ‘It seemed entirely fair that you should suffer a fraction of the misery my sister has suffered, and so I decided to destroy your company. But, to be honest, bringing about Reynolds Gems’downfall has not been difficult. Some of the decisions taken by the company during the last two years have been downright reckless, and they are directly responsible for Reynolds’ current financial situation. I simply tricked you into thinking that Vantage Investments would offer a rescue package, and you were gullible enough—or more likely greedy enough—to be fooled into believing you could hang on to your self-indulgent lifestyle.’
It was no coincidence that Reynolds Gems’ problems had begun at the same time as her mother’s illness had been diagnosed, Tahlia acknowledged. During that terrible time business had come a long way down her father’s list of priorities, and she felt guilty that she had not become more involved with running the company.
‘Reynolds Gems is my father’s company, not mine,’ she said quietly. ‘If you destroy it you will be hurting him.’
‘You became a partner three years ago. My investigations were very thorough,’ Thanos said coldly, turning away from the window to give her a sardonic look. ‘It’s too bad your father will lose the company he built from scratch, but he shouldn’t have brought his daughter up to be an immoral slut.’
Anger, swift and white-hot, churned inside Tahlia. Her eyes flew to the clock above the desk and she felt a pang of dread. Had her mother been told that her battle with breast cancer had been successful? Or, as the specialist had warned might happen, had the cancer spread? Even if the news was bad, her father would hide his fears and support Vivienne, just as he had done every day for the past two years. Only Tahlia knew that sometimes he sat alone in his study and wept. Peter Reynolds, of all people, did not deserve Thanos’s disdain.
Shaking with fury, she marched across the office and stood directly in front of Thanos. ‘Think what you like about me, but don’t you dare say a word against my father. He is a better man than you will ever be.’
‘Not in business,’ Thanos drawled sarcastically.
Tahlia flushed. ‘I accept he had made some unwise decisions, but there were reasons…’ She glanced at Thanos’s mocking expression and halted abruptly. She refused to discuss her mother’s health problems with him when she was sure he would accuse her of lying to gain his sympathy. Her anger dissipated as quickly as it had arrived, leaving her feeling drained and despairing as the realisation hit her that there was no hope of saving Reynolds Gems from the administrators.
‘I wish more than anything that I’d never met James Hamilton,’ she said huskily. ‘And I hope with all my heart that your sister makes a full recovery.’
She swung away from him, choking back the tears she was determined would not fall until she was outside his office. Her knee collided painfully with the coffee table.
‘Damn it!’She stumbled, dropped her briefcase, and bit back an oath as it burst open and spilled its contents over the floor.
No doubt Thanos was enjoying seeing her on her knees, she thought furiously, as she knelt and began to scoop up the pages of figures that spelled the demise of Reynolds Gems. She dashed her hand over her eyes and froze when she realised that he had crouched beside her and was helping to gather up her paperwork.
‘Thank you.’ She took the papers he handed her and slowly lifted her head, startled to find him so close. The tang of his cologne drifted around her, teasing her senses, and she could feel the dry heat emanating from his body. How could she be so agonisingly aware of him when he had made it clear that he despised her? she wondered despairingly.
It was suddenly imperative that she stood up and moved away from him, before he realised the effect he had on her, but her muscles had seized up. Her eyes were drawn to his—and shock ricocheted through her when she glimpsed the unmistakable feral desire blazing in their depths.
HOW could he feel this overwhelming sexual attraction to Tahlia when he loathed her? Thanos wondered furiously. His brain acknowledged that she was an immoral slut, but his body was responding with humiliating eagerness to the delicate fragrance of her perfume. He could not tear his eyes from the soft curve of her mouth, and the tantalising fullness of her lips was proving an irresistible temptation. His desire for her was an unexpected complication that filled him with self-disgust, but no amount of reminding himself of Melina’s injuries could banish the fierce urge to crush Tahlia’s lips beneath his.
Thanos was going to kiss her. Tahlia saw the smouldering intent in his eyes seconds