To that end he was prepared to offer her very substantial compensation—providing she also agreed to end her liaison with Demos. Then, at last, he could get Leandra Ross out of his hair and out of his life!
He opened his mouth to start working towards the offer he was prepared to make.
She pre-empted him totally.
‘I don’t care, Mr Atrides, who gave the orders to bring me here! I just want out. OK? As in out right now. Tonight.’ Her demand was crisp, clear, and very insistent.
His expression hardened instantly.
‘That’s impossible, I’m afraid,’ he said immediately.
The amber eyes flashed. He wished she wouldn’t do that. It distracted him, and he needed his wits about him now. He didn’t need to know how anger made her eyes glitter like gold.
Her riposte came swiftly.
‘You flew yourself in, now you can fly me out. Simple.’
‘Not simple at all,’ he retorted dismissively. ‘The helicopter needs refuelling, it’s getting too late to fly, I haven’t checked out the weather forecast, or logged a return flight with Athens air traffic control, and finally—’ he held up a hand decisively ‘—I am in no mood whatsoever to go anywhere else today!’
Leandra’s face whitened and her fingers gripped convulsively at the table surface. ‘But I’ve got to get away from here! I’ve got to! I absolutely demand that you fly me back to Athens immediately and put me on a plane to London!’
There was a note of panic in her voice, beneath the peremptory order, but Theo ignored it. He was in no mood to do anything other than keep to his firm intention of staying right where he was. He pushed away his empty glass and got to his feet.
‘I do not respond to orders—or pleading. No one is going anywhere tonight, and that is final! Now, if you will excuse me, I must contact my office. Please feel free to enjoy the facilities of my island.’ An ironic gleam showed in his eyes. ‘You may roam at will—be my guest.’
He strolled off, oblivious to the choking sound of Leandra Ross spitting with fury behind him at his parting jibe.
‘Agathias will serve dinner in an hour,’ he threw over his shoulder. ‘Do not be late.’
He disappeared inside the villa and Leandra was left fuming disbelievingly. She was going to be stuck here all night with the insufferable Theo Atrides!
The prospect appalled her.
Changing for dinner did not take Leandra long. After showering in the en suite bathroom in her bedroom she could not face putting on the clothes she had worn for nearly two days. But the only other garment she could find was a thin, silky wrap hanging on the back of the bathroom door. Her lips compressed. Presumably it had been left by a former female visitor to the island.
It was pretty obvious to her now just what this island was all about! This must be where Theo Atrides took his high-profile celebrity lovers when they wanted to get away from the flashbulbs of the paparazzi. With only an elderly deaf couple to look after them, they could be as private as they liked.
She tugged the belt of the wrap tight. Well, Theo Atrides’s glittering sex-life was nothing to do with her. His only use was to airlift her back to Athens.
Unfortunately, if she didn’t want to starve, it looked as if she was going to have to put up with his company for dinner. Defiantly she padded down the corridor on bare feet and into the dining room which opened, she discovered, off the living room.
As she walked in Theo glanced round from opening a bottle of wine.
He stilled totally.
Leandra Ross stood on the far side of the room, wearing nothing but a thigh-length silk wrap belted so tightly at the waist that each breast was moulded in all its glory beneath the taut material. Her long hair streamed over her shoulders, loosed like liquid gold against the scarlet of the skimpy robe. From beneath its short hem her slender legs were like creamy silk. Her feet, arched and narrow, were bare.
Instinctively, just as it had when he had first set eyes on her at the charity gala, Theo felt his body responding to the vision she presented. Desire, hard and insistent, kicked in his guts.
Then another, dampening reaction set in.
Christos, but she was a fast worker!
His mouth twisted cynically. Did she think she could flash her body to get him to fly her back tonight? Was that what this tempting display was all about?
A contemptuous glint showed in his eyes. Or was she after something more than a ride back to Athens? Well, if she thought she could manipulate him the way she ran circles round Demos she was in for a rude surprise. He chose the women he bedded—they didn’t choose him! And, however tempting a morsel Leandra Ross was, he had no intention—none whatsoever—of making this hellish mess even more complicated than it was already! The only relationship he wanted with her was via his chequebook. Clean and simple.
Even thinking of anything else was sheer lunacy!
From her side of the table Leandra saw the expression in his eyes. She bristled instantly.
He’s doing it again! Looking at me like I’m trash!
Did he think she was wearing this wrap thing on purpose? Only hunger kept her from bolting back to her room. Defiantly she flashed a scintillating smile at him, as false as it was dazzling, and took her place at the table. What did she care what Theo Atrides thought? He was nothing to her!
There was a caustic look on his hard, handsome face as he sat down opposite her.
If he had been going to comment on her appearance he was prevented by the arrival of Agathias, entering through the door leading to the corridor and the kitchen beyond, carrying a tray bearing bowls of soup which she placed on the burnished table. The smell of food drove away everything else from Leandra’s mind and, hardly waiting before Agathias had put a bowl of the creamy liquid before her, she set to.
She ate fast, driven by hunger. Besides, the soup was delicious. So, too, was the delicately flavoured fish which followed. Not bothering to speak to her dining companion, Leandra cleared her plate completely, reaching for a hunk of bread from the basket between her and her host and mopping up the last of the delicious juices. Eating had made her almost forget that she was dining in Theo Atrides’s utterly unwelcome company.
Agathias arrived to clear the table, bringing coffee with her. Then she bustled out, leaving them alone once more.
Theo poured out more wine, refilling Leandra’s glass. She realised, to her dismay, that she’d drunk rather more than she’d realised. Determinedly she ignored the wine glass and poured herself some coffee.
She felt better now, on a full stomach. The last of the drug seemed to have cleared from her system and her headache was gone. Maybe her mood was better because this time tomorrow she’d be back in London—to sanity.
A shudder went through her. The whole thing had been the most hideous ordeal! Now, calm and well fed, with a large glass of wine inside her, she was filled with incredulity that Demos’s grandfather should have committed a criminal act and had her kidnapped.
Even so, her sense of fairness interposed, and she had to concede that no actual harm had come to her. Maybe, she thought unwillingly, she had overreacted when Theo had stepped out of that helicopter. She squirmed mentally as she recalled how she had gone berserk at him. After all, she thought grudgingly, he had flown straight out to take her back to London, and he did seem pretty appalled by what his grandfather had done.
‘Mr Atrides,’ she began, her voice slightly husky with nerves, ‘I want to apologise for the way I behaved when you arrived. I…I was…very frightened…very confused…I…I didn’t know what had happened to me…’
She