‘Mr Gekas, what a pleasure to see you again. How can I help you?’
‘We would like to choose an engagement ring. Wouldn’t we, darling?’ Giannis slid his arm around Ava’s waist and his dark eyes glittered as he met her startled glance. ‘This is my fiancée...’
‘Miss Sheridan,’ Ava said quickly, holding out her hand to Nigel Engerfield. She was scared he might remember that Terry McKay had a daughter called Ava.
‘Please accept my congratulations, Mr Gekas and... Miss Sheridan.’ The manager’s gaze lingered on Ava. ‘If you would like to follow me, I will take you to one of our private sitting rooms so that you can be comfortable while you take your time to peruse our collection of engagement rings. Is there a particular style or gemstone that you are interested in?’
‘What woman doesn’t love diamonds?’ Giannis drawled.
Nigel Engerfield nodded and left the room, returning a few minutes later carrying several trays of rings, and accompanied by an assistant bearing a bottle of champagne and two glasses. The champagne cork popped and the assistant handed Ava a flute of the sparkling drink. She took a cautious sip, aware that she had not eaten breakfast. Maybe Giannis had the same thought because he set his glass down on the table without drinking from it.
‘Please sit down and take as much time as you like choosing your perfect ring,’ the manager invited Ava, placing the trays of rings on the table in front of her.
She looked down at the glittering, sparkling rings and felt sick as she remembered how, when she was a little girl, she had loved trying on her mother’s jewellery. After her father had been arrested, the police had confiscated all the jewels that Terry had stolen—including her mother’s wedding ring. Everything from Ava’s privileged childhood—the luxury villa in Cyprus, the exotic holidays and expensive private education—had been paid for with the proceeds of her father’s criminal activities. There was nothing she could do to erase her sense of guilt, but working as a VCO was at least some sort of reparation for what her father had done.
‘Do you see anything you like, darling?’ Giannis’s voice jolted her from the past. She looked over to where he was standing by the window. Sunlight streamed through the glass, and his dark hair gleamed like raw silk when he ran a careless hand through it. His face was all angles and planes, as beautiful as a sculpted work of art. But he was not made from cold marble. Last night his skin had felt warm beneath her fingertips when she had explored his magnificent body.
Ava could recall every detail of his honed musculature that was now hidden beneath his superbly tailored suit. Oh, yes, she saw something she liked, she silently answered his question. His eyes captured hers, and her heart missed a beat when she glimpsed a predatory gleam in his gaze.
Hastily she looked down at the glittering rings displayed against black velvet cushions. Even though the shop manager had suggested she should take her time to choose a ring, she knew that Giannis wanted her to hurry up.
Inexplicably a wave of sadness swept over her. Choosing an engagement ring was supposed to be a special occasion for couples who were in love. The young assistant who had poured the champagne had looked enviously at Giannis and clearly believed that their romance was genuine. But Ava knew she was an imposter. The web of deceit they were spinning would grow and spread as they sought to convince Stefanos Markou that Giannis had given up his womanising ways because he had fallen in love with her. But of course he never would love her. He needed her so that he could win a business deal and she needed him to save her brother from prison.
What they were doing was wrong, Ava thought miserably. How could she even trust that Giannis would keep his side of their arrangement? He was playing the role of attentive lover faultlessly, but it was just an act—although that did not stop a stupid, idiotic part of her from wishing that his tender smile was real.
‘Sweetheart?’ Giannis walked over to the sofa and sat down beside her. ‘If you don’t like any of the rings, I am sure Mr Engerfield has others that you can look at.’
She swallowed. ‘I can’t do this...’
The rest of her words were smothered by Giannis’s mouth as he swiftly lowered his head and kissed her. ‘I think you are a little overwhelmed by the occasion,’ he murmured, smiling softly at her stunned expression. He looked over at the shop manager. ‘Would you mind leaving us alone?’
As soon as Nigel Engerfield and his assistant had stepped out of the room, Giannis did not try to hide his impatience. ‘What is the matter?’ he growled to Ava. ‘All you have to do is choose a diamond ring, but anyone would think you are about to undergo root canal treatment.’
‘I never wear jewellery and I hate diamonds,’ she muttered.
He swore. ‘I thought we had an agreement, but if you’ve changed your mind I will find another way to persuade Stefanos Markou to sell his ships to me—and your brother will go to prison.’
Ava bit her lip. ‘How do I know that you will drop the charges against my brother?’
‘You have my word.’
‘Your word means nothing.’ She ignored the flash of anger in his eyes. ‘Phone your lawyer now and instruct that you no longer want to press charges against Sam.’
Giannis glared at her. ‘How do I know you won’t immediately go to the press and deny that you are my fiancée?’
‘You’ll have to trust me.’ Ava glared back at him and refused to be cowed by his black stare. In the tense silence that stretched between them she could hear the loud thud of her heart in her ears. Giannis was a man used to being in control, but if he thought she was a pushover he had a nasty surprise coming to him.
Finally he took out his phone and made a call. ‘It’s done,’ he told her moments later. ‘You heard me inform my lawyer that I have decided not to press a charge of criminal damage against Sam McKay. Now it is your turn to keep to your side of the bargain.’
Ava felt light-headed with relief that Sam would not face prosecution and prison. ‘I won’t let you down,’ she assured Giannis huskily. She glanced at the trays and selected an ostentatious diamond solitaire ring. ‘Does this have enough bling to impress the paparazzi?’
He frowned at her choice and studied the other rings. ‘This one is better,’ he said as he picked out a ring and slid it onto her finger.
She stared down at her hand, and her throat felt oddly constricted. ‘Really?’ she tried to ignore the emotions swirling inside her as she said sarcastically, ‘Don’t you think a pink heart is romantic overload?’
‘It’s a pink sapphire. You said you dislike diamonds, although there are a few small diamonds surrounding the heart. But the ring is pretty and elegant and it suits your small hand.’
The ring was a perfect fit on her finger and, despite Ava’s insistence that she did not like jewellery, she instantly fell in love with the pink sapphire’s simplicity and delicate beauty. Once again she felt a tug on her heart. Didn’t every woman secretly yearn for love and marriage, for the man of her dreams to place a beautiful ring on her finger and tell her that he loved her?
Giannis was hardly her fairy tale prince, she reminded herself. If they had not been spotted by the paparazzi leaving the hotel together, she would have been just another of his one-night stands. She stood up abruptly and moved away from him. ‘I don’t care which ring I have. It’s simply to fool people into thinking that we are engaged and I’ll only have to wear it for a month.’
He followed her over to the door but, before she