The Greek’s Chosen Wife

and froze to the spot.

Nik closed a lean hand over hers and walked her back across the room with breathtaking assurance. ‘You look sexy in that top-’

‘Don’t say stuff like that!’ Prudence told him in consternation.

Nik came to a slow halt and gazed down at her, the dense black fringe of his lashes accentuating the flaring gold of his eyes. ‘Everything’s different. You can’t pretend it didn’t happen-’

‘Yes we can if we want to!’

His golden eyes smouldered. ‘But I don’t want to forget the longest, hottest climax I’ve ever had,’ he spelt out succinctly. ‘In fact, I would much prefer to-’

Aghast at his candour, Prudence planted a harried forefinger in a silencing gesture against his full lower lip. ‘Please…’

Nik ran the tip of his tongue down her finger into the palm of her hand while she stood there transfixed and trembling. Her breasts rose and fell with the rapid, shallow breaths she was taking and she was unbearably conscious of the tingling tightening of her nipples inside her bra. She could not credit what he was doing to her. She was both appalled and fascinated. He curled her fingers into his, lifted his arrogant dark head and breathed huskily, ‘So I want to go to bed and you want to talk-’

In a heroic effort to fight her own helpless craving, Prudence stepped away from him. ‘I’m only here because you told your lawyers you won’t consent to a divorce.’

‘So which part of that did you misunderstand?’ Nik enquired with insolent assurance. ‘I have no intention of changing my mind.’

‘But why?’ Prudence demanded helplessly. ‘I can’t understand why.’

‘When I married you, I married you for life. You’re my wife. I will not willingly let you divorce me. Of course, I will have no choice in five years-’

‘But you can’t ask me to put my life on hold for five years!’

A slow-burning smile curved Nik’s lean, strong face. ‘I’m not. I believe I’m an improvement on a sperm bank…’

Angered by that crack, she threw back her head, glossy brown hair tumbling back from her flushed face. ‘You may like to think so-’

‘I know so. Of course, it’s a moot point if there’s another man involved in your wish for a divorce,’ Nik purred very softly, his entire attention welded to her.

‘Is that what this is all about? You think that you might be in some sort of macho competition? Why can’t you accept that I simply do not want to be married to you any longer?’ Prudence slung at him with fierce sincerity.

‘But you’ve never been married to me in the normal sense of the word,’ Nik contended in a tone of cold implacability that was new to her.

Prudence could feel emotion swelling inside her like a dangerous riptide. Keeping her back straight, she walked over to the window, striving with all her might to appear controlled and composed. ‘And I don’t want to be. We were friends. I liked that. But that’s it; that’s as much as I can handle!’

Tears were prickling the backs of her eyes but she had complete faith in what she was telling him. Nik needed a wife who would be content with a superficial show of marital togetherness and turn a blind eye to his mistresses. A wife who would accept money and status in place of his heart or his attention. Prudence knew that she was not capable of taking on that role. He was a bred-in-the-bone womaniser with a taste for gorgeous supermodels whom no average woman could ever hope to rival. He would be unfaithful and she would not be able to bear it. It would destroy her…he would destroy her if she was not strong enough to resist him. That was why she would not allow herself to be tempted by the illusion of the real marriage that he was offering her.

‘You slept with me. That changed the rules of the game,’ Nik delivered with razor-edged cool.

An odd little shiver ran down her spine. She stole a glance at him, clashed with scorching golden eyes and felt a tiny twist of heat low in her pelvis. ‘It’s not a game-’

‘The way you’re behaving makes it feel like one. Have you any idea yet whether or not you’re pregnant?’ Nik asked levelly. ‘Or is it too soon to tell?’

That casual question threw Prudence into a startled loop. ‘Pregnant?’ she parroted in shock. ‘You mean you didn’t-?’

‘When you let me take you to bed, I naturally assumed that an ongoing marriage was a done deal.’ Nik studied her with steady golden eyes and she squirmed and lowered her lashes in guilty self-defence. ‘You told me how much you wanted a baby, so I saw no point in using contraception.’

‘You should have said-’

‘It was for you to notice. If you didn’t notice, I must have been good.’ Nik sent her a sizzling look of amusement that was as physical as a caress and sent her heart racing. ‘It was the first time I’ve ever made love without a contraceptive…I have to confess that I liked it. I liked it a hell of a lot.’

Already reeling with shock at his revelation, Prudence was burning up with mortification. With difficulty she thought over what he had confessed. Evading his gaze, she muttered stiltedly, ‘It’s not that easy to get pregnant, you know-’

‘No, I don’t. I’m happy to admit ignorance on that score-’

‘I should think it’s extremely unlikely that it would happen.’ Prudence was outraged by his earthy attitude and the humour he had shown.

‘Give me a month. I’m a goal-orientated guy-’

Hot, bothered and infuriated by that comeback, Prudence seized on a more positive statement to silence him. ‘I’m absolutely certain that I’m not pregnant,’ she told him, believing that she was not really lying and that within a couple of days her body would give her the proof that she was right in her conviction.

‘That’s unfortunate. But then for the moment I can only hope that common sense persuades you that rushing into the role of an unmarried mother is a very bad idea,’ Nik said drily.

‘I have a comfortable home and the trust fund my aunt put in my name for Mum and me-’

‘That fund is so tiny it doesn’t count-’

‘But I don’t have champagne tastes. I’ll work as well. Either way, I’ll have enough to raise a child,’ Prudence contended.

‘Material considerations are only one side of the equation. I have other objections. Every child deserves a father-’

‘I got by without one-’

‘Some might say his absence left you with a distinctly low opinion of men,’ Nik shot at her, his dark golden eyes grim. ‘Even if I wasn’t your husband I would have serious reservations about your plans. Raising children is challenging enough for two parents, never mind one. What if you were to fall ill? What if the child is born with a disability?’

Prudence was very pale. ‘I’ve thought of those things…I’ll manage. I’ve really thought this through. I believe I have enough to offer.’

Nik released his breath in an impatient hiss. ‘You’re more like your grandfather than I ever appreciated. When Theo Demakis wants something, he suffers from the same stubborn tunnel vision.’

Sincerely hurt and offended by that comparison, Prudence gave him a furious look. ‘I’m not stubborn…I’m not at all like him!’

‘At least learn by Theo’s mistakes within his own family circle. A child should have the chance to enjoy the benefits of a family life with a father and a conventional home environment.’

Wounded by his apparent conviction that she could not offer a child a tithe of what that little girl or boy deserved and needed, Prudence tilted her chin. ‘Such as you would offer? Have you the nerve to suggest that you could offer any woman a normal family life?’

‘Yes, I have that nerve.’

Three mistresses in three different countries, Prudence reflected in a passion of painful resentment. Normal? Conventional? How dared he criticise her quiet and decent country lifestyle and suggest that he could do better?

‘It’s amazing that you should want to stay married to me after all this time,’ Prudence contended angrily. ‘Why are you so reluctant to divorce me? Do you know what I’m beginning to think? I’m still