Return Of The Moralis Wife Part 9

One more night with him and it would be over. They would reach Greece tomorrow, conclude their business deal and cut the last slender link that bound them. Never to meet again. She would have her inheritance-or to be precise, Anna and the Taylor Foundation would. A satisfactory outcome, she told herself. Rion would move on to another woman, and she ... well, she would what?

'Don't just stand there-come and join me.'

Selina didn't answer her own question. She looked at Rion's smiling face and walked across to take the seat opposite. 'You looked occupied,' she said, glancing at his laptop and then up at him. 'Do you ever stop working?' she asked, and took a sip of her orange juice.

He reached across and took her free hand in his. Raising it to his mouth, he kissed her palm, sending an electric sensation up her arm. A knowing, intimate smile curved his lips as she eased her hand from his.

'I am going to in about half an hour. I have a few things to check out on the Bratchet deal-it is looking good, if a little expensive.'

'You are going into business with that man?' she asked, carefully placing her gla.s.s on the table.

'No-not into business with him.' The relief she felt was quickly destroyed as Rion continued, 'He wants to sell up and has offered me first refusal on buying him out. It is a good deal-not so much for the motor trade he runs but for the prime location of the property he owns in New York. Even in a recession you can never lose on owning land in one of the greatest cities in the world. Bratchet knows that, and I am surprised he wants to sell simply because he has finally married and wants to play happy families with Alice and his stepchildren. He is asking more than I want to pay, but everything in life is negotiable and I'll get it for the right price in the end.' He grinned.

'Yes,' Selina agreed numbly. The irony did not escape her that the only time Rion had ever discussed his work with her was now. She had a good idea why Bratchet was selling up. And she could not bear to think why he doted on his step-grandson ...

'Give me five minutes, and you will have my undivided attention for the rest of the day.'

'Okay.' She watched Rion turn back to his laptop and, deep in thought, sipped at her orange juice, oblivious to the beauty of the day.

The day before the opening of the rescue centre in Cambodia she had been sitting talking with Trevor's father, Clint, in the foyer of his hotel. He had pointed Justin Bratchet out to her as the man walked across to the reception desk to check out. Bratchet was a regular visitor to Cambodia to indulge his preference for young boys, he'd told her. A police contact had told Clint just that morning that Bratchet had finally been arrested the day before, because an eight-year-old boy he had abused had ended up in hospital. But Bratchet was a very wealthy man and had obviously bribed the right people. The charges had been dropped.

Selina had been horrified, and asked why the Americans didn't arrest him. Dryly Clint had told her they could not. They could only extradite the man to stand trial at home if the Cambodian authorities arrested him first, but they would get him eventually, Clint had said. Bratchet might have got a fright and would stay away for a while, but he would be back. His sort couldn't help themselves.

At dinner last night Selina had managed to discover that Bratchet was going to the Far East on business the next day, while his wife was going back to America.

'Right, Selina, no more work. How would you like to go scuba-diving off Gozo today?'

She swallowed the yes that rose in her throat and let her eyes rest on Rion. 'I thought we were sailing for Greece this morning?'

'I'm not in any rush. We can take a day or two longer if you like.'

If he had said that yesterday she might have agreed, but not now ... Last night her call had not been to her Aunt Peggy but to Trevor. A quick call, to tell him she had seen Bratchet dining in Malta with his wife and learned that Bratchet was leaving tomorrow for the Far East without his wife. Maybe he was tired of matrimony. She'd told him to look out for the man and rung off with the excuse that her new friend was waiting for her-which, in a way, had been true ...

'What about your business deal with Bratchet? You said it was expensive-are you still going to pursue it?' She wanted Rion to say no.

'Of course I am. What have you got against the man? The fact he flirted with you?'

'No, I am far too mature for him anyway,' Selina said, with a dry irony that was lost on Rion. 'I just think there is something a bit sleazy about him.' She wanted to tell Rion the truth, but she wasn't sure she could trust him.

Rion got to his feet and came round to her. Taking her hand in his, he drew her up. He looked down into her lovely but serious face.

'When a good deal is to be made the man offering it could be a serial killer for all I care. As long as it is legitimate, business is business.' He should have known better than to try and talk business with a woman. 'Now, do you want to go to Gozo or not?'

'Not,' Selina said, resignation filling her, and, pulling her hands from his, she took a step back. There was no future for them anyway-why prolong the agony by another day?

After what Rion had said she knew she could not tell him about Bratchet. She had trusted Rion once with her heart and he had broken it. Much as she still loved him she did not dare trust him again-not when other people, children, were involved.

If her hunch was right and Bratchet was on his way to Cambodia she knew Rion well enough to know he would tell the man. Maybe not in the pursuit of business, but out of genuine disgust at what the man was. But either way Bratchet would be warned.

'We had a deal, you and I. Two weeks-and it ends tomorrow back in Greece. I sign the shares over to you, you pay me, and that's the end.'

She glanced up. His tanned perfectly carved features were set in a cold mask. The flicker of pain she thought she'd seen in his dark eyes must have been a figment of her imagination, she dismissed a second later.

'You are right, Selina. A deal is a deal. But it is not quite that simple,' he said in a cold, flat tone. 'I'll tell Ted to prepare to leave immediately, and arrange with Kadiekis to meet us when we dock with the relevant doc.u.ments. I spoke to him the day after we left Letos and he agreed to inform Anna by letter according to the terms you and I worked out for her. She has probably received the notification by now so there should be no problem.' And, turning, he walked away.

'Wait.' She looked around, feeling guilty she had not thought to ask Rion about the lawyer. 'You have left your laptop,' she said weakly. He turned, his gaze flicking over her scathingly. 'The heat will damage it ...' She trailed off as in a few lithe strides he picked up the laptop from the table and stopped in front of her.

'Such concern for my property is admirable, Selina, and as you also belong to me for another day,' he reminded her, with a predatory smile that left her in no doubt what he meant, 'I'll see you later.'

A deep, brooding frown creased Rion's brow as he stood on the bridge as the yacht left the harbour. He knew women, and knew Selina had enjoyed the trip as much as he had, but she had turned down his offer to extend the cruise flat. She could not wait a minute longer than she had to to get away, and it bothered him.

He should be content. He had done what he had planned to do-have a relaxing break made all the more satisfying by Selina. He had got his revenge for her betrayal and enjoyed every minute. He was ready to get back to work full-time-especially with the Bratchet deal.

So why wasn't he satisfied? And why did Selina and revenge in the same sentence make him feel thoroughly ashamed of himself?

CHAPTER TEN.

'SIT.' Rion indicated a chair in front of his desk and walked around to take the seat behind it. He let his eyes rest coolly on Selina.

She was wearing the black dress she had worn for her grandfather's funeral. Her hair was pulled back into a single thick plait to hang down her back, her face was carefully made up, and high-heeled shoes were on her dainty feet. He watched her smooth the skirt of the dress over her hips and thighs as she sat down, placing the black satchel she carried on her lap. She looked elegant and businesslike, but in his mind's eye he was picturing her gorgeous body naked-her soft skin, the perfect b.r.e.a.s.t.s he had tasted so many times. Only last night she had been like a living flame in his arms. They had made love well into the early hours of the morning. Yet now she sat there, seemingly cool and composed, wanting the money ...

Selina glanced around the huge office-all gla.s.s and steel, hard like the man. They'd met the lawyer over breakfast and pretended they were good friends while Kadiekis explained the handing over of her grandfather's shares to her so she could sell them to Rion before the estate was finally wound up. That way the provision they had agreed for Anna was guaranteed and all debts would be covered. There would still be a healthy amount of money left over for Selina. She had signed the paper he'd given her, confirming the fact, and another notified doc.u.ment to cancel the guardianship. That had been fraught enough. Especially when he'd given the share certificates straight to Rion for safekeeping, as though she was some silly woman who would lose them before she got ash.o.r.e.

But the trip from the marina in a chauffeured car to Rion's office in Athens had taken almost an hour, and been a whole lot worse.

Rion had worked on his laptop or made calls the whole time, never saying a word to her. Not that she had wanted him to, but sitting beside him in the close confines of the car with the slight scent of his cologne tantalising her nostrils, she had been intensely aware of him. Wearing an immaculate grey suit, with his black hair swept back from his brow, he'd looked broodingly attractive, and she hadn't been able to help noting every tiny movement he made-his arm touching hers when he raised the phone to his ear, the deep velvet tone of his voice, the accidental brush of his thigh against hers with the movement of the vehicle.

By the time she'd got out of the car she'd been hot, tense, her nerves wound tight as a drum. And her nervous tension had not improved when he'd taken her arm and led her into what was obviously a new building-nothing like the old office she had visited once when they were married. Then he'd urged her into the elevator, and now had ordered her to 'Sit.'

'I am not a dog,' she said tartly, to break the growing silence.

'No,' he said, and lifted a black brow.

The insult, not spoken but implied, enraged her. This was the man she had stupidly, eagerly given her body to last night-and her heart and soul, if she was honest, because she'd known it would be the final time.

'Trading insults is your thing, Rion. Why am I not surprised?' she sneered. 'You traded me once for a company, and again for s.e.x. You'd trade with the devil himself-Bratchet for one. Now, give me the form to sign. Why we could not have done this on the yacht I will never understand. Then let me get out of here.'

'You are overreacting to an imagined insult. And let's get one thing straight,' he said curtly. 'I would never have married you to acquire the Stakis shipping line. I married you because I'd had unprotected s.e.x with you. With the possibility you might be pregnant it seemed the right thing to do at the time.'

Appalled, Selina stared at him, the air between them crackling with tension. 'My G.o.d-and that is supposed to make me feel better? Just give me the d.a.m.n paper to sign.'

Not a muscle moved in Rion's face as he pushed the relevant doc.u.ments across the desk. He was within a hair's breadth of losing his temper with her, but with a terrific effort of will he controlled the urge to shake some sense into her. She wanted him. He wanted her. But she blew hot and cold for no apparent reason and arguing with her would get him nowhere. The day wasn't over yet, and with business out of the way he had plans to end it with Selina in his bed.

'This is a copy of the official notification from Kadiekis agreeing to the sale of your grandfather's shares to me before the estate is wound up. You'd better keep that. And these are the share certificates, which you might like to check to make sure they add up to what I told you. Finally, a transferral form, which you should read and sign where indicated.'

'I don't need to read it. Just give me a pen.'

'Is that wise? How do you know you can trust me?' he asked with a cynical arch of an ebony brow. 'From what you just said, you don't have much of an opinion of me.'

Mr Cool, Selina thought-while she was getting madder by the minute. 'No, I don't. At least not on a normal human level. But when it comes to a deal I know you are meticulous to the nth degree,' she mocked. And, picking up the pen he had pushed across the desk, she signed the doc.u.ment. Standing up, she handed it to him. Then, placing the copy of the agreement he had suggested she keep in her satchel, she took out a notepad and wrote down her bank account number. Tearing it off, she held the page out to Rion.

'You will need this. When you and Kadiekis have settled everything I would like any money that is left transferred to this account. That way we need never communicate again.' The quicker she got out of here the better. She was perilously close to losing her temper altogether and telling Rion exactly what she thought of him. She might love him, but as a man he was a waste of s.p.a.ce ...

Rion's eyes narrowed sardonically on her beautiful face. 'I do have to sign as well, Selina.' He knew she was hiding something. Her mention of Bratchet and the devil in the same sentence had set him thinking, and he was determined to find out what it was. Taking the doc.u.ment, he signed it. 'Did you notice how much money you will receive?' he asked, hoping to delay her. Taking the note from her hand, he felt her flinch as their fingers touched.

'What you said a fortnight ago, I presume.'

'Yes, that is correct.' Glancing at the number on the note he wrote something else on it and turned to the computer on his desk. 'I'll enter your account number in the relevant file, and I might as well arrange the transfer of the shares now with my broker.'

In a matter of minutes it was done. Then, rising to his feet he walked around the desk and handed the note back to her.

'In the unlikely event that anything goes wrong and you need to contact me, my personal cell phone number is on there.' She took it, avoiding touching him this time, he noted. 'Have you thought what you are going to do with the money that is left?' he asked, wanting to delay her departure. He saw relief mingled with the anger in her expressive eyes.

'Give it to a children's charity,' she said, pushing the note into her handbag and slinging it over her shoulder. 'Now I'll be on my way.'

'The same children's charity as before, I presume?' he prompted, not convinced by her glib reply any more than he had been the first time.

'Yes.' She turned to go.

'Not so fast.' He wrapped his hand around her upper arm and spun her back to face him. 'You and I are not finished yet.'

Selina glanced at Rion, furious at his bullying tactic to delay her. She had had enough. 'We were finished years ago.' She tried to pull her arm free but he simply tightened his grip, his fingers digging into her flesh, and she lost her temper completely. 'My G.o.d, Iris did me a favour, telling me about you.'

'Iris?' He looked puzzled. 'Telling you what?'

'You are supposed to be brilliant-work it out,' she snapped.

His other hand slid up her back to catch her long silken plait and tug her head back. 'Cut out the sarcasm and tell me.'

Held in his firm grip, Rion's eyes boring down into hers, she registered the implacable determination in the dark depths. Refusing to be intimidated, she thought, why not? Their business was concluded, and Rion could do with being taken down a peg or two.

'It wasn't my grandfather who told me about the marriage deal, as you seem to think. It was your half sister, Iris.'

'Iris? I don't believe you. She did not know.'

'Yes, she did. She heard her parents talking in the car on the way back from our engagement party. How ironic is that?' She felt him stiffen, his hand falling from her hair-though he still kept hold of her arm. Shaking her head, she eyed him contemptuously. 'And she told me a lot more. The day you threw me out you told her never to speak to me again, but she did. Jason was her boyfriend. Iris had told him to follow her up to her bedroom-right at the top of the stairs. But he was drunk. He turned left and pa.s.sed out in my bed. I never knew he was there because I'd gone to bed early with a couple of strong painkillers.'

Selina was on a roll. Everything Rion had denied her the right to tell him came spilling out with a vengeance.

'Iris knew the truth. Jason told her he'd heard a noise in the hall, woken up. He saw red hair on the pillow and realised his mistake. Horrified, he dashed out of the bedroom. I begged her to tell you, but she was too frightened of what her bossy older brother would do. Knowing you, I can't say I blame her-and in fact, as it turned out it was lucky for me. She told me about the marriage deal and what a womaniser you are. Who did you think showed me the shots of you and your lady friends on the computer? I didn't have one at the time. Who do you think told me the woman you really loved and wanted to marry was Lydia, but she married someone else?'

Shocked rigid, Rion stared down into angry golden eyes glinting with shards of green and knew she was telling the truth. The story was so bizarre it had to be true. That Iris, his half-sister whom he had always protected, had been dating the boy and had known the truth all along and refused to tell him horrified him. All this time he had thought Selina had betrayed him, and she hadn't ...

A great wide chasm opened up in his mind, filled with memories he had banked down for years. The innocence Selina had gifted him, their wedding day when he had watched her walk down the aisle and thought her the most beautiful bride he had ever seen, the love she had given him unconditionally and he had taken for granted. How could he have been so arrogant, so stiff-necked with pride as to throw her out? What did that make him? And he had taken one look at Selina on the beach at Letos the night before the funeral and wanted her so badly he had blackmailed her into his bed.

'Why didn't you-?'

'Tell you?' Selina jeered, cutting him off. 'You refused to see me, speak or listen to me, remember ...?' She saw him flinch. He had a right to. He didn't like the truth. 'Then you had the audacity to try to name me as the adulterous party. What a joke, given your reputation. I told Beth what had happened and thanks to her and her dad I fought you and won. It was the best thing I ever did. Beth reckoned you got off lightly. I should have demanded more money. But it was enough for me to get my self-esteem back, and the whole affair taught me a lesson I will never forget.'

'What would that be?' Rion asked not sure he wanted to know the answer. But he wanted to keep her talking while his mind grappled with the enormity of what she had revealed. What had he done?

'To work hard, get a career and never count on a man to take care of me. With the shining examples of my biological father, my grandfather and my ex-husband I find it remarkably easy to remember,' she said sarcastically. 'Now, if you don't mind, I am leaving.' And, tightening her grip on her satchel, she pulled her arm free.

'No, not yet.' Thinking fast for a reason to make her stay, he said, 'I have not given you the salary you've lost for the last two weeks. I said I would.'

'Forget it. I have.'

'No. What I am trying to say is I owe you an apology, Selina-more than an apology. I don't expect you to forgive me for not trusting you when we were married, but you have to admit finding a half-naked man dashing out of our bedroom looked bad.'

Selina couldn't help it-she laughed ... if a little hysterically. Rion could not be contrite in a million years. 'Even when you try to apologise you still have to qualify it with your opinion. You could have asked.' She put a finger on her chin and flashed him a pseudo-pensive glance. 'Oh, no, you couldn't. You wouldn't speak to me!'

His lips twisted. 'Cute, Selina. But please listen. I am serious. I have done you a terrible injustice-more than one.' Grasping her shoulders, he held her still. 'I want to make it up to you any way I can.'

She looked up and caught the grim urgency in his expression, the sincerity in the dark eyes that bored into hers-and the underlying gleam of awareness in the glittering depths. His great body was too close. She felt the pressure of his strong hands, the flexing of his long fingers on her arms, and knew she had to get out of here fast-before her traitorous body succ.u.mbed once again to the wonder of his.

'More money? Forget it.' She had to get away with her pride intact. It was all she had left.

'No ... yes. I mean I will marry you again-have a home, children.' Rion was almost as shocked as Selina looked by what he'd said. Then like a lightning strike, electrifying in its intensity, it hit him. He actually meant every word ...

During the time he had spent with Selina on the yacht he'd been more relaxed, more alive, and had more genuine fun than at any other time in his life. But it wasn't just s.e.x. It had never been just s.e.x with Selina, but love. He had made love to her, and been too blinkered, too arrogant to see it until now. He loved Selina ...

Selina's lips parted in shock and for a moment her foolish heart leapt. Then reality clicked in. Nothing had changed. Rion didn't love her.

'Marry you again ...? Are you mad ...?'

She recognised his proposal for what it was. For once in his life the great Orion Moralis was feeling guilty. Well, he could drown in that for all she cared. He had made her feel guilty even when she had done nothing wrong. If he thought he could salve his conscience by marrying her again he was in for a big surprise. She was amazed he had the cheek to ask. In fact she was insulted and, feeling about him as she did, it hurt. And he had hurt her enough already to last a lifetime ...

'As for a home and children-you have to be joking. I don't like the company you keep.'

'A simple no would have sufficed. And what the h.e.l.l do you mean by "the company I keep"?' Rion demanded, his grip tightening.

For an instant she felt afraid. But she refused to be intimidated by a man-any man ...

'Bratchet for one,' she sneered. Rion led a gilded life, and it was time he learnt not everyone was so fortunate. 'I know you didn't believe me, but I did give your money to a children's charity. A charity that is needed because of depraved perverts like him, who put a boy of eight in hospital. It made my flesh crawl to shake his hand.'

She looked Rion straight in the eyes and told him about the charity Beth and Trevor ran, of which she was a silent partner and one of the main supporters. She felt him tense but spared him nothing, telling him the painfully tragic details with all the pa.s.sion of a caring woman committed to the cause.

Rion let his hands fall from Selina's shoulders. He could not believe what he was hearing. Of course he had heard as much as any normal person about the trade in child s.e.x, but as he listened to her with growing horror his face paled. He was appalled at what she told him, and appalled at how badly he had misjudged her and how spectacularly he had failed to protect the innocent girl he had married from ever having to come into contact with such a sick, depraved side of life.

'I had no idea,' he murmured.