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CHAPTER 13
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2021-09-24 04:40:15His palms still framing her face. His brilliant golden eyes, blazing with desire, scanned hers. Simultaneously, her nostrils flared. Lara could sense a woman’s perfume still clung to him. Her stomach twisted painfully. Christophe had been in close bodily contact with another woman. Nausea doused her excitement. She jerked her head free and slid upright on wobbly legs.
“No doubt you’re very familiar with those kinds of facilities.”
An ebony eyebrow elevated.
“Do you want the truth or a polite fiction? Of course, there have been women in my life, but never more than one at a time.”
Furiously, Lara turned her head away. All she could smell was that perfume and it was turning her stomach now, reminding her what a fool she was in this man’s presence.
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Her teeth gritted. Lara wanted to tear his honey-smooth drawl out of her head, no matter how much it hurt! How could he have thought that she might sell the revelation that his father was dying to the highest bidder? Lara shuddered with revulsion. Of course, she had been hurt. Nobody could easily accept such an accusation. So, Christophe didn’t trust her as far as he could throw her... but what had made him like that? She remembered him saying that knowledge was a weapon in a woman’s hands and that had come straight from the gut! Clearly, at some stage, Christophe had got badly burned by a woman and the memory hurt him, kept him on his guard, made him cynical and suspicious... So, who’s playing the therapy game now, Lara?
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A groan of remembered embarrassment escaped Lara while she was waking up.“Oh, God… Why did I let it happen… I must be out of my mind…” she whispered and sat up. Lara had felt half-dead when Christophe had all but carried her on to the helicopter. She had been wishing she were dead by the time she was hauled off it again, sick and in a state of collapse. Her impressions had been fleeting. Lara recalled the cluster of security men converging on the helipad, blurred glimpses of an incredibly large white villa, and heat that only increased the nonstop pounding behind her temples. Jet lag had finally caught up with her. A rueful grimace slanted her face as she gingerly slid out of bed to gratefully appreciate that the ground beneat
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As they left the room in the wake of Demis, Lara hissed at Christophe.“I want to talk to you!”“You want to fight, chérie… we do it in private,” Christophe gritted down at her roughly, a wave of dark anger seething in his flashing sidewise glance.“And what the hell did you have to smolder about?” she asked him slightly.“The thought of you lying under Anderson for two fucking years, chérie!” he slashed back down at her with visible distaste. “Leaving me for that wimp… Unproductive, useless wimp… I could strangle you right now...” Lara went white. Why was he bringing Randall up all over again in this discussion? What about him and his… stepmother? What was that about? The nerve of this man… Later she would give him
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And Lara had gone crazy, appalled and outraged that this despicable man could use her father to pressure her into coming to bed with him. The fact that she was engaged to be married meant nothing to him. A violent row had ensued. Lara had been so furious, she had no memory of her abuse, but Christophe had lost his temper too. Her attempt to slap his face had landed her on her back on the sofa with Christophe on top of her... And then it had begun, in raw mutual anger that, terrifyingly swiftly, had turned into the scorching heat of an uncontrollable passion. A passion that was insanity to her in the aftermath of shame and disbelief. But he hadn’t held her down and forced her to submit to his mouth and the heated caress of his hands. She had been a full participant. Hating him, wanting him, needing him, hating herse
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Within seconds the fear was burned away by the heat of Christophe’s mouth. Lara quivered in response, and thought became far too much of a challenge. He bent his dark head over the full swell of her breasts and her fingers speared helplessly into his thick black hair. His lips pulled on a taut pink nipple and a whimper of sound escaped from her convulsed throat. He lingered there, toying with her sensitive flesh until every skin cell went on red alert and every nerve ending tautened in sizzling anticipation. Her hands gripped his smooth brown shoulders and skimmed in near-desperation over the tautness of the muscles flexing in his back. Lara felt as if she was being consumed. There was no breathing space between one spasm of response and the next. Sensation took over and she was mindless in the grip of it
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That assurance hit her like a cruel blow and Lara despised herself for reeling from that reality as though it were a surprise. She loved Christophe hopelessly, helplessly… but that didn’t mean making a sacrificial lamb of herself. Someday, not too far in the future, Demis would die and it would all be over. The deception would end and with it, the affair. She didn’t want a fake wedding ring to add to her bitterness. But didn’t she owe Christophe something for the immense kindness and sensitivity he had employed with her own father? Okay, they had made a deal but Christophe could have fulfilled the terms far less generously. A deal... Oh, God, she reflected painfully, had the giving of her body last night merely been part of the deal as well? Her stomach heaved at the suspicion.
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Christophe gazed down at her and slowly, erotically moved on her, brushing his arousal against her hot body.“Chérie, sometimes we all have to do things we don’t want to do,” he whispered looking straight into her eyes.“Oh… I see… Am I to understand that you don’t want this wedding either?” In quite irrational annoyance, Lara’s mouth tightened as she fought to suppress the shivering hunger Christophe was invoking in her with such insulting ease.“A wedding ring has to be about the last reward I would want to give you…” What the hell was he saying? Her sapphire eyes widened to their fullest extent.“Excuse me? Reward? Do you consider going through a disgusting parody of a wedding ceremony a… reward
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“Yes… I can see it…” she murmured and felt shivers down her spine.“Perfect! And now you can watch me fall asleep... Such incriminating stuff… Oh, get ready! Meghan makes her entrance in about half an hour…”“Meghan…” Lara echoed weakly.“I could’ve had all this material cut and rearranged, but I didn’t want to spare you a single second of the entertainment.” Swallowing hard, Lara dutifully watched Christophe falling asleep, the most awful suspicion beginning to assail her.“You can fast forward if you like,” she mumbled in a small voice.“Are you sure, chérie?”“Quite sure…” With a sinking heart, Lara watched Meghan creep in and stand gazing down at Christophe. A litt
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“I’ll tell you what I don’t enjoy now. Your jealousy, chérie,” Christophe replied to her with blistering derision. “At least Meghan knows when to shut up and be feminine and warm...”“Seriously?” Lara went white, lowering her lashes over shocked and wounded eyes.“I can’t believe you just said this…” Christophe had turned on her with biting cruelty unfamiliar to her.“All I wanted tonight was the sweet oblivion of your body…”So that’s my mission tonight after you being away for so long… To provide sex,” Lara countered with a shudder of mingled rage and pain.“Why not? You’re my wife,” he slung back at her harshly. Dear God
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Lara shivered in spite of the heat. Demis had left careful instructions for his burial and he had chosen to come back to Greece to the sunbaked hillside where his own parents had been laid to rest. The funeral was small, strictly family but the press was just beyond the graveyard, a sea of hungry wolves, restrained only by the strong police presence.“It’s time to go.” Francine briefly leaned on Lara’s extended arm for support and then straightened again. Lara felt deserted and superfluous to requirements. For days she had told herself not to be childish, not to be selfish, not to expect Christophe to find time for her when his every waking moment was filled with ceaseless demands for his attention. Lara had innocently expected to make
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There was just one detail she needed to ask him about… something she had always wondered about…“Chris… What did you do with that shoe I left behind three years ago?” He looked at her and smiled.“Well, dear Cinderella… It’s somewhere safe.”“Oh…”“Did you think I might have had it dipped in pure gold and placed in a glass case?” Christophe teased her.“Until that day it was one of my favorite pairs of shoes.”“What did you do with the one you had left?”“Dumped it.”“There you are, then,” Christophe mocked. “I was more sentimental than you were.” Lara became serious once again.“I thought you’d laugh about
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Christophe stilled. His fiercely narrowed gaze slewed at speed back to Lara and simply stayed there.“Gay? Anderson was gay?” he practically whispered in disbelief. Lara unfroze and whirled out of the room. She was outraged and devastated at one and the same time. Demis Agelastos must have had her investigated. Where else could Meghan have obtained such information? All along Christophe’s father had known all about her background. She felt invaded and violated, horrified that such information should have fallen into Meghan’s grasping hands, cheap fodder for her spite. Christophe caught her back on the landing before she could head for the sanctuary of their bedroom. A far from gentle hand closed around her forearm.“Pull yo
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Her strained smile glazed over. Oh, God, Christophe had laid on the ‘I-love- your-daughter’ routine with a trowel. Very impressive indeed.“Christophe’s a rather more complex character than I ever appreciated,” Kenneth admitted. “I always thought of him as very cool and controlled. He is in business. But in love... he’s all emotion and reaction. So, now you tell me how you feel.” Lara took a deep breath.“I’m… Uh… I’m crazy about him, of course.”“Oh… You’re much more reserved than he is... Hmm… Did your mother and I do that to you?” he sighed regretfully. “I’m sorry, Lara… Both Linda and I ruined everything for you. And Randall…”“Daddy, stop,” she begged him and put her loving arms around hi
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Christophe scanned the wildness in her sapphire eyes for a fulminating ten seconds, a muscle jerking tight at his hard jawline.“Listen, I don’t know what the hell you think you’re playing at but the wedding goes ahead tomorrow... Even if I have to drag you through it by the hair!”“I don’t think so! I refuse to be a part of this disgusting masquerade. You hear me?” Lara slung rawly. “No. Meghan told me why you had to get married! So go and find yourself another woman willing to play this game!”“Ah… Meghan… Alright, let’s hear why do I have to get married?” Christophe invited very softly. “I’m extremely curious about my real reasons behind this wedding.”“Stop it, Christophe! You know why… You lied to me,” Lara condemned fiercely. “Every single thing you told me was a lie..
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His words came back in her mind, harsher and harder to digest than before. ‘Someday you will come to me on your knees and beg me to take you... and I will break you.’ Lara shivered, suddenly cold and scared. Just a few short days ago, Christophe had still been talking in the same vein. And though he had yet to discover it, he had already won. She was over the moon in love with him… the man she learned to hate for three long, excruciating years. Whatever happened, Lara knew she was going to be very badly hurt. But the heart wants what the heart wants and cancel her love for Christophe wasn’t an option anymore. Another knock sou
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His hands wrenched down the straps of her sleeveless dress and Lara glanced down, shocked to see her own bared breasts, helplessly shy of him and yet unbearably aroused by his impatience. With a groan, Christophe lifted her and suckled at an erect pink nipple and her hands clenched fiercely into his shoulders, an involuntary moan of excitement torn from her. Her head fell back as his tormenting mouth bit at her sensitive flesh with a knowing eroticism that drove her out of her mind with excitement. Lara was boneless in his grasp, a wanton creature drunk on sensation. A lean hand skimmed beneath the flimsy silken fabric of her gown, following the upward curve of a slender thigh and lingering there with devastating effect.“You drive me crazy, chérie…” Christophe groaned, sinking to his knees t
