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CHAPTER 7
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2021-07-08 09:00:00Nikolas turned to glance at her again. She was leafing through a glossy magazine now, her head slightly bowed and her lovely profile exposed to him, and he let his eyes linger a moment. Yes, she was different indeed.
And not just in looks and style. In personality too. Cheryl was quiet, for a start. She didn’t try to talk to him, to make sophisticated conversation, or demands of him. She simply gave a fleeting smile, almost shy, her eyes only briefly meeting his, before drawing away as if she wasn’t sure whether to look at him. Nor did she seem, like all the other women he knew, to relish and revel in the attentions of other men.
All the women he had selected for his leisure hours had always known how prized they were and had taken it for granted that male eyes would be drawn to them. Cheryl was
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Being in Chicago with Nikolas was just as wonderful as being in New York. As it was being in San Francisco, and then Atlanta, and then, after the United States, back in Europe, in Milan, Italy. Being anywhere with him had been wonderful… Anywhere at all! For as long as Nikolas wanted her. And he did seem to want her! That was the amazing, fantastical thing! She had given up wondering at it, worrying about it. Time seemed to have stopped. Past and future seemed to have slipped away. There was only an endless, wonderful ‘now’ that swept her away on wings of wonder and delight. A ‘now’ that was focused only and entirely on Nikolas. The irresistible, gorgeous, sexy Nikolas. Cheryl was helpless and could only give herself to him, time after time, night after night. His care of her, h
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Nikolas brought his thoughts back to the present. In the meantime, he would enjoy taking her to ‘La Scala’ tomorrow night and enjoy even more seeing her in yet another exquisite evening gown.“Tomorrow,” he announced, “you must go and visit the boutiques on Via Montenapoleone. You’d find every single famous fashion designer shop there. Your mission will be to buy a gown suitable for the opera at the most important Italian opera houses.”“Really? Are we going to ‘La Scala’?” she exclaimed and, in her eyes, Nikolas could see pure joy.“Have you ever been there?” he asked.“Unfortunately, never… My father loved opera… A lot. This was one of his many dreams. He never saw it coming true,” she whispered and stopped. This was t
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Still… while it did last, while Nikolas still desired her, how could she possibly walk away from all this… from him? What reason could she have for doing it? Nothing… absolutely nothing that could resemble to a good reason. The truth was she loved being with him, even if it was for a long or a short period of time because she was already… out of her mind in love with him. Later that night, as Cheryl was lying asleep in the embracing cradle of Nikolas’s strong and protective arms, she woke up from a nightmare. The tormenting notes of the opera’s music followed her in her sleep and Cheryl tried to calm herself down before waking Nikolas up. She gazed out into the darkness of the room. Around her, she could feel his arms, behind her the strong wall of his chest. She migh
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Cheryl sat in her wide leather seat on Nikolas’s jet, gazing out of the window at the landscape far, far below. She was so relieved and happy... In her head, she could still hear Nikolas’s voice on the yacht, sounding almost curt. It had filled her with such dread. ‘Baby, there’s been a change of plan.’ Even as she’d heard the words, she had felt her heart stop beating. ‘This is it,’ Cheryl thought. ‘He is sending me away. Everything’s over…’ But it hadn’t been that at all. Instead, the change of plan had consisted not of sailing across the Tyrrhenian Sea to Sardinia, as Nikolas had originally told her, but flying to Paxos, a Greek Island.“It’s only for a couple of nights, Cher,
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“Baby, I need your body in ways that you don’t understand…” Cheryl sucked in her breath sharply. Nikolas drew her against him and ducked his head to nuzzle her exposed throat and nibbled his way up the cord of her neck, then positioned his mouth directly above hers. His hard, long, hungry kiss left her weak and needy. She wrapped her arms around Nikolas’s neck for support, and for gratification curved her body against the front of his.“Hm, that feels good… You have no idea how much…” Cupping her hips, he pulled her tighter against him. Then he unfastened the single button on her dress and slipped his hands inside, covering her breasts. Nikolas took off her dress and gazed at her full breasts, filling and spilling over the lace cups of her demi-bra. Deep in his throat,
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Cheryl had been swept away, borne off on a tide of longing and wonder and deep sensuality. She clung to Nikolas, hands pressing against his chest, her mouth moving beneath his. She could feel, hot and hectic, the pulse throb at her throat, feel her breasts swelling too, their tips hardening against his chest. When Nikolas released her, she was breathless, boneless. Cheryl could only gaze at him, eyes wide, lips parted, filled with desire for him… unstoppable, irresistible desire. ‘Oh, what are you doing to me, Nikolas? How can I feel like this?’ she seemed to say just by looking at him. The questions ran around in her mind, but Cheryl couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but drown in the feelings he awakened in her. More than feelings. Nikolas gave
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Cheryl turned over on to her stomach, allowing her body to soak up the warmth of the sunshine as she laid on a padded sunbed in front of the beach house. She was on her own, and for once she was absolutely okay with it. Nikolas was away and, strangely, she was glad about it. She’d slept heavily, having taken some painkillers for the migraine that had started to grind around her temples after the grueling ordeal of the most disastrous dinner party in the history of mankind. The pills had knocked her out, and she’d been unaware that Nikolas had come to bed. Then, as the bright morning sunlight had pressed through the unsuitably ornate drapes of the bedroom, he had crawled down beside the bed and roused her by softly shaking her shoulder. “I have to go up to the villa, but I won’t be too long,”
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The arrogant man’s blue piercing eyes stared right at her.“Oops… Niko didn’t tell you who the lady of the house was?” Slowly, Cheryl shook her head. A huge lump was forming in her throat, harder than the stone gripped in her cold hand. Nikolas’s brother said something in Greek. Even if she didn’t understand a single word, it didn’t sound too polite. He came towards her, and this time Cheryl didn’t back away defensively, didn’t get ready to heft her stone at him. She was blinking, the stone in her throat almost stopping her from breathing. Could it be true? Nikolas had taken her to dinner at his mother’s house and he didn’t tell her? But why? What was his reason for doing this?“Oh, sweet, naïve little girl&hel
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A self-condemning twist formed at Nikolas’s mouth.“That was for my future wife’s benefit, apparently, not mine. You see, my mother brought no money to her marriage, only her position in society, which my father did not have, being ‘new’ money. Once he’d married her, he acquired her status, and so, after I was born, since she could have no more children, she became… dead weight. She didn’t want that for my wife.” His mouth tightened, and Nikolas looked at her straightly.“We, Adamos, haven’t been a happy family. There has been misery and bitterness and anger and hatred and betrayal. But now it ends. I won’t bring that ugly heritage into our marriage.” His expression changed, lightened.“What I
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She wasn’t sure what she said to the sales assistant, didn’t register that the woman had nodded and gone through to the storeroom. Registered only that a hand like steel had gripped around her wrist.“What did that woman just call you?” Cheryl rested her eyes on Nikolas’s face, where all she could see was blank stupefaction and disbelief.“Um… She called me ‘Dr. Richards’,” she replied in an expressionless voice. “Because that’s who I am, Nikolas. I got my Ph.D. last year… the year my father died. He was a senior research fellow at the university, and I’ve just taken up a research post in his former department, guided now by my old colleague, Dr. Maria Shell.” His eyes were on her, quite blank.
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His voice was low, urgent. Insistent. Somehow, though her mouth was suddenly as dry as a bone, Cheryl forced herself to speak.“There is nothing more to be said. You should get into your fancy car and go as far away from me as possible.” Cheryl’s voice grated out through a throat that had closed completely. His hand slashed negation.“Absolutely not. Not even by a long shot. There is still so much more to be said between you and me! That’s the reason I’ve been searching for you. That’s why I’m here, in front of you. It wasn’t all said, Cheryl. The most important part got left out. I was so devastated with what you threw at me, I let you go. I let you leave me. I should never have done that. Never! I should have told you then! But I didn’t realize… I didn’t realize that…&rdquo
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That question was burning inside him, frustrating and nerve-racking. His team of investigators was worse than useless, it seemed. There were, so they had informed him, a very large number of people with her surname, and with no indication of even what part of the country she might be in, the search would inevitably be extremely long and maybe fruitless. Frustratingly, Nikolas had realized he knew nothing about her… not even her date of birth. Did she have other forenames? Nikolas had been asked, politely but pressingly, by the investigators. He had no information to give them. Did he know where she came from? Where she grew up? Where she went to school? Anything like that? Did he know people who knew her, like friends, relatives, former employers… anyone at all? No, no, and no. &
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The walk in Cheslyn Garden calmed her spirit and after a few hours running around town, Cheryl decided to go to the little flat she was living in since her return to Watford. It was wonderful to be back home… It was what she needed… Wonderful to be back in the town she’d grown up in for most of her life. Everything was as familiar to her as if she had only yesterday boarded the train, heartsore and grieving, to head for London, looking for a new beginning. Everything was somehow unchanged as if she had never left. But that wasn’t true, of course. Things had happened to her that had changed her forever. Nikolas Adamos had happened to her. And she had conceived and lost their child. Starting to work in Maria’s team g
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His mother’s expression changed. He couldn’t tell what she thought, but he couldn’t care less.“Oh, Niko… I’m so very sorry,” she whispered. Mixed emotion speared in Nikolas. His mother would be happy now… Happy to think she’d saved herself five million euros! Happier to think her precious son had been saved from the hideous fate of having to marry a woman he’d got pregnant and who would be the worst wife for him.“Celebrate, mother,” Nikolas said. His tone was harsh and cruel. His eyes lasered into hers, and her face paled.“Celebrate?” Calista said the word as if it had no meaning. But of course, it had meaning for her! It meant her precious son was safe. Blin
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Cheryl stirred, content to leave behind another sleepless night. Lately, it was so hard to catch a few hours of good sleep. Usually, the street noises were easy to bear, but since Paxos, she wasn’t used to it anymore. Nor was she used to sleeping, living, and eating in a single room, where the ugly-patterned wallpaper was peeling off in the corners, the carpet needed to go on a rubbish tip, and the electricity ran on a meter.“I lived like a spoiled brat for too long. Luxury ruined me forever…” she whispered and left the bed. The thought shamed her. Added itself to the mountain of shame she already felt. To the shame of what she had done, what she had been, that had burst from her like an infected wound that last hideous morning. It felt as though it had been lanced from the
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That voice came out of nowhere, from the pool of darkness at the far end of the terrace. A familiar voice, one he didn’t want to hear ever again. Demetrios strolled out of the darkness, like a snake slithering towards a possible prey. His voice was taunting, grating.“Are you already missing her, big brother?” Demetrios continued with a grin on his lips.“What the hell are you doing here?” Nikolas asked and his voice was terse, demanding. A new emotion was taking over, fueled by a rush of adrenaline that had come the moment he’d heard his brother’s taunting voice. An emotion that tensed and coiled in every muscle of his body.“Oh, come on, Niko! Don’t tell me I’m trespassing?” Demetrios responded drawlingly. “Are you going to call your security guys and ask them to throw me ou
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He tried to say something, but Cheryl stopped him. “No… It’s my turn to talk now and you’re going to hear me out right until the end,” she added starting to feel a little tired, physically and mentally. “I know I’m not very good at talking about the stock market and brokers, and funds and charities, and whatever you, rich people, consider important subjects in a conversation. That I’m out of my league here. Still, I think, even for a reclusive, a bookworm like me, I never was so bad. I never embarrassed you. But I never actually thought… that you of all people, saw me in this light… as a brainless whore.” Another ragged intake of breath scissored through her lungs. “That a man like you, someone I thought so highly of, would be the one kicking me down to the ground again. Now I’m done.” Nik
