Page 10 of Greek's Temporary "I Do"

He could have let her sweat a little more, but they didn’t have time. He could feel the restlessness of the guests waiting in the nave, the concern building between the priest and his parents.

‘One hundred.’

She held out her hand as if to seal the deal.

‘I’ll have my people email you the contract,’ he said, ignoring her hand and turning back to call for the priest, missing the way that Helena masked the jagged edge of pain that crossed her features.

His parents, thankfully, remained studiously quiet while the priest went through the legal requirements.

Helena was first to sign the register, her gaze flicking to his one final time before the pen flew over the dots beside her printed name.

Unaccountably, his pulse picked up. Looking down at the piece of paper, the jarring sight of Helena’s name beside that of his brother tightened a grip around his chest. Recognising it as a reasonable response to the chaos his brother and Helena were dragging him into, he placed his pen on the paper.

Signing this was the height of stupidity. If they were ever discovered, it would absolutely destroy his reputation and in all likelihood be the very end of the company—and after he’d worked so hard to bring it back after near bankruptcy.

But if they weren’t discovered then he would finally have the whole of the company to himself. Without another thought, Leonidas Liassidis signed the register as his brother.

Five minutes later, he took his place beside Helena in front of the priest and the wedding guests and counted down the minutes until he could get away from the church and Helena and get a drink in his hand. The reception would at least afford him some space from her, he prayed, as the priest’s words washed over him. Until...

‘In the sight of God and these witnesses, I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may now kiss!’

His mind went utterly blank for a moment, the pulse of blood rushing in his ears became thunderous, even as he leashed himself back under control. He turned to face Helena, studying her carefully, her eyes wide with shock and something close to fear, but not quite. He half-expected her to run, but she didn’t. She simply watched him, her gaze a physical touch against his senses.

He raised his hand to the side of her face as if to cup her jaw, but stopped short of touching, and he chose to ignore the ripple of response across Helena’s features, chose to ignore his body’s instinctive response to her as a woman. Because his brain had absolutely no trouble remembering just how far he needed to keep from Helena Hadden.

She watched, wide-eyed, as he dipped his head. He felt the entire congregation in the church hold their breath in anticipation, surprised to realise that Helena had done the same—the blue depths of her eyes beginning to disappear beneath the black of her pupils.

Leashing an instinctive response, he dipped his head deeper, cutting off the line of sight to their lips from the guests in the church, and lowered his thumb to Helena’s mouth. He slid the pad of his finger across the slick surface, blurring the gloss coating of the flushed plump lips, trying to ignore the subtle flinch that pulled at Helena’s body as he did so.

Oohs and ahhs filled the nave of the church and the only person who would ever know that they hadn’t kissed was his fake bride.

CHAPTER THREE

‘WHAT THE HELL is going on? Where is Leander?’ Kate demanded as she drew a still reeling Helena away from the reception. The loud voices of guests could still be heard at a painful volume to Helena’s sensitive ears. But the small cloakroom was thankfully quiet and empty of guests, who were being distracted with canapés and chilled glasses of champagne.

She felt... She shook her head, still trying to rid herself of the humiliation that had stung her cheeks irrevocably with shame. She had wanted Leo to kiss her. With an old familiar need that had filled her senses and overwhelmed all rational thought, she had wanted him to kiss her and, as if unable to bear even the smallest of touches, he’d only made it look like he’d kissed his bride.

‘Helena? Are you okay?’ Kate tried again, pulling Helena around to face her. ‘You’re beginning to worry me.’

Helena was worried too. She pressed her fingers to her lips, hoping to feel something other than Leo’s thumbprint there. A shudder rippled through her. Disgust, she told herself. Anger.

‘Helena!’ Kate cried, finally pulling her back to her senses.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I’m... Leander’s gone,’ she admitted helplessly, without realising that Kate had somehow recognised that the man standing at the top of the aisle had been the wrong Liassidis.

‘I know that. But where?’ she demanded.

‘That’s what I’d like to know,’ Leo said, standing across the threshold as if as reluctant to enter as she was to have him there. As it was, he filled the doorframe of the small cloakroom, stifling the air and making Helena feel claustrophobic.

Kate glared at him. ‘Actually, that’s not important right now. Are you okay?’ Kate demanded of Helena.

Being cut off by a complete stranger, being told that what he said wasn’t important, left an almost comical look of shock across Leo’s features and Helena enjoyed every single moment of it. Bastard. It was the least he deserved.

‘Yes, I’m okay,’ she told Kate. ‘I don’t know where Leander is, but Leo is going to stand in for him while he’s away.’

‘Away? This isn’t making any sense, Helena.’ Kate’s pretty features scrunched in confusion.

‘He just said that something came up and that he’d be back by the end of the honeymoon,’ Helena explained.

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