Page 14 of Secrets of Cinderella's Awakening

‘My heart bleeds for you.’

‘It doesn’t show,’ he said softly, his gaze flicking to the bodice of her white dress.

‘Someone in the spa was talking about you just before I finished my shift earlier,’ she said, wishing he wouldn’t look at her that way. Wishing he’d pull her into his arms and kiss her as she wanted to be kissed. She swallowed in an attempt to dissolve the erotic image. ‘And that’s when I discovered how inaccurately you had described yourself. Because you’re not a builder, are you, Leon? You’re one of the biggest property developers around. One of the richest men in the world apparently.’

‘I don’t deny it.’ He shrugged. ‘Perhaps now you can understand why I didn’t tell you.’

‘Actually, I don’t. So why don’t you enlighten me?’

Leon’s eyes narrowed. Did she really need him to spell it out? Usually, he would have sidestepped her questions because analysis was something he avoided whenever possible. But as he stared into her defiant face he honestly thought he would answer anything she asked of him right then. Was it her innate impishness, or the memory of her tight body which made him unusually indulgent with her? ‘The Kanonidou name carries a lot of baggage,’ he said heavily. ‘And a lot of expectations.’

‘And, what? Did you imagine I’d be trying to extract some of your fortune if I’d had any idea how rich you were? Demanding to know why you hadn’t used a gold-plated pair of tweezers to remove the sea-urchin spines?’

‘Do tweezers actually come in gold plate?’

‘I expect so,’ she said, pursing her lips as if she were trying not to laugh. ‘You can get pretty much anything you want if the price is right.’

‘You think I don’t know that?’ he demanded. ‘For once in my life I was enjoying the fact that you didn’t know who I was, or what I was worth, or what the papers are saying about my family. I can’t remember the last time that happened.’ He paused. ‘And I’ve never had dinner with a woman who offered to split the bill before.’

The look on her face became proud—the light in her eyes very bright.

‘I’ve always paid my way!’ she declared. ‘And it wouldn’t have made the slightest bit of difference if I’d known how much you had in your bank account, because I don’t care. That wasn’t the reason I had sex with you.’

‘I know, that was what was different for me. But I’m confused—what was the reason, then? Because that’s the bit that puzzles me, Marnie. For most women their virginity is a big deal. Why give your innocence to someone you’ve only just met?’

As he stared her down Marnie realised she had backed herself into a corner. Naturally, she was reluctant to admit how special he’d made her feel because it was, well...irrelevant. It would make her appear needy—as if nobody else had ever made her feel so desired, which also happened to be true. And it would undoubtedly feed his ego, which seemed inflated enough already. Yet if all the things she’d heard were correct, sex was mostly about the physical not the emotional, especially where men were concerned.

So what was wrong with identifying with that part of the equation?

Who wasn’t to say that, when she got back to England and managed to sort out Pansy’s current problems, she might actually find herself a permanent boyfriend? Someo

ne more on her own wavelength. An ordinary man with an ordinary job, not some unreachable Greek tycoon with the face of a fallen angel. And if that were the case, then surely it would be better to be a little bit experienced. Men had always made her super-cautious but now she’d lost her virginity—and, given how much she’d enjoyed it, why shouldn’t she explore her own sexuality a little? Leon Kanonidou had asked her a straightforward question, so why not give him a straightforward answer?

‘Because I wanted to,’ she said bluntly. ‘I wanted to forget the outside world and everything which was going on in my life and somehow you made me...’ She shrugged. ‘You made me...’

‘I made you, what?’

The air seemed to grow very still. ‘Desire you,’ she breathed, her words sounding deliberate, and heavy.

‘Wow.’ His shuttered gaze made his eyes resemble splinters of sapphire as he breathed out his reaction. ‘That’s quite some testimony.’

‘You aren’t used to women praising your prowess?’

‘Not like that.’

‘Well, I give you full permission to use it on your CV,’ she said flippantly. ‘But I’d prefer the source to remain anonymous, if it’s all the same to you.’

‘I’ll bear that in mind,’ he said, and gave a low growl of laughter.

The sound was rich and sexy but Marnie forced herself to remember that it meant nothing. It was an illusion. She’d just made a powerful man laugh—so what? Nothing had changed. He was still a billionaire who had preferred to keep his identity private in case she started muscling in on his wealth, and she was still a tear-stained misfit standing in an overheated room, due to go back to England where a mountain of problems awaited her.

‘So now you know and you can go,’ she said quietly.

‘But I don’t know. Your explanation has only thrown up more questions.’ He stood there like a dark and immovable force, his eyes glittering as they stared her down. ‘And now I’m curious to know what was going on in your life which you so badly wanted to forget.’

If only his words weren’t softened with what sounded like genuine concern. Something which resembled kindness. Because that was Marnie’s undoing. That was what made her defences begin to weaken. She curled her hands into two tight fists, her fight-or-flight instinct kicking into action. After a childhood of being let down so many times, she wasn’t used to people being kind because she never let them close enough to try. The habit of a lifetime had taught her to guard her secrets and lock them away, because that was the safest thing to do.

But Leon Kanonidou knew her more intimately than anyone else. He had been deep inside her, his hard flesh united with hers so that for a while she had actually felt as if they were one person. Was it that which made her hesitate and foolishly give him the opening he was seeking?

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