Page 42 of Virgin's Night with the Greek

His phone beeped to indicate the arrival of a message and he knocked back the rest of the whisky before picking the device up. The text was from Zander.

Now I can see why you were so keen to take a holiday.

He frowned, set the glass down, then typed back.

What do you mean?

His brother’s reply came in the form of a link, which had apparently been forwarded to him by their sister Thalia and came with the instruction not to shoot the messenger.

Trepidatiously, his heart thudding, Leo clicked on it. It took him to a page that purported to belong to a global magazine with an inclination for celebrity gossip. The subject of that page was him. Or more specifically, him and Willow.

Despite the enveloping warmth of the night, his blood chilled and his skin tightened as he scrolled down and read the article. The accompanying crystal-clear photos showed the two of them on the yacht the day they’d taken it out, snorkelling, jumping into the sea, talking on the deck, and more from the steep steps, the hot springs and the taverna.

Five stomach-churning minutes later, during which he’d sought and found a dozen similar sites with the same photos and the sort of headlines that came with exclamation marks, his vision was blurring and his chest was tight. How had it happened? was the question ricocheting around his brain as nausea rose up inside him. Why hadn’t he noticed the cameras?

Everyone else, however, seemed to want to know, Who was she? Had Europe’s most eligible, most elusive bachelor finally found love? If anyone had information about the mystery woman with the colourful hair and multiple piercings, they should click here.

The speculation was hideous. The invasion of his fiercely guarded privacy, and hers, boiled his blood. They were fodder for gossip—his mother’s racy past had also been raked up yet again—and it was everything he’d sought to avoid. Only this time,hewas the one at fault. No one else was to blame. He’d got so used to Willow’s striking looks he’d forgotten that they did not fade into the background. He’d lost all sense of perspective. He’d been recklessly careless. He hadn’t once considered the fact that he had an image of strength, of control and zero vulnerability to maintain and a business and a family to protect.

How could he have been so weak?

What the hell had he beendoingall this time?

It wasn’t remotely his responsibility to fix her issues but that hadn’t stopped him. Hehadgot a kick out of showing her sex could be good for her. That first time, here on the island, when she’d laughed with such abandon, such joy, he’d felt like he could rule the world. Ever since then, he’d behaved rashly—asking her to stay, putting Zander in charge of the company and then playing at being a couple as they did the tourist thing. When they’d talked—he, now he thought it, frequently without any filter at all—he’d listened closely to what she said. Her observations had made him question things he’d always accepted as fact. She’d developed unprecedented influence over him and he hadn’t even noticed.

As to the reason he’d decided he had to play nurse these last few days, he was at a complete loss. It was yet another example of spontaneous, ill-advised decision-making. He’d been under no obligation to help. As she’d told him, she was used to handling it on her own. He had no business wishing he could take away her pain by absorbing it himself. How she managed her health was none of his concern and the giddy pleasure he’d felt when she’d sent him a message asking him to run her a bath and rub her back, which indicated a level of trust he’d hoped for but never expected, was as unwarranted as it was unwelcome.

Little by little, day by day, he’d been falling further and further under her spell, he realised, a cold sweat breaking out all over his skin. At some point, the nose stud, the earrings and the hair had stopped offending him. Now he couldn’t—and didn’t want to—imagine her any other way. She was perfect, just as she was, and that was not good, although his heart was thundering in his chest, in his head, in every inch of his body so loudly he couldn’t quite remember why.

His phone beeped again, and he snatched it up, his hands shaking, the wariness winding through him intensifying to an almost unbearable degree.

Just as well I was able to rescue the merger, huh?!

Rescue the merger? What merger? Ah. Right.Thatmerger. The one he’d flown to New York to arrange. The one that would add billions to the company’s bottom line yet had not crossed his mind in days. What the hell had gone wrong with it? And when was the last time he’d eventhoughtabout the company? he wondered, his lungs constricting so much that breathing was suddenly difficult. When had he stopped worrying about how Zander was doing at the helm? How could he have abandoned his principles, the values with which he’d lived his life for over a decade, so easily?

He was completely out of control. Plates could come crashing down at any minute. It had to stop. All of it. Before his head was turned even further and he found himself entirely in Willow’s thrall. Before he became someone he didn’t want to be, ruled by emotion and selfishness, a slave to passion and ice and volatility. He had to claw back what was left of the life he knew and needed before it was destroyed for ever. Willow was back on her feet. The holiday was over. They were done.

Contrary to Willow’s expectations, she hadn’t been in too much pain to notice how magnificent Leo had been. He’d done exactly what he’d promised. He’d been patience and support personified, a tower of strength, and completely unfazed when she had thrown up on him, as she’d warned.

And now she was out the other side, staring up at the ceiling in the dark, the tumbling thoughts teeming through her head rendering sleep frustratingly elusive, she could see that everything she’d feared could all too easily come to pass. He was complex and intriguing, thoughtful and gorgeous, and her feelings for him were becoming dangerous.

Despite her best efforts to prevent it, she suspected she’d already invested herself emotionally in him. Why would she have caved in and requested the bath and the back rub if she didn’t trust him? She wanted to tell him to ditch the job and buy a boat and support him through it. She wanted to take Selene by the shoulders and give her good shake along with an instruction to grow up. She found herself thinking ahead to next month and wishing she could have him by her side.

But that could never be. If she stuck around any longer those unwise feelings could all too easily deepen and she simply couldn’t risk it. What if she allowed herself to love him and something happened to him? She’d be destroyed. And what if, despite his certainty that it would not happen, he developed feelings for her? He claimed to care about her. He’d seen her at her worst and hadn’t run for the hills. It was possible he wasn’t as impervious to love as he believed, and if he succumbed to the emotions he denied thenhemight be destroyed.

She deeply regretted not being stronger and clinging on to her resistance. She should never have been swayed by his arguments. If she wasn’t careful she could be in so much trouble. The potential for heartbreak was immense and unacceptable. But it wasn’t too late to rectify the situation. All she had to do was terminate their affair. She’d miss him, their time together and the sex, of course, but it was better to get out now, while she still could.

The security of her emotional well-being depended on the strength of her resolve and, as she finally drifted off into an uneasy sleep, she vowed that no matter how mighty the battle Leo mounted, how ruthlessly he blocked her protests, she would not waver. However hard she had to fight him, and quite possibly herself, in the morning, she absolutelywouldleave.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

AFTERARESTLESSNIGHT,Willow woke early, her eyes gritty as if filled with sand, her chest tight as if caught in a vice. She got up and packed her things, which had moved to the spare room with her, ignoring the voice in her head that lamented the way things had to be and the strange aching of her heart. Leaving was the right thing, the only thing, to do, she reminded herself over and over again. She had no choice if she wanted to avoid misery and destruction.

Steeling herself against weakness, armed for battle, she picked up her suitcase and carried it downstairs. She found Leo in the kitchen, sitting at the table, drinking a cup of coffee. He looked exhausted. Tense. Remote. As if recent events had been as tough on him as they had on her.

‘Good morning,’ he said gruffly.

At the strange lack of expression in his voice, a shiver rippled down her spine and her throat constricted for a second, but she wouldn’t question what might be behind it. She could not afford to get sidetracked. She had to focus on the goal. ‘Good morning.’

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