The Santorini Bride Read online

  “That’s what you think,” he cut her off. And as she began to protest again, he shut her up the only way he knew how.

  He pressed his lips to hers, backed her down the short hall and into his bedroom where he kicked the door shut behind them and met her furious gaze with a satisfied smile. “All’s fair in love and war, sweetheart.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  “WHAT DO you think you’re doing?” Martha shoved away from him, her eyes wide and blazing with fury, her gaze flicking around her parents’ bedroom, looking anywhere, at anything—but him!

  But while it had always been her parents’ bedroom, it wasn’t theirs any longer. That was obvious.

  It was spartan, totally masculine, with stark white walls and sleek dark furniture, the only adornment two poster-size black-and-white photos of sailboats cutting through rough seas. The sort of room a man like Theo Savas would feel at home in. Clearly the room now belonged to the man who was glaring at her just as angrily as she was glaring at him.

  “More to the point, Ms. Antonides,” he said through his teeth, “what the hell were you doing opening up my house to strangers?”

  “They weren’t strangers to you,” Martha argued. She was still trying to catch her breath and calm her heart, which was slamming against the wall of her chest. She was also trying not to lick her lips, which were still throbbing from the press of his mouth. Despite her attempts to quell them or ignore them, her hormones were doing odd and completely unexpected things she’d never experienced before—certainly not when Julian had kissed her.

  Good Lord! Even her ears seemed to be ringing. She mustered every ounce of sanity she could find.

  “The girl—Cassandra—said your mother sent them. She said she was an old friend.” And from the look of things they could both be a good deal more as well. Did Theo Savas take lovers two at a time?

  “To you they were strangers,” Theo bit out. “And they should have stayed that way. You know damn well I don’t want anyone here! I told you—”

  “I know what you told me,” Martha said sharply. “But these weren’t groupies. They’re friends of your mother! If you don’t want them here, fine. Throw them out. Who cares? Just go out there and tell them to leave.”

  Theo ground his teeth. “I can’t. And you know it.”

  Martha raised her brows. “I do? Why?”

  “Because you have a Greek mother, too. One that you don’t want to know you’re here. Am I right?” He gave her a knowing look.

  Martha shrugged irritably. “That’s not the same.”

  “It is the same. They meddle, mothers do. They think they know what’s best.” He cracked his knuckles and paced around the room.

  Martha watched him curiously. “So…what’s best for you, according to your mother?” she asked at last.

  He cracked his knuckles again. “A wife,” he muttered at last.

  Martha grinned.

  “It’s not funny.”

  She wiped a hand over her mouth, taking the smile with it. “Of course not,” she intoned solemnly. But a corner of her mouth twitched anyway at the thought of Theo running scared of his mother’s machinations.

  “She thinks it will get the groupies off my back if she provides me with other choices.” He scowled. “She’s wrong. Especially she’s wrong about that one.”

  “Which one?” Martha didn’t think he’d looked particularly happy to see either of them.

  “Agnetta.” Theo fairly spat the name.

  “Ah.” Yes, there had been a bit of animosity on his part when he’d spied her, and Agnetta had definitely been the one who’d been startled to see her here. She’d demanded to know who Martha was the minute she’d opened the door to the pair of them.

  “I take it you two have a history,” Martha said mildly now.

  Not that she wanted to know it. But it was obvious from the unfinished sentences that Agnetta had left dangling, and the suspicious way she’d studied Martha ever since she’d arrived. Contrarily Martha had done no more than tell them her name. But while Cassandra had been eager and open, Agnetta had been more wary. She’d also dropped the words dear Theo into the conversation at least half a dozen times.

  Martha couldn’t imagine anyone called Theo “dear” to his face. Not even his mother.

  Now dear Theo ground his teeth. He jammed his hands into the pockets of his canvas shorts. “It wasn’t a…history. It was brief. And it’s over.”

  “Not to her apparently.” Martha stated the obvious.

  Theo slammed his hand against the wall. “You could have said I wasn’t coming back.”

  “Well, you were. You told me you were. How did I know what you wanted me to do?”

  “You knew I didn’t want anyone here!”

  “Yep, I knew that. And you were such a jerk to me, I thought it would serve you right.” Martha gave him a cheerful grin.

  He jammed his hands into the pockets of his shorts. “Thanks.” His tone was bitter. “Damn it,” he muttered and hunched his shoulders, then straightened and raked both hands through his salt-stiffened hair.

  He was a gorgeous specimen of manhood, Martha thought, still remembering—albeit reluctantly—what it had felt like to have his lips on hers. No wet soppy kisses from Theo Savas.

  Not like the ones she’d had from Julian, that was for sure.

  Men like Theo ought to be locked away where they couldn’t have an adverse effect on women. It was obvious he’d had one on Agnetta, if she’d come all the way to Greece just to get a second chance at him.

  And why? A woman as beautiful as Agnetta could have any man in the world. But she was apparently determined to have Theo.

  He paced like a jungle cat trapped in a cage, then reached the end of the room, spun around and demanded, “How long are they here for?”

  “What do you mean? Here on Santorini?”

  “No. In the living room,” he said sarcastically. “Of course on Santorini. Don’t be an idiot!”

  Martha shook her head. “A week, I think. Cassandra said they’re having a week’s holiday before they had to be in Marseilles for a shoot. Apparently she called home, and your mother was visiting hers, and when she heard that Agnetta and Cassandra were in the Adriatic, she had this brilliant idea they should come visit you and—”

  “I get the picture,” Theo said grimly. He paced some more, considered some more, and finally nodded. “Okay. A week. They can stay a week. You’re staying, too.”

  “Me?” Martha stared at him. “But you said—”

  “You wanted to stay. You said so. ‘Big enough for both of us,’ you said.” He quoted her words back at her. “You made a big issue out of it.”

  “Well, yes, then, but—”

  “No buts. They can stay for a week, as long as you do. Acting as my girlfriend.”

  “What!”

  “You heard me. They won’t be able to pester me if I’ve already got a woman in residence.”

  “I’m not—”

  “And when you go, they go.”

  Martha glared at him. “You’re trying to make me the bad guy.”

  Theo shrugged unrepentantly. “Up to you.”

  “But I’m going to be here three weeks. That’s what my plane reservation is for!”

  “Then you can take this week to find another place to stay. No problem.”

  Not to him, maybe. In fact Theo looked disgustingly pleased with himself.

  Martha glared. “Why?” she asked him at last. “Why should I?”

  He shrugged. “Because you need a place to stay? You’re broke and desperate?” He gave her a mocking smile.

  It was altogether too close to the truth. But that didn’t make her want to do it. She stalled. “Tell me more about this ‘history’ you have with Agnetta.”

  Theo didn’t look as if he were going to, but when Martha just stared at him wordlessly, he finally muttered, “I just don’t want her thinking she’s going to worm her way back into my life.”

  “So she was in your life?�
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  “I went out with her a few times.” His tone was dismissive, but definitely edgy.

  “‘Out with?’” Martha raised her brows. “Just casual dates? Home by eleven? That sort of thing?” she queried with false innocence.

  “Slept with,” Theo snarled. “But that’s it. Nothing else.”

  “What else could there be?”

  “I mean, no strings! It wasn’t a ‘relationship.’ We weren’t a couple. I don’t do relationships. It was a good time, that’s all. And I made that clear.”

  “How very charming of you.”

  “Look, I never claimed to be in love with her. I met her at a sailing race. She was a model on a photo shoot. We hit it off. Had a few beers. Spent some time together.”

  “In bed.”

  “In bed and out of bed,” he said, exasperated. “But I told her I wasn’t looking for anything serious. Ever.”

  “Of course not. You just swept her off her feet,” Martha agreed gravely. “You and that earth-shattering charm.”

  Theo’s teeth snapped together. “Nobody forced her to go to bed with me!”

  Martha gave him a baleful look. “Oh, I believe it. A man with charm like yours…”

  “At least I didn’t lie to her!”

  And, as Martha well knew, some men did.

  Julian had dripped charm as he’d vowed he loved her and wanted to spend forever with her. Julian had told her he just wanted her to be ready. The same Julian who, in the meantime, hadn’t been able to keep his trousers zipped.

  Perhaps truth had more to recommend it than charm, Martha thought and decided to cut Theo a tiny bit of slack.

  “So fine. You didn’t want anything serious and she did. So? Don’t tell me she tried to kidnap you and force you to the altar.”

  “Damn near,” Theo growled. He rubbed a hand against the back of his neck. “We spent a few weeks together on the shoot and after. Next thing I knew, she showed up on my doorstep announcing she was pregnant!”

  He said the word as if it had four letters. Clearly not a man hankering to be a father.

  “So what did you do? Whip out the charm and tell her to get rid of it?” While she imagined he had been shocked, she was still indignant at the thought.

  Theo’s teeth snapped together. He leveled a hard look in her direction. “I’d never do that.”

  “Then…?” Martha frowned, confused.

  “There wasn’t a baby.”

  “But you said she said—”

  “She said she was pregnant. She wasn’t. Ever. But she figured that if she said she was, I’d marry her.” He looked furious all over again, and if he was really telling the truth, Martha could understand why he was upset with Agnetta.

  She was a little upset herself. She didn’t like to think there were women who would try to trick a man into marriage like that. And she couldn’t imagine anyone being stupid enough to try it on a hard case like Theo Savas.

  “So, um, how did you…find out?”

  “I’m not an idiot,” he snapped. “I take precautions. But there is always the remote chance something could have happened, so I said we’d wait.”

  “Wait?”

  He nodded. “And see. I mean, it was going to be obvious if she was pregnant pretty soon, wasn’t it? She wasn’t happy. She wailed a lot. Accused me of being heartless.”

  Martha could imagine.

  “I didn’t give a damn.”

  Martha could imagine that, too.

  “But when she saw I meant it, that I was not going to marry her unless she produced a real obvious pregnancy, she suddenly ‘discovered’—” Theo’s lip curled on the word “—she was only late, that she wasn’t pregnant at all.” He snorted in disbelief. “It was on account of all the stress of wondering where our relationship was going, she said.” He gave a cynical shake of his head. “It wasn’t going anywhere,” he said flatly. “And it still isn’t. And you, Ms. Antonides, are going to make sure of it.”

  “I’m not—”

  “You are. You’re going to stay right here—” he hit the word with both feet, making it clear that he meant not only the house, but his bedroom “—and make sure Agnetta—and Cassandra—know I have a woman in my life.”

  “But you—”

  “You want a place to stay. You can stay here—as long as Agnetta and Cassie stay. As my very devoted girlfriend. Got it?” Theo’s black eyes fixed on her with a hard look that dared her to disagree.

  Martha didn’t. Her thoughts were in a whirl. She couldn’t change her ticket. It had nearly wiped out her savings as it was. Only by booking her return for three weeks hence had she been able to cut the cost a little. Paying for a room for three weeks was out of the question.

  Now she wouldn’t have to—if she agreed to stay here in the house.

  “Here?” she said warily. “In this house?”

  “In this room,” Theo clarified.

  Which meant, in his bed.

  There was only one bed in the room. She looked at it now. Theo’s gaze followed hers. It was a big bed with crisp white sheets and a Mediterranean-blue coverlet.

  As if he read the direction of her thoughts, he began, “I don’t expect—”

  But Martha was getting an idea of her own. “Those magazine articles—” she began, heart quickening.

  “What about them?” Theo snapped.

  “Were they true?”

  “What?” He looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.

  “I was just wondering how they knew?” she gave him a speculative look. “I mean, did they do research? Ask women? How did they decide you were the world’s sexiest sailor?”

  “How the hell should I know!” Theo threw his hands in the air. “Are you insane?”

  Maybe, Martha thought. But she didn’t intend to admit it. She chewed her lip, thoughts roiling, making her brain buzz.

  “You don’t have to worry about it,” Theo said abruptly. “I expect you to stay in my room and sleep in my bed. But I don’t expect you to—” He broke off, and Martha was surprised to see something that might have been a flush climb up his neck.

  She cocked her head. “Have a no-strings affair with you?”

  He nodded curtly.

  “What if I want one?”

  Jaw dropping, he stared at her. “What!”

  “I said, what if I want one,” Martha repeated brazenly. “If you’re the world’s sexiest sailor, if hordes of women are, by your own testimony, trying to get into your bed, well, why shouldn’t I want in, too. I’d be a fool not to.”

  He shook his head. “You are nuts.”

  “Maybe I am,” she said recklessly. “So what? What’s it to you? You don’t want to get involved with me. Fine. I don’t want to get involved with you, either. No relationship, like you said. Just fun and games, that’s all. I’m on the pill. So, no consequences. So—” she lifted her chin in determined challenge “—why not?”

  Theo Savas didn’t say a word. He just stared at her.

  In the face of his unrelenting stupefied silence, Martha found her bravado cracking.

  Was she that unappealing? Was she so appallingly awful that he couldn’t even imagine making love. Having sex, she corrected herself quickly—with her?

  Now she was the one who felt hot blood rise in her cheeks. They burned fiercely, but she’d said the words so she made herself stand her ground.

  What else, after all, could she do? She couldn’t afford to leave.

  “Those are my terms,” she said baldly. “Take them or leave them.”

  Still he didn’t speak for so long that she considered picking up the lamp and bashing him over the head with it. Then at last he flexed his shoulders and straightened just a little.

  “Let me get this straight.” His voice was a drawl now. “I let you stay here for the week and in exchange you want a no-strings affair?”

  “That’s right,” Martha said firmly. “Except I want to stay three weeks.”

  A dark masculine eyebrow hiked into the fring
e of his hair.

  “It’s the least you can do. I told you. My flight leaves in three weeks. I want to stay that long. And,” she added recklessly, “I want some mind-blowing sex in the meantime.”

  Thank God her vigilant parents, her overprotective brothers and all the other guardians of her virtue couldn’t hear her now!

  But she almost wished bloody Julian could! He was the reason she was saying this. He had driven her to it.

  But she knew it wasn’t just about Julian. It was about her, too.

  She was twenty-four years old, but she’d been cosseted, protected and coddled her entire life. And everything in that life had, until yesterday, gone according to plan.

  Yesterday—the memory of Julian naked in the shower with some faceless, nameless woman, someone who was Not Her—had proved to Martha that her dreams were no more than that. They had no substance. They were airy fluff.

  She had always assumed that she would find the deep lasting love her parents had—the love that had so far eluded all her siblings, especially her sister Cristina who used to go through men like Martha went through tubes of cadmium blue. She had always been determined not to be another Cristina. So when she’d met Julian, when he had teased her, charmed her, flirted with her, she’d dared to hope he would be The One.

  “Of course I’m the one,” he’d agreed the first evening they’d met, his grin devastating, his pale-blue eyes dancing. “Let me show you.”

  That was the first time he’d tried to get her into bed.

  But Martha had declined. She wasn’t even close to ready for intimacy like that. She wanted it, certainly. But only if she was sure. Then she would commit. Love and sex were all part of the same fabric in her mind. And over the past five months she’d held out—until she was sure.

  And what a mistake that was!

  She’d been an idiot. A blind naive idiot.

  Obviously sex and love had nothing whatever to do with each other! Just ask Julian.

  So, fine. She could learn from her mistakes. And in the meantime she would learn from the world’s sexiest sailor. Though to be honest, Theo Savas looked less sexy than stunned as he stared at her.

  Martha stared back, resolute and implacable.

  Theo’s eyes narrowed fractionally, as if assessing her resolve and, perhaps, something else. But finally he nodded and a slow smile lifted the corners of his supremely kissable lips—the lips whose kiss had inspired her outrageous demand in the first place.