Marriage At His Convenience. JACQUELINE BAIRD
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his dark head bending towards her, shielding her face from view. ‘Take a deep breath, don’t let him see he has hurt you, don’t give him the satisfaction.’
Hurt didn’t begin to cover how she felt, and a slow-burning anger ignited in the pit of her stomach. She took a few deep, calming breaths, schooling her face into calm immobility.
‘That’s it,’ Spiro said, and moved to her side just as Lucas and Christina stopped in front of them.
‘Glad you could make it, Spiro, and you too, Amber,’ Lucas said smoothly, and proceeded to introduce his companion. ‘Allow me to introduce Christina Aristides. I have just acquired her father’s business, and this evening is to celebrate the deal.’
Amber wanted to smash her fist in his face, scream and yell, demand to know why he had lied to her, but this was neither the time or the place. Instead she straightened her shoulders and pinned a smile on her face as she shook the young girl’s hand. It wasn’t the poor girl’s fault, it was Lucas who was the swine.
Christina smiled demurely, and then, turning to Spiro, she punched him playfully on the arm. ‘My, you are a dark horse, Spiro, you never mentioned that you were bringing your girlfriend with you tonight.’ And then she added for Amber’s benefit, ‘I hope you did not mind me stealing your boyfriend for the afternoon, but Lucas was too tied up with business to go shopping with me.’ The inference being Lucas was her boyfriend.
The tension between the other three was electric. Amber’s eyes flew to Lucas’s face—surely he would say something, deny it. She saw the cold anger in the depths of his eyes. He was furious she was here. Her presence had obviously upset his glittering celebration, or maybe for the first time in his life he actually felt embarrassed. But in a second Amber knew she was wrong. He stared back at her, his gaze chillingly remote. Amber had seen that look only once before when she’d tried to argue with him about Spiro—it had scared her then, but now it confirmed what she had probably known for the past twenty-four hours but refused to admit.
Shattered by his duplicity, she let her gaze trail over his tall, muscular body. He was the sexiest man alive, but also heartless. She finally saw him as the hard, ruthless Greek tycoon that he had always been, but love had blinded her to his real character. She tilted back her head, her golden eyes challenging him, but he avoided her gaze, his whole attention fixed on the young girl.
‘Don’t worry, Christina. I’m sure Amber didn’t mind,’ Lucas said softly, and, turning to Spiro, he added, ‘Though I did not know you and Amber were still seeing each other.’
‘Oh, yes, Amber is not the sort to desert her friends, are you, Amber, darling?’ Spiro drawled pointedly, and, clasping an arm around her slender waist, he pulled her into his side and pressed a swift kiss on her brow.
Amber let him—in fact she was glad of his support. Her stomach churned and she wanted to be sick as the full extent of Lucas’s betrayal hit her. Her beautiful face lost what little colour she had. How dared he introduce her to Christina as though she were merely an acquaintance, a friend of his nephew, instead of the woman who had shared his bed for the best part of a year?
‘So I see,’ Lucas drawled mockingly. He knew Spiro was gay.
His mockery was the last straw for Amber. Her wild golden eyes clashed with Lucas’s. ‘I wonder, can anyone say the same about you, Lucas? But, no, I seem to remember you telling me once you had no real friends. Perhaps because you only use people.’ She saw his jaw clench, a dark tide of colour surging up under his skin, and a leap of fury in his eyes. Serves him right, Amber thought.
‘My, Lucas, a woman who does not admire you unreservedly, that must be a first,’ Christina piped up.
‘Amber is an old friend, and she and Spiro delight in trying to needle me, it’s just a joke.’ Lucas smiled down at Christina, his voice softening. ‘Nothing for you to worry about.’
Fury such as she had never known sent all the blood rushing back to Amber’s head. Old friend! He had a nerve. The hand holding her glass of wine began to rise. Spiro, guessing her intentions, grasped her wrist.
‘I am starving and I think you need a top up, Amber. Excuse us.’ With his arm at her waist, he urged her away from the other couple. ‘It would have been a futile gesture, Amber, throwing your drink over him—your glass is virtually empty,’ he murmured, turning her back to the crowd to face the buffet table.
Amber was shaking, visibly shaking. She’d never felt such overwhelming rage in her life. ‘I wasn’t going to throw it over him,’ she denied, turning blazing eyes up to Spiro’s. ‘I was going to screw the glass in his arrogant, lying face,’ she confessed fiercely.
She was not a violent person, she had never harmed a living thing in her life, but for a second she had completely lost control. Suddenly she was appalled at her own actions, and her anger subsided. ‘Thank you for stopping me, Spiro.’ She tried to smile. ‘Your better nature got the better of you—you said earlier you wanted me to cause a scene, and I thought you were joking. But the joke is on me and I’ve never felt less like laughing. I want to cry.’
‘No, Amber. Tim was right and I was wrong.’ His arm dropped from her waist and he lifted a hand to her chin and tilted her head up to face him. ‘I should never have brought you here. I have to speak to my grandfather but then I am taking you straight home. Ten minutes at most, can you do it?’
A film of moisture hazed her glorious eyes, and she blinked furiously. ‘I have to, I have no choice.’ Imperceptibly she straightened her shoulders, her back ramrod straight as she fought for control, and won.
Spiro’s hand fell from her chin, his dark eyes admiring her elegant form. ‘You are the most beautiful, elegant lady in this room. You have more class in your little finger than the whole of this lot put together, and don’t you forget it.’
Before Amber could respond old Mr Karadines interrupted them. He gave Spiro a hug and spoke to him in Greek, before turning to Amber.
‘Amber, isn’t it? Good to meet you again, and I’m glad to see you are still keeping this grandson of mine in order.’
‘Hello, and I’m trying,’ was as much as she could manage to say. A blessed numbness had enveloped her. She felt as if she were viewing the proceedings from outside her body—the pain was waiting for her, she knew, but her heart had not broken, it had simply solidified into a hard black stone in her breast.
‘Good, good. I have been hearing great things about you from Clive here. Allow me to introduce you. Clive Thompson, my grandson’s friend, Amber Jackson.’
Amber didn’t have time to wonder why the old man had referred to her as Spiro’s friend as the name of the tall, elegant blond-haired man registered, and she was holding out her hand to him. He was a top manager with Janson’s merchant bank. He was only forty but already his reputation was legendary in the City.
She sensed rather than saw Lucas and Christina walk up and join the group, but she did not dare look. If she did she knew she would break down. Her hand was still held by Clive and she was grateful because it enabled her to find the strength not to tremble at Lucas’s towering presence beside her.
‘I have been longing to meet you as soon as Theo told me your name. Allow me to say you are as beautiful as you are brilliant, if not more so; a truly stunning combination.’ His bright blue eyes smiled down into hers, and, lifting her fingers to his lips, he kissed the back of her hand before letting go.
‘Oh, how gallant, Mr Thompson!’ Christina’s accented voice interrupted.
Amber glanced sideways and saw Lucas had moved closer to her with Christina clinging onto his other arm. Quickly she returned her attention to Clive, and saw his slightly raised eyebrows and brief polite smile at the young girl, before he returned his attention to Amber again and continued as if the other girl had not spoken.
‘Brentford’s are very lucky to have you, is the word in the City. Apparently you got your clients out of…’ and he mentioned a high-tech company whose shares were