Beauty and the Greek Read Free Page B

finish.
    I was crazy about Theo but I was shocked when he gave me an ultimatum. Theo made me choose between him and my career. He’s very Greek; he wanted an old-fashioned sort of wife who would live her life through him.
    She had phoned him to tell him that the article had beendirectly responsible for getting her the contract as the face a new perfume ahead of the model who had been tipped for the job.
    â€˜So thanks, Theo,’ she’d said, warning, ‘but you still owe me.’
    Presumably this was payback time.
    â€˜Am I interrupting?’
    The ironic question caused the couple, who were in a tight embrace, to pull apart. The woman rather ostentatiously adjusted the low gaping neckline of her dress and the man, looking flushed and embarrassed, dragged a hand through his tousled hair and cleared his throat.
    â€˜Theo…I…we…didn’t hear you. We were…’
    Theo arched a questioning brow at his clearly embarrassed brother and smiled. Actually, he wanted to throttle him; how could he not know that Ariana was poison, that she was motivated by two things—revenge and greed?
    Like you did?
    Ariana lifted a beautifully manicured hand to Andreas’s lips and gave a complacent smile as she observed, in a voice that had been likened by more than one smitten man to a purr, ‘Darling, Theo knows what we were doing.’
    Andreas kept a wary eye on his brother as she pressed a lingering kiss to his lips. ‘Well, I don’t need to introduce you two, do I…?’ he said, grinning weakly at his own joke.
    Tall and universally considered good-looking, Andreas Kyriakis had learnt early in life that the warmth and charm of his smile would tip the balance of most situations in his favour, but on this occasion his smile was wary as he reached for the chilled champagne.
    The unease vanished as his attention turned to hisbeautiful bride-to-be. As he popped the cork he was unable to stifle a smile of triumph.
    It was his brother’s turn to be second best.
    Ariana had not wanted Theo but she wanted him.

CHAPTER TWO
    â€˜T HAT was all a very long time ago. We were children, weren’t we, Theo?’ Ariana took the glass of champagne and looked at the older brother through the mesh of her darkened lashes, experiencing a moment’s uncertainty as she realised that Theo was looking relaxed when he was meant to be denouncing her to Andreas and flinging ultimatums.
    â€˜Infants,’ Theo agreed as his sardonic glance brushed the rock sparkling on Ariana’s finger. ‘At least I was.’
    As he smiled and watched the puzzled pout settle on Ariana’s lips he found himself comparing the cosmetically enhanced fullness, which he found not even vaguely inviting, with the softer and much sexier lushness of Elizabeth Farley’s naturally pink lips.
    Well, now he had the cause of the tears and tantrums in the outer office; it appeared he wasn’t the only one unhappy about that diamond.
    â€˜You should have been at Ariana’s birthday bash in Paris, Andreas,’ he commented offhandedly.
    He paused, a flicker of something close to shock moving across the reflective surface of his dark eyes—he had just thought sexy, inviting and Elizabeth Farley in the same sentence!
    How had that happened?
    â€˜But, no, I remember now, you were doing your exams. What was it, Ariana—your thirtieth?’ he asked innocently.
    Ariana’s careful smile slipped; her blue eyes were hard as she corrected sharply, ‘I was still in my twenties.’
    â€˜Yes, that would be right,’ Theo agreed, feeling no remorse for attacking one of Ariana’s weak spots. ‘I did have a thing for older women at that age. Do you remember there were balloons and clowns?’
    â€˜There was a famous mime artist,’ Ariana told Andreas, ‘and Theo fell asleep.’
    â€˜Age isn’t relevant when you’re in love,’ Andreas said quickly and