The Greek Millionaire's Marriage Read Free

he’s gone now,’ Marina said with satisfaction.
    â€˜Mistress? He wouldn’t have the energy to manage another woman,’ Olivia told her with unusual frankness, stung by Marina’s spite.
    The older woman pursed her lips in disapproval of such intimate knowledge.
    â€˜My son is more of a man than you know. I’ll give you her address. I think her name is Athena. You can see for yourself.’
    A cold chill went through Olivia. That had been said with such certainty… Please, no, she thought. Shecouldn’t bear it. Suddenly she felt she must get away from Marina.
    â€˜I’m going to bed. Goodnight.’
    Shaking with apprehension, she made her way to the master bedroom, where she found Dimitri lounging on their vast bed, laughing and murmuring into the phone. The moment he saw her he cut the call short and she felt a terrible sick sensation sweeping through her.
    They stared at one another like two wary opponents in a boxing ring. She saw disappointment in his eyes before he swung off the bed and strode past her.
    â€˜Where are you going?’ she asked, hating herself for sounding like a nagging wife.
    â€˜Out.’
    â€˜At this hour?’
    Oh, that was stupid! But she understood now why women probed like this. They didn’t trust their husbands. And often with good reason.
    He studied her soft, trembling mouth and almost told her. Then he bit back the words that were on the tip of his tongue and said curtly; ‘At this hour.’ And he strode out before she could weaken him.
    Olivia stood in the middle of the luxurious bedroom, mistress of all she surveyed, co-owner of the mansion and all its valuable contents, of a penthouse in Athens overlooking the Acropolis, a Georgian house in Berkeley Square, a yacht, a private jet and apparently unlimited funds. Yet never had she felt so bereft, so shorn of everything she valued.
    The wealth and its trappings were nothing without Dimitri’s love. If he didn’t care, then she had nothing. She looked down at her shaking hands. The huge diamond in her engagement ring flashed at her as if in mockery. The diamond necklace, designed to look likea scattering of glittering daisies at her throat, felt suddenly like a slave’s halter.
    She was a wife now. A possession. And according to their marriage ceremony she was supposed to stand in awe of her husband. At least, she thought wryly, she’d then been directed to stamp on his foot. Pity she’d just tapped his instep with her toe.
    Olivia frowned, remembering that he had been instructed to love her as if she were his own body. All right. Either he did love her or he didn’t. She wasn’t going to be used purely as a sex object, or a breeding ground for Angelaki children while he ‘played away’. At times like this it was sink or swim, and she’d never been the sinking sort.
    Her mouth firmed in determination. If he did have a mistress, she would leave him. She would not be shared. Tomorrow she would swallow her pride and ask Marina for that address.
    No man made a fool of her. No man would ever use her purely to appease his sexual appetite. Better a life without Dimitri than that.
    She noticed that the sprig of lemon blossom she’d placed on the bathroom shelf had withered and died. Was that an omen? She met her own blazing aquamarine eyes and grim mouth in the baroque mirror, the full enormity of her situation striking her with chilling reality. This time tomorrow she could be on the plane back to England.

CHAPTER ONE
    I T WAS three years since she’d last been in Athens. Three interminable years since she’d walked out on Dimitri after wrecking their bedroom in a fit of helpless rage, flinging valuable objects around as if they were cheap souvenirs. It had done nothing to ease the searing pain.
    He had been cheating on her. She had seen it with her own eyes. Marina had driven her to a small village near ancient Mycenae, just in time to