Page 19 of Forbidden Greek Mistress
“Her parents died when she was very small,” Thanasis told her, and she couldn’t tell if there was something ruthless or sorrowed in his voice, then. “She was raised in care. A local vicar took an interest in her and helped her get a place at university. Sadly, he also died not long after. When I met Saskia, she was all alone in the world. And she believed that this meant I thought that she was not good enough for me.” His nostrilsflared slightly, the only sign of high emotion she could see. “She thought I was hiding her instead of protecting her.”
Selwen felt her own chin rise again, as if she expected she might have to fight about this. Ancient history. A story about a woman she would never know. “What were you protecting her from?”
He leaned in again, his face stark and stripped down with something like temper—but nothing in her suggested she recoil.
Quite the opposite. The only word she could think of to describe how she felt wasexhilaration,but that couldn’t be right. She bit the inside of her mouth, hoping the pain might sort her out, but it didn’t seem to do anything except hurt.
“This,” he bit out. “I was saving you fromthis, Saskia. That terrible man you have decided to marry, the weight of his ego and his vanity and all his nasty little minions who will stop at nothing to drag you down to their level, tear you apart, and make you wish you’d never met any of them.”
“I am not Saskia,” Selwen managed to get out, though she could barely hear her own voice over the pounding of her blood in her veins. “And your father has never been anything but kind to me.”
“I am pleased to hear that,” Thanasis growled. “But he is not a kind man. And this is not a kind place. And you are spectacularly naïve if you imagine you have the tools to navigate it.”
“I’m doing just fine, aren’t I?” she shot back. “In point of fact, you’re the only unkind person I’ve met on this island.”
“My poor sweetfos mou,” he said, with a dark laugh, “I have not even begun to be unkind. But I assure you, if you do not put a stop to this madness, that is the very least that I can promise you.”
Selwen stood up then, in a rush. She felt flustered, and something far worse than that. There was that soft heat,betraying her. She could feel it between her legs, and everywhere else. Worse still, she had the strangest sensation that she was being torn apart. As if every word he said was a hook in her flesh, her bone—tearing her in a different direction.
She was surprised she was still in one piece.
It was possible she only hoped she was.
“Maybe,” she said quietly, “this is exactly why she left you.”
“She didn’t believe me,” he threw back at her, getting to his feet as well, and then they were too close, standing there on the porch where anyone could see them, but Selwen didn’t back away. “We had a row. She told me she was going somewhere else to collect her thoughts and she didn’t want me to know where. I didn’t think she had a place in mind. She said she was going to take the train north and stop when she felt like it, and I would simply have to deal with that until she returned. But she never returned.”
“Or maybe that’s what she had to tell you so she could escape. Have you ever thought of that?”
“I think about that all the time,” Thanasis growled at her. “But regardless of Saskia’s intentions, what happened is that there was a train derailment. Her body was never found. It was five years ago. Where were you five years ago, Selwen? Where does your memory start?”
She couldn’t speak. She couldn’tthink.
And then he made it worse by stepping forward and wrapping his hands over her upper arms, so he could put his face directly into hers.
“How did you end up in Wales, Saskia?” he asked her, his voice dark and rich, a threat and an invitation, all at once. “How did you stay hidden all this time?”
And everything inside of Selwen seemed to crash and burn. But she shook her head. She looked up at him and she could still feel too much. That longing for him that horrified her. This wildnotion that she needed to touch him. The dizzying truth that his hands fit her shoulders perfectly.
She shook her head again. “I don’t know if I’m your Saskia,” she said.
“You are.”
Selwen swallowed. Hard. “This is what I do know. When Ffion found me by the side of the road, I had no idea who I was. All I knew was that I wanted to hide.”
She stepped back and without thinking, lifted a hand to her hair. “I cut off all my hair. I dressed in hoods and dark, loose clothing. I stayed close to home. I lived in that village for five years and I never made friends. I didn’twantto make friends.”
He whispered something beneath his breath, another Greek endearment or curse. She didn’t want to know which.
She took another step back. “I have to assume that this picture you painted for me isn’t true, even if you think it is. Because if I am your Saskia, Thanasis? Then I was running.From you.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Thanasis staggered back.
It was as if she’d buried an axe in the center of his chest. Though he had to believe that an actual axe would have felt better than…whatever this was.
“What do you mean?” he demanded, his voice raw and strange because her words didn’t make sense. They couldn’t penetrate his brain, no matter how much his chest hurt. “Of course you weren’trunning from me. Why would you say such a thing?”
