should I have done?’ she queried.
Nigel’s pale eyes narrowed rather warily on her face. ‘Probably not, unless you read the gossip pages in the gutter press. Leo Solomos is a Greek tycoon. But he’s rather better known for the number of ladies he has married. The man at the bar is his son. He keeps a much lower profile, but it’s well known in financial circles that he’s the power behind the throne. The old man would have gone bust years ago, simply because of alimony payments, if it wasn’t for Alex Solomos taking control of the company.’
Lisa sneaked a furtive glance back at the man from beneath the mask of her long lashes; she could well believe Nigel. Alex Solomos, with his impressive height and magnificent build, looked every inch the dynamic, powerful businessman.
‘Wait here you two, I’m going to introduce myself. This is too good an opportunity to miss.’ And, to Lisa’s horror, her stepbrother approached the man at the bar, and started to talk.
‘Harold, does Nigel know that man?’ she asked after a few minutes, only too well aware of her stepbrother’s penchant for pushing in where he was not wanted.
‘Well, he does now, Lisa.’ Harold quipped, with a nod in the direction of the bar.
Lisa looked up, and her stomach lurched. Nigel was returning, with the stunning man in tow. Helplessly, she stared at his face. He was incredibly attractive, with classically sculptured features, a mobile, sensual mouth that was twitching in the beginnings of a smile.
‘Nigel suggested I join you for a drink. I hope you don’t mind?’ He turned all the force of his megawatt smile on Lisa, no trace of his earlier cynicism present.
‘You are a friend of his?’ she managed to ask, trying not to stare, and wondering how such a superior example of the male species could possibly like Nigel.
‘Not really. Apparently he recognised me and took pity on a man drinking alone. But seemingly we do have a mutual business acquaintance.’ His voice was low and a little husky, with just the slightest trace of an accent. ‘Allow me to introduce myself. Alex Solomos.’
The hand he held out to Lisa was large and tanned, and when his fingers curled around hers, the heat and strength he generated seemed to sizzle right through her whole body. Lisa looked up into a pair of heavy lidded dark brown eyes, and the intensity of his gaze held her mesmerised.
‘Lisa—Lisa Lawson,’ she stammered, and she did not breathe again until he let go of her hand.
Turning to shake Harold’s hand, he said, ‘And you are Nigel’s father, I believe. There is no mistaking the likeness.’
The three men talked and ordered another round of drinks while Lisa tried hard not to stare at Alex. She was a businesswoman, not some lovestruck teenager, but it was no good. A heady excitement made her blood fizz like champagne in her veins. His hard handsome face, his eyes, drew her gaze like a magnet, and his voice sounded like a caress to her over-sensitive nerves.
Apparently he was in Stratford for the weekend. He had been to see a performance of Richard III.
‘I confess I left at the first interval. My English is good, but not so good I can understand the language of Shakespeare.’
Somehow his confession that he had walked out on the play rather than pretend he understood it endeared him to Lisa even more, and from that moment on she was a goner…
Alex left half an hour later for a dinner engagement, and Lisa found herself giving him her address. He arranged to pick her up at ten the next morning, in the pretence that she would act as his guide around Stratford for the day.
When he called for her the next morning, casually dressed in blue denim jeans and a black cashmere sweater, she had simply stared.
‘You’re even more beautiful than I remembered.’ His brown eyes darkened with an unmistakable message in their depths, leaving her more flustered than she had ever been in her life. He helped her into the passenger seat of a lethal-looking red sports car and then slid into the driver’s seat. But before starting the car, he turned to her with dark, serious eyes.
‘There is something I have to tell you, Lisa.’ For one heart-chilling moment she thought he was going to tell her he was married. ‘I am the boss of Solomos International. Is that going to be a problem for you?’
The relief was so great, Lisa beamed. She was a confident, intelligent young woman, she dressed in designer clothes or snappy casuals, and she could mix in any strata of society. She never gave it much thought, but actually, on paper, she was also wealthy. He had no need to worry; she wouldn’t be intimidated by his money. It was in the sexual stakes she was a novice, nowhere else. ‘No, of course not. I am the boss of Lawson’s, but I never mix business with pleasure,’ she said, daringly for her. And she was rewarded by a reciprocal brilliant smile.
‘Good. Beautiful and sensible. A winning combination.’
It was the best day of Lisa’s life. They walked hand in hand by the river and around the streets of Stratford-upon-Avon and talked about everything and nothing. He insisted on driving out of town for lunch. They shared a ploughman’s lunch in the garden of a small country pub, Alex teasingly feeding her a small cherry tomato with his fingers. As Lisa opened her mouth his glance fixed on her face, his eyes dark and hot, and when his fingers touched her lips, she felt a surge of desire so strong she trembled and could not hide it from him.
‘It is the same for me, Lisa,’ he had told her in a deep, husky voice, and when she blushed, he added with a tender smile, ‘The sexual chemistry between us is electric, but have no fear, Lisa, I will not take advantage of you; it’s not my style.’
For the rest of the day they enjoyed themselves like a couple of children. By Sunday evening, she was so captivated by him that when he took her into his arms and kissed her, and told her he was going to marry her, her answer was a joyous yes. The following weekend he stayed at her home in Stratford, and formally asked Harold for her hand in marriage. Three weeks later they were married.
Thinking about it now, Lisa cringed in shame at her own naivety. She should have guessed Nigel had had a hidden agenda when he’d introduced her to Alex. But she’d had little experience of men. As a teenager she’d been taller than most of the girls at her school, and had been tormented about being gawky. So when other girls had been dating, Lisa had concentrated on her studies. Later, she had never seemed to have the time for socialising. In fact her best friend, if she was honest, was Jed, whom she’d never met in person.
‘Lisa, Lisa, darling.’ Lost in her own troubled thoughts, she hadn’t been conscious of Alex entering the room. She heard his deep voice and closed her eyes. How she was going to get through the night, she had no idea, and for a fleeting instant she wished she could turn the clock back to this morning. If she had stayed in Stratford, she would have been perfectly happy, but by coming to London she had discovered more than she’d ever wanted to know.
‘Lisa.’ Alex’s deep, husky drawl feathered across her cheek. She felt the mattress depress and knew she had no chance of pretending to sleep.
‘Alex,’ she murmured, turning over on to her back and blinking her bright blue eyes, as though she had just woken up.
‘This is a surprise.’ He gave her a narrow-eyed look. ‘Unexpected, but very flattering. When did you arrive?’
Was it her imagination or was there more to the seemingly innocuous question? Did he suspect she might have overheard his conversation with Nigel?
‘What time is it?’ She answered his question with one of her own. Her stomach was churning with a mixture of distress and desire.
‘Ten-thirty.’
‘Oh, I got here at eight, bathed and changed, and I must have fallen asleep an hour or so ago.’ She tried to smile, badly shaken by his close proximity and the proprietorial hand he curved around her naked shoulder.
Slowly his lips parted over brilliant white teeth, in a broad smile with just a tinge of smugness. ‘Couldn’t stay away from