Greek vows revisited, p.1
Greek Vows Revisited, page 1
She would be his wife for one more week—superficially a convenient arrangement to suppress scandal, but still his wife.
They would see this out in every way. What had happened in the last two years wasn’t Ares’s business, but these next few days, she would be his. Only his.
“You will do it, Bethan.” He leaned forward, reckless determination pouring through him. “Because if you don’t pose as my happily reconciled wife for the next week and come to the gala, then I’ll argue that we’ve been together this whole time. That will reset the clock for our divorce. Two more years tied to me, you ready for that?”
“You’re dreaming,” Bethan said scathingly, unable to believe her ears. “No one will ever believe we’ve not been separated. I’ve been living in London.”
“And I’ve made frequent trips to London over the last two years.” He smiled at her evilly. “Who’s to say you weren’t in my bed each and every one of the nights I was there?”
A brand-new and exciting trilogy from USA TODAY bestselling author Natalie Anderson.
Convenient Wives Club
Once bitten... Twice a bride!
Disastrous first marriages taught friends Elodie,
Phoebe and Bethan one important lesson. From now
on, the only commitment they’ll be making is to each
other and their friendship. And the only vow they’ll be
making is never to say “I do” again—
for as long as they shall live.
But all three women will be made to
break their promise...
Realizing her parents are forcing her little sister into
a convenient marriage, Elodie is determined not to
let her sibling suffer the same fate she once had. Her
solution? Offering herself to the groom as the bride.
The problem? She’s got the wrong man!
Their Altar Arrangement
Discovering that the alluring stranger she spent one
intoxicating night with is her new boss is only the first
of Phoebe’s problems. The second? Two pink lines that
alter and bind their lives together...permanently!
Boss’s Baby Acquisition
Bethan once took a holiday fling too far by marrying
her handsome lover. Now it’s time to rectify her
reckless mistake by returning to Greece to end their
farcical marriage. But one slip forces her to remain
the billionaire’s wife for another week... Allowing their
passionate chemistry to reignite!
Greek Vows Revisited
All available now!
Greek Vows Revisited
Natalie Anderson
Note to Readers
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Page numbers taken from the following print edition: ISBN 9781335213297
USA TODAY bestselling author Natalie Anderson writes emotional contemporary romance full of sparkling banter, sizzling heat and uplifting endings—perfect for readers who love to escape with empowered heroines and arrogant alphas who are too sexy for their own good. When she’s not writing, you’ll find Natalie wrangling her four children, three cats, two goldfish and one dog...and snuggled in a heap on the sofa with her husband at the end of the day. Follow her at natalie-anderson.com.
Books by Natalie Anderson
Harlequin Presents
The Night the King Claimed Her
The Boss’s Stolen Bride
My One-Night Heir
Billion-Dollar Christmas Confessions
Carrying Her Boss’s Christmas Baby
Innocent Royal Runaways
Impossible Heir for the King
Back to Claim His Crown
Billion-Dollar Bet
Billion-Dollar Dating Game
Convenient Wives Club
Their Altar Arrangement
Boss’s Baby Acquisition
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
For Binti, thank you so much for stepping in and saving me from serious manuscript stress. I will be forever grateful!
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Excerpt
About the Publisher
Chapter One
Bethan Eagle Pitched her smile in that perilously precise point between friendly and firm, inwardly berating herself for the four hundredth time. She never should have said yes. She’d regretted it the moment she had and ever since, most especially all through dinner. She’d hoped to extricate herself quickly, but the guy beside her was old-fashioned enough to insist he accompany her home safely—albeit in a fully courteous, not creepy, way. Honestly that made it worse—it wasn’t his fault she was an awkward failure. He deserved far better.
Her smile wavered as the car pulled to the kerb. ‘You don’t need to walk me to the door—’
But he was already out and stepping around to open her door.
‘Thanks for seeing me home, you really didn’t need to.’ Bethan held her bag in front of her and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, battling the urge to flee. ‘My flatmate’s inside, waiting up. She’s been working late with her new job and keeping tabs on me at the same time because I...’
Never date.
Duh, Captain Obvious calling—she’d been beyond tense the whole time even though it was short—she’d declined dessert and after-dinner drinks and had been a definite ‘no’ to dancing.
‘I’ve been busy,’ she added needlessly. ‘Lots of work on as well and...’
And she couldn’t stop her mouth from moving—anxiously over-sharing and prolonging this interaction when all she really wanted was to be alone again. She was an idiot. And not ready. So not ready. Tonight’s test cemented that fact. Her friends Elodie and Phoebe might be ready to date again, but Bethan was officially going to be the life-long loner in their trio.
‘Never mind.’ She smiled weakly as she finally got a grip on her motor-mouth. ‘But I’d better get inside.’
Her patient gentleman of a date shot her an easy smile. ‘I enjoyed meeting you tonight, Bethan, I hope we can do this again sometime.’
Really? Why? She’d hardly been great company. She’d skittishly jumped from one topic to the next and barely touched her food—literally unable to settle. She swallowed, suddenly realising the man was probably just being polite. ‘Um...’
His smile deepened and he stepped back towards the car. ‘Call me when you’re ready.’
She breathed out, thankful he’d made no attempt to touch her. Yeah, it wasn’t a ‘kiss goodnight’ kind of date, definitely not a ‘come in for coffee’ one. But she appreciated that he understood that without her having to spell it out.
Of course he did. He was just being polite, remember?
He got back in the car and the ride-share driver restarted the engine and Bethan turned to walk up the short path to the door. Yeah, now she knew. That guy had been nice—exactly the sort of man she should date. Perfectly charming. Extremely polite. Not some force of nature entirely used to getting his own way. Not a human-form tornado who would sweep her up in his path and spin her around until she dizzily said yes to anything and everything he asked only to then spit her out the second he was done with her. Tonight’s date hadn’t been that kind of man at all. He’d been sweet and attentive and safe. The trouble was she’d had zero reaction to him. The only thing she’d felt all night was this relief now he’d left. Beyond that she was dead inside—destroyed by the singular force of nature she’d had the misfortune to meet almost two and a half years ago. Not just meet. Marry. Yeah, fool that she was she’d let him ruin her entire romantic future. No, she mentally corrected. She wasn’t ruined. Just not recovered. Yet. Tonight had been too soon. That was all.
She reached the door of the ground-floor flat her friend Phoebe owned. Bethan would be eternally grateful that Phoebe had invited her to share and charged her very little rent for the privilege. She’d met her through her boss, Elodie, and the three had quickly grown close, in part because they had a strong common bond—heartbreak—each having disastrous marriages behind them. While Elodie and Phoebe were both further along their recoveries, they respected Bethan’s need not to discuss her past yet. They were supportive and smart and had made her life so different from her lonely, mean-girl-filled school years. They’d become family—not the idealistic perfect family of her foolish, youthful dreams, but actually real.
Now she heard the car depart but despite the resulting quiet her tension didn’t ease. All night she’d had the oddest feeling someone was watching her and been unable to shake the certainty off. It was probably hyped-up self-consciousness—thinking everyone was watching because this was the first date she’d been on in years. Truthfully it was her first date ever, given that with her ex there
A large black SUV was parked diagonally across from her flat. She’d not noticed it before but as she frowned at it, the rear passenger door opened. Long legs emerged and a tall male frame unfolded with predatory grace.
Bethan’s heart contracted. Her lungs crumpled. But it was the complete collapse of her overthinking brain that was the clincher. Words vanished. Her wits paralysed for all eternity. She could barely stand and only stare as Ares Vasiliadis stalked out of the shadows towards her. The downward glow of the streetlight confirmed his identity but she’d known the instant she’d glimpsed his silhouette. Still a force of nature. Still as spellbinding—correction, stupefying—as ever. Still lean and lithe and she knew that black suit and brilliant white shirt had been hand-tailored to fit his height and breadth with immaculate perfection.
Despite the faint screams from her neutralised brain, she kept staring. Light stubble emphasised the bold slashes of his chiselled cheekbones. Grey-blue eyes glittered beneath stark brows. Long nose. Wide mouth. His bone structure couldn’t be more on point than if he’d been sculpted by Michelangelo himself. It would be a cliché to say he was the walking embodiment of a Greek god, but the reality was the man was the next best thing to an actual Greek god. Ares was a billionaire shipping magnate—controller of a massive company that covered all aspects of the seas with a huge merchant fleet as well as ferries for public transport and mega-yachts for the playboys like him. Strong jawed. Strong armed. Strong everything. Her muscles quivered as a very particular memory involving his strength shook her. He was powerful. Revered by all. Wanted by all. Especially her.
The day they’d met he’d been in a faded grey tee and ripped shorts and she’d been too gauche to know that his watch was one of only ten hand-crafted in the entire world and literally priceless. But tonight, from his gleaming shoes to that perfect suit to that very watch, his attire epitomised the quiet luxury of the ludicrously wealthy. He was and always had been utterly beyond her league—even when in old tee and shorts. She should have known it back then but her weak, wanton, wish-driven body had ruled her. She’d succumbed not just to his charm but to her own wildly romantic fantasies. In other words she’d been a complete fool.
She’d been trying to sharpen up ever since. She’d tried for years to push him from her mind but the fact was he’d been there all night tonight. For the first time since she’d left him, she’d gone out with another man. An experiment to see if she even could meet someone else. If she would ever want to touch someone else. For over two years she’d kept herself isolated. Certainly not mentioned to her date tonight that she’d been married. Was actually still married. Separated. She’d had absolutely no contact with Ares in all that time. Even though they’d not known much detail about him, and what had happened, Elodie and Phoebe had encouraged her to go on a harmless date just to try to help herself get over him because she’d become so stuck. She’d done nothing wrong in trying to move forward with her life—indeed she really, deeply, desperately wanted to get over him. But oh, so clearly, she still hadn’t. Not that he was ever going to know that.
With such long limbs he was able to cover considerable distance with each pace. It was only moments before he was right in front of her. Bethan locked her shaking legs. How could he be more gorgeous than ever? How could his facial structure be even sharper? Her anger ballooned. The man didn’t just have pretty privilege, he also had the benefit of a brilliant brain, the advantage of arrogance and, to cap it all off, the supreme rights of the rich. He was unstoppable—everything came to him on a platter. Especially her.
‘Had a nice night, Bethan?’ He sounded clipped—coolly controlled—but his glittering gaze homed in on her intensely.
She kept calm through sheer force of will, not letting him see how ferociously he affected her. Still. Always. That primal, raw attraction burned to her bones. She couldn’t believe the stupidity of her body—didn’t she know this man?
Oh, yes!
Duh. More than in the biblical sense, she knew him for what he truly was—cold-hearted and careless. He was a liar and he used people. She scrambled to recover her wits enough to answer and tried to put her vacuous hormones on ice.
‘Ares.’ She paused, fleetingly pleased with how steady she sounded. ‘I wasn’t aware you were in town.’
As if it weren’t more than two years since she’d last seen him. Since she’d walked out on their week-old marriage. The whirlwind romance they’d taken too far.
‘Obviously not.’
Her anger flared. Did he expect her to be at home pining after him? No matter that she’d been doing exactly that for too long to consider. As if he even cared.
That was the point. He’d never really, truly cared. He’d deceived her. He was the one who had cheated. Because it hadn’t been a romance for him. It had been a calculated plan that ultimately had nothing to do with her. She’d merely been the tool—the gullible fool who’d believed his seduction meant something.
‘Was it a disappointing date?’ The edge of his already sculpted jaw sharpened as a muscle tensed. ‘You didn’t invite him in.’
No. Ares Vasiliadis was the only man she’d ever invited ‘in’. But while he knew he’d been her first lover, he didn’t need to know he’d still been her only lover. He had nothing to do with her any more and had no right to pry into her personal life.
‘You were watching me?’ she queried coldly.
His mouth compressed.
Her suspicion flared. ‘The whole night?’
How was that possible? Why would he have? She was suddenly certain that her prickle of intuition had been bang on but he had no right to turn up late at night, unannounced and unexpected. Excitement battled with outrage. Why had he—what was he thinking?
She stepped towards him as outrage won and her anger roared. ‘It’s no business of yours who I spend my time with.’
‘No?’ He cocked his head and his slow smile was wolfish. ‘You think it’s not my business?’
‘Not at all.’ She tensed, knowing she was playing with fire because she recognised that flicker of emotion.
‘But of course it is,’ he said smoothly. ‘You are Bethan Vasiliadis, my errant wife.’
* * *
Ares shoved his hands into his pockets not just to hide his fists but to stop himself from grabbing her, pulling her close, pressing her against—
No. He would never do that ever again. Didn’t want to. He damned well did not want to.
They were done. They’d been done for years. He braced, knowing his was the last face she’d ever wanted to see. He was used to the barely masked loathing in her eyes. It was a look he’d stonily stood before more times than he had dollars in the bank. He drew on the cold rage that had fuelled him since he was thirteen years old and had been the unwanted illegitimate brat forced on his unfaithful father’s family, and stayed stock-still. He would remain outwardly unmoved—always—in the face of rejection.
But seeing Bethan in person for the first time in for ever—he couldn’t stop staring. His pocket Venus. How was she even more beautiful than he remembered? Or was it just that he’d tried so hard not to remember that she’d always been a walking fertility symbol with her abundance of curves and softness and pouting lips that were made for him to possess—with his mouth, with his fingers, with his cock. They were filthy, the fantasies that instantly flooded his mind. What he’d do with her and her stunning mouth. Again. Now—
No. He would never do that ever again. Didn’t want to. He damned well did not want to.
‘I never completed the paperwork to take your name,’ she said sharply. ‘And I’m your ex-wife.’
Breathe in for four. Hold for four. Breathe out for four. Hold for four.
Box breathing, the doctor called it, to centre himself, calm the hell down when his pulse raced. Not a heart condition, yet. Just needed to lower the stress levels. Work a little less. Straighten out the kinks. Bethan was definitely a kink. Actually, the impact of her was catastrophic. Apparently she was still his physical weakness, not to mention his biggest mistake. He’d made many mistakes over the years but none like the supreme mess that was the succulent woman before him. He didn’t know why she did this to him. Why her? Why only ever her? Well, he wasn’t succumbing to it this time. Give him twenty-four hours and it would be over. For good.
