The Greek Tycoon's Wife by Kim Lawrence

that it’s so damned beautiful, she thought weakly.
    â€˜I’ll survive.’ He suddenly reached across and pulled a piece of blossom from her hair.
    Like a hunted deer being stalked by a wolf, Katie backed up into the tree. Her heart was beating like a war drum as he placed a hand on the smooth trunk above her head. If he leaned any closer their bodies would be touching…the crushing pressure reached the point where her shallow, painful breaths were clearly audible.
    â€˜You weren’t hurt or anything?’ It didn’t really matterwhat she said, she just had to speak, not only to demonstrate that he hadn’t disturbed or rattled her, but to banish the erotic images from her head.
    It did neither; her weak, wispy voice sounded as though it came from a great distance away. As for being undisturbed, she was clearly insane! It was taking literally all of her will-power to prevent herself turning her cheek into the palm that remained close to her face.
    â€˜Mr Lakis, I really must insist that you come with us now. You need to be checked over. Your wife too.’ The paramedic turned to Katie, who tried to gather her wits. ‘I understand from your friend that you too were inside the building earlier.’
    It took Katie several seconds to register what he was saying and who he was saying it to. ‘Oh, yes, but I’m fine.’ Wife , he had definitely said wife . Her alarmed blue eyes flew accusingly to Nikos’s face; he returned an insouciant smile. ‘I’m perfectly fine,’ she gritted.
    The sexual tension might have dissipated, but she sensed it was still there, waiting beneath the surface to bubble up given the right conditions… Katie resolved never to permit that to happen.
    Dark eyes gleaming with mockery, Nikos continued to smile down into her wrathful features. ‘Let’s allow the doctors to decide that, shall we, yineka mou ?’
    â€˜Your husband’s right, it’s always best to be on the safe side, and that was quite a tumble you took. Did you do any damage?’
    â€˜You fell?’ Nikos inserted, for all the world as if he actually was a concerned husband.
    â€˜She went down like a stone,’ the other man confirmed. ‘It isn’t exactly a good idea to enter a burning building,’ he added, slanting Katie a wry look.
    â€˜You went back into the building?’
    Bemused by his anger, Katie shook her head. ‘No, I didn’t.’
    â€˜She fell over before she could get there. That’s quite a turn of speed you have there, Mrs Lakis. I wouldn’t bet against you in the hundred metres,’ he teased.
    Nikos, who was regarding her with total incredulity, did not appear to share his amusement.
    â€˜I wasn’t thinking,’ Katie said in a small voice.
    â€˜Don’t worry about it,’ the paramedic advised kindly. ‘People rarely do think when they know a loved one is trapped in a burning building. Ask any of the fire crew.’
    Katie didn’t know where to look—except not at Nikos!
    â€˜Katerina has always been an impulsive creature, haven’t you, yineka mou ?’
    The satiric bite in his voice made Katie wince. She did her best to disguise her limp, but evidently not well enough.
    â€˜You’ve hurt yourself!’ the paramedic exclaimed in concern before she’d taken a couple of steps. ‘Hey,’ he hailed, ‘the lady here needs a stretcher.’
    Katie laid a restraining hand on his arm. ‘Please, no stretcher,’ she appealed, shaking her head. ‘I’d much prefer to walk and it’s nothing serious.’
    To her intense annoyance he looked towards Nikos, who presumably gave her request his husbandly seal of approval, because the guy walked away and left them to make their own way to the ambulance.
    Unbelievable! If she had been his wife in the real sense of the word, admittedly a scenario about as likely as seeing a herd of flying