The Greek Children's Doctor Read online

  ‘You didn’t tell me you could dance,’ Libby said breathlessly, pink and laughing from the exertion. ‘That was fantastic.’

  ‘I’m Greek,’ he reminded her silkily. ‘All Greeks can dance.’

  Without giving her a chance to argue, he curved a strong arm around her, pulling her firmly against him, and Libby put a hand on his shoulder, feeling the hardness of muscle thinly disguised by the fabric of his shirt. Disconcerted by the way he made her feel, she tried to keep up the conversation.

  ‘I thought you did traditional dancing with lots of plate-smashing.’

  ‘That, too. Now stop talking, Libby.’

  He pulled her closer, sliding an arm around her hips so that she was pressed against him.

  Aware of every incredible inch of him, Libby dipped her head against his chest and closed her eyes, breathing in his male scent and the subtle hint of aftershave.

  The intensity of her body’s response shocked her. Butterflies erupted in her stomach and she was sure that he must be able to feel her body quivering. Every part of her felt sensitive. She was incredibly aware of every inch of his body. Unable to help herself, she pressed closer still and he immediately lifted a hand to her face, sliding his lean fingers around her jaw and forcing her to look at him.

  The laughter had long since faded and the emotion sizzling between them was intense sexual excitement. An overwhelming acknowledgement of the astonishing chemistry between them. Skin brushed against skin, breath mingled unsteadily and the heat became almost intolerable.

  ‘P-people are staring at us,’ Libby stammered, shivering as she felt his thumb trace the fullness of her lower lip.

  ‘Let them stare,’ Andreas murmured softly, supremely indifferent to the curious glances they were receiving. ‘On the other hand, I could do with some fresh air. How about you?’

  Libby nodded. What she really needed was a cold shower, but fresh air would probably do.

  His long fingers closed around her wrist and he strode off the dance floor towards one of the exits, dragging her after him.

  Feeling that just about everyone was probably staring at them, Libby didn’t look left or right.

  ‘You’re behaving like a caveman,’ she muttered, mortified by what people must be thinking. ‘This isn’t very politically correct.’

  He shot her a sizzling smile of pure sexual invitation. ‘That’s because I’m Greek,’ he drawled in that dark tone that sent shivers down her spine. ‘We’re not very good at being politically correct.’

  He led her out into the grounds, past the small lights that added a subtle glow to the darkness and illuminated the surroundings just enough to allow them to find their way. After the heat and noise of the ballroom the air was incredibly cool and peaceful.

  A few couples were seated at tables outside, but Andreas ignored them and didn’t break his stride, taking her across the grass and down towards the ornamental lake.

  Finally he slowed down and took a deep breath. ‘That’s better. It was very hot in there, agape mou.’

  Libby looked at him shyly. ‘What does that mean?’

  He didn’t answer her and, seeing the lights of the ballroom and hearing the music fading into the background, Libby felt suddenly vulnerable. All of a sudden it was just a woman alone with a man in the incredible intimacy created by the semi-darkness.

  She felt breathlessly unsure as he led her down some steps and through some trees and suddenly they were on the edge of the lake.

  ‘Oh!’ She stopped dead, enchanted by the moonlight flickering on the nearly still water. ‘It’s magical. How did you know it was here?’

  Andreas maintained his grip on her wrist. ‘I saw it from the terrace when we were drinking champagne earlier.’

  After the heat and noise of the ballroom it felt wonderfully peaceful and she stood for a moment, enjoying the silence, breathlessly aware of his powerful presence next to her. Even without turning her head, she sensed that he was looking at her and she felt her heart thud against her chest in a frenzy of anticipation. His fingers hadn’t moved from her wrist but she could feel his touch with every part of her body.

  ‘Libby?’

  All he did was say her name but his soft tone brushed over her nerve endings and made her shiver with a sexual excitement that was as intense as it was unfamiliar.

  Barely breathing, she turned to face him and collided with the raw passion in his dark eyes. Suddenly there were butterflies in her stomach and her head felt woolly. Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered that she was supposed to be resisting him but for the life of her she couldn’t quite remember why.

  Why would any woman in her right mind want to resist Andreas?

  He was still looking down at her, dark eyes slightly narrowed in a scrutiny so shockingly sexual that she felt dizzy.

  By the time he finally lowered his head to hers she was quivering with expectation, longing for his touch, and the moment his mouth found hers she moaned and lifted her hands to his chest, curling her fingers into the front of his shirt, feeling the warmth of his chest through the thin fabric.

  He kissed her slowly, teasing her mouth with gentle expertise until she pressed against him, desperate for him to deepen the kiss. Every seductive stroke of his tongue drove her demented with longing and she wrapped her arms round his neck and pulled him closer.

  Still kissing her, Andreas shrugged off his jacket, letting it fall onto the grass, and then his arms came round her, hauling her close.

  She felt his warm hands slide down her bare back, pressing her against him, making her aware of the intensity of his desire.

  And suddenly she wanted more.

  He wasn’t moving fast enough.

  Her arms dropped from his neck to his waist and she wrenched at his shirt, tearing buttons in her need to get closer to him.

  She felt his hands slide the straps of her dress down her arms, baring her breasts to the cool night air. He dragged his mouth from hers and trailed kisses down her bare neck and she threw her head back, her eyes closed, all thought suspended as she felt him move lower. Then the coolness was replaced by warmth as he took her in his mouth, teasing her nipple until she cried out, overwhelmed by the exquisite agony of his touch.

  His hands were on her thighs, drawing the silken fabric of her dress upwards, and she moved her hips against him, encouraging the contact that he was clearly seeking.

  And then his mouth was on hers again and he lowered her to the ground. The damp grass cooled her heated skin and she lay breathless on the bed that nature had provided, aware of nothing except the aching need low in her pelvis and the weight of his body on hers.

  His breathing was ragged and he delved deep into her mouth with his tongue, shifting his body so that he lay between her thighs.

  Totally abandoned, Libby moaned and kissed him back, arching against him, burning with excitement when he finally touched her where she was aching to be touched.

  She gasped his name, wanting more, needing more, totally consumed by the excitement that he’d unleashed.

  He lifted his head briefly and she felt his hesitation.

  ‘Andreas…’ Her hoarse plea seemed to be the only encouragement he needed because he stared down into her eyes as he adjusted his position and dealt with the thin silk of her panties.

  She was dimly aware of his strong fingers biting into her thigh, of the scrape of his rough jaw against her face and then he was there, entering her with a smooth thrust, trapping her gasp of ecstasy with his mouth. She felt his urgency as he drove deep inside her, filling her, increasing her level of arousal with each expert thrust. Dizzy with excitement, her fingers dug into the hard muscles of his back, and she arched up against him, unconsciously drawing him closer still.

  The darkness ceased to exist, as did the lake and the press of the cool grass against her back. There was nothing except Andreas and the way he made her feel.

  And Libby knew that nothing in her life had ever felt so totally right.

  �
�Open your eyes.’ His rough command penetrated the fog of sensation that held her in its grip and she did as he ordered, drowning in the raw sexual hunger that she read in his gaze.

  Clashing with the heat of his eyes merely heightened the excitement and she struggled to breathe as he drove them both to such terrifying heights that the only way to go was down. She fell headlong into an explosive climax, aware that she was taking him with her, submitting to the wild, unfamiliar sensations that scorched her body.

  Totally wiped out by the intensity of the experience, Libby closed her eyes and lay still, aware of the weight of his body on hers, his solid strength pinning her to the grass.

  She could have stayed there for ever, feeling the rhythmic thud of his heart against hers, the warmth of his breath against her neck as both of them slowly returned to the present.

  She was aware of the uneven ground pressing into her back through the soft grass, of the cool night air brushing her bare, heated skin, but most of all she was aware of Andreas.

  He was still wearing his shirt but it hung open where she’d all but torn it apart in her haste to undress him and the edges trailed around her, hiding her semi-nakedness. Somewhere nearby lay his jacket, carelessly discarded in their fevered desperation to remove all barriers.

  He muttered something in Greek that she didn’t understand and shifted his weight, rolling onto his side and taking her with him.

  He stroked her tangled hair away from her face with a gentle hand. ‘Beautiful Libby. Look at me,’ he ordered softly, and she opened her eyes and tumbled headlong into the warmth and heat of his gaze.

  I love you.

  The words flew into her head and out again before she had time to say them and she caught her breath.

  Of course she didn’t love him.

  How could she possibly love him?

  It was just that they’d shared something that she’d never shared with anyone before. Had she imagined the incredible connection between them? Unlike her, Andreas was obviously an experienced male—had he ever felt that with anyone else?

  ‘Don’t try and hide from me.’ His voice was husky and deep and sent shivers through her body. He pulled her closer and she felt the brush of his chest hair against her sensitised nipples. ‘You’re shivering. Are you cold?’

  Of course she was shivering. She’d just had an explosive experience that had shocked her body.

  And she certainly wasn’t cold.

  She felt hotter than she’d ever felt in her life.

  He rolled her under him again and pinned her to the ground under his powerful body. She felt incredibly vulnerable, aware of every single part of him.

  Andreas gave a groan and lowered his head but before he could kiss her they heard voices approaching and Libby froze in horror.

  Suddenly the dream shattered and she was horribly aware of where she was.

  Lying in the grass by a lake in a public place, about to be discovered.

  What was she doing?

  Andreas reacted with his customary cool, rolling away from her and sliding her dress back up her arms before attempting to button his shirt.

  ‘Half my buttons are missing,’ he murmured, reaching out a lean hand and catching her chin. His eyes danced with humour. ‘Do you know anything about that?’

  Libby pulled away from him, her face flaming as she recalled how totally uninhibited she’d been. She stooped to retrieve her shoes, wondering what had happened to her.

  How could she have done such a thing?

  She, who prided herself on her self-control.

  But then her self-control had never really been tested before, she reminded herself, her eyes sliding to Andreas and resting on his broad shoulders as he shrugged on his jacket, effectively disguising the fact that half the buttons were missing on his shirt.

  He shot her a wicked, sexy smile that made her pulse rate bolt.

  ‘Ready to go back to the party?’

  Libby lifted a hand to her tangled blonde hair, still totally confused by her feelings. She absolutely didn’t love him. ‘I can’t,’ she whispered, painfully self-conscious. ‘I look—’

  ‘You look stunning,’ he said quietly, stepping towards her and cupping her face in his hands.

  He kissed her softly and then threaded his fingers through hers and led her back across the grass, past groups of people who were all enjoying the cool night air after the stifling heat of the ballroom.

  Libby kept her face down as they walked and when they reached the terrace just outside the ballroom Andreas stopped and lifted her chin so that she was forced to look at him.

  ‘Your guilt is written all over your face,’ he murmured, his tone amused as he stroked her hair away from her flushed face. ‘If it really troubles you that much, go to the ladies and redo your make-up.’

  Totally shaken by what had happened and glad of an excuse to have five minutes to herself to gather her thoughts, Libby nodded and pulled away from him, hurrying inside to the ladies.

  She locked herself in a cubicle and leaned against the door, her eyes tightly closed.

  She didn’t love him. She couldn’t possibly love him.

  It was just sex.

  But she didn’t do just sex.

  She wasn’t sure which was worse—the fact that she’d done something so reckless in the first place or the fact that she desperately wanted to do it again.

  Oh, help!

  What had she been thinking? And she knew the answer to that, of course. She hadn’t been thinking at all. All right, so Andreas was the sexiest man she’d ever laid eyes on but at the same time this was her, and she just didn’t behave like that. She’d never been interested in sex outside the confines of a serious relationship.

  But, then, she’d never experienced good sex before tonight, she acknowledged wryly, opening her eyes and taking a deep breath. Suddenly she was aware of what she’d been missing all her life.

  So what happened now?

  She wasn’t stupid enough to believe that Andreas wanted anything other than a short-term relationship. She was just an interesting diversion to him.

  But that just wasn’t going to work for her.

  She liked him. A lot.

  And, given a chance, she knew that it could be more than a lot.

  Shaken by the intensity of what had happened between them, she knew that it wasn’t an experience that she could risk repeating. Sooner or later she’d end up being seriously hurt. She knew that she couldn’t enjoy that sort of physical closeness with a man without it developing into an emotional closeness, and that was something that Andreas wouldn’t want.

  Neither did she, Libby reminded herself firmly. She didn’t want it either.

  Which meant that she had to move on and pretend that it had never happened. Yes, that was it. She just needed to pretend that it had never happened. Isn’t that what people did after one-night stands? They just went their separate ways and never referred to ‘it’ again.

  She groaned. Unfortunately, ‘it’ was something that she was never going to forget. And working with Andreas every day just made things doubly difficult.

  She ran a hand over her face, wondering whatever could have possessed her to do something quite so stupid.

  But she knew what had happened.

  She’d been overwhelmed by the chemistry between them, seduced by his warmth and his breathtaking sex appeal. He had an amazing way of making her feel as though she were the only woman in the world.

  As if he really cared.

  In fact, she’d been so overwhelmed it would have been all too easy to convince herself that he really felt something for her.

  Which was utterly ridiculous.

  She sucked in a breath and gave herself a sharp talking-to.

  She was becoming delusional. Seduced by the romance of the evening. She needed to go home to the familiarity of her flat before she did something stupid.

  Having made the decision, she slid out of the ladies’ toilets with the minimum of fuss and made her
way up the stairs, walking purposefully in the hope that no one would stop her.

  They didn’t and within minutes she was at the front of the hotel and hailing a taxi.

  She stepped into the cab with a feeling of relief, pushing away the feeling of guilt that Andreas would still be waiting for her on the terrace.

  He’d probably be a bit annoyed with her at first, but he wouldn’t mind that much. To him it had just been a one-night stand.

  He was surrounded by women who were desperate to get their claws into him, so losing her wasn’t going to matter to him, was it?

  She wasn’t coming back.

  Andreas breathed out heavily as he acknowledged that Libby had fled.

  The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on him.

  For all of his adult life women had pursued him relentlessly, all of them hoping to be the one to finally make him settle down.

  But he’d never been even remotely tempted.

  Until now.

  He still couldn’t quite believe what had happened down by the lake. There was something about Libby that seemed to make him lose control in public places.

  He’d only known her for a month but he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Libby was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

  The trouble was, the woman he’d finally fallen in love with had just vanished into the sunset.

  Chapter 7

  Libby arrived on the ward the following morning, relieved that she was working. At least she didn’t have time to brood. And as it was a Sunday it was extremely unlikely that she’d see Andreas, which gave her another day before she had to face him.

  She’d bumped into Alex at breakfast, looking decidedly the worse for wear, and he’d given her a curious look but hadn’t questioned her about her mysterious disappearance the night before.

  Libby gave a wry smile. Knowing her brother, he’d probably disappeared himself and hadn’t even noticed her absence.

  She tied her hair up, checked that her sleepless night didn’t show on her face and walked onto the ward.