Bought: the Greek's Bride : Mediterranean Brides

by Lucy Monroe

• ISBN13: 9780373126361
• ISBN10: 0373126360
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-06-01
• Publisher: Harlequin

Summary

Greek billionaire Sandor Christofides was born in shame, and has fought his way to the top. Now he has wealth and acclaim--all he needs is Eleanor to be his bride. The scene is set, vintage champagne, red roses--a dazzling diamond ring! But does Sandor really want to cherish Ellie...or is she just a pawn in a ruthless game?

Excerpts

HIS BIG, WARM HAND against the small of her back, Ellie allowed Sandor to guide her into the exclusive Boston restaurant. It felt good to walk into the airconditioning. Boston in the summer was muggy and hot, but the instant cold sent shivers chasing along her arms and made her nipples bead behind the black silk bodice of her dress. Rather than discomfort, her body reacted with a sensual pleasure that was her constant companion in this man's company. It had marked their first meeting and had not abated since, leaving her with a need to explore a side to her character that she usually ignored. Her feminine sexuality. She found herself dressing more sexily around him than she ever had in the past and reveling in the small, possessive touches he peppered their dates with. Tonight, she'd worn a dress by Armani that she loved because it was both elegant and sexy. Its sleeveless design and scooped neck left her arms, a good portion of her chest and her back exposed, but the hem swirled modestly below her knees. The black silk clung to her understated curves and the thin fabric offered no real barrier between his hand and the sensitive skin of her back. And that single point of contact was enough to send her nerve endings rioting. She had to concentrate on maintaining a bland faAade for him and the other restaurant patrons, but she couldn't help wishing they were someplace private. Someplace she might actually get the nerve up to ask why he'd never pressed for deeper intimacy when his goodnight kisses were powered by a wealth of barely leashed passion. Passion she'd decided she wanted to explore. She recognized several faces as the maAtre d' led them to their table and wished she didn't. She would like to go out, just once, to a restaurant that was not one of the accepted watering holes for their kind. But Sandor Christofides demanded the best. In everything. Sometimes, it made her wonder what he was doing with her. She had been born to the world he had worked so hard to enter, but as far as she could see, that was all she had to offer him. At five foot nine, with small curves, average features, and rather boring dark blond hair, she was not particularly beautiful; she did little to cultivate the contacts others would kill to obtain; she abhorred the standards set by money and frequently refused to uphold them. Her job as an employment counselor for the state was as unglamorous as it got. Her clients wouldn't make it on to the "Who's Who" list of anything, for that matter...neither would she. Not anymore. Her dad considered her career a complete waste of her Ivy League education, but she didn't care. She considered his overwhelming preoccupation with his business a waste, too. Not that she dismissed his company as unimportant, but she hated the fact that it always had and always would come before her, anyone or anything else. Interrupting Ellie's thoughts, the maAtre d' stopped beside the same table they always had when Sandor brought her here. Its placement was an indication of Sandor's importance, something her father would take for granted, but she didn't think Sandor did. His dark brown eyes would glow with satisfaction for a brief moment at small things like this, as if they really mattered to him. Which was another reason they weren't exactly well suited. Stuff like that just did not impress her. Maybe she was jaded by growing up around it, but she got a lot bigger thrill out of one of her clients getting a job, or a certification necessary to do so, or additional education. She knew why she said yes to every one of Sandor's invitations. Because she was quite literally enthralled with the man. But she didn't understand why he kept extending them. Especially if he didn't want to sleep with her. He just didn't seem like the celibate type, but that might be her own libido talking.<