Page 13 of Penniless Cinderella for the Greek
She sighed. ‘The downside of being self-employed is that I don’t earn a regular salary and it’s taking a while to establish myself as a food photographer. I hope my car won’t be too expensive to fix because I can’t afford a big repair bill...or buy you a new phone.’
Dimitris was annoyed at the inconvenience of having to replace the phone that Savannah had destroyed, but he was even more irritated that she’d blatantly lied. ‘You must have had a wild time for the last three years to have spent the substantial amount of money in your trust fund,’ he drawled.
She looked puzzled. ‘How do you know I was supposed to receive a lot of money when I turned twenty-five? When we knew each other ten years ago I was unaware that my father had created a trust fund and made me the beneficiary.’
Dimitris silently cursed his mistake in mentioning the trust fund that Richard O’Neal had spoken of when he’d blackmailed him to end his relationship with Savannah by threatening to cut off financial support for her. ‘You said you weresupposedto receive the money. Why didn’t you?’
She lifted her glass and drank more wine before replying. ‘Three years ago my father was suspected of financial impropriety. Following a lengthy police investigation he was charged and later convicted of serious fraud. His assets were seized, including money that he’d placed in a trust fund. I was meant to be the beneficiary, but my father, who was the sole trustee, had established the fund to launder money he’d acquired through his corrupt business dealings. Obviously I didn’t have a legal right to the fund that was used to conceal my father’s criminal activities.’
While they had been eating, dusk had fallen and the solar lamps on the deck cast long shadows. ‘Two months ago my father died, owing several million pounds,’ Savannah continued tonelessly. ‘At the end of his trial he was found guilty and given a five-year prison sentence. His outstanding legal bill and other debts must be paid out of his estate, and there will be nothing left for my mum to live on.’
‘Theós!’Dimitris was stunned by the news of Richard O’Neal’s death, and the realisation that the other man had taken the details of their private conversation to his grave. He gathered that Richard hadn’t told Savannah he was not in fact her father. From what Savannah had said, Dimitris guessed her mother had not explained the truth. It was not his place to reveal the secret that was likely to be devastating for Savannah, but he felt uncomfortable. ‘What about Pond House?’ he asked.
‘It will have to be sold to pay back everything my father owed. I haven’t had the heart to tell my mum how bad the situation really is. She loves Pond House. I would do anything to keep it, but I can’t see a way. Mum doesn’t have any money of her own and I’ve spent virtually all of my savings on the upkeep of the house and private nursing care for her.’
Savannah gave a hollow laugh. ‘It’s a pity I didn’t marry Hugo Roxwell when I had the chance. At least I would have been entitled to the sizeable divorce settlement which was included in the prenuptial agreement Hugo had wanted me to sign.’
When Dimitris had seen a photo of Savannah smiling at her English aristocrat and showing off a diamond engagement ring he’d felt sick to his stomach. The newspaper had reported that the happy couple were planning a lavish wedding at the country estate of Hugo’s father, Lord Roxwell.
For three days Dimitris had drunk himself into a stupor, but then he’d sobered up and focused on building his career, and if occasionally he’d imagined Savannah happily married and with a brood of children, he’d reminded himself that he did not deserve to have a wife and a family of his own. He wondered why she hadn’t married.
‘I take it that the path of true love did not run smoothly. You didn’t waste any time after we had broken up, accepting a marriage proposal from your aristocrat boyfriend.’
She glared at him. ‘I think I can be forgiven for being flattered by Hugo’s attention after the way you treated me. You told me on the day I was flying to New York for a belated birthday trip with my parents that our relationship was over. When I arrived home four days later, the restaurant was boarded up and a neighbour told me that you had moved to Greece with your grandparents and sister.’
Her voice was unsteady. ‘Eleni was my best friend, but I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to her. She sent a text saying that you had told her not to keep in contact with me. That was cruel. Even if you hated me, you had no right to spoil my friendship with Eleni.’
‘I didn’t hate you,’ Dimitris muttered. He could not explain that Richard O’Neal had insisted on severing all ties. ‘I suppose your father approved of your aristocrat.’
She nodded. ‘My father had come from a poor background, and he was obsessed with status and climbing the social ladder. He put pressure on me to marry well. He’d invested money in an art gallery owned by Lord Roxwell and managed by Hugo. My father arranged for me to work as an assistant at the gallery and persuaded me to defer my place at university for a year.’
Savannah sighed. ‘Hugo was charming and attentive. The truth is that I was on the rebound after you had dumped me, and I convinced myself that I had feelings for Hugo. But I realised that I wasn’t ready for marriage. When I suggested to Hugo that we should wait for a year or two, he was furious. He admitted he’d wanted a rushed wedding because his grandmother’s will stated that he had to be married before he could claim the inheritance she had left him. Hugo moaned that his father gave him a pittance for an allowance.’
Her hazel-green eyes glowed with angry fire. ‘Hugo was only interested in money, and he wasn’t in love with me. I seem to attract men who don’t care about me. You didn’t,’ she said bitterly.
In fact he had begun to have feelings for Savannah ten years ago, Dimitris brooded. He’d been terrified that he could actually fall in love with her. Love was a responsibility he did not want. In his head he had still been a grief-stricken fourteen-year-old boy. Supposing he caused an accident and Savannah died, just as his parents had died? He could not bear to lose someone else he loved. He had decided when he was a teenager that it was safer not to allow love into his life, and it was a rule he’d kept for the past eighteen years. But he owed Savannah some sort of explanation.
‘I accepted money from your father because my grandfather was seriously ill and desperate to return to Rhodes. My grandparents had spent what little money they had on caring for my sister and I after our parents were killed. The money allowed me to buy a house in the village where my grandfather had been born so that he and my grandmother could retire, and it was where he died two years later.’
Savannah stood up and walked to the edge of the deck. For a few moments she stared at the dark river before she turned and leaned against the rail. The moon had risen and in its silvery gleam she was mystical and insanely beautiful. Dimitris could not look away from her. In the distance came the rumble of thunder that warned of a gathering storm.
‘You put a financial value on me when I was eighteen and made me feel worthless. You took my pride and my heart and trampled on them.’
His jaw clenched when he heard the pain in her voice. He felt guilty that he’d hurt her, but he could not explain that one reason he’d accepted money from Richard O’Neal had been to protect Savannah’s financial security. It was ironic that despite his good intentions and his belief that he had acted in Savannah’s best interest, she and her mother had been left penniless as a result of Richard’s criminal activities.
‘I can understand that you’d wanted to help your grandfather. It must have been an easy decision to accept money from my father because you never loved me,’ she said, still in that brittle voice that felt like a knife in his chest. ‘But there is something you want from me, isn’t there, Dimitris?’
He wanted to deny it, but his heart gave a jolt when Savannah untied the belt of her kaftan. ‘What are you doing?’ he demanded.
She did not reply, and his breath hissed between his teeth as he watched her lift the gold silk gown over her head in a fluid movement and drop it onto the deck. Dimitris heard a harsh curse and realised it had come from him. Savannah’s pale pink bra and knickers were not especially fancy, but somehow that made her even sexier.
‘Put that goddamned thing back on.’ He stared at the kaftan that was a pool of gold at her feet, not daring to look at a half-naked Savannah when he was imagining peeling her panties down her milky thighs. ‘You are making a fool of yourself,’ he bit out.
‘I have been a fool over you for too long.’ She walked back across the deck, a silver goddess dappled by moonlight.
Dimitris felt his blood thicken and head south to his sex as his eyes were drawn to the dark outline of her nipples visible beneath her lacy bra cups. He leaned back in his chair when she stood in front of him. For once she was taller than him and he had to look up at her face.
Theós!She was as exquisite as Aphrodite from ancient Greek legend. He felt a nerve flicker in his cheek as he fought to control his response to her. ‘What do you think I want from you?’
