"Beware the beast" كيف احيا معك بالانكليزية Anne Mather

CHAPTER TEN

ELENI'S brother arrived two days before Christmas, but he was not alone.

He had brought his granddaughter with him.

Irena Kalamos was a beautiful Greek girl, perhaps a year or two older than

Charlotte, with lustrous dark hair and eyes edged with sooty black lashes. like

many Greek women, she did not favour the fashionable slenderness so popular

in the west, and her curves were roundly voluptuous. Her clothes fitted closely,

emphasising the fullness of her breasts, the provocative swing of her hips, and

her eyes rested on Alex with evident approval.

Charlotte met the visitors on the day of their arrival. Dimitrios had flown to

the mainland to bring Franco Kalamos to Eleni's cottage, and it had been arranged

that the two older people should join Charlotte, Alex and George for dinner that

evening.

However, when Alex was told that as well as his great—uncle, a distant

cousin had also arrived, he decided that Eleni could not possibly accommodate

them both at her small cottage. In consequence, Franco and Irena arrived at the

villa late in the afternoon, full of gratitude for Alex's thoughtful—ness.

Meeting Irena for the first time, Charlotte wished Alex had consulted her

before offering them their hospitality. Although she knew she had no reason to

feel that way, she disliked the other girls's immediately monopoly of her

husband's conversation, and an emotion she refused to identify curled her hands

into fists every time she heard Irena's provoking laugh.

She was dressing for dinner that evening when Alex came into her bedroom.

He was already changed, his dark attraction accentuated by the maroon silk shirt

he was wearing together with black suede pants that clung to the powerful

muscles of his legs. Charlotte, wearing only a thin slip, was supremely conscious

of her own vulnerability, and she felt his eyes resting on the slight swell of her

abdomen. Then his gaze shifted to her face, his lips twisting at her startled

expression.

"Please," he said, "don't be alarmed. I have not come here to seduce you. But

..." he glanced round, "I have given Franco my room and I wondered if you

have any particular objections if I slept in the dressing room adjoining this."

Charlotte expelled her breath on a gasp. For a minute she had thought he was

about to suggest sharing her room, and the mixed emotions this had aroused

frightened her. Far from objecting, she might well have welcomed his suggestion,

but it was fortunate she had not had to make that choice.

"I - well, no," she managed jerkily. "Providing - "

"I shan't intrude on you more than I have to," he retorted sharply. "I may

need to use the bathroom, of course, but that's all."