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Lysander brought theto a swift conclusion

‘I would be grateful if you could both confirard to the ithin the week,’ the solicitor reetic tone

Lysander Metaxis rose lithely from his seat ‘Ophelia? I want a tour of the house’

Unprepared for that declaration, Ophelia bristled Where the heck did he get the nerve to demand a tour after the way he had spoken to her? And he was deht years away from a polite request Then maybe he didn’t kno to be polite Maybe he was just a bone-deep arrogant boor with no concept of good manners That idea soothed her temper

‘I’m sorry, no, it’s not convenient,’ Ophelia breathed curtly, blanking the tall powerful Greek while catching sight of the solicitor’s dismay at her refusal But Lysander Metaxis inspired her with sheer loathing and she saw no reason to pretend otherwise After all, they lived in different worlds and would never ain in this lifetime

‘I never ask for favours You give es,’ Lysander drawled slass

Ophelia could barely believe that he hadoffer As if her tolerance and time could be purchased with his wretched enerous offer and could she really afford to turn it down? Why shouldn’t he have to pay? It was a real cliile brain reasoned Letting hi him for bad behaviour and it was perfectly possible that he only appreciated what he had to pay for

‘All of the water charges?’ Ophelia enquired stiffly, angrily rejecting the inner reflection that trongs did not ht

‘Ophelia…I really don’t think—’ Donald Morton, engaged in tidying up his papers at the table, was aghast at the dialogue

‘Ophelia and I understand each other very well,’ Lysander interposed silkily ‘All the water charges’

‘I want the money now—cash up front,’ Ophelia told him

A reluctant glitter of appreciation brightened his dark deep-set eyes ‘I want to see the bill’

‘It’s not a problem, Mr Metaxis,’ Ophelia declared in a honeyed voice as if his every ere now her command

Satisfied that for the right price Ophelia Carter would do as she was told, Lysander repaired to the hall and unfurled his ht to the character of the late Gladys Stewart, whose deterrave had made her choose to die in poverty rather than sell up A lady with a gothic taste for retribution, Lysander conceded in harsh acknowledgement While he was still on the phone, Anichka wandered in and wound her lithe body round hih him, since he liked his own space in bed and out of bed

But the powerful rage was now contained and cooled inside him Lysander never let his ee he orking out how to turn the tables and win He never accepted defeat and he knew that success always ca Ophelia Carter It was a preposterous demand, but what other option did he have in the short ter the will in court would take too long and there would be no guarantee of success He would also have to own the house to restore it to a presentable level

As for Ophelia, she was facing a stack of debts and she was clearly as greedy as every other woreat deal ht Had she knoas in the will? Had she and her grandether? Before he was finished with her, he would find out He wondered what she would be like in bed and accepted without question that he would soon be finding that out too Would her glowing energy and hair-trigger temper translate into passion? Country weekends, which had always been too slow and sedate for Lysander’s urban spirit, were suddenly beginning to offer the tantalising promise of sexual compensation

Ophelia took the service stairs down to the base to inherit Madrigal Court Her grandmother must have known that that would be the result of such a facetious will, Ophelia acknowledged wryly But then Gladys had always preferred men to women and had often la for her in the kitchen

‘Well?’ Paasped in excitement ‘Is Lysander as fanciable in the flesh as he looks in celebrity azines?’

‘Lysander has all the winso the surname that set off Haddock’s fiercest outbursts

‘Ly…san…der,’ Haddock mimicked, for he loved neords

Ophelia was keen to avoid a repetition that would encourage the parrot and she ignored hih the old desk in the far corner

‘What are you looking for?’ Pamela queried in wonderment ‘What about the will?’

‘I haven’t got tiive Lysander Metaxis a full tour of the house’

‘Why on earth have you agreed to do that?’

‘Because he’s paying the water charges…’ As her friend regarded her with a literal dropped jaw Ophelia shrugged a defensive shoulder and hauled off her boots ‘Well, he’s a smart-ass and he offered to pay them just to embarrass me and underline the fact that I’m poor and he’s filthy rich I was so furious I just said yes Why not?’

‘Why not…’ Pamela was too taken aback to respond further

Ophelia pelted back upstairs in her woolly boot socks In the outer hall she was jolted by the sight of Lysander’s flaainst hi, her expression one of avidity Her hands were splayed across his chest, her pelvis angled into his big powerful frarossly uncomfortable For an awful instant she found it almost impossible to look away because she had never before seen a woer

But Lysander was i straight to Ophelia and lingering Her eyes were vivid flashes of ice blue against the luminous perfection of her skin Her hair was a mess, her clothes a joke, but somehow she still contrived to look spectacular Nor could the workmanlike shirt and jeans conceal the voluptuous swell of her high breasts or the extremely fe in ould be his walled garden added a piquant note to his reaction

The sudden ferocious tension in the rooulfed Ophelia and she frowned in confusion She could feel the Greek tycoon’s gaze flaring over her like fla across her unprotected skin A kernel of heat burned deep down inside her,her conscious of her body in a way that unnerved her Her cheeks warister that the other wolare

Lysander was already setting the blonde back fro…I want to speak to Miss Carter in private’

As the blonde stalked out Ophelia drew in a steadying breath She was discovering that she didn’t have to like Lysander Metaxis to find being left alone with hi

‘Is that the water bill?’ Lysander indicated the crumpled paper clutched in her hand ‘I don’t need to see it I was joking’

He handed her a thick wad of high-denomination banknotes and, for a split second, Ophelia didn’t knohat the money was for until she realised that it was the cash to settle the utility charge She paled and almost lost her composure, because now that she had calbut she couldn’t think of any i it back that would notthe notes hurriedly into her back pocket She would sort it out later

Lysander shifted a shapely brown hand in a fluid gesture that invited Opheli

a to proceed Once she had guided private tour groups round the rauards for visitors had soon brought that sideline to an end She felt horribly hollow as she realised that she could no longer regard the manor as her home

Tense as a bowstring, Ophelia ca on the staircase dates to—’

‘Spare ed in ihts’