Free Penniless and Purchased by Julia James Page B

you?’
    Anger, controlled but visible, flashed in his eyes. ‘Just answer me.’
    He wanted to know? She told him, nails digging into her palms. ‘Five thousand pounds.’
    That was what she had to have—enough to see her clear, at least for the next couple of months. After that—well, time enough to worry then…
    As it always did when she had to think about the endless requirement for money, her mind cut out. To do anything else was far, far too frightening.
    ‘Five thousand?’ Nikos echoed the amount in a harsh voice. ‘And you think you can clear that kind of money just by working as a no-sex escort? A little light evening work, just smiling and chatting and looking sexy?’ He didn’t bother to hide his sarcasm. ‘Why do you need the money, anyway?’
    Her nails dug deeper. Tension netted around her. ‘I owe it.’
    ‘Paying off credit cards that have stopped funding you, is that it? So why not just go to Daddy and get him to bail you out—or has he finally stopped indulging you?’
    The band around her head was tightening more. ‘He doesn’t know I owe the money.’ She spoke tersely. It was all she could manage.
    Nikos looked at her. So she was hiding not just her lifestyle from her father but her debts, as well. For a moment he considered tracking down Edward Granton and putting him in the picture. Then he disposed of the thought. The man did not deserve to know the unsavoury truth about his daughter now, much as he hadn’t needed to know what she had tried four years ago. However, Sophie had to be stopped, right now, from the course she was so rashly taking. Time to cut to the chase. It galled him to do it, but it was necessary—that was all.
    ‘Very well. I will settle your debts for you. I will give you the five thousand pounds.’
    She heard the words, heard them but could not take them in. He was offering her the money she so desperately needed?For a moment emotion knifed in her like a sword. Then a word formed on her lips.
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Because, Sophie, it’s in my interests.’
    Emotion knifed again. She wanted to lash out at him, tell him he could take his money and go to hell! She would never, never take a penny from him! Never!
    His eyes were like steel hooks, holding hers. ‘Once the tabloids pick up on you, they will dig into your background—and what will they find, Sophie? Who will they find?’ His voice was edged, like a razorblade. ‘They’ll find me. They’ll find that I once— dated —you.’ He said the word as if it were poison. ‘And then they’ll drag me into the mud that you’re wading into. The Greek tabloids will pick up the story, linking a Kazandros to a hooker—because that’s what they’ll call you, however coyly—and then my parents will hear of it. I won’t have that, Sophie. I really won’t.’ His voice was hard, icy. ‘So I’m prepared to hand over the five thousand pounds you say you owe. But—’ he held up a peremptory hand ‘—not only do you ditch the escort agency and never go near it again, you also clear out of London.’
    Her answer was automatic. ‘I can’t. I can’t leave London.’
    ‘You want my money—you leave London.’
    ‘I live here.’ She kept her answers short. It was all she could manage.
    She saw him give a shrug. ‘You can come back. But not till Cosmo Dimistris is out of the country, you’ve rusticated long enough, and I’m out of the UK, as well.’
    Her emotions were churning. Aggression, resentment, and so much more—all in a concrete mixer, heaving around inside her. Mixing with the voice inside her.
    Don’t listen to him! You can’t take his money—you can’t!
    But hope, desperation, seared like hot steel through her brain.
    Oh, God, he could hand me the money. It means nothing to him, just loose change, but to me…to me…
    She tried to cut her mind off. Tried not to let the words form in her head, the pleading, the hope, flaring like a thin, impossible flame.
    I can’t! I can’t take his money!