Читать книгу The Abby Green Modern Collection - Эбби Грин - Страница 23

‘KALLIE, you have to tell him you love him tonight. If you don’t, he’ll never know. You’re going home in two days, next year you’ll be at college or working…this is it, your last chance to tell Alexandros how you feel.’

Kallie’s arms were gripped by her older cousin Eleni, her dark face close to Kallie’s, her eyes fervent. In some dim part of herself she did wonder at that moment why Eleni cared so much about this. And stifled the thought, feeling mean. Hadn’t Eleni been her confidante, having had to listen to her wax lyrical about Alexandros for years on every summer holiday? She was only helping her.

Nerves made her voice shaky. ‘But, Eleni, I haven’t seen him in ages, he’s always in Athens now…’ She shivered. And a little remote. Which he’d never been before…

Eleni shook her head emphatically. ‘Doesn’t matter. He’s always had a soft spot for you. He’s exactly the same, the only difference now is that he’s loaded.’

Kallie gulped. And way more grown up…he’s going to laugh at me.

‘Kallie, come on. Don’t chicken out now.’

She looked at her cousin. She had that impatient look that always scared Kallie a little.

Kallie nodded jerkily, her heart thumping like crazy. Over Eleni’s head she could see the object of her affections. Alexandros Kouros. Twenty-five years old and so handsome it hurt. Midnight-black hair that shone almost blue-black in the light, curling softly on his collar, a touch too long. His skin a deep olive. His face had a harsh masculinity that made Kallie’s insides feel weak. An arresting, utterly captivating quality that drew the eye and kept it there with little effort.

He stood at least six feet four, broad across the shoulders and chest. His body was finely muscled, potently masculine. Sometimes it frightened Kallie, the response she felt around him. Like it was something she couldn’t control, didn’t fully understand…

They were in his palatial family villa, which was right beside her grandmother’s in the hills above Athens, where she always spent her summer holidays. Every year, the end-of-summer party in the Kouros villa was the highlight of the social scene. Kouros Shipping was one of the biggest companies in the world. And since his father’s untimely death two years before, Alexandros had taken full control without even breaking sweat.

‘Kallie, he’s never going to see you as anything but a friend unless you go and take things further.’

‘I know.’ Kallie was anguished, her attention brought back into the room, to the events that her cousin seemed to be determined to set in motion. She’d never done anything so bold in all her life, usually preferring to hide behind a book or in the hammock at the end of her grandmother’s garden, dreaming. She didn’t even know if she really wanted to do it. Suddenly she saw Alexandros across the room take a bottle of something off a table and disappear. Eleni had followed her gaze. She turned Kallie to face her.

‘This is it, Kall—now or never. You’ll regret it for ever if you don’t. By the time you see him again he’ll be married with three kids…’

The thought made Kallie feel physically ill…or maybe that was the wine Eleni had been plying her with to get her courage up. Eleni held up the glass again. Kallie shook her head, as it was it was already swimming slightly. The sight of it made her feel nauseous. It was the first time she’d drunk anything alcoholic and she really wasn’t sure she liked it.

‘Go, Kallie. Now.’

Fuelled by something bigger than her—the wine, the sense of finality about everything—Kallie moved forward as if in a dream, through the crowd in the room, out the door that Alexandros had disappeared through and onto the patio. The warm air washed over her, bringing her to her senses somewhat. She almost turned around and went back inside, but saw Eleni at the door. No going back.

She didn’t see Alexandros at first—he was hidden by an overhanging tree that trailed its leaves along the stones of the grand patio. Then she saw him, his tall lean body, jacket off, leaning against the wall, and it made something inside her flutter to life. She moved forward. Thoughts swirled around her head, like a drumbeat…a mantra…as she approached him.

It’s now or never. If I don’t do it then I’ll never know, he’ll never know how I feel…

She held her breath and stepped into the space where the tree formed a kind of hidden clearing. The faint sounds of the party drifted out on the breeze but Kallie was oblivious to that. Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest it was beating so hard. Alexandros had his back to her but she could see that he had a bottle in his hand and was lifting it up, drinking from it. She must have made a noise because he whirled around, the bottle clenched in one hand.

‘Who’s that?’ He peered into the gloom and Kallie stepped forward slightly. ‘Kallie? Is that you?’

She stepped forward. ‘It’s me.’

He turned away. ‘You should go back inside to the others.’

She was stung at his obvious desire to be alone. His dismissal. She realised a little belatedly that he’d been in a strange mood all evening, dark, brooding, as if a black cloud clung to him. And it seemed even more apparent now.

Having come this far, she ignored him and kept walking till she was almost beside him, the twinkling vista of Athens laid out below them at the end of the garden. Her heart was beating so rapidly she felt light-headed.

‘I’d like to stay, if that’s all right.’

He shrugged and took another swig from the bottle. Kallie grabbed it from him, taking him off guard, and took a drink herself before he could stop her. She coughed and spluttered as the liquid burnt her throat. He stood up straight and clapped her back, sitting her back on the low wall beside him. A wry grin on his face.

‘What were you expecting? Wine?’

Tears streamed down Kallie’s face, shocking her out of her nerves for a moment. ‘What was that?’

‘Ouzo.’

She shivered suddenly when she realised that they were close together, his muscular thigh burningly close to hers.

He reached for his coat and draped it over her shoulders. She had to fight not to give in to the sensation, not to close her eyes and breathe his scent deeply. They sat in silence for long minutes, neither one moving. That brooding energy emanated from Alexandros. The air seemed to grow thick around them, tension mounting, and Kallie wondered feverishly what to say, how to break it. But Alexandros turned to her suddenly.

‘Kallie…why did you come out here? You should go back, it’s getting dark.’

She looked at him, hurt in her eyes. ‘I just…I don’t mind just sitting here with you…’

He groaned softly and ran hands through his hair. ‘Sorry. I’m just…not the best company tonight.’

She laid a hand on his arm, and looked at him. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’

He looked at her for a long time with an intensity that made something coil deep in Kallie’s abdomen, something alien and tight…hot. He seemed to be fighting some inner battle, struggling with something. Then it passed. She held her breath as he reached out a hand and caught a lock of her hair, letting it slide through his fingers.

‘Your colouring is amazing, do you know that?’

Kallie grimaced, felt like squirming under his gaze. ‘It’s horrible. I burn too easily. I blush too easily.’

And I’m too fat…

Every insecurity rose up all too easily.

He shook his head. ‘No, you’ve got your mother’s colouring. A typical English rose…’

‘That’s why my father says he fell in love with her.’

Something dark crossed his face and he let her hair go. The moment was gone. And in that same moment she knew she didn’t have the guts to do this. She should leave Alexandros alone. To fight whatever demons were chasing him.

‘I’ll go…’

She got up to leave and promptly stumbled when the ground swayed as she stood up. Alexandros’s arms came out automatically, swinging her into his chest to regain balance. Her wish to leave dissolved in a flash of heat. His chest was against her hands, strong and broad and warm, his heart beating steadily. His scent surrounded her. She looked up into those dark, fathomless depths and was lost, no more capable of moving than hiding the blatant desire in her expressive eyes. She was in a bubble of sensation so acute that she’d lost all sense of reality, space and time.

She lifted a tentative hand and with one trembling finger traced the outline of Alexandros’s mouth, the hard sensual contours. She could feel his breath against her palm.

‘Kallie…what are you doing?’

Her eyes jumped up to his and for the first time in her life she felt bold, filled with some unknown, unexplored feminine power. Not knowing how she had the nerve, she just said simply, ‘This…’

And she reached up, closed her eyes and pressed soft, warm lips against his.

For a long moment he didn’t do anything. Kallie felt something move through her, an aching wanting. It stunned her with its intensity. And then hope sprang in her breast. He wasn’t pushing her away. Would he kiss her back? She wanted him to, so much. Her lips moved tentatively against his…and then abruptly her world erupted and tilted. Alexandros stood and pushed her away from him with two harsh hands so quickly that Kallie was dizzy and would have staggered back except for his unwitting support. His jacket fell to the ground behind her.

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’

He let go and somehow Kallie managed to keep standing. She could feel a tide of red heat climb her chest, her body throbbing painfully with all the newly discovered sensations clamouring for release.

The way Alexandros was looking at her, with such disdain, disbelief and horror, made her turn to jelly.

Her voice was hesitant. ‘I…I was kissing you.’

He was scathing. ‘I know that, Kallie, I’m not stupid.’

Mortification twisted her insides. ‘I’m sorry…I don’t know what…’ She shook her head and stumbled away a little.

He caught her back with his hands on her shoulders. ‘No, Kallie, what the hell was that? Why would you try and kiss me?’

‘Because…’ She looked at him, backlit by the falling dusk. So handsome. And it made something burn in her belly, dissolving her embarrassment. She had to tell him. Now. ‘I did it because…’ she swallowed painfully ‘…I love you, Alexandros.’

He straightened, his whole body taut, bristling. ‘You what?’

‘I…love you.’

Nothing moved. Kallie saw Alexandros looking at her and the blatant shock on his face changed to confusion and then something else…disgust.

He took his hands off her shoulders suddenly as though he’d been burnt.

‘Look, I don’t know what you’re up to, Kallie, but I don’t appreciate it. I’m announcing my engagement tonight and if someone had seen…Hell. Just go, Kallie.’

His words dropped into her brain but didn’t register. Engagement? Married? To whom?

Kallie felt a mad desire to burst into hysterical laughter and then just as suddenly felt very silly. And very small and very young. Like a child caught playing dress-up, her face smeared with make-up. Acutely conscious all of a sudden of her not exactly svelte figure and her dress, which she’d borrowed from Eleni, hoping to be more grown up, and which was a little too tight.

Her lips felt stiff and numb. Her body cold.

‘I’m sorry, Alexandros, just forget this…all of it. Forget it happened, forget me.’ She whirled away and ran, down the steps, into the garden, away from the patio, away from everything. She heard him call after her once but she didn’t stop, and he didn’t follow.

The tears came as she ran and when she finally stopped she hunched down and cried and cried until she could hardly see. She cried for being so naïve, so silly and for listening to Eleni. She must have been emboldened by some lunar magic or madness, the wine…As if someone like Alexandros Kouros would ever notice someone like her, would ever even want to kiss someone like her. She cringed when she thought of how she’d thrown herself at him. He’d as good as had to pry her hands off him. She wiped her cheeks. One thing was for sure, she was never going to touch alcohol again if it had led her to do something so stupid and ill-judged.

Miserable, Kallie went back up towards the house, unable to avoid going around it to return home. And as she passed the open patio doors, she couldn’t help but look inside. The room was hushed, the designer-clad, jewel-bedecked crowd with glasses high in the air as they toasted the newly announced union of Alexandros and the stunning woman at his side. His fiancée. Pia Kyriapolous, the famous model. They looked so beautiful together Kallie’s eyes watered again.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and whirled around, very aware of her tearstained cheeks. Eleni. Looking at her with sympathy written all over her face.

‘Oh, Kallie, I’m so sorry…’

Something in the way she said it made Kallie very still. Her stomach churned as she suddenly remembered her cousin’s words. By the time you see him again he’ll be married with three kids. ‘Please, tell me you didn’t know about this, Eleni.’

Eleni looked defiant. ‘I did you a favour, Kallie. If you’d known, would you have gone near him?’

Of course not!

She lashed herself again at her phenomenal naïvety and knew it was in that moment that something in her died, or grew up.

She pulled away, physically and mentally, curled up somewhere inside herself. Something in Eleni’s face made her want to protect herself. It was something she’d never seen before. Or noticed. She contrived to toss her head, exactly how she’d seen her cousin do it a thousand times, usually when Alexandros was around, and shrugged. ‘It’s no big deal, Eleni. I can hardly compete with Pia, now, can I?’ She even managed a small laugh from somewhere. ‘But, like you said, at least I tried…ne?’

And for the first time in her young life, she summoned all the adult poise she could, and swept away, leaving the party, her cousin and Alexandros behind.

When Kallie woke up the next morning, the tight ache in her chest didn’t seem to have dissipated one bit and she had the horrible sensation of thinking it could have all been a bad dream, but of course it hadn’t. Her only consolation was that she knew Alexandros would probably be in Athens, and that she was due to go back to England the next day. She prayed Alexandros would stay in Athens till she was gone. And that no one would ever know what had happened. Except them. And Eleni. Who at least, Kallie thought with a shudder of relief, hadn’t witnessed her humiliating efforts.

However, she came downstairs to noise and confusion and commotion, Her parents and Alexandros in the middle of it all. Her father was shouting at him, thrusting a newspaper in his face.

‘How could you? We trusted you. She’s seventeen, for God’s sake. Little more than a child. Isn’t it enough that you’re getting married to one of the most beautiful women in Athens? You had to mess around with Kallie.’

They didn’t see her come down the stairs behind Alexandros. His voice came low and blistering. ‘Pia’s family have surprisingly little regard for their daughter marrying someone splashed across the middle pages of the biggest tabloid in the country. They also have surprisingly little regard for her marrying someone who, and I quote, “never wanted to follow his father into business.” Thanks to your daughter, my engagement is off as of today.’

Her mother, who hadn’t seen her either, stepped forward at that moment and slapped Alexandros across the face. Kallie saw his head jerk back. In the shock of silence afterwards, her mother’s voice was shaking with emotion as she said, ‘Surely you know she’s always had a crush on you? You were like a son to us.’

Kallie’s legs stopped. They wouldn’t work and she felt herself going icy cold and clammy, an awful sick feeling in her stomach. She must have made some kind of noise because they all turned and saw her.

She couldn’t believe what she’d just witnessed, the violence, and how her mother had just laid out her innermost feelings for all to see. Alexandros grabbed the paper out of her father’s hands. The anger and disgust on his face made her want to turn around and run away. She saw the livid red hand imprint on his cheek.

‘You—’

Her father cut him off. ‘Kouros, get out of this house. You are not welcome here, now or ever again.’

Alexandros turned away from Kallie and back to her father. ‘Believe me, I don’t want to see any of you again. Especially her.’ He flicked her a look that was so contemptuous that Kallie took a step back. And then he was leaving, walking away, out the door.

Acting on pure impulse, Kallie ran after him, ignoring her parents’ calls to come back. Alexandros’s long legs nearly had him at the gate that separated their neighbouring properties.

‘Wait, Alexandros…wait!’

He stopped so suddenly that she almost ran into his back. He turned and gripped her arms with hard hands, his face close to hers. And suddenly he didn’t even look angry any more, he looked sad. And that was even more confusing. Her head swam as she tried to understand what could have happened.

‘I thought we were friends, Kallie. Why did you do it? You’ve ruined everything…and all because I didn’t want you?’ He shook his head. ‘You were the one person who didn’t seem to expect anything from me. I trusted you and you set me up, blabbed everything.’

What was he talking about?

‘I don’t know what—’

He shook his head, cutting her off with a fierce look in his eyes, his lip curling in distaste. An image came back into his head of her reaching up to kiss him with a bold look in her eyes. One thing he knew now, without a shadow of a doubt, was that he’d never really known Kallie Demarchis. Just like he’d never really known any of them. Kallie’s family had been like a second family to him and yet they could throw him out of their lives, their house. He’d been a fool to trust them. To think he’d thought her innocent, untainted…sweet!

‘These last two years you’ve really grown up, Kallie, haven’t you? Become just like the others. You heard about the engagement and thought you could have a go, too? Try to get in there?’

His face was so harsh that Kallie didn’t know how she still stood in front of him. And he wasn’t finished. ‘Seventeen is just a little too young for my tastes, though, and you don’t have what I need.’

He shoved the newspaper at her. ‘Oh, and next time you want to do a kiss and tell? If you’re trying to keep your identity a secret, it’s a good idea not to submit the copy from your own e-mail address. You’re nothing but a spoilt little bitch, Kallie, and not even a particularly bright one.’

She watched as he disappeared from view, her mouth open…words stuck in her throat. Her e-mail? Kiss and tell? As if in an awful sick nightmare, she looked at the paper which had fallen at her feet. It lay open on a very bad-quality, grainy black-and-white photo. As if taken with a camera phone. But one person was unmistakable. Alexandros. The golden boy of the shipping world. And the woman with her arms wrapped around his neck, straining against him, was most certainly not Pia Kyriapolous. The girl in the picture would be unidentifiable to any but those who knew her well, and was far too chubby to be the well-known model. A screaming headline. THE GROOM! THE NIGHT HIS ENGAGEMENT IS ANNOUNCED…!