Читать книгу The Greek Tycoon's Bride - Helen Brooks - Страница 8

IT WAS another half an hour before Andreas announced they were close to his parents’s home, but the journey through the Greek countryside where the vivid blue backdrop of the sky had provided a perfect setting for small square whitewashed houses with red tiled roofs, pretty villages and countless olive groves, and the odd dome-shaped spire dazzling in the sunshine, could have continued for much longer as far as Sophy was concerned. Apart from one factor, that was—the proximity of Andreas in the close confines of the car.

Since the moment he had caught her watching him she had been very careful to avoid any eye contact, but she knew without looking at him every time the grey gaze was levelled in her direction and it was unnerving. He was unnerving.

She hadn’t met a man who exuded such a stark, virile masculinity before, and the open-necked shirt he was wearing had enabled her to catch a glimpse of the bronzed, hair-roughened flesh beneath which had caused her stomach muscles to tighten. And she liked that reaction even less than her earlier irritation and dislike because it suggested a kind of weakness.

It wasn’t as though she liked the caveman type, she told herself crossly. Matthew had had the sort of looks she was drawn to: thick fair hair and blue eyes, a slim, almost boyish frame and classical fine features in an academic sort of face. Matthew had been gentle and mild, non-threatening, and that was her ideal man. Matthew. Poor, dear Matthew.

As the car turned off the main road into what was virtually a narrow lane, Sophy’s thoughts were far away. She and Matthew had met at university and she had liked him right away. He had been funny and warm and easy to be with and, although at uni they had just been friends, once she had moved up to London—Matthew’s home territory—their relationship had moved up a gear, and they had slowly begun to get to know each other better.

They had been married for just eight months before Matthew had fallen ill, and it had been a happy time. He had been her first lover and their sex life had been tender and comfortable, which had summed up their life together really, Sophy silently reflected, as the car came to a halt outside a pair of eight-foot-high wrought-iron gates set in a gleaming white wall.

And then, within two months of the liver cancer being diagnosed, Matthew had died, leaving her alone and utterly devastated.

Friends had rallied round and her job had helped, but it had been a full twelve months before she had felt she was beginning to enjoy life once again. And she hadn’t dated since, in spite of several offers; shallow affairs weren’t her style, and whether she had just been unlucky or men as a whole assumed a young widow was fair game she didn’t know, but certainly the ones of her acquaintance seemed to assume a dinner and a bottle of wine meant a bed partner. And the married ones were the worst of the lot. It had been quite a disillusioning time, if she thought about it. She frowned to herself, oblivious of her surroundings.

‘…Aunty Sophy?’

She came out of her reminiscences to the realisation that Michael’s chatter had been directed at her for the last few moments and she hadn’t heard a word. ‘I’m sorry, darling,’ she said quickly. ‘I was day-dreaming. What did you say?’

But Michael was talking to his mother now, and it was left to Andreas to say quietly, ‘He was merely pointing out the gates opened by themselves, courtesy of Paul’s remote control of course.’

Sophy nodded, forcing herself to meet the level gaze without blinking. She noticed his grey eyes had turned almost silvery in the blinding white sunlight, throwing the darkness of his thick black lashes into startling prominence and yet earlier, at the airport, the grey had been nearly black. A human chameleon, she thought drily, and no doubt his nature was as enigmatic as his appearance. Some men liked to project an air of mystery.

More in an effort to show she was not intimidated than anything else, she said politely—the car having passed through the gates and into the spectacular gardens beyond—‘It must be wonderful to live in such beautiful surroundings. Have your parents always lived here?’

‘For the last thirty-two years,’ Andreas said softly. ‘I was actually born here twelve months after they first moved in.’

So he was only thirty-one; he seemed older somehow. And then her attention was taken by Jill who touched her arm, her voice awe-struck as she said, ‘Look, Sophy, banana trees.’

They were travelling very slowly down a long winding gravel drive, the tyres scrunching on the tiny pebbles, and either side of the car was a cascade of vibrant colour. Masses of exotic, brilliantly coloured flowers and small shrubs were set strategically among silver spindrift olive trees, and the feathered leaves of jacarandas and the broad polished leaves of banana trees were also etched against the blue sky. The effect was riveting.

And then the car turned a corner and a long and very beautiful house was in front of them, its white walls and deep red roof perfectly complemented by the riot of colour at its many balconies, the same lacy ironwork reflected in the veranda which ran the full length of the house and which again had bougainvillaea, anemones, lobelia and a host of other trailing flowers winding over it.

‘Oh, wow!’ Michael, with the innocent ingenuousness of a child, verbalised what both women were thinking as he turned to his uncle, his brown eyes wide, and said, ‘Are my grandparents very rich, Uncle Andreas?’

‘Michael!’ Jill turned as red as the scarlet roof. ‘You mustn’t ask things like that, darling,’ she said reprovingly.

‘Why?’ Michael stared at his mother in surprise.

‘Because it isn’t polite.’

Polite or not, it was a pretty valid point, Sophy thought bemusedly. She could see tennis courts to the left of the house and Andreas had already mentioned the swimming pool; these people were loaded. She had always thought Theodore was nicely set up—what with his restaurant business and the lovely house he and Jill had lived in—but this, this was something else. Why hadn’t Theodore ever said he came from such a wealthy family?

Jill must have had the same thought because her voice was small when she turned to Andreas and said, ‘Theodore never talked about his family, Andreas, as I suppose you’ve guessed. You’ll have to excuse our surprise.’

There was a moment’s hesitation on Andreas’s part, and then he surprised both women as he leant forward slightly, saying quickly under his breath, ‘I understand this, Jill, but I would implore you not to reveal it to my mother. My father and I would expect nothing else, but she…she is desolate and it would serve no useful purpose to know he has not mentioned her to his wife and child. You understand?’ he added urgently.

‘Yes, yes of course.’ Jill stared at Andreas as he settled back into his seat and then glanced once at Sophy.

Understand? She didn’t understand anything about this family, Sophy thought militantly, but she was so glad she had come here with Jill. If the parents were anything like their offspring, they might soon be on the next plane home rather than enjoying a couple of weeks in the sun! Overwhelming wasn’t the word for it.

However, she had no time to reflect further as the car had drawn to a halt at the bottom of the wide, semi-circular stone steps leading up to the house, and Andreas had already exited, turning to extend his hand as he helped both women out on to the immaculate drive.

The heat struck again with renewed vigour after the cool air-conditioning inside the limousine, but it wasn’t that which caused the colour to flare in Sophy’s cheeks. For a brief moment as she had slid out of the car and risen to stand beside her sister, she had been just a little too close to Andreas. Close enough to sense the muscled power in the big frame next to her and smell the faint, intoxicatingly delicious scent of his aftershave, and she couldn’t believe how her body had reacted.

Fortunately the front door to the house was already opening and all attention was diverted to the couple standing framed in the aperture. ‘There are your grandparents, Michael,’ Andreas said very softly as he touched his small nephew on the shoulder. ‘Would you like to take your mother and say hello?’

‘Sophy?’ Jill had turned to her, her hand reaching out, and Sophy said quickly, ‘Take Michael and introduce him, Jill. I’m right here, don’t worry.’ She smiled encouragingly, her eyes warm, and after a split-second of hesitation Jill turned and did as Sophy had suggested leaving Sophy and Andreas standing together at the bottom of the steps.

That the women’s swift exchange had not gone unnoticed by Andreas became clear in the next moment when, Jill and Michael now out of earshot, he said softly out of the corner of his mouth and without glancing down at her, ‘So, it is true what I have read. I have always wondered if the text books are right.’

‘I’m sorry?’ Her voice was as quiet as his and Sophy didn’t take her eyes off her sister and nephew either. Immediately Jill and Michael had reached the couple standing at the door to the house they had been enfolded in Theodore’s parents’s arms; Michael’s grandfather lifting him up and hugging him to his chest, and Jill’s mother-in-law embracing the younger woman with an embrace which looked to be welcoming. Sophy relaxed slightly.

‘Dominant twin and submissive twin?’ Andreas drawled coolly.

It was less an observation and more an implied criticism, and directed specifically at her. Sophy recognised it at once and, true to her nature, rose instantly to the challenge. ‘It is both dangerous and naive to believe everything you read, Mr Karydis,’ she said icily, her eyes leaving the party framed in the doorway and sweeping with cold dislike over the dark profile next to her. ‘I would have thought you knew that?’

‘So it is not true, then?’ he returned evenly, the phantom of a smile playing round the hard mouth suggesting he found her attitude amusing rather than anything else.

She opened her mouth to fire back another put-down but Jill was already turning back down the steps, calling her name as she urged her sister to come and meet Theodore’s parents. All Sophy could do was to stitch a bright smile on her face and keep it there during all the enthusing of how very alike they were, and how amazing it must be to have a mirror image, and so on and so on. But there was no edge to Theodore’s parents’s greeting—unlike their younger son’s—and Sophy found herself relaxing still more. After a little while the five adults and Michael entered the huge, marble-floored hall behind them which was vast by any standards.

Evangelos, Theodore’s father, was an older version of Andreas, but try as she might Sophy could see nothing of Jill’s husband in the tall, handsome man in front of her. And Dimitra, Theodore’s mother, was not at all what she had expected. The doe-eyed and still quite exquisitely beautiful woman was clearly overjoyed to see her grandson and daughter-in-law and couldn’t take her eyes off Michael. ‘He is so like my Theodore at that age,’ she said brokenly more than once, clutching hold of her husband’s arm as though for support. ‘You remember, Evangelos? You remember his curls and what a pretty child he was?’

Sophy saw Andreas and his father exchange a glance over the top of Dimitra’s light-brown hair which was liberally streaked with strands of silver, and it was Andreas who gently walked his mother through to the beautiful drawing room off the hall, the others following with Evangelos.

‘I am sorry.’ Dimitra’s glance included Sophy as well as Jill once they were all seated and she had composed herself. ‘I just wasn’t expecting Michael to be so like his father. It…it is wonderful, of course, but…’

As the older woman’s voice trailed away and an awkward silence ensued, Sophy said quietly, ‘Just at the moment a mixed blessing? But that will pass and it’s perfectly understandable in the circumstances. Jill was only saying on the plane coming over that, having had Michael, she could understand a little of what you must be feeling.’

Jill flashed her sister a grateful glance and took her cue, moving off the sofa on which she and Sophy and Michael were seated and kneeling down in front of Dimitra before taking her mother-in-law’s hands and saying softly, ‘I would like us to be friends and for you all to get to know Michael, Dimitra. I know it won’t take away the pain of your loss, but perhaps in time you could feel a little part of Theodore is still with you in the form of your grandson?’

‘Oh, my dear…’ Now the tears were pouring down Dimitra’s face as she held out her arms to Jill and Jill, still kneeling, hugged her mother-in-law.

Andreas cleared his throat before saying to a now silent and subdued Michael, ‘How about if I show you the pool? You would like this? And also your grandfather has something in the garages that might take your fancy. Have you ever sat in a Lamborghini, Michael?’

‘A Lamborghini? A real one?’ Michael was over the moon.

‘And there is a Mercedes too in your favourite colour,’ Andreas told the small boy in a stage whisper, ‘but don’t tell your grandfather I’ve told you. Perhaps you and your aunt would like to come and see now and we can have a cold drink by the pool, yes?’ The question was spoken in a tone which made it rhetorical.

Sophy stiffened slightly. It was one thing to remove Michael from the overwhelming emotions throbbing about the room, but from the way Jill turned and looked at her as Andreas spoke she knew her sister wasn’t at all sure about being left alone with Theodore’s parents, even if things did seem to be going well. And Jill was still the only person she was concerned about.

She squared her shoulders. ‘I don’t think—’

And then, to Sophy’s surprise and anger, she found herself lifted up from the sofa by a determined, strong hand at her elbow. ‘Come along, Sophy.’ Andreas was smiling and his voice was soft and pleasant, but the granite-hard eyes were another matter. ‘Ainka is going to serve refreshments in a few moments, so it is better I tell her now we will have ours by the pool in the sunshine. It is lovely there this time of the day.’

She glared her protest at his cavalier treatment. ‘Now look—’

And then she found herself literally whisked across the room and out of the door, Michael padding along behind them, and it wasn’t until Andreas had shut the drawing room door and had pointed down the wide expanse to his nephew saying, ‘That door down there, Michael. That is the way,’ that she came to her senses. And she found she was mad. Spitting mad.

‘Let go of me, this instant!’

It was a soft hiss—Sophy was well aware of Michael’s ever-flapping ears—but none the less vehement for its quietness, and Andreas immediately complied, his voice as low as hers as he said, as they both watched the small boy dance off down the hall, ‘Your sister and my parents need time to themselves, Sophy. Surely you see that? This is an important time for them all.’

‘What I see is me being man-handled and Jill left alone at a difficult time,’ she snapped hotly. ‘That’s what I see! And who do you think you are, anyway, telling everyone what to do?’

‘My parents’s son,’ he bit out with soft emphasis.

‘And I’m Jill’s sister,’ she snarled with equal ferocity.

‘What on earth do you think they are going to do to her in there?’ Andreas asked testily, lifting a hand to Michael who had now reached the end of the hall and was waiting for them.

‘I’ve no idea, have I?’ Sophy returned cuttingly. ‘Jill and I don’t know you or your family from Adam! All we do know is that, for some reason, you all fell out with Theodore years ago and there’s been no meeting point until now.’

‘You cannot lay that at my parents’s feet. My mother was inconsolable when he left Greece and would have done anything to bring about a reconciliation.’ He glared at her, only moderating his expression when Michael called to them impatiently. ‘And there was no “falling out” in the way you have suggested. My brother left Greece because he wanted to and in the same way it was Theodore who cut his family out of his life.’

‘He had a family, Jill and Michael,’ Sophy snapped back quickly. ‘And, from what I can gather, the fact that he married my sister was the final nail in his coffin. Well, let me tell you that he was lucky to get her! Darn lucky, in my opinion. Jill is worth ten of any high society girl he might have had paraded in front of him by your parents.’

‘Now, look here—’

‘I don’t have to look anywhere, Mr Karydis. Jill might be inclined to give you all the benefit of the doubt, but I tell you here and now that my sister and Michael are my only concern. I don’t have to like you, any of you, and I intend to make sure that Jill’s good nature is not taken advantage of. Now, you promised Michael a look at the pool and the cars, so I think we should get on with it.’ She glowered at him, her eyes shooting blue flames, before she turned to face Michael fully and arranged her features into a more harmonious whole.

As she went to walk away, she felt his hand catch her wrist again and she shot round to face him, grinding out through clenched teeth, ‘You touch me once more, just once, and so help me I’ll forget Michael is standing there watching us and give you the sort of come-uppance you should have had years ago.’

The stunned outrage on his face almost made her smile—almost—but she was too angry to fully appreciate that it was probably the first time Andreas Karydis had ever been well and truly castigated. And by a mere slip of an English girl at that.

As his hand dropped from her arm she swung round and made her way to Michael—who was hopping about with fretful eagerness—sensing Andreas was just behind her, and then they were all entering a long corridor leading off the hall. The kitchens were on one side and—according to Andreas’s terse voice—the resident housekeeper and the maid’s private quarters on the other.

Andreas stopped to poke his head round the kitchen door and ask that their refreshments be served in the pool area, and then they continued to the end of the corridor and passed out of that door into the grounds of the estate and into hot bright sunshine.

Sophy let Andreas and Michael walk in front of her once they were outside for two reasons. One, she wanted to let Andreas establish a nice easy rapport with Michael for the little boy’s sake and for the atmosphere to lighten generally, and two, she found she needed to dissect all that had been said and determine if she had been hasty at all. The truth of the matter was that she was feeling slightly guilty about some of what she’d said, and the more she went over their conversation in her mind the more she acknowledged she had gone too far.

She bit her lip as she glanced at the tall powerful man and small boy in front of her, the blistering afternoon sun beating down on one jet-black head and a smaller golden-brown one. Oh, darn it—what a way to set the ball rolling!

She had only been in Greece two minutes and she’d already dug a big deep hole for herself as far as Andreas Karydis was concerned! Not that it bothered her personally, if she was being truthful—he was a hateful, arrogant pig of a man and she thoroughly loathed him—but she was here as Jill’s sister and Michael’s aunt, and Andreas was Jill’s brother-in-law and Michael’s uncle. Unfortunately, the family connection was close.

They had almost reached the Olympic-sized swimming pool which glittered a clear blue invitation in the sultry heat but, although the magnificent surroundings and acres of landscaped grounds were breathtaking, their beauty was curtailed by her thoughts. Which had become clearer in the fresh air.

It was a less than auspicious start to their two weeks in Greece! Sophy groaned inwardly. But maybe Andreas wouldn’t be around much anyway? They’d established earlier in the car that he had his own property some miles away, so apart from an odd call or two to be polite he probably wouldn’t waste his time calling on his brother’s widow and her sister.

But then there was Michael. And the two of them seemed to be getting on very well. Which was good—great, in fact. Of course it was. Or it would have been, if Michael’s uncle had been anyone rather than Andreas! Oh, she didn’t know what to think any more and she had a headache coming on. And it was all Andreas’s fault.

‘Why don’t you sit down in the shade?’ Andreas suggested as they reached the pool area and he turned round to look at her, his voice expressionless as he pointed to the far corner of the tiled surround where the dark shade produced by an overhanging and thickly blossomed tree was broken into patches by dappled sunlight. ‘The sun can be fierce to the uninitiated.’

‘Thank you.’ It was stiff but the best she could do. The whole area was scattered with plump sun loungers and several tables and chairs, and she could see a vast brick-built barbecue in one corner and a pretty wooden sunhouse in another. Sophy glanced about her and then forced herself to say, ‘This is very pleasant, idyllic in fact.’

He nodded, leading the way to a table and four chairs, and they had no sooner seated themselves than Christina, the plump little housekeeper, appeared, pushing a trolley containing an iced jug of lemonade and three glasses, along with a plate of sweet pastries and another of small rich cakes. A large bowl of fruit and several smaller bowls of different kinds of nuts and dried fruits was also placed before them, Christina smiling and nodding at them all before she ruffled Michael’s curls and waddled back off to the house. It was some snack, Sophy commented silently.

‘I like her.’ Michael was blissfully unaware of the tense atmosphere as he helped himself to a nut-filled and honey-flavoured pastry. ‘I like everything here.’ He took a big bite of the sugared pastry before adding, ‘Don’t you, Aunty Sophy?’

Sophy sipped her lemonade and her voice was carefully neutral when she said, ‘Yes, it’s lovely, Michael.’

Andreas was looking at her, one eyebrow raised provocatively and she couldn’t believe anyone could say so much without uttering a word. ‘This is good,’ he said gravely, ‘as you have two whole weeks to enjoy everything.’

If there was one thing she loathed it was sarcasm, Sophy thought militantly, glaring again before she could stop herself.

As soon as Michael had finished his pastry he made his way to the pool edge, sitting down and removing his socks and shoes and dangling his feet in the water as he hummed a little tune to himself, completely happy for the moment as only children can be.

Sophy had had to restrain herself from stopping the child’s move, but Michael’s departure had somehow heightened the tense atmosphere to breaking point. She was almost relieved when Andreas said quietly, ‘He seems remarkably well adjusted already to the loss of his father,’ as he turned to look at her.

Sophy made the mistake of meeting the dark eyes trained on her face, and the way they all but pinned her to the spot brought a thudding in her chest which made her hand tremble slightly. ‘They…they weren’t close,’ she said stiffly, wrenching her gaze away with some effort. ‘Theodore spent most of his time working.’

In actual fact she had always felt Theodore was a severe father and that Michael feared rather than loved him, but she wasn’t about to tell Andreas that. Besides, she could be wrong. She had only seen the two of them together a few times.

‘You didn’t like my brother.’ It was a cool observation.

Surprised into looking at him again, she saw the intense eyes were narrowed and thoughtful but not hostile. Nevertheless she wasn’t about to trust him an inch, and she stared at him for a moment before responding, ‘What makes you say that?’

‘Am I wrong?’ he asked smoothly.

‘He was Jill’s husband and she loved him.’

‘That’s no answer,’ he said softly.

‘It is to me.’ She raised her chin, her soft mouth tightening as he continued to study her with what Sophy considered to be intrusive intensity. ‘The only answer you’re getting.’

‘You’re very defensive about your sister’s marriage,’ he said at last, his body inclining slightly towards her as he spoke.

Was she? She didn’t think she was, but certainly there was something about Andreas which made her uptight and on edge. ‘No, I’m not,’ she said sharply, moving her body irritably. ‘But I happen to think their relationship was their own business.’

‘I agree absolutely,’ he said with silky composure, ‘but if I remember rightly it was your attitude towards Theodore I was remarking on.’ He smiled what Sophy considered a supercilious smile.

‘And as you’ve only met me today and haven’t seen your long-lost brother for years, I would suggest any remarks of that nature are extremely presumptuous,’ she shot back quickly. Game, set and match.

He settled back in his seat, shifting his large frame more comfortably, and her senses registered the movement with acute sensitivity even as she steeled herself not to reveal a thing to the lethal grey eyes. He was very foreign, very alien somehow—far more than Theodore had been—but she didn’t think it was altogether his Greek blood that made her feel that way. It was the intimidating nature of his masculinity, his bigness, the muscled strength which padded his shoulders and chest and the severe quality to his good looks. There was no softness anywhere, and in spite of herself she recognised such overwhelming maleness fascinated even as it threatened.

He looked cynical and hard and ruthless, but sexy too, very sexy. She bet he would be dynamite in bed.

The thought was such a shock that it literally brought her upright in her seat. She couldn’t believe she’d thought it about him.

‘What is it?’ The grey gaze hadn’t missed a thing.

‘Nothing.’ She forced her voice to sound cool and remote. ‘But I would prefer to get back to the house now, if you don’t mind.’ She eyed him firmly, sensing what his answer would be.

‘I do.’ His voice was very smooth. ‘There are still the cars to see, if you remember?’

‘It’s Michael who’s interested in cars, not me,’ Sophy said sharply, ‘as you very well know. I don’t want to see them.’

He stared at her with an enigmatic smile which didn’t reach the cold intent eyes. ‘That is a pity,’ he drawled easily, ‘because you are going to see them.’

‘I see.’ She was glaring again, she thought angrily, but she just couldn’t match his irritating composure. ‘Hospitality and putting a guest at ease aren’t your strong points, are they, Mr Karydis?’ Each word was coated in sheer ice.

He stiffened at her words and then laughed quietly, his face hard. ‘Would you be offended if I said it depended on the guest?’ he said with insulting politeness. ‘Or that women like you make me think my countrymen were right to wait until 1952 before they gave the female sex the right to vote?’

‘Oh, how very chauvinistic of you, Mr Karydis,’ she said cuttingly. ‘I gather you are one of those rather pathetic males who feel threatened by any woman who has a mind of her own and isn’t afraid to use it? What’s your view of the female sex? But no, let me guess. Our destiny is to be kept pregnant and barefoot, is that it? We’re all supposed to fall into your strong male arms and beg you to make love to us?’

‘If that is a subtle invitation, Sophy, you should wait to be asked,’ he said reprovingly.

She knew it was a calculated jibe to get under her skin but in spite of that she couldn’t disguise the furious anger his cool baiting had produced. It turned her cheeks scarlet and her eyes fiery as she spluttered, ‘You, you—’

‘Male chauvinist pig normally fits the description but you have already used that one,’ he said calmly. ‘However, being such a woman of the world I am sure you can find a more original definition if you try.’

He was laughing at her! It was there in the barely concealed curve of his lips and the glitter of amusement in the dark eyes, and Sophy would have given the world to be able to slap the smirk off his handsome face. But there was Michael just a few yards away, and it wouldn’t do the little boy any good at all if his aunt suddenly attacked his new uncle, Sophy cautioned herself desperately. Although it would certainly relieve her stress levels.

And as though he had read her mind, Andreas added softly, ‘Now, please, Sophy Fearn, do not force me to carry you kicking and screaming to the garages. It might upset the family.’

‘And of course the family is everything,’ she snapped hotly.

‘Just so.’ The grey eyes narrowed ominously. ‘I care very much for my parents and I am sure you care about your sister, so let us at least put on a facade of being civil, yes? It is only for two weeks, after all.’

Sophy drew on every little bit of will power she possessed and took a deep hidden breath. She had never met anyone she had disliked more—or so instantly. He was a brute, an arrogant brute, and she loathed and detested him, but this visit was not about her or her feelings. She had come to Greece to look after Jill and Michael and make things as easy as she could for them, and a feud with Theodore’s brother simply wasn’t an option in the circumstances.

She raised her chin a little higher, forced her voice into neutral and said flatly, ‘I can manage two weeks if you can.’

‘Excellent.’ He rose to his feet and held out his hand to her. ‘So, we will take Michael to see the cars and then return to the bosom of the family, yes? Smiling and calm.’

Sophy gritted her teeth as she ignored his hand and stood up. Thank goodness, thank goodness Andreas didn’t live with his parents. With all the best intentions in the world, she didn’t think she could have stood two weeks of seeing this man every day.

She looked at him as he walked across to Michael after a mocking smile, her senses noting the comfortable, almost animal-like prowl with which he moved. She felt shaky inside and that made her angry with herself. He had wound her up to screaming point and it was the first time she had allowed anyone to do that.

Unbidden, her mother’s wedding photograph suddenly flashed onto the screen of her mind. She had found it one day when she was about eleven or twelve, hidden in the attic where she and Jill had been rummaging about when their mother had been at work. Their mother had spent nearly every waking hour working in an endeavour to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table, and although they had never wanted for anything on a material level the two girls had virtually brought themselves up.

From the time they had first asked questions about their father their mother had refused to discuss the man who had let her down so badly, but her bitter silence had spoken for itself. The twins had never dared to press the matter and they had assumed their mother had destroyed any photographs that might have been taken, so when they had discovered the picture of the handsome smiling man and his radiant happy bride they had pored over it for hours.

Their mother’s fragile fairness had seemed even more delicate beside the tall dark man at her side, and she had been looking up at her handsome husband so adoringly, so reverently, it was clear to anyone how much she had loved him.

Their father had not been looking at his new wife but straight into the camera, his stance confident and self-assured and his handsome face wearing an expression of cool self-satisfaction which had bordered on the arrogant.

It had somehow fitted exactly the bare facts they knew—that their father had run off with a local beauty queen just a couple of months after they had been born, and had never bothered with them from that day on or even spoken to his wife again.

Jill had seemed to take the photograph in her stride but somehow, and Sophy couldn’t have explained why, it had eaten into her soul like a canker. Their father had been aggressively handsome, very masculine and dark with a magnetism which had leapt off the paper. And she had hated him. Hated his swaggering bumptiousness, his insolent good looks and the dark charisma that had trapped her mother into a life of lonely, back-breaking hard work and embittered memories. He had ruined her life and he hadn’t given a damn.

‘Aunt Sophy? Come on.’

Michael’s impatient, childish treble brought Sophy out of the dark void and into the bright June sunlight again, but for a moment she stared almost vacantly at the small boy standing in front of her. And then she forced herself out of the blackness.

‘Uncle Andreas is going to take us to see the Lamborghini.’ Michael clearly couldn’t understand how anyone could fail to recognise the importance of this momentous event, and as Sophy looked down into the little eager face she found herself smiling and her voice was soft when she said, ‘Lead on.’

As before, Sophy hung back and let the other two walk a few paces in front of her, and as she followed the large figure of Andreas and the small dancing boy at his side through an arched trellis wound with richly scented white roses, she found herself looking across a velvety smooth lawn which stretched beyond the pool area and curved back round the house in the distance.

The air was rich with the heavy, warm perfume of the scented bushes and landscaped flowerbeds surrounding the green area, and she noticed several flowered arbours complete with low wooden benches as they passed. It was like a stately home in England!

The Karydis family must have an army of gardeners to keep the grounds in such perfect condition, she thought idly as she walked on. Everything was immaculate.

Pristine tennis courts stretched behind the row of pretty red-roofed garages at the rear of the house, and Sophy stood looking into the distance as Michael oohed and ahhed behind her, climbing quickly into the Lamborghini and sitting agog as Andreas went through the controls with his small nephew.

Jill had unwittingly married into fabulous wealth, that much was for sure, but what on earth had made Theodore cut himself off from his family the way he had? Although Andreas seemed to have his brother’s cold, authoritative nature, Evangelos Karydis had appeared quite warm and friendly and Dimitra even more so. Still, it was none of her business, not really, Sophy told herself silently. Only in as much as it affected Jill, that was. But one thing was for sure…

She turned and glanced back at the occupants of the Lamborghini, her face flushing in spite of herself as Andreas’s eyes met hers for an instant, a disturbing gleam at the back of the grey. She was going to make very sure Jill made no commitment to this family, either in terms of herself or Michael.

She didn’t trust these people, she didn’t trust them at all, and the big dark man so deftly charming his small nephew at the moment she trusted least of all.