Читать книгу Rising Stars & It Started With… Collections - Кейт Хьюит - Страница 17

SHE was his captor.

It felt absolutely like that.

The vast hotel felt like a goldfish bowl. Every time she turned, even if he wasn’t there, she anticipated him.

The only relief was the occasional visit to nursing homes and hostels for the homeless on the mainland in the search for Roula Kargas. Nico’s thorough search had already ruled out their mother being on Xanos or Lathira, but no matter how promising the lead, every time the result was same—the patient was too old, or the history wrong. Every time it was not their mother.

‘Anything?’ Nico asked when she rang early the next morning to report on her previous day, but they both knew it was bad news for had it been good she would immediately have told him. ‘Nothing. Her name was right …’ Charlotte gave a tense sigh. ‘I thought I had found your mother, but she was from Rhodes, and the child she had given up was a girl. It was actually really sad.’

‘I would have gone myself,’ Nico explained. ‘The trouble is, my father …’ He did not need to explain further.

Both knew there was little time left. The doctors were talking in hours now. ‘I know that I am asking a lot from you, Charlotte, that this is not part of your more usual work, and it is much appreciated. You need to unwind. Ring the spa, it is world class. Have a massage …’

She might just do that. She could feel the knots in her neck, in her shoulders, in her jaw, even in her fingers that gripped the phone.

‘Has Zander been in contact?’

‘No.’ She had told Nico about the offer to take her out on his boat and, though desperate for information, even Nico had agreed that would be too much to ask.

‘If you do speak with him, though …’ There was a rare pause from her boss, for their conversations were always brief. He always said what was needed and then hung up, except this was so personal and there was so much pain, it had shifted how things worked. ‘I want to find my mother, Charlotte. Any clue, any information, no matter how small.’

‘If he tells me anything, I shall pass it on.’ She hung up the phone, cross with Nico, yet she could not blame him for his desperation to find out about his past.

She paced the room till she was sick of the walls and she stepped out to the balcony to breathe, to drag in some air, except there Zander was on his balcony, reading the newspaper, coffee in hand, and she raced back inside, only to hear a knock on the door. It couldn’t be him, of course, given he was on his balcony, but her heart was thumping as she opened the door. The bellboy was hidden by a huge bunch of orchids and, on reading the attached card, an apology from Zander for any indiscretions and a summons, rather than an invitation, to join him for morning tea so that he could apologise in person. To add insult to injury, the florist had signed his name incorrectly.

Both card and flowers went in the bin.

Unless he contacted her about work, she would have nothing to do with him, Charlotte decided.

Indiscretions indeed! He was a brave man to request her presence.

The smell of orchids filled the room, but she refused to open the sliding doors, deciding instead that she would have the massage that Nico had suggested.

It was but a brief escape, although a pleasant one. Her body was smoothed and pummelled, oiled fingers massaged her scalp and she could almost feel the tension seeping out of her body and through her fingertips. As she was left alone for the lotions to work, as she lay in the warm, darkened room, her mind did not automatically drift to Zander, as it did all too often these days, for he was not the only problem she had. Neither did her thoughts drift to the constant worry about her mother. No, given this pause, for the first time in a long time there was a moment to focus on self, and the voice she had been silencing for a while now started to make itself known. It was a voice that was familiar from her childhood. It blamed others for her problems, heaped on the guilt—the voice of her mother was becoming her own and Charlotte did not like the sound of it a bit. Yes, Zander had hurt her. Yes, his behaviour had been beyond appalling, but her problems were her own and she knew they needed to be sorted out rather than shelved, knew that so much had to change.

The massage both regenerated and soothed her, but it was a fix that Charlotte knew was only temporary for all too soon she was back in the lift, heading to her room. She swiped the card in her door, relieved to be inside, but her relief was short-lived for there he was, sitting on the chair. She didn’t jump, for she put nothing past him.

‘I’ll complain.’

‘To whom?’ Zander said. ‘I own the hotel.’ He glanced over to the bin. ‘I see that you don’t like orchids.’

‘I love orchids,’ Charlotte said, ‘or rather I used to.’ She gave him a very tight smile. ‘Though the scent of them will now forever make my stomach curl.’

‘I asked you to join me in the restaurant.’

‘To discuss business?’ Charlotte asked, and watched his jaw tighten. ‘Because if that was the case then a phone call would have sufficed—flowers and a secondhand apology weren’t necessary.’

‘Second-hand?’

‘They spelt Zander with an X. Anyway it’s irrelevant. I have nothing to discuss with you unless it’s about business.’ Zander was not used to being stood up or turned down and certainly not when he’d deigned to send flowers.

‘I wish to talk.’

‘You really think that you can just walk in anywhere and get whatever you want?’

‘Of course.’

‘You’re just a spoiled rich boy …’

And he looked to where she stood and knew he could correct her, could tell her there had been nothing spoiled about his childhood, that the privileged life he led now had been built by his hands, but he spoke of his past with no one, although he had, occasionally, with her.

‘You don’t know anything about my life.’

‘I thought I was starting to,’ Charlotte said. ‘I thought when we walked on that beach, when we went out to dinner, when you took me to bed …’

He was not here to discuss his past; he was here to find out about her, to put to rest the rare guilt she had generated in him, a feeling that did not sit well with him. ‘What you said about your mother, about her having to go into a home …’

‘I shouldn’t have.’ Charlotte’s response was instant, that precious time in the spa allowing her to speak with clarity, on that subject at least. ‘My problems are my own and they have nothing to do with what happened between us, so you can leave now.’ She went to open the door, but Zander was not going anywhere.

‘I want to know what is happening.’

‘I don’t want to discuss my mother, and I have nothing to say to you.’

For the first time with a woman he could not leave it there, did not want to leave it there—for although their day had been engineered, although their night had started with cruel intent, it had concluded differently, and he wanted her back. He wanted the Charlotte that had spoken with him, but her stance was closed, her face a mask, and he fought with the one thing he had left.

‘What if I am here about business?’ Zander said.

‘Then I’ll schedule you an appointment. ‘

‘I have already been more than patient …’

‘Really!’

‘Do you know how valuable my time is? Instead, you keep me waiting in a restaurant. You will come out with me. I have arranged to take out the yacht. I am considering releasing the land …’

‘I just need your signature.’ Charlotte did her level best to keep her voice even. ‘It isn’t necessary to go out on your yacht.’

‘Necessary for whom?’ came his snobbish response. ‘It is how I conduct business.’ He paused for a moment. ‘Okay, ring Nico and tell him to join me.’

‘That’s not possible now. I could speak with Paulo.’

‘I have no time for him. It is to be Nico or you. We would go out on the boat, then naturally we would share a long lunch, we would talk, and then I would, perhaps, sign. In fact …’ She could feel her nails digging into her palms as cruelly he continued. ‘It should be Nico taking me out, given how much he wants this deal. Perhaps he is not so keen after all. Perhaps given his PA can only spare me a few minutes of her time …’

‘You know that is not the case.’

‘So where is he?’ Zander pushed and of course she could not answer, knew that he had her trapped, and she did not want to be on a boat with him. She just wanted it over and done with, wanted him out of her life.

‘You know you don’t need to take me out for a signature.’

‘I want to, though.’

‘You think I’ll change my mind, that you’ll seduce me again …’ The trouble was that he would, he absolutely would, and that was what most terrified her.

‘I came here to do business,’ Zander said coolly. ‘I expect either Nico or yourself on the jetty at midday.’ He looked at where she clutched her dressing gown to herself. ‘Hopefully you will dress suitably. Speak with Ethina in the boutique, I will tell her to expect you.’

Bastard.

‘Nico …’ She apologised for disturbing him, but she would not make a move without telling him, and Nico listened as she explained what his brother had in store for her.

‘I’ve told you, you don’t have to go out on his yacht with him. I would never ask you to do that.’

‘I’m willing to, though. I just want these papers signed, Nico. And then, I’m sorry, I just want to go home.’ She took a deep breath for there was so little to lose now. ‘I’m having some health issues with my mother and I really need to fly home first thing tomorrow.’

‘I’m sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can do to help?’

‘I don’t know …’ she admitted. ‘I need to see how she is before I make any decisions.’

‘You can cope?’ Nico checked. ‘With Zander?’

‘Of course.’

‘Charlotte …’

‘I’m working for you, Nico,’ she said, because she was, and, yes, she could cope.

If Zander thought she would succumb again to his charms, that a few hours in close confinement on his yacht with him would somehow dissipate the hurt, would have her falling into his bed again, he was wrong.

So wrong, Charlotte thought, and a small smile spread across her lips.

A smile that became more devilish.

A smile that, as she looked in the mirror, reminded her of the old Charlotte. Apart from her work clothes she was so behind with fashion these days, what heaven it would be to update. How wonderful to keep her head with Zander and look brilliant while doing so.

She stood in the boutique, facing a full-length mirror. Ethina, the owner, was far from gushing, was critical. Clearly it was Zander that Ethina had to impress, and, from the purse to her lips as she ran her eyes over Charlotte, she had her work cut out. She had to transform the lily-white body that hadn’t so much as set foot in a gym into the groomed beauty expected by the wallet the boutique was attached to.

How many clothes did a signature from a billionaire require?

‘Too harsh.’ Ethina held a blood-red bikini up to Charlotte’s shoulder and then a jade one and then white. Had her mind not been made up as to her course of action, Charlotte would have run out of the exclusive boutique rather than take the shame.

No doubt that was what Zander was expecting.

For her to make do with what was in her case or to grab the first offering Ethina held up. Instead, she stood there and fought down the shame. She listened and watched and slowly, very slowly, marvelled at the skill of the snooty Ethina.

She learnt that the dull silvery-gold string bikini that looked so tacky on the rack looked sensational on her, that it did not clash with the paleness of her skin and that it blended in with the gold of her hair.

‘With the right sunglasses …’ Ethina continued, ‘the right sandals …’ There were beautifully cut shorts and cool linen shirts and then for the first time since her project had entered there was a smile on Ethina’s face as she eyed Charlotte in the mirror. ‘My work is done.’

Even a bag was purchased for her and Ethina said that she would pack it. Charlotte was led to the salon, the oils washed out and her hair brushed, straightened and then curled, all to create one, oh, so casual ponytail, and she felt casual and elegant and possibly a little bit beautiful as she picked up her new bag and headed to the jetty.

Yes, she felt ready to face him.

Zander watched her walk along the jetty.

Saw her ponytail swishing in the breeze. He had expected hesitation, for her to stop and fiddle, to find a mirror, but it was a confident Charlotte who walked towards the boat—and she looked stunning, even with those gorgeous eyes shielded.

She did her best not to sulk.

Instead, she played the game and accepted champagne and the delicacies on offer, laughed at his comments, spoke with him—but not for a second was she herself, and he missed her, he craved her, he wanted her back.

‘That is Lathira …’ he pointed to the island in the distance ‘… where Nico grew up.’

‘Oh.’

‘You know that,’ Zander said. ‘It was the wealthier of the islands then.’ She examined a manicured nail instead of commenting. She was at work, Charlotte reminded herself, there to gather information for Nico. There to confuse Zander with her confidence, there to reclaim some pride.

‘And you grew up on Xanos,’ Charlotte said. ‘What about …?’ She swallowed, for she felt like a spy. ‘What about your parents?’

‘What did he ask you to find out?’ Worse than a spy, she felt like a double agent.

‘I was just making conversation.’

‘You blush when you lie,’ Zander said. ‘Not a lot, but your neck goes pink.’

They dropped anchor and she didn’t feel so brave any more, but tried not to show it.

He took off his shirt and she yearned to do the same, to feel the breeze on her shoulders, but her body thrummed in his presence and it was safer covered. He smiled as she sat on the bench, trying to look detached, trying to ignore the scent of him as he leant over to pick up the sun lotion.

‘Could you do my back?’ He asked as if he were innocent, as if that olive skin could possibly burn, as if a man like Zander Kargas could possibly feel pain if it did.

‘Of course.’

She was stronger than she even knew she was capable of being. Charlotte picked up the tube and imagined it was the vitamin E cream with which she daily oiled her mum. She refused to remember the sheen of his back when it had slid beneath her fingers, refused to notice the ripple of muscles, or to even acknowledge the faint scratches that her nails had made the other night.

‘Done!’ She even managed a gentle, sisterly slap on his back before she replaced the lid on the tube and felt the teeniest surge of triumph as, without words, she told him he wasn’t quite as irresistible as he’d thought. ‘How long will we be out for?’

‘That depends.’

‘On what?’ For the first time her anger bubbled to the surface and she fought to check it. Did he think all this would erase the hurt, that a day trip on his luxury yacht would blind her to all he had done?

‘I want to talk.’

‘We are talking.’

‘I want to talk like before.’

‘I trusted you then,’ Charlotte said.

She did not trust him now.

Did not trust the man who stripped off his shorts and stood before her.

‘Time for a swim.’ Black eyes met hers. ‘Join me?’

‘I’d rather not.’

What a lie. Her body was on fire and she wanted to be in the water. Only as he dived off the side did she venture a look from behind her dark glasses, saw the arms that had once held her slice through the water as easily as he had sliced her heart, yet she wanted to be in there with him, wanted the cool of the water, wanted so badly to join him.

Instead, she sat and the linen of her shirt felt like a horse blanket around her shoulders, so she finally allowed herself to take it off. He came back to the boat, dripping and cool and irritated now, for she spoke about the water and the view. She chatted but did not engage in the way they once had.

‘We could sunbake,’ he offered, ‘go further out to the islands.’

‘Whatever you want.’

‘What do you want?’ Zander demanded. ‘What amuses Charlotte?’

Clearly nothing did.

‘What will it take for you to enjoy it? What do I have to do to—?’

‘There’s nothing you can do,’ she cut in, for did he really think she was so shallow, that a trip on his yacht and champagne could soothe the hurt? ‘How can I ever enjoy time with you when I know what you did to me, when I know what you are capable of?’

‘I have apologized,’ Zander said. He did so rarely, but it had always worked in the past.

‘But it still happened,’ Charlotte said, and such was the visible regret in his dark eyes, she almost believed it was real. She felt the spell that he cast so easily start to work its charm and she flailed for something else, an antidote to the magic he made, and she found it. ‘I know how you treated me, and I know how you treat others, how you do business, the lengths you will go to …’ It felt good to say it, easier to be angry on other’s behalf, for around him, for herself, she was weak. ‘Look what you’ve done to Xanos.’

‘It needed it,’ Zander said. ‘The place was falling apart, people were leaving in droves. Now it is prosperous.’

‘For you, perhaps,’ Charlotte said.

‘It was a dwindling fishing village, now there are jobs, now the island is thriving.’

‘There are no jobs for the locals, though.’ She challenged him. ‘Except for the taverna that feeds your labourers, all the other workers are from the mainland.’ He heard her words and he moved to defend himself, to correct her, but there it was again, this guilt that seemed to invade at times when she was around. She was such a wisp of a thing, Zander thought, but she was stronger than most; not in her slender arms that stretched out, exasperated, and not in her voice, which could so easily be drowned by his, but in her resolve, in her beliefs, in her convictions, and he was silenced. ‘Will you take me back now?’

‘If that is what you want. But I brought you here to find out why, because of me, your mother needs to go in a home.’ This time there was no derision in his voice. ‘Charlotte, I need to know. I need to put that right at least.’

‘Please,’ Charlotte said, ‘just leave it.’

‘I cannot. If Nico is going to fire you because of what happened … I have told you, there is a job for you.’

‘A paid mistress?’ Charlotte sneered. ‘I’m not even going to respond to that offer.’

‘I don’t understand how your mother—’

‘Zander, stop!’ Her voice was shrill and she tamed it. ‘I’m sorry that I said that.’

‘Sorry?’ He could not make out this woman, was used to women pouring out their hearts rather than holding back.

‘My mother is sick, she has Alzheimer’s, and I’ve been looking after her at home. I don’t have the party life that I told you I did. That life was a long time ago.’ And she waited, waited for horror to cloud his features, for him to recoil, but still he stood there. ‘I lied to you.’ She spelt it out and still he stood there.

An angel had not been required, but she was close to it now. This was the woman he had thought sleeping with his brother, the party girl he had assumed could handle all he heaped on her. And he knew then how badly he had hurt her, that the heart he had broken this time had been a fragile one.

‘Why?’

‘I lied to you because …’ She screwed her face up in frustration. ‘Because you didn’t need to hear it, because it could never impact on you.’

It just had, though.

‘I thought I could handle a fling,’ Charlotte said simply. ‘In fact, I’m quite sure I could have. I just never anticipated that you’d cause me so much pain.’ She was terribly honest. ‘I’m sorry that I blamed you about my mother, it just felt easier.’

‘Easier?’

‘I’m starting to sound like her.’ She did not need to explain herself to him, Charlotte realised, she just needed to explain it to herself. ‘You actually did me a favour …’ She gave a wry smile. ‘You learn a lot about yourself when difficult times hit.’

‘So what did you learn?’

He was the man she’d first met, the man who made her unbend, the man she could talk to, but she was far more wary now. Still, it was a relief to voice what had been whirring in her head.

‘That I’m starting to sound like her.’ Charlotte explained. ‘Bitter, a victim, berating—it was never my intention. She begged me not to put her in a home when she was first diagnosed, told me over and over that I was all she had, that she had done so much for me. I love my mum. Whatever decision I make it’s going to hurt. But when I heard myself blaming you, when I used my mum as an excuse …’

‘What do you want, Charlotte?’

‘I want my life back.’ There, she’d said it out loud.

‘To go back to flying …’

‘No. I don’t want to be away all the time while I’ve still got Mum. Hopefully I’ll keep my job and be able to visit Mum a lot.’ She was talking as if it were a done deal, but she felt sick inside and she looked beyond the boat to the ocean, wished for a glimpse of peace, but it did not come from the view; instead, it came from a most unexpected source. He put his hand on her shoulder and for the first time her body did not respond to his with a leap of awareness. As his fingers rested on her shoulder, it was a caress that soothed, a caress she wanted to sink into, his voice somehow the one that calmed her.

‘I can only imagine what you think of me, and I know my opinion might not mean much to you, but for what it’s worth, I think you have made the right choice.’

And his opinion should not matter, except it did, and to hear him approve of her wretched decision brought a sting of relieved tears to her eyes.

‘It’s a horrible choice, though.’

‘There isn’t a nice one,’ Zander pointed out. ‘From impossible situations you make impossible choices. Maybe if your mother had her time again, if she knew how bad it would get, maybe she would be saying the same thing.’

‘I doubt it!’ Her smile was small but genuine. ‘I love her dearly, but she really was the most difficult woman.’

‘She probably did her best,’ Zander offered, and Charlotte could tell he immediately wished that he hadn’t because as her eyes jerked to his, he looked away. She knew he was going to change the subject.

‘Maybe yours did, too.’

He stood, did not even attempt a response. ‘Do you want to swim? Or we could head back …’

‘No.’

He was the one resisting now, he was the one who wanted the safety of shore, and she wanted him to stop, wanted him to talk. ‘Maybe she did do her best, Zander.’

‘By selling one child and deserting the other?’ Zander asked. ‘She destroyed my father by leaving. He was a good man, an honourable man, till she left him.’ He stopped but only because she put up her hand.

‘Please, don’t …’ Her hand was shaking. She so badly wanted to know what had happened, but she had forgotten the reason was here, did not want him to confide in her when she would have to betray him. She could not reveal that to him, but Zander was one step ahead of her.

‘You have to tell Nico what I say to you?’

‘How do you know?’

‘Rare, the woman who doesn’t want to talk about feelings.’ She looked up and was surprised to see him smiling. ‘That’s usually all they want to talk about. Tell him what you must, Charlotte, it makes no difference to me.’

‘Why won’t you talk to him?’

‘There’s nothing I want to discuss.’

‘He’s your twin,’ Charlotte said. ‘How can you not want to get to know him? How can you not want to find your mum?’

‘Because neither of them interest me,’ Zander said.

‘I’ll sign the papers, though—if it helps you.’ Which was the reason she was there, yet all she felt was sad.

‘If I were Nico …’ she started, and then stopped, for Zander’s signature was the reason she was there and she had it in her grasp now.

‘Go on.’

She dared to go on, dared to speak her truth, whatever the eventual cost. ‘I wouldn’t want the land. I’d move as far away as I could.’ She looked at the most beautiful man she had ever seen, a man who was capable of so very much but was determined to stay locked in hate. ‘I don’t know why Nico wants to prolong the agony. Why he doesn’t just cut his losses …’ She stopped talking then, because she understood why. For surely Nico loved him, wanted, however painful, contact with him, wanted the hope that things might one day change.

‘You need oil.’ He picked up the bottle and changed the subject, gave her the benefit of that beautiful smile that was, she had found out, just a small part of him. ‘Your shoulders are burning.’

‘Don’t try and seduce me, Zander.’ She must not give into him, must not just bend to his will. ‘I’m not sleeping with you.’

‘I just want to oil you.’

‘Please.’ She shrank away, for she knew what his touch could do. ‘What do you want from me, Zander?’

And always Zander surprised her for, as he unstoppered the bottle, as he poured oil on her shoulders, he told her he wanted more than her body as he put in his bid. ‘I am leaving Xanos tonight—and I want you to come with me.’