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Elegant. Classy.
A knock-out.
And as she saw the pinpricks of his pupils flare suddenly at her approach she felt confidence flood back into her.
Something else came with the confidence. But that wasn’t important. Not now.
She raised an eyebrow quizzically.
‘What am I playing at? Why, Theo, I’m here at your invitation. You’ve invited me for lunch, remember? Upstairs in your penthouse.’
His eyes were masked. Out of nowhere, all the emotion in his face vanished. It was like a smooth, unreadable surface. She knew that face, was very familiar with it. It
was a face to be extremely wary of. Well, she was wary, all right. But that wasn’t going to stop her. Wasn’t going to intimidate her. Not this time. She was, after all, in possession of information that Theo would find it bitter to swallow. But he was going to swallow it all the same. And there was nothing he was going to be able to do about it.
So she just went on standing there, her expression as bland and as smooth as his.
He walked around the edge of his desk. Her eyes stayed fixed on him. For a tall man he was very graceful as he walked. The grace of a tiger approaching its prey.
Instinctively she tensed, then forced herself to let her muscles relax. She wasn’t Theo’s prey. Not any more.
Never, ever again.
She stood her ground. She would do this. She would do this and win. For once, in their final encounter, she would win.
‘Well, in which case, let’s head upstairs. I’m sure Demetrious has sorted out lunch for us. Shall we?’
He ushered her from the office, past his PA, and across the lobby to his private lift. As the doors sliced shut on them Vicky felt a burst of claustrophobia. She was not fearful of lifts—but the enclosed space made Theo seem closer to her than she ever wanted him to be again.
When the doors opened directly into his penthouse apartment she stepped out hurriedly. Too hurriedly? Was she betraying her reluctance at being so close to Theo? Well, tough—and too late. She walked forward with the same deliberate, confident air with which she had walked into his office one floor below, and made a beeline for the windows on the far side of the room. She could see the outline of the Parthenon on its rocky hill, the Acropolis, guardian of Athens for time immemorial. She ought to take another visit before she left for London. It was a good time of year to be in Athens—so much cooler than it had been that long, hot summer of her marriage. She could stay a few days in a hotel and see the sights again. No one would know who she was, and she would not come here again, she knew.
Sadness plucked at her. Then a harder emotion. That was yet another crime to be laid at Theo’s door. Not just what he had done to her, and to her relationship with her last paternal blood relative, but the fact that he had parted her from her own Greek heritage.
She turned back, so that she could no longer see the outline of the city she loved.
‘Would you like a drink?’
Theo was crossing to the drinks cabinet against the wall. Through the double doors that gave on to the dining room Vicky could see a team of staff, busily setting the table, despatched to do so from the executive kitchen on the floor below. It was not the first time she had lunched here. There had been several times when he had had business acquaintances for lunch who had brought their wives, necessitating her presence, as well, to make polite small talk while the men talked business.
Did he bring his women here? The thought stung in her mind before she could stop it. It would be convenient, after all, and the lift descended straight to the car park, so ‘guests’ could arrive and leave without having to go through the office levels.
Her eyes flickered around. The décor couldn’t have been more different from that ‘love-nest’ on the coast! It was stark and masculine, functional and minimalist. Any women he brought here would have to accept that this was the space of someone who was not prepared to make concessions to their feminine sensibilities.
Well, right now, ‘feminine sensibilities’ were something she was going to be decidedly short on. This was hardball time. Plain and simple. She wanted to hit at Theo. Hit him in the only spot that was vulnerable.
His ego.
Not that he looked in the slightest bit vulnerable right now. As ever, that aura of power sat on him as seamlessly as his superb hand-tailored suit. As her eyes rested on him, a sense of protest stabbed at Vicky. It wasn’t fair—it just wasn’t fair! He looked so damn compelling that even now, steeled as she was, she could feel the familiar deadly weakness start up inside her just by looking at him.
Let alone remembering…
‘Mineral water, thank you,’ she said crisply, cutting like a necessary blade through her own treacherous thoughts.
‘Still or sparkling?’
The smooth dark tones mocked her, she knew. But she would mirror his cool if it killed her.
‘Still will be fine.’
