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Then Ari stirred in his sleep and the moment was gone. Leaving only a whisper behind of an emotion she could not name. Different from any she had ever known. It was strange—disturbing. And something more. Something had seemed to come like a lift to her heart, like music she had never heard before, impressing deep upon her…haunting her like a ghost—a ghost of something that had never been…. could never be.
Jerkily, she moved to shake out and fold Ari’s clothes, smoothing their creases and draping them over a chair. It was displacement activity, she knew. To give her time to recover her composure after that strange, disturbing moment—and more practically, to give Nikos time to leave.
But when she could no longer keep smoothing Ari’s clothes she had to turn round—to see, with a quiver going through her, that Nikos had not moved. He was still standing there, watching her.
She made herself speak. ‘You can go back to the party. I’m staying with Ari. I moved my things into Tina’s ro
om so as to be next door to him.’ Her words sounded dislocated, disjointed. Awkward.
A second later she wished them desperately unsaid. Oh, God, had he thought she was telling him deliberately where she was going to sleep, hoping he’d come to her? Or, worse, would he now think he could?
But he didn’t reply to what she had said. Instead, his eyes still resting on her, he spoke. His voice was low, grating—almost reluctant, as if he spoke against his will.
‘You were right to wear that dress. You look—breathtaking.’ There was a pause—minute, but telling. ‘Nothing like your sister looked in it. Nothing at all…’ His voice seemed to trail away.
She couldn’t speak, did not know what to say. The silence stretched between them, the tension thick. For a moment longer he just went on standing there, looking at her, as she stood immobile, motionless. Then, with the slightest alteration of expression, his gaze loosed hers at last and he left the room.
For quite some time Ann could only stand there, still immobile. There seemed to be a hollow somewhere inside her, but she wasn’t sure where.
Or why.
Nikos stood on the terrace outside his bedroom, his hands curved over the stone balustrade, looking out to sea. The scent of jasmine and honeysuckle caught at his senses. And not just at his senses—his memory. How short a time ago he had stood here with Ann, waiting to take her into his arms, his bed, seducing her in the sweet Aegean night—
He had not wanted the music to end. He had not wanted to let her go. She had seemed so—different. Not the woman he knew her to be. And just now, when he’d watched her put Ari to bed, how tenderly she’d kissed him, how naturally her affection for him had seemed to show. It had made strange, disquieting thoughts form in his head. Questions he wanted her to answer—but why he wanted her to answer them he would not ask himself.
He went on gazing out over the sea, disturbed, unsettled.
Restless.
The next day seemed very flat, and when Tina’s family had left after lunch, profusely thanking Mrs Theakis and Nikos for their wonderful hospitality, it seemed even flatter. Ari felt it most, Ann knew.
The reality of Tina actually leaving was hitting him, and though Ann reassured him that she was only on her honeymoon, and would be back soon from a Nile cruise, he was fretful and disconsolate—tired, too, after his exciting day and very late night. She was patient and forbearing with him, but it was hard going.
At least she didn’t have to face Nikos, however. Once lunch was over and Tina’s family had left for the rest of their holiday, at a popular resort on another Greek island, he kept to his office.
The next day was easier, with Ann getting Ari to draw pictures of Tina and Sam beside huge pyramids. But Ann was worried about him. Who would look after him when she herself had gone—as go, soon, she surely must? It would not be kind to stay so long that Ari got too used to her…
But at lunchtime Sophia Theakis dropped a bombshell.
‘Now, Ari, my darling,’ she said, smiling mysteriously, ‘there is a wonderful surprise in store for you. A holiday, just for you!’
Ari’s eyes were huge with excitement. ‘Where? Where?’ he cried.
Ann could only stare, wonderingly. She realised that Nikos had paused at the head of the table, and was staring equally bemused at his mother. He started to speak, clearly wanting to know more, but his mother silenced him by addressing her grandson.
‘Somewhere little boys will love to go! You are going—’ her eyes twinkled even more ‘—with Uncle Nikos and Auntie Annie to the best theme park in Paris!’
Immediately Ari cried out in blissful glee—but his uncle cut right across him. The Greek that followed was intense on his part and unruffled on his mother’s—she was adamant. As for Ann, she could only sit there in disbelieving dismay. Her mind raced frantically. Of course Ari’s grandmother could have no idea—none at all!—just why it was so impossible, so completely, utterly impossible, for her and Nikos to go off together with Ari.
The moment lunch was over, Ann handed Ari to Maria and hurried to Nikos’ office. She didn’t want to—the last thing she wanted to do was speak to him deliberately, let alone in the place where he had so cruelly offered her diamonds for sex—but there was no alternative.
At his desk, Nikos knew it was going to be Ann at the door—and he knew why. ‘Come in.’ His command was terse, and as she marched inside her expression was grim.
‘I am not going to Paris with you!’ she said immediately.
Just as immediately, Nikos found his own expression hardening. Gone in a flash was that unsettling sense of there having been something different about Ann. He was back on familiar territory again. All too familiar. Ann Turner defying him. Refusing him. Refusing to hand over her baby nephew. Refusing to come out to Sospiris at his mother’s invitation. Refusing to admit she wanted him. Refusing to accept his diamonds—refusing, now, to go to Paris with him…
Always damn well refusing him!
