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‘I want stability, a broader view on life, a long-term future to look forward to…and I don’t ever want to stop working.’
‘I’m very pleased to hear it.’
‘I just want to make room in my life for other things.’ How strange it felt to be walking up the stairs with Tino discussing her future like this as if they were two strangers whose paths had briefly crossed.
‘Here we are,’ he said, opening the door to her suite. ‘Just show me where the suitcase is, and I’ll take it down for you.’
Lisa stood transfixed on the threshold of the room. Then, walking past him, she turned full circle. ‘What are these?’
‘Flowers,’ Tino said dryly. ‘Remember? You said that flowers would be special. Don’t you like them?’
‘I don’t know what to say.’ Every surface in the room was covered in the most beautiful floral arrangements Lisa had ever seen. She wanted to believe they were for her, but she knew they couldn’t be. And then she remembered. ‘Of course, it’s May Day.’ She turned, and gave Tino a quick smile, remembering that this scene would be reproduced in every household on the island. For a moment she had imagined—Lisa shuddered, realising how close she had come to making the most terrible fool of herself. ‘I’m sorry, Tino. I shouldn’t be keeping you waiting like this. My suitcase is over there behind that chair.’ She saw the shadow flit across his face. In these days of equality, of course, she shouldn’t expect him to carry it for her. She should take it down herself. ‘The flowers are really beautiful,’ she said, when he didn’t move. ‘You have some wonderful traditions on the island.’
‘Yes, we do.’
His voice was expressionless, and then she noticed that his eyes were the only part of him that did show emotion—and the look in them frightened her.
As the moment stretched on Lisa knew that she was only making things worse with her indecisiveness. What on earth was she waiting for, anyway? ‘I expect my taxi will have arrived by now.’ Walking past Tino, she grabbed hold of the suitcase and started for the door. Her foot had barely touched the landing when he yanked her back inside the room again.
‘What do you think you are doing?’ Lisa stared angrily at his hand on her arm. ‘What’s wrong with you, Tino?’
‘What’s wrong with me?’ He slammed the door. ‘This is the matter.’ His furious stare embraced the room.
‘The flowers?’ Lisa said uncertainly, putting down her case.
‘Yes! The flowers! What the hell else could I be referring to?’
‘I’ve already said how nice they are—’
‘Nice?’ He looked away as if he needed time to compose himself, and then, staring towards the heavens, he cursed in Greek.
The fact that she had made a terrible mistake didn’t come to Lisa like a thunderbolt, it was a long-drawn-out torture that dripped ice through her veins until finally it reached her heart: the flowers were for her… Of course they were for her! She had schooled herself always to think the worst of people. Any normal woman would have seen that immediately, the moment Tino had opened the door—the moment she’d stepped over the threshold, the moment she’d seen what he had done for her. ‘Tino.’ Lisa found that her throat had dried to the point where she could hardly make herself heard. ‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise…and they’re so beautiful.’
‘I thought this was what you wanted.’ He stopped and passed a hand over his eyes as if he wanted to blot out the moment when he had decided to lay his heart at her feet so she could trample on it.
‘I’m so ashamed… I thought—’
He whirled around to confront her. ‘You should be ashamed. You’re just like all the rest. You tell me that you don’t want jewels—that flowers are what touch you the most…but when I give you flowers you are disappointed and you treat my gift with contempt.’
‘Tino, please—listen to me.’ Taking hold of his arm, Lisa flinched as he pulled away.
‘We’d better not keep your taxi waiting.’ He didn’t look at her. ‘If your pilot misses his slot you won’t be able to leave the island tonight.’
Lisa braced herself as the jet took off, soaring high above the clouds over Stellamaris.
On the journey to the airport she had seen the flower-laden carts with children sitting on the buckboards tossing handfuls of blooms to crowds lining the streets. The car had been forced to slow, so she hadn’t missed a single detail of the procession. Everyone had been in such high spirits and she had longed to be part of it…with Tino.
To make matters worse, when she’d said goodbye to Maria before leaving the villa she had learned that Tino had been up before anyone else that morning choosing flowers for her in the garden. He had carried the arrangements up to her room while she was having breakfast with Stella, not trusting anyone else to do it; that was the important matter that had delayed him.
It was as well she was leaving. She damaged everyone she cared about. Her mother had sacrificed everything for her, and Jack Bond—a man she still found it hard to call her father—had looked for a love she could never give him. She could see it all now with agonising clarity, and knew she couldn’t risk causing any more harm. She cared too much for Tino to stay.. and, even had she wanted to stay, he had made it very clear that he didn’t want her in his life. Business was her forte. She was good at that. She had done the deal she had set out to do. She had to be satisfied. She had to accept there were some things in life she would never master, and love was just one of them.
Seated in his study, Tino grimaced. The suspicion that he had been tricked was only boosted by the sound of Lisa’s jet passing overhead.
Emotions had no part to play in business and he had made a fundamental error allowing her in. He only had to think of the flowers to know she had made a fool of him… Had she used him for sex? Or had she used sex to secure the deal? Either way this wasn’t over. He couldn’t just let her walk away…
This time he didn’t ring the bell and wait patiently for her housekeeper to answer it, he thundered on her door with his fist, and then shouted her name through the letterbox.
‘All right, all—’ Lisa pressed back against the wall as Tino stalked past her. ‘Nice to see you too,’ she added under her breath as she followed him into her den. ‘Would you like a drink?’ She glanced down at her own flute of champagne, feeling the world had gone mad, or that she had fallen asleep and had to be dreaming.
