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Why hadn’t he told her that there was a family resemblance between her and her cousin? Had he been afraid she wouldn’t agree to come to Greece?
She couldn’t escape it, could she? Everything came back to family. Costas’ driven determination to save his daughter. The precious DNA linking Sophie to Eleni. The uncanny physical similarity to a dead woman she’d never met. The bond that bridged half a world and still couldn’t be denied, despite the highhanded rejection by her grandfather.
No wonder the very air had seemed alive with tension and old remembrances when she’d stepped out of the airport.
Sophie’s eyes filled with burning tears as she thought of her mother. How much she’d have loved to reconnect to the family she’d left behind.
Her mum would have taken it for granted that Sophie would take the first plane to Greece in the circumstances. She wouldn’t have thought twice about the pain of reopening old family wounds if it meant helping a child.
Inevitably Sophie thought of her grandfather, recovering from his stroke somewhere on this very island. But her sympathy didn’t extend that far. The man who’d disowned her mother could be on another planet as far as she was concerned.
A shadow of movement at the far end of the massive sitting room caught Sophie’s eye and she looked up. There, filling the doorway with his broad shoulders, stood Costas. She couldn’t read the expression in his eyes at this distance, but there was a watchful quality about his stance that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
She shivered and straightened in her seat. ‘Your mother has left?’
‘That’s right,’ he said, and the timbre of his deep voice was like the brush of fine sandpaper across Sophie’s nerves, stirring life and awareness where before there was chilled numbness. ‘My parents live several kilometres away.’
So they were alone. She and Costas Palamidis. Why did the idea send a skitter of anxiety through her?
He strode across the room to stand near the end of the sofa where Sophie sat. He seemed to invade her personal space and she had to make a conscious effort not to tuck her feet back away from his.
She knew from the glint in his eyes that he recognised her discomfort. There was a slightly mocking arch to his black brows as he returned her look. Then he frowned and settled himself on the long leather sofa opposite her.
‘I apologise,’ he said, ‘that your arrival should be so … difficult. If I’d guessed how Eleni would react to the sight of you I would have warned my mother, asked her to explain to Eleni before you arrived.’
His expression was deeply brooding, his regret obviously genuine. And she felt her indignation drain away, despite the appalling situation he’d put her in.
The joy that had lit his face as he’d held his daughter in his arms was a faded memory. Back instead was the dour stranger burdened by care.
It disturbed Sophie to realise how much she wanted another glimpse of that other Costas.
‘It’s all right,’ she murmured. ‘There’s no harm done. It was just a surprise.’
‘More than that, I’m sure. You looked white as a sheet when Eleni called out to you. I should have—’
‘It’s over,’ she interrupted, then paused as a horrible thought penetrated her weary brain. ‘You did explain to her, didn’t you? She doesn’t think—?’
‘No. I explained that your resemblance to her mother is because you are cousins. Eleni understands now that you are a very special visitor, who has travelled around the world to see her. She was so excited I’m surprised she went to sleep. She can’t wait to play with her long-lost cousin.’
‘But surely—’ Sophie began.
‘You’re not scared of spending a little time with her, are you?’ he challenged, his frown deepening. ‘She’s only a child, and a very lonely one. She hasn’t been able to mix with other children as she normally would, because of her treatment. And now, for obvious reasons, she’s curious about you. Is it too much to ask?’
‘I was just going to say that I may not be here long, so it might be better not to interfere with her routine.’
But it was more than that, Sophie admitted to herself. There was something that made her want to hold back from this family, from Eleni and her father. Perhaps the superstitious desire not to tempt fate by believing she really could help the child, despite the odds. Or maybe it was a primitive fear of taking a dead woman’s place, even if only for a short time. And that instantly made her think of Costas, not Eleni.
She shot him a glance under her lashes and found him watching her intently. There it was again. That sense of compelling force, drawing her towards him, as if she had no will of her own when he was around. It scared the living daylights out of her, this awareness, this attraction. And she wasn’t ready to cope with it.
‘I’m sure a little change in routine won’t harm Eleni in the least. We must make the most of you while you’re here with us.’
Sophie’s breath jammed in her chest as his gaze dropped to her lips, lingering there for a moment too long before flicking back to her eyes. It felt as if her ribs were constricting in against her, making it hard to breathe. Her heart drummed to an increasing tempo that echoed in her ears.
The room seemed full of the heavy awareness strung like a tangible weight between them.
Sophie leaned forward abruptly and put her cup on the coffee table between them with a click. Her hand was trembling. And the way he looked at her only exacerbated the tremor. She shot to her feet.
‘You have a magnificent home,’ she said, determined to steer the conversation to a subject that was simple and impersonal. Something to break the uneasy connection building between them.
