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‘I knew that red-carpet display would unnerve you.’
He slid the zip down from neck to hem, feeling his body tighten as his eyes lingered on the smooth lines of her bare back. ‘I thought it would help if you liked the way you looked. Her clothes are highly sought-after, and I thought it would give you confidence to wear one of her unique creations.’
‘Confidence?’ She whirled round, her hair tumbling down from the elegant clip that had restrained it all evening. ‘You think it gives me confidence to be told in public that I’m wearing a dress designed by your exgirlfriend?’
‘I did not know that Tatiana was going to make the connection.’
‘Oh, well, that makes it fine, then!’ Her voice thick with tears, Kelly yanked at the dress and pushed it off her body as if it were infectious. ‘I see the label now.’ She snatched the dress off the floor and stared at the elegant ‘By Marianna’ that had been discreetly handsewn onto a seam of the dress. ‘I’m a complete and utter fool.’
Dragging his eyes from the generous curve of her creamy breasts, Alekos tried to focus. ‘You are not a fool.’ He breathed unsteadily but Kelly pushed her fists into her cheeks, her face crumpling as she struggled for control.
‘Just get away from me. Only you can turn the most romantic city on earth into a hell hole.’ Still dressed only in her underwear, Kelly stalked over to the window, hugging herself with her arms as she looked over the lagoon. ‘That place is probably littered with the dead bodies of women who have thrown themselves in after spending a night with men like you.’
Raising his eyes to the ceiling, Alekos walked across to her. ‘Marianna makes unique, elegant evening-dresses. She has a four-year waiting list because she is the best, and I wanted to buy you the best.’
Her shoulders stiffened a little more and she didn’t turn. ‘It was hideously insensitive.’
‘I am with you, not her.’
‘No, you’re not—you’re not with me, Alekos. Not really. We’ve just been going through the motions, haven’t we?’ She turned then, her face wet with tears, her mascara streaking under her eyes.
It occurred to Alekos that he’d never seen a woman cry properly before with no thought to her appearance. Instead of sniffing delicately, Kelly rubbed her face with her hand, smearing tears and mascara together. Alekos, who had never before been moved by tears, had never felt more uncomfortable in his life.
‘We are not going through the motions.’
‘Yes, we are. Have you ever said “I love you”? No, of course not, for the simple reason that you don’t love me! I started off as someone to have sex with and ended up as someone having your baby—’ Her voice hitched. ‘And it’s a mess. The whole situation is a horrid, tangled mess. And it’s not supposed to be like this. It just isn’t!’ She started to sob but when Alekos put his hands on her shoulders she pushed him away roughly.
‘You did it again. When Constantine asked you if you were a father, you said no!’ Her face was wet, her eyes were red and swollen, but Alekos stood with his hands frozen to his sides, knowing that if he touched her she’d flip.
‘Kelly…’
‘No.’ Her hair flew around her face as she shook her head. ‘No more excuses. Do you know what, Alekos? I just can’t do this. I can’t carry on living on a knife edge, wondering whether this is going to be the day you tell me you can’t do this any more. I don’t want our child growing up wondering whether you’re going to be there or not, feeling like he’s done something wrong. You can’t be there one minute and not the next, because I know how it feels to be standing on a doorstep waiting for a dad that never turns up!’
Transfixed into stillness by that revealing statement, Alekos stood watching her, waiting for Kelly to spill her guts as she always did and elaborate on the true reason behind her explosive reaction to his clumsy behaviour.
But tonight she just turned away from him and stared over the lagoon.
‘I want to go h-home,’ she sobbed. ‘I want to go home to Little Molting. We’ll sort the details out later.’
‘You stood on a doorstep waiting? Is that what happened to you?’ His voice was soft as he prompted her. ‘Did your dad leave you waiting for him?’
She kept her back to him, her shoulders stiff. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
Alekos hung onto his own temper with difficulty. ‘Theé mou, you talk about everything else! There is not a single thing going on in your head that doesn’t come out of your mouth, but this—’ he gestured with a slice of his hand ‘—this really important thing, you don’t mention to me. Why not?’
It was a moment before she answered. ‘Because talking about it doesn’t help,’ she muttered. ‘It doesn’t make me feel nice.’
‘Kelly.’ Struggling to get it right, Alekos drew his hand over the back of his neck. ‘Right this minute I’m not feeling nice, and I don’t think you are either, so it would be great if you could just not pick this particular moment to clam up. Tell me about your father. I want to know. It’s important.’
She rubbed her hand across her cheek and sniffed. ‘My mum spent half her life trying to turn him into what she wanted him to be.’
‘And what was that?’
‘A husband. A father.’ Her voice thick with tears, she kept wiping her eyes with her hand. ‘But he didn’t want children. Mum thought he’d come round to the idea, but he never did; that wasn’t what happened. Occasionally his conscience would prick him and he’d phone to say he was coming to see me.’ Her voice split. ‘And I’d boast to all my friends that my dad was going to take me out. I’d pack my bag and wait by the door. And then he wouldn’t turn up. That makes you feel pretty lousy, I can tell you. As childhoods went, it was no fairy tale.’
And she’d always wanted the fairy tale.
Thinking about his contribution to slashing those dreams, Alekos pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose and tried to think clearly. ‘Why didn’t you tell me any of this before now?’
