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‘It is. They’ve even named a paint after it.’
‘What, Norfolk?’
‘Yes. It’s grey.’
Lykos sniggered into his glass, before sobering and then sighing. ‘What did you do?’
Theron clenched his jaw at the accusation. For just a moment it had been like it had always been between them. The banter flowing freely from the bone-deep knowledge of each other. But that was before Lykos had walked away from their friendship.
‘If you’re looking for absolution,’ Lykos warned, ‘you’ve come to the wrong damn place,’ he went on before eyeing up the bottle of Glenglassaugh the waitress had placed on the table as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to waste such good alcohol on Theron.
Theron shook his head, frustrated with the man who’d once been like a brother to him. ‘I don’t need absolution. I need to know why you called me a week ago.’ Theron knew with absolute certainty that he was involved in all this somehow, but he needed to hear it from Lykos.
‘To taunt you, of course,’ Lykos said with a smile that had more than likely charmed women right out of their underwear. ‘When your holiday fling turns up at my door—’
‘Watch your mouth,’ Theron growled.
‘Ooh, touchy.’ Watching Theron from the corner of his eye, Lykos continued. ‘When the lovely Ms Soames arrived at my door trying to offload a fifteen-million-pound estate in the country for a third of the market value, I just wanted to brag. I’ve always wanted a castle.’
‘It’s not a castle.’
‘Oh?’
‘And it’s rundown. There are holes in the walls and it’s freezing. All the time. And the damp...’ Theron threw his hands in the air as if in despair.
‘Oh, well, that wasn’t in the sales pitch. Is that why you’re here? To talk me out of buying the estate?’
Theron thought about it for a moment too long. ‘Buy the estate,’ he said tiredly. ‘And it’s worth the market value, Lykos. Don’t take advantage of a vulnerable woman.’
Lykos slammed his glass down on the table, ignoring the stares it drew from the other guests, his eyes shards of ice but the burn in them white-hot. ‘There’s a line, Theron, and you are skating dangerously close to it.’
Theron wanted to bite back, wanted the anger Lykos threatened. His pulse pounded and he welcomed it, his breath audible now as his lungs worked hard. They stared at each other, while Theron waged an internal war and Lykos waited to see what he would do.
Gritting his teeth, Theron decided it was better to leave than to cause a scene and got to his feet.
‘Oh, sit down before you break down,’ Lykos bit out.
Theron stared at the doorway long enough to realise that he didn’t have anywhere else to go.
‘Break down?’ he asked.
‘I can practically feel the tears from here. Drink that,’ Lykos said, passing him a large measure of whisky, ‘before you start weeping all over the place.Thenhave the kindness to leave before you scare off the rest of tonight’s entertainment.’
‘You’re a real piece of work, you know that?’
‘Theron, as hard as this is to believe, I really don’t care what got your knickers in a twist.’
‘You would have once.’
‘And you chose Kyros,’ Lykos growled.
‘No,’ Theron shot back. ‘Youleft.’
‘And you could have come.’
‘And how would that have repaid the man who gave useverything?’ Theron demanded.
‘That was always your problem. What could ever be equal compensation for what he did for us? What could you give him that would repay such a thing?’
