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‘Hi...’
‘You still up?’ He strode over to the sideboard, deliberately not meeting her eye.
‘Yes. I wanted to talk to you before you go to bed.’
Before you go to bed. Not we. Taking the stopper out of the cut-glass decanter, Nikos noisily sloshed himself a generous measure of whisky. Clearly Kate was planning on sleeping alone too.
‘What about?’
He turned, facing her now. She was wearing grey leisure pants and a white tee shirt. Her pale face was free from make-up and her hair was mussed on one side from where she had been resting against a cushion. She still looked gorgeous.
‘Well, firstly I wanted to thank you properly for setting up that meeting with Rosebury’s. It was very helpful.’
‘And secondly?’
Nikos went to stand before her, towering over her. He didn’t want her thanks for some stupid business deal. He wanted her to stand up and kiss him, long and hard and deep, and take away the torment in his head. He wanted her in his bed. Or out of his life.
He didn’t know what the hell he wanted.
But his harsh tones had hit home. Nikos watched as Kate drew up her legs, defensively wrapping her arms around her knees.
‘Secondly, I think we need to talk about us.’
‘Us?’ Nikos repeated the word with cruel contempt, the kick of whisky sharpening his tongue. ‘There is no “us”.’
A flicker of hurt crossed Kate’s face but she recovered quickly, meeting his gaze full-on.
‘Yes, there is, Nikos.’ Her voice was soft, weary. ‘Whether you like it or not, we do have a past, and we are tied together for the foreseeable future. And just recently...’ she faltered, searching for the right words ‘...we have been intimate.’
‘And which of those things would you like to talk about, Kate?’ Nikos closed his fingers around the glass in his hand.
Kate stared at him, willing herself to stay strong. She didn’t want to do any of this. Returning to the hotel hours ago, she had paced around in turmoil, not knowing what to do with herself. Instinct had told her to flee, to get away before Nikos could hurt her any more, break her heart still further. She had even packed her suitcase, looked up flights online.
But then she had stopped. Running away wasn’t going to solve anything. If she was ever to be free of the hold Nikos had over her, ever to find any sort of closure, she had to face up to her demons. She had to face up to Nikos. No matter how hard it was to do. No matter how much it hurt.
‘The past.’ Kate took in a shuddering breath. ‘The night we broke up. We have never discussed that.’
‘What’s to discuss?’ Animosity emanated from Nikos in pulsing waves. ‘You made it quite clear that you didn’t want me there. That our so-called engagement had been hidden like a dirty secret. That I wasn’t deserving of your love.’
‘No.’ Quietly Kate got to her feet, her voice little more than a whisper. ‘That’s not true. Please don’t ever think that.’
‘Then how do you explain your behaviour? Why you were so delighted to find out you weren’t pregnant?’
‘Because the timing was all wrong.’ She came to stand before him. ‘Daddy had just died and Mom needed my support. I knew I was going to have to take on the running of Kandy Kate. Everything was in chaos. Surely you can see that?’ Exasperated, she ran a hand through her hair. ‘To be honest, I thought you would be relieved too.’
‘Then you thought wrong.’
Kate’s eyelids closed as a bruised silence settled around them. She could feel her heart battling against the misery of what they had lost. What might have been.
‘Then I apologise.’ She made herself look up and meet his eyes again. ‘I promise you it was never my intention to undermine you or offend you in any way.’
Nikos gave a low, dismissive growl. ‘Well, either way it doesn’t matter. Ultimately you did me a favour. Thanks to you I finally grew up. I learnt the importance of money. How wealth gives you power and respect.’
‘But money was never my driving force, Nikos.’
‘No? Well, what are you doing here, then?’ A sneer curled his lip. ‘You’ll be telling me next that you married me for love.’
