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She tried to rationalise why going to Nice would be a sensible move.
‘I guess it will make our reconciliation look all the more convincing if we can’t bear to be apart,’ she hazarded.
‘I guess it will,’ he agreed, lying back against the pillows, his arms cushioning his dark head.
Mia jumped out of bed and headed for the bathroom, aware of his gaze on her. But to her delight, she didn’t feel a bit shy about her semi-clothed state or that very urgent bout of lovemaking. In fact, it was easy to exult in Theo’s very obvious approval. Perhaps he was teaching her to loveherself—even if he didn’t loveher. Wouldn’t that be something positive she could take away from all this?
There was no sign of him when she emerged from the bathroom, her appearance suitably repaired, and she was driven to see her grandfather who, as the nurse had promised, was noticeably brighter than yesterday.
‘You’re out of bed, Pappous,’ Mia said, trying to iron the emotional wobble from her voice. ‘This...this is fantastic.Youlook fantastic.’
‘Neh.I am like Lazarus,’ the old man proclaimed, with a touch of his old arrogance. ‘I have risen from the dead!’ With a mischievous look, he complimented her on her new dress and asked if she wanted to drink somesoumada. But Mia didn’t want their precious time to be interrupted and so she shook her head and sat down beside him. For a moment there was silence, until at last they began to talk.
They discussed things which had always been taboo before and for Mia it was painful to listen to at times. He talked about her father. About the adorable little boy who had grown up to be so troubled. He talked of his guilt at never being able to help his son conquer his demons. He told her he was sorry to have cut her out of his life so ruthlessly, but that he’d been hurt, and bewildered because he thought she and Theo made a perfect couple.
‘I still do,’ he added gruffly. ‘He is a good man, Mia.’
But she quickly changed the subject and, although she felt a little ashamed at the way they were deceiving him by pretending to be reconciled, didn’t his evident contentment make it worth it? Instead she remarked on how well Tycheros was looking. And the dog, which lay close by her feet whenever possible, lifted his head on hearing his name, and licked at her hand.
The day before she left for Nice, Mia felt a sense of resolution. She kissed her grandfather goodbye and whispered that Theo would call in to see him after work and as she saw the old man’s nod of approval, she was aware that she sounded like a real wife. She probably looked like one, too, with a stupid smile plastered all over her lips as she remembered that tonight she and Theo were planning to dine beneath the stars, and afterwards he would take her upstairs and they would reach for those very stars which blazed down with unpolluted white fire.
She reached down to tickle Tycheros’s ears, when her warm feeling of satisfaction was punctured by another nagging splinter of doubt. For the first time since she’d arrived in Greece, Mia was beginning to get worried, because nothing was turning out as she’d thought it would.
Quite apart from the fact that she’d never been intending to have sex with Theo, this trip and thismarriagewere supposed to be time-limited—her brief tenure defined by her grandfather’s precarious state of health. There had been a beginning and there was supposed to be an end—except the end was no longer in sight. A miracle seemed to have happened and the old man had recovered much of his former vigour. And while that brought Mia great joy, it also brought her pain. And fear.
She wanted Georgios to live for as long as possible—of course she did—but she couldn’t remain here indefinitely, pretending to be Theo’s wife and allowing her emotions to be compromised with every second that passed. Because he was invading her thoughts and occupying her mind. Her heart and her body were full of him.
She walked through the overgrown rose bower towards the waiting car, clenching her hands into tight little fists, as the reality of her situation was revealed to her—like a thick layer of dust being removed from a mirror.
Because suddenly Mia realised that she had walked into a trap of her own making. Proximity had a power all of its own and so did passion. And if she didn’t start protecting herself, she could get badly hurt.
CHAPTER TEN
‘WHATWENEEDto ask ourselves is...’ Theo paused, his delivery crisp and precise as he looked around the gilded room, at all the privileged faces who were watching him so raptly ‘...do we really want our children and our grandchildren accusing us of being the generation who knew the cost of everything, and the value of nothing?’
A split second of silence greeted his closing words, before the jammed room started applauding. People were on their feet. Beneath the stained glass of the domed ceiling, shouts of‘Bravo!’and‘Encore!’were echoing. A beautiful brunette he half recognised was blowing him a kiss. Theo’s gaze scanned the room for Mia, alighting at last on her diminutive form standing at the back of the room, beneath the portrait of an early French king. He thought she looked a little...anxiousand he frowned. What was making the little maid appear so uncomfortable?
He really needed to stop thinking about her that way, he told himself fiercely, focussing instead on her resilience, her independence and pride. And, of course, the enduringly soft and kittenish appeal which lay beneath her feisty new exterior. A softness which invoked in him a powerful protectiveness—a response he kept telling himself was inappropriate under the circumstances. Because Mia didn’t need his protection. She had made her feelings very clear during their two-day stay at Nice’s most magnificent hotel, which overlooked the famous Promenade des Anglais.
She had been...
What?
His brows knitted together, because it was difficult to put his finger on. She had charmed everyone she’d met and shown a very real appreciation of their five-star hotel—despite mentioning something about the alignment of cushions, which he gathered had not met with her approval. Their lovemaking had been as exquisite as always. So what was it?
He frowned.
Something he hadn’t expected.
Ever since they had arrived, she had been behaving with a certain detachment towards him, which was usuallyhisthing. She had been watchful and wary. She had seemed...distant. And while none of those things should matter to him, he was finding that they did. His eyes narrowed as he crossed the room, fielding the many pats on the back he received as he made his way towards her.
He noticed several women watching his progress, yet not one of them had a fraction of the appeal of the petite redhead in the floaty dress. Her fiery curls were piled haphazardly on top of her head, several tumbled strands giving her a delicious just-got-out-of-bed look. Which to some extent was accurate. Not in the least tempted by the many enticements this famous seaside town had to offer, they had spent the majority of their time in bed.
His throat constricted. He had tasted her, sucked her, drunk her and eaten her. She was like a non-stop feast he couldn’t seem to stop devouring because he couldn’t get enough of her. How had she managed to do it—this innocent and unpretentious young woman? To have woven such a spell of enchantment, that at times he couldn’t think straight?
‘Mia,’ he said as he reached her. ‘How do you think my speech went?’
‘Well, obviously, your peers loved it.’ A little self-consciously, she adjusted the strap of her sundress. ‘I’ve never heard applause like that, outside of a concert. Mind you, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to a forty-minute talk on venture capitalism before.’
