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Demetri hunched his shoulders, running his hands up to grip the back of his neck. ‘It was difficult for them, too,’ he muttered.
Jane felt indignant now. ‘I’ll bet.’
‘Yanis was just starting his training to become a priest.’ Demetri spoke heavily. ‘There was no way he could have continued with his studies in those circumstances.’
‘He should have thought of that before he slept with Ianthe!’
‘I agree.’ Demetri cast her a look out of the corners of his eyes. ‘Believe me, he was left in no doubt that his behaviour had shamed him, shamed the family.’
‘Not to mention your part in it,’ said Jane forcefully. ‘And, by extension, mine.’
‘It wasn’t meant to be that way.’ Demetri was vehement. ‘No one expected Ianthe to tell everyone that I was to blame.’
Jane’s brows drew together. ‘But I thought…’ She tried to regroup. ‘No one but you ever denied it.’
Demetri nodded. ‘That was my mother’s doing, I’m afraid.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Oh…’ His hands fell to his sides. ‘It all happened a long time ago now.’
‘That’s no answer.’
‘Endaxi.’ All right. He turned to face her, spreading his arms in a gesture of defeat. ‘You know my mother was always opposed to our marriage. When Ianthe said what she did, my mother persuaded my father and Stefan that denying it would only turn the spotlight on Yanis. Ianthe had spent a lot of time at the villa that summer. You know that.’
‘Don’t I just?’ Jane found it hard to hide her resentment.
‘Oristeh.’ There you are. Demetri’s tone was flat. ‘It seemed it was the only way to save Yanis’s future.’ He sighed. ‘And I, poor fool that I was, thought you’d believe me when I told you it wasn’t my child. That our marriage was strong enough to withstand anyone’s lies.’
‘You could have told me the truth,’ Jane insisted. ‘Not just that you weren’t to blame, but thatYanis was really the baby’s father.’
‘Neh, you’re right. I could have done that.’ Demetri regarded her sombrely. ‘But, you know what? I had some pride in those days. And I was so sick that you could even think that of me after everything we’d been to one another that I thought, what the hell! Let her believe what she likes for now. In time, she’ll see she was wrong.’
Jane stared at him. ‘You expected me to stay, knowing how I felt?’
‘Veveso!’ Sure. ‘That’s what people do when they love one another. They try to work things out. It never even crossed my mind that you might leave me!’ He groaned. ‘Theos, I thought we loved one another.’
‘We did. I did. I did love you.’ Jane was near to tears. ‘And I’m not saying I didn’t regret it afterwards. But you have to understand what it was like for me, too. I asked Ianthe—I begged her to tell me the truth—and she said you’d only married me on the rebound. That you and she had always cared about one another, and that that was why your mother had always opposed our marriage—’
‘But that’s—rubbish!’Demetri swore then. ‘I was never interested in Ianthe and she knows it. She was in love withYanis. She used to follow him around like a pet sheep. When she found out he was going to be a priest, I think she was desperate. She’d have done anything to stop him. Including throwing herself at him, I assume. And let’s face it, Yanis was young, and flattered, pithanon. I dare say he had no idea what she had in mind.’
Jane’s knees felt weak. ‘If only you’d told me.’
‘If only you’d told me you were leaving,’ he countered savagely. ‘Do you have any idea what it was like for me, coming home from a business trip to find my wife had gone to London and, according to my mother, she wasn’t coming back?’
Jane pressed her lips together. ‘I might have known your mother would play a part in it.’
‘Yeah, well, I was devastated. If it hadn’t been for my work, I think I’d have gone out of my mind.’
Jane swallowed. ‘You could have come to see me. You could have told me about Yanis.’
‘Oh, Jane!’ Demetri sank down onto the wide window seat and leaned forward, his forearms braced on his thighs. ‘Do you really think I didn’t try?’
Jane was confused. ‘I don’t understand…’
‘When it became obvious that you weren’t coming back, I did try to see you, Jane. Several times. But both your mother and the Ivanovitch woman insisted you didn’t want to see me.’
