She didn’t have to answer.
Desolation washed through her. Cold and empty.
At breakfast, taken indoors this time, as they made their way through the busy shipping lanes approaching Piraeus, Nikos too, was not in the best of moods. The week away from Athens had made him forget the pressures that would await him on his return. Tonight, and for the foreseeable future, he would be burning the midnight oil with a vengeance, as the process of merging Vassilis Inc. and Coustakis Industries got underway. Already, before breakfast, he had been on the phone to his secretary, his directors, setting wheels in motion. But for the first time in his life he had no appetite for work.
Only for Andrea…
He felt his body stir, and crushed it ruthlessly. It would be at least late tonight before he was free to enjoy his passionate bride again. His jaw tightened. He would have to explain to her that their time together would be at a premium now. At least until he had completed his takeover of her grandfather's company.
Did she realise that already? She was not looking happy, he thought, studying her across the table. In fact, she looked different altogether. She had lost the casual, easygoing look she had had for the last week. Now she looked stiff, and tense, picking at her food.
'I'm sorry we couldn't have stayed away longer,' he said. 'But doing an M&A takes a lot of work.'
Andrea looked at him. He was wearing a business suit again, and it made him look formal. Distant. The man she had spent the most blissful week of her life with had vanished. In his place was the man who had married her to get hold of Coustakis Industries. And for no other reason.
She must remember that.
'I'm sure it does,' she said impersonally.
Nikos's mouth tightened. She was ready enough to accept the lavish lifestyle her family wealth afforded—but balked at how it had been earned in the first place.
'A corporate merger is not a trivial thing to accomplish, Andrea...'
He paused suddenly. There was a bleakness in her eyes he could not account for.
No, she thought, a corporate merger was not a trivial thing at all—it was something you could marry a stranger for!
And then make love to Her until she fell in love with you— hopelessly, helplessly!
But he hadn't asked her to fall in love with him, she thought. He had asked for nothing more than a passionate companion for a week—a pleasant, relaxing interlude before resuming his real life. Making money.
Well, I made money out of it too, she thought defiantly. And now I'm going home to spend it. It's what I came for, and it's what I'm going home with.
Falling for Nikos was an aberration, a mistake. I'll go home and forget all about him.
I have to!
A steward came into the room and walked up to Nikos, saying something to him in Greek. Nikos nodded curtly, and the man hurried off.
Nikos got to his feet. He looked so tall, Andrea thought. And so devastating. Just the way he'd looked the first time she'd set eyes on him. It seemed a lifetime ago, not just a few short weeks.
Weeks that had changed her life for ever.
'Excuse me—but I have to take a phone call.' He sounded remote. Preoccupied.
She nodded. There seemed to be an immovable lump in her throat suddenly.
'Of course.'
Later, she stood on deck beside him, watching the yacht slide into its moorings. Then, later still, she sat beside him in the chauffeured limo driving them back to Athens. There was a third passenger, a young man introduced as Nikos's PA, and the moment the doors were closed the PA extracted a sheaf of papers and documents. In a moment he and Nikos were deep in business talk. Andrea looked out of the window.
She felt bleak, and sick, cold all the way through.
I'm leaving him, she thought. I'm leaving him right now...
The car made its slow way into Athens's business quarter, and as i
t finally pulled up outside Vassilis Inc she felt even bleaker, and sicker.