‘I don’t understand you,’ she burst out. ‘Why—?’
‘I didn’t ask you to,’ he cut across her swiftly. He didn’t want to do a post-mortem on their failed marriage. It would serve no purpose, and every word, every memory, was agony.
‘I know you didn’t,’ Milly said with quiet dignity. ‘You’ve made that very, very clear.’ And with that she hung up the phone, the slam of the receiver into the cradle blasting in Alex’s ear.
He tossed his mobile on his desk, turning towards the window. She was angry, which he didn’t entirely understand. He’d made the call expecting her to be relieved, bracing himself for the whoosh of breath she’d release, the burden lifted from her slight shoulders. Instead she’d sounded bewildered. Disappointed. Even hurt.
Or was he just projecting his own feelings onto her? Because the agony of their wedding night was a scar he’d have to bear, worse than any on his face. Her revulsion. Her fear. Her utter disgust...
He needed t
o stop thinking about it. His brief association with Milly James had opened up a part of himself he’d thought had been locked away for ever. She’d peeled back a protective layer without even trying to and he needed to find it again. Rebuild his defences, so no one could ever get close again. That, Alex knew, was the only way forward.
CHAPTER TEN
MILLY WALKED AROUND the villa in a daze of shock for two days, Alex’s awful conversation running through her mind, before she galvanised herself into action. She couldn’t leave it like that. She certainly couldn’t let him leave like that, not least of all because Alex’s brusque rejection of her reminded her too much of her past. Her entire childhood, and, really, her whole life, she’d been tidied out of the way when her parents couldn’t be bothered to deal with her.
It reminded her of Philippe’s cruel rejection as well, except Alex was so unlike Philippe. He was honest, or at least she’d believed him to be, and for that reason alone she needed to have a face-to-face conversation. She deserved one.
So, Milly decided, she was going to go to Athens and beard the lion in his twenty-second-floor den. She told Yiannis first, betting on the fact that Alex hadn’t told anyone about the proposed annulment yet, and because she knew she needed his help to get there, just as she had before.
‘I fancy a shopping trip to Athens,’ she said as casually as she could one sunny morning in early September. ‘Could you drive me to the ferry?’
Yiannis looked conflicted. ‘Kyrie Santos won’t like you taking the public ferry—’
‘I took it before,’ Milly objected. ‘Thousands of people take it all the time.’ And she was quite sure Kyrie Santos didn’t care what she did, or how she did it.
Yiannis started to shake his head. ‘Yes, but that was before you were married. Kyrie Santos is very protective of his own. If you wait a day or two, he can have the yacht back here—’
‘But that would be such a waste,’ Milly protested. ‘And actually...’ she lowered her voice conspiratorially ‘...I want to surprise Alex with my visit.’ Which was true enough, if not in the way Yiannis might think or hope, judging by the light sparking in his eyes. She knew Yiannis and Marina, just like Anna, were desperate to see a happily-ever-after. And while Milly had no illusion that that was going to happen, she still wanted answers, if nothing else.
Yiannis still looked torn. ‘I don’t know, Kyria—’
‘Milly. You called me Milly before I was married. And you’re not my keeper, Yiannis.’ She gentled her words with a smile. ‘I’m a grown woman, and I’ve lived on three different continents in my lifetime. I can do this. All I’m asking is for you to make it a little more convenient.’
He finally agreed, even giving her the key to Alex’s flat, and Milly wasted no time in packing a bag. She still didn’t really have a plan besides getting to Athens and confronting Alex, but that was enough to go on. She could think about it on the ferry, or make it up as she went along. The important thing was that she be able to see him face to face. If he’d even let her.
The trip across the Aegean was choppy this time of year, and Milly spent most of the six hours being sick over the railing, so by the time she arrived in Athens she was wrung out like a dish cloth. Not the most auspicious start to her visit, but she was still determined, at least.
Even though the key to Alex’s flat felt as if it were burning a hole in her pocket, she chose instead to rent a room at a modest hotel, not wanting to run into him by accident when she was unprepared.
She showered and changed, regarding her rather wan appearance in the mirror with a wry grimace. She certainly did not look her best, but she doubted there was much point in making herself up anyway. It wasn’t as if she was about to seduce him. He’d made his physical feelings for her very clear.
She had just stepped into Syntagma Square, where Alex had his offices, when she saw the flashing sign for a chemist’s. She paused, because, despite having told Alex on the phone that she wasn’t pregnant, she hadn’t actually had a period since their wedding and she knew she probably should have. The irregularity was undoubtedly down to stress—what else could it be?—but just to be sure she went into the chemist’s and, in halting Greek, asked for a pregnancy test. The chemist was all beaming smiles as he fetched her one, and Milly paid for it and shoved it to the bottom of her bag. She’d deal with that potential complication later. It was just a precaution, anyway. It seemed hard to believe that a single brief and loveless act could have resulted in a baby.
‘Kyrie Santos is very busy,’ the receptionist in the lobby of the gleaming skyscraper informed her repressively when Milly asked for him. It was a different woman from the one she’d dealt with before, when she’d said she was Alex’s fiancée, and far snootier. ‘And,’ she added with something like relish, ‘he never receives visitors.’
‘He’ll receive me,’ Milly informed her shortly, although she wasn’t at all sure. ‘I’m his wife.’
The receptionist’s mouth dropped open as she took in Milly’s rather rumpled appearance with barely masked derision. ‘His wife?’
‘Yes, his wife. Now, why don’t you ring him and tell him I’m here, before you embarrass yourself any further?’ Milly had never talked to anyone like that in her life, and yet she couldn’t deny it felt good. After a lifetime of being stepped on or pushed aside, she was finally sticking up for herself. Alex’s rejection had pushed her into it, made her strong. She only hoped it did some good.
The receptionist picked up her phone, muttering into it in Greek, while Milly waited, trying to look calm and assured instead of terrified. After what felt like an endless moment, the woman put the phone down and nodded. ‘You may go up.’
Her heart felt as if it were climbing into her throat as she soared upwards to the office that covered most of the twenty-second floor. What would Alex say when he saw her? What would she say? She hadn’t thought this out carefully, simply running on pure adrenaline and emotion.
The doors pinged open and Alex stood there, glowering. ‘What are you doing here?’