‘It’s not what you have done.’ There was no easy way to say it. ‘It’s what—who—you are.’
For a moment she was frightened at the look which came over his face, but instead of the explosion she expected his voice was even more controlled when he said coldly, ‘Let’s take the first definition as the one you really meant, shall we? What, exactly, do you think I am?’
‘You…you like women and they like you.’ Put like that it sounded ridiculous, and Andreas wasn’t slow to capitalise on the fact.
‘In other words, I am a normal heterosexual male,’ he stated with silky softness. ‘Are you telling me this is my crime?’
‘No.’ She swallowed painfully. He wasn’t going to make this easy, but then she hadn’t expected him to. ‘What I mean is, women will always chase a man like you. There’s something about you…’ This was going even more badly than she’d feared. ‘It’s not really your fault,’ she finished weakly. ‘But I…I don’t want to be one of many. Some women can handle that but I can’t.’
‘Let’s get this straight.’ His face and body were rigid with rage, only his mouth moved in the carved structure of his countenance and his eyes were as cold and as hard as the rest of him. She didn’t recognise the man in front of her as the Andreas she knew, this was a stranger. She could see now how he could effortlessly take over his father’s empire and run it even more efficiently than Evangelos; he had only to display a fraction of the ruthlessness that was staring out of his face and any opposition would crumple. He was formidable and she felt scared to death.
‘You are saying that I am a philanderer, a womaniser, yes? A Don Juan who keeps his brains in his trousers?’
She flinched a little at the crudity, her eyes opening wide with shock. ‘No, no, I’m not saying that.’ And she wasn’t…was she? She suddenly realised she didn’t know what she was saying. ‘Just that it would be only natural for you to—’
‘Spread myself round a little?’ he cut in brutally. Dark colour flared across the hard cheekbones, his grey eyes narrowed and points of steel. ‘And you have been thinking this all along, I take it?’ he ground out slowly. ‘Even the last few days? How charming.’
He was looking at her as though he had never seen her before and now hot panic was surging through her as she realised the enormity of what she had done. She should never have said anything, she told herself wretchedly, but even now a little voice deep within answered, But you had to, you had to. You couldn’t have a relationship with a man like Andreas.
‘So I am one of those weak and distasteful characters who sleep around and
have a different woman for every day of the week?’ He rose, staring down into her horrified face with hooded eyes. ‘I think we had better get back to the hotel. The sight-seeing, as you pointed out earlier, is over,’ he bit out rawly.
‘Andreas, don’t be like this. Please don’t be like this.’
‘Like what? Believe me, Sophy, if a man had said half of what you have I would have taken pleasure in rearranging his face. You have labelled me as a stud stallion from the first moment we met and yet you were the one who informed me you do not care for labels.’
The contemptuous statement was nothing less than the truth and his withering scorn brought her shoulders hunching as she too rose from the seat. She had no defence. None.
‘Even the worst criminal knows of what he is accused before he is condemned,’ Andreas bit out disgustedly, ‘but you sat safe in your little ivory tower and was judge and jury. How many times did I inadvertently say or do something to add weight to my sentence? Did you find it amusing that I was so obviously interested in you? Did you look forward to the moment when you would throw it all back in my face?’
‘No!’ This had all gone so terribly wrong. ‘No, of course not,’ she said desperately. ‘It wasn’t like that. I thought—’ What had she thought? She didn’t know now. ‘I thought we could be friends,’ she said helplessly.
‘Friends?’ He smiled a thin smile that was merely a bitter twisting of his lips. ‘There was never any possibility of us being friends, Sophy, so do not lie to yourself. It was always going to be all or nothing.’
He turned from her, leaving her with no choice but to follow him as he walked out of the square and began striding towards the hotel, his body language stating all too clearly he was done with her. She had got what she wanted and she couldn’t bear it.
The journey back to Halkidiki was one Sophy wouldn’t have wished on her worst enemy. Andreas drove fast and furiously, his face grim and his hands gripping the steering wheel as though he wished it were her neck.
They stopped for lunch in a small town between Dion and Thessaloniki, and after Sophy had tried to apologise and Andreas had cut her off with a voice like ice, she had to force the food past the massive constriction in her throat. She managed it, just, but it sat in her stomach like a stone the rest of the way back to the villa. Which was only what she deserved, she thought.
As they passed through the gates of the estate, the afternoon sun was still high in the sky, and as Sophy saw the familiar building in front of them after they had turned a corner in the long drive she had to fight an absurd desire to cry. She had been so happy when she had left here a few days ago, and now things couldn’t be worse. And it was her fault.
‘Andreas?’ As the car came to a halt she spoke quickly before she lost her nerve. ‘I know you are angry with me but could we at least put on some kind of show so as not to upset the others? They won’t understand.’
‘I do not understand,’ he shot back violently, before taking an audible breath and flexing his hands on the steering wheel. He breathed deeply once or twice and then said, ‘Of course we can be civil, but I think it will be best if I do not trouble you again during the rest of your visit. There are many matters awaiting my attention at work, so this will be quite acceptable.’
He had exited the car before she could say anything more, striding round to the passenger door and helping her out with a formality that made her heart bleed.
Once in the house, Ainka met them in the sunlit hall with the news that the others were out for the day and wouldn’t be home until late, and then disappeared upstairs with Sophy’s case.
‘Thank you for…for showing me around.’
Sophy’s voice was small, and Andreas glanced down at her, his face hard. And then he became still when he noticed the tell tale sheen of the tears she was trying to hide. ‘Diabolos.’ It was a low muttered oath, and when he took her arm, marshalling her roughly into the dining room and slamming the door behind them, she didn’t try to resist.
‘This is crazy—you know that, don’t you?’ His voice was not quiet or conciliatory and the room crackled with tension. ‘You insult me and then you look at me the way you did just then. What the hell is the matter with you?’
‘Nothing.’ All the way home in the car she had been praying for him to give her another chance, to at least let her explain the unexplainable, but now the moment was here all the fears of twenty-eight years rose up in a flood again. She wanted him too much, that was the trouble. She loved him. She had been fighting it for days but now she had to admit it. She loved him in a way she had never loved Matthew, never imagined herself loving, and that made his power over her unthinkable.