‘Where are you going?’ he demanded.
‘To see Grandpa before you do,’ she stated firmly.
‘Eve—’
‘No!’ She turned on him. ‘I said I will deal with it!’ The eyes were now glinting with tears, not wicked spells. ‘Y-you don’t understand. You will never understand!’ And on that she was gone, running out of the room and leaving him standing there wondering what the heck that last outburst had been all about?
He’d understood! Of course he’d understood, he claimed arrogantly. From the moment he’d stepped into her bedroom last night, he’d understood without question what it was he’d been seeing!
Now it hurt that she didn’t see that understanding. What did she think he was going to do? Paint her character all the lurid colours he could think of just to make his own part in this fiasco seem prettier?
Well, he was damned if he was going to slink away and hide in some dark corner while Eve fought his battles for him. Theron Herakleides was expecting the two of them to present themselves in his study and that was what would happen.
CHAPTER SIX
UNDERSTANDING anything about Eve Herakleides flew out of the window the moment Ethan found himself confronting her grandfather. Because Eve, he all too quickly discovered, had got in first with her version of events leading up to what Theron had witnessed. Now Ethan was angrily trying to make some sense of what it was he was supposed to have done.
Standing tall and proud behind his desk, Theron Herakleides looked on Ethan as if he was seeing a snake in the grass. ‘You have to appreciate, Mr Hayes,’ he was saying, ‘that in Greece we expect a man to stand by his actions.’
‘Are you implying that I wouldn’t?’ Ethan demanded stiffly.
The older man’s brief smile set his temper simmering. ‘You stand here claiming no intimacy between yourself and my granddaughter,’ he pointed out. ‘Are those not the words of a man who is trying to wriggle off the hook he finds himself caught upon?’
‘We were not intimate,’ Ethan insisted angrily.
A pair of grey-cloud eyebrows rose enquiringly. ‘Now you expect this old man to question what his own eyes have already told him?’
Not only his own eyes, Ethan noted, as he sent a murderous glance at Eve who was standing quietly beside her grandfather. Gone was the seductress in sexy hot-pink. Nor was there any sign of the broken little creature he’d taken under his wing. No, from the neatly braided hair to the clothes that had been chosen with modesty in mind, here stood a picture of sweet innocence wearing a butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth smile that told clearly that he was going to be made the scapegoat here!
‘Of course,’ Theron Herakleides broke into speech again, ‘you could be attempting to protect Eve’s reputation, in which case I most sincerely apologise for implying the opposite. But your protection comes too late, I’m afraid,’ he informed him gravely. ‘For what I saw with my own eyes had already been substantiated by one of the men that guard my property. He saw you carry my granddaughter from our beach house to your beach house covered only by a sheet, you see…’
Damned by his own actions, Ethan realised. Then he said frowningly, ‘Just a minute. If your guard was watching the beach house, then where was he when Eve—?’
Eve moved, drawing his glance and lodging the rest of his challenge in his throat when he found those eyes of hers pleading with him to say no more. Anger erupted as he glared at her and felt frustration mount like a boiling lump of matter deep within his chest.
I should stop this right here, he told himself forcefully. I should tell Eve’s grandfather the unvarnished truth and finish this craziness once and for all. But those pleading eyes were pricking anxiously at him, reminding him of the conversation he and Eve had had the night before.
Ethan looked back at her grandfather, and Eve held her breath. If he talked, it was over. If he talked, her life was never going to be the same again.
‘I think it’s time you explained to me where you are going with this, Theron,’ Ethan invited very grimly.
A deep sense of relief relaxed the tension out of Eve’s shoulders. Thank you, she wanted to say to him. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this.
‘I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt,’ her grandfather smoothly announced, ‘and presume that your intentions towards my granddaughter are entirely honourable…’
It wasn’t a question but a rock-solid statement. Eve watched nervously as Ethan’s full attention became riveted on the older man’s face. Her heart stopped beating in the throbbing silence, her mouth running dry, as she tried to decide whether to jump in and take over before Ethan said something ruinous or to remain quiet and keep praying that he didn’t let her down.
Ethan didn’t know what he was doing. The word ‘honourable’ was playing over and over inside his head while he stared at Theron’s perfectly blank expression. Then he switched his gaze to Eve who was standing there looking like a diehard romantic who’d just had her dearest wish voiced out loud.
I’ve been well and truly set up, he finally registered, and the knowledge was threatening to cut him off at the knees.
Eve came to his rescue—if it could be called a rescue. Leaving her grandfather’s side she rounded the desk and came to thread her fingers in with his then had the gall to lean lovingly against him like an ecstatic bride. ‘You guessed our secret.’ She pouted at her darling grandpa. ‘I’m so happy! This is turning out to be the most wonderful birthday of my entire life.’
Slowly turning his dark head Ethan looked down at her through narrowed, steely I’m-going-kill-you eyes. ‘Oh, don’t be cross.’ She pouted at him also. ‘I know you wanted to wait a while before we told anyone about us. But Grandpa can keep a secret—can’t you, Grandpa?’ It was Grandpa’s turn to receive the full spell-casting blast of her wide green witch’s eyes.
The old man smiled. It was an action that smoothed every hard angle out of him. ‘But why be secretive, my little angel?’ he quizzed fondly. ‘You are in love with each other. Don’t hide it, celebrate! We will announce your betrothal in front of the family when we return to Athens next week…’
* * *