He grinned. ‘For a while. Then, years later, he came to apologise to me, and to seek my help.’
‘Your help?’
‘He wanted to set up a restaurant.’
‘And you helped him?’ she asked incredulously.
‘Sure. It was a good business proposition. And it’s better in life to have a friend than an enemy. As a matter of fact,’ he said coolly, ‘you’ve eaten there. Often.’
‘I have?’
‘Sure. Remember that first night when I took you out for dinner—’
As if she wouldn’t remember every second of it for the rest of her life. She saw the proud tilt of his jaw and recalled what he’d said at the time. ‘The owner owes me a favour’. Kris! Of course! He’d waited on them. Good grief!
The car had been ascending the hilly interior, and Jade could see the bright glitter of a large white building which clung to one of the hills like a child to its mother’s hips. She remembered the way their eyes had met over the head of the child in the taverna. Something preordained had happened at that moment. She had fallen hopelessly in love with him, however crazy that might seem. And suddenly she knew that, whatever else happened between them, her fate had been decided for her in that one long, shared look. She knew with a chilling cer- tainty that her love for him would simply never go away, for it was part of her now, as much a part of her as her limbs.
Doomed, she thought gloomily. To love a man who is going to use our brief marriage to try to rid himself of his desire for me. ‘Is that where we’re going?’ she asked, pointing up at the house.
‘It is.’ His voice was mocking. ‘You wanted a honeymoon, didn’t you?’
‘Not particularly!’
‘Liar!’ he taunted softly.
She wore nothing but a short, sleeveless lemon dress, and she became quickly aware that the pinkening flush to her skin which accompanied just the thought of a honeymoon was easily visible all over her neck and shoulders, as well as on her face.
‘I rest my case,’ he added, with cruel observation.
Did nothing escape him? ‘Well, if you’re ex- pecting to consummate this so-called farce of a marriage, you’ll have a very long wait!’ She turned to him, her voice quiet but determined.
‘Bravo!’ he applauded. ‘Brave words, Jade! Fighting words! And empty words!’
‘We’ll see,’ she challenged fiercely, although she knew that her argument was seriously flawed, be- cause he was right, she did want him—incessantly. But she was not going to… not again. To have a wild and passionate night of bliss and the next day for him to behave in that cold and contemptuous way, as if the night had been nothing. And because he could not have even the most scant regard for her if he considered that sex was her motivating force. How amused her ruthless blackmailer would be if he discovered that it was love…
The car drove off the main road and on to a small track, then bumped up to the white building over which the rich velvet hue of a magenta bougainvil- laea bloomed royally.
Despite her inner conflict, Jade couldn’t stop herself from drinking in her surroundings with pleasure as she stepped out of the car, but Constantine’s attention was elsewhere, and she heard a terse exclamation as she saw him stride to the side of the building, where another vehicle was parked beneath the shade of a lemon tree.
A car which couldn’t be more different from the beaten-up one which Constantine had driven here.
It was a large and long, gleaming silver Mercedes. Jade shuddered to think of the cost of bringing such a car to such a small island.
‘Who’s here?’ she asked him.
‘We have guests,’ he bit out, in a voice which could have sliced through metal quiet easily.
At that moment there was a flurry of sound, and the front door was flung open and a woman, who Jade judged to be in her late twenties, stood on the shadowed step. She possessed the proud patrician features and the strong dark colouring which im- mediately marked her out as Greek. There was a small silence before she stepped from out of the shadows into the full glory of the brilliant sunlight which bounced in a blue-black dazzle off her gleaming hair.
She was simply beautiful, thought Jade with a sudden sinking of her heart, and she was dressed in a spotless cream silk dress and coiffured to per- fection. But then she looked into the woman’s face and almost started with shock at the message re- vealed there. Her dark, almond-shaped eyes glit- tered with undisguised hostility as she stared directly into Jade’s face.
‘Surprise!’ she called, with a husky Greek in- flexion, and started to move towards them, her arms held out in greeting, pointed scarlet nails like talons outstretched. ‘Welcome home, Constantine!’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THERE was a moment’s silence before Constantine stepped forward, a polite smile on his face as the beautiful brunette caught his hands and they ex- changed a kiss on each cheek.
Constantine turned to Jade. ‘Jade, darling,’ he said smoothly, and Jade almost started at his use of the unfamiliar endearment in English. ‘You must let me introduce you to Eleni—my sister.’