Eleni picked up a small silver bell and rang it, and on cue a small, rather harassed-looking woman scurried in, her face lighting up with unconcealed joy as she sighted the tall form of Constantine who stood with his back to the window.
He strode over to embrace her, indulgently listening to her excited torrent of Greek, and then he turned and said Jade’s name, and something else, very slowly in Greek, so that the woman beamed as she took Jade’s hand.
‘Kalispera sas,’ said Jade, as her hand was grasped tightly. ‘Pos issaste?’ And was rewarded for this extremely elemental greeting by a squeal of delight from Sophie, and a small, amused smile from Constantine, and it shook her how his ap- proval could hearten her so.
There was stilted small talk until Sophie re- appeared bearing a tray of coffee and four glasses of iced water. Eleni lifted up her stately blue-black head. ‘It’s Greek coffee, Jade,’ she murmured. ‘But I know that a lot of foreigners find it unpalatable. If you’d prefer it I can easily order some regular coffee for you?’
Jade swallowed as her smile remained in place. ’Thank you, but that won’t be necessary—I happen to adore Greek coffee.’ And she saw Constantine smile at her as she accepted one of the tiny cups with alacrity.
Constantine remained standing, and his im- mense height seemed to dominate the room. His eyes had flickered to Eleni’s hand. ‘You no longer wear your ring, Eleni? Your hand seems much smaller with the absence of such a magnificent diamond.’
Eleni shrugged narrow and elegant shoulders, her red-tipped fingernails fluttering as she spoke. ‘I am no longer engaged,’ she told him, her dark eyes slanting at him with some unspoken message as she did so.
Constantine’s hand paused, the cup raised midway to his mouth. ‘Oh?’
‘She broke it off,’ said Marina, a tight look of disapproval about her heavily red-glossed mouth.
Constantine’s face hardened. ‘Really?’ he queried softly, his eyes gleaming with the crystalline bril- liance of some dark, precious gem.
‘I discovered that he wasn’t what I wanted,’ said Eleni quietly, her eyes never leaving Constantine’s face. ‘You see, I found that I’d been staring it in the face all along.’
‘I see.’
‘Do you?’ asked Eleni huskily.
Jade felt as though she were in the midst of a nightmare, Eleni couldn’t have made her feelings for Constantine more obvious if she’d had a great banner proclaiming her love erected and suspended from wall to wall. And surely the dark rage which simmered in the depths of Constantine’s ebony eyes was due to the fact that Eleni was now free, but it had come too late for him. He had tied himself to a loveless marriage to Jade. What price honour now? For who in their right mind could possibly fail to love a woman as glitteringly sophisticated and beautiful as Eleni?
But wasn’t she forgetting something? He hadn’t tied himself to her, had he? Not really. The mar- riage was always intended to be brief. Would he now, as she suspected, abandon this so-called ’honeymoon’ completely? With a hand that she willed not to shake, Jade put her half-full coffee- cup on the small table beside her.
Constantine’s eyes searched her face, his ex- pression obdurate as they registered the draining of colour from her cheeks. He put his own cup down.
‘Now,’ he said smoothly, ‘if you will excuse us, we will go to our room and freshen up. Jade is, I think, very tired.’
‘But naturally,’ murmured Eleni, her gaze taking in Jade’s simple little lemon cotton sundress. ‘And you will of course wish to change into something more suitable for this evening.’
‘Of course,’ agreed Jade evenly.
&nb
sp; ‘Dinner will be at eight.’ Eleni’s smile showed tiny white teeth.
Like a ferret, thought Jade as she followed Constantine out of the room in silence, sum- moning up every bit of effort to smile politely at Eleni and her mother, because the last thing in the world she wanted was to let either of them know how much Eleni’s unsubtle and predatory attitude towards Constantine had hurt her.
He led her along a cool, dim corridor and opened a dark wooden door to reveal a simply decorated room dominated by a vast double bed over which was slung a blindingly white bedspread. Large pat- terned cushions of white and blue added touches of colour, as did the blue paintwork around the shuttered windows. Their two suitcases were standing side by side on the floor, mocking her with their vision of unity. She supposed that Sophie had brought them in from the car while they had been sitting in the salon, drinking coffee.
Jade stared at the bed, her heart hammering as she tried and failed to block the mental pictures which swam up to torment her. Had there been some form of relationship between Constantine and Eleni in the past? Was that why she had stared at him with that hungry, almost wild look of longing? After all, stepbrother and sister were allowed to have a relationship by law, weren’t they? Had his so-called desire for her now been deadened by the sight of his beautiful stepsister, freed from her en- gagement and obviously eager to find herself in Constantine’s arms?
She fought the sick feeling in her stomach which threatened to swamp her, and stared up at Constantine, into the impenitent expression which had hardened the harsh features. It was over, she thought with immense sadness. It had never really begun.
He had moved towards her, and she knew that she had to put him straight before he touched her, because she couldn’t trust herself to do the right thing if he touched her.
She backed away from him. ‘I’m not sleeping with you here,’ she told him quietly, and his eyes narrowed instantly into glittering black shards as she heard him draw in a deep breath.
‘Oh, yes, you are,’ he contradicted ruthlessly.
Her mouth dried. ‘You can’t force me…’ she whispered.
‘Force you?’ He gave a cruel kind of smile. ‘You little hypocrite! We both know that I wouldn’t have to force you—erotic persuasion can be so much more effective, don’t you think? But do not worry, Jade—I have no inclination to put it to the test. You can have the bed. I shall sleep in the chair—’ His dark head indicated the roomy- looking but none the less unforgiving wicker chair which stood on the other side of the large room.