He lifted his eyes heavenward. “It might sound melodramatic, but believe me, it’s no exaggeration. Alex doesn’t believe in second chances.”
“Second chances?”
“He gave me a chance when he agreed to our marriage. He was against it at first. Though I doubt he’d have liked any man who married Helena. But he trusted me. And he made it obvious that he was willing to give me one chance to make her happy. If he knows she’s miserable, he’ll do whatever he can to end it.”
“Eric,” she shook her head, her eyes so blue there were like denim in the dusk light that filtered in through the bay windows. “You’re being ridiculous. Helena is a grown woman. Her life has nothing to do with Alex.”
“You mightn’t think so, but trust me, he’ll make this his business and he’ll take over.” He shrugged, but his expression was tired. “Listen, we’ll stick to the plan. You keep a firm eye on the children, and I’ll slowly find a way to get through to her. But please keep it between us. Alex being here is a complication I hadn’t anticipated.”
Eric’s eyes moved beyond Sophie. Alex had stopped reclining indolently on the far side of the room and was prowling towards them. A hint of determination sparked in his expression.
Though Sophie and Eric couldn’t have known it, a plan, so perfect for its precision and cruelty, had come to Alex, fully formed.
“Sophie.” His accent was thick, his voice as seductive as ever. “The children are in bed. You are free for the night, are you not?”
“What?” She blinked, her eyes enormous as she lifted them to his face. He was bewilderingly handsome, particularly dressed as he was now, in a pale shirt that showed off his caramel skin.
He followed the direction of her gaze and rewarded her with a sensual smile, loaded with promise. I understand, it said. I want that too. “I would like to take you out.”
She shook her head, confused and uncertain. “You would like to … take me out?”
Eric looked from one to the other and decided it was his place to save his employee from the overpowering Alessandros Petrides. “Sophie usually goes to bed early, because the twins still stir overnight.”
“You don’t give her even a night off?” Alex’s tone held a note of warning, and Eric didn’t miss it. His brows beetled as he studied his friend.
“She’s never asked for one,” Eric demurred, shrugging his shoulders as though it didn’t matter to him.
“Then let this be the first time.”
“I’m fine,” Sophie interrupted, finally remembering that she had a voice and a say in matters.
His eyes were black and loaded with speculation when he turned to her. “But you do not yet know what I wish to show you.”
His intention was set. She would become his. And her mind would become so full of him, and her body would crave only his, so that any thoughts of Eric would flock completely from her mind.
And if he was wrong? If Helena were wrong? And there was an innocent explanation for her apparent closeness to Eric?
He discounted it almost instantly. Oh, of course there was a small possibility. But Alessandros had lived and died by swift decisions, and that attitude had rarely failed him.
Unfortunately for Sophie, Alessandros was not a man who had been born with a proverbial silver spoon. He’d grown up tough, fighting for everything he had in life, and it had turned him into someone who fought dirty, and with any tools at his disposal, if the ends justified the means. What would he not do for the sister he had raised? Seducing this woman was hardly unpalatable to Alex but he understood it was morally questionable. Only his loyalty to Helena hardened his resolve. He would have Sophie. And sooner rather than later.
Sophie opened her mouth to object but no words came out. She was momentarily mute. This was a man unlike any she’d ever met. He was handsome as sin, gorgeous, in fact, and she was filled with a drowning sense of powerlessness that was foreign to her.
Alex’s gaze moved from her eyes to her mouth, and then he angled his face toward his friend. “Good evening, Eric.” He put a hand in Sophie’s back, and before she could find her voice, or her mind, he ushered her towards the front door.
It was only when they
’d reached the pavement outside the elegant townhouse that Sophie stopped walking and stared up at him. “Alessandros …”
“Alex, please,” his voice was barely a breath. A husk of sound that curled around her body and soul.
“Alex, what are we doing?”
His expression was droll, and he easily made her feel like a complete wowser.
“We are walking. Or, at least, we were, until you stopped and said, Alessandros.” His imitation of her voice sent shivers down her spine. Was that really how she spoke? So husky and intimate?
She turned away from him, embarrassment making her skin crawl. “But why?”