by Alex Ryder
She swallowed painfully and looked up into his eyes. ‘Nikos…that’s twice you’ve called me “darling”. Is it just a word to you or do you really mean it?’
He kissed her again as if that were the answer to everything, but it wasn’t. Love was for fools. Those words of his were still scorched across her heart. And Nikos Spirakis was no fool.
CHAPTER NINE
THE sun was streaming through the open window when Carrie was gently roused from her sleep and she struggled up, blinking. Sofia was there with a cup of hot coffee in her hand and a look of worried concern on her face. ‘Good morning, Carrie. How do you feel? Nikos wants to know if you slept well. I told him yes but I don’t think he believes me.’
As Carrie reached for the coffee the events of the previous night rushed through her mind with sickening clarity. The memory of those pale eyes devouring her body…the smell of his breath…the hot, sweaty hand over her mouth…then the comfort of Nikos’s arms around her. By any law of nature she shouldn’t have slept a wink after an experience like that but in truth she could remember very little after drinking the warm milk and brandy.
‘Tell him I’m all right,’ she muttered.
Sofia smiled with relief. ‘Good. You can tell him yourself once things are calmer downstairs.’
Carrie sipped gratefully at the coffee then saw from the look on Sofia’s face that the girl was at bursting point with news. Wondering if it possibly could have anything to do with news about her brother, she asked quickly, ‘What’s going on?’
Sofia glanced nervously at the door then sat down on the edge of the bed and said, ‘Nikos has found out about the stolen boat. They only discovered that it was gone first thing this morning. Everyone is keeping well out of his way. They’re all incompetent fools according to him. Even his own uncle. He’s in a vile temper and after what he did to his two cousins they’re all terrified in case he does the same to them.’
Carrie gave a despondent sigh. ‘So everyone knows what happened to me last night?’
The maid shrugged regretfully. ‘There are very few secrets in a place like this.’
‘So that means they’ll all be talking behind my back when I go down. Having a bloody good laugh, I suppose.’
‘No. ..not at all,’ Sofia assured her positively. ‘Don’t think that. All the staff are glad to see the last of those two pigs. They know that Nikos must think very highly of you to do what he did so from now on you’re going to be very popular around here.’
‘I don’t intend to be around here any longer than I can help,’ Carrie said wryly. She wondered what her chances of stealing a boat were now. Pretty remote, she thought. She’d just have to think of something else. Something equally desperate.
‘I’ve washed and ironed the clothes you arrived in,’ Sofia said cheerfully. ‘I’ll go downstairs and fetch them while you have a shower.’
‘Yes…’ muttered Carrie, her thoughts a million miles away and her blue eyes hard with determination. ‘Thanks, Sofia. That was very good of you.’
Nikos was seated outside on the veranda having a light breakfast of scrambled eggs when she was led into his presence. He gestured at the seat opposite. ‘Good morning, Carrie. Please sit down and join me. Are you hungry?’
‘thanks. The egg looks nice. I’ll have some of that.’ He didn’t look too bad himself, she admitted grudgingly: very cool and unruffled and more devastatingly handsome than ever. How did he manage it at this time in the morning? Anyway, from what Sofia had told her she’d expected to find him biting lumps out of the furniture.
He gestured to the servant hovering near by then he grinned at her. ‘That’s good. I was afraid that after what you went through last night you might not be—’
‘I’d rather forget about last night, if it’s all the same to you. It’s today I’m interested in.’ She poured herself a glass of orange juice from the jug. ‘Sofia told me that one of your boats is missing. I suppose my brother is getting the blame for that as well. Not content with stealing your sister, he’s also taken one of your boats.’ She smiled sarcastically. ‘I never realised that Jimmy was such a desperado.’
‘He’s the obvious suspect,’ Nikos said, ignoring her acidic tone. ‘Even you must agree to that.’
She gave an offhand shrug. ‘Too obvious perhaps. Couldn’t it have been a couple of drunken tourists? Local kids? Vandals?’
‘People like that would never get within a mile of this property,’ he said dismissively. He stared at her and she grew uncomfortable under that shrewd and penetrating examination. She suspected that he wasn’t at all fooled by her attempt to confuse and cloud the issue. She was simply playing for time—trying to gain Jimmy and Helen a breathing space and the opportunity to get married before he caught up with them. There were no facilities or authorities on Kati’s island to perform a ceremony. They would simply have to lie low until the situation had cooled. She was only guessing, of course. For all she knew they might already be married but she doubted if that would deter a man like Nikos. She’d already seen him in action and he would undoubtedly just grab his sister by the scruff of the neck and drag her home kicking and screaming.
The food arrived and she heaved a mental sigh of relief as the tension was broken. Dammit, she had enough problems of her own to worry about! At least Helen hadn’t been forced into pregnancy. She and Jimmy were in love with each other and they were free and they were old enough to look after themselves.
Nikos drank his coffee without once allowing his eyes to leave her face then he made his pronouncement. ‘I’m going to proceed on the assumption that they did steal the boat.’
She pounced on the word immediately. ‘They? Did you say “they” stole the boat? Then you’ve made up your mind that Helen helped him after all?’
He gave her a faint, ironic smile then swivelled his chair so that he was gazing out over the harbour towards the open sea. Watching his profile, dark against the bright sky, she felt once more that strange, self-destructive attraction. Last night his arms had been a refuge…a haven of safety and love. He’d been so gentle…so tender. Yet looking at him now she knew that it had been an illusion. Only the wishful thinking of a foolish idealist.
‘Where do you think he’s gone, Carrie?’ he asked abruptly, his voice cutting into her thoughts like a cold steel blade.
Her eyes widened in innocence. ‘How on earth would I know? I mean, if you count every little piece of scrub-covered rock out there, there must be at least two thousand islands—’
‘Three thousand,’ he corrected her.
She spread her hands helplessly. ‘There you are, then. If I were you I’d give up. You’ll never find them now.’
‘Hmm…’ He rubbed his temple thoughtfully with his forefinger. ‘You may be right. In that case there’s nothing to do but wait here until he arrives on his white charger to rescue you from my evil clutches.’ The devil leered at her again from behind those green eyes.
‘That might be long enough,’ she said with a show of indifference. ‘I dare say he’s got enough on his mind right now without worrying about me.’
‘I hope you’re right, Carrie,’ he taunted with quiet relish. ‘The longer he puts it off the better as far as I’m concerned. I’ve already given orders for the villa to be made ready for us. From now on I’ll be the one keeping watch over you during the nights.’
Her cheeks flushed, not so much at his remark but at her own stupidity for allowing him another opening—another chance to remind her of her reallife situation. Or was this his oblique way of making her an offer? She turned the possibility over in her mind. He had a pretty good idea that she knew where Jimmy would make for. Was he now trying to hint that if she told him where to find his sister he’d let her go free? A trade-off? Her freedom for help in finding his sister? In other words more moral blackmail.
She changed the subject quickly. ‘Sofia is worried about losing her job. She thinks that because Helen is no longer here there’s no work for her to do.’
>
Nikos gazed out to sea again then said, ‘She helped your brother and Helen to escape, didn’t she?’
She prevaricated yet again, getting used to it by now and not liking herself much in the process. ‘That’s something you’d better ask her yourself. It…it doesn’t seem likely, does it?’
He snorted. ‘Of course she did. Helen always confided in her. They were as friendly as two people ever could be.’
‘So you’re going to sack her as a punishment, I suppose?’ She put as much contempt as she could into her voice. ‘You’re going to deprive her of her living because of a mere suspicion.’
He rubbed at his temple again as if he had a headache and she wasn’t making it any better. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve no intention of sacking her. At least she has proved her loyalty. Misplaced, perhaps, but still a factor in her favour. She was also intelligent enough to realise what my cousins were up to last night and her presence of mind in warning me put paid to their intentions. If I had a few more people as reliable as her around here I’d be a happier man.’
‘Oh…’ she said in a small voice, the wind taken right out of her sails. ‘She…she’ll be glad to hear it.’
He eyed her with cold amusement. ‘I’m sorry if I’ve fallen short of your expectations. I’ll try to be more stony-hearted in future.’
She finished her meal in an embarrassed silence then he got to his feet and looked down at her. ‘I was afraid you’d be feeling too ill used and out of sorts this morning but you’ve obviously recovered from your ordeal. I’m quite sure you’re up to it.’
She rose and frowned at him suspiciously. ‘Up to what?’
‘A guided tour around the estate.’
She shook her head. ‘No. Thanks all the same but I’d rather just hang around here.’ A tour round the estate with him would mean being on their own together and she knew what the probable outcome of that would be.
He got that hard glint in his eye again as he reached firmly for her arm. ‘I’m rather proud of what we’ve accomplished here, Carrie. You wouldn’t want to hurt my feelings, would you?’
Oh, well, why hadn’t he said so at first? The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt the poor, sensitive soul’s feelings. He might go into a huff and stop talking to her altogether.
Ten minutes later she was sitting beside him in an open-topped Land Rover heading up into the hills behind the house. They wound their way through miles of olive groves and orchards, higher and higher until the tarmac road gave way to a rough boulder-strewn track. Finally they stopped and he helped her out.
The breeze tangled her long blonde hair and she had to keep sweeping it away from her eyes as she gazed at the panorama spread beneath them. It was only from up here that you could grasp the enormous size of the estate. Far below them, like something from toytown, was the white mansion, beyond that the harbour and beyond that the sparkling blue sea reflecting the mid-morning sun. She looked along the coastline to the north and south and he answered her unspoken question casually. ‘Fifty kilometres either way. It’s all Spirakis land.’
He pointed at the house and now there was a quiet pride in his voice. ‘My great-grandfather started it all. He was a young man, newly married, when he built a wooden shack down there. He and his wife worked from dawn to dusk. They grew olives, built a press and sold the oil. Then he bought a boat and fished during the winter. They raised a family and worked hard and never owed a drachma in their life to anyone. They lived by the sweat of their brow. Their son carried on after they had died. Then his son, who was my father. Now our olive oil is sold all over Europe and that one little fishing boat has grown to a fleet of cargo ships and luxury cruisers.’
‘I’m impressed,’ she said. ‘It’s quite an achievement in only three generations.’
‘More than just an achievement, Carrie,’ he said quietly. ‘It’s the end result of a man’s vision and hard work.’ He paused and took one last look at the scene below. ‘Perhaps now you can understand what it means to be a Spirakis. Not just the pride in the name but the legacy and the heavy burden I have to carry.’
She looked at him in stony silence then said bitterly, ‘Are you asking for sympathy? From me of all people!’
His face hardened a little. ‘Not sympathy. I ask that from no one. But I had hoped for understanding.’
Tearing her eyes from him, she looked at the scene below once more. His empire. His responsibility. His so-called heavy burden. Finally she turned to him and said quietly, ‘All my father left to my brother and me was a clapped-out old fishing boat and a lot of poor but genuine friends. I think we got a better bargain than you did.’
Something flashed in his eyes and a shadow fleetingly crossed his already dark features. It wasn’t pain or anger but something deeper. It was almost as if she’d brushed against a raw nerve. For a long moment they looked at each other in a challenging silence then he said quietly, ‘I want to make love to you, Carrie. Here. Now.’
She’d had an idea that this was going to happen but the directness and suddenness still came as a shock and she managed a smile of scorn. ‘You’re still determined to make me pregnant, then? Still intent on doing your duty?’
‘No,’ he said softly. ‘Neither of those reasons.’
The rushing and pounding noise was back in her ears and she had trouble getting her tongue to work. ‘Look, I’ve already told you that…that—’
‘I don’t care what you told me.’ Suddenly he moved and she found herself swept up and cradled in his arms.
She beat none too emphatically at his chest with her fists and gasped, ‘Put me down! I warn you, Nikos! I’m not going to let you—‘
His mouth covered hers, cutting off her protest briefly, then he said, ‘Put your arms around my neck and stop arguing.’
He began walking further up the hill, his steps sure and effortless as if she weighed nothing. She took his advice and decided to hang on.
They’d only climbed about twenty metres when the ground levelled out suddenly and he put her down and began leading her by the hand towards a dilapidated stone-built cottage. Dry-mouthed and with pounding heart, she knew that it was now too late to run away and she watched in apprehension as he produced a key and opened the weathered wooden door.
From outside the place had seemed like a ruin but once inside she saw how wrong she’d been. The whole place was panelled in warm yellow pine. A deep-pile carpet covered the floor. Bookshelves lined one wall along with a stereo system and TV set. There was no bed in the one solitary room, only a long, wide divan covered in fleecy sheepskin.
He studied the expression on her face for a moment then said, ‘Everyone needs a place of their own now and again. Somewhere away from the pressures of the world. This is mine.’
‘It.. .it’s very nice,’ she murmured. ‘I usually just put my head under the blanket.’
He smiled drily. ‘That’s one of the things I like about you, Carrie. That weird English sense of humour.’
‘It’s a national characteristic,’ she muttered. ‘We always face our darkest hour with a merry quip on our lips. I thought everyone knew that.’
He reached out and pulled her closer, inexorably closer, until she could feel herself once more drowning in the depths of those hungry eyes.
‘Your darkest hour was last night until I came to your rescue,’ he reminded her quietly. ‘Or have you forgotten so soon?’
She swallowed painfully. ‘I almost had. But thanks for reminding me. I suppose you feel that you’re entitled to your reward now. Is that it?’
Their bodies were pressed tightly together now and she could feel the hard manifestation of his own desire. His mouth slowly descended again and her lips parted. Now his tongue…and his hands… Her legs were starting to go and that intolerable ache was back in her loins.
He took his mouth from hers and gently nibbled at the lobe of her ear then whispered, ‘Please don’t insult me, Carrie. I want no reward for acting as any decent man would. What I want now is
for you to give yourself freely. No threats. No promises. No strings attached.’
Her voice trembled with a half-hearted defiance, ‘Why…why should I?’
‘Because I want you and you want me,’ he urged. ‘What more genuine reason could there be?’
Her eyes were now glassy with hot, aching desire and once again she marvelled at the power this man had to provoke such an irresistible craving in her own body yet, at the same time, an even stronger compulsion to please and satisfy him.
There was no emotional reward in it for her, merely the sheer physical pleasure. They’d have sex and that would be that until the next time. She wanted more, as any woman would, but she was willingly prepared to settle for what was on offer. So what did that make her? A loose woman? A harlot? Or just an ordinary woman coping with her own feminine frailty in a pressure-cooker situation? Nikos embodied all that was best and all that was worst in the male of the species. He was a breathtakingly satisfying sexual partner but there was never any likelihood of him confusing the act of sex with a commitment of love.
The words bubbled up from her throat, ‘Damn you, Nikos! You.. .you know the answer. I…I can’t help wanting you.’
His hands slipped beneath her T-shirt and his fingers deftly undid the bra. ‘Good…’ he whispered. ‘Those are the words I wanted to hear.’
He undressed her with an exquisite, leisurely indulgence, removing each article of her clothing to a nerve-throbbing accompaniment of kisses on each piece of newly exposed flesh. When her briefs were lowered his kisses became deeper and more urgent as his mouth travelled up her inner thigh until she suddenly gasped and threw her head back, quivering at this new, totally unexpected experience. Her fingers curled themselves frantically in his dark hair and she stifled a cry. When she was almost at the edge of total and abandoned frenzy he took his mouth away and stood up. Gently he lifted her and carried her over to the divan and she lay on her back, gazing up at him beneath lids heavy and halfclosed with pulsating anticipation as he slowly undressed.