Olive island

by Kay Thorpe

  `No need to go all the way upstairs,' he offered. 'You can use my bathroom. Mind fishing me out a clean handkerchief from the top drawer of the chest While you're in there? I forgot to put one in my pocket.'

  Nicky went through to his private quarters, rinsed her hands at the basin in the white-tiled bathroom and dried them slowly and methodically on one of the

  sparkling white towels. She ran a comb through her hair, renewed her lipstick and came back into the bedroom. She was just taking a handkerchief from the pile in the drawer when Lee walked in.

  `Something else you forgot?' she asked, closing the drawer and holding out the handkerchief to him. 'You might just as well have fetched this yourself.'

  He came slowly and purposefully across the room to take it from her, tossed it on to the bed and pulled her into his arms. 'That,' he said when he he finally let her go, 'was for putting me through some of the worst few minutes of my life last night, and then walking in here all bright and breezy acting as though nothing at all had happened. You're enough to drive a man up the wall, you little wretch ! Why couldn't you have been a few years older? I'd have known what to do about you then.'

  `You didn't seem in very much doubt just now,' she said wryly. 'I'm sorry, Lee. I thought you saw me on a par with your kid sister — someone to tease and amuse yourself with until something else turned up.'

  `I thought the same myself up to that night when we went for dinner at the villa,' he admitted on a rueful note. 'I had a job keeping my hands off Dino — and an even greater one keeping them off you a bit later on. You must have had some idea of what was going through my mind. You retreated pretty fast.'

  Not for that reason.' She spread her hands in a helpless little gesture. 'Honestly, Lee, I didn't know. I'd never have played up to you the way I have if I'd thought for a minute that you might .

  `Might what?' he asked with a faint smile as she hesitated. 'Take you up on it? It's been a temptation, I

  don't mind admitting. You play a pretty expert little game for one who doesn't know what she's doing.' He put a hand over her mouth as she opened it to protest. 'All right, I believe you. I must be a better actor than I gave myself credit for. Only don't expect me to start apologizing for what happened just now. You had it coming.'

  'So I gather.' She added slowly, 'If I had been older would you have wanted an affair with me?'

  His shoulders lifted. 'That would have been the general idea. I certainly shouldn't have had Helen on my mind every time I looked at you. Anyway, it's immaterial.'

  'Is it going to make any difference?' she asked diffidently. 'To us, I mean. Here?'

  'It had better. Put temptation in my way again and I'll take it as an open invitation to do my worst, Helen or no Helen.' He stuck his hands in his pockets and turned away. 'Let's go and eat.'

  It was a long afternoon. After dinner, Nicky gave her customary chat, answered a host of questions on various points and took up Sandy Patterson's invitation to join them for a drink after she had finished. The conversation was lighthearted, jocular and just what she needed to take her out of herself. She lingered at the table for a long time, reluctant to admit to herself that she was avoiding Lee whom she could see from where she sat talking to a couple of the older guests in the lounge.

  'He's a dish,' remarked Sandy admiringly, following her gaze at one point. 'Big, braw and British — just my type. Can't you get him out here and introduce him — or is he above mixing with the lower orders of clientele?'

  `He will be after meeting you,' said Berny. 'One look, and he'll run for his life !'

  `So when do you start?' she retorted, and he grinned lazily.

  `Me, I know when I'm beat. How about trying some of that ouzo stuff, or whatever it is they call it. It's supposed to be potent, isn't it?' This last to Nicky.

  `So I understand,' she agreed. 'There's a story told about one man who tried to throw his wife off that balcony up there on the corner after drinking four glasses of it, though I can't vouch for the truth of it. I do know that it's rather dangerous to drink it neat, as it apparently goes straight into the liver — or it might be the kidneys — and takes effect again every time you drink water during the following thirty-six hours or so.'

  `A two-day binge on one glass? Great stuff ! Do you get it all out of books, or make it up as you go along?'

  `A bit of both,' she laughed. 'But that one does happen to be authentic.' Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lee get up and move towards the man who had just appeared in the lounge doorway. She would have had to twist her head to see the newcomer properly, but she knew that it was Nikos. She would know him, she thought numbly, from any angle. 'I could show it to you in writing, if you like.'

  'We'll take your word for it.' Brian looked round for a waiter. 'What do you call these blokes?'

  `That one coming out with the tray is Giorgio,' Nicky waved a hand to him. 'Incidentally, one thing I forgot to mention, you can either pay for your drinks and wines as you have them, or run up an account and settle before you leave.'

  'We'll pay as we go.' Pauline appeared to be the practical one of the four, and the quietest. 'We're not likely to have anything left by the end of the fortnight.' She smiled across at Nicky. 'You must know the island quite well by now. Shall you be sorry to leave when the season ends?'

  Nicky tried to sound casual. 'It will be nice to be home again.'

  'Any idea where you'll be going next year?'

  Next year. It seemed a lifetime away. don't think I'll be doing this job next year,' she said, and got to her feet as Giorgio came over to take the order. really must go and do some work. I've got a full list of bookings for most of the excursions. Thanks for the drink.'

  The door to Lee's quarters was closed. Nicky went on up the stairs and along the corridor to her room, took off her dress and hung it away in the wardrobe, then sat down in her slip at the desk to start sorting out the booking forms.

  She had been writing for several minutes when she heard the car start up below, and she raised her head to listen to the familiar engine note. Without thinking about it, she got up and went to the window, saw Nikos sitting there in the driving seat smoking a cigarette while the engine idled. He was parked right under one of the cable-strung lights, and even from here she could see that his features were set and hard. After a moment he took the cigarette and stubbed it viciously into the ashtray at his side, put the car into gear and roared out of the courtyard at a speed more suited to his brother than himself.

  Nicky stood where she was for a while looking down

  at the empty space where he had been with a growing sense of premonition. Eventually she turned back into the room to find and draw on a loose cotton kaftan. She hoped she was wrong, but she had to find out.

  There was no one in the vestibule when she crossed it. She knocked softly on Lee's door, heard his voice raised in muffled invitation and went in. He was standing at the window with a glass in his hand, looking out through the half-opened latts with completely expressionless features. Then he turned and saw her, and his mouth went suddenly tight.

  `Your timing's a bit rusty,' he said. 'You missed the Grand Finale by minutes.'

  Nicky closed the door behind her and leaned on it. `What did he want?' she asked in a small hollow voice. `What did he say to you, Lee?'

  `He gave me the push.' He eyed the contents of the glass, put it down on the sill. 'Apparently he's decided it's the only way he's going to ensure that you stay young and innocent while you're here.'

  Her eyes had gone wide in dismay. But he can't do that ! It isn't fair ! He has no reason.'

  `From his point of view he's got plenty. You're a young English girl living on premises owned by him, and that makes him a kind of guardian. He thinks you're infatuated with me, ripe for seduction by an old hand at the game, and he's bent on saving you both from me and yourself.'

  `I don't need saving. And even if I did . . .' She swallowed painfully. 'I'll go and see him, tell him it isn't true. He . .


  `You'll not go near him !' His voice was rough. `When I'm reduced to sending a girl along to plead for

  me it'll be time to call it a day.'

  'But it's all my fault. It's up to me to put things right.'

  And I said no !' Suddenly the anger went out of him. He said wearily, Just leave it alone, Nicky.'

  You've done enough damage. The words had not been spoken, but they hung in the air between them.

  ' When?' she asked thickly.

  'In the morning. He's bringing in the assistant manager from the Castello for the time being.'

  'But what will you do? Where will you go?'

  I haven't decided. London perhaps. Don't worry, I shan't be short of a job.' He moved abruptly. 'I'd better start packing. And you'd better make sure nobody sees you leaving here dressed like that if you don't want to get yourself talked about'

  don't care what other people think.'

  'Then it's time you did.'

  'Shall I see you again?' she said as he pushed open the bedroom door, and he paused to look back at her. 'What for?'

  She stared at him helplessly, tried to imagine the coming weeks without him and knew a sense of desperation. There must be something she could do to stop him going. There had to be !

  Without another word she turned and left him. Stamatis was doing something at the desk, and she was aware of the speculation in his gaze as she passed him on the way to the stairs. Back in her room she threw off the kaftan and pulled on a pair of light slacks and a shirt. It was still only a little after ten-thirty. If she hurried she could reach the villa inside of fifteen minutes. She didn't dare to stop and think about what

  she was going to say when she got there. That problem would have to be faced when it was too late to turn back.

  Sandy was coming up the stairs on her own as Nicky descended.

  `Hi,' she said in surprised tones. 'Are you going out again?'

  Just popping round to see someone.' Nicky was on tenterhooks, knowing that if Lee came out and saw her now he would guess immediately what she was planning to do. 'Are you feeling tired?'

  `A bit, but not enough to take to my bed just yet. I came in for some more cigarettes. Are the Greek ones any good? I've only brought a couple of packs with me.'

  `I'm not sure. I don't smoke myself. If you do want some just ask Stamatis. He runs his own private shop.'

  `Oh, thanks, I will.' She went on up the stairs.

  The lights were still on in the courtyard, but the street beyond was in darkness. Nicky went quickly and quietly past Lee's windows, reached the end of the building and turned to the left. Everything was quiet, apart from the faint hum of male voices coming from the little taverna almost on the edge of the village. The dwellings dwindled and vanished, and the flat valley landscape spread out around her. Nicky was thankful for the moon which enabled her to pick her way over the rough and ready surface of the road, although the shadows it cast made her glance round nervously more than once at some imagined flitting shape.

  Exactly fourteen minutes had elapsed from the time she had left the hotel when she finally pushed open the

  gate of the villa. Hanging on to her courage with both hands, she went up to the big heavy door and rang the dangling bell. It seemed an age before she heard the handle being turned, and she wasn't at all surprised to see the startled expression on the woman's face.

  'thelo na dho Kyrios Alexandros,' she said haltingly. 'Ine spudheos.'

  ine?' demanded a familiar voice, and Nikos appeared behind the woman, his own expression changing abruptly when he saw- who the visitor was. `Aphiste to se mena,' he said briefly, and then in English, 'You have walked alone from the village?'

  'Yes.' With his hand under her elbow Nicky was propelled forward and across the hall to a room she took to be a combination of library and study. Looking into the uncompromising features, she realized that he knew very well why she was here.

  'You have not even the sense of a child,' he clipped. 'Should you have been followed there would have been no one to help you.'

  'There was no one about to follow me,' she said tonelessly. 'No one who would have done me any harm.'

  'You think not?' His lips twisted. 'Are you not aware of the way in which the men of the village follow you with their eyes whenever you appear? Some of the young ones would grasp eagerly at any opportunity they believed they were being offered, and to their way of thinking any woman who chooses to walk alone and unprotected at night knows what she is doing and why.' He paused. 'You have come, I take it, to plead for Lee Merril? Does he know that you are here?'

  `No, he's packing.' Her voice faltered a little. 'Please,

  won't you reconsider your decision?'

  `No.' The word was cool and definite. 'I warned him before to leave you alone.'

  `He has left me alone.' Nicky took an unsteady breath. 'All those things I said about him, they weren't true. I — I made them up.'

  He studied her narrowly. 'Why should you do that?' `To get back at you, I suppose.'

  `Get back at me? For what reason?'

  Tor trying to run my life,' she burst out. 'Mine, and everyone else's ! You take it for granted that you have the right to decide what's best for people, regardless of what they want or think. Dino and I were simply friends, but you wouldn't have believed it.' She was doing this all wrong, she knew, but she was too wrought up to stop now. 'You weren't going to risk having your brother getting himself involved with a mere nobody from a country you despise anyway, so you got him out of the way by sending him off to Athens. And now you're doing the same thing with Lee. Not for my sake, because you don't need to, but simply because you thought he'd gone against your orders. You haven't a shred of feeling for anyone or anything !'

  She had to stop then because she was out of breath and dangerously close to tears. There was a long silence in the room. Nikos stood motionless, his back to the door, his expression remote.

  `You have said all you wish to say?' he asked.

  `Yes.' She hadn't, but there seemed little point in going on. She wasn't going to move him. Not in a million years.

  `Then I think it is now my turn. Tonight, when I

  asked Lee what feelings he had for you he admitted to me that he desires you.' He held up a hand. 'You will be quiet for a moment. He also admitted that he had no intention of asking you to marry him. While I can understand such an emotion, I have no intention myself of allowing even the possibility of its eventual fulfilment while you are in my care. He is a very male and persuasive man; I have been witness to his prowess with women more than once in the past two years. He is also a man for whom I have a personal regard, so do not think that my decision was an easy one to make.'

  'He'd never make any attempt to touch me unless I want him to,' she appealed. has never so much as . . . ' She came to a stop, colour rising faintly in her cheeks under his penetrating scrutiny.

  'Never so much as?' he prompted. 'Kissed you, were you about to say when your conscience caught up with you. How often has this happened?'

  'Only once, and I didn't. I mean, it wasn't the way you're thinking '

  'No?' His mouth was sardonic. 'How many ways are there?'

  She avoided his eyes. 'You should know what I mean.'

  ' His understanding was immediate. 'You infuriated him. That I can believe. I have never in all my life known any young woman as capable of arousing that emotion. However, it changes nothing. You will not deny that you find him attractive.'

  'No, but . .

  'There are no buts,' he stated flatly. 'In fact, there is nothing more at all to be said. Not at this time. I will take you back to the Xenia.'

  `I walked here, I'll walk back.' Nicky felt cold, and her throat hurt. 'Don't put yourself out.'

  His jaw hardened. 'You will go in the car whether you like it or not. Do you wish to test your determination against mine?'

  `All right, so you're physically stronger. It's the only resort a man like you knows !'

  `It is?' His voice
was silky and dangerously quiet. `This also you would care to put to the test . . . again?'

  She stood looking at him for a long-drawn-out moment, heart thudding against her ribs. Nikos was the first to move, opening the door and indicating that she precede him. Nicky went past him with her chin up, walked at his side to the outer door and from there out into the courtyard.

  They drove to the hotel in silence. The moment the car came to a halt, Nicky got out and went straight indoors. Sandy was talking with Brian and Berny at the foot of the stairs, waiting for Pauline who was fetching the keys from their hooks behind the desk.

  `Enjoy your visit?' she asked, and Nicky nodded and smiled.

  `Fine, thanks. Are you just going up?'

  `Yes. It's been a longer day than we thought. Berny's been yawning his head off since you left.'

  `It's that ouzo,' he claimed. 'Funny stuff. Not sure whether I like it or not. Still, you have to have a bash at the local wallop, even if it's only to have something to talk about back home. Might try retsina next. Any good?'

  `Not bad.' Nicky heard the car drawing away with a numbing sense of finality.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  LEE had already left when Nicky got down at seven-thirty. The staff seemed somewhat bewildered, but philosophical about the substitution. The new man was Greek, and that could hardly be bad news.

  He arrived with Nikos at eleven, a smallish, heavy-featured man in his early forties who deferred to his employer with a respectful formality. Nicky made a point of avoiding the building until she was certain that Nikos had left, joining Sandy and the others down on the beach. She felt oddly devoid of feeling, like someone under hypnosis who sticks pins in their skin without sensation. She could talk, she could laugh, she could joke, but none of it really got through to her. She had a job to do, and she would do it to the best of her ability for the next couple of months. After that . . . After that she didn't know and didn't care. Not yet, at any rate.

  The weekend went by swiftly. On the Monday Nicky made her usual trip into town to see Gerry, agreed with him that Lee's sudden departure had caused quite a bit of bother all round, and spent the next hour drinking tea and conferring over excursion procedure.