‘You’re damn right, it’s not,’ came his harsh voice over her shoulder. ‘What did you tell him?’
He’d moved so close that Peta could feel his breath on the back of her neck. And there was nowhere to go! Her own fault for putting herself into this position. ‘That we’d had a few words.’
‘He didn’t ask what about?’
‘Of course he asked. But I could hardly confess that his brother wanted a detailed report of the evening we’d spent together.’
‘So what did you say?’
‘Nothing much.’ She wished he’d move. She wished he wouldn’t stand so close. It was unnerving. It was churning her emotions. It was making her ask how could she possibly leave, feeling like this about him?
She continued to look out of the window, but when his hands touched her shoulders she jumped and went as tense as a high wire. He spun her to face him. He looked deep into her eyes. And just when she thought he was going to kiss her he let her go again and walked to the other side of the room. But he still kept looking at her.
‘I wish I could meet the man who’s done this to you, Peta.’
She shot startled eyes in his direction. ‘Done what?’ She had no idea what he was talking about.
‘He must have hurt you very badly.’
She frowned then as realisation dawned. ‘Are you talking about Joe?’
‘Of course I’m talking about Joe. And for you to still be afraid of entering into a relationship nine years later then he must have done a real hatchet job.’
Yes, it had made her wary and angry for a very long time, but Joe was most definitely not the reason she was holding Andreas at arm’s length. Unknowingly, though, he’d given her the perfect excuse. ‘I was at a very vulnerable age,’ she said quietly.
‘He’s a rat, and if I ever set eyes on him I’ll kill him.’
There was such vehemence in his tone that Peta was shocked. ‘I hardly think it warrants that; it was a long time ago.’
‘And you’re still suffering.’
Not to the extent he was suggesting, but she wasn’t going to admit that. If he knew the truth, if he knew that he was the one who had managed to knock down her defensive wall, she wouldn’t have a minute’s peace. ‘I really don’t want to discuss this,’ she said, and then made a show of looking at her watch. ‘I’d better check the boys are ready for school. Are you taking Nikos or shall I?’
‘You do it,’ he said brusquely. ‘Christos and I need to leave. We have an important meeting first thing.’
Yes, she thought, the same old pattern. He’d never change. He’d always put work before his son.
She didn’t tell Ben her plans; she bundled them both into her car and as normal dropped Nikos off first. It was a few minutes before her son realised that they were heading back to the house. ‘Have you forgotten something, Mummy?’
‘No, darling, we’re going down to Nanny and Grandad’s for a few days. Won’t that be fun?’
His little face lit up. ‘I don’t have to go to school?’
‘No, you don’t. But you’re not getting out of it; I shall teach you myself, like I did before.’
‘That’s all right, I like you teaching me. Can Nikos come with us?’
Question followed question all the while she was packing and getting ready. Bess was sorry to see her go, sorry she wasn’t getting on with Andreas.
‘He knew I was going to leave, I simply didn’t tell him when,’ explained Peta.
‘He’ll be sad. You’re the best thing that’s happened to him in a long time.’
‘If you say so,’ said Peta, silently disagreeing. If she was the best thing he’d want more from her than an affair. As things stood he wanted a nanny for Nikos and a woman in his bed but no commitment, and as far as she was concerned it simply wasn’t enough.
The drive to Cornwall didn’t take very long. She hadn’t told her parents to expect them and they were both stunned and delighted to see them. Freda and Doug James lived in a coastal village not far from Padstow and Ben was in his element, soon out of the house and down on the beach with his grandfather.
‘How long are you staying?’ asked her mother as she helped her unpack.
Peta shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I need a break. And then I’ll look for a new job.’
‘Why did you leave this one? I thought you liked it. And going to Greece as well. It sounds wonderful. I hope he paid you well?’
Peta nodded. ‘Very well.’ She had more money in the bank than she’d ever imagined. ‘But it wasn’t the idyll you imagine. Someone threatened to kidnap his son; that’s why we fled.’
‘Oh, my goodness! And you never told me,’ shrieked her mother. ‘You and Ben could have been in danger as well.’
Peta nodded and said as matter-of-factly as she could, so as not to alarm her mother further, ‘As it turned out, Ben was kidnapped by mistake.’
Her mother’s eyes rolled and she sat down on the edge of the bed. ‘Tell me this isn’t true.’
By the time Peta had finished explaining Freda James had still not come to terms with what had happened to her precious grandson. ‘I don’t blame you for leaving the man. It’s not safe working for him.’
For the first time in her life Peta felt the need to confide in her mother. ‘There’s something more, Mum. The kidnapping’s not the reason I left. I fell in love with Andreas.’
‘I see.’ Freda James’s brows rose in surprise. ‘It does complicate things. Am I right in presuming that he doesn’t love you?’
Peta nodded. ‘He’s still hung up about his dead wife.’
‘It’s not easy, falling in love,’ confided her parent. ‘It ought to be, but too often there are complications. Oh, Peta, I’ve really missed you. It’s been so long since you were last here.’
Peta nodded. ‘Let’s make up for it now.’
But Peta’s thoughts were never far away from Andreas, and after lunch the following day, when Ben and her father had gone to the beach, she said, ‘You know, Mum, Andreas is the first man I’ve ever truly loved. I know I thought I loved Joe, and was heartbroken when he dumped me, but, looking back, it wasn’t love. He excited me, that was all.’
‘And there’s no chance of Andreas loving you in return?’
‘Not one. I have to accept that he’s not meant for me. He’d settle for an affair but I want more than that.’
‘Of course you do, love. Best to push him right out of your mind. Ah, the phone, excuse me.’
Easier said than done, thought Peta as she left her mother to her phone call and joined Ben and her father. Andreas simply wouldn’t go away.
When they got back to the house several happy if tiring hours later—Ben had run them ragged, racing around the beach and climbing over rocks—her mother seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood. She hummed and sang to herself as she gave Ben his supper, and afterwards, when he was in bed, she announced that she and Dad were going out.
‘But you never go out at night,’ Peta claimed with a frown.
‘Doesn’t mean to say we can’t,’ smiled her mum. ‘I’ve left you a pie and some salad in the fridge. We shan’t be late back. Enjoy yourself.’
What did she mean, enjoy herself? Time spent alone perhaps. That must be it. Peta wasn’t hungry yet, so she settled herself outside in the back garden with a book and didn’t hear the doorbell. She heard nothing until she sensed someone standing a few feet away. When she looked up and saw Andreas Papadakis her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. So who had told?
‘Christos?’ she enquired.
‘No.’
‘Bess?’
‘That lady has given me one very good talking-to. I didn’t know she had it in her.’
‘And what exactly did she say?’ Peta didn’t invite him to sit. She didn’t encourage him to take even a step further towards her.
‘That she thought I had treated you despicably.’
Peta nodded, agreeing entirely.
‘That she didn’t blame you for wa
lking out.’
‘You left me no choice.’
‘She told me I was a fool for not telling you that I loved you.’
‘Huh!’ she scorned. ‘Why would you tell me that when we both know it’s not true?’ And why had Bess jumped to that conclusion?
‘But it is true,’ he answered quietly, his eyes darker now than she’d ever seen them, his face totally serious.
Peta’s eyes widened. ‘You love me? You’re joking, of course.’
‘I’m not,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘I’m perfectly serious.’
This was more than she could take in. ‘You’ve told my mother this? It was you on the phone earlier? It’s why she’s gone out? Hell, Andreas, you had no right.’
‘I’m a desperate man,’ he admitted, his expression wry.
‘And what did my mother say about my feelings?’ She urgently prayed that her parent hadn’t given her away because she wasn’t entirely sure that she believed Andreas. If he loved her, if he truly loved her, why couldn’t he have said so? Why wait until she had run away and then decide? No, he still wanted her for his own selfish purposes.
‘Precisely nothing,’ he admitted. ‘But she did agree that we ought to talk.’ He closed the space between them in a few swift strides, dragging up a wrought-iron chair and positioning it so that he could sit facing her.
‘You can talk all you like, it won’t make any difference,’ she said shortly. ‘Words are easy.’
‘If it’s action you want then—’
‘No!’ She pulled back in distress as he tried to take her hands. ‘Keep away from me, Andreas! I know what you’re after. Why do you think I ran away?’
‘And exactly what is it you think I’m after?’ he asked, his mouth suddenly grim.
‘An affair,’ she thrust at him, top lip curling. ‘It’s all you’ve ever wanted. No commitment, just the use of my body—oh, and a babysitter for Nikos thrown in. Isn’t that about right?’
‘Maybe.’
‘I knew I was right,’ Peta claimed triumphantly.
‘In the beginning.’
She frowned.
‘I did desire you, fiercely. It turned into love without me even recognising it. The care you’ve shown for Nikos, as well as your own son, has awakened my responsibilities as a father and made me realise that I’ve loved you all along but tried desperately hard to bury it.’
‘Because of Maria?’
He nodded. ‘The time has come for me to let go.’
Peta was stunned. She didn’t know what to say; she wasn’t even sure whether she could believe him, even now, and he could see the doubt on her face.
‘It’s the truth, Peta.’
‘So how did you trace me?’
‘I overheard Christos telling Bess where you’d gone. All I had to do then was look on my itemised phone bill for your parents’ number. Remember you rang them before we left for Greece?’
Peta closed her eyes. This was something she had never thought of.
‘I know you don’t return my love, Peta. But you like me, I think.’ His brows rose, asking the question. ‘And there’s no denying the sexual attraction. We could work on it.’ His eyes were such a dark brown that they appeared black, and they scanned her face closely, looking for some sign that she was weakening.
Peta felt a rush of emotion and could no longer hide her feelings. She reached out and took his hands into her own. ‘Yes, Andreas, we can work on it,’ she said softly, her heart beginning to race, her pulses quickening, and a soft heat enveloping her body.
‘You really mean that?’
‘I do.’
He stood up then and pulled her to her feet. ‘May I hold you?’
She nodded, unable now to tear her eyes away from his. And her heart thumped as he urged her gently against the solid hardness of his body. He held her as though she was extremely fragile. ‘This is more than I’d hoped for, Peta. I thought I’d have to work on you. I thought I’d have to woo you all over again.’
‘It’s more than I’d hoped for, too,’ she admitted with a wry smile.
He looked down into her upturned face. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You have no idea how many times I’ve willed you to fall in love with me and thought it would never happen. I thought you would never let go of Maria.’
He grew still. ‘What are you saying?’ And he seemed to be holding his breath as he waited for her answer.
‘Can’t you guess?’
He touched her chin and then stroked the backs of his fingers down her cheek, looking with almost childish wonder into her luminous blue eyes. ‘I think you’re saying that you love me, too.’ And then he closed his eyes, as if to shut her out in case he was wrong, and she felt a tremor run through him.
‘I do.’ Her answer was little more than a whisper.
She heard the soft hiss of air as he exhaled, she felt the tension drain out of him, and like two lost souls who’d found each other in the wilderness they clung together, rocking and groaning, rocking and loving, pouring out their emotions in physical contact.
It was many long minutes before she lifted her head and he kissed her. Even then the kiss was gentle, tentative, experimental, as though he might frighten her away again if he asked for too much too soon.
‘Tell me I’m not dreaming,’ he whispered against her mouth.
‘You’re not dreaming,’ she assured him huskily. ‘I’m the one who’s dreaming.’
‘Oh, no! I love you, Peta. I love you very much. I shall tell you every day of my life. And if only I’d told you earlier then we wouldn’t have wasted so much time.’ His mouth captured hers again in a mind-drugging kiss that seemed to go on for ever.
When they finally managed to stop she was trembling so much that if he had let her go she would have fallen. He took her two hands into his and held them hard against his chest. She could feel his heart thudding. ‘Will you marry me, Peta?’ His gorgeous brown eyes held a burning light that threatened to consume her before the day was out.
It took her no more than a second to make up her mind, and her voice was a husky whisper. ‘Yes.’
Andreas groaned, and his heart raced now like a mad thing beneath her hands. ‘You wove your magic on me, Peta, from the first moment you walked into my office. Such a feisty female. You were entrancing. Don’t ever change. And I promise I’ll make you the happiest woman in the world.’
‘Are you really over Maria?’ It was a question she needed to ask.
He nodded. ‘I love you in an entirely different way. It will be good between us. I’ll never let you down the way Joe did.’
‘I’m over Joe,’ she told him with a wry smile. ‘I used him as a buffer. I was scared of my feelings. I didn’t believe that you’d ever love me, not the way I wanted to be loved, or the way I loved you.’
He frowned and looked at her closely. ‘Are you saying that you’ve loved me for a long time?’
Peta gave a wry, guilty smile and nodded. ‘Though, like you, I wasn’t sure of it until after Ben’s kidnapping. It’s why I ran away.’
He swore loudly in Greek. ‘Do your parents know how you feel about me?’
‘My mother does,’ she admitted. ‘I expect she’s told Dad.’
‘I wondered why she was so ready to let me see you. Does anyone else know? Am I the last to hear? The one person who should be first?’
‘It’s your own fault,’ she pointed out, though she smiled as she said it.
‘I guess it is. But you haven’t answered my question. How about Christos? Does he know? Were you talking about me on the night he took you out? I know he fancies you. Did you tell him he stood no chance because you loved me? Did you, Peta? Did you?’
He sounded angry and Peta didn’t want to answer, but her expression must have given her away.
With a furious snarl Andreas let her go and put space between them, his eyes blazing accusation.
‘He knew that you loved me,’ she told him, ‘and he wanted to talk to you but I wouldn’
t let him.’
‘Damn! I can’t believe I’ve been so blind, so foolish, so unbelievably ignorant.’ He huffed out a sharp breath and paced the patio before coming once again to stand in front of her. ‘My darling Peta, I have you to thank for showing me that there is still happiness to be found. My future beckons with all the brightness of a lodestar.’
‘Oh, Andreas.’ Tears welled and she clung to him, and to her surprise his eyes were suspiciously moist, too. ‘This is the happiest day of my life.’
‘We’ll get married straight away,’ he murmured between kisses. ‘I’ll get a special licence. I can’t wait any longer.’
And if she was honest neither could Peta. She had finally found a man she could trust; a man who would never fail her; a man who would look after her for the rest of her life. What more could she ask?
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1126-1
THE MEDITERRANEAN TYCOON
First North American Publication 2003.
Copyright © 2002 by Margaret Mayo.
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The Mediterranean Tycoon Page 16