by Sara Craven
‘In that case,’ she said, ‘perhaps you’ll get your chauffeur to drive me home. That is all I find necessary.’
‘Then you will be disappointed,’ he said, shrugging. ‘Because your home is now with me, until I decide otherwise.’ He paused. ‘And the sooner you accept that, agapi mou, the better it will be for you. So, please believe that, and let us enjoy breakfast together.
‘The first of many, I hope,’ he added softly, and smiled at her.
CHAPTER FIVE
NATASHA stared at him for a long moment, her green eyes narrowing dangerously.
‘Lost for words, agapi mou?’ he gibed. ‘Perhaps you should have some tea, after all.’
‘My God,’ she said. ‘You’re unbelievable, do you know that? You’re destroying my life, and here you are, chatting about my choice of beverage.’
He shrugged. ‘I gather it is good for shock.’
‘I’m not shocked.’ She kept her denial cool and crisp, in spite of her inner turmoil. ‘How could I be? The events of last night showed me what a worthless individual you are, Kyrios Mandrakis. So I suppose I was a fool to imagine you might feel any belated remorse for your disgusting behaviour, or attempt some kind of amend, however inadequate.’
‘But I have every intention of making amends to you, agapi mou,’ he said, silkily. ‘But in my own time, and in my own way.’
Her throat tightened. ‘Then maybe I should make it clear right now that I shall not be meekly submitting to any more of the degradation you’ve subjected me to.’
‘I hope not,’ he returned coolly. ‘Meekness has no appeal for me. I want you warm and eager in my arms, Natasha mou, not submissive.’
‘Then you’re going to be seriously disappointed.’ Her voice thickened. ‘I may not have kicked and screamed last night—although my chief regret is that I didn’t leave you permanently damaged—but that doesn’t mean I accept the situation you forced on me, or that I ever will do.
‘After all,’ she went on, ‘even you can’t keep me locked up forever, or trailed by your gorilla. At some point today my signature will be genuinely needed in order for you to take over the Papadimos assets.
‘And you can hardly deliver me to the designated meeting place bound, gagged or chained to your wrist.’
She paused. ‘So, this is where it ends, Kyrios Mandrakis. Be content with your new shipping lines, because I don’t go with them. This is our first breakfast and it’s also our last. Once the papers are signed, I’m out of here, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.’
‘No?’ He leaned back in his chair. ‘I would not be so sure of that.’
‘Then think again,’ she advised curtly. ‘You seem to have overlooked the fact that there’ll be lawyers present at the completion of this deal, kyrie. Papadimos attorneys, as well as yours. And I shall make it perfectly clear—swear an affidavit if I have to—that you tricked me at the airport into coming here, then forced me to go to bed with you.
‘I shall also get Stavros and Andonis to admit that they were the authors of that foul letter, and I knew nothing about it. So I think any abduction charges against you may stick after all—don’t you? And believe me, that will only be the beginning.’
He said pleasantly, ‘I should have told them to serve you honey this morning, Natasha mou. It might have sweetened your temper—and your tongue.’
He paused to refill his cup. ‘So, where do you plan to go?’ he asked. ‘After this dramatic exit? To the Villa Demeter to live once more as one happy family?’
‘No way,’ she said. ‘I’m going to England. Back to the life there you’ve tried and failed to ruin.’
His mouth curled. ‘And to the lover who does not exist?’
‘No,’ Natasha said. ‘Far from it. I run a business, kyrie. Small, and meaningless in your scheme of things, of course, but useful—and successful too, and I’m proud of it. I have people relying on me, and I can’t—I won’t abandon all that on some vindictive whim of yours.’
‘Ah, yes.’ He gave her a meditative look. ‘You call it Helping Out, do you not?’
She swallowed. ‘How did you know that?’
‘I had enquiries made.’ He shrugged. ‘But your absence will not be a problem. I can arrange for a temporary replacement to be found for you, until you are able to return.’
‘Just like that?’ Her voice shook with anger.
‘Why not?’ His brows rose.
She said defiantly, ‘Because I’m not letting some stranger take my place, just so that I can be kept around to…service you. As I thought I’d just explained.’
She lifted her chin. ‘I shan’t ever forgive you for last night, Kyrios Mandrakis, but, given time, I shall forget. And if there are…consequences, I’ll deal with those too,’ she added proudly. ‘You won’t be involved in any way. I intend to treat your incursion into my life as an unwelcome glitch—nothing more.
‘Unlike the other women you favour, kyrie, I’m not for sale, or for rent. I belong to myself alone, and nothing you can say or do will change that one iota.’
‘You sound very determined, agapi mou.’ Alex Mandrakis drank some more coffee, watching her over the rim of the cup. ‘So, tell me a little about your home in London. It is large, with many rooms?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘Why do you ask—as if it’s any of your business?’
‘Because you will need to find a bigger residence—when it becomes your turn to house your brothers and their families. After all, they will have nowhere else to go, and England may well have its attractions for them, in the circumstances.’
She was very still. Suddenly wary. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘About the Villa Demeter,’ he said. ‘The Papadimos palace, which they also used most unwisely as collateral in their quest for money. And which now also belongs to me, Natasha mou, along with everything else. Every stick of furniture, every stone in its walls.
‘Its memories too,’ he added silkily, and watched her colour flare.
‘At the moment, your brothers are my tenants,’ he went on. ‘But who can say how long I will permit this situation to continue? They may already be living on borrowed time.’
He paused. ‘And while you may rightly conclude they have only themselves to blame for their present troubles, and refuse to involve yourself further, there is someone else whose well-being may cause you more concern.’
He saw her eyes dilate, and nodded. ‘I am told you care deeply for your foster mother, Madame Papadimos. Do you really wish to see a woman of her age, in delicate health, forced out of the house she came to as a bride, and where her children were born?
‘What kind of life could she expect, and do you think she could easily withstand such a shock?’
She said unevenly, ‘Oh, God, you couldn’t. You wouldn’t…’
‘I mean what I say,’ Alex Mandrakis returned. ‘As you know to your cost, Natasha mou. But I could be persuaded to spare Madame this terrible blow—on certain conditions.
‘I might even be prepared to negotiate terms on which she, plus her sons and their families, may continue to enjoy the shelter of my roof without interference. And she will not even have the pain of knowing that this has been necessary.’
He smiled at her, his eyes travelling from her parted, trembling lips to the curve of her breast under the prim shirt.
‘But that, my moonlight goddess, depends entirely on you,’ he continued softly. Inexorably. ‘You may either elect to return to England, having made your wrongs public and exacted what retribution you can, although I remain dubious about your success.
‘Or, as I have already said, you can remain with me until my desire for you has been fully satisfied, and I let you go. You will probably not have too long to wait,’ he added casually, and she felt her hands clench round the arms of her chair.
‘However, that is the choice I am offering, Natasha mou. And it is the only one. On this point, there will be no negotiation. Let that also be understood between us. Clearly.’
He pa
used. ‘But you need not give me your reply now. When we meet later at the lawyers’ offices will be quite soon enough. The answer to such an important question also requires witnesses—don’t you think?
‘And once I know your final decision, I will make mine.’ Briskly, he finished his coffee, pushed back his chair and rose. ‘Whatever it happens to be.’
As he passed her, he let his hand drop onto her shoulder. It was only for an instant, but she felt its pressure like a bruise.
‘Remember that,’ he said. ‘And remember it well.’
And he went, leaving Natasha motionless in her chair, staring into space with eyes that saw nothing.
‘So you have decided to join us at last, sister,’ was Stavros’s sullen greeting that afternoon as Natasha walked reluctantly into the palatial suite of offices which belonged to the lawyers acting for Bucephalus Holdings. ‘We had begun to wonder.’
‘How strange,’ she returned unsmilingly. ‘I’ve spent the past few hours doing exactly the same thing—wondering.’ She looked around her. ‘Where is everyone else?’
‘They have offered us a private room to wait in. I will take you to it.’ He sighed heavily as they started down the corridor. ‘My poor Christina cannot stop weeping. She will never recover from the shame of what has happened.’
‘Really?’ Natasha’s brows rose with cool irony. ‘Now, I’d say she’s got off quite lightly. But perhaps I’m biased.’
‘How can you say such a thing?’ He halted outside a closed door, his voice hoarse with reproach. ‘When this man—this Mandrakis has taken everything from us? And now even the roof over our heads is threatened by him.’
He threw his hands to heaven. ‘My unfortunate mother—in God’s name, how can Andonis and I ever face her after this terrible thing?’
She said bitterly, ‘The real question is—how could you and Andonis ever think you could take Alex Mandrakis on and win?’
‘It was a good plan,’ he said defensively. ‘The suggestion that there could be a marriage interested him. Gave us time.’
Time to do what? she wondered bleakly. Make things a thousand times worse?
‘Is that why you wrote that other letter?’ she asked quietly. ‘Because you thought it would keep him even more interested? Give you a bigger window of opportunity to try and trick him?’
He gaped at her, his jaw dropping. In any other circumstances, Natasha might almost have found the combination of guilt and astonishment in his expression amusing. As it was, it made her feel frankly nauseous.
‘What other letter?’ he managed at last. ‘I don’t understand.’
She said wearily, ‘Of course you do, Stavros, so stop playing games. I’ve even worked out how you managed to get a spare signature from me.’
‘But how did you know?’ he demanded. ‘How could you have found out? I demand to know.’
‘I don’t think you’re in a position to make demands, brother,’ Natasha said quietly. ‘Not from me or anyone else. Besides, what does it matter? It’s far too late to worry about it now.’
Turning away, she opened the door and entered the room beyond.
The first person she saw was Andonis, looking the picture of misery, head bent under a shrill deluge of sound being aimed at him by his wife, his sister-in-law and Irini.
Behind her, she heard Stavros mutter something that might have been a curse or a prayer.
Her gaze travelled to where Madame Papadimos was seated with quiet composure in a chair by the window, looking down into the street as if quite oblivious to the uproar elsewhere in the room. Although, Natasha knew, that could not possibly be true.
She swung round on Stavros. ‘You brought your mother?’ she asked incredulously. ‘Here—to this?’
He shrugged. ‘Her idea, not ours. As God is my judge, Natasha, we tried to shield her, but Hara showed her the newspapers, told her servants’ stories, so, when she asked, we had to tell her the truth.’
He shrugged uncomfortably. ‘She knows everything, except that Mandrakis can rob her of her home if he pleases. That at least we have kept from her, in case, by some miracle, he decides to be merciful after all.’
She said quietly, ‘I don’t think mercy features largely in his plans,’ and put down her bags.
As she moved towards Madame Papadimos, Maria ran over and seized her arm.
‘Sister—we have been waiting for you, Christina and I. Our husbands say this is ruin for us all. But this cannot be. Tell us what we must do.’
‘I thought I already did,’ Natasha said, wondering how many thousands of pounds’ worth of jewellery Maria and Christina were wearing between them. ‘Just a few weeks ago. But no one wanted to listen. Now it looks as if the boys will have to find jobs in order to keep you in manicures. It’s a tough old world out there.’
‘How cruel you are,’ Maria said, stifling a sob. ‘Anyone would think we were to blame, and not that pig—that brute, Mandrakis.’
‘Oh, I think I know exactly where the guilt lies,’ Natasha said, and turned away. As she did so, she encountered a look from Irini so venomous that she almost took a step backwards. My God, she thought. Isn’t one damaging vendetta enough for this family? Does she have to carry on her hate campaign even now when we should be standing united?
But she recovered herself, and made her way over to Thia Theodosia.
She knelt beside her foster mother’s chair, and took a thin hand in hers.
She said softly, ‘I’m so terribly sorry, darling. Thank heavens Thio Basilis can’t know what is happening.’
‘The seeds for this harvest were sown a long time ago, pedhi mou, and I always knew its fruit would be bitter.’ Madame Papadimos sounded calm but tired. ‘Basilis could have stopped it so many times, but he would not do so, even at the last.’ She sighed. ‘You saw only the good side of him, my child, but he could be cold—cold like ice. Harsh, too, and unforgiving. And as a result our lives, our security have been destroyed.’
Natasha stared up at her with faint shock. She had never heard Madame Papadimos utter a word of criticism about her late husband before. But then, she couldn’t remember her foster mother making any overt reference to the feud, either. In fact, she’d always sensed that the older woman found the subject too painful to discuss.
Whereas I, she thought, decided it was just a lot of macho rivalry between two powerful men that had had been allowed to get ludicrously out of control. Something that could be safely ignored.
I certainly never realised how serious it might become—or that I could get caught up in it, and be made to suffer like this as a result.
After Alex Mandrakis had left that morning, she’d simply stayed where she was, sitting on the terrace, too numb to move as her mind circled on the same weary, hopeless treadmill, looking for some means of escape, and failing to find one. Knowing that, unless she co-operated, he would do exactly as he’d said.
Baraskevi, accompanied by a younger girl, had come eventually to clear the breakfast things, both clicking their tongues over how little she had eaten, and anxiously offering other food and fresh coffee, all of which she’d declined before, once she was alone again, sinking back into her bitter reverie.
And most of her mental struggles, she had to admit, had involved the frail woman beside her, who’d shown her nothing but sweetness and affection since her arrival in Athens as a scared, silent child. Someone who did not deserve to have her comfort and peace of mind wrecked in an act of triumphant vengeance by a man who had already taken too much. But who wanted everything.
Looking back, she could see that there had always been an element of sadness about Madame Papadimos, which, with hindsight, might have suggested her marriage was not the easiest of relationships.
But because they both loved me, Natasha thought unhappily, I took the love between them for granted too. Yet it may have been a more complex situation than I ever dreamed.
Now she carried her foster mother’s hand gently to her cheek. She’d never had any real choice,
she thought, as Alex Mandrakis had known perfectly well when he offered it. Whatever her private thoughts on the rest of the family, there was no way she would allow Thia Theodosia to suffer the ignominy of eviction on top of everything else.
And all she could do now, she told herself, was steel herself to the inevitable—and survive.
‘Not everything will be lost,’ she said quietly. ‘And that’s a promise.’
She saw Irini approaching, and rose hastily. She already felt brittle enough to shatter in tiny pieces, and decided that any more petulant hostility from the other girl might just push her over the edge. Something she could not afford in the circumstances.
She needed to be calm and in control of herself and her emotions at all times, particularly if she was to make Alex Mandrakis totally regret this one-sided bargain he’d forced on her.
She needed to ensure that any pleasure he derived from her would be less than minimal, and if that meant retreating back into a shell of bored indifference to resist his advances, then that was exactly what she’d do.
I’m one victory he’ll never win, she resolved stonily, moving to the side of the room and looking down with spurious interest at the neatly arrayed newspapers and journals on a table there. I’ll make damned certain that he’ll be glad to call it a day—or a night—and send me home.
But when, a moment later, a hand touched her arm, she spun round with a little choking cry, only to find herself confronted by a complete stranger—a thin, grey-haired man with glasses.
‘Kyria Kirby?’ He inclined his head with formal politeness. ‘I regret if I startled you. My client, Kyrios Mandrakis, wishes to know whether you have yet come to a decision on the matter he discussed with you earlier. I am to take him your answer.’
She swallowed, steadying her flurried breathing. ‘Then you may tell him—yes,’ she said huskily. ‘That I accept his terms.’
He nodded. ‘I will convey that to him, thespinis,’ he said, and moved away.
Watching him go, Natasha wondered almost hysterically if he had the least idea of the precise nature of the morning’s discussion. Whether or not he knew he’d just put an unwilling girl in his client’s bed. Or if he’d even care.