by Lexie James
“Please don’t tell me that this is some grand scheme that you have all cooked up to get me to look over your Daniel’s goddaughter.”
His godmother snorted. “As your philosophy with young women appears to be wine, dine, bed and forget, I would not want you anywhere near Daniel’s goddaughter. Emme is a sweet, gentle, loyal soul, who deserves to be loved and cherished by a man who is prepared to commit his life to her. I am afraid, my dear godson, that your track record with women does not make you a likely contender for the hand of Daniel’s goddaughter.”
“And,” His mother stamped on his foot angrily. “If we had decided upon that, which by the way, we have not done, because we are, after all, not that idiotic. But if we were do you really think that I would stupid enough to be here as well? Knowing how much you take an instant dislike to anyone that I introduce you to? I am here purely because Sophia asked me to keep her company this weekend; she gets upset when she comes to this event, if you must know. And if you were any kind of a son that was interested in what his mother did, you would ring to ask how I was and what I was doing. Then I would have been able to tell you. But obviously, as that never happens, and furthermore, as you have made it known to me on numerous occasions, you want to hear or see from me as little as possible; I was unable to tell you what I was doing this weekend. I presume you and Adrienne are here to look over this property, which is why you are pretending to be mother and son.”
Christos had been rather taken aback by Sophia’s attack on his behaviour. Smarting a little from that, his mother’s attack on his behaviour caught him sideways. Sensibly he decided it was better to refrain from answering, something had upset her, yet again, he expected it was something he had done, but having heard most of her complaints before, the knack was, as he had learnt, to ignore it.
He looked speculatively at his godmother as he considered the fact that she was on close, friendly terms with the owners.
“You know it might be very handy that you are here, you could give me some background on the history of the hotel and its owners.”
“Be careful.” Maria warned her. “He will try and find out something that will help him negotiate a cheaper deal.”
Sophia looked at him sharply. “Really?”
“Excuse me Aunt Sophia, I was wondering if you and your friends were ready to order now?”
Sophia surged up from the table and hugged Chrissie tightly, then pushed her away at arm’s length, to take a good look at her.
“Chrissie, my angel, how you’ve grown, come and sit beside me and tell me all the news.”
Chrissie stood back and grinned. “Sorry, no can do, really I can’t. This is the first year that we are being allowed to wait on tables. I want to get it absolutely right and I don’t think chatting with guests will please Granddad, even when it’s you.”
She gave her aunt another peck on the cheek then turned to the table at large and solemnly asked them all. “Could I could please take everybody’s orders?”
“Of course Darling, I’ll have the pate to start with, then the sirloin steak, medium rare with a pepper sauce.” She waited while Chrissie taped into a small hand held screen.
In turn everyone ordered, Christos looked on with an unbelieving look on his face.
“Would you please read back everybody’s order, just so we know you managed to get it all down correctly.” He smiled pleasantly at her but his tone implied that he was convinced she would have made a mistake.
Chrissie sniffed, threw him a mutinous look, but compiled with his request. She repeated each person’s order.
“I’m impressed.” He told her. “I didn’t believe you would have it all correct. I suppose you must be older than I thought you were. I apologise for my doubting you.”
Chrissie shot him a mischievous look. “Well I don’t know how you old you think I am, but I’m eleven, and nearly two months. Would you like to know how I did it?”
She walked around the table and showed him that the little screen was a small computer.
The closer she came to him, the more she reminded him of Lindy. Even her hair smelt the same; his heart lurched and began to pound so loudly he expected everyone at the table to hear it.
“Look.” She was saying. “Mum originally designed this just for me and Michael, my brother, so we could take orders and not make any mistakes, but now everyone uses this system. We tap in the order and it is instantly relayed to the kitchen. It means that the chef knows whose order is next and there is no chance of an order being lost plus Mum says it’s easier than trying to read crappy, sorry, untidy writing.”
“That’s very impressive. You know, I’d be very interested in meeting your mother. Ideas like this can be very useful when developing excellent service; I’d love to know if she has any other clever ideas.”
She stared at him with a quizzical look on her face. “Mum’s working in the kitchens tonight; I’m not sure when she’ll be up. But it will definitely be after all the food is served. I’ll tell her you would like to speak to her, if I remember to that is.” She grinned cheekily and walked up to the next table of guests.
Christos watched her walk with an arrested look on his face before turning to speak to Adrienne. “Now that was very interesting, it seems that there are people working here with some very innovative ideas.”
Maria watched Chrissie walk away with longing etched all over her face, before Sophia kicked her, then she quickly recovered and lowered her eyes.
All things considered the meal passed sociably enough with idle chit chat, and in no time at all coffee was served.
CHAPTER TWELVE
It was as he leant forward to get the sugar that he suddenly became aware of her presence in the room.
Somewhere Lindy was here, how had he missed her? He could almost smell her perfume wafting enticingly towards him. He straightened up and moved his chair slightly, to make it easier for him to scan the room. A tingling, excited feeling was beginning to bubble inside him, and he tried to give himself a stern talking too; reminding himself that he was not a boy any more.
But his senses just weren’t prepared to listen.
As his eyes finally alighted upon her, it was all he could do to stop himself bounding across the room; like a man starved his eyes hungrily devoured her. It was her, finally after all this time, still so beautiful, still so Lindy, that cute little nose, her gentle smile, her eyes. God her eyes, how was it possible for them to be more amazing, even from this distance he could see them sparkle and shimmer, he longed to move closer so he could see the moment when recognition dawned and those beautiful eyes would soften and glimmer with the love they felt for him.
Hell, he’d been waiting twelve long and very lonely years for this special moment.
Gradually he began to see changes in her appearance, her curls had been tamed and were now styled into a neat chignon but some unruly ones had broken free and were framing her face as they once had. She tucked one errant curl behind her ear and, as he watched her do it, he was catapulted back into memories of all the times he had seen her do that unconsciously. His heart almost stopped as he finally realised that she was really here, in front of him, and his dreams for their life together was there within his grasp.
Twelve years had changed her from a girl into a woman, elegant, sophisticated, and confident, she walked around the tables, stopping to chat to everyone, sometimes giving them a hug and kiss as they stood up to speak to her. His very soul began to sing and he felt his hands becoming clammy. The compulsion to rush over to her, pick her up, and bury his face in her hair became stronger with each step she took in his direction.
The closer she came, the more he felt himself grinning inanely.
He was so absorbed in watching her that he was totally unaware that the other three occupants at the table had stopped talking, and were watching him with pleasure.
Then his heart lurched with trepidation, and a feeling of impending doom began to clamp itself around his whole being as he saw the
child Chrissie walk over to whisper something in her ear. He felt as if he had been punched in the stomach as he watched Lindy pull her into an affectionate hug.
In that moment, as all of his dreams came crashing down around him, as he realised that the reason why the girl had reminded him of Lindy was because she had to be Lindy’s daughter. He clenched his hands into fists as an icy cold fury began to seep up through his bones.
So this was why she had never bothered to phone him, because she had been too busy going from his bed to somebody else’s bed. Then the final insult, for good measure, she had stayed with that man long enough to get pregnant and have his child, no goddamn it, have two children by him; that girl had a bloody brother somewhere. If that girl was telling the truth about her age, then Lindy must have gone straight to another man immediately after the ball.
The more he deliberated the more his anger grew out of all proportion and he found it hard to think rationally. Was it someone straight after him? Or had she been stringing him along all the time, and been two timing him with another guy in college?
I’ve wasted twelve years of my life he thought savagely, being guilty at the wrong I thought I’d done her, and dreaming of the all ways I would make it up to her if I ever found her. And it was all for nothing, those three years they spent together had obviously meant absolutely nothing to her. She obviously hadn’t meant it, when she had told him she loved him.
He swallowed the bile that was creeping into the back of his throat. He couldn’t believe this was happening to him, thoughts just kept swirling around in his head. So, she had loved him so much that she could go straight to another man’s bed; so much for all her protestations of love! He had spent all these years being guilty about the wrong he had done her, when in fact, he was the one who was wronged and ridiculed, for she had to have gone from making love to him straight to another man and then got herself pregnant.
He closed his eyes, trying to control the pain crushing his heart of all its life. What a total bloody waste of his time. He had spent so long dreaming of his perfect love and she was not even close to that. He felt rage out of all proportion to anything he had ever known building up inside him as he watched her walking around the table, laughing and joking with the guests. She obviously had no idea he was here, or she wouldn’t be looking so calm, though every now and again he watched her rub the back of her neck as she used to do when something was bothering her.
He was determined to sit here and face her out, after all she was the one who had run off, obviously to another man, which made him the injured party, not her, just let her look him in the eye!
Emme had felt something in the air as soon as she walked into the dining room; at first she blamed it on the warmth in the dining room. But as she began to move around, she became more and more convinced that someone was staring at her.
She hadn’t felt like this for years, not since, her step faltered; not since Christos used to stare at her when she was taking lecture notes. He thought she hadn’t known, but the heat of his glances had always warmed the back of her neck, as if on cue her neck began to feel as if it was glowing and she rubbed it nervously.
Only he could make her feel like this, surely he wasn’t here? Her eyes began to look around, surreptitiously, but it was rather difficult as everyone kept talking to her and distracting her.
Somewhere Sophia was here, if she could just get to her she would feel safe for a while and she could look around discreetly for him. Just then Chrissie came up, bubbling with excitement that she had served tables for the first time. She told her where Sophia was and, desperate for a safe haven, Emme turned towards them.
She finally reached their table, first hugging and kissing Sophia, before turning to clasp Adrienne’s hands and greet her. In that moment she sensed how close he was, and as her eyes drifted nervously around the table they finally reached him.
He watched as the colour drained from her face, leaving it icy white.
Good! He thought, I bloody hope I’ve disturbed you. He was unaware that the other occupants of the table were watching their exchange of looks with bated breath.
Emme took as deep a breath as she could manage, considering she felt frozen stiff. All she could think of was how to put as much space as possible between her and Christos.
“If you will excuse me, I’ve just remembered a job I have to attend to right now. Aunt Sophia I’ll see you later.”
Her voice shook with nerves as she spoke, even though she tried to keep it even. Oh my God, she thought, he’s here, in my home! What am I going to do? Her eyes searched urgently for her children and as she walked away from the table she caught each of their eyes and sent them off to bed with a look, much to their disgust.
She paused for a second only to see if they had obeyed her, before she left the dining room and rushed into the safe haven of her office. Once there, she leant against the desk trying to control her raging emotions. Head bowed, she concentrated on calming her breathing, as she tried to come to terms with this horrendous development in her life.
How dare he sit there in her dining room, large as life, looking as if he belonged there? And then to add insult to injury, he was staring at her so insolently, with daggers in his eyes? She’d like to forget she was raised to behave in a ladylike manner, and kick him into next week. Except that she had brought her children up not to resort to violence therefore no matter what she wanted to do to him, she couldn’t do it, because she had to set a good example to her children.
The children, her mind reeled as she considered all of the problems his being here would create for them. All she could think of was how she going to protect her children from recognising their own father and how she was going to stop her own father from realising who he was and then wanting to kill him. Not, she thought savagely, that Christos didn’t deserve all the punishment her father would want to mete out to him.
How dare he just turn up here without any warning, who did he think he was? And how dare he look at her with such contempt, after all he was the vilest person in the world, not her.
Christos’s eyes narrowed with fury as he watched her send the children away and saw her walk out of the dining room. He struggled to control his rage before abruptly making a decision. I’ll have this out with her tonight, and finally afterwards, when I sleep, I will have eradicated her from my dreams.
“Excuse me ladies.”
He stood up swiftly and left the table in case any of them tried to question him.
Adrienne turned to Maria, a look of confusion on her face. “He’s angry. Why is he angry? He looked so happy when he first saw her.”
“I’m not sure. He seemed fine until he saw..,” The colour drained from her face at the same time as Sophia spoke, both of them coming to the same conclusion.
“He recognised Chrissie as her daughter. I expect it’s just the shock, I’ll go and see if everything is alright.”
She squeezed Maria’s hand and stood up to follow them, only to have her passage stopped by an old friend wanting to chat. Eventually she managed to leave the dining room.
Christos meanwhile had stalked out into the foyer. He couldn’t see where she was and there was only Patrick behind the desk.
“Where is she?” He demanded, his eyes raking the foyer once again for his prey.
Patrick had already watched his white faced daughter dash past him, now, looking at the anger in the face of Adrienne’s son, he began to wonder what was going on. He had never seen Chris before tonight, but it was obvious from the way his daughter and Adrienne’s son were behaving that they knew each other.
Just as quickly he remembered that since she had returned from college, pregnant, she had never looked at another man.
He looked carefully at Chris his mind already springing to the possibility that he might have had something to do with her flight home from college. Faced with the raging emotions that were crackling around him he thought it might help his daughter to have a few more minutes to herself to ga
in some control over her emotions.
He decided to play for some time.
“Now who would that be that you were wanting to see?” He enquired innocently.
Christos glared angrily at him. “Don’t play games with me! I want to have a word with that woman who has just walked out of the dining room.”
Patrick looked at him lazily, “Well now, would that be my daughter you’d be meaning? Why she’s just gone into her office. I’m sure she won’t mind being disturbed, she likes to make herself available for all our guests at any time.”
“I’ll just bet she does.” Christos replied nastily and he turned on his heel to march into her office.
“I beg your pardon?” Patrick replied haughtily.
Christos turned back glaring at him. “Look she may be your daughter but she was my- well anyway, we have unfinished business and I for one am determined that we will finish it tonight!”
Patrick was definitely more than a little intrigued, for a second he considered stepping in to protect his daughter but then decided she was quite able to defend herself. She was part Irish and had a hell of a temper when she set her mind to it, plus she had a strong right hand hook, if words wouldn’t work. The more he contemplated the situation the more he was sure that there was definitely something of great import about to happen in her office. She looked as if she had seen a ghost, and Adrienne’s son was furious to say the least.
I’ve seen that angry look before he thought now where exactly was it? A sudden movement on the staircase disturbed him, when he looked up he saw his grandson trying to creep back down.
“Bed, now.” Patrick commanded him and was amazed to see the same murderous expression on his grandson’s face that he had just seen, only a few moments before, on the face of the man who had stormed into Emme’s office.
Patrick sat down heavily on the chair and tried to make sense of what he had just seen, slowly his eyes turned towards Emme’s office. He had never pressed her for the name of the boy who had made her pregnant, aware that she was a stubborn as a mule. Unless she deigned to tell him, he would never get to know.