The Touch of Aphrodite

by Joanna Mansell

  'I am getting on with my life," Nikolaos said tautly. 'I've managed very well during the twenty years since my mother left, and I see no reason why I shouldn't continue to do so in the future.'

  'But you can't love anyone,' Emily cried.

  'I love my family,' he countered at once.

  'I know. You'd do anything for them, help them in any and every way you could, if they needed it. But that isn't what I'm talking about.'

  'Of course it isn't,' Nikolaos said, his dark gaze suddenly fixing on her own flushed face. 'You mean that I can't love you.' The sensual line of his mouth hardened. 'All women want love. Why can't any of you believe that you can live without it?'

  'Because if you don't have some kind of love in your life, then you're only existing. I've understood that since I came here, to Cyprus. The island of love —' she gave a small, strained smile ' — the home of Aphrodite —how can you live here, and not believe in love?'

  He didn't answer her. His eyes were no longer blank; she could see the conflict that raged behind their dark façade. As if suddenly aware that she could see his inner turmoil, Nikolaos abruptly turned away from her.

  'I don't want to meet my mother, and I'd prefer to see as little of you as possible in the future,' he said in a tight voice. "Regarding the terms of Dimitri's will, some legal solution will have to be found and other arrangements made.'

  'Oh, you stupid man,' she said bitterly. 'You're going to throw it all away, aren't you?'

  'I've simply made a decision that needed to be made. I believe that is my prerogative.'

  'It's certainly your prerogative to lead a lonely, unhappy life, if that's what you want,' said Emily, with more courage than she knew she possessed. Then, with her shoulders held unnaturally high and her eyes blinking away a threatening flurry of tears, she turned and steadily walked away from him. She looked back only once —she couldn't stop herself—and saw that he was rigidly staring out to sea again, a dark, passionate man who lived on the sunlit island of love, but refused to let himself feel love.

  Back at Paphos, she discovered that the Hotel Konstantin had lost all of its charms. Oh, she still worked hard —harder than ever; it was better than having any free time to think, to feel. But all the joy had gone out of it, and she worked mechanically; it was just a way of filling in all the long, empty hours.

  Her contact with Nikolaos was virtually non-existent. For the moment, at least, he remained at the hotel — ensuring that the hotel didn't collapse under her inexperienced management, she thought bitterly—but all communications from him came through his secretary.

  Emily had thought that she had explored all the black depths of misery after her mother's and Dimitri's deaths, but this was an entirely new kind of heartbreak. And, as far as she could see, it was going to go on and on. That was a quite appalling prospect, and one that threatened to overwhelm her at times.

  What could she do about it, though? Go back home to England? But, although it was something that she had never expected to happen when she had first come here, England no longer felt like home. After just a few short months, home was here, on this island drenched in sun and ancient myths and legends. She loved its blue seas, hot beaches and green forests, its brilliantly spectacular sunsets, the perfume of its spring flowers, the sweet ripeness of its fruit and, of course, the friendliness of its people. By the end of the week, though, she knew that she couldn't stay unless something changed. And nothing would change of its own accord; she had to make it happen. An idea was already beginning to form inside her head, but just the thought of what she was contemplating was so unnerving that she kept shying away from it. There was probably only one chance in a hundred that it would work out; it was far more likely that she would destroy everything forever. And it would need very careful planning, there were so many things that could go wrong.

  Emily shivered a little, despite the heat. If she went ahead with her crazy idea, it would need every last bit of her courage to see it through. On the other hand, she didn't think that any of them could go on for very much longer with the way things were. No one was happy, all of them locked away in their own separate, unhappy lives. At least this would give her a small chance to put some things right.

  She picked up the phone and dialled the number that Eleni had given her. She was relieved when Eleni herself answered.

  'It's Emily Peterson," Emily said nervously. 'Do you remember me?'

  'Of course I do,' Eleni said with sudden eagerness."Have you managed to speak to Nikolaos? Has he agreed to see me?'

  'I think that I can arrange for you to meet him,' Emily said, choosing her words carefully.

  'When?' said Eleni at once. 'Can it be soon? I can only stay on Cyprus for a couple of more days.'

  'This afternoon,' Emily told her, after taking a very deep breath. 'I'll arrange it for this afternoon, if that's all right with you.'

  'Yes, it's fine," said Eleni, and Emily could hear the small tremor of emotion in her voice. 'What time should I come?'

  'If you can get here at exactly three o'clock, I'll be waiting for you at the main entrance.'

  'I'll be there,' promised Eleni. 'And —thank you. You know what this means to me.'

  Emily immediately felt guilty because Eleni obviously thought that Nikolaos had agreed to the meeting. She bit her lip and was about to blurt out the truth, but Eleni had already put the receiver down. Emily reached out to redial the number, but then stopped. She knew that she was gambling with other people's lives, but sometimes the only thing to do was to take a reckless chance.

  She spent a couple of minutes trying to control her breathing and slow her racing pulse. Then she rang Nikolaos's office, knowing that she would get through to him directly since his secretary was off sick today. The familiar, authoritative sound of his voice as he answered the phone made her skin break out in a sudden flush of heat.

  'I —I want to make an appointment to see you this afternoon, at three o'clock,' she finally managed to get out.

  There was a long silence before he at last answered her. 'I can spare you a few minutes if you wish to discuss something important. I'm having lunch with a business colleague, followed by a short meeting, but I can be back here by three.' His voice sounded more strained than she could ever remember hearing it.

  'Thank you,' she said, swallowing hard. She listened for a few more moments to the sound of his breathing, more audible and much faster than usual. Then she put down the phone, her own lungs feeling very constricted. Later on that morning, she watched Nikolaos leave the hotel for his luncheon appointment. Then she slipped up to his office. She went at once to the small cupboard where he kept his keys. It was locked, of course, but she used her own master key to open it. It took her just a few seconds to slip all the keys off their hooks, and put them into her pocket. Then she relocked the cupboard and, her heart still thundering, hurried out of the office. All she had to do now was to wait for three o'clock. The hours went past so slowly that she sometimes thought that the hands of her watch were actually standing still. At last, though, it was time for her to go down and meet Eleni. When she reached the hotel foyer, she thought for a few nerve-racking moments that Eleni hadn't come. Then she saw her standing beside a large potted palm, half hidden by the large, graceful fronds.

  Eleni stepped forward when she saw Emily. 'I'm so very nervous,' she admitted. 'I was almost too terrified to come.'

  Emily was quite certain that Eleni couldn't be half as terrified as she was. She tried to hide all her surging fears, though, and gave Eleni what she hoped was an encouraging smile.

  'Come on, I'll take you up to Nikolaos's office.'

  'How does he feel about meeting me?' Eleni asked anxiously as they got into the lift.

  'I —don't know,' Emily replied evasively. At the same time, she was being racked by doubts. Did she have any right to be doing this? But it was too late now to turn back. How could she possibly tell Eleni this whole thing had been her idea from the very start? That Nikolaos had known —s
till knew —absolutely nothing about it?

  They reached the floor of Nikolaos's office, and Emily's mouth became completely dry. Then they were finally standing outside his door, and Emily turned to Eleni.

  'Just go straight in,' she said steadily.

  She saw Eleni's fingers tremble as she reached for the handle. Then she turned it, pushed the door open, and walked inside.

  Nikolaos was sitting behind his desk, going through some papers, and Emily caught just a brief glimpse of his face as he looked up and saw his mother. It was a sudden rage of conflicting emotions, which swiftly coalesced into a dark anger as he saw Emily standing outside.

  'Why have you done this?' he demanded fiercely, getting swiftly to his feet. Emily didn't answer. Instead, she quickly closed the door and, using her master key, locked it, trapping Nikolaos inside with Eleni. An instant later, she heard him hammer against it. 'Emily, open this door at once,' he roared at her, his voice white hot with fury. Her legs were shaking —in fact, her whole body was quivering, every nerve was absolutely raw —but she didn't falter.

  'No,' she said resolutely. 'It's going to stay locked for one hour. And you won't be able to open it, either; I've taken all your master keys.'

  'What the hell do you think you're doing?' he demanded fiercely.

  'I'm forcing you to make a choice. You and your mother can either sit in silence for the next hour, or you can begin talking to one another.'

  'You've no right to force us into this situation,' Nikolaos said furiously.

  'No, I haven't," she agreed, her own voice almost cracking up with nerves.

  'But I've done it, and I intend to go through with it. You've got one hour,'

  she reminded him.

  'When I get out of here —' Nikolaos began threateningly, but Emily was already walking away, because she was afraid that if she stayed any longer then she might weaken, and let them out.

  She could hardly believe that she had actually done it, locked them in there together. She had had absolutely no right to do something like that: only the unshakeable conviction that Nikolaos and Eleni needed to find some kind of peace together, so that they could get on with their lives. And what if it all went horribly wrong? If they came out of that room hating each other —and hating her for having caused an even deeper rift in their relationship?

  Emily bit her lip hard and glanced at her watch. Only five minutes had passed since she had walked away from that door. How on earth was she going to get through the rest of the hour?

  She paced restlessly around her own office, asked one of the staff to bring her up a cup of coffee, but then couldn't drink it. Half an hour dragged past, another endless fifteen minutes crawled by, and then, finally, the hour was up.

  Emily crept back to Nikolaos's office, her ears straining for any sounds that would give her a clue to what was going on inside that locked room. She could hear nothing, though. Either Nikolaos and Eleni were sitting in total silence, or they were talking so softly that their voices couldn't be heard through the thickness of the door.

  Her fingers fumbling nervously, Emily slid the key into the lock. She turned it and heard the lock click back; then she turned round and ran, too scared to face Nikolaos when he opened that door.

  She fled back to the safety of her own office. Except that it wasn't safe, of course. There wasn't anywhere in this hotel —in fact, probably on the entire island — where she could hide away from him.

  Emily paced restlessly over to the window and stood there for a long while with her hot forehead pressed against the glass. Then her blue eyes suddenly opened very wide as she saw Eleni walk out from the front entrance of the hotel. A couple of seconds later, they became as big as saucers as she saw Nikolaos follow her out.

  Holding her breath, she watched the two of them stand there for a few more minutes, quietly talking. Nikolaos's face looked calm, and there was a hint of a grave smile on Eleni's beautiful mouth. Emily felt her whole body sag with relief. They weren't screaming at each other, or standing in icy silence. It looked as if her gamble might just have paid off.

  Eleni finally got into a waiting taxi, and Nikolaos turned and walked back into the hotel. Emily instantly grew very tense again. Whatever had happened in that locked room between Nikolaos and his mother, one thing was very certain. Nikolaos was going to have plenty to say on the subject of Emily's own part in the affair.

  She didn't have to wait for very long. Just a couple of minutes later, the door to her office was thrown open and Nikolaos strode in.

  'I ought to wring your interfering little neck,' he growled at her.

  'I know,' she mumbled apologetically, 'I had absolutely no right to do what I did.'

  'No, you certainly didn't!' Yet his dark eyes weren't as fierce as she had expected. 'Especially since you know very well how I feel about people interfering in my personal life.'

  'You don't like it,' Emily said in a small voice. "And yet you still do it.'

  'I can't seem to help it. When I see that something's wrong, I just have to try and put it right.'

  'Even when you've been specifically told not to meddle?" Emily gave a small sigh. 'Yes, I'm afraid so.' Then she looked at him anxiously. 'You did speak to your mother? I mean, speak to her properly? You didn't shout at her, or upset her?"

  'Of course not,' Nikolaos said at once. 'What kind of man do you think I am?'

  'A very stubborn one," she said. Then she bit her lip. That hadn't been a very wise thing to say.

  'And also very lenient,' he pointed out. 'A lot of men would want to punish you very severely for what you did.'

  'You're— you're not going to punish me?' Emily said with new hopefulness.

  He gave another small growl, it doesn't look like it.'

  'And everything's all right? I mean, between you and Eleni?'

  "Of course it isn't all right," Nikolaos said, making her heart sink right down again. 'Too much has happened, too much damage has been done. What did you think, that you could wave a magic wand and put everything right overnight?' Then, seeing her totally downcast face, he went on more quietly, 'But we have agreed to meet again before she leaves Cyprus. And I think that we will keep in touch, in the future. More than that I can't promise you at the moment.'

  Emily's face instantly brightened again. 'It's enough.' Then her brows drew lightly together. 'But —what about your father? Will Eleni also go and see him?'

  'We discussed it,' Nikolaos said, after a short pause. 'But my father lives very much in a world of his own. You've seen him, you understand how he is. We decided that, for now at least, it might be better to leave that world undisturbed.'

  'Yes, I think you're probably right,' she said slowly. Nikolaos gave a faint, dry smile. 'At last I seem to have done something that you approve of.'

  'Oh, no, I approve of everything you've done today,' she said earnestly. 'I didn't think —well, I didn't know how it was going to turn out. I thought you might have too much pride — that you might refuse even to talk to Eleni —or that you would half kill me afterwards, for what I'd done.'

  'Ah, yes,' he said thoughtfully, 'I seem to remember that I had a strong inclination at one time to wring your neck.' He moved closer and his fingers slid round the slim column of her throat. Emily gulped audibly. Then his fingers lightly caressed the soft, vulnerable skin, finally resting against her wildly beating pulse.

  'Why do I let you interfere in my life?' he murmured. 'Meddle in my personal affairs? Turn my entire existence upside-down? Keep me awake at night?'

  'K-keep you awake?' Emily stuttered.

  Nikolaos's fingers tightened their grip, drew her face nearer to his own. 'But you know that you do,' he told her, his eyes beginning to glitter very brightly. 'I think that you know exactly what you do to me.'

  'I — I've hardly even seen you for the past week,' she protested.

  'We don't have to be in the same room to be aware of each other.'

  'You walked away from me after that night at the villa,' Emily re
minded him shakily.

  'Because you made me angry. Very angry. But I soon discovered that it didn't stop me from still wanting — needing — you.'

  Needing —that was a new word; Emily had never heard him use it before, not of anything or anyone. She blinked hard, trying to clear her suddenly over-bright eyes. Then she forced herself to extinguish deliberately the small spark of hope that had ignited inside her.

  'I don't think you mean that,' she said sadly at last. 'You're not a man who'll ever need anyone. You lead your own life, you're completely self-sufficient. You've got your work, your family— that's enough for you. You're not interested in anything else. You told me that yourself.'

  'I lied,' Nikolaos said simply. 'To you, and to myself. I've always wanted more, but I wouldn't let myself have it. In the end. I convinced myself that I didn't even want it. I'd seen what love could do, the damage it could cause when it went wrong. I told myself that no one was ever going to get the chance to wreck my life like that. But now I find that I want to take that chance. I want to take it with you. Emily.'

  She almost stopped breathing. But she still couldn't quite believe it.

  'You should marry a Cypriot girl,' she said slowly. 'Someone who knows you and understands you. Someone like —' It was incredibly hard to get the last couple of words out. 'Someone like Sofia,' she finally finished in a painful tone.

  Nikolaos gave her an unexpectedly rough shake, 'If I'd wanted to marry Sofia, I would have done it years ago. And you might not have been born here, but you belong here. As soon as you set foot on the island of love, you began to change. Your skin was turned to pale honey by the sun, your eyes brightened, your hair was so glossy and full of life that I wanted to touch it every time I saw it.' He suddenly laughed at the startled look on her face.

  'You didn't know that, did you? Just how hard I had to fight to keep my hands off you? And I didn't always succeed, of course. I found excuses to kiss you. That lovely mouth," he said more softly, running just one finger over the trembling outline of her lips, 'the colour of our sweetest wine. And then I made the mistake of taking you to the haunts of Aphrodite, and discovered that you already knew all her secrets —'