by Julia James
The reality of Tina actually leaving was hitting him, and though Ann reassured him that she was only on her honeymoon, and would be back soon from a Nile cruise, he was fretful and disconsolate—tired, too, after his exciting day and very late night. She was patient and forbearing with him, but it was hard going.
At least she didn’t have to face Nikos, however. Once lunch was over and Tina’s family had left for the rest of their holiday, at a popular resort on another Greek island, he kept to his office.
The next day was easier, with Ann getting Ari to draw pictures of Tina and Sam beside huge pyramids. But Ann was worried about him. Who would look after him when she herself had gone—as go, soon, she surely must? It would not be kind to stay so long that Ari got too used to her…
But at lunchtime Sophia Theakis dropped a bombshell.
‘Now, Ari, my darling,’ she said, smiling mysteriously, ‘there is a wonderful surprise in store for you. A holiday, just for you!’
Ari’s eyes were huge with excitement. ‘Where? Where?’ he cried.
Ann could only stare, wonderingly. She realised that Nikos had paused at the head of the table, and was staring equally bemused at his mother. He started to speak, clearly wanting to know more, but his mother silenced him by addressing her grandson.
‘Somewhere little boys will love to go! You are going—’ her eyes twinkled even more ‘—with Uncle Nikos and Auntie Annie to the best theme park in Paris!’
Immediately Ari cried out in blissful glee—but his uncle cut right across him. The Greek that followed was intense on his part and unruffled on his mother’s—she was adamant. As for Ann, she could only sit there in disbelieving dismay. Her mind raced frantically. Of course Ari’s grandmother could have no idea—none at all!—just why it was so impossible, so completely, utterly impossible, for her and Nikos to go off together with Ari.
The moment lunch was over, Ann handed Ari to Maria and hurried to Nikos’ office. She didn’t want to—the last thing she wanted to do was speak to him deliberately, let alone in the place where he had so cruelly offered her diamonds for sex—but there was no alternative.
At his desk, Nikos knew it was going to be Ann at the door—and he knew why. ‘Come in.’ His command was terse, and as she marched inside her expression was grim.
‘I am not going to Paris with you!’ she said immediately.
Just as immediately, Nikos found his own expression hardening. Gone in a flash was that unsettling sense of there having been something different about Ann. He was back on familiar territory again. All too familiar. Ann Turner defying him. Refusing him. Refusing to hand over her baby nephew. Refusing to come out to Sospiris at his mother’s invitation. Refusing to admit she wanted him. Refusing to accept his diamonds—refusing, now, to go to Paris with him…
Always damn well refusing him!
He was fed up to the back teeth with it all. He leant back in his leather chair, hands resting palm-down on the surface of the desk.
‘I have no intention,’ he spelt out, eyeballing her, ‘of having my mother upset. Nor Ari. So you’ll come with us to Paris, and that is all there is to it.’
Her eyes flashed furiously. ‘You cannot possibly want to do what your mother’s planned? You objected fast enough when she announced it!’
He had. It was true. An instinctive objection, and one that he had not been able to express in any way other than by claiming pressure of work. But his mother had calmly informed him that she’d checked with his PA and been told that there was no pressing business to prevent him taking time out for the coming week.
‘I repeat,’ he said brusquely, ‘I will not have my mother upset. Nor Ari. We have no alternative but to go through with this farce. God knows—’ his voice was edged suddenly ‘—it’s been a farce right from the start!’ He took a short breath, silencing her evident desire to riposte by raising a hand peremptorily. ‘However,’ he continued, ‘from Paris you will go back to London. You’ve already spent more time with Ari than is good for him. Now, that is all there is to be said on the subject. And since,’ he finished with heavy mordancy, ‘I am to be away from my desk from tomorrow, I have a great deal of work to get through today!’
It was a dismissal, and he looked at her pointedly. For a moment she just stood there, visibly fulminating.
‘Ann,’ he said, and there was something in his voice that crawled over her skin, ‘if you are waiting for me to make you a cash offer for your compliance, you will, I warn you, be disappointed. You’ve already been paid for your time with my family—consider Paris as part of that holiday.’
His eyes rested on her, and for a moment two spots of colour burned in her cheeks as her lips pressed together tightly. Then, without a further word, she turned on her heel and left.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘COME on, AUNTIE Annie! Come on!’ Ari’s piping voice was breathless with excitement. Ann finished replaiting her hair, and smiled down at him.
‘Nearly ready. Why not go and check if your uncle is?’
Ari zoomed off to the connecting suite in the hotel, repeating his urging. Ann took a big breath to steady herself. She was here, in Paris, about to set off for the theme park—and she was with Nikos. She didn’t want to be, but she was. And she just had to cope.
Somehow.
Ari, however, was of course ecstatic with excitement as they made their way into the heartland of any child’s dreams. Open-mouthed, he stared around, exclaiming at every scene.
In the central concourse, Nikos hunkered down beside him with the park map opened out. ‘OK, Ari, what ride do you want to do first?’
There followed two hours of breathless bliss for Ari, though for Ann, on those rides where Ari was snuggled between them, she felt that Nikos was far too physically close to her—especially when his arm reached around the back of the car, dangerously near her shoulders. But for Ari’s sake she bore it stoically and tried not to tense too obviously.
And yet Nikos, she noticed, seemed to take her presence in his stride. She knew she was doing it for Ari, but Ann found, against her will, that as the afternoon wore on her tension was wearing off. She even caught herself exchanging amused smiles with Nikos when Ari made some childish expression of delight.
As the afternoon waned, Ari started to flag. Nikos hefted him up on his shoulders, and they made their way to the exit, buying a helium-filled balloon on route. Back at the hotel, Nikos had booked Ari a ‘fun tea,’ and afterwards, tired out from all the excitement, he went willingly to bed.
‘Asleep?’ The deep voice sounded from the communicating doorway.
Ann stood up from where she had been sitting on Ari’s bed. She nodded.
‘Exhausted by an excess of fun,’ said Nikos. He strolled in and looked down at the sleeping boy. Something shifted in his eyes suddenly.
‘I see Andreas in him—’ He stopped. As if he had said what he shouldn’t. His tone changed, deliberately lightening. ‘He’s had a good day—no doubt about that.’
‘Yes,’ said Ann. Her voice was stilted. It was the first time she had been in Nikos’s company today without Ari’s presence as an essential diversion.
‘I’ve ordered dinner to be served in my suite in about an hour. That way we don’t have to worry about organising a babysitting service—just keep the communicating door open.’
‘Oh,’ said Ann. She hadn’t really known what to expect. Obviously she didn’t actually want to have dinner with Nikos, but at least there would be waiting staff present.
But when, having spent the hour having a bath, she nerved herself to go through, it was to find that no servers were present. The table was beautifully laid, the first course set out already, and the second course was being kept hot on a side table. Almost she retreated, then steeled herself. She could get through this if she tried.
Nikos was pouring from a bottle of wine. He didn’t ask whether Ann wanted any, just set a full glass at her place opposite him. He must have showered, Ann realised, for his hair was damply f
eathering, and he was freshly shaved too. He’d changed into an open necked shirt and dark blue trousers. He looked—she gulped silently—devastating.
But then he always did! It didn’t matter what or where or when! He always, always made her stomach hollow.
Always had. Always would.
She picked up her knife and fork and started to eat her first course.
‘No toast?’
She paused, looking up. ‘What?’
Nikos picked up his wine glass. ‘To Ari’s holiday.’
It was impossible to disagree. Reluctantly she picked up her wine glass, and took a small sip in acknowledgement.
‘One thing I’ll say for you freely, Ann—you make an effort for him.’
‘It would be hard not to,’ she answered quietly. It was bizarre to hear a compliment, however mild, come out of Nikos.
‘Yes,’ he agreed. He paused. ‘I hope the menu is to your liking?’
‘Oh, yes, it’s fine. Thank you. It’s delicious.’
‘Better than in the park,’ he commented wryly.
‘Well, I suppose they are catering for children, so fast food is the order of the day. The ice-creams were good, though.’
‘Ari certainly thought so. Though he got most of it on his face!’
She smiled. ‘I think a lot reached his tummy too.’
‘It didn’t stop him putting away a good tea, all the same.’
‘No—having fun must make you extra hungry.’
‘And sleepy. He was out like a light.’
‘Recharging his batteries. Ready for tomorrow.’
It was so strange—exchanging pleasantries like this, even stilted ones. But what was the alternative? Ripping apart the frail veneer that kept them civil like this? Dragging everything vicious and ugly that lay between them back out into the open? No, better—easier—to do what she was doing now. What she had done all day since they’d left Sospiris. Behave as though the enmity between them did not exist.
‘What’s the schedule for tomorrow?’ she ventured. ‘By the way, I should point out to you that Ari has spotted there’s a swimming pool in the hotel!’
A smile tugged at Nikos’s mouth. Ann tried not to think how it made her stomach tug too.
‘Are you volunteering me?’ he asked, eyebrows raising with quizzical humour.
‘No, I don’t mind taking him in the least. I want to make the most of him while I—’ She broke off. She had been refusing to let herself think that these were the last few days she would have with Ari, not knowing when she might see him again—or even if. No! She mustn’t think like that. Ari’s grandmother had promised, as Ann had taken leave of her that morning, that she would not lose touch. But would Nikos let that happen? Anxiety gnawed at her.
She looked down, continuing with her eating. Nikos made no reply, just watched her mechanically lifting her fork to her mouth and back.
She was back to being different again. It was because of Ari, he knew. That was obvious. When the boy was there she slipped into the ‘different’ Ann that she had started to be during Tina’s wedding. A frown creased his brow as memory teased at him. She’d made some remark to Tina’s mother—something that had struck him at the time. He reached for his wine and took a draught.
‘You said you lost your mother when you were young?’
The words came out balder than he’d intended. Her head snapped up. She looked taken aback, and momentarily blank.
‘You said it to Tina’s mother,’ he prompted.
Ann frowned. ‘What of it?’ Why on earth had he suddenly said that? Out of nowhere.
‘You said you were taken into care?’
Ann stiffened. ‘Yes. Why do you ask?’
He was looking at her strangely. ‘Because I realise how little I know about you, Ann.’
‘Why should you want to?’ she countered. Nikos Theakis knew all he considered he needed to know about her. Why should he suddenly want to know more? What for? He’d never evinced the slightest interest before—why now?
‘Because—’ Nikos began, then stopped. Why did he want to know? What was it to him what Ann Turner’s background was? What her childhood had been? It was irrelevant—she was the person she was. That was all. Desirable, hypocritical, venal. He had proof of all those three qualities. They were enough for any woman!
But was it enough for him to know? Was there more about her?
‘You said something about foster parents?’ The prompting came again.
‘Yes.’ It was a bald reply, and all he got.
‘Were they good to you?’ Why had he said that? Why did he care?
She gave a little shrug. ‘Some were better than others.’
He frowned. ‘You had more than one set?’
‘We were moved at least three times. The last—’ She broke off.
‘Yes?’
Unconsciously Ann reached for her wine and took a mouthful. She needed it.
‘The last placement was very good for me. I thrived. I was happiest there. The foster mother was kind, and I liked her. The foster father—’ She broke off again. Took another mouthful of wine.
‘The foster father…?’ Again Nikos was prompting her.
Something flashed in her eyes. Hard. Like a knife-blade. He wanted to know? OK, he could know. ‘The foster father was fine—with me.’ She took a constricted breath that razored in her throat. She breathed out harshly. ‘That was because I was too young for him. He liked young teenage girls—like Carla.’
Nikos’s expression had stilled. ‘Are you saying—?’ he said slowly.
‘Yes.’ It was all she said. All she had to say.
‘But surely there were social workers for you both, if you were in state care? Why didn’t your sister—?’
Ann’s gaze was unblinking. ‘Carla didn’t tell them. She knew I was happy in that placement. So for my sake she…put up with it. She didn’t want us moved again, unsettled. And the risk of separation was always there. It’s hard for fostered siblings to be kept together—there’s such a shortage of foster carers. She thought that at least we were together, and that—well, she could stick it out. So she did. For two years. Until she was old enough to leave at sixteen.’ A final breath exhaled from her. ‘Then she got out of there like a bat out of hell. But not before telling our foster father that she would be keeping a lookout for me like a hawk, and if he made the slightest move on me now that I was older she’d see him in jail. So he never touched me—and I never knew about what had happened to Carla until I was old enough to leave care. I found out when Carla called the social workers in, and the police, and got the man prosecuted. So he couldn’t prey on any other girls they took in.’
Nikos paused. ‘His wife colluded?’
Ann shook her head. ‘She didn’t know. She really, really didn’t know. When the case came to court, and Carla and I had to give our testimony, she looked as if her very soul had been destroyed. It was heartbreaking for her. She felt guilty because she’d failed to care for the children in her charge, because she’d been so blind to her husband’s nature.’
Nikos was silent. Silenced. Ann had resumed eating. Focussing only on her food, her face blank. Slowly, he spoke.
‘I didn’t know.’ The words seemed inadequate even as he said them.
Ann glanced at him. ‘Why should you? If you want to apply popular psychology you could say that because a man used Carla she decided that in future she’d use them. Which she did. Does it excuse her? I don’t know.’
‘Perhaps,’ said Nikos slowly, as if his thoughts were rearranging themselves in his head, ‘it explains her.’
‘Maybe it does. But then maybe she just wanted the good things in life. We weren’t materially deprived in care, but we didn’t have anything of our own. Carla was always hungry for material goods. Maybe she wanted to taste luxury the easy way.’
His expression had changed. He was looking at her. Different thoughts were in his head now. Memory was suddenly vivid in his mind. Four years ago he’d st
ood in Ann Turner’s dingy flat and seen only a place utterly unfit in which to bring up his brother’s son. His only urge had been to get Ari out of there. Now, in his mind’s eye, he saw it differently. As the place Ann had had to live in. The rundown area, the shabby furniture, the primitive kitchen, worn carpets, peeling wallpaper—all the signs of poverty and squalor.
No wonder she had wanted out…
His eyes rested on her as she went on eating.
If I’d been as poor as she was, would I, too, have been tempted to do what she did…sell Ari for a million?
The thought sat in his head with a weight he did not want to feel. But felt all the same.
What did he know of poverty? He’d been born to immense wealth, immense privilege. What must it be like to have to live in a place like that? To have your world confined to such conditions? Dreary, cramped, dingy, squalid.
And then someone offered you a million pounds…
So you could taste luxury the easy way…
Ann had finished eating, setting aside her knife and fork. She lifted her head.
‘Would you like me to serve the next course?’
Her voice was quite steady, as if they had not just been talking about what had happened to her sister as a vulnerable young teenager.
Nikos nodded. ‘Yes, thank you.’
She busied herself clearing away their plates and moving to the sideboard. Nikos joined her, lifting the lids of the chafing dishes. His thoughts were troubled, confused. Unsettling. Making him think things he found uncomfortable.
Briskly, Ann took the filled plates back to the table. Nikos poured out more wine. They settled down to eat the next course. After a few moments Ann said, ‘There are several shows on in the park that I’m sure Ari would love. If you can’t face them I can take him, if you like.’
‘No, the pleasure is in seeing his pleasure,’ returned Nikos.
He spoke in a deliberately easy manner. It was clear that Ann wanted to change the subject, and he could understand why. But even as they resumed their deliberately light conversation about Ari his thoughts were running as a background process in his mind. Like an underground river—eroding what he had taken for the solid rock of his certainties about her. Her sister.