Lark in an Alien Sky

by Rebecca Stratton

  'You will stay and listen to the advice of an old woman if you are wise, pethi mow,' Madame Kolianos told her firmly. 'An old woman who does not wish to see her son's marriage break up over a matter that is now over and done with. I do not know how seriously you have quarrelled, I do not wish to know, but my advice to you, pethi, is to put the matter away from you, whatever it is, and do not mention it ever again!'

  Corinne felt herself close to tears again and she did not want to let this strong but kindly woman see her weep if she could help it. Shaking her head, she kept her eyes downcast. 'It isn't as easy as you make it sound, Mitera: she said. 'It isn't just about lole, it's—it's something more personal.'

  The shrewd dark eyes narrowed slightly and from the way she was nodding her head it might almost be supposed that Madame Kolianos knew exactly what was the cause of her quarrel with Gregori. 'No matter what the cause,' she declared firmly, 'it cannot be of more importance than your marriage, Corinne. You have married a man whom you love, have you not?' Corinne nodded, for she could not deny that. 'Then you should do all you

  can to stay married to him, pethi!'

  'I want to, Mitera.'

  Madame Kolianos nodded wisely. 'You have a saying, have you not? Kiss and make up, eh?' Corinne nodded, her eyes bright with unshed tears. 'Then do it, Corinne! No matter what it is between you and Gregori that is making you both so unhappy—kiss and make up! And brush the tears from your eyes, for I cannot stand the sight of weeping!' A brief dry smile was accompanied by the gentle pressure of one thin hand over hers. 'It softens my heart, and I cannot allow that!'

  'Oh, Mitera!' Such advice, and coming from that particular quarter, was at once unexpected and in one way a triumph, for she had long hoped to establish an understanding with her formidable mother-in-law.

  `Now, now!' The thin fingers patted her hand reassuringly. 'If you do not eat you will be ill, and we do not wish the house to become a hospital! So eat, pethi, and let us have no more weeping! When your husband returns to you this evening, you forget your silly quarrelling and kiss and make up. Get me a fine grandson—that will give you something to keep you busy instead of meddling in the affairs of others!'

  Corinne did not answer, but nor did she eat much more of her meal, though she made a pretence of doing so. The fact that she had at last established a rapport with her mother-in-law was something she rejoiced in, but whether or not she would be able to put Persephone Chambi far enough to the back of her mind was another matter, and she instinctively looked across at Zoe.

  She had had proof enough of her sister-in-law's deviousness in Iole's case, and she might have taken consolation from that, if only the proof of Gregori's secret love had not been so sharply brought home to her that

  morning. It was much harder to put that meeting out of her mind than Iole’s sad little romance.

  When Gregori came home that evening, Corinne found it much less easy to kiss and make up than his mother suggested, for one thing because she had seldom seen him in a more aloof mood. He had some work he wished to do after dinner and he stayed in the smaller salon at the back of the house the whole evening, making no attempt to join them.

  It was there Corinne found him after everyone else had gone to bed. She wanted to make up their quarrel, and she realised just how much she longed to feel his arms about her when she looked at him sitting in the light of a solitary lamp, poring over his papers. She would forgive him anything rather than risk her marriage, as Madame Kolianos had suggested she was doing, even though she had threatened in a moment of madness to leave him.

  `I'm going to bed,' she ventured, and he looked up at her with dark unfathomable eyes.

  Then he nodded briefly and gave his attention to what he was doing, leaving Corinne staring at him uncertainly. When he continued to ignore her she rolled her hands tightly and ran the tip of her tongue over dry lips. Her heart was hammering urgently, almost in panic.

  `I'll see you later?'

  Once more he glanced up briefly. 'Of course,' he said, and Corinne turned swiftly and left him, walking on legs that felt barely able to support her. She could not face the idea of his not coming.

  It was a lot later when he came, and while Corinne heaved a sigh of relief, she could not help wondering if he had waited until he assumed she would be asleep. In-

  stead she lay there in the soft lamplight with her auburn hair spread on the pillows, shining and soft as silk, looking alluringly feminine in the pale blue silk nightgown she had worn on her honeymoon. Chosen tonight with deliberate intent.

  The moment Gregori opened the door she felt a strange sense of shyness, as if he was seeing her so for the first time. She wondered what he would do and say if he realised how long and hard she had fought the memory of Persephone's dark beauty before she staged this moment of conciliation, or how unsure she was whether or not he wished it. But the moment she saw the quick gleaming desire in his eyes when he caught sight of her from the doorway, she knew he wanted her as much as he had ever done, regardless of his feelings for Persephone.

  'I did not expect to find you still awake,' he said, and concealed the look in his eyes with his lashes, while he closed the door behind him. 'Can you not sleep?'

  Even across the width of the room Corinne could feel the tension in him and she raised herself on to one elbow, watching him while he undid his shirt cuffs. 'I waited for you,' she confessed, and detected the slightest of pauses in the movement of those long fingers. 'Have you been in to see how Iole is?'

  He nodded briefly. 'She is being very brave, and I believe Costas will do a great deal towards a rapid recovery. She is very young and she had an affection for Costas once.'

  'Costas?' She stared at him uncertainly for a moment, trying not to see this as another attempt on his part to bring about the marriage he had always wanted for his niece. 'Does she want to see Costas?'

  Gregori made no more pretence for the moment of doing other than talk about Iole. But he stayed where he

  was at the foot of the bed, his dark face illuminated by the soft light from the bedside lamp that etched it with intriguing shadows about the eyes and mouth and gave it a certain look of sadness. `Irine agreed that it would be a good thing for her to see him,' he said. But before I could telephone him, he rang us, to ask if he could come and see her.' His mouth twisted for a moment into a bitter smile. 'The news had already reached him that Lemou had deserted her and he hoped she would need him.'

  `She will need all her friends,' Corinne said. 'All the love anyone can give her in the next few months and afterwards.'

  `Costas will be understanding and gentle with her because he loves her so much,' said Gregori. 'And she needs to know that she is loved by someone other than her own family.'

  His gentleness when he spoke of lole touched Corinne's heart, and she looked at him with a warmth in her eyes that she was as yet unaware of. She knew how Costas Menelus felt, for she compared their two situations. Costas had the same love for Iole as Corinne did for Gregori and both were going to have to settle for being second best if they were going to keep their loves. The only advantage Costas had was that Takis Lemou was far away in another country, while Persephone Chambi still remained to haunt her.

  For a few seconds it almost weakened her resolve, but remembering that look she had seen in Gregori's eyes when he came in and saw her renewed her hopes. She was his wife, not Persephone, and in that fact lay whatever strength she possessed. 'Will Costas be allowed to see her again?' she asked, returning somewhat unwillingly

  to role for the moment. 'I understood that his father was unlikely to allow it.'

  `His father is not pleased,' Gregori admitted, and by his tone suggested that Stefan Menelus had stated his opinion in no uncertain terms to Gregori himself. 'But Costas himself had no hesitation in deciding that he wished to be with Iole, even though she is having Lemou's child. And he is someone she is—comfortable with. Someone she can turn to, even though she does not love him.'

  `Yes, I can understa
nd that.'

  Gregori sought and held her gaze. 'But it was not to talk about Iole that you waited for me to come, was it, Corinne?' He still did not move from the foot of the bed, and she trembled with her need for him, shaking her head slowly from side to side. `Do you find it so difficult to talk to your husband?' he asked.

  'I do when you keep your distance like that!' Corinne was stung to retort, and flushed when she detected a faint smile.

  His eyes gleamed darkly with unconcealed desire, and her heart clamoured for the feel of his arms around her, but still he did not move from his place at the end of the bed. 'You expressed, a wish earlier today to be left alone, Corinne, and I have no wish to impose myself upon you if you are still of the same mind. Also you spoke this morning as if you mean to leave me,' he reminded her.

  Remembering his possessive fierceness when he came to take her back forcibly from Robert's island cottage, she felt her heart beat more urgently in her breast, and her mouth had a yielding softness as she looked at him, her lips parted and not quite steady. 'Would you let me?' she asked, though she had no need to ask.

  The pulsing beat in her head throbbed wildly and

  every nerve in her body responded to the desire in his eyes when he looked at her lying there. Still holding her gaze, he began to undo his tie as he came towards her, throwing it on to the bed and tugging at the neck of his shirt until it opened and laid bare the strong brown throat. Put the matter away and kiss and make up, no matter what it was, Madame Kolianos had advised her, and God knew Corinne was willing enough at this moment to do as she said.

  She reached up and he sat on the bed close beside her, lifting her from the pillows and holding her in his arms. 'I would let you go only if you could no longer bear to be near me,' he whispered. 'Is that what you were telling me this morning, my love? That you can no longer bear to be married to me?'

  'Oh no, no!'

  "Then why, my love? Why did you behave as you did; say what you did?'

  Corinne determinedly put the beautiful face of Persephone Chambi out of her mind and shook her head, shaking back the thick auburn hair from her face. With one hand she reached up to run her fingers through the slightly dishevelled black hair on his brow, rumpling it into further disorder. 'I think I was a little mad,' she whispered, 'but I had a reason.'

  A reason he must be fully aware of, she thought. for all he continued to look at her as if he was completely mystified. 'I want to understand you, my lark,' he told her, and touched his lips to hers, lightly and repeatedly, while he spoke. 'But there are times when-I think I do not know you at all. Mama believes you are behaving strangely because you are with child,' he murmured, his long hands stroking through her hair. 'But I have told her that not only is she in too much hurry, but that I

  would be first to know, yes?'

  Corinne's lashes made two tawny brown crescents on her cheeks, and she did not raise her eyes. 'Of course you would,' she promised, but did not add that she waited only to be more certain first. Nor did she tell him how much harder it was for her to accept the existence of his mistress now that she thought she might be having his child. Although almost certainly it would tip the balance in her favour.

  `How could you think of leaving me?' He kissed her mouth lightly, moving his lips down to her neck and throat and the soft, shadowy vee of her breasts. 'Do you not love me?' he demanded in a husky whisper, and pressed her closer until the hard, virile leanness of him kindled responses she could scarcely control. 'Tell me, Corinne, my love, my lark! Why did you run away from me as you did? Why did you speak as you did?'

  Her fingers running through his hair until it stood in thick curls as it always did when it was dishevelled, tightened suddenly and she pulled until he was forced to look up. 'Don't you really know?' she asked in a small unsteady voice, and he shook his head.

  'I only know that I was more fearful of losing you in those few moments than I have ever been,' he confessed with a candour that completely disarmed her.

  `Oh, Gregori!'

  She spoke in a whisper and her hands stroked the lean brown face that hovered above her, the dark eyes deep and glowing in a way that brought a shivering need to surrender. He kissed her mouth lingeringly, his breath warm on her lips when he spoke.

  `You have bewitched me, you little magissa!' he whispered with mock ferocity. 'I should be more firm and make you explain your behaviour this morning, but I

  have no wish to listen to explanations when I would so much rather love you as I know you want me to love you. You will tell me in your own time, I know—you will not be able to help yourself. I know you that well, agapitikos!'

  Corinne traced the firm straight line of his mouth with a finger-tip until he took it between his strong teeth and bit gently.

  `Don't question me,' she begged in a husky whisper. `Not now, my darling—I love you. Let's kiss and make up, hmm?'

  He was smiling, drawing her back to him and holding her more tightly than ever while he buried his face in her thick hair, his voice muffled against her neck. 'Magissa! he repeated in a deep and huskily harsh voice. 'You are a witch, but I love you, and I need you more than you will ever know!'

  He murmured in his own tongue while he sought her lips again, leaning over to press her back into the pillows, his mouth hard and urgent, kissing her as if there was a desperate hunger in him that must be satisfied. And for a while Corinne managed to forget the smooth dark beauty of Persephone Chambi and gave herself up to the wild and passionate desires that only this man could arouse in her.

  The next few days were the happiest that Corinne had known for some time, for she had almost forgotten Persephone. Just occasionally something reminded her, but even then she could convince herself that it was she who had the best of the situation, for she was Gregori's wife, and he loved her. Perhaps only as Zoe had suggested 'in a way', but it was a way that Corinne could find little cause to complain of.

  She was almost sure now that she was having Gregori's child and she could scarcely wait to have it confirmed so that she could tell him with certainty. As soon as she was able, she made an appointment with a doctor in Piraeus; a man who was half English and whom she had heard about through hearing Zoe mention him as a friend.

  She quite often took a car and a chauffeur and went shopping on her own, so that no one questioned her about why or where she was going. Why she had chosen a part-English doctor was perhaps because she sometimes admitted to homesickness and an English doctor, even though he was only partly so, would make her feel more at ease.

  Doctor Merron proved to be a charming man, although he merely smiled when she said she had heard of him through her sister-in-law. It was much too soon to be certain, he told her, which was no more than she expected, but when he had done certain tests he would be able to tell her for certain. A few days perhaps—next week.

  Corinne nodded, happily convinced in her own mind, and showing as much by her expression. Looking at her for a moment as she prepared to leave, he seemed to unbend a little from the formal professional manner, and smiled at her.

  `You are very certain in your own mind, are you not, Mrs Kolianos?' he asked, and Corinne laughingly admitted it as she picked up her handbag.

  `I'm quite certain,' she told him. `But I have to have your verdict before I proclaim it abroad!'

  Once more the shrewd professional eyes regarded her steadily, and he nodded. `I have learned in my years as a doctor to trust feminine intuition in these matters, Mrs Kolianos, although it is very unprofessional of me to

  admit it, of course. I am quite sure Gregori will be delighted.'

  'Oh, do you know Gregori as well as Zoe?' Corinne was, as ever, happy to talk about her husband, and the doctor was nodding and smiling.

  'Indeed I do, Mrs Kolianos; I was at your wedding.'

  There was hardly need for her to apologise, for she had known very few of the people at her wedding, but she pulled a face when she made a token apology. `I'm sorry, Doctor Merron, but there were so many people, a
nd I was in rather a daze—'

  `But of course you were,' he allowed smilingly. 'I have known the Kolianoses for a number of years, although only socially, you understand. That's how I know how pleased Gregori will be to hear that he is to become a father, although I would stress that I am not making that a definite statement until I have those tests back next week.' His dark Greek eyes smiled at her in friendly speculation as he saw her to the door. 'You will not. I suspect, wait so long to tell your husband?'

  Corinne's eyes sparkled confidently, warming to his friendliness, especially when she knew he was a family friend, someone who would know just how welcome the news would be. 'I think I'll go and see Gregori before I go home,' she said. Today it was somehow easier to dismiss the memory of her last visit, when she had found Persephone Chambi on the point of leaving when she arrived. She could think only of how excited Gregori would be with her news. 'I don't make a habit of calling on him at the office,' she confided, 'but I think today could be called an exception to the rule, don't you?'

  `Almost certainly,' Doctor Merron agreed, and glanced at his wristwatch. 'And he will very likely have returned

  to the office by now, it is more than an hour ago since I saw him.'

  'Lunching out?' Corinne asked. Curious because Gregori so seldom went out to lunch. 'Oh, he was entertaining a business contact, very likely.'

  'Very possibly.' Something in Doctor Merron's manner made her draw a deep breath suddenly and the rate of her pulse increased just slightly without any definable cause as yet. 'I am sure he will be delighted to see you, Mrs Kolianos.'

  Corinne gripped both hands tightly over the catch of her handbag and tried to appear much more casual than she was feeling. It was not in her nature to be devious, and yet in the present situation she felt not only justified but well within her rights, even though it made her feel slightly sick as she asked the question.