by Penny Jordan
Something in the way she said it made Kallie very still. Her stomach churned as she suddenly remembered her cousin’s words. By the time you see him again he’ll be married with three kids. ‘Please, tell me you didn’t know about this, Eleni.’
Eleni looked defiant. ‘I did you a favour, Kallie. If you’d known, would you have gone near him?’
Of course not!
She lashed herself again at her phenomenal naïvety and knew it was in that moment that something in her died, or grew up.
She pulled away, physically and mentally, curled up somewhere inside herself. Something in Eleni’s face made her want to protect herself. It was something she’d never seen before. Or noticed. She contrived to toss her head, exactly how she’d seen her cousin do it a thousand times, usually when Alexandros was around, and shrugged. ‘It’s no big deal, Eleni. I can hardly compete with Pia, now, can I?’ She even managed a small laugh from somewhere. ‘But, like you said, at least I tried…ne?’
And for the first time in her young life, she summoned all the adult poise she could, and swept away, leaving the party, her cousin and Alexandros behind.
When Kallie woke up the next morning, the tight ache in her chest didn’t seem to have dissipated one bit and she had the horrible sensation of thinking it could have all been a bad dream, but of course it hadn’t. Her only consolation was that she knew Alexandros would probably be in Athens, and that she was due to go back to England the next day. She prayed Alexandros would stay in Athens till she was gone. And that no one would ever know what had happened. Except them. And Eleni. Who at least, Kallie thought with a shudder of relief, hadn’t witnessed her humiliating efforts.
However, she came downstairs to noise and confusion and commotion, Her parents and Alexandros in the middle of it all. Her father was shouting at him, thrusting a newspaper in his face.
‘How could you? We trusted you. She’s seventeen, for God’s sake. Little more than a child. Isn’t it enough that you’re getting married to one of the most beautiful women in Athens? You had to mess around with Kallie.’
They didn’t see her come down the stairs behind Alexandros. His voice came low and blistering. ‘Pia’s family have surprisingly little regard for their daughter marrying someone splashed across the middle pages of the biggest tabloid in the country. They also have surprisingly little regard for her marrying someone who, and I quote, “never wanted to follow his father into business.” Thanks to your daughter, my engagement is off as of today.’
Her mother, who hadn’t seen her either, stepped forward at that moment and slapped Alexandros across the face. Kallie saw his head jerk back. In the shock of silence afterwards, her mother’s voice was shaking with emotion as she said, ‘Surely you know she’s always had a crush on you? You were like a son to us.’
Kallie’s legs stopped. They wouldn’t work and she felt herself going icy cold and clammy, an awful sick feeling in her stomach. She must have made some kind of noise because they all turned and saw her.
She couldn’t believe what she’d just witnessed, the violence, and how her mother had just laid out her innermost feelings for all to see. Alexandros grabbed the paper out of her father’s hands. The anger and disgust on his face made her want to turn around and run away. She saw the livid red hand imprint on his cheek.
‘You—’
Her father cut him off. ‘Kouros, get out of this house. You are not welcome here, now or ever again.’
Alexandros turned away from Kallie and back to her father. ‘Believe me, I don’t want to see any of you again. Especially her.’ He flicked her a look that was so contemptuous that Kallie took a step back. And then he was leaving, walking away, out the door.
Acting on pure impulse, Kallie ran after him, ignoring her parents’ calls to come back. Alexandros’s long legs nearly had him at the gate that separated their neighbouring properties.
‘Wait, Alexandros…wait!’
He stopped so suddenly that she almost ran into his back. He turned and gripped her arms with hard hands, his face close to hers. And suddenly he didn’t even look angry any more, he looked sad. And that was even more confusing. Her head swam as she tried to understand what could have happened.
‘I thought we were friends, Kallie. Why did you do it? You’ve ruined everything…and all because I didn’t want you?’ He shook his head. ‘You were the one person who didn’t seem to expect anything from me. I trusted you and you set me up, blabbed everything.’
What was he talking about?
‘I don’t know what—’
He shook his head, cutting her off with a fierce look in his eyes, his lip curling in distaste. An image came back into his head of her reaching up to kiss him with a bold look in her eyes. One thing he knew now, without a shadow of a doubt, was that he’d never really known Kallie Demarchis. Just like he’d never really known any of them. Kallie’s family had been like a second family to him and yet they could throw him out of their lives, their house. He’d been a fool to trust them. To think he’d thought her innocent, untainted…sweet!
‘These last two years you’ve really grown up, Kallie, haven’t you? Become just like the others. You heard about the engagement and thought you could have a go, too? Try to get in there?’
His face was so harsh that Kallie didn’t know how she still stood in front of him. And he wasn’t finished. ‘Seventeen is just a little too young for my tastes, though, and you don’t have what I need.’
He shoved the newspaper at her. ‘Oh, and next time you want to do a kiss and tell? If you’re trying to keep your identity a secret, it’s a good idea not to submit the copy from your own e-mail address. You’re nothing but a spoilt little bitch, Kallie, and not even a particularly bright one.’
She watched as he disappeared from view, her mouth open…words stuck in her throat. Her e-mail? Kiss and tell? As if in an awful sick nightmare, she looked at the paper which had fallen at her feet. It lay open on a very bad-quality, grainy black-and-white photo. As if taken with a camera phone. But one person was unmistakable. Alexandros. The golden boy of the shipping world. And the woman with her arms wrapped around his neck, straining against him, was most certainly not Pia Kyriapolous. The girl in the picture would be unidentifiable to any but those who knew her well, and was far too chubby to be the well-known model. A screaming headline. THE GROOM! THE NIGHT HIS ENGAGEMENT IS ANNOUNCED…!
CHAPTER ONE
Seven years later, The Ritz Hotel, Paris
ALEXANDROS KOUROS was bored. It was like a heavy mantle around his shoulders. A black cloud that spread outwards from his very depths, pervading everything. He was oblivious to the fact that he was surrounded by opulence. The opulence that came with being one of the wealthiest men in the world, in one of the world’s most exclusive hotels. Hushed whispers encircled him. He tuned them out, the superlatives bouncing off him. They’d surrounded him for years, but he’d never courted them, never needed any assurance.
So handsome…so young! The most successful shipping magnate since Onassis…Even more money…Most eligible bachelor…
Now the constant murmurs that followed him wherever he went only added to the ennui he felt. He’d achieved a pinnacle of success attained by just a very few, and only imagined by most. And it had been hard won, which should make it all the more sweet. But was this it? How could he be feeling like this when everything he’d ever worked for lay at his fingertips, when he could snap those fingers and influence the world’s economy with just a word, a command…And if this wasn’t what he wanted, then what the hell was? A distant memory, an old faded dream, reared its head. That had long turned to dust.
A touch on his arm, not gentle. It was predatory, possessive and brought his attention back to the room. To the woman at his side. She was considered one of the most beautiful, desirable women in the world…and she was the latest in a long line of similar women who had graced his arm, his bed.
‘Darling…’
He felt irritation prickle across his ski
n. Unfortunately, for the sake of politeness, he couldn’t remain oblivious to her. He turned to face her and smiled tightly, taking in the platinum blonde of her hair that suddenly looked too garish, too bright. Took in the heavily made-up face, the hard, avaricious glitter in her eyes. The diamonds flashing around her neck. Diamonds that he had bought with scant regard to their worth. He made a split-second decision, suddenly aware that he didn’t find her at all attractive any more. Had he ever?
Isabelle Zolanz didn’t know it yet, but she was on her way out. He felt relieved for the first time in weeks. The thrill of knowing he’d be free again already helped to diminish the crushing boredom. He didn’t want to spend another minute with her. In fact, he decided there and then that they would leave, he’d take her home, break it off now. His suit felt constrictive and he had to school his features into some semblance of neutrality.
Just as he was about to open his mouth and speak, to say some platitude, something flashed in the corner of his eye and he turned on a reflex to look. The room was packed, and in the doorway on the other side of the room stood a woman. She’d obviously just arrived, craning her neck looking for someone, standing on tiptoe. For a split second the noise in the room faded. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Goose-bumps broke out on his skin. The hubbub rushed back.
She was utterly captivating. But in a way that he couldn’t define, in a way that confounded him. Not model gorgeous. Not preened or buffed. But something about her caught his attention. She was only of average height but was perfectly proportioned, his expert eye assessing in seconds the way her curves dipped in and out in all the right places. A little more voluptuous than he’d normally go for but calling to him on some deep, primitive level. The simple black V-neck dress drew the eye to her waist and the slopes of her breasts. A pendant hung around her neck, the gem resting in her cleavage. It sparkled as the light hit it and he dimly recognised where the flash had come from.
Just as he also recognised with shock that he felt a compelling desire to walk over, take her hand and lead her back outside to see for himself if her skin was as soft and silky as it looked. The urge was so strong that he actually felt his feet shift, his whole body turn, as if to move in her direction. He wanted to touch the place where her gem rested. And he had to admit with sudden chagrin, as possessiveness was an alien emotion to him, that he wanted to lead her away from the other men who he could see already taking note of her arrival, too. She was like a breath of fresh air in a musty room.
She was pale. Her face had clear, clean lines, cheekbones clearly delineated, eyes wide apart and almond-shaped, making him want to see them up close, see their colour. Honey-streaked hair hung in loose waves over her shoulders and a heavy fringe, swept to one side, hid and alternately revealed tantalising glimpses of her eyes.
His hooded eyes followed her as she walked with effortless feminine grace, her hips swaying, the inward curving line of the small of her back and the jut of her rounded bottom making Alexandros feel a twinge of reaction in his trousers. More than a twinge, in fact.
He felt a tug on his arm and almost shook off the hand that rested there, still completely engrossed in watching this woman. And only remembered then where he was, who he was with. He felt shocked. For a moment he had become entranced. Forgotten nearly everything. He shook his head mentally. Definitely a sign that he needed to move on, if he was lusting after a complete stranger across a crowded room.
But there was something about her. Something he couldn’t put his finger on, some kind of familiarity, as if he knew her or had seen her somewhere before…
He tore his gaze away with more of an effort than he liked to admit and looked down at Isabelle again. A smooth smile was in place as he remembered wanting to leave, her harsh beauty even more jarring now after that.
He murmured, ‘Forgive me…I have an important early meeting tomorrow. Would you mind if we left?’
‘Not at all, darling. I’ll get my coat from the cloakroom.’
She squeezed his arm and smiled, clearly anticipating, somewhat misguidedly, that he wanted them to be alone, and walked away.
As he watched her walk away, Alexandros felt no compunction, no guilt at what he was about to do. A woman like Isabelle Zolanz was well versed in the way he worked, and men like him. He had no doubt she’d be put out, but as no emotions were invested, he knew it’d be for the loss of his money, his largesse and the social standing that came with being seen on his arm. It was a state of affairs he was used to. He enjoyed the thrill of the chase. But lately, if he was honest, every conquest had become stale…flat. And there was invariably very little chasing involved.
Even so, he conversely felt the relief flood him again and unconsciously sought out the other woman. But she had disappeared. He grimaced slightly. It was probably for the best. He knew all too well that seeing something like that, building up an image, no matter how beautiful the woman—and she wasn’t even that beautiful!—always led to disappointment. They were all the same. All the ones that hovered around him like bees around a honey pot. In the rarefied circles he moved in, he didn’t encounter another type. Sex and money. They were the two currencies that he understood and knew all too well. He played the game like a virtuoso. In bed and out of it.
A cloud crossed his mind. Was he ready to be free again? There was a certain amount of protection to be had in keeping a mistress. A respite from the tiresome attempts of other women to get his attention. And then he was forced to remember something. He scowled. He actually did need a woman right now. He needed a lot more than that and it irked him beyond belief. But even as he saw Isabelle in the distance, collecting her coat, his stomach felt acidic. He certainly wouldn’t be asking her.
Kallie pushed her way through the crowd. She craned her neck looking for her uncle and finally spotted him in a far corner. When she reached him she kissed him on the cheek. ‘Sorry, Alexei, I got held up at work.’
‘No matter, my dear. Let me get you a drink.’
He spoke quickly and seemed a little jumpy to Kallie. Which was reinforced when he grabbed a glass of water from a passing tray and practically shoved it at her. He avoided her gaze, looking distractedly over her head as he did so, and Kallie felt an uneasy sense of foreboding. Her uncle looked almost…nervous.
‘Alexei…’
He suddenly jostled her behind a plant and screened her from the room with his body.
‘Alexei…?’ Kallie’s voice was indignant. She knew her uncle was given to dramatics but this was ridiculous. He was acting as if they were in a bad spy movie. ‘What on earth is wrong with you?’ She smiled widely and then whispered sotto voce in his ear, ‘Are we hiding from your mistress?’
He turned back to face her, affronted, ‘Kallie Demarchis, you know I would never look at another woman.’
She put her hand on his arm, soothing him. ‘I’m teasing…but you’re acting so strangely. Do you think I can come out from behind this plant?’
He paled for a second as he took in something across the room. Kallie frowned and couldn’t hide a spike of fear. ‘What is it? You’re scaring me now.’
He looked back at her and loosened his collar. ‘Kallie…it’s someone…someone is here, someone you haven’t seen in a long time…someone…’
‘Who?’ she asked, beginning to feel a little exasperated.
Her uncle avoided the question. ‘I tried to call you on your mobile just now but they wouldn’t let me use it…then I got waylaid by someone else and couldn’t stop you coming in…before…’
She tried to be reasonable, patient. ‘Before what? Alexei, why wouldn’t you want me to come in?’
She could see her uncle gulp visibly. ‘Because…well, because…Alexandros Kouros is here…’
Alexandros Kouros…
The noise in the room became a buzzing sound in Kallie’s ears. She was vaguely aware of her uncle practically wringing his hands and very dimly, in a far-away place, his words slowly sank in with the same devastation as the Titanic hi
tting the iceberg. She felt an icy numbness take over her limbs and would have dropped her glass except that her uncle caught it in time. The water slopped onto her dress. At least it’s only water, she thought with banal shock, it won’t stain.
Alexandros Kouros…
It was just a name, she rationalised somewhere within her still buzzing head. Just a name, attached to someone very famous. Well known. Very wealthy. Very handsome. Influential. Someone who didn’t even enter her sphere or orbit. But yet…it was the name of someone infinitely memorable. Intimately tied into her past, who had once been in her orbit—had been her orbit—as big a part of her past as if he’d been one of her own family.
Someone she’d never dreamed of having to face again. And now he was here, somewhere, possibly even just mere feet away. Panic gripped her, making her skin clammy.
Her uncle had grasped her hands and was looking at her. She forced stricken eyes to his, her face leached of all colour.
‘Kallie, darling…I’m so sorry. The thing is, you can’t be here…If he sees you…’
She nodded slowly, not even really sure why she was nodding, only seizing on the words “if he sees you”. She didn’t even want to imagine for one second what that reaction might be like…or what he might be like now, in the flesh.
She was more than dismayed that she couldn’t be feeling just a mild curiosity, to be able to shrug it off, declare the fact that he was in the same room as a funny coincidence, uncaring whether or not they bumped into each other. She was stunned by the strength of her own reaction after all this time, the well of emotion that was still so close to the surface. It shook her to the core and scared the life out of her. She’d never guessed it was still there.
It had only been a kiss, for God’s sake, little more than a kiss. Yet it had led to so much more. She chided herself that he must have moved on from what had happened…but then she had to remember with a sudden upsurge of nausea that she and her stupid actions had been instrumental in the calling off of his engagement…the ruination of the so-called marriage of the decade. To the woman he loved…How would he have possibly forgotten that?