by Kate Hewitt
‘He’ll come back, Milly,’ Anna said softly, as if she could read her unhappy thoughts. Perhaps she could. ‘I’m sure he will.’
‘Yes, I know he will,’ Milly returned with false cheer. She wasn’t sure of any such thing, but she wasn’t going to let her sister worry. ‘Ring me as soon as you get back, all right? And I want to hear everything about your new school...’
‘Of course.’ Anna threw her arms around her and Milly held on tight. ‘You’ll get bored of me prattling on about it, I’m sure.’
‘Never,’ Milly returned. ‘Never, ever.’
The house felt even emptier after Anna had gone; Yiannis had driven her to the airstrip, with Milly accompanying, waving her off onto Alex’s luxurious jet that she’d never even seen before. Back at the villa, Milly wandered around the empty rooms, battling a swamping sense of loneliness she’d never experienced before, at least not in the villa.
She loved it here. It was the first place she’d really been able to think of as home. And yet now the rooms held memories that taunted her at every turn. The study, where Alex had asked her to marry him. The pool area, where they’d spoken in the dark and she’d seen his scars. The bedroom, where she’d felt both the sweetest, briefest pleasure and the most heart-rending pain.
Where she’d once been cheerfully productive, tidying rooms, weeding the garden, shopping in the village, now she felt adrift, restless and bored. Waiting...and she had no idea how long she would have to wait for, or what would happen when Alex finally returned. If he would return.
* * *
His marriage was a mistake. Two and a half weeks had not shaken that certainty from his core. Every time he closed his eyes, Alex pictured Milly’s terrified face, heard her whimpered words. ‘I think I’m going to be sick.’
What had he been thinking, believing he could marry a woman? That either of them could endure it? He’d left Naxos immediately; he knew Milly would be relieved and he hadn’t been able to bear the thought of seeing the revulsion on her face yet another time.
No, better to stay away. And now it had been over two weeks, and any chance of a pregnancy—although Alex could hardly credit that such an awkward act could result in something so fortuitous—could be dismissed. All he had to do was call Milly and ask her. Assuming she wasn’t pregnant, he would have the marriage annulled. His mistake would be rectified. They could both go on with their lives.
Autumn crisped the air, a few leaves fluttering down outside his office window, when Alex steeled himself to make the call. He listened to the house phone in Naxos ring, wondering if Milly would pick up. What had she been doing these last few weeks? Anna, he knew, had gone back to school. He’d made all the arrangements himself, and even now he allowed himself the barest flicker of pleasure that he might grant Milly some small happiness in that regard.
‘Hello?’ She sounded tired, he noted, and even dispirited.
‘Milly, it’s Alex.’
He heard her suck a breath in sharply. ‘Now you call.’
‘It’s been over two weeks.’
‘So? Is that some deadline?’ She let out a harsh laugh that sounded like despair. ‘Where have you been, Alex?’
‘Working.’ He could feel himself prickle defensively; she sounded accusing but he’d been offering her a kindness.
‘I know you’ve been working, but...why did you leave so suddenly? I came out of the bathroom...’ She stopped, her voice choking before she drew a steadying breath. ‘I thought you wanted an heir. You’re not going about the most effective way to get one.’
‘Are you pregnant?’ he asked bluntly.
‘Pregnant?’ Another one of those awful laughs. ‘Are you serious?’
‘I know it is unlikely, but I need to ask. It’s been two weeks, so I believe you could take a pregnancy test if necessary?’ He’d looked it up online, but he was by no means an expert in these matters.
‘No, I’m not pregnant,’ she said after a moment, her voice sounding suffocated. ‘I don’t need to take a test.’
‘Then we can have the marriage annulled.’
‘What...?’ Her breath came out in a rush. ‘Why?’
‘I realised it was a mistake,’ Alex said flatly. ‘And I’m sure you’ve come to the same conclusion.’
‘But why?’ She sounded bewildered rather than the relief he’d expected, and it unsettled him. This was really not the way he’d expected the conversation to go.
‘I don’t think we need to go into details, do we, Milly? Our wedding night spoke for itself.’
‘About that—’
‘I don’t wish to discuss it. The pertinent facts remain unchanged. You may keep the five million euros. If you wish to remain as housekeeper, you may. Nothing need change for you.’
‘Except, of course, the fact that I would no longer be married.’
‘I hardly think that would bring you distress.’
‘What is that supposed to mean?’ Now she sounded angry, and he didn’t understand it. He’d expected a sigh of relief, a stammered apology perhaps. Not this indignation, almost as if she were hurt. Or was it just her pride that was dented?
‘Let’s not quibble—’ he began, only to be cut off.
‘Quibble!’
‘Regarding your sister, I’ve arranged for her to board at the music academy, so she does not need to reside with Carlos Bentano. Holidays she can spend with you.’
‘What...?’ Milly’s breath came out in a sudden rush. ‘How did you manage to arrange that?’
‘Bentano is a reasonable man, when his comforts are put in jeopardy. His house is heavily mortgaged and he faces foreclosure. I had the mortgages transferred to me.’
‘Alex, you didn’t have to—’
‘Anna is my family now,’ he cut across her. ‘Of course I will take care of her.’
‘But she’s not your family, if our marriage is annulled,’ Milly pointed out sharply. ‘You have no responsibility for her then.’
Alex was silent, unsettled by her reasoning. He’d felt strongly about making sure Anna was provided and cared for. He’d failed his own sister, but he wouldn’t fail Milly’s. But of course she was right; once their marriage was annulled, he would have no relation to or responsibility for Anna. In all likelihood, he’d never see either Anna or Milly again. Why did that prospect give him a sudden, keen sense of loss, like a punch in the gut? He barely knew either of them.
‘Even so,’ he said. ‘It is done.’
‘Why are you doing this, Alex?’ Milly asked softly. ‘How can you be so kind and so cold at the same time? Can’t we just...talk?’
‘There’s no point.’
‘What about your heir? Your business?’
‘It will go to Ezio eventually.’ He hated the thought, but he would learn to live with it. ‘I will put as many safeguards in place to keep him from running it into the ground.’
‘I don’t understand you,’ she burst out. ‘Why—?’
‘I didn’t ask you to,’ he cut across her swiftly. He didn’t want to do a post-mortem on their failed marriage. It would serve no purpose, and every word, every memory, was agony.
‘I know you didn’t,’ Milly said with quiet dignity. ‘You’ve made that very, very clear.’ And with that she hung up the phone, the slam of the receiver into the cradle blasting in Alex’s ear.
He tossed his mobile on his desk, turning towards the window. She was angry, which he didn’t entirely understand. He’d made the call expecting her to be relieved, bracing himself for the whoosh of breath she’d release, the burden lifted from her slight shoulders. Instead she’d sounded bewildered. Disappointed. Even hurt.
Or was he just projecting his own feelings onto her? Because the agony of their wedding night was a scar he’d have to bear, worse than any on his face. Her revulsion. Her fear. Her utter disgust...
He needed t
o stop thinking about it. His brief association with Milly James had opened up a part of himself he’d thought had been locked away for ever. She’d peeled back a protective layer without even trying to and he needed to find it again. Rebuild his defences, so no one could ever get close again. That, Alex knew, was the only way forward.
CHAPTER TEN
MILLY WALKED AROUND the villa in a daze of shock for two days, Alex’s awful conversation running through her mind, before she galvanised herself into action. She couldn’t leave it like that. She certainly couldn’t let him leave like that, not least of all because Alex’s brusque rejection of her reminded her too much of her past. Her entire childhood, and, really, her whole life, she’d been tidied out of the way when her parents couldn’t be bothered to deal with her.
It reminded her of Philippe’s cruel rejection as well, except Alex was so unlike Philippe. He was honest, or at least she’d believed him to be, and for that reason alone she needed to have a face-to-face conversation. She deserved one.
So, Milly decided, she was going to go to Athens and beard the lion in his twenty-second-floor den. She told Yiannis first, betting on the fact that Alex hadn’t told anyone about the proposed annulment yet, and because she knew she needed his help to get there, just as she had before.
‘I fancy a shopping trip to Athens,’ she said as casually as she could one sunny morning in early September. ‘Could you drive me to the ferry?’
Yiannis looked conflicted. ‘Kyrie Santos won’t like you taking the public ferry—’
‘I took it before,’ Milly objected. ‘Thousands of people take it all the time.’ And she was quite sure Kyrie Santos didn’t care what she did, or how she did it.
Yiannis started to shake his head. ‘Yes, but that was before you were married. Kyrie Santos is very protective of his own. If you wait a day or two, he can have the yacht back here—’
‘But that would be such a waste,’ Milly protested. ‘And actually...’ she lowered her voice conspiratorially ‘...I want to surprise Alex with my visit.’ Which was true enough, if not in the way Yiannis might think or hope, judging by the light sparking in his eyes. She knew Yiannis and Marina, just like Anna, were desperate to see a happily-ever-after. And while Milly had no illusion that that was going to happen, she still wanted answers, if nothing else.
Yiannis still looked torn. ‘I don’t know, Kyria—’
‘Milly. You called me Milly before I was married. And you’re not my keeper, Yiannis.’ She gentled her words with a smile. ‘I’m a grown woman, and I’ve lived on three different continents in my lifetime. I can do this. All I’m asking is for you to make it a little more convenient.’
He finally agreed, even giving her the key to Alex’s flat, and Milly wasted no time in packing a bag. She still didn’t really have a plan besides getting to Athens and confronting Alex, but that was enough to go on. She could think about it on the ferry, or make it up as she went along. The important thing was that she be able to see him face to face. If he’d even let her.
The trip across the Aegean was choppy this time of year, and Milly spent most of the six hours being sick over the railing, so by the time she arrived in Athens she was wrung out like a dish cloth. Not the most auspicious start to her visit, but she was still determined, at least.
Even though the key to Alex’s flat felt as if it were burning a hole in her pocket, she chose instead to rent a room at a modest hotel, not wanting to run into him by accident when she was unprepared.
She showered and changed, regarding her rather wan appearance in the mirror with a wry grimace. She certainly did not look her best, but she doubted there was much point in making herself up anyway. It wasn’t as if she was about to seduce him. He’d made his physical feelings for her very clear.
She had just stepped into Syntagma Square, where Alex had his offices, when she saw the flashing sign for a chemist’s. She paused, because, despite having told Alex on the phone that she wasn’t pregnant, she hadn’t actually had a period since their wedding and she knew she probably should have. The irregularity was undoubtedly down to stress—what else could it be?—but just to be sure she went into the chemist’s and, in halting Greek, asked for a pregnancy test. The chemist was all beaming smiles as he fetched her one, and Milly paid for it and shoved it to the bottom of her bag. She’d deal with that potential complication later. It was just a precaution, anyway. It seemed hard to believe that a single brief and loveless act could have resulted in a baby.
‘Kyrie Santos is very busy,’ the receptionist in the lobby of the gleaming skyscraper informed her repressively when Milly asked for him. It was a different woman from the one she’d dealt with before, when she’d said she was Alex’s fiancée, and far snootier. ‘And,’ she added with something like relish, ‘he never receives visitors.’
‘He’ll receive me,’ Milly informed her shortly, although she wasn’t at all sure. ‘I’m his wife.’
The receptionist’s mouth dropped open as she took in Milly’s rather rumpled appearance with barely masked derision. ‘His wife?’
‘Yes, his wife. Now, why don’t you ring him and tell him I’m here, before you embarrass yourself any further?’ Milly had never talked to anyone like that in her life, and yet she couldn’t deny it felt good. After a lifetime of being stepped on or pushed aside, she was finally sticking up for herself. Alex’s rejection had pushed her into it, made her strong. She only hoped it did some good.
The receptionist picked up her phone, muttering into it in Greek, while Milly waited, trying to look calm and assured instead of terrified. After what felt like an endless moment, the woman put the phone down and nodded. ‘You may go up.’
Her heart felt as if it were climbing into her throat as she soared upwards to the office that covered most of the twenty-second floor. What would Alex say when he saw her? What would she say? She hadn’t thought this out carefully, simply running on pure adrenaline and emotion.
The doors pinged open and Alex stood there, glowering. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Seeing my husband,’ Milly fired back as she stepped out of the lift. ‘Or was that not part of your terms?’
‘The terms are moot,’ Alex returned evenly. ‘Considering our marriage is about to be annulled.’
‘Yes, about that. Does annulment count the same as divorce?’
‘What?’ Alex looked nonplussed as Milly strolled into his office, trying to hide how she trembled. Where had she got this courage? And what was she going to do with it? ‘What does that matter?’
‘Because the prenuptial contract stated that you owe me another five million euros if you divorce me.’
Alex closed the door behind him, looking incredulous. ‘Is that why you came here? To demand more money?’
‘No,’ Milly cried with ragged emphasis. ‘I came here for a straight answer, Alex. How do you think it feels, to have your husband walk out of your wedding night and then disappear for three weeks? And then the next communication is that he is intending to annul your marriage?’ Tears started in her eyes but she blinked them back furiously, determined to stay strong. ‘How could you be so cruel?’
‘Cruel?’ If anything her husband looked even more incredulous. ‘I wasn’t being cruel, Milly. I was being kind.’
She let out a harsh laugh, just as disbelieving as he was. ‘Then you have a very twisted idea of kindness. Do you know how awful I felt? How...how rejected?’ She sniffed, folding her arms and tilting her chin in a pointless effort to hide the worst of her pain.
Alex shook his head slowly. ‘Milly, if anyone felt...rejected...’ He took a swift breath. ‘Look, there’s no getting around the plain fact that our wedding night was a disaster. I tried to make it as—as endurable as possible, but I know you still found it difficult to...’ He blew out a breath, colour slashing his cheekbones, his scars mottled red. ‘To touch me. Or even look at me.’
Mi
lly stared at him in confusion. ‘What...?’
‘Come now, Milly, let’s not prevaricate. It was obvious.’ He strode to his desk and sat behind it, as if he could turn their fraught conversation into a business meeting, as usual. ‘I was trying to spare either of us any further discomfort. Marriage was a foolish choice for someone like me.’
Milly stepped closer to him, her mind racing with all he’d said—and hadn’t said. Could this really be about his scars?
‘Someone like you? Who is that, exactly?’
Impatiently Alex gestured to the scarred side of his face. ‘Do I have to spell it out for you?’
‘Yes, I actually think you do.’
His mouth compressed, his nostrils flaring. Milly forced herself to stare him down. ‘I disgusted you, Milly. That much was clear. I disgusted you so much you were sick.’ The words fell like lashes on her back, on her heart.
‘Alex, I was sick because I’d guzzled too much champagne.’
‘One glass—’
‘On an empty stomach, and far too many nerves. I was terrified, Alex. I was a virgin.’ Her voice wobbled. ‘You knew that, didn’t you?’
Colour slashed his high cheekbones. ‘Yes—’
‘And did you ever think that maybe that’s why I was scared, not because of some scars on your face?’ Fury boiled through her, surprising her with its force. ‘Could you stop thinking about yourself for one moment to think about how I felt? A virgin who had barely been kissed, on her wedding night with a man who was practically a stranger—’
‘A man who repulsed you—’
‘Oh, stop talking like that! I don’t care about your scars. And if you had bothered to pay attention, you would have realised I wasn’t repulsed at all. I desired you, you...you ninny!’
* * *
Alex stared at her in disbelief. Why was she pursuing this complete fabrication? ‘Your actions said otherwise, Milly.’
‘You’re not listening to me,’ Milly snapped. ‘I was a virgin. I was nervous. I drank too much champagne on an empty stomach. You didn’t even kiss me.’