‘Don’t worry, Christina. I’m sure Amber didn’t mind,’ Lucas said softly, and, turning to Spiro, he added, ‘Though I did not know you and Amber were still seeing each other.’
‘Oh, yes, Amber is not the sort to desert her friends, are you, Amber, darling?’ Spiro drawled pointedly, and, clasping an arm around her slender waist, he pulled her into his side and pressed a swift kiss on her brow.
Amber let him—in fact she was glad of his support. Her stomach churned and she wanted to be sick as the full extent of Lucas’s betrayal hit her. Her beautiful face lost what little colour she had. How dared he introduce her to Christina as though she were merely an acquaintance, a friend of his nephew, instead of the woman who had shared his bed for the best part of a year?
‘So I see,’ Lucas drawled mockingly. He knew Spiro was gay.
His mockery was the last straw for Amber. Her wild golden eyes clashed with Lucas’s. ‘I wonder, can anyone say the same about you, Lucas? But, no, I seem to remember you telling me once you had no real friends. Perhaps because you only use people.’ She saw his jaw clench, a dark tide of colour surging up under his skin, and a leap of fury in his eyes. Serves him right, Amber thought.
‘My, Lucas, a woman who does not admire you unreservedly, that must be a first,’ Christina piped up.
‘Amber is an old friend, and she and Spiro delight in trying to needle me, it’s just a joke.’ Lucas smiled down at Christina, his voice softening. ‘Nothing for you to worry about.’
Fury such as she had never known sent all the blood rushing back to Amber’s head. Old friend! He had a nerve. The hand holding her glass of wine began to rise. Spiro, guessing her intentions, grasped her wrist.
‘I am starving and I think you need a top up, Amber. Excuse us.’ With his arm at her waist, he urged her away from the other couple. ‘It would have been a futile gesture, Amber, throwing your drink over him—your glass is virtually empty,’ he murmured, turning her back to the crowd to face the buffet table.
Amber was shaking, visibly shaking. She’d never felt such overwhelming rage in her life. ‘I wasn’t going to throw it over him,’ she denied, turning blazing eyes up to Spiro’s. ‘I was going to screw the glass in his arrogant, lying face,’ she confessed fiercely.
She was not a violent person, she had never harmed a living thing in her life, but for a second she had completely lost control. Suddenly she was appalled at her own actions, and her anger subsided. ‘Thank you for stopping me, Spiro.’ She tried to smile. ‘Your better nature got the better of you—you said earlier you wanted me to cause a scene, and I thought you were joking. But the joke is on me and I’ve never felt less like laughing. I want to cry.’
‘No, Amber. Tim was right and I was wrong.’ His arm dropped from her waist and he lifted a hand to her chin and tilted her head up to face him. ‘I should never have brought you here. I have to speak to my grandfather but then I am taking you straight home. Ten minutes at most, can you do it?’
A film of moisture hazed her glorious eyes, and she blinked furiously. ‘I have to, I have no choice.’ Imperceptibly she straightened her shoulders, her back ramrod straight as she fought for control, and won.
Spiro’s hand fell from her chin, his dark eyes admiring her elegant form. ‘You are the most beautiful, elegant lady in this room. You have more class in your little finger than the whole of this lot put together, and don’t you forget it.’
Before Amber could respond old Mr Karadines interrupted them. He gave Spiro a hug and spoke to him in Greek, before turning to Amber.
‘Amber, isn’t it? Good to meet you again, and I’m glad to see you are still keeping this grandson of mine in order.’
‘Hello, and I’m trying,’ was as much as she could manage to say. A blessed numbness had enveloped her. She felt as if she were viewing the proceedings from outside her body—the pain was waiting for her, she knew, but her heart had not broken, it had simply solidified into a hard black stone in her breast.
‘Good, good. I have been hearing great things about you from Clive here. Allow me to introduce you. Clive Thompson, my grandson’s friend, Amber Jackson.’
Amber didn’t have time to wonder why the old man had referred to her as Spiro’s friend as the name of the tall, elegant blond-haired man registered, and she was holding out her hand to him. He was a top manager with Janson’s merchant bank. He was only forty but already his reputation was legendary in the City.
She sensed rather than saw Lucas and Christina walk up and join the group, but she did not dare look. If she did she knew she would break down. Her hand was still held by Clive and she was grateful because it enabled her to find the strength not to tremble at Lucas’s towering presence beside her.
‘I have been longing to meet you as soon as Theo told me your name. Allow me to say you are as beautiful as you are brilliant, if not more so; a truly stunning combination.’ His bright blue eyes smiled down into hers, and, lifting her fingers to his lips, he kissed the back of her hand before letting go.
‘Oh, how gallant, Mr Thompson!’ Christina’s accented voice interrupted.
Amber glanced sideways and saw Lucas had moved closer to her with Christina clinging onto his other arm. Quickly she returned her attention to Clive, and saw his slightly raised eyebrows and brief polite smile at the young girl, before he returned his attention to Amber again and continued as if the other girl had not spoken.
‘Brentford’s are very lucky to have you, is the word in the City. Apparently you got your clients out of…’ and he mentioned a high-tech company whose shares were on the way down and out ‘…even better than I did,’ and he gave her an appreciative smile that Amber returned. They discussed the company in question in some detail. They were like-minded people.
‘I was lucky,’ she finally finished. Anything to do with business and she was not in the least intimidated. It was only in the love stakes she was a total idiot, it seemed.
‘People make their own luck, Amber—I may call you Amber?’ Clive grinned.
‘Of course.’ She heard what sounded like a grunt from Lucas, and felt the slight brush of his trouser-clad thigh against her hip.
Lucas did it deliberately. Inexplicably it angered him to hear Amber discussing business with the elegant Englishman, and he wanted to disconcert her, but she simply moved away. In that moment Lucas recognised the truth and his arm tightened around Christina. Amber did not need a man for anything other than sex and even that, as he knew to his cost, could be delayed because of her work. He had never been in love but his idea of it was to protect and care for his wife and family. Christina needed his protection and in return he knew that as she was a well-brought-up young Greek girl, her husband and children would always come first.
Amber felt as if she could feel Lucas breathing down her neck and carefully moved closer to Spiro as Clive slid one hand into the inside pocket of his jacket to withdraw a gold-edged card. ‘Here is my card—if you ever feel like changing firms, I promise we will offer you a much better package.’
A wry smile curved her full lips; she could not help it. The ultimate irony. From her surprising lunch on Thursday it had been like a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows, finally to this, the worst night of her life, when it was taking all her strength to simply keep standing, she was being head-hunted by Janson’s of all firms…
‘And would your chairman, Sir David Janson, agree to your proposition?’ she prompted with an enviable touch of cynicism, considering the tall, dark presence of Lucas was within touching distance; the familiar scent of him that filled her nostrils had her nerves at screaming-point.
‘It would depend on the proposition, would it not, Clive?’ Lucas’s deep voice queried sardonically.
‘Oh, I’m sure Amber and I could work out a mutually satisfactory arrangement.’ Clive’s blue eyes, gleaming with very male appreciation, didn’t