Eloise flinched back.
‘No,’ he said sharply. ‘I…’ and he could not say it. The deal, everything came flooding back, and he almost groaned out loud. How could he have been such a blind fool? He didn’t give a damn about revenge. It was Eloise he wanted, had always wanted, and he’d been too arrogant, too jealous, to admit as much.
‘I’ll go and collect Katy,’ he said, pulling back. ‘You rest, eat, pamper yourself—do what women do.’ He must sound like an incoherent idiot, he knew, but he had so much ground to make up with Eloise, he didn’t know where to start.
A grim smile twisted his lips. He needed a strategy to woo her, win her love. On the plus side, he knew he wouldn’t need to coerce her into bed. The chemistry between them was explosive. Maybe a private talk with Katy might give him a few pointers.
‘Pamper?’ Eloise exclaimed and, watching the fleeting expressions chase across his handsome face, she was totally confused.
Glancing back at Eloise, seeing the confusion in her emerald eyes, the master strategist lost it. ‘I want us to stay together, get married, everything,’ Marcus said with grim determination, sitting down on the bed and pulling her into his arms.
She shook her head, unable to believe her ears. He looked more like he had swallowed a dose of horrible medicine than a suitor. Then he kissed her.
‘Damn Katy,’ Marcus muttered, lifting his head, as the whirling blades of a helicopter landing broke the silence.
Eloise looked up and collided with lustrous dark eyes. Was she dreaming or had Marcus really asked her to marry him? He looked frustrated and, unbelievably for him, vulnerable, unsure. ‘Katy,’ she mumbled irrationally, too stunned to comprehend what he meant.
‘I have to go and collect her, but think about what I’ve said,’ he prompted, and leaping to his feet, he left.
Not for a moment admitting he had to get away, he was as stunned as Eloise looked. He had proposed marriage without a second thought. Hell, who was he kidding? Without even a first thought! His brilliant mind had been turned to mush by a pair of green eyes. Eloise drove him crazy. He must be crazy to want to give up his freedom. A few minutes after climbing into the waiting helicopter, a broad smile broke on his face. He felt nothing but joy.
‘NO BENJAMIN with you?’ Marcus asked, after the usual friendly greetings to Katy. ‘I’m amazed you could bring yourself to leave him at home.’ He smiled as he escorted the rather frazzled-looking Katy across the tarmac to the heliport. ‘It must have been a sudden decision on your part to visit Eloise,’ he prompted. He still had a lingering suspicion Eloise had somehow arranged this visit to avoid being alone with him, though he did not see how. He had never let Eloise out of his sight, since yesterday morning.
‘It was, and I’m only staying the one night.’ Katy shot him a worried frown. ‘But after I read the newspaper, I really didn’t think it was something I could tell Eloise over the phone.’
‘Sounds dire. Don’t tell me the firm has collapsed overnight without her,’ Marcus quipped.
‘No, but it does concern Eloise.’ Katy glanced at Marcus, and was reassured by his cheerful grin.
‘You know, before meeting you I would have bet Eloise would remain a virgin till her dying day,’ she confided in him chattily. ‘But she’s blossomed incredibly into a confident woman with you to look after her. Harry and I were amazed when she agreed to go to that film premiere with you. I would have sworn Eloise would never appear in the public eye ever again after the trauma she went though with the court case. The victim’s name is supposed to remain secret, but that slime-ball’s letter from prison to the gutter press threatening revenge, nearly finished poor Eloise off. But your trip to the premiere convinced us both she’s finally got over her fear of men and recognition.’ Katy gave Marcus a grateful smile. ‘But old habits die hard; we’ve protected her for so long. I want to be there for her when she finds out.’
Victim? Court case? His Eloise a virgin? Marcus’s mind reeled under the implication, a deep, dark, bottomless pit opening up before him. Katy obviously thought he knew what she was talking about. Glancing up, he realised they were at the helicopter.
‘Finds out what?’ he asked lightly, helping Katy into the helicopter and handing her a set of headphones, desperate to continue the conversation in flight.
‘This is great. I’ve never been in a helicopter before.’
Marcus forced a smile at Katy, but he had to know why she was here. Something was terribly wrong. ‘Yes, but you were going to tell me…’
‘Oh, yes.’ Katy sobered. ‘Eloise will have told you all about the assault and stabbing.’ Marcus felt the blood drain from his face, and he listened in growing horror as Katy rambled on.
‘It was a terrible time, and she was so brave all through the trial. But what you can’t know—I only found out late last night, when I got around to reading the paper—Rick Pritchard, the man who attacked her, who got a seven-year sentence, is to be released on Monday after serving only four years.’
‘I see.’ Marcus froze, the blood turning to ice in his veins.
‘Yes, well, after he was sentenced, he vowed from the dock he would get Eloise, and I saw the look in the fiend’s eyes. I wouldn’t put anything past him. The letter he sent to a newspaper a couple of weeks later simply reaffirmed the fact. But she has you to protect her and the fact she’s in Greece instead of London is actually quite fortuitous. The swine is unlikely to find her on Rykos,’ Katy opined, ending on a cheerful note. ‘Oh, look, I can see the sea and dozens of little islands. It’s beautiful.’
‘Yes.’ Marcus carefully pointed out various landmarks. He did not dare reopen the discussion on the attack. He had never felt such rage and fury in his life, or such disgust, most of it directed at himself. God, what had he done? Suddenly a lot of little things made sense. Katy’s and Harry’s protectiveness towards Eloise; Eloise’s dislike of publicity—and he silently groaned.
The sound of the helicopter made Eloise’s heart skip a beat. They were back. With one last glance in the mirror, she ran from the bedroom, and down the stairs, happy anticipation giving a bloom to her cheeks, and brilliance to her emerald eyes.
She wasn’t dreaming; Marcus had asked her to marry him. The why and wherefore she would have to discuss with him but, for the first time since meeting Marcus again, her heart was bursting with hope for the future. She’d told herself not to get too excited but she couldn’t help it. She’d dressed in a simple mint sheath dress, and on her feet she wore soft leather mules in the same colour. She had brushed her hair back and left it loose. She didn’t want to overdo it and look as if she had dressed up especially for Marcus.
Stopping her dash for the door, she made herself walk slowly out on the terrace and around to the rear of the house, in sight of the landing pad. She watched as the tall figure of Marcus stepped down from the helicopter and swung the smaller figure of Katy to the ground.
‘Fantastic,’ Katy murmured, walking around the terrace with Marcus at her side, and the houseman bringing up the rear, carrying Katy’s holdall. ‘This is some house, Eloise!’
‘Glad you like it.’ Eloise grinned at Katy. ‘Wait until you see the pool,’ and she glanced up at Marcus. ‘Perhaps we can all try it later when Katy’s settled.’ She smiled a little nervously, still a bit unsure about his proposal, but there was no reciprocal smile; his dark features looked coldly remote.
‘Not for me. I have some work to do in my study. Nikos here will show you Katy’s room, and as she is only staying one night I’m sure you two want to gossip. I’ll see you both at dinner.’ He strode into the shadowed interior of the house without a backward glance.
One