Katie and her twin had been brought up with very little knowledge of their mother’s culture, which suited Katie fine. She had no time for people who could punish a woman for falling in love outside her class and culture. No, as far as she was concerned she was all British.
CHAPTER TWO
KEPT late by an unexpected emergency at work, Katie rang Tom to arrange to go directly to the hotel where they were having dinner. She dashed home, fed the cat, a particularly evil-tempered ginger tom called Alexander, and got changed in record time. As she emerged from the taxi nothing about her demeanour hinted at the breathless haste with which she’d got ready.
High heels crunching on the gravel, Katie hurried across the forecourt unable to dismiss the nagging feeling she had forgotten something. Walking into the brightly lit foyer, she smoothed down her freshly washed hair, which she hadn’t had the time to blow-dry properly; it fell river-straight almost to her waist, gleaming like the finest spun silk under the bright lights, which picked out the rich chestnut highlights in the deep glossy brown strands.
Tom was waiting. His face lit up as she appeared and his obvious pleasure made Katie glad she had decided to wear the dress Sadie had given her with a plea for her to make use of it.
Tom kissed her hard on the mouth, which was surprising; he was normally quite undemonstrative in public. ‘You look beautiful!’ he said huskily as they drew apart.
‘You sound surprised…’ Her teasing hid a secret worry. Was it entirely normal to be thinking about whether you’d remembered to unlock the cat flap while you were being passionately kissed by the man you were going to marry? ‘It must be the dress.’ Though he never openly criticised the way she dressed, Katie knew he would have liked her to dress up more.
‘I didn’t even notice the dress,’ Tom replied huskily.
‘Well, there’s not a lot to notice, is there?’ she responded, glancing uncertainly down at the midnight-blue slip dress that clung to the soft curves of her body a little too lovingly for her comfort. ‘You don’t think it’s a bit…obvious?’
The appeal made Tom throw back his head and laugh. ‘You couldn’t look anything but cool and classy if you tried, and I’m the luckiest man in the world.’
He might not think so soon.
Katie took a deep breath. There was never going to be a good time to tell him this, so now, she reasoned, was as good a time as any other.
‘Tom, there’s something I need to tell you,’ she told him urgently.
A flicker of impatience crossed her fiancé’s boyishly handsome features. ‘We’ll talk about it later, sweetheart,’ he said, grabbing her hand. ‘We’re late as it is, and Nikos isn’t used to people keeping him waiting.’
The name was so unexpected it hit her like a blow, snatching the air from her lungs and the thoughts from her head. There was a loud whooshing noise in her ears and it took several heart-thudding seconds before the room stopped spinning.
‘Nikos…?’ she faltered. ‘That’s a pretty unusual name.’
‘Not in Greece.’
No way could fate be that cruel. ‘He’s Greek…?’ she asked with extreme casualness.
Tom nodded. ‘That’s right. We were at Oxford University at the same time, though Nik dropped out before he graduated.’
‘That doesn’t sound like someone you’d know…’ Katie gulped hoarsely. Dropping out equated with someone being reckless, someone who might at a push get into debt, someone who might resolve the problem by… Stop this, she told herself sternly, you’re getting paranoid.
‘You mean I’m a boring old stick.’ Tom pouted, exploiting his boyish charm for all it was worth.
‘You’re not old…’ Katie protested, subduing a flicker of irritation. ‘Or boring,’ she added hastily. ‘You’re solid and responsible.’
‘That makes me feel a hell of a lot better,’ Tom responded, his charm fading abruptly.
Conscious she had hurt his feelings, Katie tried to soothe his injured pride.
‘Women don’t actually want to marry exciting men,’ Katie told him, believing it. ‘They’re too unreliable.’ She stopped, unhappily aware that she was only making matters worse.
To her relief Tom recovered his humour and laughed loudly.
‘No, they just want to make mad passionate love to them,’ he suggested, thinking she looked especially adorable flushed and confused.
‘Some women might, but not me,’ Katie insisted firmly. ‘Men like that are vain and shallow and only interested in looking cool,’ she sneered.
Tom winced. ‘You’ll not share that with Nikos will you, sweetheart?’
‘I shall hang on his every word like it’s inscribed in stone,’ she promised dutifully, willing to flatter his friend if it made Tom happy.
‘You’ll like him.’
Katie couldn’t hide her scepticism.
‘Women do,’ Tom assured her authoritatively. ‘Actually you’re right, Nik wasn’t in my circles of friends; in fact he was a bit of a loner. He used to ride around on this dirty great motor bike…’
Katie nodded. She was beginning to get the picture, and she didn’t find it comforting. Someone reckless, who liked danger…her imagination had no problem at all picturing Nikos Lakis in motor-bike leathers looking brooding and dangerous.
‘I was there when he swerved to avoid a kid that ran out into the road. I didn’t do much, but he got it into his head that I’d saved his life.’
Katie listened to his modest pronouncement with a tender smile. ‘Which means you probably did.’
‘I only did what anyone else would,’ Tom insisted with a self-deprecating shrug. ‘To be honest I was surprised when he kept in touch after he left. Apparently it caused some almighty family row when he dropped out, but everything’s cosy now. His old man had a heart attack and major bypass surgery a couple of years ago and Nik took over the family firm…they’re a Greek shipping family, though since the seventies they’ve diversified dramatically…They’re billionaires… Are you all right?’ he added, examining her waxily pale face with concern.
Katie took a deep breath and refocused on his anxious face. Relief made her feel quite light-headed. A Greek billionaire’s son! She felt like laughing at her irrational fears. Let him be the biggest bore of the century; it no longer mattered.
‘Fine.’ She lifted her hand briefly to her forehead and felt a light sheen of moisture on her skin. ‘Minor blood-sugar dip, I didn’t have time for lunch today,’ she admitted, making a silent vow to tell Tom the truth before the evening was out.
Tom frowned disapprovingly. ‘They take advantage of you at that place.’ He squeezed her shoulder. ‘Never mind, not long now and you’ll be able to hand in your notice.’
‘Hand in my notice?’ Katie echoed blankly.
Tom laughed. ‘You’ll be far too busy to work when you’re my wife. Of course, if you want to continue with a little charity work…’
Katie could hardly believe what she was hearing—Tom expected her to quit work when they were married! There was no way!
‘You’ve got a bit more colour in your cheeks now,’ he observed, blissfully unaware that it was hostility to her impending retirement that had produced the delicate tinge of creamy rose to her pale honey complexion. ‘Come on, love, the sooner we feed you the better.’
‘And your friend doesn’t like being kept waiting,’ Katie couldn’t prevent herself from adding drily.
His