‘Not ordered. It was the logical next step if things stayed as they were,’ Nikos corrected softly, earning himself a sideways glare that Sadie hoped made it clear that she was not in the least convinced by the apparent conciliatory tone in his voice.
There was no way that he was here to do any peacemaking. Why should he when he held all the cards in his hands—and most of them were aces?
‘And I suppose you are going to claim that you didn’t order me to meet you here?’
‘I merely invited you. So, what would you like to eat?’
Nothing. Sadie felt that she would be unable to swallow a single mouthful. Besides…
‘Did you really invite me out for a meal?’
Nikos glanced up from his study of the menu, one black brow slightly lifted in mocking enquiry.
‘Why else would we be in a restaurant, with menus to choose from?’
Because he wanted to prove that he had so much power over her that he could say jump and she would ask how high. Because he wanted to emphasise, by choosing this particular restaurant, just how very different things were now from the way they had been in the past, when they had been here together before.
‘And why are we in this particular restaurant? Why here and nowhere else?’
‘Because I know you like it here.’
If she didn’t know better, she might almost believe in the innocence in his eyes, his voice. But she had no doubt that it was more than that. Nikos Konstantos never did anything without considering all possible outcomes and planning for the one that was exactly what he wanted.
‘I liked it once,’ she said coldly, pointedly. ‘My tastes have changed since then.’
‘Mine too,’ Nikos drawled cynically.
So how was she supposed to take that? Was he, like her, thinking of the first meal they had eaten here? She hadn’t known who he was then. Only that she had fallen for the most devastatingly handsome and attractive man she had ever met. If she had known would she have been more careful, more on her guard? Maybe even held back and never agreed to go out with him?
If she had then things would have been so much easier. She would never have become tangled up in Nikos’s schemes—and those of her father. She would never have become a pawn in their hateful feud, never been used by each of them against the other. Because that had been all she was to them. A weapon which they could use to inflict as much damage on the other as possible.
‘I understand that the calamari here is very good—unless you prefer—’
‘What I’d prefer…’ Sadie put in sharply, having foolishly let her eyes wander over the menu so that she spotted the delicious shrimp dish she had eaten that first time she had been here. She could almost taste it in her mouth, the memory was so clear and devastating. ‘What I’d prefer is that you tell me exactly why I’m here and what you want from me.’
‘Some wine first?’ Nikos returned imperturbably, lifting one hand to summon the waiter.
The response was immediate, as of course it always was with Nikos. He only had to make the slightest gesture, look as if he might need something, and there was always someone there, right at hand, ready to provide whatever he needed.
But the presence of the waiter and his enquiring glance in her direction, the way he brandished his notepad and pen, meant that she couldn’t pursue the topic she wanted with him standing there listening. Feeling cornered, with her back against the wall, she snatched up the menu again and chose a pasta dish completely at random, only wanting the man to be gone so that she could confront Nikos and find out just what was going on.
‘I don’t for one moment believe,’ she began as soon as they were alone again, ‘that you have invited me here simply to spend an evening together and eat pasta—however good it might be.’
‘You’re right…’
Nikos set his own menu aside and folded his hands together on the tabletop. The movement made a sudden flash of gold catch the light from the candle flame, and Sadie felt her heart thud just once, hard and sharp against her ribs, as she realised that she had no idea whether Nikos was married or if there was a woman in his life.
Someone to replace her.
Outside a heavy rumble of thunder announced the fact that a storm was approaching. Sadie noted it with only half her mind, the rest of her attention focussed on those long, strong, tanned fingers resting on the red and white checked cloth. Fingers where she now saw the gold was just a signet ring, worn on Nikos’s right hand. At the realisation her breath escaped her in a rush. Breath that she hadn’t even been aware of holding in.
‘I haven’t just invited you here to spend the evening with me. I asked you to meet me because I wanted to offer you a job.’
‘A job?’
And now the waiter was back with the wine, interrupting them again. Was Nikos really making a particular thing about checking the label, having the bottle opened, tasting the small amount the waiter poured into his glass? Or was it just that it seemed that way to her, with every long drawn out second seeming to grate more on her already overstretched nerves, making her want to scream or make some protest. Instead she had to settle for waiting, her back tense, teeth digging into the softness of her bottom lip, until he had nodded his satisfaction and indicated that the waiter should pour her a drink.
‘No, thanks,’ Sadie put in hastily, pressing her hand over the top of her glass. She needed to keep a clear head until she found out just what Nikos was up to. If he pressed her…
Nikos took her decision with surprising equanimity, sipping appreciatively at the rich red liquid in his own glass, once again taking his time before he moved the conversation on at all. Sadie couldn’t stand the waiting any longer.
‘What sort of a job?’ she demanded when the silence had stretched out just too long to bear. ‘Why would you want to employ me? And what makes you think that I would ever want to work for you?’
‘You did,’ Nikos told her coolly, taking another swallow of his wine.
‘I never!’
‘Oh, yes, you did.’
And when she frowned in blank incomprehension, he shook his head slightly, as if in disbelief.
‘What a very short memory you have, Miss Carteret. Whatever happened to “There must be some arrangement we can come to! Surely there’s something I can do—anything”? Anything,’ he added, with soft menace and deadly emphasis.
Recalling the interpretation he had put on that ‘anything’ earlier that day, Sadie suddenly wished she had accepted some of the wine. Right now it might ease the painful knot of tension tight in her chest, ease the uncomfortably jerky pounding of her heart. She knew she would do anything in her power to gain some extra time that her mother and George could spend in the home that meant so much to them. But did Nikos really mean…?
‘What exactly did you have in mind?’ she managed to croak, another rumble of distant thunder seeming to underline the apprehension in her tone.
Once more Nikos took his time in replying, stony, hard eyes never leaving her face as he leaned back in his chair and seemed to consider his response. Not that he had any need to, Sadie reflected. She had little doubt that he knew exactly what he was going to say and how it would affect her. She had the most uncomfortable feeling that she was as powerless as a puppet, with its strings dangling from the hands of a ruthless and cruel master.
‘We’ll come to that in a moment,’ he said evenly. ‘But first I want you to tell me exactly why you want the house so much.’
‘Isn’t it obvious?’ Sadie hedged, unwilling to