The villa had been a real surprise. The first of many. The first time Nikos had brought her to Athens they had stayed in his large apartment in the Kolonaki district, overlooking the Parthenon. That apartment had been impressive enough, but it was nothing when compared to the Villa Agnanti, where they had arrived late yesterday afternoon. Built into the side of a hill, the huge white house was on several levels, each one going lower down the cliff from the main road. From the lowest level you could walk out through the back gate, step out on to Schinias beach, where the crystal clear Aegean Sea lapped against the shore just metres away. Every single one of the bedrooms had a balcony that overlooked the ocean, but even the gentle sigh of the waves against the sand had not been soothing enough to ease Sadie into sleep last night. Instead she had lain awake and restless, wondering just what she had got herself into and how she was going to manage to handle things here.
‘It has everything I need,’ Nikos responded, but the flat, unemotional level of his voice somehow communicated far more than what he actually said. It was what he had not said that seemed to reverberate underneath the words and gave them a very different emphasis from the one he had used.
‘But you must know that I wouldn’t be able to rest properly without knowing what was going on at home.’
Sadie adjusted her position against the balustrade, turning so that she was resting her back against the white stonework and looking straight into Nikos’s dark, sculpted face, feeling the warmth of the morning sun beat down on the back of her head.
‘You phoned Thorn Trees just before dinner. All was well then.’
‘But I only had five minutes.’
Five minutes during which the door to the room she had been in was left open and she had been painfully aware of the way that Nikos was waiting for her beyond that door, no doubt listening to every word she said. She had felt like a prisoner under careful observation, unable to manage more than a few stilted sentences in response to her mother’s unrestrained delight at knowing that she was safe in Thorn Trees for the time being at least.
Not that Sarah fully understood that their reprieve was only temporary. The joy that had rung in her mother’s voice had been another twist of the knife in Sadie’s already worried and aching heart. Her mother might think that Nikos had been wildly generous and unbelievably forgiving, she might believe that the stay of execution was permanent and for all time, but Sadie knew it was just that—a stay. And the way Nikos had behaved on the flight here, the fact that her phone and her laptop, her only means of communication with the outside world, were still firmly in his possession left her in no doubt that he wasn’t planning on being forgiving or even kind, but on holding her ruthlessly to their bargain for as long as it took. And then…
And then?
The truth was that she had no idea at all what would happen next. When her time in Greece was up, when she had fulfilled her contract and Nikos and his fiancée were married, then what would happen?
Was the reprieve that he had granted them only for the length of time that she was working for him? And when that was done would he let them stay in Thorn Trees? She couldn’t see it happening.
‘Long enough to assure yourself that your mother is well. You are here to work.’
‘Then let me get some work done! There’s no way I can do anything without my laptop. And without meeting your bride.’
That came out more pointedly than she had planned. The truth was that just the thought of him marrying someone else twisted up her feelings so badly that she didn’t know what to think or how to feel.
‘My bride will not be here for some time. You will not be able to talk to her.’
‘But that’s ridiculous! How can I work on your—? We—’
To Sadie’s horror her mixed up feelings seemed to have tangled on her tongue, making her stumble over the word.
‘Your wedding—when I don’t know who she is or what she likes? I need to talk to her.’
‘You will talk to me.’
Nikos tossed another grape into his mouth and chewed on it before swallowing it down. Sadie found that the simple movement held her gaze transfixed on the lean line of his throat, the muscles moving under the smooth olive skin. She felt her own mouth dry in response, her own throat move as she swallowed too.
‘I will tell you everything you need to know.’
‘You will?’
Was that embarrassing croak really her voice? Sadie moved to the table set out on the balcony and reached for a glass of orange juice, gulping it down to ease the tight constriction of her throat.
‘A wedding is a woman’s most special day. She would want it to be absolutely perfect.’
‘And it will be,’ Nikos returned with smooth arrogance, clamping sharp white teeth down on another beautifully fresh grape. A tiny trickle of juice slid out on to his lips and he swept it away with a slick of his tongue.
Sadie forced her eyes down to study the surface of her drink as if it held the answer to some vitally important question. Anything to distract herself from the way that her thoughts were heading. Deep inside she was having to struggle with the wild, crazy impulse to move forward, press her mouth to that one small spot on his lips, to savour the sweetness of the grape combined with the intensely personal taste of Nikos’s lips.
She was still fighting the sensual need, her fingers gripping her glass tightly, when Nikos spoke again.
‘I will see to that.’
In the face of his cold confidence the rush of physical response faded as rapidly as it had come, leaving her feeling shivery and unsure, as if in the grip of a sudden fever. For a moment she had let herself forget how icily controlling and ruthless Nikos could be. And forgetting that was not a good idea.
‘And you think that everything you do is so perfect? That you can never make a mistake?’
‘Not perfect, no.’
Nikos pulled out one of the chairs and lowered himself into it, stretching out long legs in front of him, crossing them at the ankle. The change of position should have made him look more relaxed, at ease, but strangely it had exactly the opposite effect. He looked like nothing so much as a hunting tiger, lazily settling down to keep a watch on its prey before it decided whether it was worth the effort to pounce or not. The glass in her hand shook with the tremor of her grip and she hastily banged it down on the table, so as to avoid spilling some of the juice on to the stones of the balcony.
‘And as to making mistakes, well, if I was immune to them then I would never have had anything to do with you.’
‘But you can’t take control of someone else’s life like this. I would never let you get away with it…What?’ she questioned in surprise as Nikos’s low laughter broke into her outburst.
‘I am only too well aware of that, agapiti mou.’ The cynical emphasis on that my dear turned it into the exact opposite of any term of affection and the gleam in the golden eyes as he laughed up at her was totally lacking in any sort of warmth. ‘Why do you think that I would prefer I kept you to myself while we work on plans for the wedding?’
‘If you intend to go ahead and marry this girl this time.’
No sooner had the words escaped her than she wished them back. Too sharp, too bitter, they revealed far more of her personal thoughts than she had ever wanted. The last thing she wanted was for Nikos to feel there was any lingering bitterness about the fact that their marriage had never taken place. She was free of that—wasn’t she?
‘Do you doubt it?’
‘What do you think? I have personal experience of just how much you mean your marriage proposals, remember?’
Nikos’s mouth twisted slightly, his penetrating stare seeming to burn right into her soul.