‘That’s settled, then. You will stay with me,’ Judith said firmly.
Rio smiled weakly. She should be with Lysandros tonight, should finally be discovering the joy of giving herself to a man. But how could she do that now? How could she allow any man to touch her again? Even the man she was beginning to fall in love with?
IT HAD BEEN six weeks since Rio had seen Lysandros. Six weeks since she’d said to him with her new-found flirty confidence that she wanted to spend all night with him. And six weeks since her world had been torn apart, destroying that confidence, ending her fragile hope that she and Lysandros could be beginning something special.
That life-changing moment after the recital had left her no option but to stand up the man she’d lost her heart to, the man she’d been ready to give everything to. She’d ended things between them, refusing to see or speak to Lysandros. That afternoon had been the last time she’d played the piano, the events that had unfolded as Hans had arrived in the practice room now making it impossible for her to go near a piano, let alone play.
Now another life-changing event meant that at any moment Lysandros would come striding into the hospital room where his younger sister—her best friend, Xena—lay sleeping, looking battered and bruised from the car accident late last night.
‘Xena.’ Lysandros’s voice snapped Rio from her thoughts as he surged through the door of the dimly lit private hospital room, his focus completely on the sleeping form of his sister.
Rio’s heart pounded hard as she watched, almost in slow motion, Lysandros walk back into her life. She couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, couldn’t make her presence in the large comfortable chair in the corner known. Instead she watched as he stood on the other side of Xena’s bed, looking down at his sister. His stubble-covered jaw clenched, giving away the hurry in which he must have left Athens. He spread a hand over his chin as if he was trying to gain control, trying to work out what to say, what to do. He still hadn’t even realised she was there.
With a sense of desolation more profound than she could have ever dreamed possible, Rio sat silently, watching the man to whom she’d lost her heart. As if that very thought made her presence felt, he turned to look at her, the emptiness in his eyes breaking her heart.
‘Rio?’ For a moment he seemed speechless, unable to say anything. ‘When did you get here?’
‘Early this morning.’ She didn’t know what to say to him. The way he searched her face, looking into her eyes for the answers she couldn’t give him—answers about more than what had happened to Xena—almost tore her heart in two.
‘How much longer is she likely to sleep?’ His voice was firmer now, his shock at seeing her gone, as he walked to the bottom of his sister’s bed. His height dominated the room, crowding her thoughts. The dark grey suit he wore only emphasised his muscular physique, reminding her how it had felt against her body when he’d kissed her. It had felt good. Right. But that had been before. That had been when she’d been a different person.
Aware that he was waiting for an answer, she dragged her thoughts back in line and resisted the urge to stand up and try to match his height. Instead she remained seated, hoping it would give off the message that she was as totally unaffected by him as she’d claimed when she had broken things off.
‘When she first came round, she was very distressed. She couldn’t remember anything, so the doctors gave her a sedative.’ Rio focused her attention on Xena. She couldn’t look at Lysandros. Not into those coal-black eyes. She didn’t want to see the questions. The accusations. ‘They said she will be sleepy for some time and are worried the knock on her head has affected her memory.’
‘Her memory?’ She had his full attention now. And the full force of his scrutiny.
‘She doesn’t recall the accident, or any other recent events, but as she knows who she is, the doctors are saying it’s her way of coping. She is blocking it out.’ Rio gulped back a wave of emotion. She had to be strong, had to focus on what Xena needed. Right now, nothing else mattered, not even her and Lysandros.
‘What happened?’ The question was firm, but by the look on his face she knew he was struggling to comprehend his sister’s injuries, intensifying her own guilt at what she’d done to him. She didn’t know how she was going to answer that and keep Xena’s recent relationship from him. A relationship that was now over. It might be the reason why Xena was here in hospital, but it was no longer of any importance or relevance. Just as all she and Lysandros had shared was no longer of importance.
Last night, when Rio had arrived at Casualty, Xena hadn’t recalled the promise she’d extracted from Rio. The promise not to tell Lysandros about her romance with Ricardo, a married man. A promise she’d never envisaged being brought into play, but last night Xena had been confused and distressed, unable to piece together recent events—or even Ricardo. The doctors had assured her it was almost certainly temporary, but it still upset Rio to see her friend like that and she knew she would do anything to make it better for her. Even keep the truth from her powerful and commanding brother. Just as she’d keep her true reason for ending their relationship from him.
Rio fought frustration and guilt as it welled up inside her. If only she’d been able to convince Xena that her married lover had ended the affair in order to make his marriage work. That he wouldn’t leave his wife. Then maybe the accident would never have happened. Xena wouldn’t be here now. But she hadn’t been able to convince her. She and Xena had fallen out over it and Xena had slipped out after Rio had gone to bed and now Rio blamed herself for being too hard on her friend.
‘What happened?’ Lysandros demanded again, his tone more insistent this time, dragging her back to the present.
‘A car ran the lights. It hit her car hard. Spun it round.’ As she thought of it, of the distress Xena must have felt, she closed her eyes, pressing her fingers to her temples. She was tired. Upset. Seeing Lysandros again was too much on top of Xena’s accident.
‘Are you okay?’ Lysandros’s voice was so close it made her jump.
She opened her eyes to see him crouched before her, his hands holding the arms of the chair either side of her. Trapping her. Instantly all she could think about was the moment Hans had trapped her against the piano. No, she couldn’t allow that moment to rule her. Not ever. She just needed time to get over it.
‘Rio?’ Lysandros laid his palm on her lap, genuine concern in his voice. The heat of his hand grounded her, making her feel peculiarly safe.
She looked at him, almost bereft when he withdrew his hand, but this wasn’t a time to focus on her or what she wanted or even needed. The only thing she had to do now was be there for Xena, doing and saying whatever she needed her to say.
‘It’s Xena who needs your concern, not me.’ Even to her own ears, her voice sounded cold and emotionless.
He stood up, his long legs making him intimidatingly tall as he towered over her. She looked up at him, straight into the black depths of his eyes. She couldn’t look away. Couldn’t help herself wondering. Did the desire that had once filled them lie beneath their lacklustre darkness?
She forced her attention back to Xena’s sleeping form, desperate to focus her emotions. She looked up at Lysandros again, the man she could have been so happy with if other things hadn’t got in the way. ‘I have spoken to the doctor. She should start to come round soon. Her broken arm and fractured wrist are expected to heal, although her injuries will mean she won’t be able to play the violin for some considerable time.’
If only he knew the full truth of it all. Playing the violin would not be what Xena worried about as she recovered. It would be the loss of the man she loved that would fill her mind, her heart. If she remembered him. Tears sprang to Rio’s eyes and she blinked