‘Don’t let your imagination run away with you, Markos,’ Eva drawled derisively as she gave him another teasing glance.
‘Ah, Markos—so pleased you could make it!’
The smoothly charming voice of their host interrupted them.
Markos instantly felt Eva’s tension, and he maintained a proprietorial hold on her elbow even as he turned to face the older man. ‘Jonathan.’ He nodded stiffly. ‘Can I—?’
‘Evangeline!’ The older man appeared momentarily stunned as he instantly recognised Eva, but that surprise was quickly masked as he once again turned on a politely charming smile. ‘How lovely to see you again, my dear.’
‘Jonathan,’ she returned softly, and the two of them kissed each other lightly on the cheek. ‘You’re keeping well, obviously.’
‘Very much so, thank you,’ Jonathan said smoothly, his eyes narrowed shrewdly as he assimilated the fact that Eva was here with Markos Lyonedes. ‘Evangeline, I feel I should warn you that the party this evening is—We’ll talk again shortly, if that’s okay?’ he added distractedly as yet more guests arrived noisily behind them. ‘Please, go through to the drawing room for champagne and canapés.’
Eva turned instinctively towards the blue and cream drawing room—a room which she had designed for Jonathan four years ago, before her marriage to his only son had come to such an acrimonious end—all the time aware of Markos’s brooding preoccupation as he walked beside her, his hand still lightly on her elbow.
He was deservedly preoccupied. Despite Eva’s advice to the contrary a few minutes ago, she knew that Markos’s thoughts must be running riot as he considered all the possible scenarios for her being acquainted with a man like Jonathan Cabot Grey.
Jonathan Cabot Grey Senior.
Because Jack, Eva’s ex-husband, was Jonathan Cabot Grey Junior…
‘Are you going to tell me what’s going on?’ Markos prompted softly once he and Eva were standing beside the unlit Adams fireplace a minute or so later, the two of them having been supplied with glasses of champagne by one of the many attentive waiters circulating the crowded and noisy room. ‘Why didn’t you want to come in? And exactly what is—or was—Jonathan Cabot Grey to you?’ he added harshly.
‘Jonathan Cabot Grey was my father-in-law.’ Eva was still too distracted by Jonathan’s unfinished warning even to attempt to prevaricate, wondering what it was Jonathan had wanted to warn her about. He hadn’t sounded in the least threatening, so it obviously had nothing to do with the fact that she was here with Markos. So what—?
‘Your father-in-law?’ Markos repeated incredulously, totally stunned by this unexpected revelation.
She nodded abruptly. ‘Cabot Grey was my married name.’
‘Of course. Evangeline Grey—Jonathan Cabot Grey…’ Markos realised with a pained wince, inwardly kicking himself for not having added two and two together before now.
She shrugged bare shoulders. ‘I established my business under the name Cabot Grey Interiors, but dropped the Cabot part after my divorce.’
‘So you were married to Grey’s son?’
‘The one and only,’ Eva confirmed, aware that several of the other guests had seen and recognised her now. Their gazes were speculative as they also saw the identity of the dark and handsome man standing beside her. Even in a roomful of other men dressed in evening clothes, Markos stood head and shoulders above them all, in both looks and autocratic bearing.
Eva realised she was grateful for his presence; if she was to be forced to meet any of Jonathan and Jack’s friends again then she was glad it was in the company of a man as impressively handsome and wealthily powerful as Markos Lyonedes!
She turned to smile at him regretfully. ‘I really am sorry about this, Markos.’ She placed her hand lightly on his arm. ‘I would never have put you in this embarrassing position if I had known it was Jonathan’s party you were inviting me to.’
Markos was still coming to terms with the fact that Eva had been married and divorced. Not that he had anything against divorce; he was of the opinion that it was far better to end something that wasn’t right than spend a lifetime of unhappiness with the wrong person. No, it was the thought of Eva having been married at all that disturbed Markos. That left him with so many questions unanswered…
When, and for how long, had Eva been married? Why had the marriage ended? Who had ended it? Eva or Jonathan Cabot Grey’s son? And if it was the latter, did she still love the man who had once been her husband?
He drew in a ragged breath. ‘Eva, what—’
‘Hello, angel.’
Markos found himself as irritated at hearing Eva addressed as ‘angel’ by another man as he had been the previous week when Glen Asher had called her ‘baby’. But even without Eva’s hand tightening to a painful grip on Markos’s arm at the first sound of that man’s voice, a single glance at the man standing behind her would have immediately identified him as being Jonathan Cabot Grey’s son.
The hair was golden-blond, where Jonathan’s was turning silver-grey, but other than that the family resemblance was unmistakable: blue eyes in similar boyishly handsome faces, both men lean and elegant in black tailored evening clothes.
There was no doubt in Markos’s mind that this was the man who had once been Eva’s husband.
This was what Jonathan had been going to warn her about a few minutes ago, Eva realised numbly, even as the full force of Jack’s presence hit her with the force of a blow.
He shouldn’t be here. Shouldn’t even be in the States. He had moved to France over a year ago, when he’d taken over the Paris offices of Cabot Grey Enterprises.
Yet it was most definitely him standing just behind her. Even if Eva hadn’t known his voice as well as she knew her own, there was no one else on earth who called her ‘angel’.
What was she supposed to do now? What was the protocol for introducing your ex-husband to the man you were now…now what? She couldn’t claim to be dating Markos when this was the first evening they had gone out together, but she knew they weren’t only business acquaintances. So what were they?
Well, she had better make her mind up—and soon—because the three of them couldn’t continue standing in this frozen tableau for much longer.
‘Angel?’ Jack prompted dryly, obviously coming to the same conclusion.
Eva gave a pained wince as once again he used the name he had once affectionately called her by. A long time ago. A lifetime ago. A different lifetime ago…
She drew in a deep breath and finally looked up into Markos’s rigidly set features. He stared past her at the other man with eyes as hard as the emeralds they resembled, his mouth thinned, jaw tight.
His harshly etched features softened slightly as he finally looked down and saw her expression of mute appeal. ‘Introduce us, will you?’ he prompted huskily even as his arm moved possessively about her waist.
The gentleness of Markos’s tone, and that supportive arm about her waist, instantly reassured Eva that whatever his inner feelings were about this strange situation Markos was there for her now—even if the warning gleam in his eyes also told her that he would expect answers to his numerous questions once they were alone.
Eva turned slowly to face Jack, her expression deliberately non-committal as she took in the subtle changes in his appearance since the two of them had faced each other across a divorce court.
He was now in his mid-thirties, and there were touches of grey at Jack’s temples that hadn’t been there three years ago. His face was thinner too, with lines etched beside his nose and mouth. Other than that he was still as lean and