The Power of the Legendary Greek(19)

'I'm all right, honestly, Eleni,' Isobel assured her unsteadily. 'Just dirty and thirsty. I'd kill for some tea.'

Luke spoke kindly to the woman in her own language and she got to her feet, scrubbing her face with the corner of her apron.

'Me synchoreite! I get tea.'

Luke turned to Spiro. 'Be careful, ne? If someone rings or calls here, we failed to find our guest.'

Spiro nodded grimly and led his wife from the room.

'Did the police get involved?' asked Isobel, eyeing the dressing on Luke's arm.

'When Spiro rang I contacted them in Athens.' Luke looked down at her  with an intensity which made Isobel suddenly conscious of her  sweat-stained clinging vest and torn leggings. 'Now, tell me how you  feel. Truthfully.'

'As I told Eleni, I'm dirty and thirsty and my ankle hurts a bit, but  I'm not too bad, all things considered.' She held out her chafed wrists.  'Do you have anything I can put on these after I shower?'

Luke's mouth twisted as he raised her hands to his lips. 'Isobel, this  is all my fault. The man orchestrating this campaign thinks I will pay  whatever he wants to get you back.' He looked up into her eyes. 'He is  right. But I would give much to lay my hands on the scum who put you  through this. And I cannot even call Dr Riga out to you yet for fear  that word gets out that I have you.'

'I don't need Dr Riga,' said Isobel firmly. 'And you look battered  enough already, so keep well away from the man who kidnapped me. He's a  big brute.'

'Are you sure he didn't hurt you?' demanded Luke fiercely.

'Yes, though when he carried me to the hut he wasn't exactly gentle.'  Her eyes flashed. 'And he went raving mad when he saw my hair.'

To her surprise, Luke looked uncomfortable. 'It was the colour. He was expecting dark hair.'                       
       
           



       

'What?' Her eyes narrowed. 'He thought he was kidnapping someone else?'

'Yes. A friend of mine. Granddaughter of the industrialist Denis Stratos-who received a ransom note this morning, also.'

All this had happened due to mistaken identity? Isobel felt a sudden  violent urge to hit someone. 'No wonder the man was furious. Could you  ask Eleni to fetch some clothes up here for me, please? I'm utterly  desperate to get clean.'

'All your belongings are back in this room again,' he said quickly. 'You  sleep here tonight and every other night, where I can keep you safe.'

'But once the kidnapper's caught it won't matter where I sleep; I can go  back to the Kalypso,' said Isobel, though secretly she was not at all  keen on the prospect after her adventure.

'No,' said Luke flatly. 'Until your flight to the UK, you remain here. I  have rescued you twice. A third time you might not be so lucky.'

She glared at him. 'It was hardly my intention to trouble you, either time.'

'I know; I put that badly-' He broke off as Eleni came in with the tea.  'You must drink your tea in here, not on the veranda. With a telescopic  lens someone could see you.'

Wonderful. 'Whatever you say,' she said wearily, utterly shattered now her adrenaline rush had receded.

'I shall leave you for a while,' said Luke, eyeing her narrowly. 'Are you really all right, Isobel? You look exhausted.'

'Hardly surprising, after my labours.' She smiled doggedly as Eleni  poured tea. 'A cup of tea and a long hot shower and I'll be fine.'

Once Luke had gone, Isobel sagged in the chair, tears suddenly streaming  down her face, and Eleni went on her knees beside her, rocking her in  her arms as she made comforting noises. But after a while the little  woman pulled away, her eyes fierce as she examined the rope marks on  Isobel's wrists.

'The pig did this?'

Isobel nodded dumbly.

'Tell truth. That all?'

'Yes. Nothing worse.' Isobel gulped and scrubbed at her eyes with the tissue Eleni handed her. 'Stupid to cry now I'm safe.'

'Is natural! Now, drink tea, then shower. Want help?'

'No, I can manage.' Isobel hugged her hard. 'Oh, God, Eleni, I was so terrified that you and Spiro had been hurt.'

At which point the woman's English deserted her and she rocked Isobel in her arms again for a while before letting her go.

When Isobel finally stood under the spray, wincing as it caught her  various scrapes and bruises, her mood was a long way short of the  elation it should have been. She had expected Luke to make rather more  fuss of her. They'd agreed to be friends, after all, so a comforting  cuddle or two would have been nice. But once the first violence of his  relief had abated he seemed to have switched off. And tonight she  couldn't even eat with him. The terrace was as public as her bedroom  veranda.

Isobel had to work hard to get her damp hair in shape with a chunk of it  missing at one side. Her first priority would obviously be a haircut  once she got home. She smiled wryly. How wonderfully tame life would be  back at the gallery. She fought down a sudden wave of homesickness at  the thought of it and went to work on her face, then covered her array  of bruises with a white long-sleeved shirt and soft blue cotton jeans.  But went barefoot rather than subject her tender feet to shoes. And she  felt vulnerable without the ankle support, which had been so filthy  she'd had to bin it. When she left the bathroom Eleni was patting the  pillows invitingly on the bed, but Isobel shook her head, smiling.

'I'll just sit in this lovely comfortable chair and read.'

It seemed like hours before Luke, with a perfunctory knock on the open  door, came in carrying the crutch. He was obviously fresh from a shower,  with a clean dressing on his arm.

'You look better, Isobel,' he said in approval. He propped the crutch at the foot of the bed and drew up a chair.

'Cleaner, certainly. You were a very long time,' she added, then regretted it when his eyes gleamed.

'You missed me?'

'I thought you might want to know more about my miraculous escape,' she said tartly.                       
       
           



       

'I do. Every last detail. But first I had to drive down to the boat. I  took the Athena over to the harbour while Spiro drove the Cherokee back  up the hill and then down to the town to meet me in full view of the  public as I docked. The object,' he added patiently, as though  explaining to a child, 'was to give the impression that you were still  missing.'

She flushed. 'Oh. I see.'

'As soon as I docked, Alyssa came running from the taverna to demand  news,' he went on. 'I clasped her dramatically to my chest so I could  whisper in her ear that you were safe, and ordered her to keep it  totally secret. Then I said very loudly that I had failed to find you.'  He grinned suddenly. 'She began wailing and crying, and made such a  scene that she collected a crowd. At this point, apparently overcome  with despair at my lack of success, I joined Spiro in the Jeep and he  drove me home past a sympathetic audience.'

'Wow,' said Isobel, impressed. 'I wish I'd been there. Sorry I was cross,' she added contritely.

'It is not surprising. But you missed a wonderful performance from  Alyssa. I told her not to ring the house because I need all lines open,  but she will be here tomorrow, whatever happens.' He took a tube from  his pocket. 'Give me your hands.'

She held them out for him to squeeze cream on her rope burns. 'Thank you. That feels good.'

His eyes held hers. 'Are there any hidden injuries that need attention?'

'No. Just the odd scrape and bruise. And my feet are a bit tender. Nothing a night's rest won't put right.'

He frowned. 'You have removed your ankle support.'

'No choice. It was dirty.'

'As soon as I can I will ask Dr Riga to replace it. In the meantime, take great care as you walk, Isobel.'

'I'll be fine now you've brought the crutch,' she assured him. 'After  all, I didn't even have that when I managed to get myself out of the hut  and across the beach.'

'Which still amazes me.' He breathed in deeply. 'But it is my fault that  such effort was necessary. You were kidnapped not just to extort money  from me, but to cause me maximum pain. My one piece of luck was the  location. The kidnapper was obviously a stranger; otherwise he would  have taken you somewhere more remote. Have you remembered anything else  about him?'

'No.' She shrugged. 'Not that I was in any condition to take much note  at the time. He grunted and swore more than he actually spoke. But when  he retied my hands he did it loosely enough for me to undo the knots  eventually. With my teeth,' she added in distaste. 'It was horribly oily  rope and tasted foul, but I won in the end.'

Luke looked down at the hands he was still holding. 'Can you imagine,'  he said without expression, 'how I felt when Spiro rang me to say you  were missing?'

She thought about it. 'Guilty, maybe, because your wealth was the motive  for ransom? Also because kidnappers rarely let their victims live.'

Luke looked up, his eyes glittering. 'All this and more flashed through  my mind. I felt such despair and frustration-and sheer rage-that I  burned to kill whoever had done this.'

Isobel felt suddenly a lot better. 'Did it matter so much to you, then?'