Leah knew what he was getting at but couldn’t have cared less. When Evanthia Andreakis chose to entertain Nik’s former fiancée and family the same day that she finally got to meet Nik’s wife it was undoubtedly not a coincidence. It was a snub, as much of a snub as Leah had been dealt when her mother-in-law had barely acknowledged her existence earlier, but for Nik’s sake she was prepared to dismiss such behaviour as being supremely beneath her notice. If anything she sympathised with Nik for having a mother still bent on signifying her disapproval five years after the event.
‘If my mother were a younger woman I would have told her how I felt about her conduct towards you this afternoon,’ Nik breathed grimly.
‘Please don’t get into any arguments over me.’ But she was pleased that he had noticed, pleased that he was annoyed on her behalf.
‘I would not have believed her capable of such foolishness. What does she hope to achieve? If you are not accorded respect, I will not visit this house again,’ he intoned very quietly.
Leah was dismayed by the hard, unyielding edge to his level assurance. She knew he meant it. ‘I don’t want you to do that.’
‘To be frank, I come here only out of duty. I hate this house and I despise most of the people currently staying in it. It is as though a cloud lifts when I walk out of it again.’
She was shocked by his ruthless candour. He was lowering his guard for the first time with her, the emotional distance he usually observed abruptly cast aside. Paradoxically, it shook her that Nik could hide so much from her. Earlier she had not even realised that he had either noticed or been angered by his family’s reception of her. Now she could see that he was quietly seething about it, letting her know that the fur would fly if it continued. But that was the last thing she wanted.
‘Nik...let them get used to me,’ she heard herself urge tautly. ‘Ponia made me laugh earlier because she said that all of them were hoping you’d dump me and get back with Eleni, and because your mother is obviously fond of her and they’ve never met me before I’m the one who must seem the intruder.’
Nik viewed her with narrowed eyes and a curled lip. ‘Eleni is a happily married woman...even my family could not cling to hope in the face of that fact!’ he derided with impatience.
He didn’t know. He didn’t know that Eleni’s marriage had broken up.
‘According to your niece, Eleni and her husband have split up,’ Leah murmured.
Nik froze in the act of tying his bow-tie, an arrested expression stilling his features. He spun around. ‘Since when?’ he demanded.
A curious chill ran over Leah. ‘I don’t know...I don’t know anything about it.’
‘Ariadne should put a padlock on Ponia’s tongue. Right now she’s running around like a grenade with the pin pulled out!’ Nik said curtly, his dark eyes hooded as he swung back to the mirror again.
And then there was nothing but silence. Nik might as well have been in a room on his own. Leah slid jerkily out of bed and vanished into the en suite. She had dropped a bombshell, that was obvious. Nik had been astonished at the news and then his whole face had closed as he’d mulled it over. So what did it mean to him? What did the idea that Eleni might be free and available mean to Nik? Anything...nothing? Maybe he was simply irritated that Eleni had not chosen to tell him the news personally.
Don’t get carried away with your imagination, she scolded herself now. But she remembered the way Eleni had switched on like a neon light when she’d seen Nik, her beautiful face shedding all that natural cool and reserve. And that was not an image Leah was particularly happy to recall...
Naturally Nik hadn’t waited to escort her downstairs. Leah entered the crowded salon, luminously lovely in an azure shoulderless evening gown which matched her eyes. And the first thing she saw was Nik and Eleni seated together in a far corner in deep conversation. So he’s catching up on what he didn’t know, she told herself, only it was a little difficult to believe that Eleni’s radiant smile was accompanying the sad and stressful tale of a failed marriage. But Nik looked deadly serious, serious enough for both of them.
Ponia gave her a vague wave but appeared to be welded to the spot in front of the very handsome young man talking to her. Nik focused on her and instantly rose to his feet. By the time he had joined her, dinner had been announced.
‘You cut in fine,’ he said with a constrained smile, and it was that constraint where there had been none before that leapt out at her, like a chill wind unexpectedly spoiling a sunny day. ‘But you look ravishing.’
You’re a jealous, possessive, insecure idiot, a voice shrieked inside her head. But she could not resist the temptation to ask, ‘Has Eleni’s marriage broken up?’
Nik’s gaze veiled. ‘Yes.’
And that was it. Confirmation, no further discussion. Nor was a large, formal dinner party the background for a private conversation. To her surprise, Leah found herself seated to the immediate right of her hostess, with Nik directly opposite and Eleni several seats further down. Mrs Andreakis even made several frozen attempts at conversation in perfect English and Leah responded with the generosity of her nature but underneath she was thinking in some discomfiture, My goodness, Nik’s been busy. Lines of strain marked his mother’s face and she looked her age, something she had not looked earlier in the day.
It was a relief to be released from the dinner-table. Leah had eaten little. Ponia collared her as soon as she rose from her seat. ‘I want you to meet somebody.’
The very handsome young man was yanked forward. His name was Dion. Wasn’t he cute? Dion flushed and bristled but when he looked at Ponia Leah could see that he was helplessly hooked if not yet quite accustomed to the sensation of being shown off like a prize poodle.
‘We’re going to get engaged next year,’ Ponia announced in a stage whisper.
So young, so sure, Leah reflected, feeling a hundred years old as she recalled just how she had felt about Nik at the same age. And five years on she was in even deeper. So who was to say that Ponia was too young to know her own mind?
‘She told me at fourteen that she was going to marry him,’ Nik sighed from behind her as the happy couple moved away, Ponia dragging Dion in her breathless wake. ‘She even told me why.’
‘Why?’ Leah smiled.
‘She wanted to see him smile...and he does, continually around her. He’s twenty-two, coming to the end of his business course at Harvard and as serious as she’s flighty. He’s absolutely terrified she might find him boring by next year.’
‘Do you think she will?’ The music was playing in the ballroom and Dion and Ponia were already circling round the floor.
‘No.’ Nik gave a rueful laugh. ‘I think she had the guts to follow her own heart and she didn’t let pride come between them either when his family made it clear they didn’t care for the connection. For that strength and that clarity I believe I even envy her.’
Leah shot him a veiled glance, catching the undertone of bitterness in his dark drawl, seeing it matched by a flash of stark regret in his clear gaze. Was he thinking about Eleni? Was he looking back and regretting the arrogance which had made him decide that Eleni was not for him all those years ago? And had Eleni let him go freely or with a brave smile that concealed her heartache? Watching her with Nik, Leah found it hard to believe that Eleni regarded him solely as a close friend.
Nik danced with her. He was a marvellous dancer but Leah was in an edgy mood, unable to relax, more prone to thinking unfortunate thoughts that harked back to the past she had sworn to bury. She rested her cheek on his shoulder and the familiar scent of him filled her with pain. Losing him...the idea of losing him terrified her. The knowledge that she couldn’t lose him unless that certificate turned up was no consolation. All that did was remind her that Nik was not with her by choice.
She was introduced to Eleni’s parents. They were polite and pleasant but she sensed the coolness underneath, knew that they were thinking that she was the woman who had stolen their daughter’s fiancé from her five years ago. After a little while she excused herself and she was heading for the terrace and some fresh air when Stavros fell into step beside her.
‘I haven’t seen Ariadne tonight,’ she remarked.
‘Sadly, my wife didn’t feel up to the festivities. She’s resting,’ he sighed.
‘Is she ill?’ Leah asked gently.
‘Sick with nerves. She only suffers that here with her loving family,’ he said, his mouth flattening with unhidden contempt as he closed his hands tautly over the wrought-iron rail which girded the terrace from the gardens. He swivelled round and looked searchingly at Leah. ‘Nik treating her like the plague doesn’t help.’
Leah went pink, unprepared for that bluntness. ‘I’m sorry...I—’
‘I watched you together. You and Nik. You’re close. I promised Ariadne faithfully that I would never speak to Nik, never approach him on this subject, but I gave no promise about you,’ Stavros said with grim emphasis, each word carefully measured. ‘So now I will talk to you and hope you have the heart to act as an intermediary.’