the greek tycoon's blackmailed mistress(20)

In the shaken-up state she was now in, it was the wrong moment for Ella to set eyes on her family for the first time in seven years. Her stepfather, a heavily built man with thick, grey hair, was standing on the terrace with a drink in his hand. Her mother, a slight, fair-haired woman in a pink dress, was by his side. Behind them stood two tall, dark young men—her half-brothers, grown to adulthood without her knowledge. Ella paled when Theo Sardelos looked right through her, and her mother, her face full of painful discomfiture, turned her head quite deliberately to avoid seeing her only surviving daughter. Her twin half-siblings, disdaining such pretences, stared stonily back at her, their scowling attitude one of pure belligerence.

Ella was very angry that Aristandros had put her family on the guest list without telling her. Conscious that she was not the only person present capable of noting that her family was giving her the cold shoulder, she forced herself to address her stepfather with a perfunctory greeting before turning to her mother to say, ‘Would you like to come and see Callie?’

‘No, she would not,’ Theo Sardelos growled, slinging his stepdaughter a look of profound distaste as he answered for his wife, a controlling habit of his that Ella remembered with repulsion. ‘Your presence here makes that impossible.’

Her olive branch broken and discarded unceremoniously at her feet, Ella did not respond. She knew the older man well enough to appreciate that he would relish any opportunity to embarrass her in front of an audience. Although it took considerable courage, she kept on smiling and moved on, beckoning a waiter to ensure a clutch of late arrivals were served at the buffet. Kasma brought Callie back down, and the little girl, her stuffed rabbit now tucked securely under her arm, sped back to Ella’s side to clutch at her skirt in a possessive hold.

It took real effort for Ella to continue to play hostess and chat and smile as though nothing was wrong. Every so often she bent down to touch her hand gently on Callie’s head and remind herself of what she had gained, and why she had forged her devil’s bargain. Her thoughts were tumultuous. Aristandros had only told the truth to his grandfather: she was happy with him. Did that mean that at heart she was a slut? Sharing Ari’s bed and being with him was more of a pleasure than a punishment. It shook her to admit that to herself. He had held her to ransom over an innocent child’s head, and yet whenever he wanted her she was still his for the asking. What did that say about her? Shame and confusion engulfed her in a hot, creeping tide of remorse.

Lily had texted her only that day: are you his Dr Dazzler by accident or design?

Ella still didn’t know how to answer that question. While the original design had been Ari’s, it now sometimes seemed to her as though she had simply surrendered, and had used Callie as her excuse for doing so. When Aristandros touched her, she went up in flames. What had started out purporting to be a sacrifice had become a delight. If she was a victim, of revenge she was a willing victim and that reality made her cringe.

Lean, breathtakingly handsome face cool as ice-water, his carriage as always superb, Aristandros strode towards her. Nothing in his expression revealed any sign of annoyance over his recent dispute with his grandfather. Her heart lurched behind her breastbone, her mouth running dry as he rested a hand at the base of her spine and whispered, ‘Why aren’t you with your family?’





CHAPTER EIGHT





ELLA shot him a darkling glance of disbelief. ‘Why on earth did you invite my family when you knew there was a rift between us all?’ she flung at him, half under her breath, furious that he had set her up for such a confrontation even after she had told him that her family was at odds with her and had been for years.

‘I thought the invitation would help…I even thought you might be pleased to see them!’ Aristandros responded, his strong face taut

‘It was a serious mistake. You shouldn’t have interfered. My family don’t want to be around me when I’m with you,’ Ella revealed in a bitter surge of confidence. ‘In fact, Theo says they can’t have anything to do with Callie while I’m here.’

Aristandros rested his stunned gaze on her, and swore below his breath. ‘That’s outrageous, khriso mou. He cannot insult you below my roof. Anyone who does so is an unwelcome guest.’

‘There’s not much you can do about it. He’s a very stubborn man. Just ignore it, as I am, and hopefully in time he’ll get over his pique. You shouldn’t have asked them here.’ Ella’s teeth worried anxiously at her full lower lip as she absorbed the stormy flare of gold immediately lightening Ari’s spectacular eyes. Assurances that he should not have done something went down like a brick with a guy who had based his entire life on doing what he wanted to do on every occasion. Callie vented a cross little sob and tugged at Ella’s dress, while resting heavily up against her legs as tiredness took her over.

‘Sardelos has upset you,’ Aristandros growled. ‘I will not tolerate that.’

‘Stay out of this, it’s not your business,’ Ella hissed in a frantic undertone as she bent to comfort Callie, and lifted the child up into her arms. ‘If you interfere any more it’ll just cause endless trouble and resentment. I’m going to put Callie down for a nap. Promise me that you’ll mind your own business.’

Aristandros dealt her a sardonic look of disbelief. ‘You are my business. If they insult you, they insult me, for it is my wish that you be here and I will not tolerate any show of disrespect.’

Anchoring the little girl on her hip, and keeping her there with one straining arm—for Callie was no lightweight—Ella rested what she hoped was a soothing hand on his chest. ‘Nobody is being disrespectful of you,’ she hastened to assert in an effort to pour oil on troubled waters. ‘Please don’t get involved…please. Don’t play with fire.’

With that final, urgent plea for forebearance, Ella headed off with Callie. Kasma offered to carry the little girl upstairs, but Ella demurred; in the mood she was in, the feel of Callie’s clinging arms was comforting. The very last thing she needed was for Aristandros to wade in to an already delicate situation. She was all too painfully aware that her mother invariably suffered when Theo lost his temper

When she glanced down from the landing, she saw the male guests were gathering in the hall, and then moving on into Ari’s office-suite, where a conference room would house the investors’ meeting he had mentioned. The sight of what had to be an excellent diversion for unreliable masculine tempers and egos filled her with a giant sense of relief. When business was at stake, Aristandros would surely not waste his energy thinking about anything else.

‘Shoos,’ Callie sounded importantly as Ella removed her sandals. ‘Socks.’

‘Very good,’ Ella applauded, turning up Callie’s earnest little face to drop a kiss on it.

‘My goodness, she’s talking now…’

Ella almost jumped out of her skin, and twisted her head round to focus on the older woman in the doorway. ‘Mum?’

‘Theo’s gone into the meeting, and I asked a maid to bring me up,’ Jane Sardelos explained in a harried undertone. ‘He would be furious if he knew I was here with you.’

‘He gets furious far too easily. Why won’t you leave him?’ Ella asked in a pained, heartfelt undertone that betrayed her incomprehension on that score.

‘He’s my husband and he loves me. He’s been a good father and provider. You don’t understand,’ the older woman proclaimed, just as she had throughout Ella’s teenaged years. ‘Let me see my grandchild…She’s the very image of you, Ella.’

Ella noticed that the little girl showed no sign of recognising her grandmother. ‘You haven’t seen much of her, have you?’

‘Susie was very difficult after the birth,’ Jane murmured sadly as she stared down with softening eyes at the sleepy little girl and sat down beside the cot. ‘She didn’t want my advice, or anyone else’s, and it was obvious that her marriage was breaking down and she didn’t care. I saw Calliope a few times when she was very young, but Susie really didn’t want to be bothered with visitors, and she was quite unpleasant on several occasions.’

‘I think that Susie very probably had post-natal depression,’ Ella contended gently.

‘She wouldn’t see a doctor, though.’ Jane Sardelos shook her head heavily. ‘I did what I could, but your sister was always very wilful and I’m afraid she paid the price for it. But I don’t want you to pay a price as well.’

‘Let’s not talk about me,’ Ella cut in hurriedly.

‘Half the world is talking about you since you moved in with Ari Xenakis. He might want you today, Ella, but there are no guarantees for the next day, or the one after that. I shouldn’t have called you what I did, but I was very upset when I found out that you were living with him.’

‘I can’t discuss Aristandros with you. I’m an adult and I’ve made my choice. I don’t expect you to agree with it, but there’s no point arguing about it, because it won’t change anything. Mum, it’s seven years since I even saw you,’ Ella reminded the older woman painfully. ‘Let’s not waste this moment.’