The Helen Bianchin Collection

by Helen Bianchin

  Crossing to the pantry, she extracted muesli, retrieved milk from the fridge, then poured generous portions of both into a bowl and carried it to the table.

  ‘I’m sure Rachel and Alexandros will enjoy a day out on the Bay,’ she said with studied politeness, and incurred Aleksi’s sharp scrutiny.

  ‘There can be no doubt you will come too.’

  She forced herself to look at him carefully, noting the almost indecently broad shoulders, the firm sculptured features that portrayed inherent strength of will. He had finished his breakfast, and was seated opposite, a half-finished cup of coffee within easy reach.

  ‘I’m not sure it’s fair to expect Melanie to come at such short notice, especially on a Sunday, and particularly when she babysat Georg last night.’ Her gaze was remarkably level as she held his dark, faintly brooding gaze. ‘Besides, I don’t think Georg should be left too often in a babysitter’s care. Young children need constancy in their lives, not a succession of minders their parents install merely as a delegation of responsibility to ensure the pursuit of their social existence.’

  One eyebrow rose to form a cynical arch. ‘My dear Alyse, I totally agree. However, Georg is so young, his major concern is being kept clean and dry, with sustenance available whenever he needs it. I doubt if being left in Melanie’s care will damage his psyche. Besides, we’ll be back before five.’

  Her eyes grew stormy. ‘Are you always so damnably persistent?’

  ‘My parents like you,’ drawled Aleksi. ‘And I’m prepared to do anything that’s in my power to please them during the length of their stay.’

  ‘With that in mind,’ she began heatedly, ‘I would have thought they’d both want to spend as much time with their grandson as possible. Not socialise, or sail the high seas.’

  He was silent for a few long minutes, then he said silkily. ‘During the past year they’ve seen their son horrifically injured, and suffered the despair of knowing his life-span was severely limited. As soon as his condition stabilised, Rachel and Alexandros turned their home into a veritable clinic, hiring a team of highly qualified medical staff to care for Georgiou. They gave up everything to spend time with him, taking alternate shifts along with the staff so that either one was always at his side.’ He paused, and his voice hardened slightly. ‘Now they need to relax and begin to enjoy life again. If that entails socialising and sailing, then so be it.’ His eyes assumed an inexorable bleakness. ‘Have I made myself clear?’

  Alyse pushed her bowl aside, her appetite gone. ‘Painfully so.’

  ‘Eat your breakfast.’

  ‘I no longer feel hungry.’

  ‘Maybe my absence will help it return,’ Aleksi said drily as he rose to his feet. ‘I’ll be in the study, making a few calls.’

  Within two hours they were on board a large luxuriously-fitted cruiser that lay moored to a jetty on the canal at the bottom of Aleksi’s garden.

  Alyse had elected to wear tailored white cotton trousers with a yellow sweater. Rachel was similarly attired, and both men wore jeans and casual dark sweaters.

  ‘This is heaven!’ Rachel breathed, turning towards her stepson.

  Alyse almost gasped out loud at the warmth of his smile as it rested on Rachel’s features.

  ‘We’ll berth at Sanctuary Cove for lunch. Afterwards, you and Alyse can wander among the boutiques while Alexandros and I sit lazily in the sun enjoying a beer.’

  ‘You’re spoiling her,’ Alexandros chided his son in a teasing accented drawl, and Rachel laughed.

  ‘All women adore being spoiled by men, don’t they, Alyse?’

  She was doomed no matter what she said, and, summoning a brilliant smile, she ventured sweetly. ‘Definitely.’

  Aleksi shot his father a mocking glance. ‘I have a feeling the Cove could prove an expensive stopover.’

  After a superb seafood lunch the two women strolled at will, visiting several exclusive shops where they purchased a variety of casual resort-styled ensembles, and Alyse fell in love with a pair of imported shoes which she recklessly added to a collection of brightly designed plastic carrier-bags already in her possession.

  ‘What did I tell you?’ drawled Aleksi with amusement as Alyse and Rachel joined them in the Yacht Club’s lounge.

  ‘Alyse had bought the most gorgeous outfit,’ Rachel enthused, taking hold of her husband’s outstretched hand, and her sparkling smile softened as he lifted it to his lips in a gesture that made Alyse’s heart execute an unaccustomed flip in silent acknowledgment of the love these two people shared. ‘I’ve persuaded her to wear it to the fashion parade Serita Hubbard invited us to attend at the Cove on Tuesday.’

  The cruiser traversed the Bay to reach Sovereign Islands just before five, and after relieving Melanie Alyse checked on Georg to find him stirring and almost ready for his bottle.

  ‘Let me,’ Rachel offered at his first wakening cry. ‘I’m sure you’ll want to shower and change.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Alyse acquiesced in gratitude. ‘I won’t be long.’

  When she returned, Aleksi and Alexandros were in the kitchen, and Georg was seated on Rachel’s knee, his eyes moving from one to the other, his tiny fists beating the air in undisguised delight.

  ‘See?’ beamed Alexandros with Greek pride. ‘He is strong, this little one. Look at those legs, those hands! He will grow tall.’ He shot his son a laughing glance. ‘A good protector for his sisters, an example for his brothers. Yes?’

  It was difficult for Alyse to keep her smile in place, but she managed it—just. Part of her wanted to cry out that brothers or sisters for Georgiou’s son didn’t form part of her plan. Yet she could hardly blame Alexandros for assuming his son’s marriage would include other children in years to come.

  And what of Aleksi? Was he content with a marriage of expediency which provided a woman in his bed and a mother for his children? Or would he eventually become bored and seek sexual gratification elsewhere?

  Far better that she steel her heart against any emotional involvement. Two years wasn’t a lifetime, and afterwards she could rebuild her future. A future for herself, for Georg.

  Dinner was an impromptu meal of grilled steak and an assortment of salads, with fresh fruit, and followed by a leisurely coffee in the lounge.

  Rachel and Alexandros took their leave at nine, declaring a need for an early night, and Alyse felt strangely tired herself from the combination of sea air and warm winter sunshine.

  ‘I’ll tidy the kitchen,’ she declared as Aleksi closed the front door and set the security system.

  ‘We’ll do it together.’

  She was already walking ahead of him. ‘I can manage.’ For some reason his presence swamped her, and she wanted to be alone.

  There were only a few cups and saucers, glasses the men had used for a liqueur, and she quickly rinsed and stacked them in the dishwasher, all too aware of Aleksi’s presence.

  ‘All finished,’ she announced, and made to step past him.

  ‘I’ve opened a separate bank account with a balance sufficient to meet whatever cash you need,’ he told her. ‘The details are in the escritoire in your sitting-room, as well as a supplementary card accessing my charge account.’

  Alyse felt a surge of resentment, and forced herself to take a deep calming breath. ‘I’d prefer to use my own money, and I already have a charge account.’

  His gaze focused on her features, noting the faint wariness in the set of her mouth, the proud tilt of her chin, and the determination apparent in those beautiful blue eyes. ‘Why be so fiercely independent? It’s surely a husband’s right to support his wife?’

  ‘The housekeeping, and anything Georg needs,’ she agreed. ‘But I’ll pay for my own clothes.’

  ‘And if I insist?’

  ‘You can insist as much as you like,’ she retaliated. ‘I won’t be cowed into submissive obedience simply out of deference to a marriage certificate.’

  Aleksi’s eyes hardened fractionally, and his mouth curved to form a mo
cking smile. ‘An enlightened feminist?’

  Now she was really angry! ‘If you wanted a decorative doll whose sole pleasure was to acquire jewellery and designer clothes at your expense, then you made a mistake in choosing me!’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ he drawled.

  ‘You enjoy our parody of a marriage?’ she demanded, and was incensed to hear his husky laughter.

  Lifting a hand, he slid it beneath the curtain of her hair, threading his fingers to tug gently at its length, tilting her head.

  ‘I enjoy you,’ Aleksi accorded silkily. ‘The way you continually oppose me, simply for the sheer hell of it.’

  Alyse forced herself to hold his gaze, although she was unable to prevent the slight trembling movement of her lips, and she glimpsed the faint flaring evident in the depths of his eyes.

  ‘Be warned, it’s a fight you may not win.’

  She wanted to lash out and hit him, and only the chill sense of purpose apparent in those dark features stopped her. ‘Do you imagine I’ll be swayed into becoming emotionally involved simply because you can—’ She faltered, momentarily lost for words in the heat of her anger.

  ‘Turn you on?’

  ‘Oh!’ she raged, gasping out loud as he drew her close against him, and her struggles were in vain as his head lowered to hers. His lips were firm and warm, caressing with evocative slowness, and she wanted to cry out against his flagrant seduction. It would be so easy to close her eyes and allow herself to be swept away by the magic of his lovemaking. Against her will, the blood began to sing in her veins and her bones turned to liquid as sheer sensation overtook sanity. She became lost, adrift without sense of direction until anger at her own treacherous emotions rose to the surface, and she forcibly broke free from his devastating mouth.

  ‘Let me go, damn you,’ she said shakily, straining against the strength of his arms, and her eyes were clouded with an inner struggle she had no intention of confessing—even to herself.

  Aleksi held her effortlessly, his expression an inscrutable mask, and it seemed an age before he spoke.

  ‘Go to bed. I have to go over some plans due to be submitted at a meeting tomorrow morning.’

  Without a word she turned and moved away from him, her breathing becoming more ragged with every single step, and by the time she reached the bedroom she felt as if she’d run a mile.

  Perversity demanded that she sleep in the adjoining sitting-room, but at the last moment common sense prevailed.

  What was the point? she decided wearily as she slid in between the sheets on her side of the large bed. Aleksi would undoubtedly remove her, and she was too tired tonight to fight.

  An hour later she was still awake, a victim of her own vivid imagination, and it seemed an age before she heard the soft almost imperceptible sound of his entry into the bedroom. In the reflected illumination of Georg’s night-light she watched through lowered lashes as he discarded his clothes, and she unconsciously held her breath as he slid into bed. Minutes later she heard his breathing slow and assume a deep steady rhythm.

  He had fallen asleep! For some unknown reason that angered her unbearably, and she cursed her own feminine contrariness for the slow-burning ache that gradually consumed her body until she was aflame with the need for physical assuagement.

  Alyse glanced around the high-domed marquee with seeming interest. There were more than a hundred women present, each so elegantly attired she could only conclude that their main purpose was to catch the photographer’s eye and thereby make the society pages.

  Her vivid peacock-green silk suit teamed with black accessories was an attractive foil for Rachel’s ensemble in cream and gold.

  Champagne flowed, pressed eagerly upon them by handsome formally suited young men.

  ‘Have they been hired by an agency especially for the occasion, do you think?’ Alyse queried quietly of Rachel.

  ‘Definitely. They’re too much in awe of the cream of society’s glitterati.’

  ‘And hopeful of making a conquest?’

  Rachel cast her a faintly wicked smile. ‘Don’t look round, but you’ve definitely caught one young man’s eye.’

  Alyse gave a negligent shrug in silent uninterest, and sipped at her champagne. ‘Tell me about Greece. Do you like living there?’

  Rachel’s expression softened. ‘We have several homes in various parts of the world. Some are splendid, but the one I love best is situated in the bay of a small island off the main coast. It’s a fairy-tale—no cars, just peace and solitude with the only means of entry via boat or helicopter. It was there that Alexandros and Aleksi taught Georgiou to sail.’

  Alyse sensed the older woman’s sadness, and touched her hand in a gesture of silent sympathy.

  ‘It’s all right, my dear. As one gets older, one realises there is only now. Memories can’t be changed, and I count myself fortunate that mine are many and such happy ones. Our two sons were a constant delight, although Georgiou was the frivolous one, coveting the thrill of the moment behind the wheel of a high-powered motorboat or car. I lived in constant fear of the day he might make a misjudgment.’

  Alyse had to ask. ‘And Aleksi?’

  ‘He was more serious, and despite the difference in age and character he and Georgiou were very close. During those awful months after the accident, he flew back and forth to Athens countless times, and when he wasn’t there he rang every second day.’

  ‘Alyse! How wonderful of you to bring Rachel, darling,’ a husky feminine voice enthused, and she turned her head to see Serita Hubbard in a vivid white ensemble that undoubtedly bore a Diane Fries label.

  ‘Serita,’ she returned politely.

  ‘I’ve arranged for us to be seated together at lunch. If we do become separated during the fashion parade, just meet me in front of the marquee afterwards.’ Serita’s smile flashed friendly warmth. ‘Must dash, there’s a slight muddle with tickets supposed to be handed out by one of the committee members. She thought I’d collected them, and I was under the impression that she had. I need to show my list to the organiser. There are quite a few people here you’ve met, and Solange said she’d probably be running late. Do mingle, won’t you?’

  It was a brilliantly orchestrated parade, quite the best Alyse had attended, for the models were top-class professionals and the clothes not only superb, but many were available from the Cove boutiques.

  ‘See anything you particularly like?’ Rachel asked, then laughed as she glimpsed the appreciative gleam in her daughter-in-law’s eyes.

  ‘An hour with our marked catalogues after lunch?’ Alyse suggested.

  ‘Definitely,’ Rachel agreed. ‘And talking of lunch, we’d better head for the marquee entrance.’

  The restaurant chosen for the venue was cantilevered out over the water, with splendid views of the harbourfront villas and a flotilla of luxury craft moored at an adjacent marina.

  Solange was seated opposite, beside Serita, Marta, Chrissie, Kate and Annabel, and Alyse felt as if she was facing an inquisition committee.

  The same impeccably suited young men who had so earnestly served champagne before the parade also waited on tables, and Alyse found it amusing to be the recipient of one particular man’s attentive solicitude.

  ‘Darling, you do seem to have made a hit,’ Solange declared artlessly. ‘Are you going to slip him your phone number?’

  Without faltering, Alyse responded with an absence of guile. ‘With a young baby to care for, I haven’t the time or the inclination to foster the attention of a toy-boy.’ She offered a brilliant smile. ‘Besides, I doubt if Aleksi would be amused.’

  Solange’s eyes narrowed slightly. ‘A little jealousy stimulates a marriage, surely?’

  Oh, heavens, she was beginning to feel like a butterfly pinned to the wall, with numerous pairs of interested eyes waiting to see if she’d squirm! ‘Do you think so?’ she queried, then gave a light faintly husky laugh. ‘Aleksi would probably beat me.’

  Serita smiled in silent amusement, whi
le Solange merely fixed Alyse with an unblinking glare. ‘Dominic insists we host a dinner party on Saturday evening,’ she drawled. ‘I’ll ring Aleksi with the details.’ Her gaze rested on Rachel. ‘You must come too, of course.’

  ‘We leave for Sydney tomorrow to spend time with my sister, so we won’t be here, I’m afraid,’ Rachel declined graciously, and Solange gave a slight negligent shrug.

  It was after two when Alyse and Rachel managed to slip away, and within an hour and a half they were heading towards Sovereign Islands with a few selected purchases reposing on the rear seat of the car.

  Alyse had planned an informal dinner at home for Rachel and Alexandros’s last evening on the Coast, and there was a certain sense of sadness apparent when it came time for them to leave, for she would miss Rachel’s company.

  ‘A week isn’t long,’ the older woman assured her as she gave her an affectionate hug. ‘And I’ll phone frequently to check on my grandson.’

  ‘I shall probably have to restrain her from making at least three calls a day,’ Alexandros declared with amusement as he slid into the rear seat of the car.

  Alyse moved quickly indoors as soon as the BMW drew out of sight. The house seemed to envelop her, so large and strangely silent, and she was unable to suppress a feeling of acute vulnerability.

  Georg was sleeping peacefully, and she quickly showered before slipping into bed, where she lay wide-eyed and reflective as a dozen conflicting thoughts vied for supremacy in a brain too emotionally fraught to make sense of any one of them.

  When she heard Aleksi return she closed her eyes in the pretence of sleep, aware of a deep ache in the region of her heart. It would have been wonderful to seek the comfort of his arms, to have them enfold her close, and simply hold her. A few tender kisses, the soothing touch of his hands, so that she felt secure in the knowledge that she was infinitely cherished.

  Except that such an image belonged in the realm of fantasy, and she gave up waiting for him to join her in bed as the minutes dragged on. The only feasible explanation seemed to be a wealth of paperwork awaiting him in the study, and when she woke the following morning it was to discover he was already up and dressed.