Constantinou's Mistress

by Cathy Williams

  ‘I suppose we should be grateful that it is now seven in the morning and we at least had a good night.’ He stood up and moved to where the small figure was huddled on the big, brightly covered sofa, then he sat down next to her. ‘Scared? Or is that a stupid question?’

  ‘I’ve never been in a hurricane before.’

  ‘And you won’t be in one now,’ Nick assured her. ‘If the meteorologists are correct, all we should experience are some high winds and a lot of rain.’

  ‘Just a little localised flooding,’ Lucy joked weakly, and he felt a driving urge to gather her up in his arms and bury her against his chest. Women who collapsed in a crisis, he suddenly thought, weren’t endearing. They were a nuisance. Lucy was plucky. Plucky and, dressed as she was now, in a pair of baggy, flimsy culottes and an oversized T-shirt, looking more like a wide-eyed, pretty boy than a woman who could drive him crazy.

  He diverted his eyes to the windows behind her and the gathering blackness of the skies outside. It had dawned still but bright, and in the space of only an hour the sunshine had been eclipsed by racing clouds. Already the breeze was beginning to turn into more of a wind and the trees outside were swaying gracefully under its force.

  ‘Are you scared?’ Lucy asked him suddenly, and he looked at her with amusement.

  ‘Now, do I look the sort of man who is afraid of anything?’

  ‘Everyone is afraid of something.’

  ‘Put it this way: battling with the elements does not frighten me, even though nature unleashed can be a terrifying force. What would be more terrifying than coping with this situation would be if one of those damn-fool guests started to panic. I have never seen a group of people more afraid than this lot. I don’t think there was a single one who did not try and persuade us that trying to get them out in time would be the best solution.’

  ‘I know.’ Lucy looked at the strength in Nick’s face and felt ridiculously content that she was here now, with him. She realised that she had not thought about Robert once, and with a sigh of recognition realised that, however nice he was and however secure life would be with him, she would have to finish their relationship the minute she got back to London. ‘I can’t believe that there were actually three men who complained about missing meetings if they found themselves cooped up here for longer than three days.’

  ‘One can only assume that their wives do not possess the wherewithal to make them see that a few stolen days away from work could be worth their while.’ He looked at her speculatively. ‘Have you telephoned your boyfriend to let him know what is going on out here?’

  Lucy flushed guiltily. ‘Actually, no…it’s been so…well, I’ve been so caught up with things…’ It hadn’t even occurred to her. Conclusive proof that Robert was not destined to be the man in her life.

  ‘Well, perhaps you should,’ Nick said casually, lowering his eyes and fighting to contain a smile of triumph. ‘Just in case the lines go down. Unless, of course,’ he added silkily, ‘you are not too bothered whether he knows or not…’

  Lucy leapt to her feet and went across to the telephone, turning her back to Nick while she dialled Robert’s London number. In all events, she was spared a conversation, leaving her message on his answer-machine and assuring him that it was nothing to worry about.

  ‘Not at home?’ Nick asked conversationally. ‘At this hour?’ He glanced down at his watch. ‘But it would be…well, very early in the morning, British time…’ He watched her flush and raised his eyebrows in feigned surprise. ‘Not out playing the field, is he?’ he asked in a hearty voice, and her flush deepened.

  ‘He sometimes spends the night at his mother’s,’ Lucy eventually admitted. ‘She…she lives quite close by and she’s on her own. Apparently she’s a little paranoid about safety and Robert feels duty-bound to stay over at her house every so often…’

  ‘Odd arrangement.’

  It hadn’t seemed odd when Robert had explained this to her weeks ago. In fact, she had found it quite touching that he was such a devoted son. Now she realised that it was indeed an odd arrangement.

  ‘He’s very devoted,’ she mumbled, and watched Nick’s raised eyebrows lift a little higher.

  ‘Sweet.’ He stared at her, wondering whether to push the conversation further and decided that he would. The spectre of Robert having any claims over her ignited the devil in him. ‘And what would be the arrangement should you two marry?’ He realised that he was desperate to hear her admit that they weren’t suited, that she had made a big mistake going out with him in the first place.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Lucy said testily. ‘Shouldn’t we be going outside to see what’s happening to our motley collection? Make sure they’re not having nervous breakdowns?’

  ‘He’d probably do the sensible thing.’ Nick ignored her attempt to divert him from the subject and instead stroked his chin thoughtfully with one long finger.

  ‘Which is…?’

  ‘Oh, probably sell his house and get you to sell yours so that you can both move into somewhere big enough to accommodate his mother.’ He allowed the appalling suggestion to sink in before shrugging dismissively. ‘I have seen that arrangement before and my advice would be to avoid it at all costs. Mothers-in-law can prove to be difficult customers at close range, especially if their darling little boy is an only child…’

  ‘Thank you for your advice.’

  That wasn’t good enough, Nick thought, his jaw hardening. ‘In fact, you might want to ask yourself whether marriage to a man who still has not cut the apron strings is such a good prospect…’

  Not only was he hell-bent on playing the good tour guide, Lucy thought suddenly, but he also considered her too inexperienced to know how to deal with a relationship! Could he be more patronising if he tried? She could have told him that she had already made her mind up about Robert, but perversely refused to give him the satisfaction of having him think that his little snippets of advice had managed to sway her.

  ‘Oh, I think there’s a big difference between a man who hasn’t cut the apron strings and a man who is kind and thoughtful towards his parents,’ Lucy said airily, heading towards the door and thereby indicating the end of their conversation.

  She barely had time to turn the handle before feeling the curl of Nick’s fingers around her forearm. ‘I am not trying to pry into your private life,’ he lied smoothly, ‘I merely feel some responsibility towards you.’

  ‘Why?’ It was at times like this, when he closed the physical distance between them and she could feel the heat of his body, that her mind began going into crazy loops and her breathing became difficult. She had thought that going out with someone, shutting her eyes to Nick’s inaccessible, idiotic attraction, would have got her priorities in order, and for a while Robert had been good for her. She had actually begun to think that with a little effort she could talk herself into obeying all her basic instincts for reasonable behaviour. It hadn’t lasted. But facing up to that still didn’t make her stop hating herself for her stupid vulnerability.

  ‘I suppose because you are not the world-weary, hardened type of woman who can handle—’

  ‘Who can handle…what? Her emotions? A love life?’

  ‘That’s not what I meant at all,’ Nick grated, wondering where he had managed to lose his control over their conversation. He was barely aware of the wind gusting against the windows, picking up leaves and debris and rattling them against the panes of glass.

  ‘Look, I can take care of myself. Shall we just leave it at that and go outside so that we can see what’s happening?’ His dark face staring down at her was doing absolutely nothing for her peace of mind. She was just too aware of the proximity of his muscled body, which she had committed to memory months ago, on that one fateful night, and which yesterday’s little jaunt at the beach had further imprinted in her head. She should push him away, but she had a sickening suspicion that if she laid her hand against his chest it would stay there and the little secret she had spent so long hiding would
explode in both their faces like a bomb. She would just not be able to resist undoing the buttons of his shirt and running her hand over him so that she could touch his flat brown nipples, trace the outline of every sinew, dip down to touch the forbidden concealed in his trousers.

  ‘You’re right.’ He released her and stepped back, pulling open the door and standing aside so that she could precede him. ‘If we stay here much longer they will probably send a search party out to look for us.’

  Now that his speech was over he was itching to get back to the situation in hand, she saw. With anyone else he would never have interfered, but she knew why he had chosen to air his opinions to her. However drunk he had been on that night they had made love with all the passion of his despair and her pent-up longing, and however much of a mistake it had been for him, he had not forgotten. A bond between them had been forged, even though neither of them acknowledged it, hence his misplaced sense of responsibility towards her. She could have wept. Instead she smiled brightly and edged past him towards the main area where they had earlier left the guests eating their hastily prepared breakfast and discussing their situation.

  They found them exactly as they had left them and a quick head count indicated that not a single person had vacated the area.

  As soon as they entered the room they were surrounded, and while Nick did his utmost to answer their barrage of questions Lucy allowed herself to be pulled to one side by two of the most elderly of their guests, sisters who had come to the island for a rest in the sunshine.

  ‘It’s picking up, isn’t it, my dear?’ one asked, while the other nodded sagely.

  Lucy glanced over her shoulder and decided that it was infinitely better to deal with the Norton sisters than the predominantly brittle collection of wives who had gathered together to voice their complaints that their perfect holiday would be ruined by something as inconsiderate as the weather.

  She was aware of Nick informing the men that they could make themselves useful by making sure that the windows to their bedrooms were secure and, for those whose rooms had private plunge pools, checking to see that there was nothing left that could be blown away and destroyed.

  ‘Most of the staff are doing a last-minute check of the grounds,’ she heard him explaining in a voice that did not allow room for debate.

  ‘All hands on deck, eh?’ one of the men boomed, getting into the swing of things. ‘Hear that, Mattie?’ he broke off to inform his wife. ‘Bit of a war-time situation here!’

  ‘Hardly the same, dear,’ she replied, which effectively led to a lively discussion of the privations of the war-time era. Preferable, Lucy smiled to herself, to the doom and gloom that had pervaded the room an hour earlier. She caught Nick’s eye and he grinned back at her with mutual understanding.

  He walked towards her and informed her that he would be going outside to lend a hand, checking to make sure that everything that wasn’t nailed down had been dragged inside.

  ‘You will be in good hands,’ he informed the two old ladies, who were apparently not so old that their eyes couldn’t twinkle at the sight of him.

  ‘Of course we will, dear,’ Gracie said, patting Lucy’s hand. ‘We’re very lucky that you and your wife happened to be holidaying here. I think it’s wonderful that you two can take time out from your busy lives to check out your hotels first hand. Don’t you agree, Edie?’ She beamed at her sister, who beamed at them all in return.

  ‘Both such capable people,’ Edie said. ‘And might I say what an attractive couple you make?’

  Lucy opened her mouth to protest and caught a warning glint in Nick’s eye.

  ‘I’ll leave you for the moment, darling,’ he murmured in a velvety voice, ‘but don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it.’

  Lucy smiled faintly, excused herself from the two ladies and caught up with him on the way to the door.

  ‘What are you playing at?’ she demanded under her breath.

  ‘I do not consider it diplomatic to let our guests know the reason we are here,’ he hissed back. ‘We get a fair amount of regulars coming here and any hint of a scandal, I assure you, would not do wonders for our trade.’

  ‘But you could have said that I am just your secretary who’s come over here on…on…’

  ‘Ah, so you get the picture. If not on business, then what…? A passionate, undercover tryst?’

  Lucy frantically thought back to what had been said to the group earlier. Not much, apart from the information that Nick owned a chain of exclusive hotels, of which this was one, and he had then moved on to discuss the hurricane, while she had stood alongside him, supporting his statements.

  ‘So you mean that all these people here think…think…?’

  ‘Probably,’ he agreed drily. ‘And I suggest we allow them to think that. The alternative, without them knowing the true reason we are here, is a seedy liaison.’

  ‘But the staff know,’ Lucy protested.

  ‘And the staff here are trained enough never to indulge in personal conversation with the guests.’ He could feel the stirrings of a plan in his head and a spurt of excitement raced through him like a sudden injection of adrenaline. ‘Now, you go and chat to the old dears. I can see them peering over here at us,’ he bent to murmur in her ear. ‘They are of a generation that still believes in romance. Is that not uplifting in this day and age of sex without strings and relationships without commitment?’

  ‘That’s rich, coming from you,’ Lucy gritted, but any further sarcasm was forestalled when he dipped his head lower to cover her mouth with his, pulling her towards him so that she could not struggle. God, but her lips tasted sweet. His tongue greedily explored the silky wetness of her mouth and he pulled her a little closer until he could feel the push of her breasts against his chest. When he drew back it was with great reluctance. ‘See you later, darling.’

  ‘I’ll…’

  ‘Be waiting for me?’ he quipped, standing back, then he grinned again and vanished out of the door, leaving her trembling like a leaf.

  Lucy had to plaster a smile to her face when she returned to the sisters and their benevolent approval of all things traditional. If they only knew the half of it! She weathered their politely inquisitive remarks, deflecting as much as she could with a semblance of shyness, and she was almost relieved when a sudden gust of wind uprooted one of the shrubs just outside the window and sent it hurtling away into the distance.

  A little flutter of panic brought perspiration to her face. Nick had now been gone the better part of forty-five minutes and there was still no sight of him. What if something had happened out there? She felt sick at the thought of that, but the truth was that the landscape was changing into one that was hostile and threatening.

  She moved towards one of the windows, as had a number of the guests, whose conversations had finally dwindled into silence, and stared at the black skies outside. It could have been nightfall rather than mid-morning.

  ‘I hope your young man is all right, my dear,’ Edie said, coming to stand next to her. ‘I must say, I don’t care for the look of this at all. It is going to be all right, isn’t it?’

  ‘Of course it is.’ Lucy strained her eyes in every direction to see if there was any sign of Nick. The wind was now strong enough to force them to virtually shout if they wanted to be heard, and the coconut trees were no longer swaying gracefully, they were bending almost horizontally along the ground and seemed on the verge of uprooting themselves and taking flight. More plants were being pulled away from the ground.

  ‘This is par for the course!’ she shouted back to Edie. ‘It seems very dramatic but it’s nothing compared to what we would be experiencing if we were in the thick of things, I promise you!’

  There was an ear-splitting crack of thunder and then lightning that illuminated the grounds for an instant, throwing everything into terrifying focus. Couples had found each other and several were clutching hands.

  ‘Quite exciting really, Edie!’ her sister shouted, and they n
odded in appreciation of the elements raging outside. ‘We old fools need something like this now and again to bring a little excitement into our lives!’

  In the midst of this grand display of nature’s supremacy, the rain began. Not a few polite drops, making way for the eventual downpour, but a savage lashing that made it almost impossible to see what was going on outside. And just when Lucy was beginning to contemplate going outside to see where the hell Nick could be the door was flung open and he strode in, soaking wet, unbuttoning his shirt, which clung to his body like an unpleasant second skin.

  ‘She was worried sick about you, the poor thing!’ Gracie bellowed as Nick approached them, his shirt fully off at this point.

  ‘Were you, darling?’

  ‘I just wondered where you were!’

  ‘There’s nothing more we can do now. We’ll just have to sit it out. I’m going to change! Coming?’ His dark eyes gleamed wickedly as rosy colour spread along her cheekbones.

  ‘Of course she’s going to come with you!’ Edie cackled. ‘Look at the state of her! White as a sheet!’

  ‘I’d be better served here.’ How on earth was she supposed to sound coolly contained when she had to shout just to make herself heard?

  ‘OK!’ In an intrusive and intimate gesture, against which she could do nothing without raising unwanted suspicions, he turned to stroke the side of her face before running his thumb along her mouth. ‘Sure, now?’

  ‘Sure!’

  ‘All right! Now, tell me, sweetheart, where did you put my favourite pair of boxer shorts? You know the ones—black with red hearts.’

  ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, darling, but that particular pair was shredded by the dog before we left England!’ Which, her expression informed him, was precisely what she felt like doing to him.