The Affair: One Night...Nine-Month Scandal

by Maya Banks

  A person didn’t change overnight, did they?

  She’d grown up watching her mother try to convert her father from wild boy to family man. It hadn’t worked.

  Watching Alekos, Kelly felt a flicker of unease, unable to dismiss the fact that he’d made the call after she’d brought up the subject of the baby. Was he using it as an escape from a subject he found hard to discuss? Did it mean he was still having trouble accepting the situation?

  She watched him as he paced the terrace and talked, gesturing with his hands, making an instantaneous shift from Mediterranean lover to ruthless businessman while she reasoned with herself.

  He was here, wasn’t he? That had to count for something—a lot, actually. Of course he wasn’t going to get used to the idea overnight, but he was obviously trying.

  Attempting to push away the dark mist that was pressing at the edges of her happiness, Kelly glanced round the beautiful gardens that tumbled from the sunlit terrace down to the beach. The rioting, colourful Mediterranean plants attracted birds and bees, and the only sound in the air was the cheerful chirrup of the cicadas and the occasional faint splash as a swallow swooped to steal water from the swimming pool.

  It was paradise.

  Paradise with a cloud on the horizon.

  Ending the phone call, Alekos strode back to her, simmering with frustration. ‘What do you do when two of the children in your class constantly scrap?’

  ‘I separate them,’ Kelly said instantly and he looked at her, eyes narrowed.

  ‘You separate them?’

  ‘Yes. I don’t let them sit together. If they sit together then they focus on their interaction rather than their work. They put all their energies into being in conflict with the person next to them, rather than listening to me.’

  ‘Genius,’ Alekos breathed, dialling another number and lifting the phone to his ear. He spoke in Greek, his tone clipped and businesslike as he delivered what sounded like a volley of instructions.

  Kelly waited patiently until he’d finished talking. ‘What was that all about?’

  ‘Two of my very senior executives seem unable to interact without generating major conflict.’ Alekos strolled to the small table and poured some lemonade for her. ‘They’re both too good to lose, and I’ve been trying to find a way of making them work together. It hadn’t occurred to me to separate them. It’s a brilliant idea.’

  Kelly flushed with pleasure, ridiculously pleased by his praise, and incredibly relieved that it obviously was a really pressing crisis that had driven him to take that call, nothing to do with the baby. ‘So that’s what you’ve done?’

  ‘Yes.’ Ice cubes clinked as they tumbled into the glass. ‘I’ve moved one of them to Investor Relations. Perfect. I think you should come and work for my company. You can sort out all the people problems that drive me demented. You’re very clever.’ He handed her the drink and she took it gratefully, touched again by his praise.

  ‘I’m just a schoolteacher,’ she muttered. ‘I teach eight-year-olds.’

  ‘Which makes you extremely well qualified to deal with my board,’ Alekos drawled, glancing at his watch. ‘Go and get dressed into something slightly less provocative. I want to take you out.’

  ‘Out?’

  ‘Yes. If you want to talk and not have sex then we’d better go somewhere extremely public.’

  * * *

  He took her to Corfu town and they wandered hand in hand around the old fortress, mingling with the tourists. ‘Did you always want to be a teacher?’

  ‘Yes.’ Kelly was rummaging in her bag. ‘When I was small I used to line my toys up in a row and give them lessons. Alekos, I’ve lost my sunglasses and my new iPod. I know I put them in my bag. I think.’

  ‘Your sunglasses are on your head. I have your iPod.’ Visibly amused, Alekos pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to her. ‘You left it in the kitchen. Maria found it.’

  ‘The kitchen?’ Kelly took it from him gratefully, trying to remember when she’d taken it to the kitchen. ‘How weird.’

  ‘It was in the fridge,’ he said dryly, and she gave a helpless shrug.

  ‘Even more weird. I suppose I must have left it there when I was pouring myself a glass of milk.’

  ‘That sounds completely logical.’ His voice was gently mocking. ‘If I lose any of my possessions, the first place I look is the fridge.’

  ‘You never lose anything because you’re scarily organised. You ought to loosen up a bit. And it’s mean to tease me. I’m just really tired.’ Her comment wiped the indulgent smile from Alekos’s face.

  ‘We will go home and I will call the doctor.’

  ‘I don’t want to go home and I don’t need a doctor,’ Kelly said mildly, pushing her iPod deep into her bag to avoid losing it again. ‘I’m pregnant, not ill.’ Glancing at him, she noticed the sudden tension in his shoulders and sighed. It was like waiting for a bomb to go off. ‘I just need a decent night’s sleep.’ And she needed to stop lying there worrying that he was going to change his mind and walk out any day. ‘It doesn’t help that you’re insatiable.’

  ‘I seem to recall you were the one who woke me at five this morning.’

  Kelly turned scarlet as two women turned their heads to stare. ‘Could you keep your voice down?’

  ‘They shouldn’t be listening to a private conversation.’

  But Kelly knew that the truth was that wherever they went women stared. Alekos attracted female attention. Slightly uneasy about that fact, she changed the subject. ‘I expect you did well at school. You’re very clever.’

  ‘I was bored stiff.’

  Kelly gave a strangled laugh. ‘I pity your poor teachers. I wouldn’t have wanted to teach you.’

  Alekos stopped and pulled her into his arms, smoothing her hair away from her face with his hand. ‘You are teaching me,’ he said huskily. ‘All the time. Every day I learn something new from you. How to be patient. How to solve a problem in a non-violent way. How to find an iPod in a fridge.’

  ‘Ha ha, very funny.’ Her heart was thundering like horses’ hooves in a race, because he was so indecently good-looking and all his attention was focused on her. ‘You’re teaching me stuff, too.’

  He gave a slow, dangerous smile. ‘Perhaps you’d better not list exactly what I’m teaching you while we’re in a public place. That’s why we came here, remember?’

  ‘I didn’t mean that.’ A warm, fluttery feeling settled low in her belly, a feeling that increased as he lowered his mouth to kiss her.

  Alekos led her along a narrow back-street and into a tiny restaurant where he was greeted like a hero.

  ‘My grandmother used to bring me here. It is traditional Corfiot cooking.’ Alekos pulled out a chair for her. ‘You will enjoy it.’

  ‘You adored your grandmother.’ Kelly twisted the ring on her finger self-consciously. ‘I feel so guilty that I almost sold this. I had no idea it was hers. And I didn’t have a clue that it was that valuable. I almost had a heart attack when I saw that bid.’

  ‘But not as big a heart attack as when you saw me standing at the school gates and realised that I’d bought it.’

  ‘That’s true.’ Kelly wanted to ask whether he’d intended to give it to Marianna, but she decided that their fragile relationship didn’t need any more external bombardment. ‘It was a shock.’

  ‘Why did you choose to teach in that place? You could have taught in a big school in a city.’

  Kelly watched in surprise as several waiters arrived carrying a dozen small plates of different Greek specialities. ‘When did we order? Or did they just read your mind?’

  ‘They give you whatever the kitchen has freshly prepared. If you want authentic Greek cooking, then this is the place to come. You haven’t answered my question.’

  ‘About why I c
hose Little Molting? I wanted to keep a low profile.’

  In the process of spooning dolmades onto her plate, Alekos paused. ‘A low profile?’

  Kelly picked up her fork, wondering how honest to be. ‘The whole press thing was a bit overwhelming after our wedding that didn’t happen. They wouldn’t leave me alone. Only because I was linked to you, of course,’ she said hastily, her hair falling forward as she studied the food on her plate. ‘Not because I’m interesting by myself. And, actually, I wouldn’t really want all that. Can you imagine what they’d print about me in one of those celebrity magazines? “And Kelly has graciously invited us to photograph her in her beautiful home. And here we are in her kitchen where you see that, oh dear, she has forgotten to empty the bins”.’ Realising that Alekos hadn’t said a word, her voice tailed off and she looked up at him. ‘What? I’m talking too much?’

  ‘The doctor said that the press hounded you on our wedding day.’

  Kelly tucked her hair behind her ear. ‘Yes, well, you not turning up at the wedding was quite exciting for them, I suppose. For reasons I’ve never understood, some people thrive on the misery of others. Watching someone coping with trauma appears to be a popular spectator-sport. I don’t get it myself. If I see someone upset I either want to comfort them or give them privacy, not ogle them, but there you are—people are sometimes a bit disappointing, aren’t they?’

  ‘Theé mou, I am truly sorry for what I put you through.’ His voice was hoarse and he reached across the table and caught her hand. ‘I didn’t think about the press or the attention that would be focused on you.’

  ‘That’s because you live your life behind high walls and you have security men who make the Incredible Hulk look puny.’ Kelly stared down at the strong, bronzed fingers covering hers. She wondered if he realised that she was still wearing his ring on her right hand. Maybe he’d just forgotten; men were pretty rubbish at noticing things like that, weren’t they? She tapped her fingers on the table, hoping to draw attention to it. ‘Are you right-handed or left-handed?’

  Alekos looked astonished by the sudden change of subject. ‘Right-handed. Why?’

  Because I’m trying to bring up the subject of hands, Kelly thought wildly, deciding that subtlety wasn’t her strong point. ‘I’m right-handed too.’ She waggled her hand, making sure that the diamond flashed in his face.

  ‘You’re right-handed.’ He looked at her cautiously. ‘I suppose it’s always useful to know these things. I really am sorry that you were subjected to so much press attention.’

  Nowhere near as sorry as she was that he hadn’t said anything about her wearing his ring on her right hand. Kelly put her hand back in her lap, despondent. ‘It’s OK—well, not completely OK, of course. I was very upset. It was jolly humiliating, if I’m honest. I was pretty angry with you.’

  ‘Pretty angry? You should have been livid.’

  ‘All right, I was livid,’ she confessed. ‘I felt like a total idiot ever thinking that someone like you could be interested in someone like me.’ Maybe she was still behaving like an idiot. Maybe it was idiotic to think that this could ever work. ‘Billionaires don’t usually hang around with penniless students. Not in the real world.’

  ‘Then they ought to,’ Alekos drawled. ‘They might be happier.’

  Kelly looked at him, wanting to ask if he was happy—wanting to ask how he was feeling about the baby now that several weeks had passed. But broaching that subject felt like handling a priceless Ming vase: she was too afraid she might smash the whole thing to pieces if she touched it in the first place.

  ‘If it would help, you can hit me now.’ Alekos studied her across the table, clearly sensing the undercurrents but mistakenly attributing them to the past rather than the present. ‘You might find it cathartic.’

  ‘I’m non-violent,’ Kelly muttered. ‘I don’t think it would have made me feel any better to bruise your face, then or now.’

  ‘It might make me feel better.’

  She looked up at him, slightly reassured by the fact that he clearly regretted the way he’d treated her. At least he hadn’t tried to hurt her.

  ‘I understand better now.’ She pushed her fork into a piece of spicy local sausage. ‘Things were really intense between us. We barely stopped kissing long enough to have a conversation. Neither of us really thought further than the moment. And I was all over you, saying stuff because I’m useless at holding it all in. I’ve thought about what you said—about waking up that morning and seeing the story in the magazine about me wanting children. It’s no wonder you freaked out.’

  Alekos drew in a deep breath. ‘You don’t have to make excuses for me.’

  ‘I’m not. I’m just saying that I can understand it better now. Maybe if that magazine had come out the day before, or even the day after, we could have talked about it, and who knows?’ Kelly shrugged. ‘The morning of the wedding was just basically very bad timing.’

  ‘What I did to you was unforgivable.’

  ‘It wasn’t unforgivable. It was hurtful, scary—loads of things, actually.’ Thinking back to that time made her feel slightly sick. ‘But it wasn’t unforgivable. Especially not now I understand why you reacted that way. I shared some of the blame for just diving into a hot, intense relationship with you without discussing the really important things.’

  Alekos studied her for a long moment. ‘You are the most generous person I have ever met,’ he said gruffly, and Kelly blushed.

  ‘Not that generous. I said a few bad things to Vivien about you, I can promise you that.’ Agonisingly conscious of him, she looked down at her plate. ‘Do you forgive me for selling your ring?’

  ‘Yes.’ He replied without hesitation. ‘I drove you to that.’

  ‘If it belonged to your family, why did you let me keep it in the first place?’

  ‘It was a gift to you.’

  ‘Well, that was a very generous gift. I had no idea it was worth—’ she lowered her voice to a whisper ‘—four-million dollars.’

  ‘It is worth a great deal more than that,’ Alekos said calmly. ‘Try this lamb. It’s cooked in herbs and it’s delicious.’

  ‘More?’ Kelly’s voice was a squeak and Alekos smiled.

  ‘The ring has been passed down my father’s side of the family for generations.’ He toyed with the stem of his glass. ‘My great-great-great-grandfather was apparently given it as a reward for saving the life of an Indian princess. Or so the legend goes.’ A cynical smile touched his mouth. ‘I suspect the stone may have less romantic origins, but I’ve never explored it further.’

  ‘I don’t even want to know how much it’s worth,’ Kelly said faintly, glancing cautiously over her shoulder to check the other diners weren’t listening. ‘As soon as we leave this place, I’m giving it back to you. It’s crazy giving anything that valuable to me! I’ll leave it in the fridge or something. You know I’m useless.’

  ‘It is perfectly safe on your finger.’ Amused, Alekos dismissed her concerns, but Kelly stared down at the sparkling, winking diamond, no longer able to pretend that he might have forgotten she was wearing it on the finger of her right hand.

  He hadn’t forgotten.

  So why hadn’t he suggested she move it to her left hand?

  On the surface they appeared to be getting on well, but he still hadn’t talked about the future, had he? He hadn’t mentioned marriage.

  He hadn’t said ‘I love you’.

  And neither had she, because this time she was terrified of saying the wrong thing. Of spilling out something he didn’t want to hear. Every time they made love she had to clamp her mouth shut, terrified that the words might fly out by themselves in an unguarded moment of ecstasy.

  Her appetite gone, Kelly put her fork down and took a sip of water.

  It was early days, she told herself firmly. It was going to ta
ke time to rebuild what they had. And, anyway, they were building something new. Something better. Something deeper and more enduring.

  That wasn’t something that could be rushed. He was right to wait. She had to give it time.

  But telling herself that did nothing to alleviate the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  Chapter 9

  ‘We’re flying to Italy for one evening?’ Kelly decided that she’d never be able to be as cool as he was about foreign travel. ‘Where, exactly?’

  ‘Venice. We’re attending a reception at a gallery.’ Alekos didn’t quite meet her eyes and she had a distinct feeling that there was something he wasn’t telling her.

  ‘And they like you because you’re rich and you spend money? Can we go on a gondola?’ She was talking to his shoulders because he’d already walked into his dressing room.

  ‘That’s for tourists.’

  ‘I’m a tourist.’ Bouncing off the bed, Kelly followed him into the dressing room. ‘I’ve always wanted to go on a gondola.’

  Selecting a suit and a fresh white shirt, Alekos gave a tense smile. ‘All right. I’ll take you on a gondola tomorrow before we come home. Tonight is a very smart gathering. You need to dress up.’

  Kelly rested her hand over her stomach self-consciously. ‘I’ll have to wear something baggy; my tummy is sticking out. It must be too much Greek food.’

  ‘Or it could be our baby,’ Alekos said softly, placing his hand over hers. For a moment his eyes lingered on hers and then he lowered his head and kissed her on the mouth. ‘I bought you a dress.’ Reaching into the wardrobe, he retrieved a large box decorated with a subtle, tasteful logo. ‘I hope you like it.’

  ‘You mean you hope it covers my fat tummy. At least I have an excuse—the worst thing is when someone asks you when the baby is coming and you have to tell them you’re not pregnant.’ Light-headed, thrilled by his unexpected warmth towards the baby, Kelly chatted away. ‘It’s almost worth being pregnant for ever just so that you have an excuse when your clothes are too tight. Oh.’ She removed the dress from the tissue paper and stared at it in awe. ‘It’s stunning. Gold. Long.’