She stiffened sharply. ‘Meaning what?’ She spun on him. ‘That I did get what I deserved last night?’
‘I didn’t say that.’ Ethan sighed wearily. ‘I will never say that!’
‘But it’s interesting that you’re clocking up a whole list of men who could have been mad enough for me to want to spike my drink! We could even add your name, since you’ve just given in against your better judgement and kissed Eve the flirt!’
Ethan had no defence. ‘I’m sorry,’ was all he could say helplessly. ‘But I was not making a judgement on you! If anything I was making a judgement on them! On me—it—oh, I don’t know.’ He sighed, heavily aware that he’d dug his own grave as deep as it needed to go.
‘In other words the name doesn’t really matter, just the one they revolve around,’ Eve misunderstood him—deliberately he suspected.
‘One name matters.’ He grunted.
‘As in, who tried the big seduction of Eve the flirt?’ Ethan winced. Eve nodded, feeling that she’d more than deserved that telling wince. ‘Well, let’s go through all the candidates shall we?’ She was beginning to warm to her sarcastic theme. ‘We both know it wasn’t you, so we can cross your name from the list. Jack Banning has a job to protect, so, even if it was him, he isn’t going to come out and admit he so much as looked at me the wrong way. If it was Aidan, I’m in trouble because the Galloways are rich and powerful, and very clannish, they protect their own in ways you would not believe. As for André Visconte, he will defend his half-brother to his very last breath—as he has done on countless occasions before! Then there is my grandfather to consider—another rich man with too much power at his fingertips. If he finds out someone has dared to overstep the line, he will yell very loudly for the head of the man who tried to seduce his innocent granddaughter while she was under the influence of drink. War will be declared between the two involved families. But who do you think will come out of it with the damaged reputation? Me,’ she threw at him. ‘Eve the flirt. Eve the temptress. Eve the spoiled little rich girl who likes to lead men on for the fun of it and has finally received her just desserts!’
She was near to tears and didn’t want him to know it, so she spun away again taking with her the image of him just standing there staring at her as if she’d just grown two heads. Well, maybe she had! She certainly felt as if she had two heads rocking on her neck. She was tired through lack of sleep, exhausted with lingering shock and whatever else was still permeating her bloodstream. And she was hurting inside because she still couldn’t bring herself to understand why Raoul had believed he could do to her what he had tried to do! Nor could she quite manage to justify that she hadn’t deserved what had happened.
That was the toughest pill to swallow. Self-contempt. She named it bleakly as she stared out of the window, while a deathly silence crowded in from behind. What was he thinking? she wondered painfully. What was now going on inside his cynical head?
Ethan was struggling to think anything much. She was amazing, was his one main impression, and that came from the gut not the brain. But, standing there with the light coming in from behind her, she seemed to shimmer like a proud goddess sent down from the heavens to mess up his life. No wonder her grandfather worshipped her. He was beginning to understand what that felt like.
He was also stunned by what she’d thrown at him. Worse, he wanted to refute what she’d predicted was bound to happen but knew that he couldn’t. It was the way of the world. Since the beginning of time, woman had been cast in the role of temptress and man merely as a slave to her seductive wiles. He was as guilty as anyone of assuming the same thing about Eve. He’d even likened her to the serpent in paradise, when in truth the serpent had been his own desire to tap into that special magic that was Eve. Man being man at the expense of woman, in other words, blaming her for his weakness.
It was not a nice thing to admit about oneself.
‘So…’ He sighed in what he knew was his surrender to the whole darn package that was Eve. ‘Tell me what it is you want to do,’ he invited.
Eve turned to look at him. All he saw was a pair of tear-washed wounded eyes. ‘Do you mean it?’ she asked him in an unsteady voice that finally finished him.
Ask me to bite the apple, Eve, and I will do it, he mused ruefully, well aware that man’s oldest weakness was still very much alive inside him; after all he had just admitted to himself. ‘Yes, I mean it,’ he confirmed and even felt like smiling at his own downfall.
Her fingers released their comforting clutch on her arms. He watched them lower to her sides then turn themselves into two tight, hopeful little fists. He wanted to claim those fists. He wanted to prize those fingers open and feed them inside his shirt so they could roam at their leisure.
‘Continue to play the charade—just for a few weeks,’ she begged him. ‘Give me time to let Grandpa down about this marriage thing—without my having to admit the truth to him.’
Well, he’d asked, now he knew. He was to play the love-struck lover of Eve until she decided it was no longer necessary. Why not? he asked himself. Why the hell not? At this precise moment he was even prepared to lie down on the floor and let her walk all over him.
Time to move, time to react. She was waiting for an answer. Dragging his eyes away from the inner vision of himself lying at her beautiful feet, he looked at his watch and tried to concentrate well enough to read it.
Twelve o’clock, he saw. ‘You’ve got approximately two hours to pack a bag and say your farewells,’ he announced with a smoothness that in no way reflected what was really happening inside him.
‘Why, where am I going?’
Well, there’s an interesting question, he mused. And wished he knew the answer. ‘You can’t come to despise me enough to jilt me while you’re here in the Caribbean and I’m in Spain,’ he pointed out. ‘So you are going to have to come to Spain with me.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
EVE was late.
Standing by the car he aimed to return to the hire company at the tiny airport on the other side of the island, Ethan was beginning to wonder if she’d had a change of heart about coming away with him, when he caught sight of her coming along the path that led to the lane behind the beach houses.
She was pulling her suitcase behind her through the dappled sunlight cast by the shady overhang of the trees. Tall and slender, as always faultlessly sleek, gone was the sweet Miss Modesty look she’d created for her grandfather’s benefit. Now the smooth and slinky siren was back in a misty-lavender skimpy camisole top edged with lace, and matching narrow skirt that did wonderful things to her figure as she moved. She had also let her hair down so it swung like spun toffee around her shoulders, and a pair of silver-framed sunglasses pushed up on her head held it away from her face.
A face that wasn’t happy, Ethan noticed as she came closer. A face that was not just pale any more but sad and very grim.
‘You’re late,’ he said as she reached him. ‘I was beginning to think you weren’t going to bother.’
‘Well, I’m here, as you see.’ And there was nothing loverlike, pretend or otherwise, in the way she flipped the sunglasses down over her eyes before she handed over her case then climbed into the car without offering another word. 84
Grimacing to himself, Ethan stashed the case then joined her. As they drove off up the lane he noticed that she didn’t spare a glance for the sugar-pink gate posts that guarded her grandfather’s property.
‘He was okay about you leaving with me?’ he dared to probe a little.
‘Yes,’ she answered, but he saw the tension line around her mouth and knew she was lying…Again, he tagged on, and wondered why it was that even the lies weren’t bothering him any more.
‘You surprise me,’ he remarked mildly. ‘Having flown in from Greece this morning specifically to spend your birthday with you, I expected him to be very annoyed that you were now walking out on him.’
‘He didn’t fly in from Greece, he flew from Nassau,’ she corrected, �
��where he always intended to return tomorrow, because his mistress is waiting there for him.’
Mistress. Ethan’s opinion of the seventy-year-old Theron Herakleides altered slightly with that piece of information. ‘I didn’t know he had a mistress.’
‘He has several,’ his granddaughter supplied.
Ethan almost allowed himself a very masculine grin. ‘Then, why not bring her here with him and save himself several island-hopping journeys?’
‘A Greek male does not introduce his mistress to his family.’
‘Ah.’ Ethan began to see the light. ‘And neither should a Greek woman introduce her lover to her family?’
‘You are not my lover.’
‘He thinks I am.’
‘He also thinks you are only marrying me for my money,’ she responded tartly. ‘Says a lot about my personal pulling power, don’t you think?’
It said a lot about his character too, Ethan noted grimly, and stopped the car. Turning towards her he viewed her profile through a new set of eyes, and released a heavy sigh. ‘You fed him a very carefully constructed catalogue of lies to save his feelings and he disappointed you by not appreciating the gesture,’ he deduced.
She didn’t answer, but those hands were locked into fists again.
It made him wonder if she was having second thoughts about this and was being just too stubborn to admit as much. ‘If you would rather stay,’ he offered. ‘I can understand if you—’
‘No, you don’t understand,’ she suddenly flashed at him. ‘And, like it or not, I am coming with you!’
‘Then why are you so angry?’
‘I am not angry,’ she denied.
Reaching over, Ethan whipped the sunglasses from her eyes.
‘Okay,’ she conceded, ‘So, I’m angry. Grandpa is angry,’ she tagged on with telling bite. ‘He was lying before when he appeared to be sanctioning our relationship. He now claims that there is no way he is going to let you marry me.’
‘Good for him,’ Ethan commended. ‘It means he has your best interests at heart. I admire him for that.’
Her chin came up. ‘Do you also admire him for setting up this so-called emergency in Spain, just to get you off the island and away from me?’
No, Ethan did not admire Theron for stooping that low. ‘Are you sure about that?’
‘He told me himself,’ Eve confirmed.
‘Oh, what a tangled web we weave…’ Ethan murmured, then sat back in his seat with a sigh. ‘Go back and tell him the truth, Eve,’ he advised heavily. ‘This has gone too far.’
‘I will have my tongue removed before I will tell him the truth now!’ she exclaimed. ‘This is my life, Ethan! I have the right to make my own choices without interference from anyone!’
‘So do I,’ he announced with a sudden resolve that had him starting the car engine again.
‘W-what are you doing?’
‘Going back,’ he said.
‘Why?’ she challenged. ‘Because you’ve suddenly realised that he might decide to take the Greek project away from you if you let me step on that plane with you?’
Ethan stilled again. ‘He threatened to do that?’
Her mutinous expression gave him his answer. Without another word he turned the car round and drove back down the lane and in through the sugar-pink gate posts, then along the driveway to pull up outside the palatial frontage of the Herakleides holiday home.
He was angry now, burning with it. Getting out of the car he walked round to open the passenger door. ‘Out,’ he said, reaching down to take hold of Eve’s hand so he could aid her arrival at his side.
‘What are you going to do?’ she asked.
‘Call his bluff,’ he declared. This was no longer a case of helping Eve out of a situation. It had become a case of his honour and integrity being placed into question, and he didn’t like that.
In fact he didn’t like it one little bit.
Eve wasn’t sure that she was looking forward to what was coming. It was one thing her being angry with her grandfather, but it was quite a different thing entirely to discover that she’d managed to make Ethan angry with him too. She loved that cantankerous old man. She understood where he was coming from; Ethan did not.
‘Don’t upset him,’ she burst out suddenly.
Pausing in the process of closing the car door, ‘Are you going to tell him the truth?’
He looked down at her, and she looked up at him, her heart flipped over. He was so much her kind of man that Grandpa couldn’t be more wrong about anything! ‘No,’ she answered mutinously.
His dark head nodded. Her hand was grasped. He began trailing her behind him up white marble steps set between tall pink pillars. The front door was standing open; Ethan took them inside. The house was quiet, so their footsteps echoed on the cool white tiling as they trod the way across the huge hallway to Theron’s inner sanctum. The man himself was lounging behind his desk talking on the telephone. But the moment he saw them appear through the door, the phone call was severed and he was rising to his feet.
‘So he brought you back. I expected as much.’ The eyes of a cynic lanced Ethan with a dismissive look before they returned to his granddaughter. ‘Which part did it, hmm? The part about me threatening to leave you nothing if he married you, or the part about the Greek project hanging in the balance?’
‘Neither.’ Striding forward with Eve still in tow, Ethan lifted up their linked hands and brought them down, still linked, upon Theron’s desk. It was a declaration of intent, and Theron took it as such, his smug expression turning slightly wary as he looked at the other man.
‘My submission for the Greek project is now formally withdrawn,’ Ethan announced. ‘Written confirmation will arrive on your desk as soon as I can have it typed up. As for your money—tell him Eve…’
Tell him Eve…Tell him what? A current of communication was running between them via those firmly linked hands, but for the life of her she didn’t know what it was Ethan was expecting her say. Her grandfather was looking at her, Ethan was keeping his eyes fixed on her grandfather, and her mouth had gone dry as the idea sank in that Ethan was waiting for her to come clean with the whole nasty truth, so her grandfather would know then that this was all nothing but a terrible sham.
‘Ethan doesn’t want your m-money,’ she began, having to moisten her lips with the tip of her tongue before she could find the will to speak. ‘M-money isn’t what this is about. He only w-wanted to—’
‘Love a woman whom I think is worthy of being loved for herself,’ Ethan took over. ‘But you don’t seem to agree,’ he informed the older man. ‘So while I provide written confirmation of my withdrawal from the Greek project, I suggest you protect Eve from my evil intentions and provide formal notice that none of your money can be accessed or offered in any way shape or form, to me.’
He meant it—he really meant it! ‘Ethan—no!’ Eve cried out. ‘I can’t let you throw away your livelihood because I—’
He kissed her to shut her up—did he kiss her! In front of her grandfather and without compunction, he kissed her until her knees went weak.
Theron watched that kiss, saw its passion, and felt its intensity like the pulsing beat of a drum. Eve emerged in a state of blushing confusion. Ethan Hayes was black-eyed, tight-jawed—and hot. If it wasn’t for that troubling rumour about a certain married lady, Theron would be convinced that Ethan Hayes was as much in love with Eve as she clearly was with him!
But there was that niggling rumour, the old man reminded himself. Which then made him wonder if Ethan Hayes was executing one very convincing bluff here? Was he now expecting Theron to withdraw all threats, then sit back and think that all was right in his granddaughter’s world?
‘I will have all the relevant documentation drawn up and ready for you to sign when you reach Spain,’ Theron announced, smoothly calling a double bluff.
It took the two lovers a long moment to respond. Their eyes were still locked, as were those dramatically clasped han
ds. Ethan Hayes stood one very handsome dark head taller that his sweet Eve, and Theron was willing to admit that they made a strikingly fetching pair.
‘Why should I go to deal with an emergency that never was?’ Ethan prompted.
Theron merely gave an indolent shrug. ‘The emergency is real,’ he confessed. ‘The difference being that your business partner was attempting to deal with it himself without breaking into your holiday. Apparently my request for help to get you off this island merely tied in with what your people were already intending to do.’ He even grimaced at the irony. ‘So go and catch your plane,’ he invited as a form of dismissal, ‘for we have nothing left to discuss on this subject, other than to confirm that I will expect to see you both in Athens in two weeks for the formal announcement of your betrothal.’
Unless Mr Hayes had found a way to wriggle out of it by then, was the silent addition Theron kept to himself. Ethan Hayes was frowning down at him, unconvinced by his all-too easy climb-down. On the other hand, his beautiful Eve was breaking his heart with angry daggers for eyes.
‘I don’t want your money,’ she announced.
Theron just smiled a silky smile. ‘But you are getting it, my sweet angel,’ he returned. ‘Every single hard-earned drachma. And not one coin will be spent on him.’ Theron looked at Ethan, bluff and counter-bluff stirring spice into his old blood. ‘Perhaps you can recommend one of your competitors to take over the Greek project?’ he intoned.
‘You already had the best, and you know it,’ Ethan countered. ‘So be sure to inform Leandros that you’ve chucked me off the job. I can promise you that he is going to be absolutely ecstatic.’
With that neat and final arrogantly confident cut, Ethan turned to Eve. ‘Say your goodbyes properly,’ he commanded. ‘I don’t want you with me if you’re going to be angry with him.’
Then he kissed her fully on the mouth again and strode away, leaving grandfather and granddaughter staring after him as if they could not quite believe he was real.
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