The Greek’s Chosen Wife

CHAPTER NINE

‘HOW DO YOU feel?’ Nik settled Prudence into a seat on his private jet with as much care as he would have utilised had she been an invalid.

‘I’m perfectly fine.’ Her even white teeth clenched on that declaration. She was convinced that if he asked her one more time how she was, she would scream! Such prolonged, exaggerated solicitude struck her as quite unnecessary. She was not suffering any physical discomfort or weakness now. Ironically she felt healthy as a horse.

When they were airborne, Prudence studied a wildlife magazine and struggled to seem unconscious of Nik’s steady regard.

‘You’re not speaking to me…’ Nik murmured.

‘Of course I’m speaking to you. I’m not a child, for goodness’ sake!’

‘I don’t know you like this. It’s like you’re surrounded by barbed wire.’

‘We are on our way to a funeral. Excuse me for not feeling chatty,’ Prudence whipped back at him stiffly from behind her magazine.

Nik left his seat and sank down in the one beside her. ‘We can get through all this…but we have to talk.’

Prudence threw aside the magazine in a temperamental display that she could not suppress. Her emotions all felt as though they were perched on a knife edge. Nik starred at the heart of a welter of conflicting responses. She wanted him to be close, and yet, on another level, she could not resist the urge to push him away and snipe at him. With an unsteady hand she smoothed down the skirt of the elegant black suit she wore. ‘Not now, please…’

‘I lost a child, too…’ Nik breathed in a raw undertone. ‘Don’t shut me out, thespinis mou.’

As she sprang up to take refuge in the sleeping compartment, Nik caught her hand in his. ‘What?’ she gasped, eyes over-bright and stinging and avoiding the golden challenge of his.

‘We can share more than a bed,’ Nik told her with disconcerting candour.

Her face flaming, she pulled her fingers free and fled. He had held her through the nights since she’d lost the baby without touching her, while her shameless body tingled and heated to the hard, muscular embrace of his. Had he known how much she longed for him? Here she was, barely speaking to him, and yet that craving for him refused to cease! Her hands curled into tight fists. He was right. There was a barrier between them but it was a much more basic barrier than he appreciated.

Of course, she was not still blaming him for his candour on the score of parenthood a few days before she lost the baby, she thought unhappily. She was not so stupid or short-sighted that she would hold spite on such a score. No, in the aftermath of her miscarriage, she had come to appreciate that she was hurting so badly because she had set herself up for that hurt. Unrequited love was a recipe for disappointment. Worst of all, she was obsessively in love with Nik and she always had been. But when they were just friends she’d had enough distance to keep her pride and her common sense and independence. In short she had learned to get by without Nik very nicely. After their marriage blessing, however, everything had changed and, with it, her aspirations.

Even so, it wasn’t fair to blame him for not loving her. He had never offered love. He still did romance as if he had been born to it and had the right move and word for every occasion. Three weeks of being treated like a goddess in their Tuscan hideaway had left her floating on air, so the return to solid earth again had been understandably tough. Nik was never going to love her and she had to learn to live with that. They could be really close in other ways, she reasoned fiercely. Pride was making her push him away but she did not want to destroy their marriage; she did not want to lose him. Half a loaf still felt better than no bread at all.

‘I had a nap…I’m feeling better,’ she hastened to assure Nik with a determined smile as they moved through Athens Airport. ‘I’m sorry I’ve been so out of sorts.’

‘The experience you’ve had, you’ve been a saint,’ Nik pronounced, his charismatic smile making her heart bounce like a tennis ball.

She was very much surprised when an older man with a familiar face stepped forward to greet her with solemn formality and ask if he might take her luggage for her. She recognised him as her grandfather’s chauffeur.

‘My goodness…I’m afraid I wasn’t expecting to be met off my flight.’

Nik explained that they had made their own arrangements to travel to the funeral.

‘Do you think the driver did that off his own bat?’ Prudence asked when they reached their own limo. ‘Grandfather’s staff were very nice to me when I stayed with him.’

In Nik’s experience staff, no matter how kind or well-intentioned, rarely took such initiatives. Were Theo’s legal executors keen to cast a polite public veil of concealment over the late tycoon’s brutal treatment of his grandchild? A limo ride to the funeral would have been cheap at the price. His handsome mouth took on a sardonic curl. He considered that the more likely explanation.

From the airport they went to Nik’s family home, where they had been invited to lunch with his parents. Prudence had received several sympathetic phone calls from her mother-in-law and Nik’s sisters and had been warmed by their friendly acceptance. Nik’s father also accompanied them to the church.

During the church service, Prudence became conscious that quite a few people seemed to be craning their heads to look in her direction. At the cemetery, the surge of her regret for the fact that she’d never got to know the older man sent tears rolling down her face. Theo Demakis had been her last living relative and to the last he had been a stubborn, bitter, unforgiving man who had rejected her every attempt to treat him like a family member. Of course, that had been his choice, she reminded herself ruefully. While Nik was engaged in dialogue with his father, Gregoly Lelas approached her to check that she was coming back to the Demakis villa outside Athens.

Prudence was surprised by the question. ‘I wasn’t planning to,’ she told her grandfather’s lawyer.

‘But you are the only possible hostess. Everyone here will be your guests,’ the older man pointed out, as if there was nothing extraordinary about her taking a place that had been denied her during his employer’s life. ‘I would also welcome the opportunity to read the will.’

The concept of acting as hostess at the palatial Demakis villa shook Prudence, but she could not see that she had any choice in the matter if it was expected of her. Her eyes widened a little at that reference to the will. Had her grandfather left her something? A small token? Or possibly some item that might act as an unspoken rebuke for the disappointment she had brought him while he was alive, she thought wryly.

‘I can’t accompany you,’ Nik breathed in a taut undertone of apology when she explained. ‘I was content to offer my respects at the funeral but it would be inappropriate for me to enter the Demakis home.’

‘But you’re my husband,’ Prudence protested in dismay at the prospect of being left to cope alone with so many strangers.

‘I hate to disappoint you…however, circumstances are such at this moment that I could not be present, thespinis mou.’ Nik grasped her hand, his thumb massaging her wrist in a soothing gesture. ‘The limo will drop me off at my office and return to wait for you until you are ready to leave. I’ll be at my apartment by six.’

Feeling that she had been selfish and thoughtless to expect more concessions from Nik when he and her grandfather had parted in such acrimony, Prudence managed an understanding smile. In any event, the number of guests arriving at the Demakis villa kept her too busy to notice Nik’s absence. It was still a shock, however, to lift her head and see Cassia Morikis gliding towards her like visiting royalty. With her shining fall of platinum-blonde hair tumbling round her slender shoulders and wearing an impossibly elegant little black dress and hat, Cassia looked like an exquisite doll put on earth purely to depress other women.

The blonde woman settled sparkling brown eyes on Prudence. ‘A lot of people were very impressed that Nik attended the funeral. He has so much class. You’ll never match him. You didn’t notice me at the service, did you? You were too busy looking devout.’

‘The church was crowded.’ Prudence fought to maintain her composed front, even while her tummy lurched as if she was in a tiny boat spinning in a whirlpool. She had always found the blonde intimidating and that teenaged fear of humiliation was with her still. ‘I wasn’t aware that you were acquainted with my grandfather.’

‘Weren’t you? My father has been a powerful man in Demakis International for several years.’ Cassia, who was on the best of form, gave her a sickeningly smug smile. ‘Of course, the will may not have been read but we all know that Theo has left the lot to his first wife’s cousins in Germany. They don’t need the money and they’ll leave the business in the capable hands of the current management. Nice for us, but not so nice for you.’

As Prudence had never been under the impression that she would inherit her grandfather’s wealth, Cassia’s spite had no effect on her. ‘If you like to think so.’

‘Oh, I do.’ Cassia laughed softly. ‘I’m amazed that you can act as though you belong in this house. Whose sad idea was that? After all, you weren’t welcome here when Theo was alive.’

‘I’m amazed that you still hate me so much,’ Prudence confessed truthfully. ‘The past eight years must have been very empty for you if you’re still so bitter about Nik and I getting married-’

‘And what sort of a marriage is it?’ Cassia cut in furiously, twin spots of high colour burning over her delicate cheekbones. ‘Just a big fat fake! I did him a good turn when I ensured that he flaked out on your wedding night. Beautiful Nik, forced to marry someone ordinary and boring like you-’

Prudence’s soft blue gaze had turned to steel. ‘You…ensured?’

‘Who else?’ Cassia could not conceal her triumph. ‘I slipped the pill into his drink when he wasn’t looking.’

Prudence trembled with rage. She remembered that Nik had said how much he cherished the fact that she never forgot she was a lady. She remembered that it was a solemn and sad occasion. She also strove to recall that violence was not an answer to a difficult situation. She breathed in so deep as she restrained herself that she almost went into orbit.

‘Mrs Angelis…’ Gregoly Lelas interposed at a most welcome moment. ‘Would you like to come into the library now?’

Prudence was bemused to find that she was alone in the room with three lawyers. ‘Where is everyone else?’

‘There are no other beneficiaries,’ she was told and before the significance of that statement could sink in the will was read.

‘I don’t think I quite understand.’

‘You have inherited the entire estate and are now an extremely wealthy woman,’ Mr Lelas clarified with assurance.

‘But the cousins in Germany…’ she said weakly.

‘A cover story that amused your grandfather. You have been an heir to the Demakis holdings since the day that your father, Apollo, died.’

Prudence was shattered by that statement. ‘But that was more than fifteen years ago…and at one stage my grandfather believed he had a second son.’

‘Yes. But even during that period you would still have inherited a substantial share of Mr Demakis’s estate. You have Demakis blood in your veins and that meant a great deal to him.’

The shock Prudence had received was so great that she felt numb and unresponsive. ‘But my grandfather wasn’t even speaking to me…’

‘Mr Demakis was a very complex and clever man and not always easy to understand.’ The lawyer and his colleagues went on to list the main assets of the estate; ten minutes later they were still talking and Prudence’s lower lip felt permanently parted from the upper.

‘Obviously we will need to have a series of meetings as there are many formalities to be observed.’

‘Obviously,’ Prudence echoed, a slightly glazed look in her eyes.

‘I don’t wish to tax you with more today. Shortly before Mr Demakis died he made a short film that he wished you to view.’

‘A film? He knew that he was ill?’

‘Yes. He preferred that his fragile state of health towards the end of his life remained a private matter.’ The lawyer passed her a DVD in a sealed case, indicated the player and announced that he and his colleagues would wait outside to answer any questions she might have.

With a thudding heart, Prudence broke the seal, extracted the DVD and fed it in. The image of her grandfather flicked up on screen. It was a good five years since she had seen him in the flesh, and age and poor health were etched in his grim pallor.

‘How does it feel to be an heiress and hold your husband in the palm of your hand?’ Theo Demakis asked with a sardonic smile. ‘As this film is being made, you and Nik Angelis are sunning yourself in Italy and carrying on like newly-weds. You can thank me for that development.’

‘No…you can’t have known!’ Prudence gasped in stark disconcertion that the older man could have found out about their Tuscan honeymoon.

‘Picking a fight with Nik was not difficult. He’s very loyal to you. When I evicted you and your menagerie from that squalid house, Nik raced to your rescue as I knew he would. It brought you together. Adversity brings out the best in Nik. So I put him under financial pressure by poaching contracts from his company. He fought back. He even sold his yacht to fund the purchase of Oakmere Abbey. How chivalrous of him.’ The older man shook his grizzled head in wonderment. ‘Since then, as you’re no doubt aware, Demakis International’s campaign to put your husband’s company out of business has been steadily gaining ground. I knew Nik wanted to feel free of my influence and I gave him good reason to believe he had succeeded.’

‘Oh, my word…’ Prudence mumbled sickly, for a hundred and one things were falling into place for her and she was aghast at what she was hearing. On more than one recent occasion, she had marvelled at the endless hours of work Nik put in and the frequent phone calls he made and received. Indeed, she had scolded him for his preoccupation with business and his exhaustion. But he must have been worried sick, for her grandfather was a formidable opponent. How could she not have guessed what was going on? And how could he not have told her?

‘And now Nik is yours and you can call all the shots, Prudence. That is how I always planned it,’ her grandfather assured her.

‘That’s not possible!’ Prudence gasped in disbelief.

‘You’re a Demakis. I’m making you a very rich and very powerful woman,’ Theo Demakis continued with satisfaction. ‘If I’d known how stubborn you are, I might not have used the tactics I did eight years ago. But it offended me to see in a girl the traits that your father, Apollo, lacked. You have his sentimentality but not his weakness. You should acknowledge that I chose you the perfect husband.’

As the recording concluded, Prudence went into shock and stared into space, her brain teeming with frantic half-formed thoughts. Her most overriding need was to see Nik but first she tackled Gregoly Lelas. ‘Demakis International is trying to put my husband out of business. What is the position now?’

‘I know I may speak for the board when I say that the directors have no desire to continue what has been seen as a personal vendetta,’ he responded smoothly. ‘But the position is essentially what you choose to make it. Theo made his own decisions. He led very much from the front. When the terms of his will are publicised, Demakis International will need a strong guiding hand.’

Nik, she thought numbly. Nik’s would be the guiding hand, just as Theo Demakis had always intended. And the whispers of her incredible inheritance had already begun to travel; she saw it in the stunned light in certain eyes that turned towards her, as the crush of people parting allowed her to cross the hall and leave unimpeded. She realised that the news would spoil Cassia’s day and that knowledge gave her a wickedly pleasant sensation.

She got into the limousine. I am rich. She shook her head a little to clear it but the floating sensation of unreality persisted. This time around, she was going to save Nik, and that had a certain poetic justice.

Nik was chatting on the phone when she found him. His dark eyes flared gold when he saw her standing on the threshold of the large airy reception room. A smile curving his handsome mouth, he stretched out a lean brown hand to welcome her to his side. Willingly she grasped that hand and let him fold her up against his hard muscular frame while he completed his call in husky fluent French that made her toes curl.

‘How was it at the house, pethi mou?’ he asked softly.

‘Not so bad…but Cassia was there and less than pleasant.’

‘Nothing new in that.’

Prudence eased round to look up at him in surprise at that quip. ‘Well, guess what? Cassia also admitted that she spiked your drink on our wedding day.’

Nik raised a questioning black brow. ‘How did you get her to confess? Thumbscrews and a rack?’

‘She couldn’t resist the urge to crow about it-’

His wide, sensual mouth hardened. ‘What a bitch,’ he murmured with contempt. ‘I suspected it but I didn’t think I’d ever know for sure.’

‘To be frank, I want to discuss something rather more important than Cassia…’ Prudence ran possessive fingers down over the lapel of his beautifully cut jacket. ‘I understand that my grandfather spent the last few weeks of his life trying to put you out of business.’

Nik stiffened and set her back a step to scan her oval face. ‘How did you find out?’

‘You’d never believe it if I told you,’ Prudence sighed, thinking of the recording that had allowed Theo Demakis to speak from beyond the grave. ‘Obviously it’s true. But I can’t understand why you didn’t tell me yourself-’

Nik frowned. ‘Of course you can understand. You’re my wife. He was your grandfather. The situation would have upset you.’

‘Yes but-’

‘I couldn’t allow that to happen. It was my duty to protect you.’

‘By keeping me in the dark for weeks on end? It actually makes me feel quite foolish. I’m not a little kid, Nik. I also feel that I’m an equal in this marriage, and that if you think it’s your job to protect me I think it’s my job to be supportive when times are tough.’

‘That’s sweet, thespinis mou.’ Nik dropped a kiss down on the crown of her head as though she was the child she had denied she was. He was so close she could smell the evocative scent of his skin and it sent a trail of sensual messages winging through her sensitised body. ‘But if I’d told you what was happening, it would have wrecked our honeymoon. Then you had the shock of the miscarriage to deal with. You would have fretted yourself to death. I couldn’t allow that.’

‘But I had a right to know-’

‘I won’t apologise.’ He released the clip that restrained the chestnut fall of her hair at the back of her neck and encouraged the thick, silky strands at the front to curve round her flushed cheekbones. ‘If I had the same choice again, I would behave in the exact same way-’

‘No, you wouldn’t-’

‘We have a real marriage now. It was important that we spent time together in Italy and that nothing spoiled those weeks. Also, that you recovered fully from losing our baby-’

‘But you shut me out of what was really happening in your life-’

Brown fingers turned up her chin, brilliant dark golden eyes colliding with hers. ‘You shut me out when you lost our child…’

‘I did…didn’t I?’ Prudence conceded, her throat thickening with tears.

‘You were hurting and I wanted to help and you wouldn’t let me. I’d never thought of a child as something missing from my life,’ Nik admitted tautly. ‘But when I thought of you having my baby inside you, it blew me away. Right up until the last minute I prayed there would be a miracle and you wouldn’t lose our child.’

‘Oh…’ Prudence was initially silenced by that admission, for his sincerity was indisputable. As she looked up at him, her blue eyes shone over-bright. ‘You did? So did I,’ she confided gruffly.

‘Whenever you’re strong enough and you feel that the time is right, I want to try again, thespinis mou.’

She swallowed hard, happiness slanting through her like a burst of sunlight on a dull, overcast day. And what better day to celebrate the possibility of new life? she asked herself feverishly. ‘Grandfather would have been really pleased-’

‘I’m sure you’ll understand that I mean no disrespect when I say that Theo’s tyrannical wants and wishes were and are a matter of supreme indifference to me.’

‘Yes, you’re entitled to feel that way.’

‘How do you turn me on so hard and fast?’ Nik gritted, hauling her close with impatient hands and lowering his proud dark head to possess her luscious pink mouth with a driving sexual passion that made her knees go weak.

‘There’s just one thing I should mention,’ Prudence broke free to mumble through reddened lips.

‘Can’t it wait?’ His breath fanning her cheek, he let his teeth graze her full lower lip. When he dipped his tongue into the moist interior of her mouth in a powerfully erotic invitation she gripped both his arms to keep herself upright.

‘I think you’ll want to hear that you don’t have to worry about Demakis International destroying your company any more,’ she whispered with a sunny smile. ‘Am I right?’

‘I hate to disappoint you, pethi mou,’ Nik husked, ‘but I’d pretty much worked that out for myself. The same day that Theo passed away the dirty-tricks campaign ground to a sudden halt. Such a battle made no economic sense.’

Feeling a little cut off but grateful for the news all the same, because she still could not get her head around the reality that she now owned Demakis International, Prudence muttered, ‘That’s great. I’m relieved.’

Nik scooped her up into his arms and carried her down the corridor into an imposing masculine bedroom furnished in contemporary style.

‘You know, I got quite a surprise when the will was read,’ she began. ‘Cassia had mentioned these German cousins-’

‘Everybody’s heard of them. Rich as Croesus, and as old as the hills.’ Nik stole a long, lingering, passionate kiss and slowly lowered her down on the bed. ‘Theo would have been wiser leaving his ill-gotten gains to some charitable endeavour.’

Prudence sat up on her knees. ‘Or…to me?’ she suggested uncertainly.

Nik laughed with rich appreciation. ‘You were never in the running. I don’t think I’d like a wife rich enough to buy and sell me ten times over.’

‘Are you absolutely sure of that?’

Nik stared down at her, lush black lashes of extraordinary length merely accentuating the depth and clarity of his clear gaze. ‘Why are we having this conversation? Were you disappointed at being left out of his will?’

‘No…because I wasn’t…left out, I mean.’

Nik frowned. ‘What did Theo leave you? Some family memento? I’m surprised he left you anything.’

‘He left me everything.’

Nik froze. ‘Theos mou…you cannot be serious.’

‘Everything: the houses, the cars, the jewellery, the businesses, the jets, the yacht.’

Nik studied her in unconcealed shock and then he spread his powerful arms in a movement of acceptance, dark colour lying in a line along his superb cheekbones. ‘If you say it is so it must be so, but I can hardly credit it-’

‘Wait until you see the recording he made.’ Her announcement made, Prudence scrambled off the bed and pelted back to the lounge to remove the disc from her handbag.

Having followed her, Nik extended a hand and took it from her. ‘Theo filmed himself-’

Sudden misgivings assailed Prudence as she recalled some of the inflammatory things that her grandfather had said. ‘I don’t think you should watch it-’

‘Why not?’ Nik enquired almost lazily.

The tension in the air made her heartbeat speed up. She was appalled at how thoughtless she had been in bringing the recording to his notice. ‘You never got on with him-’

‘Neither did you…or the rest of the human race for that matter. What did he say about me?’

Prudence was rigid. ‘Why should you assume that he said anything?’

‘If Theo took the trouble to make a film, it was to gloat about how clever he was.’

‘Look, it’s mine and I would like it back…’ Awkwardly she stuck out her hand.

‘No…I insist on watching it.’ Nik shot her a wrathful glance of challenge.

And he did.

Prudence hovered in an agony of horror and shame. From the first cringe-making words, when Theo gloried in having made her an heiress who held her husband in the palm of her hand, she saw Nik turn white below his vibrant bronzed skin tone and she felt sick.

‘Nik…don’t let him get to you-’

Nik slashed a silencing hand through the air. She could feel the rage vibrating through him while her grandfather delineated his every move.

‘He’s right…I was a prize fool,’ Nik growled.

‘No, he’s wrong…you’re a very different man from him and I wouldn’t want you any other way. Please don’t watch any more of this.’

But he paid her no heed. His classic profile set granite-hard, he watched the film from start to finish and then replayed it to ensure that her interruptions had not caused him to miss a single poisonous word. Finally he swung back to her, his golden eyes glittering as dangerously as the heart of a furnace, aggressive energy written in every line of his lean, beautifully balanced body. ‘If you keep the money, I walk…’

Prudence just stared at him, certain she had misheard, misunderstood, mis-something, anything that could convince her that he was not serious. ‘You don’t mean that.’

‘You’re not going to miss what you’ve never had or what you never expected to possess, thespinis mou.’

‘That’s not the point. You’re just mad because Theo said all that stuff and it was offensive.’

‘Once you suggested that I might regard you as a financial asset. I will not be known as the husband of the Demakis heiress.’

‘Well, you are!’

‘Not if I choose not to be. Don’t tell me greed has got to you already,’ Nik breathed with ringing scorn.

‘I don’t have to justify myself to you. I’m a Demakis.’

Nik shot her a derisive appraisal.

‘I meant that Theo was my grandfather and that’s why he wanted me to inherit his estate. He acknowledged me. He may have waited until he died but he finally allowed me to feel like a member of his family and I’m not going to reject everything he spent his whole life working for,’ Prudence protested in a sudden feverish bout of self-defence.

‘Then you have a problem. I will be no woman’s kept man.’

‘Maybe you should wait until you get the offer to be one!’ Prudence shot at him, frantically blinking back tears. ‘I owned virtually nothing but the clothes I stood up in when we got married and I had to live with it-’

‘You lived with it so well, you fled to another country!’

‘How can you throw that at me again?’

‘Once a Greek husband, always a Greek husband, glikia mou.’

‘I’m going to be rich…and I’m going to enjoy every minute of it!’ Prudence told him defiantly.

‘But not with me…’

The words hung there in cold, confrontational challenge and she blenched. She was so furious with him that she felt light-headed with sheer rage.

‘So you don’t want to be married to the Demakis heiress? OK, if that’s how you feel, I’ll go back where you seem to think I belong!’ Pausing only to retrieve the DVD and tuck it back in her bag, Prudence walked out to the hall. Her overnight bag was sitting there. She lifted it. She gave him lots and lots of time to say something to stop her. Something like, Where are you going? or, Come back here, or even, Let’s talk about this tomorrow. The terrible silence roared in her ears like the quiet before a hurricane and perspiration dampened her short upper lip. The sound of the apartment door banging shut behind her shook her.

She took a cab back to the Demakis villa and swanned in as though she had always lived there. The staff still on duty were assembled and formally introduced to her. The cook promised her a special supper calculated to tempt the most delicate appetite and the housekeeper showed her into a magnificent bedroom suite with a balcony that overlooked the garden. She went for a shower and put on a light wrap.

Why was she feeling so devastated? She was furious with Nik and she had every right to be! Supper arrived on a tray. Stress always made her want to eat but when she looked at that food and thought of never, ever being held in Nik’s arms again she felt sick with fear. She wanted Nik. She craved Nik. This was crazy. He had fought to keep her as his wife. He had forced her to stay as his wife and to live with him. He took marriage very seriously. He could not just suddenly decide to let her go solely because she had inherited a lot of money…could he?

Could he really be so diabolically unreasonable? He was stuffed full of macho reactions and ferocious pride. With reluctance she recalled his raw admission that, eight years earlier, he had been taunted about what a good financial catch she would be. What a prophetic warning that had been! Well, she already knew that Nik wasn’t after her money, she thought wretchedly. No decent male would want to be labelled a fortune hunter. She could understand that but she could not understand that he could be prepared to abandon her and their future together on the strength of a principle.

Dogs were barking frantically in the grounds that surrounded the villa. The sound of the commotion prompted her to walk out onto the balcony that overlooked the gardens. A security man came to apologise for the noise. He explained that a man had been seen climbing in over the wall, and that there had been a chase, but the intruder had got away.

Prudence got into bed and lay there getting madder and madder. But underneath the anger was a vast, spreading well of terrified insecurity and fear. She loved Nikolos Angelis to bits. She adored him. She had been so, so happy with him, but she had let a crack appear and a distance develop when she’d turned away from him after her miscarriage. That gulf had only lasted for a few weeks but it had strained their relationship and left a vulnerable spot. I lost a child, too, he had said. Maybe he was still angry about the way she had reacted. She should not have left the apartment in a temper; she should have stayed.

Exhaustion sent her to sleep in bursts. Around dawn an idea that at first seemed crazy came to her. She ran it round and round inside her head until it no longer seemed quite so off the wall. She could do to him what he had done to her. She could put pressure on him through his company. Why not? What did she have to lose? What was pride if it meant life without Nik?

The delicate, summery blue dress she put on had a neckline that dipped in a flattering V at back and front. She examined herself from all angles and was extra-careful with her make-up. He would be at his office in Athens. He was there a couple of days a month and she had planned to start accompanying him on the trips. Of late, she had developed an embarrassing tendency to pine when he was out of sight and touch for longer than ten hours. All the barriers had come down and love had got a firm and increasingly desperate hold on her. But when Nik heard what she had to say, he would be surprised and she had not the slightest idea how he would react…

Before Prudence could go out, Cassia Morikis arrived at the gate and asked to see her. On the brink of turning down the request, Prudence changed her mind and received the beautiful blonde in the vast expanse of the formal drawing room. Encouraging her visitor to relax and feel at home was not on her mind.

Looking unusually subdued, Cassia fixed anxious brown eyes on her. ‘I’m sure you know why I’m here. I’m afraid I drank too much yesterday and I was very rude to you.’

Prudence knew very well that the other woman must have panicked once she realised that Prudence was now her father’s employer. ‘Yes, you were.’

‘I hope you’ll accept my apologies,’ Cassia murmured plaintively. ‘I’m sure that Nik would want you to forgive me.’

‘Nik couldn’t care less. I told him who spiked his drink,’ Prudence countered drily, watching dismay and embarrassment flare in the blonde’s gaze. ‘But I assure you that I won’t hold your behaviour against your father.’

Minutes after Cassia’s hasty departure, Prudence left the villa, propelled by her determination…