The Greek Tycoon's Achilles Heel

CHAPTER SEVEN

WHEN the washing-up was done Petra asked, ‘What are we going to do today?’

‘You’re going to rest.’

‘I think a little gentle exercise will be better for me. I could continue exploring the cellar-’

‘No!’ This time there was no doubt that he meant it. ‘We can have a short outing, an hour on the beach, and lunch, then back here for you to rest.’

‘Anything you say.’

Lysandros regarded her cynically.

There was a small car in the garage and he drove them the short distance to the shore, where they found a tiny beach, cut off from the main one and deserted.

‘It’s private,’ Lysandros explained. ‘It belongs to a friend of mine. Don’t stretch out in this burning sun, not with your fair skin. Do you want to get ill?’

He led her to the rocks, where there was some shade and a small cave that she used for changing. Now she was glad she’d had the forethought to bring a bathing costume when she came to Corfu, meaning to enjoy some swimming while she investigated his house. No chance had occured, but now she changed gladly, longing to feel the sun on her skin, and emerged to find that he’d laid out a large towel for her to lie on. There was even a pillow, making it blissful to lie down, although she hadn’t been awake long.

He’d brought some sun lotion to rub in, but was doubtful.

‘You shouldn’t have this as well as liniment,’ he explained. ‘We’ll leave it for a while, but you stay in the shade. No, don’t try to move the towel. Leave it where I put it.’

‘Yes, sir. Three bags full, sir.’

He frowned. ‘This is something I sometimes hear English people say, but I don’t understand it.’

She explained that the words occurred in a nursery rhyme, but he only looked worried.

‘You say it to make fun of someone?’ he ventured.

‘Only of myself,’ she said tenderly. ‘The mockery is aimed at me, and the way I’m tamely letting you give me orders.’

This genuinely puzzled him. ‘But why shouldn’t I-?’

‘Hush.’ She laid a finger over his lips. He immediately kissed it.

‘It’s for your own good,’ he protested. ‘To care for you.’

‘I know. The joke is that part of me is as much of a sergeant major as you are. I give orders too. But I let you say, “Do this, do that” without kicking your shins as I would with any other man. It’s like discovering that inside me is someone else that I’ve never met before.’

He nodded. ‘Yes, that’s how it is.’

To complete her protection he’d hired a large parasol. Now he put it up and made sure that she was well covered.

‘What about you?’ she said. ‘You might catch the sun, unless I rub some of that lotion into you.’

Unlike her, he was dark and at less danger from sunburn, but the thought of caressing him under the guise of sun care was irresistible.

‘You think I need it?’ he asked.

‘Definitely.’

He gave her a brief look and lay back beside her so that she could begin work on his chest. He said nothing for a while, just lay still while her fingers worked across his skin, curving to shape the muscles, enjoying herself.

‘How did we get here?’ he murmured.

‘I don’t know. We seem to have missed each other so many times. You’d come just so far towards me, then clam up. Everything would be fine between us, then you’d act as though I was an enemy you had to fight off. That night in Athens-’

‘I know. I’m sorry about that. I hated myself at the time, but I couldn’t stop. You were right to reject me.’

He wasn’t fighting her any more and suddenly there was a vulnerable look on his face that she couldn’t bear to see. He was powerful and belligerent, but this was her territory where her skills were greater than his, and it was dangerously easy to hurt him.

‘We’ve never understood each other well,’ she said gently. ‘Perhaps now we have a chance to do that.’

His brow darkened. ‘Are you sure you want to try? It might be better not to. I’m bad news. I hurt people. I don’t mean to, but often I’m so cut off that I don’t realise I’m doing it.’

‘You wouldn’t be trying to scare me, would you?’

‘Warn you. I doubt I could scare you.’

‘I’m glad you realise that.’

‘So listen to me. Be wise and go now. I’m bad for you.’

‘That’s all right; I’ll just retaliate in kind. When it comes to being bad, you are dealing with an expert.’ He started to reply but she silenced him. ‘No, I talk, you listen. I’ve heard what you have to say and I’m not impressed by it. I’m a match for you any day. If we fight, we fight, and you’ll come off worst.’

‘Oh, will I?’ Now his interest was aroused.

‘You’d better believe it,’ she chuckled. ‘Won’t that be a new experience for you?’

‘A man should be prepared for new experiences. That’s how he gets strong and able to achieve victory every time.’

‘Every time, hmm?’

‘Every time,’ he assured her.

‘We’ll put that to the test. Right now-’ she drew back and got to her feet ‘-I’m going for a swim.’

She was off down the beach before he could get to his feet. By the time he caught her she’d reached the water and hurled herself in. He followed, keeping up with her as she swam out to sea, then getting ahead and stretching out his hands to her. She clasped them, looking up, laughing, rejoicing in the sunlight.

‘Steady,’ he said, supporting her as she leaned over backwards.

They swam for a while, but she was stiff and as soon as he saw her wince slightly he said, ‘Now we’re going ashore to have something to eat.’

As they walked up the beach she took the chance to study him. Last night she’d lain with this man, welcomed him inside her, felt a pleasure that only he had ever been able to give, but in the poor light she hadn’t seen him properly. Now she looked her fill at his tall muscular body that might have belonged to an athlete instead of a businessman.

Certain moments from their lovemaking came back to her, making her tremble. How easily he’d driven her to new heights, how fierce was the craving he could make her feel, how inspired were the movements of his hands, knowing just where and how to touch her. If she could have had her way she would have pulled him down onto the sand right then. Instead, she promised herself that the wait would not be long.

They found a small restaurant by the sea, and sat where they could watch the waves.

‘What happened with the boat?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know really. The weather was fine at first. We went to several caves, didn’t find anything. I should never have gone-’

‘And you wouldn’t have done but for me. If you’d died-’

‘That’s enough of that.’ She stopped him firmly. ‘I didn’t die. End of story.’

‘No,’ he said softly. ‘It’s not the end of the story. We both know that.’

She nodded but said no more.

‘After we quarrelled I was sure that we had nothing further to say to each other, but then I heard of your danger and-’ he made an agitated gesture ‘-nothing’s been the same since. When I saw you safe the world became bright again, but then there was Nikator. When I heard you’d gone away with him-’

‘You should have known better than to believe it.’

‘But how could I? You wouldn’t believe me when I warned you about him and when I saw you together I thought you’d chosen him over me. I don’t really know you at all, except that something here-’ he touched his heart ‘-has always known you.’

‘Yes, but that isn’t going to make it easy,’ she reflected. ‘The path led in so many directions that it was confusing, and in the end we stumbled against each other by accident.’

‘This meeting was hardly an accident,’ he observed lightly. ‘You broke into my house.’

‘True. I committed a criminal act,’ she said, smiling. ‘I didn’t actually want to. I had planned to ask you to let me explore, but then we quarrelled and-’ She gave an eloquent shrug.

He nodded. ‘Yes, when you’ve told a man to go and jump in the lake it would be hard to ask him a favour in the next breath.’

‘I’m glad you understand my difficulty. And I couldn’t just go tamely away without investigating, could I? Breaking and entering was my only option.’

‘But how did you get in? My locks are the most up-to-date.’

Her smile told him that these were minor difficulties, made to be overcome.

‘Estelle made a film about organised crime a few years back,’ she recalled. ‘One of the advisers was a locksmith. I learned a lot from him. He said there was no such thing as a lock that couldn’t be picked, even a digital one.’

He regarded her cautiously, not sure whether to believe her. At last he ran a finger gently down her cheek, murmuring, ‘So you wouldn’t call yourself an honest woman?’

‘Honest? Lysandros, haven’t you understood yet? I’m a historian. We don’t do honest, not if it gets in the way. If we want to investigate something, we just go ahead. We break in, we forge papers, we tell lies, we cheat, we do whatever is needed to find out what we need to know. Of course we sometimes get permission as a matter of convenience, but it’s not important.’

He grinned. ‘I see. And if the owner objects-?’

She regarded him from dancing eyes and leaned forward so that her breath brushed his face.

‘Then the owner can take his silly objections and stuff them where the sun doesn’t shine,’ she murmured.

‘I’m shocked.’

‘No, you’re not. I’ll bet it’s what you do yourself every day of the week.’

‘And I would bet that you could teach me a few new tricks.’

‘Any time you like,’ she murmured against his lips.

‘I was talking about business.’

‘I wasn’t. Let’s go home.’

On the way he stopped off to buy food in quantity, and Petra realised that he was stocking up for several days. She smiled. That suited her exactly.

The sun was setting as they entered the house and locked the world out. In the shadowy hall he took her into his arms for a long kiss. The feel of his mouth on hers was comforting and thrilling together. He was partly hers and she was going to make him completely hers, as she was already his.

He kissed her neck, moving his lips gently, then resting with his face against her, as though seeking refuge. She stroked his hair until he looked up, meeting her eyes, and together they climbed the stairs to the bedroom.

Last night they had claimed each other with frantic urgency. Tonight they could afford to take their time, confident in each other and their new knowledge of their hearts and what they shared.

At first he moved slowly, cautiously, and she loved him for his care for her. As every garment slipped away he touched her bare flesh as though doubtful that he could take the next step. She undressed him in the same way, eager to discover the body she’d admired on the beach that day.

It didn’t disappoint her. He was hard and fit, reminding her of what she’d enjoyed once, making her tremble with the thought of what was to come.

He laid her on the bed and sat for a moment, watching her with possessive eyes.

‘Let me look at you,’ he whispered.

She was happy for him to do so, knowing that she would please him. A man who’d discovered unexpected treasure might have worn the look she saw on his face. She raised her arms over her head, revelling in flaunting her nakedness for him, knowing that it was worth flaunting.

At last he laid a gentle hand on one breast, relishing the movement as it rose and fell with her mounting desire, then leaning down to circle the nipple with his lips and begin a soft assault. She took a long shuddering breath and immediately arched against him.

‘Yes,’ she murmured, ‘yes-’

‘Hush, we don’t have to rush.’

How could he say that? she wondered. Already his arousal was fierce and strong, making her reach out with eager exploring fingers. But he was in command of himself, with the power to take his time while he teased and incited her.

‘You’re a devil,’ she whispered.

He didn’t reply in words, but he raised his head long enough for his eyes to flash a humorous message, saying, clearer than words, that a devil was what he knew she wanted, and he was going to fulfil her desire.

He increased his devilment, turning up the tension as he got to work on the other breast, moving even more slowly now, making sure she was ready, but she was ahead of him, more than ready, eager and impatient.

‘Now,’ she breathed. ‘Now!’

He was over her before the words were out, finding the place that was clamouring for him, claiming it with a swift movement that sent her into a frenzy of pleasure.

This was unlike anything that had happened to her before. No man had ever filled her so completely, while still leaving her with a feeling of freedom. She thrust back against him, needing more of him, demanding everything, receiving it again and again.

When it was over she held him tightly, as though needing him for safety in this new world that had opened. But then she realised that there was no safety, for either of them. That was the glory of it.

He raised his head and there was a kind of bafflement in his eyes.

‘You-’ he said softly, ‘you-’

‘I know,’ she whispered. ‘It’s the same with me.’

It was as though her words had touched a spring within him, releasing something that brought him peace. He laid his head down on her again, and in a moment he was asleep.

Petra didn’t sleep at once. Instead, she lay savouring her joy and triumph, kissing him tenderly, silently promising him everything. Only gradually did she slip away into the happy darkness.

They spent most of the next day in bed, not making love, but cuddling, talking, then cuddling some more in a way that would have been impossible only a short time ago. His body, so perfectly formed and skilled for giving her sexual pleasure, was mysteriously also formed for things cosy, domestic and comforting. It was a mystery, and one she would enjoy solving later.

‘I don’t know what I’d have done if I’d lost you,’ he murmured as they lay curled against each other. ‘It felt like being in prison, except that somehow you had the key, and you could help me break out.’

‘You kept coming to the edge of escape,’ she remembered, ‘but then you’d back off again and slam the door.’

‘I lost my nerve,’ he said with self-contempt. ‘I wasn’t sure if I could manage, so I’d retreat and lock the doors again. But I couldn’t stay in there, knowing you were outside, calling to me that the world was a wonderful place. You saved me the first time; I knew you could save me again.’

‘How did I save you?’

His only reply was a long silence, and she felt her heart sink. So often they’d come to the point where he might confide in her, but always his demons had driven him back. This time she’d hoped it might be different, that their loving had given him confidence in her. But it seemed not. Perhaps, after all, nothing had changed.

She’d almost given up hope when Lysandros said in a low voice, ‘I never told you why I was in Las Vegas. The fact is I’d quarrelled with my family. Suddenly it seemed hateful to me that we were always at war about so much. I wanted no more of it. I left home and went out to “live my own life”, as I put it. But I got into bad ways. The night we met I’d been like that for two years, and I was headed for disaster if something didn’t happen to save me. But something did. I met you.’

‘And quarrelled with me,’ she said with just a hint of teasing.

‘We didn’t quarrel,’ he said quickly. ‘Hell, yes, I suppose we came to the edge of it because I wasn’t used to being told a truth I didn’t want to hear-that dig about Achilles sulking in his tent.’

‘But it wasn’t a dig. I was just running over the legend in my usual thoughtless way.’

‘I know. You may even have done me a favour.’

Another silence while he fought his inner battle.

‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘Don’t tell me anything you don’t want to.’

‘But I do want to,’ he said slowly. ‘If you only knew how much.’

She touched his hand again, and felt him squeeze her fingers gratefully.

‘That remark got to me,’ he said at last. ‘I was twenty-three and…I guess, not very mature. I’d left my father to cope alone. You showed me the truth about myself. I did a lot of thinking, and next day I came home and told my father I was ready to take my place in the business. We became a partnership and when he died ten years ago I was able to take over. Thanks to you.’

‘Should I be proud of my creation?’

‘Do you think so?’

‘Not entirely. You’re not a happy man.’

He shrugged. ‘Happiness isn’t part of the bargain.’

‘I wonder who you struck that bargain with,’ she mused. ‘Perhaps it was the Furies.’

‘No, the Furies are my advance troops that I send into battle. This isn’t about my feelings. I do my job. I keep people in work.’

‘And so you benefit them. But what about you, yourself, the man?’

His eyes darkened and he seemed to stare into space. ‘Sometimes,’ he said at last, ‘I’ve felt he hardly exists.’

She nodded. ‘He’s an automaton that walks and talks and does what’s necessary,’ she said. ‘But what about you?’ She laid a soft hand over his heart. ‘Somewhere in there, you must exist.’

‘Perhaps it’s better if I don’t,’ he said heavily.

‘Better for whom? Not you. How can you live in the world and not be part of it?’

He grimaced. ‘That’s easier than you think. And safer.’

‘Safer? You? The man who’s supposed to be immortal?’

‘Supposed to be-’

‘Except for that one tiny place on the heel? Shame on you, Achilles. Do you want me to think you’re afraid to take the risks that we less glorious mortals take every day?’

He drew a sharp breath and grasped her. ‘Oh, you’re good,’ he said. ‘You’re clever, cunning, sharp; you know how to pierce a man’s heart-’

‘You have no heart,’ she challenged him. ‘At least, not one you care to listen to.’

‘And if I listened to it, what do you think it would say to me-about you?’

‘I can’t tell you that. Only you can know.’

‘It will speak in answer to your heart,’ he riposted cunningly. ‘If I knew what that was saying-’

‘Can’t you read it?’ she whispered.

‘Some of it. It laughs at me, almost like an enemy, and yet-’

‘Friends laugh too. My heart is your friend, but perhaps an annoying friend. You’ll have to be prepared for that.’

‘I am, I promise you. Petra-Petra-say you want me.’

‘If you haven’t worked that out for yourself by now-’

His hands seemed to touch her everywhere at once.

‘I hope that means what I think it means,’ he growled. ‘Because it’s too late now.’

She put her arms around his neck. ‘Whatever took you so long?’

When she awoke it was early morning and she was alone. Beside her the bed was empty, but the rumpled sheet and pillow showed where he had been. Touching the place, she found that it was still warm.

She sat up listening, but there was only silence. Slipping out of bed, she went to the door, but when she opened it she saw that there was no light on in the bathroom, and some instinct told her that he was in trouble.

She thought she could hear a faint sound from the far end of the corridor. Moving quietly, she followed it to the end, where it turned into another corridor. There she heard the sound again, and this time it sounded like soft footsteps, back and forth. She followed it to the end and waited a moment, her heart beating, before turning the corner.

A short flight of stairs rose before her. At the top stood Lysandros, by the window, looking out onto the world below. He turned, walked back and forth like a man seeing his way in unfamiliar territory, finally coming to a halt in front of a door.

She waited for him to enter the room. Perhaps she could follow him quietly, and so gain a clue to his trouble. But instead he remained motionless for what seemed like an age. Then he leaned against the door, his shoulders sagging in an attitude that suggested he was on the point of collapse. She was about to go to him, offering comfort, when he straightened up and turned around in her direction.

Hurriedly she retreated, and vanished before he could see her. She managed to reach the bedroom without being discovered and was huddled down with her back to him when he came in. She sensed him get in beside her and lean over her, apparently trying to check if she was asleep. She decided to chance it and opened her eyes.

‘Hello,’ she said, opening her arms to him.

Now, surely, he would come into them and tell her what had happened, because now they were close in hearts and minds and he didn’t need to hide things from her.

But, instead, he drew back.

‘I’m sorry if I disturbed you,’ he said. ‘I was just thinking of getting up.’

‘You’re going to get up now?’ she asked slowly.

‘Yes, I get stiff lying here all night, but you stay. I’ll bring you some coffee later.’

He left the room quickly, leaving her wanting to scream out a protest.

No matter what happiness they seemed to share, beneath it was a torment that hounded him, and which he could not bring himself to share with her. Everything she’d longed for was an illusion. She was still shut out from his deepest heart. She buried her face, and the pillow was wet with her tears.