Chapter Four #3
‘But as I said earlier, there was a change to my schedule, so my people cancelled your reservation.’
She stared at him in disbelief. ‘Why would you do that?’
‘You are here on Konstantinou business, which means that my name is your name by proxy, and I cannot allow my family’s name to be associated with somewhere like the Minos.’
She blinked. Was he for real?
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him, but as she opened her mouth to do so, he said abruptly, ‘Do you understand how important this prenup is to me, Ms Hamilton?’
‘Yes, of course I do.’
‘No, I don’t think you do.’ He persisted.
‘For you, Ariana’s inheritance is just numbers on a screen.
A list of assets. They don’t mean anything.
They’re just data. To understand why this prenup matters you need to do more than read about what’s at stake.
You need to feel it. And the only way that can happen is if you experience it for yourself.
Which is why you’ll be staying with me on Kallos. ’
Kallos.
The Konstantinous’ private island. Or rather, off-limits. No one outside of the family and only a few trusted, close family friends were allowed on Kallos.
Willa was neither, Ares thought as they arrived at the helicopter launch pad.
He met her gaze, dared her to look away. She didn’t, and he found he couldn’t look away either, and for a moment they just stared at one another. And it was intoxicating, having her look at him so intently.
Was that why he was acting like this?
Because it was unheard-of behaviour. Incomprehensible and out of character. And yet it was happening. He had decided it had to happen. Just like he’d decided to wait for Willa’s flight.
To wait?
His shoulders stiffened against the cool leather upholstery. Waiting, like queuing or carrying a coat, were not part of his life. And yet he had waited for Willa. And while doing so, he’d found himself impatient to see her again.
It was three weeks since he had been inside Willa’s body.
They had spoken on the phone over the course of the past week, and every time she had been polite but seemingly unaffected by that charged meeting at Milner’s, where he had more or less blackmailed her into working for him. Almost as if she had forgotten.
Now though, there was a faint flush of rose like blusher along her cheek bones, and he knew she remembered every second.
‘Kallos is your island,’ she said slowly as if she was talking to a child or someone who didn’t speak English fluently.
‘It is.’
‘But Ariana has no claim on Kallos. It will go to your children.’ There was a tension in her voice.
‘If I have children, yes. Which currently I have no plans to do.’ No plans ever. How could he, when to do so would mean having to take a wife? To let someone get close.
Close enough to slide a dagger into his heart. As Zoe had.
Picturing her face as she’d turned towards him in the church, he felt the blade twist. Her deceit was as unexpected and calamitous as a meteorite crashing to earth.
It wasn’t just that she had betrayed him.
The Konstantinou clan had embraced her too.
Zoe was at every gathering, invited to the most select family events.
Everyone had assumed that they would marry and wholeheartedly approved of the match.
That she could so casually deceive them had shattered some fundamental belief in love itself.
The forever kind that his parents and grandparents had so effortlessly achieved so that where once he had seen certainty and candour, now he saw insecurity and duplicity.
‘My family owns several properties in Athens. But Kallos is where our family began. That is who we are. It’s a short flight. Twenty minutes by helicopter. Which, as you can see, is ready and waiting for us.’
The flight took nineteen minutes. Willa made no attempt at conversation, but as they reached the island, he watched her lean forward, and he too leaned forward, wanting to see her reaction.
‘Do you own the whole island?’
He nodded. ‘All two hundred and fifty acres.’
‘It’s beautiful,’ she said quietly.
‘If you’re agreeable to the idea, I thought we’d have a light lunch, and then I could show you around. It’s a little too far to walk on foot, but we have ATVs or horses.’
‘You have horses here?’ Her eyes softened, and he was suddenly so aware of her that it was like they were one person.
‘Can you ride?’
She nodded.
Even before she swung herself expertly into the saddle, he could see she was relaxed around horses in a way that only happened if they were a regular part of your life. She looked the part too, in some of Ari’s jodhpurs and boots and a loose-fitting T-shirt.
‘When did you learn to ride?’
She was silent for a beat, using the moment to tie up her hair in the same unthinking way that Ariana did.
‘Pretty much from when I could walk,’ she said in that cool, neutral way of hers that worked in tandem with those barriers in her eyes to keep her one step removed at all times.
But he had seen her naked, caressed her skin.
He knew where to touch her to make her squirm and arch against his body.
It was why he felt so on edge, why he kept pushing back with this woman.
She was an iceberg that he wanted to melt.
‘We have horses at home,’ she added.
He watched her lean back in the saddle, her fingers collecting the reins, and he had to remind himself that he was showing her Kallos to make her understand what it meant to be a Konstantinou. To prove to her, and himself, that whatever power he’d surrendered to her that night was an aberration.
‘There were about a dozen families living here originally, including the Konstantinous,’ he said as the horses slithered down a rock-strewn hill to the dusty track that followed the island’s irregular coastline.
‘They left for the mainland, for work. For marriage. After than it was uninhabited until my great-great-grandfather bought it from the Greek government in 1901, and then it was sold to pay death duties when I was ten years old. I bought it back seven years ago.’
He’d thought it would be a place to raise his family.
He had built the house wanting to fill it with children.
But for that he needed a wife, and he had failed abysmally to pull that off.
Of course, there was no shortage of women willing to enter into a marriage of convenience for the right price.
But children needed more than money. They needed loving role models, not actors, for parents.
‘Have you talked to Ariana about your plans for Kallos?’
He frowned. ‘Why would I? She’s not married, let alone pregnant.’
‘But she is engaged.’
‘Not for much longer,’ he said tersely. ‘If you do the job you’re being paid to do.’
Her green eyes were cool. ‘I’m being paid to advise you. Not validate a knee-jerk, emotionally charged response that results in an unwieldy, unworkable legal document.’
‘Careful, Ms Hamilton.’
‘It is you who needs to take care, Mr Konstantinou.’ She was frustrated. He could hear it in that slight huskiness when she said his name. Feel it, too, in the wrong places.
‘You’re assuming David Arteta will be the one to walk away. But what if Ariana chooses not to sign the prenup?’
‘She will. She’s not a fool. And for all her impulsiveness, she is also very traditional. And smart. She knows what she stands to lose.’
‘Which is what? You? Her family? Her wealth? Are you going to disown her? Leave her penniless?’
‘It won’t get that far. She’ll come to her senses. She just needs time to think, which is why I need the prenup to slow her down.’ He frowned. ‘What?’
Willa was no longer looking at him but at a point somewhere past his left shoulder. ‘There’s someone waving at you,’ she said after a moment.
He turned and swore softly. He hadn’t planned on coming this way, but he was so distracted that he hadn’t been paying attention, and the horses had simply followed the path. And now it was too late, he thought, lifting his hand to wave back at the elderly woman.
Thea was his mother’s former housekeeper. He couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t been there. She had loved his mother. And she doted on Ares. Which was why after her retirement, he had built her a home on Kallos.
‘Who is she?’ Willa sounded curious.
‘Her name’s Thea. She was our housekeeper for years. She was more than that,’ he added, although he didn’t know why he felt the need to share that fact. Because it was the truth, he told himself a moment later. And he felt suddenly angry with Willa, remembering the lie her body had told him.
‘Hey, Toula.’ Dismounting, he greeted the black-and-white sheepdog that had bounded up to greet him with an enthusiasm that was matched by Thea’s delight. And after he’d made the introductions, Thea insisted that they stay for coffee and a slice of honey cake, as he knew she would.
‘Your favourite.’ She beamed at him, and he smiled as she handed him a plate.
‘This is absolutely delicious.’
Watching Willa smile at the older woman, he felt something like envy. She had been polite at lunch but only ate a little of the meze prepared by his cook. But she seemed to genuinely be enjoying the cake.
‘Is it thyme I can taste?’
‘Yes, thymari.’ Thea nodded. ‘It grows here on the island. Do you like to cook, Willa?’
‘Actually, I do.’
‘Your mother, she taught you?’
‘My father.’ She hesitated as if she’d said too much, and he wondered why. Boundaries, he thought with a flicker of irritation, and it shouldn’t have annoyed him because he wanted boundaries too, and yet it did.
‘He’s the cook at home. He loves cooking outdoors. Building a fire on the beach. That’s his favourite. Mine too. Oh, hello—’
Toula had pushed open the door to the sitting room and was pressing herself against Willa’s leg.
‘I’ll take her out.’ Ares got to his feet.
‘It’s fine. Honestly. I love dogs.’
And her love was reciprocated. Toula seemed smitten with her female guest, resting her head on Willa’s thigh and gazing up at her with soulful brown eyes.
Which was unusual. Normally, she didn’t leave his side when he visited, but even when he clicked his fingers softly, she didn’t look over at him.
He had a sudden, sharp sense of déjà vu, but as he was trying to pin it down, a bee got itself trapped against the inside of the window, bumping noisily against the glass.
To his surprise, the dog got to her feet, growling softly, before returning to Willa’s side.
‘She’s in a funny mood today.’ Thea was staring at the dog. ‘She reminds me of Lefki. Do you remember, Ares? She was just the same with your mother when she was pregnant with Ariana. She wouldn’t leave her alone.’
That was it. That was what he remembered. He was about to nod politely when he caught sight of Willa’s face. She looked young, distracted. Like his sister when he used to help her with simultaneous equations. He could almost hear her counting inside her head—
Another bee was trapped against the window, and he got up to let it out, but the buzzing stayed inside his head. The room seemed to be shrinking, air pressing against him just as if a storm was brewing.
And then Willa looked up and her gaze found his, he saw shock and panic in her eyes and a dawning recognition of having found the answer to a very particular question.
And it was like a rain cloud breaking over his head.
Because he knew what she was counting. And why he was part of this particular equation.