Chapter Seven
TABBY MADE HERSELF walk out to the pool at the rear of the house and lie down on a lounger.
A mere minute later, she got up and dived into the pool, forcing herself into swimming fast aggressive lengths to drain her angry pain and tension away.
No point letting feelings like that fester, she told herself.
That wouldn’t change anything. What she really needed to know right then was why she was so hurt.
Aristide had merely reminded her of the truth that they were not a real couple where she would have been entitled to cherish certain expectations of him.
And in reality, he had hit the nail square on the head.
Their engagement was fake, so how had she stumbled into a kind of non-relationship with the father of her unborn children?
By not using her brain and thinking first, came the answer.
The situation was of her own making. But you couldn’t live for two long weeks as if you were involved in an endless one-night stand…
at least, she couldn’t. She wasn’t built that way, wasn’t able to just write it off as a casual, light-hearted fun fling.
Certainly, there was nothing fun about the way she felt now.
Her heart sank when she appreciated that all along, while she had been priding herself on her independence, she had been unconsciously hoping for more from Aristide Romanos. But he wasn’t offering more, was he?
When she had had enough of the heat and was fed up with agonising, she went indoors and phoned her mother, catching up on her news.
Lucia’s treatment was going as well as could be expected at this stage.
Guessing that it would raise her mother’s spirits, she gave updates about her pregnancy and confided that she was currently staying in Greece with the father of her children.
But no, she admitted, they weren’t together-together, as she phrased it.
They were only being civilised for the sake of things and meeting his family.
There was no need to mention the fake engagement that had persuaded her to make the trip under false pretences, she reasoned ruefully.
That was entirely her own fault. Aristide had extended the carrot and she had duly bitten.
She dined initially in solitary state that evening, Aristide joining her with apologies halfway through the meal. ‘I’m also sorry for what I said earlier,’ he added ruefully.
‘Why? It was the truth,’ Tabby replied with a determined smile.
‘It is…and it isn’t,’ Aristide countered, striving to be more honest.
The urge to slap him surged inside Tabby and she gritted her teeth, refusing to ask for clarity lest it make her seem too desperate for reassurance.
She was here to oil the wheels for her children’s future visits, to meet the family and let them get to know her.
She was not here to romance Aristide. Aristide could keep his secrets.
His past shouldn’t matter to her because it was none of her business.
Aristide wondered how he had contrived to say the wrong thing again and he went back to work that evening even though he would’ve preferred to be with Tabby.
When he went to bed, she was already there and asleep, the faint vanilla scent that always clung to her in the air.
He lay awake so long resisting the urge to reach for her that he slept in long past his usual rising time.
And Tabby was no longer beside him. When he got downstairs, he learned that she had had breakfast early and gone out.
He frowned and questioned his security, sunning themselves on the veranda.
‘She didn’t want anyone with her. She said she fancied a walk.’
‘You follow her to protect her even if she doesn’t want company,’ Aristide instructed and then his phone buzzed and an urgent business query made him turn away.
Tabby walked along the beach all the way into the little town, proud of herself for taking some exercise.
When she arrived, though, she knew that she should’ve carried water with her because she was hot and a little dizzy, scolding herself for not thinking ahead, reminding herself that she needed to be more sensible now that she was pregnant.
She walked off the beach, down the side of the taverna and into the front where a shaded terrace functioned as a snack bar.
There she found a seat, fanning herself to cool down, and ordered water and a roll to sustain her on her return trip.
It wouldn’t be a lie to say that her heart sank below floor level when she spotted Imogen Ross, impossibly tall and resplendent in a pristine flowing white sundress and hat, strolling towards her.
Tabby turned her gaze quickly to the server who had returned with her order, keen not to catch Imogen’s attention.
‘No charge,’ the server declared when Tabby persisted in trying to pay.
A frown on her face, Tabby returned her bag to the seat beside her just as Imogen took the seat opposite her. She noticed the server still staring fixedly at the table and, mainly, at Imogen.
‘The Romanos family doesn’t pay here and that ring on your finger means that you don’t have to pay either,’ Imogen explained in a tone of superiority.
Tabby wrinkled her nose. ‘Not paying makes me uncomfortable.’
‘Aristide owns most of the houses and the businesses here. What else would you expect?’
Imogen might be looking fantastic clad in her blinding white linen, glacial blue eyes deceptively languorous, but she reminded Tabby of a poisonous spider getting ready to pounce on prey. Although she had been enjoying the shade, Tabby lifted her bottle and her roll and began to rise to leave.
‘Do I scare you that much?’ Imogen rested her chin down on the heel of her hand, supremely poised and beautiful. ‘Of course, I’m going to speak to you when I see you here. Please, sit down.’
Tabby hesitated and then, feeling foolish as she hovered uneasily, she dropped back into her seat again, her colour rising. ‘What do you want from me?’ she asked boldly.
‘I want you to vanish and stop coming between me and Aristide,’ Imogen replied with a pained note in her voice. ‘I’m the love of his life and you are nothing but a pale facsimile of me. Have some pride…walk away—’
Another, more familiar masculine voice sounded without warning behind Tabby and made her jump. ‘Tabby, I’m so sorry, I was held up.’ Demetrius Romanos did indeed sound rather breathless. ‘Let me get you into the car where you’ll be comfortable,’ he urged, reaching down to grab her hand.
‘Aren’t you even going to speak to me?’ Imogen demanded imperiously of the older man.
Demetrius addressed her in low-pitched Greek at length and whatever he said made Imogen pale and look away.
With that, he planted a supportive arm to Tabby’s spine and walked her out to the classic Morris Minor sparkling with perfect trim and paintwork by the side of the road.
‘I’ll run you home. I was at the garage to collect a part I’d ordered when the taverna owner called me to tell me that you were here and that Imogen had cornered you. ’
In another mood, Tabby would’ve laughed.
All hands on deck and to the rescue, she thought hysterically.
A pale facsimile? The love of Aristide’s life?
Admittedly she and Imogen did both have blonde hair and blue eyes, but Tabby’s hair was paler and even her eyes were a deeper shade.
Plus, she reflected without amusement, Imogen was much taller and skinnier as well as being breathtakingly beautiful.
Competition? No, of course not, she wasn’t entering any competition for a man and if Aristide wanted Imogen he knew where to find her, didn’t he?
‘Aristide’s been looking for you all morning. He drove up and down the coast road in search but it didn’t occur to him that you could have walked as far as the town.’
‘It’s a lovely walk.’
‘Yes, but it’s hot and you’re pregnant,’ he scolded in a fatherly tone that couldn’t have offended her. ‘I warned Imogen not to approach you again. That qualifies as harassment and she’s legally bound not to harass any member of the Romanos family—’
‘But I’m not a member of your family—’
‘Yet,’ Demetrius slotted in.
‘Legally bound?’ she dared to query.
‘She caused trouble once before but fortunately she’s rarely here. Her grandfather being ill put us all in this situation. Theo’s not got long left.’ Aristide’s father sighed with regret. ‘Once he’s gone, however, she’ll have no reason to return to the island.’
Other than Aristide, Tabby almost quipped, and it was clearly Aristide who was her target and ultimate goal.
‘So, Theo, whom you went to visit, is Imogen’s grandad?’ Tabby gathered.
‘Yes, she’s his late son’s kid. When her mother died, she came here to live with her grandparents. She was twelve and she got into that modelling lark very young—too young, I suspect—but her grandparents didn’t feel able to deny her the opportunity to make something of herself.’
‘Well, she’s certainly achieved that. She’s world-famous.’
The classic car chugged up the steep driveway and, seconds later, Aristide stalked out to greet them, lean, strong face clenched taut with fury. ‘Where the hell have you been?’ he raked down at her from his vantage point on the top step.
‘Don’t you dare speak to me like that! I’m not a child who went out without permission and got lost!’ Tabby fired back at him without hesitation.
Demetrius glanced between them, winced and climbed back into his car. ‘See you both soon,’ he called, unnoticed by either party, and drove off.
Tabby stalked up onto the veranda.
‘I was worried about you!’ Aristide exclaimed in his own defence. ‘I went looking for you. I started worrying that you’d gone swimming in the sea and got into trouble. I’ve been frantic!’
‘I walked into town.’
‘In this heat? Why didn’t you take the car?’
‘I wasn’t sure I’d be able to drive it. It has too many gears,’ she complained, ‘and I’ve only driven an automatic.’