Chapter Thirteen
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The knock on the door was unannounced but Odysseus had been expecting it, ever since his wife had left him lying half naked on the floor of their bedroom and slammed her way into the bathroom.
A ragged sigh left his lungs. It had been unforgettable sex.
Intense. Theos, neh. Very intense. But angry, too.
So very angry. He had been jealous. He who had never known a moment’s jealousy in his life.
But that was part of the trouble, wasn’t it?
That somehow Grace had the ability to access feelings he didn’t even know he possessed.
Why else would he have raged about a youth he’d known in his heart that she wouldn’t have looked at twice.
Because she didn’t really want any man but him, did she? That was the disturbing truth of it.
‘Come,’ he growled reluctantly, the complexity of his thoughts compounded by the sight of Grace walking into his office, because there was something different about her and he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.
He kept his expression impassive enough for her to realise that her presence was unwelcome, because he didn’t want this.
The last thing he needed was some kind of showdown when he was trying to work Far better to suggest they discuss it reasonably over dinner later, when hopefully she might have had a chance to calm down.
‘Can’t this wait?’ he questioned.
‘I’m afraid it can’t.’ She bit her lip as if unsure how to proceed.
‘Well?’
His terse interjection seemed to galvanise her and she sat down on the other side of his desk without asking.
‘I want to go to England,’ she announced.
He felt an automatic flicker of disquiet. ‘I hope your grandmother is not ill?’
‘Odysseus, she has dementia. She doesn’t know what day of the week it is. Thank you for asking, but that’s not…’ She drew in a deep breath. ‘That’s not the reason.’
He raised his eyebrows, aware of the sudden pounding of his heart. ‘So what is the reason for this unexpected departure?’
‘Oh, come on. Is it really so unexpected ?’ she challenged, and then, when he refused to rise to it, she gave a little nod—as if he had just confirmed something she already knew. ‘I don’t want to continue with this marriage.’
‘But you’re supposed to be accompanying me to Tuloranka next week,’ he informed her with icy logic. ‘That was part of the deal.’
She didn’t deny his words but her expression remained oddly calm. ‘You really are an extraordinary man, Odysseus,’ she said slowly. ‘Aren’t you even going to ask me why?’
Suddenly he realised what was different about her.
Her jeans were old and her top much-washed.
There was no sign of the fine garments crafted by some of the world’s most famous designers which had been heaped on her since her arrival.
Instead she was wearing her own clothes.
Not only that, but her engagement ring and wedding band were nowhere to be seen.
It was as if she had shed the luxurious skin she had acquired when she had become his wife, to reveal the woman she had always been underneath.
And that was when he knew she meant it.
He felt another flicker of disquiet. He should call her bluff.
Tell her he didn’t care what her reasons were, but that would have been a lie—because he was discovering that his curiosity was almost as intense as his irritation that she was going against his wishes and he was finding it increasingly difficult to keep his feelings in check. ‘Why?’ he shot out.
Grace licked her lips, trying to stay composed, because any flair of undesired emotion would only work against her, instinct told her that.
She wondered why it was so difficult to say this when she knew it was the right thing for her.
Was it because her heart was appealing against her logic and she wanted nothing more than to cross to his side of the desk?
To run her fingers through his jet-dark hair and bend her face to kiss him and let his lovemaking obliterate all her doubts.
She cleared her throat. ‘Because there is little point in going from one controlling relationship to another.’
‘What the hell are you talking about, Grace?’ he asked softly.
Grace bristled. Even the question was patronising!
But at least it freed her from the worry of sparing his feelings—he didn’t have any!
How long would it take for her to learn that and then to accept it?
‘I’m talking about men,’ she bit out. ‘But two men in particular. Both incredibly wealthy and powerful and both of them, in their different ways, pushing me around as if I’m a pawn on a chessboard—’
‘If you’re suggesting what I think you’re suggesting I will not have it. Don’t you dare compare me to Contarini!’ he hissed.
‘I will dare because it’s true!’ she retorted and as her composure dissolved, it occurred to her how unusual it was for him to keep losing his rag like this.
‘Vincenzo may have provided me with a fancy location and a generous wage but, essentially, I was living in a gilded cage. I had no real freedom. And it’s exactly like that, living here with you. ’
‘How is it like that?’ he barked.
‘Think about it. You insult me when I go off on my own for the day—’
‘I was trying to protect you.’
‘Or imprisoning me—isn’t that a more accurate description?
Telling me I should take a car, or a map, mostly so you can know where I am at all times, tracking me from afar—like someone who’s had their phone stolen!
And then making snide digs about me being alone with Marinos—as if a man and a woman can’t spend time in each other’s company without instantly wanting to have sex.
Do you want to have sex with every woman you meet, Odysseus? ’
‘You know damned well I don’t,’ he conceded, on a growl.
‘Well, then. I rest my case!’ She swallowed down the annoying lump which kept rising in her throat. ‘But anyway, that’s history now because I’ve been thinking…’
As her bravado temporarily deserted her, he looked at her enquiringly, his dark brows elevated in arrogant query, the firm press of his lips not quite managing to hide his rage.
He’s still angry, she thought—and for some reason that spurred her on.
Was it a final remnant of misplaced hope that he might see the error of his ways?
Admit defeat and throw himself on her mercy, so that they could all live happily ever after—was she still being a sucker for that elusive sense of romance?
‘What have you been thinking, Grace?’ he prompted.
‘I think you’ve been fooling yourself about your motives for asking me to marry you.’
‘How fascinating,’ he murmured sarcastically as her words tailed away. ‘Please. Continue.’
‘This idea of me accompanying you on a work trip to a strict country so you could have unlimited sex with a woman you couldn’t keep your hands off was nothing but a smokescreen.
Oh, it might have been one of the reasons, but it certainly wasn’t the main one, was it?
Not when you’ve already demonstrated to yourself that you are able to do without sex whenever it suits you, because you have a steely self-will.
Be honest, Odysseus,’ she finished, her voice becoming a thready little whisper.
‘The only reason I am here, married to you, is because you wanted revenge. I think you’ve never really forgiven your grandfather for kicking your mother out when she was pregnant and vulnerable and you wanted to punish him for all the hurt he had caused. ’
At first she wondered if he had heard her because his features remained stony, though maybe the dark glitter in his eyes was an indication that she’d touched a raw nerve.
‘That is an absurd accusation,’ he said at last, slicing his hand through the air with customary dismissive arrogance.
‘I went to see Contarini simply to satisfy my curiosity, not really expecting him to repent or apologise, and my expectation proved to be correct.’ He gave a bitter smile.
‘Unfortunately, he seemed to have learned nothing from his past behaviour. When he offered me money and shares to stay away from you, I was appalled. And my revulsion that he was prepared to barter you as if you were a sack of rice at the local marketplace was what prompted my proposal.’
‘Do you really believe that, Odysseus?’
‘Don’t you?’ he parried coolly.
‘Oh, I’m not denying that some shred of altruism may have been involved and I suppose I should be grateful for that.
’ She gave a bitter laugh. ‘But we both know that Vincenzo’s offer would be like a drop in the ocean to a man of your wealth and influence.
You didn’t need or want his money, or his shares, did you?
But you knew the very fact that he’d made the offer proved how much he wanted to hang onto his housekeeper—and that was what gave you your brilliant idea.
You knew how disruptive it would be if I left and how much it would affect him.
And so you took me away from him. As simple as that.
Revenge, with plenty of sex thrown in—it’s a very potent combination. Win-win.’
As she sat there waiting for a response, Odysseus felt the flicker of a pulse at his temple. Was she waiting for him to deny it? To throw himself on her mercy, perhaps, so that she could forgive him?
He sat back in his chair and linked his fingers together on his chest. ‘An interesting hypothesis,’ he mused.
‘And clearly not the foundation for any kind of marriage, no matter how temporary the arrangement is supposed to be.’ He raised his eyebrows, before adding thoughtfully, ‘Although that doesn’t necessarily mean we can’t go through with the Tulorankian trip, as originally planned. ’
‘Are you out of your mind?’ She stared at him with disbelieving eyes. ‘Do you really think we can go through with such a charade as if nothing has happened?’
He shrugged. ‘You’d need to dig into all your acting skills, that’s for sure,’ he offered drily. ‘We certainly wouldn’t be able to put on a united front at the royal palace if you make it clear that you think so little of me, Grace.’
She shook her head. ‘But that’s where you’re wrong,’ she whispered at last, and her voice was so quiet that he had to lean forward fractionally to hear it.
‘I’m not apportioning all the blame to you.
Maybe some of what happened was down to me, and the choices I’ve made.
’ She shrugged. ‘For a long time, I was feeling increasingly trapped working for Vincenzo and your marriage proposal gave me the chance to escape from that cage, without compromising my grandmother’s care.
But perhaps I should have looked for an alternative solution.
I should have known there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Maybe I was too keen to opt for what looked like the easier, softer option—only to find that it was anything but. ’
He shrugged. ‘So now you know.’
‘Yeah. Now I know.’ She gave a short laugh. ‘On that first night I joked that I wanted you to rescue me but, perhaps, deep down—I meant it. And no woman should expect a man to do that.’
His brows rose a little higher. ‘Have you quite finished?’
‘Not yet.’ Her amber eyes were as dark as honey as she fixed him with a trembling look. ‘You pushed me away after the wedding—what happened to make you do that, Odysseus? Did I commit the terrible crime of starting to care too much for you? Because I’m afraid I did.’ She swallowed. ‘I do.’
‘But caring was never on the agenda!’ he continued remorselessly, steeling himself against the look she was directing at him.
Because what she wanted and what he wanted were opposite sides of the coin and it was time she realised that, once and for all.
‘You know what we agreed,’ he concluded coldly.
‘That it was nothing but a marriage of convenience.’
‘Yes, of course I know what we agreed . But we’re human beings—not machines!
It doesn’t always work like that. At least, for some of us, it doesn’t.
But anyway, that’s all academic now, isn’t it?
’ She rose to her feet. ‘Like I said, I want to go back to England. Obviously, I can’t just rock up to the airport and buy myself a ticket, because there isn’t one.
And since the only way off this place is by your helicopter, or one of the fishermen’s boats, I’m going to need your help.
But if this sudden change of plan makes you unwilling to do that, then I’m prepared to swim if I have to even if I am a relative novice! ’
Despite her reckless threat, there was a quiet dignity about her which was making his heart clench and suddenly Odysseus realised that his throat had grown so dry that he couldn’t speak.
And the crazy thing was that he wanted to pull her into his arms. To kiss away the hurt which was making her lips look as tight as the bud of a rose.
To transmute that hurt into the desire which always thrummed between them, no matter what they did or said, even now.
And if he did that, then what?
It was obvious.
Nothing would change. Her expectations would increase until, sooner or later, he would be unable to meet them.
And then he would be the one who had to end it, which she would inevitably find more difficult.
He felt the hard punch of his heart. She was a beautiful woman, inside and out, and if he were a different kind of man then maybe he could have believed in some kind of future with her.
But he wasn’t. He could never be the kind of man she needed, and even if he could…
he didn’t want to be. Because what kind of idiot would voluntarily open themselves up to the prospect of pain?
It would be like somebody whose flesh had been burned to the bone putting their hand straight back in the fire.
He rose to his feet and felt another twist of his heart as she looked up into his eyes because never had she seemed a more bewitching combination of the strong and the vulnerable.
‘I will get you back to England with all speed, Grace,’ he said heavily and then managed to give a bitter smile, although his lips felt as if they were made of concrete. ‘And believe me, one day you’ll thank me for it.’
As he turned away from her, Grace could have wept, but she pursed her lips together hard to ensure that didn’t happen.
No way was she going to make him aware of the pain which was coursing through her veins like a fierce fever, making her heart pound and her skin shiver.
She needed to convince him that all her stupid dreams had been extinguished.
She had only to think of his brutal words if she needed any more convincing that he couldn’t wait to see the back of her.
‘Yes. Do that,’ she said tonelessly. ‘Get me out of here with all speed.’