Beware of the Beast (22 page)

"I did." Charlotte put down her tea cup arid swung her legs
resignedly to the floor.

"Wait!"
Eleni
gestured for her to stay where she was. "What are you doing?"

Charlotte sighed. "I thought you expected me to go with
Sophia."

Eleni
shook her head vehemently. "Do not be so foolish.
You cannot leave immediately after the meal. Besides ..."
She turned to look again at Sophia, "why did not
Kyrios
Alexandro
come himself?"

"He is working,
kyria
.
Kyrios
Constandis
is here. They have
been working all morning."

"Then
Alexandro
cannot expect his wife to wait around
for him to find the time to speak with her,"
Eleni
retorted
.sharply. "You may tell your master that his wife is in safe
hands. I will see that she gets home safely,
ohi
?"

"
Ne
,
kyria
."
Sophia subjected Charlotte to another of
those hostile stares.
"
Efkaristo
."

Eleni
instructed Bettina to give Sophia a drink before she
left, but after she was gone Charlotte shifted restlessly on the
couch, "Why does she dislike me so much?" she exclaimed,
half to herself, but
Eleni
had heard her.

"Sophia’s mother used to work at the villa when Sophia was a little girl," she explained. "
Alexandro
was already a
young man, of course, but he took time out to play with her
when she accompanied her mother. He was fond of her, as
he is of all children. But Sophia did not see it that way. She
adored him, she still adores him. She is jealous of you, that
is
all.
And why not?
You are younger than she is. Perhaps
when she realizes you are to have
Alexandro's
child, she
will accept you.”

Charlotte found
that very doubtful. Besides, after the child
was iron, she would be going away. Who would Alex get to
take cart of the baby? She found the thought that it might
be .
Sophia something she did not care to contemplate.

Conversation lapsed, and Charlotte saw that
Eleni's
head was nodding. She felt drowsy, too, but she could not relax. Soon she would have to return to the villa and face Alex's
annoyance that she should have dared to disobey him.

Bettina was serving tea at four-thirty, and
Eleni
was just asking her to arrange for
Yanni
to take Charlotte home when
the powerful roar of the helicopter's engines rent the quiet
afternoon air. Charlotte's mouth went dry at the sound.
Surely Alex wasn't leaving again without even saying goodbye? Couldn't he at least have waited until she got back?
Devastatingly, she knew that she didn't want him to go.

She caught
Eleni's
eyes upon her, but she could give the old woman no reassurance. She sensed that
Eleni
was as anxious as she was herself, and her lips parted helplessly.

But the noise was increasing, not fading away, and with an
exclamation Charlotte scrambled off the couch and rushed to the windows. The helicopter was landing, on the cliffs a
few yards from the cottage, and she could see that Alex was alone behind the controls.

She turned and looked at
Eleni
. "It - it's Alex," she said,
unnecessarily.

Eleni's
hands relaxed their hold on the arms of her chair.
"Well, you'd better bring another cup, Bettina," she said,
with enviable calmness. "It seems we have another visitor."

Alex strode into the cottage unannounced, his eyes going
straight to Charlotte, still standing beside the windows.
Then he
Went
towards his grandmother, taking her hand and
bending to kiss her cheek. As he did so, Charlotte watched him. He had changed out of the jeans he had been wearing
earlier, and was now more formally dressed in a bronze silk suit and matching shirt. His attire disturbed her anew. On the
island he did not wear suits, silk or otherwise.

"So,
Alexandro
,"
Eleni
was saying now, "how are you?
It is so long since you went away."

Alex straightened, his eyes flickering coldly over Char
lotte, releasing himself from his grandmother's clinging
fingers. "I am sorry," he apologized without enthusiasm. "The
situation was more complicated than I had imagined."

"But you are back now, and that is the main thing,"
remarked
Eleni
with satisfaction, unaware that Alex was
looking at Charlotte again, silently stripping her of any
defence
she might raise against his obvious anger.

Then Alex turned back to his grandmother. "I may not be
staying long," he stated bleakly.

Eleni
looked up at him then, her eyes wide and troubled.
"Not staying?" She turned to Charlotte. "What is this?"

Charlotte moved her shoulders uncomfortably. "I don't
know."

"Don't you?" Alex seemed intent on humiliating her. "Of
course you do. Why don't you tell my grandmother the truth?
That you didn't want me here? That our marriage was a mis
take, and that you'd prefer to be
free !"

Charlotte gulped. "I - that's not true!" Her cheeks were
scarlet as she gazed imploringly at
Eleni
. "I don't know why
he's saying such things," she exclaimed. "Just because I left
the villa when he asked me not to ..."

Alex's eyes bored into hers. "And the rest," he said harshly.

"
Alexandro
!
Alexandro
, please I"
Eleni
rose to her feet to
face them. "You're behaving like children, not responsible
adults !
Good heavens, it's natural that after being separated
for so long you should both have problems of readjustment.
Charlotte has become used to doing as she likes. You cannot
come home and make demands on her without giving reas
ons!"

"Charlotte is expecting a
baby !
" muttered Alex roughly.
"She should not be walking here I"

"I know that. And she knows that. She was exhausted when
she arrived. But is that any reason for you to - how do the
Americans put it? - blow your chimney?"

"Your
stack!”
put in Alex
drily
. He raked a hand through
his hair. "You don't understand, Grandmother."

"Don't I? Well, perhaps not. But as Charlotte is in - her
condition, you should not be shouting at her simply because
she shows a little independence."

"Independence I" muttered Alex irritably. "I asked her not
to come here. I specifically asked her to stay near the
villa."

"I'm not a child!" exclaimed Charlotte tremulously.

"I suggest we all sit down and have some tea," said
Eleni
quietly. "Then, afterwards, you can take Charlotte home,
Alexandro
. In that monstrous machine, if you must."

"There was nothing else to hand," remarked Alex briefly,
and
Eleni
conceded this with a dismissing gesture.

Tea was served, but Charlotte did not enjoy it, and she did
not think Alex enjoyed it either. But he was tolerably polite
to his grandmother, answering her questions about the
merger, telling her that New York had been cold and wet,
that it was good to be back in the sunshine again. Then
Eleni
brought up the subject of Christmas, and Charlotte realized, with a sense of disbelief, that it was only a couple of weeks
away.

"Franco is coming, of course,"
Eleni
was saying thought
fully. Then, to Charlotte: "Franco is my brother. He is a
widower, and lives in a village not far from Athens. But he
always joins us for Christmas, does he not,
Alexandro
?"

Alex nodded, seeking permission to light a cheroot.
Charlotte had noticed that he did not smoke often, but when he
did it was almost always cheroots.

"Consider," said
Eleni
musingly, "next year Christmas will
begin to mean something again. There will be a baby in our family once more."

Charlotte got up and walked away. She could not bear to ' think of where she might be twelve months from now.

The journey back to the villa was accomplished in silence.
It was a short hop, and George was waiting for them when
they landed. He slid open Charlotte's door and helped her
out of the helicopter, commenting on how well she was now
looking.
           

Charlotte forced a smile. "It's good to see you again, Mr.
Constandis
," she said, and he shook his head.

"George," he insisted, walking with her towards the villa.

Charlotte went straight to her bedroom, and was not sur
prised when Alex came after her. He closed the door and then
folded his arms, staring expectantly at her. "Well?" he said at last, when she did not speak but picked up a brush and
began to tug the bristles through her hair. "So you are not so
brave, after all."

Charlotte took a deep breath. "I don't know what you
mean."

"Why didn't you tell my grandmother why I married you? Why didn't you complain to her how I forced you into this, how I exacted
complete
payment for your father's debts?"

Charlotte sank down on to the side of the bed. "Why
should I do that? Why should I humiliate myself in such a way?"

"You would have humiliated me
more !"

"Would I?" Charlotte hunched her shoulders. "Well, I - I
wouldn't hurt
yoar
grandmother like that. I like her too
much."

“But you’d like
a
miscarriage
more!"

“No!”
Charlotte’s
eyes were wide and pained. "No. No, I
wouldn’t
,
damn
you
!"

Asa's
eyes narrowed. "You said you didn't want the baby.”

Charlotte bent her head.
 
"I don't. But I wouldn't - do
anything to hurt it."

"So why did you tramp two miles across the cliffs?"

Charlotte sighed. "I've done it before.
Lots of times."

"She said you were exhausted," he reminded her harshly.

"I -I was. All right, maybe, it was foolish. But you - you
made me do it."
     

"I did?"
He
csme
towards her then, sitting down on the bed beside her.
"How am I to blame?"

Charlotte swallowed convulsively. This near, he was too
disturbing. She was very much afraid that if he touched her
she would break down completely, and that was the last thing
she must do. But she could remember only too well what had
happened between them on this bed a few short hours ago.
And she sensed he was not unaware of it himself. But to him, it had been a physical experience, the necessary accompani
ment to his desire for a child. While to
her ...

She moved, putting some space between them, and said:
"You - you can't expect me to behave like - like one of your employees!"

"Do I expect that?" he enquired, his lips thinning.

"Yes. You think you can
tell
me what to do, and when I
don't conform, you're
furious !
" she retorted.

“I’
m sorry. I was merely thinking of what was best for you."

'For the baby, you mean."’

"All right, if that's the way you want to see it"

Charlotte hunched her shoulders. "I don't need your con
cern."

So what do you need?"