PAGAN ADVERSARY (25 page)

She tried every way to turn my mother against the boy—but you

probably know this?'

'I think I sensed it,' Harriet said. 'But there was nothing tangible. I

knew she disliked me too, yet she seemed quite amenable when Spiro

began taking me out, even though....' She stopped abruptly.

'Even though what?'

She was flushing again. 'Even though she was trying to get Spiro to

pay attention to Maria.'

'She intended Spiro to seduce you,' he said in a matter-of-fact tone. 'If

he had done so, she would have used this as an excuse to have you

sent away. She wished you to be sent back to England, because you

were too close to Nicos, too protective. She has admitted this. She had

convinced herself that I would never marry—and that with Nicos

gone, that her son, or at least her grandson, would inherit the Marcos

Corporation.' He paused, then said flatly, 'She knows better now.'

He meant that he was going to be married, she thought. She felt sick

and dead inside, but she forced her voice to be as casual as his had

been.

'Then why did she choose tonight...?'

'She is a sick woman. The news that Spiro had been sent to

Athens—servants' gossip that it was because of you -that he had been

sent away must have finally unbalanced her. Androula had told her

that we were out together, so she would have assumed that she was

safe for several hours. Only—we came back.'

Harriet said, 'Yes.' Then, 'What are you going to do?'

'She cannot remain here. But to initiate any official intervention

would cause a scandal, hurting many people. Instead I have decided it

will be best if she returns to her house in the Peloponnese and remains

there. Spiro of course will have to be told.' His mouth tightened. 'A

task I do not relish.'

There were tears on her face suddenly. 'Poor Spiro!'

'Lucky Spiro,' he said grimly. 'When he has you to weep for him.'

He pulled her into his arms, his mouth hard on hers, and Harriet

responded, her lips parting achingly, feverishly beneath the onslaught

of his. Her body clung to his as if she had been magnetised, her arms

winding round his neck in passionate abandon. All the doubts, the

barriers she had imposed melted and dissolved as his kiss deepened.

Alex turned her in his arms, his warm weight pressing her down into

the softness of the mattress while his urgent mouth plundered kisses

from her throat and shoulders.

His fingers slid aside the straps of her nightgown. He said gently,

'You do not need this,
agape mou.
Tonight you will wear only my

kisses.'

She did not have time to feel shy. He had already unfastened the two

decorous buttons that closed the bodice, and the gentle slide of his

hands down her body as he uncovered her was a bewitchment in

itself. But when it was done, and she was naked in his arms, she

closed her eyes, a little afraid of the hunger she saw as he looked at

her.

He said softly, 'Scared of me,
matia mou?
There is no need. If you

want no more of me than this, I will hold you until you fall asleep.' He

paused. 'Tell me which it is to be, my beautiful one, sleep or love.'

She couldn't say the word. It meant too much to her, while to him it

was only a physical act. Instead she reached up, drawing him down to

her, his mouth to hers, his hands to her breasts, and heard his hoarse

sigh of pleasure against her lips.

The hunger was controlled like a leashed tiger as he aroused her

gently, but with passionate skill. Loving him as she did, her

compliance to his desire
was
ensured, but she soon learned he wanted

more than that. Under his tender, sensuous tutelage she became

mindless, rapturously acceptant as each new intimacy was unfolded

to her, until at last there were no more secrets left.

Her body moved with his in a rhythm which bordered on savagery,

the first confusion of pain and delight receding until only the pleasure

was left, and she moaned aloud, her head falling back on the pillow as

waves of sensation broke over her.

Alex kissed her, stroking the softness of her parted lips, and

murmured to her in his own language. Harriet lay in his arms, dazed

and trembling with joy. She pressed her mouth against the warmth of

his shoulder, and stroked his face with her fingertips. She was lost for

words, but that didn't seem to matter when touching and kissing

seemed to say so much more.

Later they showered together, and she stood in the protective circle of

his arms as the cool water cascaded over them.

She thought, 'It's not true, none of it can be true, and soon the door

will open and someone will bring in breakfast and it will all have

been a dream.'

Alex switched off the water. He said, 'You sigh,
agape mou.
Have I

made you sad?'

She shook her head. 'I didn't know I could be so happy,' she

confessed.

'Nor I.' His voice was quiet, almost reflective.

He wrapped her in one of the bath-sheets and carried her back to bed,

his mouth warm and urgent against her body.

A long time later, a lifetime later, she opened her eyes. Alex was

standing by the window, wearing his robe. As she stirred and sat up,'

he turned and smiled at her.

'Kalimera,'
he said softly. 'Do you know how beautiful you are?'

Her face warmed, but with pleasure, not embarrassment. She was no

longer shy when his dark arrogant gaze explored her body, instead

she gloried in it.

She put out a hand to him. She said softly, it's lonely here.'

Alex groaned. 'You must not tempt me, my lovely one. It is almost

light, and the servants will be moving around soon. You would not

wish me to be found in your room.'

'I shouldn't mind.'

'Well, I should,' he said, the dark face suddenly austere. 'You must

know as well as I do, Harriet, that this should not have happened.'

She felt cold suddenly, and hitched the sheet closer round her body.

She said huskily, 'You're sorry that it did?'

'No.' His voice was impatient. 'How could I regret anything

so—perfect, yet I did not intend --' He paused, pushing a hand

through his dark hair in a weary, slightly irritable gesture. 'I have to

leave you now, Harriet, but later we must talk. You realise that?'

He came over to the bed and bending down kissed her mouth briefly

and not too gently. She put her arms round his neck, wanting to draw

him down to her, to hold him, to recapture even for a few minutes the

passion and the tenderness they had shared, but Alex disengaged

himself firmly.

'No,' he grated, and left her.

She was so cold now, she was shaking with it, huddling back against

the pillows. With daylight, reality had come indeed, and it frightened

her. She shivered. Last night had been the most precious experience

of her life, but she had to face the fact that for Alex it could not have

been the same, that for him she might simply have been one more girl

in one more bed.

Oh no! she thought, pressing her fist against her trembling mouth.

Alex was a sexual expert, he knew everything there was to know

about women's bodies, how to gauge every kiss, every caress and

intimacy in order to gain the response he wanted. And she had been

no different. He had known she was a virgin, and the gentleness, the

almost superhuman control he had shown while he was arousing her

need not have been because he cared about her, but simply a means to

an end, because he knew that in the end his restraint would reap its

own reward.

As it had, she told herself numbly. She had never dreamed she was

capable of such fevered, agonised passion, or that such heights of

pleasure existed, let alone could be scaled.

Naively, she had seen Alex's possession of her as a beginning, but it

could well be the opposite. All the old- fashioned laws about

self-respect, about holding a man at arms' length in order to keep his

interest, were coming back to haunt her. She had given Alex her body

without reticence, loved him without holding back, presented him, in

fact, with everything he wanted from her without ever questioning if

it might be all he wanted.

In those dark hours of rapture, he had never once spoken of love, she

realised unhappily. Loving had been her own connotation. His might

be very different—no more than the gratification of a need.

Hurt clenched inside her. If Alex had stayed with her, she thought

frantically, if she had woken up in his arms, warmed by his kisses she

wouldn't be thinking like this. Yet he couldn't wait to get out of her

room.

She turned over on to her stomach, convulsively burying her face in

the pillow, trying to hold pain at bay. He had said that they would talk

later, and perhaps then she would receive the reassurance she craved.

After a while she fell asleep, and when she next opened her eyes, the

room was alive with sunlight, and Androula had brought in her

breakfast. Harriet thanked her quietly, feeling selfconscious when the

womap bent and retrieved her nightgown, still lying in a little

crumpled heap on the floor where Alex had tossed it, and placed it

expressionlessly on the bed.

She showered and dressed after she had drunk some coffee, and left

her room, intending to visit Nicky. But Androula was waiting for her

in the corridor.

'Kyria Marcos wishes to speak to you,
thespinis.
She is waiting for

you in the study.'

Harriet paused, frankly surprised, although she had expected there

would be some sort of interview with Nicky's grandmother some time

during the day.

She said slowly, 'But I was going to see Nicos.. . .'

'The doctor is with him,
thespinis.
And Kyria Marcos is waiting for

you—now.' Androula was practically barring her way, and short of

using force, Harriet couldn't see any way of getting past her. She

wasn't looking forward to seeing Madame Marcos. It was •going to be

deeply embarrassing and difficult to discuss what had happened to

Nicky when the person who had tried to harm him—who had

inflicted such damage in the past—was Madame's own sister. Harriet

would have to choose her words carefully.

Androula went with her, accompanying her to the study door, and

even knocking and opening it for her. It was almost like being in

custody Harriet thought with a slight inner grimace.

The room was shuttered and dim, and Madame was seated behind a

large polished desk. She was very still, her hands folded in her lap,

and her face, although ravaged, looked calm.

She said, 'I have to thank you, Miss Masters. I understand it was

because of you that my grandson's peril was so quickly discovered.'

She spoke of thanks, but there was little evident gratitude in her face

as she looked at Harriet, no warmth in the dark eyes. But then Harriet

thought wryly, wasn't that just what she'd expected in the

circumstances?

She said, 'You don't need to say any more, Madame. I love Nicky.'

'Yes, I am sure that you do.' Madame Marcos made a sudden restless

movement. 'However, I am also sure that when you first came here, it

was made clear that it could not be a permanent arrangement.'

Harriet felt herself tense into rigidity. She said, 'Yes—quite clear.

Are—are you asking me to leave?'

'I think it is time that you did. Now that you are my son's mistress, you

are hardly an appropriate companion for Nicos. You imagined I did

not know?' she added harshly, as Harriet gasped and colour flared in

her face. 'Do not attempt to deny it. I saw Alex with my own eyes

going back to his own room this morning. I spoke with him before he

left and he admitted he had spent the night with you.'

'Before—he left?' Harriet repeated, the words stinging her brain. 'You

mean he isn't here?'

Madame Marcos said heavily, 'He is—escorting his aunt to her house

in the Peloponnese.' Her tone sharpened. 'You look ill, Miss Masters.

Perhaps you had better sit down. Clearly you have been cherishing

some illusions about Alex's intentions towards you. Perhaps you even

hoped to emulate your sister and contract a marriage within our

family.' She shook her head. 'If so, you made a grave mistake. Alex

will marry Maria Xandreou in the New Year.' She paused, studying

Harriet gravely. 'He has been at fault in his behaviour towards you,

thespinis,
but --' she shrugged, 'he is very much a man, and you are an

attractive girl. Alex has always taken and enjoyed whatever life has

had to offer. But you must understand that your presence in this

house, for Maria's sake, and for other reasons as well, is now an

embarrassment, and it would be best for all of us if you were to leave.'