The Enigmatic Greek (15 page)

‘Now you bathe, and I will bring tea.’ She sighed. ‘You will be glad to leave us.’

Eleanor shook her head sadly.

Sofia patted her hand. ‘I will take you up to your room so you can be clean and beautiful again.’

Eleanor smiled wryly. Clean was easy; beautiful would take longer. Limp with reaction, she was glad of Sofia’s company as the woman ran a hot bath, poured bath essence into it and gave orders to lie in it and relax. She offered to stay during the process, but Eleanor declined gracefully, and Sofia hurried off, as eager as her son to get back to the excitement.

The hot water was soothing on Eleanor’s various bruises and scrapes, but it was hard to relax while she fretted about what was going on in the depths of the
Kastro.
Not that she had any doubts about Alex’s mastery over Paul Marinos.
She was also pretty sure there wouldn’t be much pounding on an opponent who was not only physically inferior to him but who was suffering in the part of him that men value most. On the other hand, she could perfectly understand—and share—Alex’s determination to punish the man who’d frightened Talia.

To pass the time, Eleanor put in some determined work on her appearance, but it seemed like hours before she finally heard the lift. She shot out of her room and ran along the hall into Alex’s arms.

‘I’m sorry I took so long. I had something to do after I finished with Paul. I didn’t chop him in pieces,’ he assured her huskily, ‘Though I wanted to. I just smacked him around a little.’ He grinned suddenly. ‘I think you hurt him far more than I did,
glykia mou.
’

Her eyes flashed. ‘Good. So where is he now?’

‘I was tempted to leave him where he was, with the stone in place and guards outside,’ Alex informed her grimly. ‘But, because he is Arianna’s brother, I told Theo to take Paul to the bathroom the security men use and afterwards lock him up in the exercise room.’ His mouth twisted in disgust. ‘Theo even persuaded me to let the man have coffee and brandy.’

Eleanor nodded in approval. ‘He needs to be in some kind of shape for tomorrow. He looked pretty sick when you mentioned your father.’

‘As well he might,’ agreed Alex with relish. His eyes blazed as the late sun highlighted the bruise on Eleanor’s jaw. ‘But now I see your face, I regret leaving him conscious,
kardia mou.
’ When they reached his room he picked her up and sat down with her in the chair, cradling her against him. ‘Is that really all he did to you?’

She showed him her wrists. ‘These are a bit sore, my shoulders too because he tied my hands behind my back—
and he gagged me, which was seriously unpleasant. But I managed to hurt him before he hurt me.’

‘He is very fortunate that you did, otherwise I would have taken him apart,’ he said with quiet violence. ‘As it is, I will leave him to Dion.’

Eleanor frowned. ‘Will Dion’s punishment be physical?’

Alex shook his head. ‘He has little love for Paul, but he will not distress Arianna that much right now. A verbal lashing will be enough. One thing is certain—Paul Marinos will not rest easy tonight.’ He held her closer, rubbing his cheek against her hair. ‘Not only will he be apprehensive about the morning, he will envy me the privilege of holding you in my arms all night.’

‘I don’t think so, Alex.’

He held her away from him. ‘You don’t want to sleep with me?’

‘Of course I do! But I doubt that Paul Marinos will be envious. His taste runs more to the voluptuous—like the charms of his accomplice.’ She hesitated. ‘Did Paul tell you about Christina?’

Alex’s lip curled. ‘That is why I took so long to come to you. I had to go over to Karpyros for a little talk with her about aiding and abetting Paul in his revenge. He still hates me because Christina Mavros wanted me instead of him all those years ago.’ His lip curled in distaste. ‘For a while after Arianna married Dion, I was fool enough to console myself with her.’

‘No wonder Paul hates your guts. But so, obviously, does Christina. How long were you together?’

Alex looked uncomfortable. ‘For a couple of weeks only. She wanted marriage. I did not.’

‘Ah!’ Eleanor shook her head. ‘You Greeks are a vengeful bunch. She told those lies to a reporter to get back at you. And then she colluded with Paul over his kidnap plans for
the same reason. I doubt that he’d have hurt your mother, but I fancy he would have enjoyed hurting me.’

Alex crushed her close. ‘If he had succeeded he would not be drinking my brandy right now,
kardia mou.’

‘He didn’t succeed. I learned a bit of basic self-defence in college and got in first. I hear Sofia coming by the way,’ she said into his chest.

‘Then I will have a bath while you drink your tea.’ He smiled as he stood her on her feet. ‘But just tea,
parakolo
, because I asked Sofia to serve dinner very early tonight.’

Eleanor’s face heated as she made for the door. ‘What reason did you give?’

‘None,’ he said, surprised, with the typical hubris which half-irritated, half-delighted her.

Alex watched her go, a smile playing about his lips, and then made for the bathroom to stand under water as hot as he could bear. He needed purifying heat after the encounter with Paul Marinos, who had grown from an indulged, petulant teenager into a bored, discontented man who found a fitting partner in crime in Christina Mavros. She would have been only too delighted to help him hurt Alexei Drakos.

He smiled as he thought of her face when he found her waiting for Paul in a
taverna
on Karpyros. It had been a great pleasure to inform her that Paul’s plan had gone badly wrong, and if she were wise she’d get the hell out of Karpyros and never show her face there again. And this time, he’d made it clear, there were to be no more colourful lies to the press. Otherwise Alexei would publish the facts about her involvement in kidnap and blackmail with Paul Marinos. There’d been furious protestations of innocence, but in the end Christina had taken the next ferry home to Crete. Alex’s mouth curled in disgust at the thought of Paul
Marinos. Deprived of his knife, the clever swine had put up no fight against fists which had battered him in furious retaliation for the way he’d treated Eleanor. Paul had known that putting up no defence was the only way to cut short his punishment.

Alex’s towelled off in a hurry, thrust his fingers through his hair by way of grooming and then anointed his sore knuckles with some of Sofia’s special balm. He pulled on a white T-shirt and jeans soft with age, his mind occupied with ways to make his last night with Eleanor one she would look back on with such pleasure she would want to repeat it very soon. His eyes glinted. He would bring his trip to London forward with just that aim in mind.

Sofia was laying the table when Eleanor reached the tower room. ‘I brought tea for you,
kyria
,’ she said and smiled in approval. ‘You look better now.’

‘I feel better.’ Eleanor cast an eye over the dish of pastries on the tray. ‘These look gorgeous.’

‘I made
kyrie
Alexei’s favourites.’ She gave Eleanor a woman-to-woman smile. ‘He asked me to serve dinner early, which is good. You need a good sleep ready for your journey tomorrow.’

‘Thank you, Sofia.’

The woman laid a hand on Eleanor’s as she turned to go. ‘I am ashamed that a friend of Yannis should harm you,
kyria.
Markos is not a bad boy. His parents died when he was young, and he lives with a sister who has a large family. Life is not easy for him. To earn such money for so little was too much temptation.’ She rolled her large dark eyes. ‘Also it was big fun to wear that stupid mask—but he did not mean to make you faint,
kyria.’

Having understood most of this, Eleanor patted Sofia’s hand. ‘I understand.’

‘You are a kind young lady. I am sad to see you go. Come back soon.’

Eleanor smiled, her throat too tight to answer, and with a sigh poured some tea, depressed. But when Alex came to join her the sight and scent of him pushed aside all thoughts of leaving to concentrate on the heady pleasure of now.

Sofia served grilled swordfish, and a dish of
keftedes
, the pork meatballs Eleanor had enjoyed in several eating places during her island-hopping. ‘Just for you,
kyrie
,’ Sofia told Alex as she left them.

‘Rustic food, but my favourite,’ he commented as he seated Eleanor. ‘Sofia makes them for me every time I come here.’

‘I’ve eaten them all round the Aegean. I like those bits of pork they grill on skewers, too.’ She thought for a moment.
‘Souvlakia
?’

He grinned. ‘You’re trying to impress me, but you’re a journalist,
kyria
Markham. You take notes.’

Her eyes flashed. ‘And pretty nasty you were when you first saw me doing it.’ She tasted her fish with pleasure. ‘This is so good. I don’t eat enough fish at home—at least not this kind—’ She stopped, flushing. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

Alex smiled slowly, the look in his eyes hot enough to melt her bones. ‘Because I hunger for you,
glykia mou
, far more than for Sofia’s excellent dinner.’

With effort she tore her eyes away. ‘Eat it just the same, Alex, or Sofia will be hurt.’

‘I know.’ His eyes darkened. ‘But it does my appetite no good to know that tomorrow you are leaving. And before I can take you to the airport I must deal with Dion and Paul.’

‘You have absolutely no need to come with me to Crete,’ she protested. ‘I’m not in any kind of danger now.’

‘I will see you onto the plane, Eleanor,’ he stated with such finality she gave in.

‘Alex,’ she said later, giving up the struggle. ‘I just can’t eat any more.’

‘I will ring Sofia and ask her to bring coffee and leave the pastries for us to eat later.’ He smiled crookedly as he got up. ‘I will even help clear the food away, ready for her.’

She smiled. ‘How you’ve changed since we first met,
kyrie
Drakos!’

‘You are such a good influence!’ He rang down to the kitchen to speak to Sofia, then took Eleanor by the hand and led her to the sofa. ‘Sit with me here while we wait for her.’

‘When will Dion get here?’

‘He has a fast boat, so he will arrive early in the morning.’

Eleanor hesitated. ‘Are you on good terms with him?’

‘You mean even though he stole Arianna from me?’

‘I suppose I meant that, yes.’

‘We are in business together with the wine, and sometimes Arianna asks me to dine with them, but from a personal point of view Dion and I will never be soul-mates. His life is centred here in his beloved islands, while mine is more global in my aim to eclipse my father.’ He smiled crookedly. ‘I have not succeeded in that yet, but I keep striving.’

Eleanor’s hand tightened on his. ‘I get the feeling you’re a little less hostile to him than you were. Are you thawing towards your father?’

‘To a certain extent, yes,’ he admitted reluctantly. ‘But at one time, when I found he doubted my paternity, I wanted to kill him. Yet I owe him in one way, because my anger made me determined to make it on my own in life without any help from him.’

‘He offered help?’

‘Yes.’

‘But you refused it, of course.’

‘Of course.’ His chin rose. ‘I not only had money I’d made myself, I inherited a generous legacy from my grandfather. I needed no help from my father—or from anyone else. Besides, any hope of reconciliation between us died when I found his mistress staying with him on Corfu.’ His eyes darkened. ‘She tried to poison me to make me go away.’

Eleanor stared at the stern, beautiful face silhouetted against the fading light. ‘Is that why you were ill?’

Alex nodded. ‘She was clever enough to make me just sick enough to go home and leave the field clear for her.’ His face hardened. ‘She need not have troubled. When I found Melania there, I couldn’t get away fast enough.’

‘And afterwards you shut your father out of your life,’ she said softly and hesitated. ‘Did your mother do the same?’

‘I don’t know. Mother will never talk about him.’ He shrugged. ‘But it must have been obvious the other night that they are not indifferent to each other. Nor,’ he added darkly, ‘Do I think it was the only time they’d seen each other recently.’

‘It seemed obvious to me that he cares for you too, Alex.’

‘Only because he has no other son to carry on his name.’ He smiled as Sofia came in with a tray. He spoke to her at length and she nodded and patted his hand, then came to Eleanor and patted hers.

‘You were too sad to leave to eat much tonight,’ she said slowly so Eleanor could understand. She turned to Alex. ‘Do I give the prisoner food?’

‘Yes. But
kyrie
Lazarides must take it to him, not Yannis,’ he ordered, and she nodded and wished them goodnight.

Alex drew Eleanor to her feet. ‘And now,’ he said, kissing
her hand, ‘I think we should take this tray to our room and lock the world away,
ne
?’

‘Oh yes,’ she sighed, and smiled as she saw that Sofia had provided both tea and coffee. ‘I’ll miss all this when I get home.’

‘Will you miss me, too?’

‘Yes,’ she said baldly as he hurried her along to his room.

Alex stood aside to let Eleanor through, then carried the tray to his dressing chest and turned back to lock the door. ‘Is that true?’ he demanded, drawing her to him.

‘Of course it is. My life will be dull at home after all the excitement here.’ She smiled ruefully. ‘I had such a great time exploring the Greek islands for my travel series, yet I can’t write about even half of the things that have happened to me on yours or you’ll sue the paper and I’ll lose my job.’

He shook his head. ‘I will not be forced to sue,
kyria
journalist, because I trust you.’

‘Thank you,
kyrie
Drakos. I’m honoured.’

‘
You
should be. I trust very few people in this world.’ He picked her up and placed her on the bed against the stacked pillows. ‘You have been subjected to such trauma today, I will personally serve you tea and pastries.’ His eyes glinted. ‘Another reason for you to feel unique. I do this for no one else.’

‘Not even your mother?’