The Passionate Greek (18 page)

Round one, to me, she said to herself, quite
relishing the thought. But Nicos, she knew, was a wily negotiator.
She would have to keep her wits about her if she was going to get
the better of him. A furious thought shook her. My daughter is not
a bargaining chip and I won’t let him treat her as if she is.

It helped to stay angry. A corner of her
heart still mourned him but there was no going back. This morning
had been just the beginning. She was never going to fall under his
spell again. As Melanie took Electra for her late afternoon walk
down to the harbor she saw the Athena was already docked, her decks
a hive of activity. She was obviously being made ready for the
voyage

Later from her room she heard the motor
launch arriving from the mainland. Voices downstairs in the hall
told her Nicos’s business guest, Katerina’s father, had arrived. Of
Katerina there had been no sign since Melanie’s return but now she
heard her voice and realised she had returned with her father.
‘She’s welcome to Nicos Chalambrous,’ she told herself savagely,
but a small knife twist of jealousy found its way into her
heart.

She was on tenterhooks for the next few days
wondering if Nicos would come up with something to thwart her. But
he seemed to have accepted that she would be one of the party on
the trip. She avoided all contact with him and his guests, even
going so far as to hide behind a tree when she heard them coming.
She knew it was foolish. They would all be together on the boat;
she would have to meet them then. How would Nicos introduce her?
The nanny? Mother of his child? Discarded mistress? They’d all be
true, she thought wryly.

* * *

There were no more summonses to Nicos’s office.
Instead he sent a message through Anna. She and Electra were to
board the boat first so the baby could be settled into the on-board
nursery before the ship set sail. Nicos and his guests would follow
later. Melanie was glad. She had given some thought to how Nicos
would deal with her presence on board and she still wasn’t sure.
Would she be mixing with the guests? Or would she be confined to
the nursery? Hopefully it would be the nursery. She would much
rather spend her time with Electra than make small talk with the
Azistan businessman and his daughter who would no doubt ignore her,
not to mention the lowering presence of Nicos. She pulled herself
up short. ‘I’ll decide what I want to do on board that boat. The
days of falling in with Nicos Chalambrous’s plans are well and
truly over.’

The nursery on the upper deck of the boat
was a delight, equipped with everything possible to make a baby
safe at sea. Melanie couldn’t help but be impressed by her own
adjoining quarters. It was more like a five star hotel room than a
ship’s cabin. Once settled in she took Electra up on deck. The
crew, getting ready to sail, were busy about the boat. The captain
came and formally introduced himself before hurrying off to give
departure orders. Melanie wondered if he knew who she was. Her
guess was that he did. All the islanders must know by now that
Electra was her child and what the islanders knew the crew of the
Athena would not be long in finding out. She didn’t mind. Electra
was hers. She wanted the world to know it.

Spying the motor launch approaching with the
rest of the party she hurried below. She determined to keep out of
Nicos’s way as much as possible during the voyage. The throb of the
huge engines told her they were about to depart. She felt the
motion of the boat change very slightly as they crossed the harbor
bar and then they were heading for the open sea.

Not long after there was a knock on the door
and a white uniformed woman wheeled in a trolley bearing Electra’s
tea and announced herself as ‘the nursery stewardess’. Someone must
have given the galley very precise instructions because Melanie was
pleased to see that the food was everything Electra was used to.
The stewardess carefully explained all the safety features in the
nursery and showed her where everything was. Whoever had designed
the nursery had thought of everything.

Half an hour later as she was wiping the
baby’s smeary face there was a knock at the door. ‘Come in,’ she
called, thinking it was the steward returning for the trolley. But
Nicos stood there.

‘Is everything to your satisfaction,’ he
asked neutrally. ‘Yes,’ thank you, she said equally polite. He
turned to Electra and his face lit up. Melanie realised then that
her plan to keep out of Nicos’ way wasn’t really going to work. She
could hardly keep him away from Electra and where Electra went so
did she. She busied herself tidying things away while Nicos cooed
over the baby. She found herself wishing he would go and was
relieved when at last he left and she could start getting the baby
ready for bed. He hadn’t said anything about dinner so she assumed
thankfully that she could eat a solitary dinner in her own
cabin.

With Electra settled down for the night she
went next door to her own cabin. She was wondering whether she
should go and find the galley and ask them to bring her dinner to
her. But a knock on the door forestalled her. Introducing himself
as her cabin steward the man proceeded to instruct her on the air
conditioning controls, the use of the shower in the adjoining
bathroom, the baby alarm between her cabin and the nursery, and
finally the bell which he informed her would bring him any time of
the day or night. As he was leaving he turned and said, ‘drinks
will be served on the upper deck at 7.30 for dinner at eight.’
Before Melanie could protest he was off down the corridor silent in
his rubber-soled shoes.

Melanie debated. Should she plead a sick
headache? She could hardly do that for the whole voyage. Was it
Nicos who expected her to join them or was it just the steward’s
assumption? No, she surmised, the steward would be under orders. If
she didn’t go Nicos would think he had won. That decided it. She
would go.

The evening air was balmy, hardly stirred by
the ship’s steady progress. As she made her way to the upper deck
she heard the irritatingly familiar laugh of Katerina and the
deeper guttural tones of her father. She sighed. She wasn’t looking
forward to the evening.

Nicos came forward to meet her and for a
moment she saw that old familiar flash in his eyes quickly
extinguished. He led her to where his guests sat on soft cushioned
armchairs round a table with an array of drinks. The man who got to
his feet was not the late middle aged overweight businessman she
had been expecting. This man was little more than forty, slim and
really quite handsome with pale blue eyes and close cropped greying
hair. Melanie did a quick calculation. Of course, Katerina was not
yet 20, this man could easily be her father. Nicos introduced them
simply; Mikhail meet Melanie. The man looked approvingly at her and
shook her hand warmly. Katerina gave her a perfunctory ‘hi’.

Dinner was served in the luxuriously
appointed dining saloon. Throughout the meal Mikhail paid more and
more attention to Melanie and she could see it was rattling Nicos.
Mikhail was regaling her with tales of his youth in his own country
of Azistan and making her laugh. Nicos quickly changed the subject
to the ports of call the ship was to make at the various islands on
their route.

‘I’m looking forward to getting to Piraeus,’
said Mikhail. ‘Perhaps this lovely young lady would like to visit
the Acropolis with me. I have always wanted to see it.’

Nicos looked daggers. ‘We may not be going
near Athens on this trip,’ he said, and Melanie wondered if he had
quickly rearranged the schedule. ‘He doesn’t want me but he’s still
jealous,’ she thought resentfully.

She excused herself as soon as she could
after dinner to Mikhail’s obvious disappointment. ‘Let me escort
you to your cabin,’ he said full of courtly politeness. Nicos,
Melanie saw to her satisfaction, had trouble containing himself...
She thought of accepting Mikhail's offer just to annoy Nicos but
quickly discarded the idea. Mikhail at her cabin door might be more
trouble than it was worth.

‘There's really no need,' she told the
Azistani.' I insist you stay,' and saying hasty ‘goodnights’ she
made a diplomatically swift exit.

Back in her cabin she wondered why she had
n’t encouraged Mikhail. Nicos had forfeited his right to her
fidelity by the mere fact that he hadn’t believed in it. But her
heart wasn’t it. ‘I will always belong to him,’ she acknowledged
sadly to herself. ‘Whatever he does, whatever he says, I am bound
to him, no matter how much I tell myself I want to be free.’

The next morning she took Electra to the
ship’s pool to play. None of the guests were around, but an hour
later Mikhail appeared. ‘Come and sit beside me,’ he said, patting
the sun lounger next to him. ‘I have to get the baby back to her
cabin,’ Melanie demurred. ‘The baby looks happy here. Stay,’ he
insisted.

Melanie, not wanting to appear rude, perched
on the edge of the seat with Electra in her arms. 'Five minutes
chat and then I‘m off,' she promised herself, not entirely
comfortable with the way Mikhail was eyeing her in her bikini.

But he was very entertaining and in spite of
her reluctance to spend time with him she found herself still in
his company some half an hour later. He had taken Electra from her
and was jiggling the baby on his knee while she squealed with
delight.

Melanie wasn’t sure what alerted her to
Nicos’s presence but the air seemed to have chilled around her. He
was standing motionless at the entrance to the pool area looking
across at them stony faced. Mikhail, following Melanie’s gaze,
called out a jovial, ‘Hey, Nicos, come on over.’

Melanie reached for Electra with a hurried,
‘I really need to be going now,’ and made to leave. Nicos hadn’t
moved and the only way out was past him. As she reached him he
said. ‘I see you’ve found another man friend.’

‘I was simply being polite to one of your
guests,’ she said icily. ‘He is certainly not ‘my man friend’ as
you so charmingly put it and if that was the case it is certainly
no business of yours.

‘It’s my business when you are with my
daughter,’ he snapped.

‘My behavior when I am with
my
daughter is no concern of yours. But if it were then I should point
out that I am quite certain that the way I conduct myself is beyond
even your reproach.’

She swept past him, all outranged dignity.
‘Put that in your pipe and smoke it,’ she felt like saying, and had
to giggle to herself. ‘Did I sound wonderfully pompous?’ she
whispered to her uncomprehending daughter. ‘Do you think your daddy
could have been just the teeniest bit jealous?’ The thought gave
her undeniable pleasure.

By the afternoon the ship had steamed into their
first port of call and anchored in deep water some distance from
shore. Melanie took Electra up on deck to watch the sailors’
activity. Not long after the big ship moored a deafening roar rent
the calm. Mikhail and Katerina had taken to the water on jet skies.
They circled expertly at break neck speed laughing and calling out
to each other. Melanie lifted Electra higher to watch the fun.
Mikhail saw them and gave a cheery wave.

Minutes later he had brought his jet ski
back to the boat and was calling Melanie down. She shook her head
laughing. Cupping his hands round his mouth he called ‘I’m coming
up to get you.’ Moments later he was standing next to her on the
deck.

‘You have to have a ride,’ he insisted.
‘It’s wonderful fun.’ ‘I can’t,’ protested Melanie. ‘I have to look
after the baby, and anyway I’m not dressed for the sea.’

But Mikhail was not to be dissuaded ‘Go and
put your swimsuit on. I’ll wait for you,’ he insisted. 'The
stewardess can take care of the baby. She can hold her up so she
can watch her mummy. Baby will love it.’

Melanie was tempted. It did look enormous
fun. ‘I’ll do it,’ she decided. ‘It’s time I had some fun.’ She
hurried down to her cabin and quickly changed into her bikini. She
rang for the nursery stewardess who happily took Electra in her
arms and they went up on deck together.

Mikhail was waiting, already seated at the
controls while a sailor held the bobbing craft close to the ship’s
side. Melanie lowered herself on to the passenger seat and held on
tight. ‘Don’t go too fast,’ she shouted into Mikhail’s ear over the
sound of the engine. He didn’t answer but to her relief he set off
at a sedate pace. Before long she was enjoying it so much she heard
herself shouting, ‘Faster, faster,’ as Mikhail expertly manoeuvred
the boat in ever-speedier circles.

When he finally brought the Jet Ski back to
the boat she was breathless and flushed with excitement. ‘No need
to ask if you enjoyed it?’ laughed Mikhail, eyeing her bikini clad
figure appreciatively. ‘We must do it again tomorrow.’

‘That would be wonderful,’ she said, and
spun round searching the deck for Electra. But it was Nicos she
saw. She caught a black look before he strode passed her and
greeted Mikhail with what Melanie was sure was false bonhomie.

He had put a companionable arm around his
guest and was ushering him along. Melanie heard him say, ‘Come up
on the top deck and have a drink?’ Mikhail looked around for
Melanie. ‘Only as long as the lovely lady comes, too.’ Nicos
couldn’t disguise his thunderous look. ‘Don’t you have to see to
the baby?’ he said curtly to her. But Mikhail wouldn’t hear of it.
‘Nonsense,’ he boomed. ‘What do you have a nursery stewardess for?
I insist she comes with us.’

Melanie tried to protest. ‘I need to change
out of this bikini,’ she said feebly, but Mikhail wouldn’t be
dissuaded. ‘No, you mustn’t do that,’ he said laughing. ‘I am
enjoying the view too much.’

Melanie thought Nicos was going to explode.
He said nothing but rang the bell for the steward. ‘Fetch Ms
Melanie a towelling robe,’ he barked.