The Passionate Greek (2 page)

‘I don’t intend to apologise for that,’ he
said stiffly. ‘It was as much your fault as mine.’

‘It seems to me that you made the first
move,’ said Melanie hotly.

His reply was sardonic. ‘I didn’t notice any
resistance from you.’ There was a flash of black humhumor in his
dark eyes and Melanie felt herself flush. She had to get this
discussion back on track somehow. He was behind his desk once
again, and to her consternation she saw him reach out to the brass
bell by the blotter, palm down ready to strike. The bell would
summon the manservant and she’d be shown ignominiously out. She had
less than a second to stall him.

‘Electra’s not yours,’ she blurted out. His
hand froze over the bell, the color draining from his face. Melanie
drew in a sharp breath realising too late what she’d said.

‘What in hell do you mean by that?’ he
snapped.

‘I meant she’s not
only
yours, she’s
mine as well,’ Melanie amended weakly. Even though he was glaring
ominously at her she saw with relief he had withdrawn his hand from
the bell. She rushed on. ‘I am only asking to spend some time with
Electra while she is still a baby. Perhaps when you have thought
about my proposal you might reconsider’

‘What you are suggesting is preposterous.
Electra is 9 months old. My requirements for her are that she has a
consistency in her life. As you must already be aware my intentions
are to hire a capable and loving nanny who will stay with her
throughout her childhood. A mother who pops in and out of her life
from time to time is not part of my plan, especially a mother whose
most recent home was a prison cell and who is a proven liar.’

Melanie flinched visibly but held her
ground. ‘Yes, I lied ‘she admitted. ‘I was guilty of that and I
paid the price for it. But you have never given me the chance to
tell you why. I have never, ever lied to you.’

The look of stubborn disbelief that crossed
his handsome face made Melanie wince, but she ploughed on.

‘I don’t want to go over old ground. All I
am asking is for three months with our daughter; just for the
summer on Skiapolos.’

‘What you are asking for is out of the
question. I have already made up my mind. This afternoon I have
chosen someone for Electra. As you know, when my mind is made up I
never change it.’

Melanie knew that all too well. He had made
up his mind about her the day he learned what she had done. That
dreadful day when he discovered that the woman who had just given
birth to his child was going to jail.

The judge had given her a sentence of one
year. Her lawyer had said she was lucky; her sentence could have
been much harsher but the judge had taken into consideration her
circumstances.

‘You will be out in a few months,’ her
attorney had told her consolingly. She heard it all in a fog of
misery.

Unforgiving, Nicos through his lawyers had
made it clear that if she fought him for custody of their newborn
baby she would lose. Melanie knew she had no fight left in her.
Electra would be better off never knowing anything about her. In
dumb misery she had agreed to let her baby go. Now never a day
passed when she didn’t regret that impetuous decision from the
bottom of her aching heart.

‘Please, Nicos,’ she begged, almost crying
now. ‘Please give me these few months. Whoever you have engaged to
look after Electra is never going to love her like me.’

‘Love,’ he almost spat. ‘I know how you
love. You loved me so much you jeopardised our whole future in
order to lie for another man.’

‘You never let me tell you about him.’

‘I had no wish then and I have no wish now
to hear about your paramours,’ he said scathingly.

‘Paramour! That’s ridiculous....’

He held up his hand to silence her. ‘I’m
sorry if you find that old-fashioned word laughable, but I am an
old fashioned man who believes in loyalty’.

Stung Melanie retorted, ‘I know you find
this hard to believe but I too believe in being loyal. Clearly you
never really knew me at all.’

‘Oh, very clearly I did not,’ he shot
back

Melanie wanted to bite her tongue. Why did
she keep arguing with him when it was never going to lead to a
precious few months with her baby?

She tried again. ‘Surely it would be a good
idea for me to come to Skiapolos and help settle in the new girl
since I know the island so well, safe places for bathing, all that
sort of thing,’ she improvised desperately ‘I will be able to
translate for her with the Greek staff at the villa.'

‘The girl I have chosen speaks fluent Greek
– her mother is Greek,’ said Nicos with what Melanie thought
suspiciously was a note of triumph in his voice.

Melanie’s heart sunk. He must have chosen
that starchy looking girl in the waiting room. With dark hair and
olive skin she looked as though she might have Greek parentage.
Melanie would have chosen someone who looked much more fun.

Someone who would play lots of games of
‘boo’ with a baby and she didn’t think that was Starchy’s style.
Nicos cut into her thoughts. ‘The girl I have chosen has excellent
qualifications and I have full confidence in her. You need not
concern yourself with matters such as safe bathing. Electra will be
perfectly safe with her. I have had the pool fenced off permanently
and the path down to the…..’ His voice, which had become animated,
trailed off.

Melanie couldn’t help but think how
wonderful if would have been if they had been discussing all these
plans for Electra together. Which room has he chosen for the
nursery? ‘Did you choose the little tower room with its view over
the sea and its circular walls’, she wanted to ask. The one she
would have chosen for Electra herself. But Nicos was looking
ostentatiously at his watch.

‘I would like to terminate these discussions
now,’ he said. Melanie’s self control snapped.

‘This is not a board meeting. I’m not one of
your staff to be dismissed just when you feel like it.’

‘No, you are not one of my staff and you
never will be,’ he responded sharply. ‘The whole idea is
ridiculous. You will not be coming to Skiapolos to care for my
daughter.’

‘She is not just your daughter,’ said
Melanie angrily. ‘She s my daughter, too.’

‘You forfeited your rights to her in law and
I intend that you will keep to that arrangement.’

His searing words went to the core of her
being. She had given her daughter up to him and for the rest of her
life she would have to live with that decision. She had come to him
hoping that the memory of their love for each other would somehow
soften him. Now she knew she had to face the truth. The man she had
loved, and thought she knew, had been replaced by this unforgiving,
unbending stranger.

His hand hovered once again over the bell on
his desk. Clearly he was going to have her escorted out.
Forestalling him, she swung on her heels and marched to the door
with all the dignity she could dredge from her shattered psyche.
She had come to fight for her daughter and she had lost. Tears she
didn’t want him to see blinded her as she groped for the door
handle. Suddenly he was beside her, his hand on her arm.

Surprisingly gently he said, ‘I will always
look after her, you know.’

Melanie’s voice was near to breaking. ‘Yes,
I believe you will. And you have to know this. You may take my
daughter from me, but you will never be able to take away from my
heart. I will always, always love her.’

Nicos watched her walk away. Half of him
wanted to go after her, tell her none of it mattered, he loved her,
his life without her had ceased to have meaning. But he didn’t – he
couldn’t. The demons of his past held him firm. Just a woman to let
him down the way he knew a woman always would; just as his mother
had. He’d thought Melanie was different. He’d let down his guard
with her, let her into his heart and into his head and she had
repaid him with betrayal. He held on to his anger like a talisman.
It would make the hurt go away.

‘Hi! Over here.’

Melanie had forgotten Gabby but there was
the nanny waiting for her in her car parked on the driveway. She
was waving frantically and beaming. ‘You were ages,’ she said. ‘I
thought he’d kidnapped you,’ she grinned. ‘I wouldn’t mind him
kidnapping me. He’s a bit gorgeous.’ Peering at Melanie with sudden
concern she said, ‘is anything up? You look a bit…’

Summoning all her resources Melanie managed
to say, ‘Nothing’s wrong. I’ve got a bit of a dust allergy and I
started sneezing. I just need to redo my eye makeup and I’ll be
good as new.’ She startled herself at how glibly she covered her
feelings when all she wanted to do was sit down and howl.

‘Jump in,’ ordered Gabby. ‘Where do you
live? I’ll drop you off if it’s not too far out of my way. I’ve got
a long drive ahead of me.

Melanie sank gratefully beside Gabby and
busied herself rummaging in her handbag for her makeup and pulling
down the visor mirror. Anything to stop Gabby’s too close scrutiny.
Gabby put the car into first gear and inched down the long driveway
at a snail’s pace passed the bemused eyes of one of the estate’s
gardeners who had been busy clipping the verges but had stopped to
watch Gabby’s stately progress. Gabby flicked her eyes up to the
rear mirror.

‘Men! He’s having a good sneer at women
drivers. They don’t get it, do they? If you told a man you were
doing your eyes he’d still be off like a rocket with testosterone
in the fuel tank. Then it’s the brush in your eye and death by
mascara.’ She swung through the double iron gates on to the road
and picked up speed. Under the cover of Gabby’s happy chatter
Melanie was recovering some of her equilibrium as they sped down
the country lane leading to the main road.

‘Where’s it to be then? Gabby asked.

‘The station would be fine, if it’s not out
of your way,’ said Melanie. ‘It’s half an hour away but there are
fast trains to London so I shouldn’t have long to wait.

‘Lucky you, living in London,’ said Gabby.
‘I’ve got to get myself all the way up to Yorkshire. That's c lose
on 200 miles.'

Melanie had been so wrapped up in her own
misery she had forgotten that Gabby was due for disappointment. She
wasn’t going to get the longed for nanny job. She thought it would
look odd if she didn’t ask Gabby about the interview. She settled
for ‘How did you get on with Mr Chalambrous?’ There was an awkward
pause. Gabby’s normal cheerful tone became regretful.

‘Look, I don’t know how much you wanted the
position but Mr Chalambrous as good as told me the job is mine. I’m
really sorry, but I’m sure you’ll find something good.’

Melanie didn’t know how to react to that If
only Nicos had had the sense to employ this lovely happy person to
take care of their daughter instead of that sour faced woman he had
chosen. Blast his preoccupation with Greek roots, she thought
furiously. She was at a loss how to tell Gabby that she was wrong.
Her dream of a Greek island summer wasn’t going to come true.

Melanie debated how to break the news
gently, or whether she should just say nothing and let Gabby find
out later. She liked this girl. All her instincts told her that if
she had been employing someone to help with her daughter’s
upbringing she would have chosen this one. She resolved to let her
down as gently as possible. ‘Perhaps the summer in Greece won’t be
all you think,’ she said. ‘I hear the island is very isolated and
quiet. It’s a private island and I’m told MrChalambrous doesn’t
encourage visitors there. You might get bored.’

Melanie hoped she didn’t sound as if she was
trying to rain on Gabby’s parade out of her own disappointment. But
Gabby responded positively. ‘Oh, I don’t mind about that,’ she
said. ‘I didn’t really want the job because of the summer on a
Greek island. The trouble with being a nanny is that you get fond
of the little one you’re looking after and then you have to leave
them. It fair cuts you up sometimes.

‘When my agency told me that what this
client wanted was someone who would be totally committed to the
child and would be prepared to stay for at least five years I knew
it was just what I wanted. I think that’s why I convinced Mr
Chalambrous that I was what he was looking for.’ Gabby sounded so
confident she almost convinced Melanie, till she remembered the big
stumbling block.

‘But you don’t speak Greek,’ she
exclaimed.

'Course, I do,’ grinned Gabby. ‘Oh, I know
what you’re thinking, blonde hair, blue eyes. My Dad’s a Yorkshire
man and I take after him, but Mum’s from Athens. Dad’s job before
he retired was checking insurance claims on oil tankers and he had
to spend a lot of time in Greece. That’s where he met my mum. I was
brought up in Yorkshire but mum always spoke Greek with me at home.
Mr Chalambrous conducted the whole of my interview in Greek. I
think that was a big plus for me.’

Melanie felt a surge of relief. Not Miss
Sourpuss then, but lovely, bubbly Gabby was going to look after her
daughter. If she couldn’t take care of her own baby she had the
feeling she herself would have chosen this girl in spite of their
short acquaintance. They had reached the crossroads. Melanie noted
how Gabby waited patiently for a gap in the traffic before she
pulled out on to the main road. ‘Good,’ she noted to herself. ‘A
careful driver. She wouldn’t take risks with Electra.’

Oblivious to Melanie’s thoughts Gabby shot
her a swift, curious glance before fixing her eyes once again on
the road ahead. ‘I’ve just told you you’re not getting the job and
you look happy as Larry,’ she said. ‘If it was me I’d try not to
mind, but I’m telling you I would.’

‘Oh, I’ve got some more interviews lined
up,’ said Melanie hastily, and was pleased to see Gabby’s good
humor restored.

Melanie refused Gabby’s offer to wait with
her at the station for her train to London telling the girl she
should get on the road as soon as she could for the long drive
home. Though sincere in her concern Melanie was also uncertain how
long she could hide her real feelings from her new friend. Glad as
she was at the news Electra would be in Gabby’s care she felt the
misery of the loss of her child stealing over her again.