Exotic Nights

Angel smiled. ‘No problem. I just brought him some lunch.’

She watched Thalia leave and then put the small brown paper bag on the desk and walked around the anteroom. It and the whole building screamed wealth and prestige. She’d been on her way home from picking up boxes for the jewellery, and while she was out had decided to make a visit. Angel hadn’t been to Leo’s office before, and butterflies were beating a symphony in her chest.

She looked at the paper bag and grimaced. She’d bought him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Was this the most stupidly transparent thing she’d ever done?

She jumped when the doorknob rattled and the door opened slightly. Leo’s meeting must be over. She held her breath, but no one came out. With the door ajar, she could hear the deep rumble of Ari’s voice.

‘Lucy and I really like her.’

Angel’s heart stopped cold, and her breath with it, as she listened. Leo’s voice came, deep and strong.

‘I know you do.’ He said nothing else for a moment, and Angel could imagine him raking a hand through his hair. Even without seeing him she could sense that he was irritated, and wondered why.

‘Look, Angel and I … it’s just a temporary thing. I have no desire to settle down with the first woman who crosses my path in Athens.’

Ari’s voice was dry, and further from the door. He must have moved back into the room. ‘I appreciate that she mightn’t be the most … appropriate … wife material.’

Angel winced, and felt as if a knife were skewering her insides. Leo laughed then, and the knife sank a little deeper.

‘Angel becoming a permanent fixture in my life might be taking my father’s tolerance levels a little too far, and Athens is still reeling with our association as it is.’

Ari laughed briefly. ‘You certainly know how to stir it up, Parnassus … but does Angel know this?’

The temperature in Leo’s voice went down a few hundred degrees. ‘Angel knows exactly what to expect from this relationship.’

The tone of Ari’s voice told Leo that he wasn’t intimidated. ‘Like I said, Lucy and I really like her. I just hope she does know what to expect, we’d hate to see her get hurt …’

A dangerous quality came into Leo’s softly spoken words. ‘Is that a warning, Levakis?’

Ari was undeterred. ‘Take it how you want, Leo … I just don’t think Angel is like the other hardened socialites of our circles. Once I might have assumed it, but after getting to know her …’

Leo’s voice was hard. ‘You don’t have to worry. Angel and I know exactly where we stand.’

Ari laughed briefly. ‘Lucy sent me here with a flea in my ear … so we’ll see you and Angel later. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished pieces.’

Angel didn’t wait to hear the rest. On legs that were numb, and feeling as if every ounce of blood had drained from her body, she stumbled back out of the anteroom and all but ran to the lift.

It was only when she was descending that she remembered leaving the brown bag behind. Dread struck her to think that Leo might find it, but she had no intention of going back. She could only stumble out of the lift, into the street, and get away from Leo’s office as quickly as she could.

A little later, as Angel polished and finished off the pieces she’d made for Lucy, she bitterly castigated herself. What had she expected, truly …? That Leo had somehow miraculously come to have feelings for her? She was his mistress; he’d taken her because he desired her, because he’d had the power to give Delphi her wedding and because he’d believed Angel guilty of a crime. Since Leo had learnt what had really happened the lines might have got a little blurred for Angel, but after hearing that conversation evidently Leo hadn’t felt the same way.

She was the naive fool who had allowed herself to believe that the tenderness he’d displayed in recent weeks had meant something.

Angel’s hand went to her belly and she bit her lip. The other night when Angel had all but begged Leo to make love to her they hadn’t used contraception. Angel had assured Leo that she was at a safe place in her cycle, but now she wasn’t so sure.

The thought that she might get pregnant made her go cold all over—especially after hearing Leo’s stark words to Ari today. One thing was crystal-clear: this relationship was heading for closure, and sooner rather than later. Angel knew that Leo would not appreciate being forced into fatherhood by a Kassianides, and what if he thought she’d done it on purpose? She had an awful feeling that he still didn’t trust her entirely.

The phone rang then, making her jump, and Angel reached for it. Leo had insisted on getting a phone installed in her workroom.

‘Hello?’

‘Why didn’t you stay?’

Angel’s heart tripped, and she gripped the phone with two suddenly slippery hands. The sandwich—he must be mortified.

‘I … had to get back to package up the pieces. I only dropped in to say hello, but you were busy.’

He said nothing for a moment, and Angel could imagine him sitting in his palatial office.