‘Never been?’ He sounded surprised, as if it were odd she’d never been. ‘Well, then, it will be my pleasure to show the city to you both—you and Ari.’
She swallowed. ‘It might be better if I got a midday flight back to London,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to arrive too late.’
He was looking at her. His eyes were veiled suddenly. ‘Ari’s holiday is not yet over,’ he said. ‘There is no question of you abandoning him yet.’
‘I didn’t mean I wanted to leave him,’ she said defensively.
For a moment his eyes rested on her with that same veiled expression. Then, lifting his coffee cup, he said, ‘Good, then that is settled. Tomorrow we remove to central Paris and do our sightseeing.’
Ann felt her mood lift—she knew she shouldn’t let it, but it was too late.
A reprieve—
As she thought the word, she wished it unthought. But she knew it was true, for all that.
CHAPTER TWELVE
IF SHE’D WONDERED whether a city with so sophisticated a reputation as Paris might not have much to appeal to a young child, Ann swiftly discovered her mistake. The next day, after they’d taken a taxi into the centre of the city and checked into a hotel so world-famous it made her eyes stretch, Ari could not wait to get out and about.
The Metro was an immediate hit, and so was the Eiffel Tower—especially lunching halfway up. Then came a ride on a bâteau mouche on the River Seine, followed by a stroll through the Tuileries gardens, ending up at a café on the Rue de Rivoli, where Ari wolfed down an ice-cream, and Ann contented herself with a café au lait, nobly resisting the mouthwatering array of patisserie—which Nikos, to her chagrin, did not.
‘You should succumb to temptation, Ann,’ he murmured, his eyes glinting.
She pressed her lips together. Why couldn’t Nikos be the way he’d been on Sospiris—raking at her, castigating her sister, insulting her with diamonds? Why did he have to be like this now, with that lazy glint in his eye and his casual companionableness, and their mutual conspiracy towards Ari that they were the best of friends? Making remarks that sounded innocuous but which carried a subtext a mile high?
Was he doing it on purpose? she wondered bleakly. Baiting her? Taunting her? Yet the humour in his glint belied so malign a purpose. Hinting at a purpose that made her insides give a little skip.
But what was the point? What was the point of reacting to the male gorgeousness that was Nikos Theakis? She was here with him for Ari’s sake, that was all. She forced her heart to harden. Nothing could take away the poison that lay between them, however superficially nice Nikos was being.
Yet that evening, with Ari fast asleep in the exquisitely appointed bedroom Ann shared with him in the suite Nikos had taken for them all, the soft knock on her door took her by surprise.
‘We can dine downstairs,’ Nikos informed her. ‘I’ve booked one of the hotel’s babysitters to be up here until we return. And since, Ann, this is a grand hotel, we shall dine in grand style.’ His eyes held hers a moment—a brief, dangerous moment. ‘Wear the turquoise evening gown again—you won’t be overdressed, I promise you.’
She should, she knew, have made some excuse. Pleaded a headache, or tiredness—anything to avoid dining with Nikos Theakis en grande tenue at this world famous hotel in the heart of Paris. And yet she didn’t.
He certainly drew all eyes as they made their way into the three-Michelin-starred restaurant at the hotel. But then Nikos Theakis in a tuxedo was a sight to rivet female eyes for miles around.
For herself, she had definitely had to avert her gaze, as her eyes had gone to him in the suite, taking in in an instant just how much the superbly tailored jacket enhanced his superbly structured torso, how the gleaming white of his shirt emphasised the sleek muscled chest, and the immaculate dark trousers sheathed his long legs. Keeping her composure in the face of such incentive to lose it had helped minimise the impact of his own sweeping glance over her, wearing once more, as she had done for Tina’s wedding reception, the beautiful layered chiffon gown that fell in Grecian folds to her ankles, skimming her breasts and baring one shoulder. She’d dressed her hair loose tonight, and it cascaded down her back, loosely pulled around her bared shoulder. Her make-up, too, she’d applied with particular care—this was, after all, Paris, which must put any woman on her mettle. Especially when she was dining with so superb a specimen of manhood as she was tonight.
The food, she discovered, entirely justified the prestige which the restaurant was held, and when it came to the exquisitely prepared creamy bavarois, adorned with a net of spun sugar and laced with vividly hued coulis, she did not hesitate. She dipped her spoon into the heavenly concoction— only to find Nikos’s amused, long-lashed gaze on her.
‘Enjoy,’ he murmured, and his eyes gave their familiar glint.
She felt her breath catch in her throat, two flares of colour flag in her cheeks, then she dipped her head to taste the mouthful of dessert. It was as gorgeous to eat as to look at, and it did not last long. She surfaced to see Nikos still watching with amusement, lounging back in his seat, a glass of Sauternes between his fingers.
But even as she met his gaze it changed. Amusement flickered to something else, and now the catch in Ann’s throat was enough to still her breath. Then, abruptly, the gaze was gone. He took a mouthful of his wine, his gaze turned inward. Then that expression, too, changed.
‘So—’ he tilted his chair further back, easin
g his shoulders more, relaxation in every line of his lithe, powerful body ‘—what shall we do tomorrow, Ann?’
‘Anywhere by Metro will keep Ari happy.’ She smiled, grateful for the safety of talking about Ari instead of having Nikos looking at her with his long-lashed, gold-glinting eyes.
‘I just hope he doesn’t realise one can take the Metro all the way back out to the theme parks!’ said Nikos feelingly.
She laughed. ‘Ari heaven! But then this whole holiday has been wonderful for him! Any child would have adored it.’
For a moment there was a shadow in her eyes. It was only fleeting, but Nikos noticed it, all the same.