Andreas was fabulously wealthy with the sort of personal charisma w
hich would ensure the women were lining up in their droves. No doubt he only had to crook his little finger and a queue formed—and she’d fallen straight into line. No different to all the rest. Thank you very much for noticing me, Mr Karydis, and of course I’ll keep your bed warm. Idiot! She gritted her teeth against the mental self-flagellation. Idiot, idiot, idiot! She had deserved exactly what she had got.
She should have listened quietly to his explanation for the split within his family; offered her condolences and reassurances that Jill wouldn’t rock the Karydis boat; and exited gracefully. Instead— She bit her lip until she felt the salty taste of blood. Instead she had responded like a nymphomaniac to what he had probably intended as a brief goodnight kiss, and then accused him of intended rape. Virtually. Oh, what a mess.
She groaned softly, running her hand through her hair distractedly before sitting up and then sliding off the bed. A long, cool shower was a must and then she would lie down with a cold flannel across her swollen eyes. The family would think she had gone a few rounds with a boxer if she walked down to breakfast like this tomorrow.
She knew she had a reputation within the fashion fraternity of being icy cool and formidably in control of herself, and it was an image she had deliberately fostered during the last years. So what had happened in the last twenty-four hours?
Andreas Karydis had happened. It was stark and distinctly unsavoury, but it was the truth.
She chewed everything over whilst under the shower, and by the time she was tucked up in bed—the cold flannel in place and the light silky covers up to her chin—she had come to a decision. Tomorrow she would phone her secretary, Annie, and tell her to call the Karydis residence during the afternoon indicating Sophy’s immediate presence was required back in London.
Okay, so it was sneaky, but she had seen enough of Dimitra and Evangelos to know that Jill and Michael were amongst friends here, and she could keep in contact by telephone with Jill and make sure everything went smoothly for her sister. She had never done anything like this before in her life but extreme circumstances called for extreme measures, and if ever a situation was extreme this one was. She needed to put as much space between herself and Andreas Karydis as possible, and if it felt like running away or ducking out of her responsibilities then that was tough—better that than staying. Oh, yes, indubitably.
Decision made, she was asleep in thirty seconds, utterly worn out by all the emotional turmoil.
CHAPTER FIVE
SOPHY awoke the next morning to a gentle hand touching her forehead and Jill’s concerned voice saying, ‘Oh, Sophy, is your head no better? You should have said you felt so rotten. I didn’t realise. Can I get you some aspirin or something?’
The flannel was still across her face, dried now but providing silent but eloquent justification for her swollen eyelids, and as Sophy sat up and put it to one side she knew she looked pretty bad from the way Jill stared at her. Guilt led her to say quickly, ‘I’m fine now, Jill, really. It was just one of those headache things caused by the flight and the heat, no doubt. I’ll have a shower and then come down with you to breakfast, shall I?’
‘Breakfast’s over; it’s gone ten.’ Jill pointed to the bright sunshine outside the window. ‘I’ve brought you a tray Christina prepared for you, but there’s no rush to get up. Have the morning in bed if you want. Evangelos and Andreas have gone into the office and Dimitra has taken Michael for a walk round the estate, so it’s just the two of us for a while.’
‘Right.’ Andreas’s name had brought a flood of colour into her face and Sophy quickly bent forwards, allowing the silky veil of her hair to hide her hot cheeks as she pretended to straighten the bedclothes. How she was going to face him again she didn’t know.
‘Isn’t it just beautiful here?’ Jill placed the tray containing warm, freshly baked croissants and preserves, fresh fruit and orange juice on her sister’s lap, before strolling across the room and opening the glass doors leading on to the balcony so that the fresh, richly scented sunshine spilled into the room. ‘I can’t imagine what would drive Theodore to leave all this, can you? And Dimitra and Evangelos are so nice, Andreas too, although you’d hardly think he and Theodore were brothers.’
Sophy’s silence must have spoken for itself, because Jill turned round and looked at her twin before saying tentatively, ‘What? What is it?’ as she saw the look on her sister’s face.
‘Come and sit down. I’ve got something to tell you,’ Sophy said quietly. ‘Or, better still, I’ll join you on the balcony and we can sit in the sunshine while we talk.’
She related her conversation with Andreas almost word for word, and when she had finished speaking Jill remained staring out over the beautiful grounds bathed in brilliant sunshine for some moments before she said, ‘It explains a lot.’
‘I guess it does,’ Sophy said quietly.
‘Certainly why Theodore was so difficult to live with, even how we came to be married. He was obsessional about me from the first time he saw me, like his father seems to have been about Dimitra. I was flattered at first, I suppose, to have someone so crazy about me and I did love him then, in the early days.’
‘And later?’ Sophy asked very softly.
‘He frightened me,’ Jill admitted quietly as she turned to look straight into Sophy’s blue eyes. ‘He only wanted me to see him, think about him, talk to him. I…even think he was jealous of Michael because it took some of my attention away from him. He…he had these jealous rages if I even talked to someone on the telephone too long, and when he was like that there was no reasoning with him. Michael learnt to stay out of his way.’
‘Was he violent?’ Sophy sensed there was much more Jill wasn’t saying. ‘Physically violent, I mean?’
‘Not at first, but after Michael was born…’ Jill shrugged. ‘I was careful to say and do nothing to upset him in the end.’
It was all Sophy’s worst fears come true, and she stared at Jill’s dear face before saying quietly, ‘Why didn’t you leave him, Jill? Or tell someone about it? Me, at least.’
‘He would never have let me go,’ Jill said flatly, ‘and if I had attempted to leave him it would have ended in tragedy. You didn’t know him, Sophy. As for why I didn’t say anything…’ She turned to look over the gardens again. ‘Many reasons, I guess, but the main one was that I knew it wouldn’t do any good and might do a lot of harm if he found out. You see, I’m not like you—I’m not a fighter. I never have been.’
‘I wouldn’t say I’m a fighter,’ Sophy said in surprise.
‘Well, you are.’ Jill smiled sadly. ‘Which is why Theodore didn’t like you. He knew you would have rocked the boat and kept rocking it until he fell out!’
‘Oh, Jill.’ Sophy reached across and hugged her sister. ‘I’m so sorry for the way your marriage turned out, but at least you’ve got Michael. He’s a wonderful little boy.’
‘And he makes every moment, good and bad, of the last seven years worthwhile,’ Jill agreed warmly. ‘A hundred times over.’