‘It is.’
‘Then so be it.’
And it was done.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘YOU’VE done what?’
Jill’s voice was a screech and not at all like its normal soft self. Sophy stared at her sister, glad she’d waited to tell her about her trip with Andreas when they were alone. Dimitra and Evangelos had taken their grandson to visit some friends who ran riding stables, but Jill—who preferred her horses in fields at a safe distance and had no interest in equine pursuits—had opted to stay at the villa.
‘I’ve said I’ll go on a little sight-seeing trip with him for a couple of days,’ Sophy repeated flatly. ‘That’s all. And I’ve made it clear it’s not a Mr and Mrs Jones thing, if that’s what’s bothering you. He’s booking separate rooms.’
‘I can’t believe I’m hearing this. Is it the sun, or what? Something’s addled your brain.’ Jill stared at her, her eyes wide.
Sophy had been thinking the same thing herself, right from the moment the limousine had dropped her home the night before and she had watched it draw away, Andreas’s big figure next to Paul’s suddenly becoming that of a near stranger again. But it hadn’t felt like that when she had been with him at his home. The whole evening had been wonderful, magical, and the full enormity of what she had promised had only hit when she had stood by herself on the steps watching the car move away.
‘I mean, you’ve always been the one who’s tried to stop me doing daft things,’ Jill continued plaintively. ‘This just isn’t like you, Sophy. And with Andreas, of all people.’
No, it wasn’t like her. Sophy tried to quell the panic that had been churning her stomach at intervals ever since she had sat in her room last night. She had only managed a couple of hours’ sleep. ‘It’s just a couple of days,’ she repeated, as much for her benefit as Jill’s. ‘It doesn’t mean anything.’
‘I’m sure it doesn’t, not to Andreas.’ And then, as Sophy winced visibly, Jill said quickly, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, sis, I am really, but I don’t want you getting hurt. Andreas is… Well, he’s just one of those men who’s got everything, isn’t he? And the women love him. He’s more than able to look on this as a little flirtation and no doubt he’s expecting you to do the same. A good time had by both and no regrets sort of approach. But you aren’t like that. The trouble is…’
‘What?’ As Jill’s voice trailed away, Sophy repeated, ‘What were you going to say?’
‘The trouble is, you look so different on the outside to how you are on the inside,’ Jill said woefully, suddenly reaching out and clasping her sister’s hands in her own. ‘I didn’t realise it when we were younger. I took you completely for granted, I suppose, but the way Mum was and us never knowing him, our father—’ neither Jill or Sophy had ever been able to bring themselves to use the more familiar term of ‘dad’ ‘?
??affected you much more than it did me. You used to look after me, shield me from so much, but the consequences of all that mean you’re—’
‘What?’ Sophy said again. ‘Come on, Jill. Spit it out.’
‘Damaged,’ Jill said reluctantly, waiting for the blast.
‘Damaged?’ Now it was Sophy’s turn to show outrage. ‘Excuse me, but hold your horses here, Jill.’ She wrenched her hands away, standing up and moving away from the patio where the two of them had been enjoying morning elevenses in the sunshine, before turning and facing her sister again, her face scarlet.
‘I am most certainly not damaged,’ she bit out firmly, ‘and if anyone but you had had the cheek to say that they’d have had a good slap. I can’t believe you’ve been thinking that about me.’
‘Sophy, listen to me.’ In her agitation Jill was wringing her hands, and as though suddenly becoming aware of it she placed them palm down on the top of the patio table. ‘I’m not criticizing you, far from it, but you need to have everything in order in your life; you always have done. You have to be in control.’
‘That’s not a crime,’ Sophy shot back quickly, ‘or a personality defect. In fact, most people would look on it as an asset, if anything. It’s got me a great job, anyway, now hasn’t it?’
‘And men?’ Jill said very quietly. ‘You’ve always gone for the easy-going, academic type. Impractical in the main, quiet, certainly unassuming. Nice, caring sort of men.’
‘So?’ Sophy glared at her. ‘There’s nothing wrong with that, either?’
‘So you can’t put Andreas in that category, not remotely.’
They stared at each other for a full minute before Sophy retraced her steps and sat down again, taking a long gulp of coffee. ‘I know that,’ she said more quietly. ‘I do know that.’
‘It’s obvious there’s something there between you; it has been from day one,’ Jill said softly at the side of her. ‘Even his parents recognised it. But whereas for Andreas this has probably happened—’ She stopped abruptly, colouring slightly.
‘Hundreds of times?’ Sophy put in tightly. ‘Is that it?’
‘Well, yes. But you aren’t like him. They don’t know you like I do, and I know that for you to be like you are he’s touched something deep inside. He’ll hurt you, devastate you, and he won’t even know, Sophy. Don’t you see? He won’t even realise.’
Sophy listened numbly to her own subconscious fears being spoken out loud. She didn’t try to argue with Jill any more because she knew her sister was only speaking the truth.
This fierce attraction she had for Andreas was something outside her understanding, and it frightened her as much as it thrilled. Even last night, when she had been wrapped in the magic he had created, she had been aware of the danger. Perhaps that was part of it—a sort of crazy rebellion against all the years of conforming? Most teenagers had their insurrectionary stage but she had never been able to indulge in such a luxury.