Tycoon's Ring of Convenience
She couldn’t look him in the eyes. It was impossible. He wasn’t saying anything, so she went on. Making herself continue. Say the next thing she had to say.
‘I’ve stopped the work on Greymont.’
She said it in a rush, her eyes flying to him, but he gave no indication that he had heard, only went on inspecting his cuff. If she’d thought she saw a nerve work in his taut cheek she must have been mistaken.
She took another breath.
‘I’ve made a tally of all that has been done so far, and anything I’m contracted for. But everything else has been halted. As for what has already been done—the total sum it amounts to...’ She faltered, then made herself go on. ‘I will do my best to repay you. It will take time—a lot of time, because if I had been able to raise the capital myself I would have done so. And if I realise all my capital, sell my stocks and shares, I’ll lose the income from them that I need for maintenance. That’s always been the problem—trying to find money both for the restoration and simply keeping Greymont going. The maintenance costs are high—from local taxes to utilities, to just keeping everything ticking over. The place has to be heated in winter or damp gets in, and rot. And I can’t throw the Hudsons out on to the street...’
She was rambling, trying to make him understand. He simply went on not looking at her.
‘But I will repay you, Nikos. However long it takes me.’
He looked at her then. Finally spoke. ‘Yes, you will repay me, Diana, of that I am certain.’
She paled. There was something in his voice that felt like a blow. Her lips were dry, but she made herself speak. Tried to reach him.
‘Nikos, I’m sorry! I’m sorry this has gone so wrong. I blame myself—I was naïve, stupid. I really thought you wanted a marriage in name only—’
‘What I want, Diana—’ his voice cut across hers like a guillotine ‘—is for you to honour your agreement with me. To make your repayment in the only way you can. The only way I want you to.’
The blood drained from her face and she seemed to sway. He saw it and wanted to laugh. A savage, baiting laugh. Emotions were scything through him, slicing and slicing. She was standing so close. A single step would take him to her. Crush her to him.
But she was beyond him now. Beyond him for ever.
His expression changed. Became mocking. Savagely mocking. Mocking himself.
‘It’s what you signed up for, Diana. To be—what did you call yourself? Ah, yes. My “society wife”. At my side, graceful and poised, beautiful and elegant—the envy of other men, a trophy on my arm, with your impeccable background, your absolute self-assurance in how to conduct yourself, whether in palaces or in stately homes, or anywhere else I take you. Opening a door for me into your upper-class world. And that’s what you will do, Diana, my chaste and beautiful bride.’
His face was set, grim now.
‘It will be your full-time job. If you’ve halted restoration work on Greymont, so much the better. It will give you all the time you require to do your work here, at my side. Starting...’ he glanced at his watch ‘...right now.’
He crossed to the door and opened it, pointedly waiting for her to walk through. As she did so she strained away from him, and he saw that she did. Saw that she was as tense as a board, her features taut. He didn’t care. Would not care. Would do nothing at all but steer her to the front door.
As he opened it he turned to her. ‘I’ll brief you in the car about where we are going, who our hosts are and why they are important to me.’
His tone was businesslike, crisp. And as remote as a frozen planet.
She could not look at him. Could only feel a stone forming in her throat, like a canker growing inside her. Melding to her flesh. Choking her.
* * *
The house in Regent’s Park was lit up like a Christmas tree, but for Diana it was dark and cheerless. She stood, wine glass in hand, her drink untouched and a stiff smile on her face, and forced herself through the ritual of polite chit-chat that the occasion required.
Nikos was standing beside her. Occasionally his arm would brush against hers, and she had to try not to flinch visibly.
He was no longer the person she’d thought she had come to know. He’d become a stranger—a stranger who spoke to her with chilly impersonality, looking at her but not meeting her eyes, withdrawing behind an expressionless mask. She’d had no option but to do likewise and play the part he wanted her to play—Mrs Nikos Tramontes, the oh-so-elegant, oh-so-well-bred, oh-so-well-connected society wife, with her impeccable background and her magnificent stately home—the home her husband’s vast wealth had saved for her.
Exactly the marriage she had wanted.
Take what you want...take it and pay for it.
The words mocked her with a cruelty that she had never thought they could possess.
I brought this on myself! I did it to myself! Fool that I am!
A memory as blazing as the desert stars sought entry, but she held it at bay with all her remaining strength. To remember... No, no, she could not bear it! Could not bear to think of what she should never have permitted herself to have.