‘You’ll meet someone else one day.’ Even as she said it she knew how trite and insulting it sounded after what he’d just said.
‘Thank you.’ It was cutting.
Sophy tried to think of something else to say but failed utterly. They remained staring at each other for a moment more before he said, ‘Your mind is made up,’ and it was a statement of fact, not a question. Nevertheless, she nodded her answer.
He nodded himself, the action curt. ‘Goodbye, Sophy.’
‘Goodbye.’ She felt sick with pain and panic, but deep inside the alternative path—to reach out to him, to say she would love and trust him as he wanted—was as unthinkable as ever.
He gave her one last searching look and then walked across to the door, opening it and passing into the hall beyond without looking back. She heard the front door open and close, and then the roar of the powerful engine on the drive outside.
He had gone. He had left her as she had demanded she be left and he wouldn’t try again. Not after all that had been said.
She had got what she wanted and the future couldn’t have been more desolate.
CHAPTER NINE
THE rest of the week was torturous but eventually the morning dawned when they were flying home.
Sophy had related the true state of affairs to Jill once her sister had got back to the villa on the day she and Andreas had parted, and Jill had nobly forgone any ‘I told you so’s’, but to Dimitra and Evangelos Sophy had just said she’d enjoyed the sight-seeing trip but Andreas had mentioned he had plenty of work to catch up on. She didn’t know if they believed her and she didn’t actually care; she was so consumed with misery that, selfishly, nothing else mattered but Andreas.
From a comment dropped at the dinner table the day after she and Andreas had returned from their trip, Sophy learnt from Evangelos that Andreas had flown to America that morning on urgent business and wasn’t expected to return for a couple of weeks.
She had been amazed how the news had hit her. The fact that there was no likelihood of seeing him again should have relieved some of her tension and strain, but instead it had sent her falling into a deep well of despair that seemed bottomless.
She combated her wretchedness by forcing herself to appear normal—playing with Michael, chatting to Dimitra and steering the conversation away from Andreas any time she and Jill were alone and her sister tried to bring his name up. She knew Jill meant well and was worried she was bottling all her pain and anguish, but Sophy could no more have discussed the situation than she could have sprouted wings and flown.
Funnily enough, the morning of their departure was a rainy one—the first rain they had seen since landing in Greece. Sophy felt slightly guilty that she welcomed the drizzle but the overcast sky and grey clouds fitted her state of mind much better than the radiantly blue sky and bright sunshine of the previous weeks.
This time it was Evangelos who drove them to the airport, in the prestigious and beautiful Mercedes, much to Michael’s delight. The little boy sat at the front with his grandfather and he chattered the whole way to the airport, taking the strain of having to join in any conversation from Sophy who was in the back with Jill. Dimitra had opted to say goodbye at the villa rather than in the cold neutrality of the airport terminal, and she had been weeping as the car had drawn away. However, the fact that Jill had promised to fly out for another visit at Christmas had made her tears not altogether unhappy ones.
Evangelos parked the car and loaded their suitcases on to a trolley, but as the little party made their way into the building he suddenly stopped dead, almost causing Sophy and Jill who had followed behind him and Michael to cannon into his back.
‘What on earth…?’ they heard him mutter, before he turned round and said, ‘Over there, look. It is Andreas, isn’t it?’
Sophy looked. It was. An instinctive and primitive fear made her want to run, but she wasn’t sure if it was away from him or to him. Instead she just stood absolutely still as she watched him walk towards them. He looked cool and disturbingly calm.
‘You’re in America,’ Evangelos said accusingly.
‘Clever me.’ Andreas answered his father but his eyes were on Sophy’s white, tight face.
‘When did you get back?’ Evangelos asked bewilderedly. ‘And surely the negotiations aren’t completed yet?’
‘I landed half an hour ago and I fly back in a couple of hours and no, the negotiations aren’t complete,’ Andreas said expressionlessly. ‘However, I’ve some negotiations of my own which are a damn sight more important. Sophy and I are going for a walk, so you can get the coffees in and we’ll see you later.’
‘The plane leaves in a couple of hours. Sophy needs to book in,’ Evangelos began, but he found he was speaking to thin air, Andreas having taken Sophy’s arm and marched her away.
‘What…what are you doing?’ She found her voice at last but it emerged a shaky whisper.
‘Changing schedules, cancelling meetings and flying halfway across the world,’ Andreas answered drily without looking down at her. ‘Pursuing a woman who has driven me mad from day one.’
He looked every inch the dynamic tycoon in a crisp grey business suit and white shirt, and he took her breath away.
She wasn’t aware she was crying until they emerged into the watery sunlight outside, the rain having stopped and a feeble sun beginning to break through the clouds. And then it was Andreas who said very softly, ‘Don’t cry,’ as he reached down and carefully wiped her eyes with a large handkerchief. ‘I just needed to see you before you go, that’s all. There are things I have to make clear. Things which it’s necessary you understand.’
‘What things?’ They had just turned a corner of the building into a quiet area of reserved parking, and now he stopped, turning her into him and cupping her chin before taking her lips in a hungry kiss, a kiss that was charged with passion and incredibly sweet. It was heaven—and hell—to be in his arms again. Heaven because there was nowhere else she would rather be, and hell because she knew it couldn’t last.
‘What things?’ As he raised his head, she saw his eyes were very clear and shining silver. ‘That I intend to go on doing this, for a start. England is not so very far away and the wonders of modern technology mean I can be with you most weekends.’