The Kiss She Claimed From The Greek

The following morning Sofie couldn’t have been more certain that she was back in the land of reality. She was in the middle of three seats on a packed plane to Glasgow. There was a squalling baby in front of her and a child kicking the seat behind her. If she hadn’t been so miserable she might almost have smiled at the juxtaposition.

When she’d woken this morning, after a restless night, a note had been on her bedside table. So at some point Achilles had come back and into her room. The thought of him watching her sleep made her feel alternately hot and then frustrated. Maybe if he’d woken her...if they could have just talked...

But the note had told her there was no hope. It had read:

Once you have confirmation from a doctor that you are pregnant let my solicitor know. He will make arrangements for maintenance. You will want for nothing. A

Sofie had been surprised at the anger that had surged up. She’d never really felt anger in her life.

She’d gone looking for Achilles, but he hadn’t been in the apartment and the housekeeper had informed her that he was on his way to Rio de Janeiro on business.

So she’d ripped up his note and left one of her own:

Achilles, I do not need confirmation of what I already know. I am pregnant. We need nothing from you. S

The child kicked her seat again. She put her head back against the headrest. It was going to be a long flight.

Achilles saw Sofie’s note when he got back from Rio de Janeiro a couple of days later. He scowled. He’d believe her we need nothing from you until the moment she sued for maintenance.

It had occurred to him that perhaps she wasn’t even pregnant. It could be a bluff. But, to his surprise, that thought hadn’t made him feel a sense of relief. It had made him feel even more conflicted.

There was a knock on the door. His housekeeper put his head around it. ‘Sir, the car is ready downstairs.’

‘Thank you.’ The man had almost disappeared again when Achilles said, ‘Wait... Tommy...?’

‘Sir?’

‘Did Sofie—that is, Miss MacKenzie—take anything with her when she left?’

The man blinked. Achilles realised he’d never really noticed him before. But Sofie had probably got his life story out of him.

‘She just had a small suitcase with her, sir. It looked...er...not that new.’

In other words she’d taken her own case and nothing else. And the stylist hadn’t left any messages about missing jewellery, as had happened with other women in the past.

Other women. Achilles’s face felt as if it was in a permanent scowl as he went downstairs and got into the car. People coming towards him diverted in another direction. The thought of other women made bile rise. He couldn’t even countenance the thought of going through the motions. To what end? It all seemed so futile to him now, and that revelation made the back of his neck prickle and his head throb, as if something was trying to break through in his head. But it wouldn’t come.

Achilles shook his head as the car arrived at his office. He got out and went in, stony-faced.

When he got up to his office his PR team were waiting, their faces wreathed in smiles. ‘It’s all good news, sir. Sofie MacKenzie is great for business. Your stock value has never been higher.’

Achilles looked at the paper that had been thrown on his desk. There were a couple of pictures. Him with Sofie at the charity auction, and also a more grainy picture of them going into the pizzeria. He hated it that they’d been seen in that moment.

The headline read: A changed man! Is Achilles Lykaios finally settling down?

This was exactly what he’d wanted. So why did he feel so hollow, and as if he’d lost instead of won?

The jubilant PR team left and there was another knock on the door. His assistant. Achilles did his best to be civil. ‘Yes?’

‘That report you asked for. A couple of weeks ago. On that woman.’

A heavy weight lodged in his gut. If anything, it was more relevant now than ever. ‘I don’t want to see it—just tell me what it says. Briefly.’

His assistant came into the office and pushed the door closed so no one could hear. ‘It’s a short report, sir. She’s completely clean. Two parents, both deceased. No siblings. School and then straight into work at the hospital. She cared for her parents before they died. No evidence of boyfriends. A pretty quiet life.’

Achilles absorbed that and heard a dull roaring in his head. ‘Why did it take so long if there’s nothing in it?’

‘Because we were afraid we’d missed something. We couldn’t really believe someone could be this clean. It’s not what we’re used to.’

No. Because Sofie came from the real world, where people were normal and nice and lived lives of contentment far beyond the reaches of him or anyone he knew. He was the anomaly. Him and his peers. They were the outliers. People with vacuous lives that others pitied.

But his parents hadn’t been like that. They’d carved out a relationship built on love and a family. He’d always vowed he would have that too. Until it had blown up in his face. Literally.

And just like that a sense of déjà vu almost made him sway on his feet. The niggling sensation of something hiding on the fringes of his memory became clear. He remembered now. He remembered it all. The reason why he’d lost his footing on the mountain. The reason why he’d fallen.

His assistant stepped forward, looking concerned, ‘Mr Lykaios, are you all right?’

Achilles shook his head. ‘No, I’m not all right.’

Sofie was taking advantage of the last of the late summer sun to wash and dry every bedsheet in the house. She needed to get her B&B up and running if she was going to make any money out of the next few weeks, before the high season ended.

When she’d returned a few days ago, her friend Claire had picked her up from the ferry at the harbour, taken one look at Sofie’s face and pulled her in for a hug.

Sofie had said to her, ‘Don’t say a word, Claire. Please.’

And her friend hadn’t. Sofie hadn’t told her about the pregnancy yet. She was too raw. Too angry. Part of her wanted to get right back onto another plane and march into Achilles’s office and demand that he...what? Admit that he loved her too? When he didn’t? Admit he actually wanted children? When he didn’t?

Sofie pinned the last sheet on the line with more force than necessary. She heard Pluto barking at the front of the house. The sound of crunching gravel. She frowned. That couldn’t be Claire, and it couldn’t possibly be someone looking for a room because she hadn’t put up a sign or advertised online yet.

She walked through the kitchen and out into the hall. The front door was open. She stopped in her tracks when she saw a blacked-out SUV. And a familiar tall figure climbing out of the driver’s seat.

Pluto was jumping up and down, tail wagging vigorously. Almost giving Achilles a more rapturous welcome than he had Sofie. Achilles bent down to greet the dog. It was such an incongruous sight that Sofie couldn’t move.

He was wearing jeans and a dark T-shirt and he looked mouthwateringly sexy. Sofie scowled and folded her arms across her chest even as her heart threatened to jump out of her chest. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘I heard you were renting rooms.’

‘Not ready yet. Come back never.’