taken Andreas a phenomenal length of time to calm her down.
‘Isn’t it time you told me why Finlay has walked out?’
‘I don’t know why!’ Elyssa slung petulantly.
‘There has to be a reason,’ Andreas murmured steadily. ‘Why are you so afraid that Finlay might have deliberately removed the children from your care?’
‘Maybe he’s bored with me…maybe he’s got someone else. He could be planning to make up insane lies about me in an attempt to gain custody of my boys!’ Elyssa cast a sidelong glance at her brother to see how he reacted to that very specific concern on her part.
From the outset, Andreas had been aware that his sister was determined to win every possible atom of his sympathy. Now he grasped that he needed to hear the precise nature of what she termed lies. ‘Tell me about the lies,’ he encouraged softly.
Her sullen brown eyes flicked warily back to him. ‘Finlay had the nerve to imply that I was a neglectful mother just because I left the boys with the nanny overnight.’
‘For how long was the nanny left in charge?’
‘Only over a few weekends…and once for a week when I went to Paris.’
Reluctant to risk provoking her hysteria again, Andreas struggled to be tactful. ‘I understand Finlay’s concern. Couldn’t you have taken the children with you?’
‘I’m only twenty-five years old,’ Elyssa responded heatedly. ‘Surely I’m entitled to a life of my own?’
‘You have a good life,’ Andreas told her levelly. ‘Now why won’t you tell me why your husband has left?’
Elyssa tossed her head. ‘I don’t want you preaching at me,’ she warned him thinly. ‘All right… I had an affair.’
Sincerely shocked by that truculent admission, Andreas stiffened. He attempted to keep an open mind. ‘Are you in love with this man?’
Her earlier distress apparently forgotten now that she had confessed, Elyssa rolled pained eyes. ‘It was only a fling. I can’t believe the fuss Finlay is making. As if anyone needs to break up a marriage over a casual affair!’
‘I would if you were my wife,’ Andreas responded without hesitation.
‘You’re Greek…your vote doesn’t count. You’re angry with me but I need you to make Finlay see sense. He has huge respect for you. He’ll listen to you.’
Distaste gripped Andreas. He could see no evidence that Elyssa even regretted her infidelity. ‘How long did the affair last?’
Elyssa gave him a sulky look. ‘I suppose I have to tell you because if I don’t Finlay will…there’s been more than one affair.’
Andreas surveyed the young woman in front of him with incredulous disdain.
Elyssa pouted. ‘I can’t help it if men find me irresistible.’
Her vanity even in the face of the damage she had done was deeply offensive to Andreas. Somehow he had overlooked the reality that his once-vulnerable little sister had grown to adulthood and full independence. It was not a good moment to discover that he did not like the woman she had become.
‘The night that you threw your housewarming party,’ Andreas murmured abruptly as it occurred to him that his sibling was not at all the reliable and truthful witness he had believed her to be, ‘you said that you found Hope with Ben Campbell. Was that true?’
Her surprise patent at that unexpected change of subject, Elyssa coloured. ‘Why are you asking?’
‘That story about Hope was a wind-up, wasn’t it?’ Determined to get the truth out of his sister, Andreas let a deceptively amused smile curve his handsome mouth.
His sister regarded him uncertainly and then she relaxed when she saw the smile. ‘How did you guess?’
At Elyssa’s confirmation that she had concocted the tale about Hope, Andreas fell very still. ‘Why did you do it?’
‘I had to protect myself. She caught me kissing another man. I decided to discredit her before she got the chance to tell anybody what she’d seen.’ Elyssa lifted a shoulder in a careless shrug of dismissal.
Cold condemnation was stamped on her brother’s lean, hard-boned face. ‘I’ll never forgive you for hurting her.’
‘You tricked me into telling you…’ Pale with consternation as that truth sank in, Elyssa started to scramble upright. ‘That’s not fair!’
‘How fair were you to Hope?’
‘Surely you didn’t expect me to like her?’ his sister snapped with furious resentment. ‘From the minute you met Hope Evans, you had no time for me any more. You were always with her playing house. Yet who was she? A vulgar little upstart from nowhere! I couldn’t believe that you would bring a woman like that to my home and show her off!’
‘Your spite turns my stomach,’ Andreas breathed in disgust.
When he emerged from his sister’s home, he did not climb back into the limo. He wanted to walk for a while in the fresh air. Elyssa’s vicious attack on Hope and the jealousy that had powered her abuse appalled him. Nothing could excuse his sister’s cruel lies or her complete lack of guilt. How could he have been so blind to the younger woman’s true nature?
Elyssa had always needed to be the centre of attention. From babyhood she had thrown tantrums to ensure she got what she wanted. Of recent Andreas had become less patient with her constant demands and had encouraged her to rely on her husband for support. Naturally he had wanted to spend more time with Hope. Once or twice he had wondered why his sibling had so little apparent interest in his private life. Now he suspected that Elyssa’s resentment had grown in direct proportion to the longevity of his relationship with Hope. Yet he had failed to notice that anything was wrong. He had also made the fatal mistake of introducing Hope to his sister. It was his fault that Hope had become the innocent victim of her malice. How was he supposed to make that up to Hope?
He phoned her five minutes later. ‘I have to see you.’
‘Why?’ Hope said a little prayer that he would answer that he was missing her.
‘Something’s happened. I don’t feel right about waiting until tomorrow to discuss it with you,’ Andreas admitted. ‘It’s late…you could stay the night.’
‘At the town house?’
‘Yes.’
Hope entered a large tick on the mental scorecard she was running on him. ‘That would be OK,’ she said as lightly as she could. ‘But I couldn’t actually stay with you…if you know what I mean.’
‘I’ll send the car to pick you up.’
A manservant ushered her into the elegant hall of the big Georgian terraced house and into an imposing drawing room where Andreas awaited her. He looked very serious and her apprehension shifted up another notch on the scale.
‘What’s wrong?’ she
