the back that was turned to her and to the close-fitting shirt stretched even tighter as he crossed his arms in front of him. ‘There was an unseasonal summer storm that day. It had been building slowly for hours but when it hit, it was ferocious and wild. Sienna was a passenger in a helicopter when lightning struck the rock, scattering the sea birds and sending them panicked in all directions. The pilot had no way of avoiding them. The helicopter was hit, one of the birds crashing through the cockpit and knocking out the pilot.’
He turned so suddenly she jumped, feeling caught out. ‘What in God’s name was she doing out there in a helicopter in the midst of a storm?’
Marietta looked away, doing her best to forget about the play of fabric against firm flesh and remember back to that dark day and the anguish that had driven Sienna to flee, an anguish that Marietta had only become aware of in the following days when the two women had had a chance to talk. Of course, it sounded crazy that anyone would be up in a helicopter in weather like that, but at the time Sienna had been left with no choice, facing marriage to a man she loved and yet who refused to acknowledge his love for her. A man who had only realised the truth when she was gone.
But how could you explain love to a man like Yannis, who knew more about anger than he would ever know about love? She shrugged. ‘Sienna simply had no choice. She had to go. As it was, the pilot was lucky she was there. Sienna managed to bring the aircraft under control long enough to make it to a tiny beach on the other side of the rock. It wasn’t a pretty landing, apparently, but it saved both of them.’
‘And Rafe was here on the island the whole time?’
She smiled thinly, remembering the tension of that time, remembering the look of terror on her brother’s face when that single plume of smoke had been sighted. ‘It was a tough few hours. For everyone, but especially for Rafe. He was one of the first out with the local coast-guard, and he was there when the helicopter was found, and Sienna inside it. She had cuts and bruises but she and her babies were miraculously otherwise uninjured. Sienna maintains their survival proves that the Beast of Iseo is officially dead.’
He nodded and turned his attention back out to sea. He vaguely remembered the legend of the Beast of Iseo, where once a month the beast of the rock would rise, trawling the surrounding waters, hungry for wayward travellers and those blown off course.
It was funny how some people liked to define their monsters by the calendar. He’d learned that life wasn’t that simple. Life had shown him that monsters and dangers were there every day of your life. Not dictated by a calendar. More likely dictated by a woman. And in his case, the woman sitting behind him now.
Just one day, he promised himself as his fingers curled into fists, just one more day and he would be gone from here. Gone from her.
‘You sound like you’ve taken the Montvelatte customs to heart,’ he said, finally turning away from the rock and forcing himself back down opposite her as his breakfast was served. ‘Does that mean you’ll be staying here now you’re a princess?’
She laughed, knowing he’d been serious when he asked the question. ‘You make it sound like being a princess is a career choice.’
‘You have something better to do?’
She flashed him a glare, but he was looking away, and it was wasted, just as she knew any barbed retort she threw at him would be. He obviously had his mind made up about her.
‘You didn’t know I was a jewellery designer?’
‘That’s a full-time job?’
She chose to answer a different question. ‘My partner, Xavier, and I are actually just about to embark on a major expansion, with a gallery and showroom opening shortly in Honolulu, and we’re both really excited about it. So thank you, but, yes, while I’m not sure if it’s “better”, I do have something else to do.’
Xavier? He ignored her correction and focused in on the surprise element in her words. He hadn’t realised she was attached, especially given her comment last night about being too busy. Clearly she wasn’t that busy. Although, was it any real surprise? Given the ease with which she’d offered herself to him, she was bound to have found herself someone else willing to accept an offer of her charms. Probably many someones.
‘So where is this Xavier? Why isn’t he here with you?’
It was the look on her face that told him he’d demanded rather than asked his questions.
‘Because the opening is in less than two weeks. Apart from which, why should he be invited?’
‘You were the one who said he was your partner.’
She blinked, slowly and purposefully, and he immediately regretted pressing the point and giving the impression that it mattered to him in the least. It didn’t, of course; his interest was merely in shooting holes in her argument. There were bound to be plenty of those.
‘Xavier Delahunty,’ she began after a measured breath, ‘is my business partner, and together we own Paua International, a small but growing jewellery concern. Xavier handles the business side of things while I’m the head designer. We’ve been working with paua and silver designs in Auckland for a few years but slowly incorporating pacific pearls into the equation.
‘When the new gallery opens in Honolulu,’ she continued, ‘we’ll launch the new collection with it. If it goes well, we have plans to expand further into the US and Europe.’
Not many things took Yannis Markides by surprise. Not many people. But not for the first time, this woman did.
‘I didn’t realise you had a job.’
‘No? I suppose you imagined I’ve just been swanning around, princess-in-waiting these last few years. Whereas you’ve been amassing so much money you haven’t had time to breathe. Why are you so driven, Yannis? Is money so sexy that you’d rather have a fortune than a wife?’
Any hint of remorse that he might have misjudged her was consumed in the heat that speared up inside him, a tidal wave of resentment that brought with it more than a hint of satisfaction. This was more like it, more of what he expected from someone like her.
No surprises there at all.
‘Maybe,’ he replied, ‘it would have been nice to have had the choice.’
She looked up him, cat-like eyes narrowed and searching for the meaning behind his cryptic comment, the question already forming on those sultry lips. A question that never came as the maid interrupted with more coffee, and he turned back to his meal, suddenly reminded of his hunger and the reason he was out here on this terrace. Not to settle old scores, nor even to relive the circumstances that had given birth to them, but simply to break his fast. To slake his early morning thirst and hunger.
And that hunger had nothing to do with her!
Sienna was still enjoying a scented bubble bath when Marietta arrived at her suite. Her dresser, Carmelina, was fussing over her, bringing towels and catering to her every need, and Marietta was grateful to have a few moments to collect her thoughts. Meeting with Yannis on the terrace had rattled her, and much more than she’d realised at the time, leaving her feeling shaky, her emotions shredded. For Yannnis appeared determined to dislike her, even to hate her no matter what she did or said, and still she had no real inkling why. But whatever it was she was supposed to have done in the past, he certainly
