said, I find him thoroughly intimidating,” she claimed, not without truth. “He isn’t nearly as good-looking as you.”
“He’s older, and many women prefer older men. Especially when they’re wealthy too.”
“I don’t care about money,” Chelsea returned, truthfully again. “I’ve enough of my own to get by on.”
She paused, tempted once more to let Dion in on her secret. There was a possibility that he might feel honourbound bound to give her away, but she doubted it. There was little love lost between him and Nikos.
“There’s something I have to tell you,” she said, before she could change her mind. “A confession, I suppose you’d have to call it.”
The speculation increased. “So tell me?”
“I’m a journalist.” It came out in a rush. “I should have been honest with you right away, I know, but when you asked me to come here with you it was too good an opportunity to put at risk. No one’s ever managed to interview your cousin. I’m hoping to be the first.”
Viewing the handsome, and at the moment inscrutable face, she knew a gathering despondency. “I shan’t blame you if you feel like telling me to take off,” she added. “No one likes being used.”
“No, they don’t.” The agreement was severe, the scowl even more so. “You should be ashamed!”
“I know,” she said. “I took a mean advantage.”
Dion studied her for a moment, the mock anger replaced by a certain calculation. “No more than I intended taking of you,” he said at length. “And still intend, if you prove willing.” He shook his head at the look on her face. “Not that. I asked you here for quite another purpose.”
Intrigued enough to forget her own position for the moment, Chelsea eyed him questioningly. “What purpose?”
“There’s this girl,” he said. “A daughter of one of the families allowed to share Skalos. I want her to think that you and I are an item-isn’t that the way you say it?”
“It’s the way some people say it.” She paused. “What is it you’re after, exactly?”
“I intend to show her she’s far from my only interest,” he stated with a flash of fire in his eyes.
Pride rearing its head again? Chelsea reflected.
“Why would you need me for that?” she asked. “You must have a whole list of girls you could call on.”
“Those who would like to be with me, yes.”
But none likely to agree to being used as a mere instrument, Chelsea surmised. At least it explained why Dion had been so ready to accept the limitations she had imposed on their own relationship.
“Having already told Nikos there’s nothing between us, isn’t it going to make you appear more than a bit of a liar if we start putting on an act for this girl’s benefit?” she said cautiously, thinking it wasn’t going to do her credibility much good either.
“We don’t have to put on an act,” he assured her. “It will be enough for Elini to see us together.”
Enough for what? Chelsea wondered. “I suppose I owe you something for not being honest with you from the start,” she said with some reluctance.
“If you do this for me, I’ll do everything I can to help you get what you want,” Dion promised. An innate decency prompted him to add, “Although I should warn you that there’s very little possibility of success. Nikos despises those who put themselves on public display. Nor would I advise attempting to publish anything without permission.”
“I wouldn’t do that anyway.” Chelsea could make that promise in all honesty. “I knew the odds were against me when I took this on, but it was worth a try. Still is,” she added, stiffening her resolve. “There has to be a first time for everything.”
Dion came to his feet along with her, a certain regret in his eyes as he scanned her face. “Must you really sleep alone tonight?”
“Really,” she said. She kissed him lightly on the cheek. “Kalinichta, friend.”
He made no effort to stop her as she turned to go indoors, but she could sense frustration in him. Nikos was probably right, she thought drily: there was no such thing as a purely platonic relationship between a man and a woman-certainly not where the man was concerned, at any rate.
In bed, but unable to sleep, she found her thoughts dwelling on Nikos again, seeing him in her mind’s eye, features sculpted from solid rock, body taut with muscle, remembering the feel of his lips on hers, the power to crush in his hands. She hadn’t known what it was to desire a man until now, because she had never before met a man who aroused her to such an extent. For the first time she could understand that love didn’t have to be a part of the equation.
Taking account both of what he had said to her in the gardens and the expression in his eyes every time she had met his gaze during the rest of the evening, there was every reason to believe that he found her equally desirable. If she couldn’t find fulfilment in one direction, she might at least…
She broke off her thoughts at that point, shocked that she could even contemplate such a move. There was such a thing as moral fibre.
Morning brought no change in Florina’s attitude. Chelsea gave up trying after receiving monosyllabic replies to all her overtures.
The skies were clear of any vestige of cloud, the rising heat tempered by a gentle breeze blowing in from the sea. Despite enjoying a lazy morning alongside Dion on the terrace, she knew it wouldn’t take long to become bored with the easy life. She needed to be up and doing-to have something to keep both body and mind active.
The party was due to begin at four. Dion’s father still hadn’t put in an appearance when they left the house on the hour. Dion was driving, with his mother occupying the front passenger seat, leaving Chelsea to share the rear with his sister. The latter spoke not a single word during the journey, gazing steadfastly out of the window, her face set in lines that warned off any attempt to start a conversation.
Compared with the haute couture outfits both the Pandrossos women were wearing, the silky black trousers and sleeveless top Chelsea had on were definitely second-rate, but they were the only things she had with her that were even remotely suitable to the occasion. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, she told herself stoutly. Who was going to be taking any notice, anyway? This was Dimitris’s day.
Their destination lay barely a couple of miles away around the other side of the headland. Reached through olive groves, the house drew a breath of delight. Creeper-covered white walls nestled beneath a faded red roof, each tall and graceful window flanked by dark blue shutters. Big enough to house several families, Chelsea judged, but still looking like a home rather than a showplace.
They were not the first arrivals. Several cars were already parked around the gravelled area fronting the house. Dion slid an arm around Chelsea’s waist as they entered a spacious hall which appeared to go all the way through to the rear of the building, where tall double doors were folded back to reveal a magnificent, uninterrupted view of the sea.
“I thought we didn’t have to pretend
