new appointment. Since Teresa’s arrival and increasing involvement with Amber, Melinda seemed to spend a lot of time hovering unnecessarily and watching their comings and goings. Once, Tabby had even suspected that the blonde was eavesdropping on her and Acheron. No doubt the nanny had now registered that their detached marriage had developed into something closer. Or was that only her own wishful thinking at work? Tabby wondered heavily.
Acheron had been gone only one day and she felt bereft. That was a pretty poor show for a strong, independent woman, she conceded shamefacedly. She missed him so much, and her outlook wasn’t improved by her recollection of his unusual behaviour on that last night they had spent together. He had been silent and moody, extraordinarily uninvolved when she had made love to him, saying nothing, doing nothing, in fact, acting like a right—
‘Miss Barnes?’ Dmitri appeared in the doorway. ‘Could I have a word with you?’
‘Right now?’ Melinda prompted with a sparkling smile that seemed wasted on the granite-faced older man.
‘Now would be a good time,’ Dmitri responded evenly.
Tabby left Teresa in charge of Amber, having decided that dragging the little girl out to trail round the shops during the hottest part of the day would be unwise. The message was still on the mirror when she walked past into the bathroom to renew her lipstick and it made her shiver. He’s using you. Well, as far as their marriage was concerned they were using each other, she told herself doggedly. Although things had changed drastically once they began sharing a bed in reality. Was Acheron only sleeping with her because that intimacy added to the illusion of their having a normal marriage? After all, if he was seen out by the paparazzi with another woman while he was supposed to be a happily married new husband, it wouldn’t look good. So, was she being used on that basis? But how could she call it using when she was in love with him and wanted him to make love to her? Did that make her a silly lovelorn fool? Or was she taking equal advantage of him?
From the instant Dmitri phoned him and broke the news, Acheron hadn’t been able to stay still or think with his usual logic. Gripped by insane impatience and mounting concern, he just wanted to get back to Sardinia and stand watch over Tabby and Amber. Unfortunately for him, getting a last-minute slot for the jet to take off in Athens and jumping the queue took longer than he had envisaged. He cursed the fact that he had left them behind in the first place, cursed his conviction that he should protect Tabby at all costs from what Kasma might do next.
Why had he chosen to leave Tabby when he actually wanted to be with her? What did that say about him? That he couldn’t recognise his own emotions and was prone to running away from what he couldn’t understand? Feelings had never been so intense for him before and he had been torn between a kind of intoxication at the fire of them and a kind of panic at knowing he was out of control. He had never allowed that to happen to him before but he’d had no choice. He had jumped on the panic as an excuse and now he was paying the price. Thee mou, if anything was to happen to them, he brooded darkly, his fists clenching aggressively just as his pilot signalled him from across the VIP lounge that they were good to go.
* * *
‘I really do believe that your husband would prefer you to stay in today,’ Dmitri informed Tabby quietly.
Unfortunately, Tabby was in no mood to be grounded like a child and marvelled that Acheron could even think he could give out orders that way through Dmitri, particularly when he had taken off himself at such short notice. What was it? Why was he trying to keep her on the home front? Some sort of control issue on his part? And poor Dmitri was embarrassed to have to say such a thing to her; she could see it in the older man.
‘I’m sorry but it’s really important that I go out today,’ she said levelly. ‘I have something I have to buy.’
‘Then I’ll accompany you and I’ll drive, Mrs Dimitrakos,’ Dmitri responded with determination.
For the sake of peace, Tabby nodded agreement but knew she was going to have to have a discussion with Acheron with regard to the intense security presence he maintained in their lives. Was it really necessary that they be guarded and watched over every place they went? Was there a genuine risk of their being robbed or kidnapped? Was there some kind of specific threat out against Acheron?
‘You’ll be very bored,’ she warned Dmitri as she settled into the passenger seat of the SUV and watched another car full of security men follow them out of the entrance to the beach house with wry acceptance.
‘It’s not a problem. I’m used to going shopping with my wife,’ Dmitri told her calmly. ‘She can stare at one shop window for ten minutes before she’s satisfied she’s seen everything.’
Tabby knew she would be even more of a drag because she didn’t even know what she was planning to buy and was hoping to be inspired by something she saw. What did you buy for the man who had everything? The massive monthly allowance he had awarded her, however, had piled up in her bank account and thanks to his generosity she had got to spend very little of it, so she had plenty to spend.
Dmitri following behind her, Tabby prowled through the exclusive boutiques and jewellery outlets. Acheron wasn’t the sort of guy who wore jewellery. He wore a wedding ring and occasionally cuff links and that was all. But short of copping out by buying him another silk tie when he already had a rail of them, what was she to give him for his thirty-first birthday? Mulling over that thorny issue, she saw the pen. Actually the pen was the only possible description for a pen that bore a world-famous designer label. It would cost a fortune, she reckoned. But equally fast she recalled the pen his mother had bought him and decided that the cost was less important than what it meant, although why she was so keen to buy a significant gift for a man who couldn’t even be bothered to phone her, she couldn’t explain. Maybe it was the desolate thought that the pen might survive with him a lot longer than their marriage and act as a reminder of what they had once shared. Depressing, much? She scolded herself impatiently for her downbeat thoughts.
She bought the pen and arranged for it to be inscribed with his name and the date. She had to make use of the platinum credit card he had given her to make the purchase and, while trying to act as if she spent such sums all the time, she was secretly horrified at spending so much money and worried that Acheron would think she had gone mad. Pale and shaken after that sobering experience, she told Dmitri that she wanted to go for a coffee. He led the way to an outdoor café and insisted on choosing a seat a couple of tables away from her.
She had just bought the most expensive pen in the history of the world, she reflected guiltily, and when he saw the bill he might well freak out and regret telling her that her card had no upper limit. She was sipping her latte slowly, savouring the caffeine, when a shadow fell across her table.
Kasma settled her long elegant body down smoothly into the seat opposite. ‘You’ve been so unavailable you’ve forced me into all this cloak and dagger stuff,’ she complained.
Totally taken aback by the other woman’s appearance, Tabby stared at the beautiful brunette with wide, questioning eyes. ‘What on earth are you doing here?’
‘You’re here, Ash is here...where else would I be?’ Kasma asked, rolling big dark eyes in apparent disbelief at the question. ‘I refuse to believe that you’re so stupid that you can’t accept that Ash belongs with me.’
‘Miss Philippides...’ Dmitri broke into the conversation, standing straight and tall beside Kasma’s chair. ‘Please leave—’
Kasma slung him a defiant glance. ‘We’re in a public place and I can go where I please on this island. We’re not in Greece now.’
‘May
