at her, Abby lifted her eyes and stared across the room and out towards the veranda, to where he was sitting, watching them and sipping his coffee. Theo met her gaze with cool, speculative eyes and was quietly satisfied when she gritted her teeth together and hurriedly looked away. She might have taken his brother for a fool but he was damned if she was going to think that he was the same.
He drained his cup and sauntered back into the villa, pausing where the group was sitting and chatting and leaned on to the table, palms spread to support his massive body-weight.
‘So,’ he drawled, ‘what are the plans for today?’ He was addressing the group as a whole but his eyes were fixed on Abby, who ignored him by concentrating on her croissant.
His uncles and their wives were staying put, it seemed, so that the wives could help prepare for the party and begin receiving the flood of guests to the villa, while their husbands, in typical Greek fashion, relaxed by the pool and refrained from doing anything too active.
‘We wouldn’t want to get in the way, would we, Nick?’ Dimitri said in a self-sacrificing voice and, amid the laughter, Theo looked at his brother, eyebrows raised in a question.
‘We’re off to explore the town,’ Abby inserted quickly. Five minutes ago, she had been relaxed. Now she felt as though a tiger had entered the flock of sheep and was prowling around with her set firmly in its sights. The minute she had spotted him over there, sitting outside with his coffee, she had known that he had been watching her. She should have smiled but had found that she couldn’t. Those cool black eyes stripped her of all her normal reactions. She had had time to brace herself for him now, though, and she gave him a wide, bright smile.
‘Michael’s been telling me a few things about Santorini and I’m dying to have a look around. What about you? Will you be helping with the preparations or just relaxing?’ Abby tried to imagine Theo Toyas helping with preparations but that was enough to stretch anyone’s imagination. She doubted he knew how to chop an onion, never mind doing anything more elaborate, although, from what she had gathered, caterers were being flown in for the party and would pretty much be doing the lot without any intervention needed from anyone.
‘We all want it to be just right,’ Michael’s mother had confided to her earlier. ‘There will be his favourite foods. Everything will be perfect. I have even arranged for the flowers and napkins to be in his favourite colours. He is eighty and do not be fooled by his joviality. George has a heart problem and none of us knows whether this will be the last birthday he will be celebrating.’
This had not come as news to her. Michael had said very much the same thing himself before they left England. Reading between the lines, she realised that part of his urgency for this engagement was to produce the girlfriend his grandfather had always wished him to have, to at least let him see that his grandson now had the promise of stability within his reach.
‘I have work to do.’ Theo broke into her thoughts.
‘Now that is a real shame,’ Michael said, and they both looked at him. ‘Darling, I know I promised to take you into Santorini, spend the day driving around and showing you the sights, but…’
In a split second Abby knew what was coming and she gave him as much of a warning glance as she could. He smiled blandly and ruefully at her and only flinched a little when she smartly jabbed him on his shin with her foot under the table.
‘No matter, we can do it another time,’ Abby said, knowing exactly what he had in mind and doing her best to avert that course of action.
‘I was going to ask you if you could take my place, Theo. Abby’s been really looking forward to our little excursion and I hate to disappoint her, but I had an email last night from my head chef in one of the restaurants, and there’s some kind of problem with the seafood consignment.’
‘Surely Tom can handle that at home,’ Abby inserted grimly, which warranted another sad shake of the head.
‘Would you believe that Tom’s been struck down by a mystery bug?’
‘Frankly, no. He’s always been as healthy as a horse.’
Michael ignored the interjection. ‘No matter if you have work to do, though, Theo. Perhaps you could take the car into town on your own, Abby, or would that be too boring? Actually, you could be driven in and then simply call when you want collecting. Bit disappointing having to do the tourist bit on your own, but…’ He looked utterly crestfallen at this turn of events. ‘Maybe I could grab an hour and meet you for lunch…no…best not to promise…you know how long these problems can take to sort out…’
‘My work can wait,’ Theo said decisively. It was obvious that the last thing Abby Clinton wanted to do was go anywhere with him, and he reasoned why. Too high a chance of being caught out in her little web of deceit.
Abby tried not to look appalled.
He stood up and for the first time Abby realised that, somewhere along the line, the rest of the guests had left the table. She had not even noticed their departure, so compelling had been Theo’s hold over her and the invisible threat he promised. She had also been quite wrapped up in a natural urge to throttle Michael.
‘It will be…delightful to show you around our little island…’ He smiled and Abby gazed back at him with barely disguised horror. ‘So why don’t you meet me here in an hour’s time?’ Theo found himself enjoying the prospect of spending the day with his unwilling companion. His smile broadened considerably. He actually had work to do, but that could wait. He’d barely had the opportunity to get to know the girl, or rather to get her to know where he was coming from. Several hours on their own should do the trick…
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