plan to slake his revenge on her.
‘Then you admit it,’ she accused.
‘I admit that to an Englishman what I am doing would not be thought—gentlemanly,’ he sneered the word. ‘But I do not consider it gentlemanly of one man to try to kill another either. Oh yes,’ he said grimly as she made to protest, ‘your father did not intend to blind or even maim me when he forced me off the race circuit, he intended to kill.’
Regan was once again deathly pale. ‘I don't believe you,’ she shook her head in denial of his words. ‘My father——’
‘Was a very dangerous man. He thought that by killing me he would be free to marry Gina. But we Vatises do not die so easily. I was very badly injured——’
‘I know,’ she put in quietly. ‘I—I saw a report of the crash.’
‘So,’ he nodded. ‘Both my legs and one arm were broken, several ribs also, one of which punctured a lung. But none of these things mattered to me in comparison with the taking of my sight. That I could never forgive.’ His mouth twisted bitterly. ‘Gina could take none of it, and I admit I was not a sight to please the eyes of a woman, not even the woman who had sworn before God to love me for all time. Gina went on a visit to her parents and she did not come back. Your father had arranged to meet her there, deciding that it would have to be a divorce after all. There was only one thing he did not take into account, and that was that I would still not divorce Gina. I do not believe in it.’
‘My father loved your wife. He—he wanted to marry her. I don't believe he would harm anyone to get what he wanted.’
‘Considering he was no father to you I am surprised you still feel it necessary to defend him,’ Andreas Vatis scorned.
‘I'm not defending him, I'm saying you're wrong about him. My father would never deliberately hurt anyone, let alone try to kill them.’
‘But I have witnesses, Regan.’
She had gone very pale. ‘W-witnesses?’
‘Of course,’ he nodded haughtily. ‘You are not listening to the ramblings, of a demented man,’ he snapped. ‘Shortly before the race in which I was injured your father and I had an argument. He wanted me to divorce Gina, when I refused he threatened to kill me.’
‘The words of any angry man.’ Regan remembered her father's explosive temper well, his nature as fiery as the red lights in his hair.
‘I do not think so. And neither did the other five drivers who heard him say it. While I lay unconscious in my hospital bed an enquiry into the accident was taking place, privately, of course. It would not do to cast aspersions on a man's character until they were sure. If I had not been unconscious I could have told them that your father deliberately swerved in front of me.’ His harsh features were frightening in their anger.
‘And the—the enquiry?’ she hardly dared to ask.
His dark gaze levelled on her. ‘It was dropped.’
‘There you are, then,’ she said triumphantly. ‘You must be mistaken.’
‘I am not mistaken. Strange, is it not, that your father retired from racing after that race? A few months later he was dead.’
‘And you've been planning this revenge all those years.’
‘Oh yes. I told you, it may take a long time, but a Greek never forgives or forgets.’
‘So it seems,’ she said dully, putting a hand up to her aching temple. ‘I—I would like to lie down. I'm not feeling well.’
‘Poor Regan,’ he taunted. ‘What a shock for you!’
‘Sh-shock?’ she queried.
‘To come here thinking you are simply starting a new job when in fact you are to become my wife. A dutiful one, I hope.’
‘Never!’ Her eyes flashed at him. ‘I don't intend being meek, in bed or out of it.’
His green eyes sparkled with interest. ‘I will like that. Yes, I will like that. But you must understand that your position as my wife will not be the ordinary one.’
‘I already know that,’ she scoffed. ‘You've made your feelings very clear.’
‘I do not think so,’ he shook his head. ‘In Greece a wife is revered above all other women, respected as the mother of our children. We have our—friends, that is accepted, but the wife always comes first. Gina had that place in my life and she abused my trust of her. You will not be given the same consideration.’
‘Oh, I see, your friend will come first.’
‘I believe I said friends, and that is exactly what I meant. You, will provide me with my sons and I will get my pleasure elsewhere.’
‘My God, you are inhuman!’ she gasped.
‘I think you will find I am human,’ he corrected. ‘If you learn to please me you may even find I can be very human. I may even forget my friends and stay in my wife's bed if I find you pleasing enough.’
‘You can go to hell for all I care!’
He smiled mockingly. ‘Isn't that where the devil belongs?’
‘Go away,’ Regan choked. ‘Go away and leave me alone!’
‘I intend to. But I will lock the door, so that you will not be—tempted to try and escape.’
She heard the key turn in the lock immediately after he had closed the door. God, he would pay for this! As soon as she was free and far away from here she would tell the police about him. The man had to be insane!
How could she have guessed when she had left London so happily this morning that this man would be behind it all, the man who even ten years ago had frightened her. There had been several photographs of him in the newspapers at the time of the accident, the crash that he claimed her father had deliberately caused. And just a photograph of his harsh features had been enough to frighten her; in the flesh he was even more daunting, and his intention of becoming her husband, in every sense, terrified the life out of her.
Could he be right about her father's involvement in his accident? Could he really have meant to kill Andreas Vatis? Regan had seen her father furiously angry only once in her life, when he had struck her uncle to the gound. But murder? She didn't believe he was capable of that, no matter what Andreas Vatis said to the contrary.
She jumped nervously as the key turned in the lock once more, forgetting Andreas Vatis’ promise to provide her with lunch. Perhaps she wouldn't need to climb down the drainpipe after all—surely a maid wouldn't lock her back in this room? Her hopes were dashed as Andreas Vatis himself entered with the luncheon tray.
He smiled at her disappointment. ‘You did not expect me to make it possible for you to appeal to one of my staff?’ he quirked an eyebrow mockingly. ‘Really, Regan you surprise me. I am well aware that until you are actually my wife, no one, if they knew of our past connection, would believe you are staying here through choice. Until after the ceremony tomorrow you will see only me.’
‘Won't
