Kitabı oku: «Greek Mavericks: His Christmas Conquest», sayfa 7

Chapter Seven

SOPHIE knew that she was playing with fire. She felt it every time she was in his company, every time those amazing green eyes lazily skimmed over her, every time his hands skilfully caressed her yearning body. Even when there was no physical contact between them when they were just strolling through the town, wrapped up in layers of clothing to combat the fierce winter cold, she was still tantalisingly aware of the dangerous edge of her attraction.

Theo Andreou was not the kind of man with whom she should be having a relationship. Yes, there was a lot to be said for reckless abandon. After all, just the one life, why waste it in relentless pursuit of what was right, when a little bit of wrong could be so much fun? Two consenting adults enjoying each other.

When Sophie thought about it like that, she could convince her uneasy conscience that she was doing the right thing.

But, more and more, small nasty thoughts were beginning to mar the unblemished surface of their easy, no strings attached relationship.

When she wasn’t with him, she longed for him, wondered about a future that was not on the cards and discovered that the only way to deal with the eventuality of not seeing him once his time was up was to shove it out of her mind. There was a steady little voice in her head telling her that she had to give it up, that the likes of Theo were out of her league, but that too she could silence.

She told herself that it was fine, that the little vacuum they had created around themselves as one week turned into two and two into three and three into four was absolutely wonderful. It was, she consoled herself, the way modern young people enjoyed life. No old-fashioned inconvenient soul-searching, no desperate questions about marriage and commitment, just a lazy, enjoyable amble with another person for as long as it lasted.

And Theo never gave her any indication that things wouldn’t come crashing down as soon as he left Cornwall.

Like an addict enjoying something taboo, Sophie could recognise the dangerous shortcomings of her situation and still remain locked in her cycle of just wanting more of the same.

However, tonight she intended to broach at least one tricky question. It helped that they would be having dinner out. She had realised early on that just one touch from him could send all her thoughts and good intentions scattering to the four winds.

She took one last look at herself in the mirror just to make sure that she passed muster, not that Theo ever gave her any indication that she was anything but beautiful. Indeed, he had the ability to make her feel very special, literally as though he had eyes only for her, which she knew was simply a gift of his because she certainly wasn’t a supermodel in the making.

Tonight she was wearing a long brown skirt, which she had teamed up with a terracotta polo-necked ribbed jumper and her brown boots. All of the items had seen better days, but with a wardrobe severely constrained by financial limits she fancied she had made the most of things. A bit of mixing and matching, a couple of bright scarves and some cheap costume jewellery and a tiny bit of magic could be created. At any rate, that was how Theo made her feel. Magical.

Sophie laughed at the silly notion and headed out.

Outside it was freezing cold, with a savage wind that cut through her coat and clamped its teeth all the way through her layers of clothes until she could feel her eyes burning. Normally, Theo would have collected her in his car but she had wanted to meet him at the restaurant. Every so often, in one of her more lucid moments, she would fight off the demons of her addiction and push herself into a more detached position. Tonight had been one of those times, although it had taken a great deal of effort not to be persuaded by him that she was being silly, turning down the warmth of his car in favour of public transport, which was never that reliable during the winter months.

She arrived, after a combination of her feet and the bus, at the restaurant to find Theo ensconced by the bar and watching the door with a scowl.

It was one of the more popular restaurants locally, with a vibrant atmosphere and a price list that would normally have put it way out of her range. She wondered how Theo had been able to book a table for them at such short notice, but she had discovered that the man had an unusual knack for getting his own way.

‘I told you that you should have come with me,’ he growled as soon as she had been divested of her coat, scarf and gloves and sat on the stool next to him.

‘That’s a nice way to greet me,’ Sophie teased him, ‘when you haven’t seen me for a couple of days.’ That had been another concerted effort on her part to try and make contact with the independence she seemed to be leaving behind at great speed. She had spent two nights with some of her university friends and, aside from the fact that she had thought constantly about Theo, she had had a great time.

‘It’s freezing out there,’ Theo said, ignoring her interruption. ‘You’ll end up in hospital with pneumonia. I suppose you caught the bus instead of taking a cab?’

‘There’s no need to worry about me, Theo,’ Sophie told him, leaning one elbow on the bar and watching his face with great pleasure. ‘I’m accustomed to taking buses. Some of us are.’

‘You’re not going to go into your rant about the haves and the have-nots, are you?’

‘I’d prefer to have a glass of wine, but if you want me to start ranting…’

Theo grinned reluctantly, already feeling himself relax after what had been a pretty stressful day. Three calls from a woman who had been chasing him before he’d left, despite his evident lack of interest, inviting him to a Christmas do. Gloria had obviously given her the cottage number, maybe thinking that he needed a break from his solitude. He would have to have a word with her about that.

And then two tricky meetings in Hong Kong were looming. They could just about wait until after Christmas, but the prospect of normality and all that it entailed had put him in a foul mood.

To make matters worse, Sophie had been away, enjoying herself and doing God only knew what. She could veer between utter openness and infuriating detachment with an ease that brought out the worst in him.

‘How did you manage to get a table here?’ she was asking, looking around her at the butterflies that had emerged from all corners of the county, dressed in their finery. Theo, dressed in a simple pair of dark trousers and one of his cream Ralph Lauren shirts, looked totally in keeping with the crowd. Which made her wonder aloud at her own garb, which in turn led to the light hearted banter that had become part and parcel of their relationship. She felt so comfortable with him and yet was so keenly aware of his unsuitability. Why? Because he was so wildly out of her orbit? Or because she knew that the information he dispensed about himself was vaguely inadequate, said so much yet not enough?

Their table was in a prime position at the back of the restaurant. They had a bird’s eye view of the other diners while being virtually invisible to prying eyes, thanks to a row of lush plants that hemmed the table in at one side.

Theo watched her as she wondered how he had managed to acquire such a desirable spot. Of course, if she asked, he would shrug and make some vaguely amusing remark about the power of his charm. The last thing he would do would be to tell her the truth, which was that his promise to the manager of the purchase of an extremely expensive celebratory bottle of champagne had swung it in his favour. That and, of course, his presence. People generally obliged him by doing what he wanted and Jean Luc, the manager of the little French restaurant, had been no exception.

Sophie, he had come to realise, seemed oblivious to the fact that he was clearly immensely well off. Tonight, he knew, she would offer to go halves on the bill and it would be just as well that her menu would not carry prices. He would tell her that it was really less than he might have expected and bring out the old-fashioned assertion that as a gentleman she should humour him by accepting his generosity in the manner in which it was meant.

He used that excuse a lot. Sometimes she bought it, other times she insisted on giving him money and, whenever he possibly could, he slipped the money back into her bag when her attention was somewhere else.

And, unlike any woman he had ever met, she never expected anything from him. Several times over the course of the weeks, as they had strolled through one of the towns, he had offered to buy her something she had seen in passing, something she had liked, usually something of an antique nature. She had refused every single time. He wondered whether it was her nature and dismissed the notion as quickly as it had formed in his head. There was no woman on the face of the earth who would not accept gifts from a man. He decided that Sophie was no different. It was just that she had no real idea as to the enormity of his wealth. If she had, then yes, she would happily have taken. He convinced himself that it was just as well they would be parting company in due course. That way, he would never suffer the disillusionment of finding out that her feet were made of clay.

And their parting was going to be sooner rather than later. Time was flying by at an unholy speed.

‘Hello? Is anybody there?’ Sophie, watching Theo’s distant expression, felt a chill of fear and she wondered whether this was the start of him losing interest in her. She had been discussing some minor bit of village gossip, a ridiculous piece of nonsense concerning a couple just sitting by the window at the far side of the room. Of course, he would be bored rigid by her anecdote.

‘You were miles away, Theo,’ she said.

‘Oh, was I…?’ He gave her one of his long, slow smiles, tempted to tell her that when he was in her company there was never a second when he wasn’t supremely, ridiculously one hundred per cent focused on her, even if it didn’t appear so. ‘Is that why I know exactly what you were saying about Jane and Henry Glover and their little slice of scandal?’

Sophie grinned back at him, foolishly relieved and even more foolishly happy when he reached across the table to capture her hand in his.

Sometimes she almost felt as though they really had something that could go somewhere, that their relationship might really function beyond the artificial life span imposed upon it. This was one of those moments. Here they were, having dinner in an absolutely gorgeous restaurant which was festive with the colours of Christmas. In the corner of the room a fully decorated Christmas tree lent an air of excited expectation and outside the air was heavy with the promise of snow. How much better could it get? And when he looked at her like that, as if he could read deep into her soul, she couldn’t help but have the delirious feeling that maybe he felt as much for her as she did for him.

Which, she suddenly thought, was what?

The image of herself as a modern day twenty-first century woman, enjoying a relationship that was going nowhere but immense fun nevertheless, floated through the window like a vanishing puff of smoke.

In its place was left the much truer picture of herself as a woman in love. She didn’t eagerly look forward to seeing him and miss him when she wasn’t with him because she was physically attracted to his body! Nor did she find herself laughing at the things he said, confiding in him, wanting to share every bit of herself with him, because he was sexy. She was a different woman in his presence because she had done the unthinkable and had fallen in love with him.

Sophie could feel the colour drain from her face and, just when she needed rescuing most, it came in the format of their starters, which were brought to the table in style. Along with a bottle of champagne, which was ceremoniously opened with a loud popping of the cork.

Several people stared round at their table, smiling, and she wondered what they might be thinking. Perhaps that the couple they were looking at were celebrating something momentous?

Maybe, she thought on a wild surge of optimism, they were! She smiled, blushing, at Theo and raised her glass in a toast to Christmas, quietly thinking that perhaps, just perhaps, this wonderful champagne was an outward symbol of what his unconscious mind was telling him, that there was something to celebrate, that theirs wasn’t just some passing affair but something real and substantial and worth celebrating!

‘This food,’ he said, in between mouthfuls of his starter, ‘is as good as anything I’ve ever tasted in London.’

‘Tell me about where you live.’ Every time they had touched briefly on his life, he had veered the conversation away. Sophie was determined that that would not happen this time. She wanted to find out everything about this man who had captured her heart against her will. He knew so much more about her than she did about him and his life was, paradoxically, just so much more interesting! Crazy, but underneath that peculiarly enchanting arrogance was obviously a streak of real modesty.

‘You know where I live,’ Theo said abruptly.

‘Yes. In London. But what’s your house like?’

Talking about London and his life there reminded Theo of the grim reality awaiting him in under three weeks. He had not actually planned on staying in the cottage as long as he had, intending on a minimum rest period, sufficiently long enough to satisfy his mother but not a minute beyond. As it was, he was still here and intended to enjoy the remainder of his stay without any thoughts of his London life. But Sophie did not give up easily and he reluctantly answered her questions as briefly as he could. He lived in a very modern apartment, size and location undisclosed. He laughed when she teased him about the cottage, wondering aloud how he could enjoy something so different from what he was used to.

‘Variety is the spice of life,’ he said, sitting back and watching her mobile, expressive face.

‘I’d love to live in London, at least for a while,’ Sophie said wistfully.

‘You’d hate it.’

Sophie, cruising along on the rosy image of them exploring London together, taking a few steps further to discovering themselves, was brought abruptly back down to earth by the finality of his voice.

‘Why do you say that?’ she asked. Their starters had been taken away. She could see the waitress weaving her way to their table with their main courses just when she didn’t want to be interrupted, just when she was on the brink of justifying exactly why a dose of London could be very salutary for her, never mind the workload still waiting to be done. Her momentum to get her father’s affairs sorted had recently lost its urgency. Really, the rent from the cottage was managing to tide over the baying creditors, at least some of them, and she couldn’t be bothered to worry about the rest.

‘It’s crowded, polluted and lonely.’

‘In which case, why do you live there?’ She sat back while the waitress placed their dishes in front of them and then leaned towards him, her face alight with lively curiosity.

‘Because I’ve become accustomed to crowds, pollution and loneliness.’

Sophie laughed and tucked into her food. She couldn’t imagine Theo ever being lonely. He was too charismatic for that.

‘You, on the other hand, are accustomed to wide open spaces and beautiful scenery.’

‘But variety is the spice of life.’ Sophie threw his quote back at him and he nodded an appreciative touché. ‘Not that Cornwall isn’t absolutely perfect sometimes. I mean, it’s beautiful in winter.’ She hesitated and then looked him squarely in the eye. ‘Which brings me to Christmas Day. Are you intending to return to London? I expect you have friends and family you’d like to share the day with…’

Sophie held her breath. This was the question she had left the flat intending to ask and she superstitiously felt that the right answer would be an indication of whether they were going anywhere or not. If he chose to stay or else invited her to go to London with him, then maybe there was a future. She didn’t think of the alternative.

Theo looked at her for a long time in silence. His mother wanted him back in Greece for Christmas, as did all the members of his extended family, most of whom he only saw very occasionally. His friends had issued invitations, largely expecting them to be turned down. Christmas Day, Theo strongly felt, was a family day and, whereas he had usually returned to Greece for a couple of days over the period, he had little inclination to do so this year. Nor did he fancy a holiday on his own doing one of the high risk sports that had so absorbed him over the past few months. Less desirable was the thought of spending it in the company of the woman who had called several times and seemed intent on netting him for some festive fun.

In fact, just at this point in time, nothing seemed more inviting than staying put. And, face it, he told himself, they were having fun on borrowed time. Why not go the whole nine yards?

He shook his head slowly, thoughtfully, and Sophie felt her stomach flip over with joy. ‘Are you sure?’ she asked with a trace of anxiety because no good fortune came without a catch, but he was nodding, still telling her that the clean air, the restful lifestyle, would do him good, that everything else could be put on hold for just a bit.