Helen Bianchin - Greek's Pride

Rachel’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears. ‘Thank you.’

It was heart-wrenching to see the effect Georg had on his grandparents, and Alyse had to blink quickly more than once to dispel the suspicious dampness that momentarily blurred her vision.

An hour later the baby was resettled in his cot for the night, and Rachel retired upstairs to freshen up while Alyse put the finishing touches to dinner.

After much deliberation, she had elected to serve a chicken consommé, followed by roast chicken with a variety of vegetables, and settled on fresh fruit for dessert. Unsure of Alexandros’s palate, she’d added a cheese platter decorated with stuffed olives and grapes.

The meal was a definite success, and with most of her nervousness gone Alyse was able to relax.

‘Tomorrow you must rest,’ Aleksi told his parents as they sipped coffee in the lounge. ‘In the afternoon I’ll drive you into town and settle you both into the apartment, then in the evening we’ll dine out together.’

Startled, Alyse felt her eyes widen in surprise, and Rachel quickly intervened in explanation.

‘Aleksi owns an apartment in the heart of Surfers Paradise. Alexandros and I will stay there until we leave for Sydney to visit with my sister, after which we’ll return and spend the remainder of our holiday on the Coast.’

Her expression softened as Alyse was about to demur.

‘ Yes , my dear. We value our independence and respect yours. The circumstances regarding your marriage are unusual,’ Rachel added gently. ‘You and Aleksi need time together alone.’

Alyse wanted to protest that the marriage was only one of convenience, and would remain so for as long as it took for her to escape to Perth with Georg. Except that she wouldn’t consider voicing the words.

‘And now,’ Rachel declared, standing to her feet, ‘if you don’t mind, we’ll retire.’ Her smile wavered slightly as it moved from her husband to her stepson. ‘It’s been a long trip, and I’m really very tired.’

Alyse rose at once. ‘Of course.’ Her heart softened at the older woman’s obvious weariness. ‘There’s everything you need in your suite.’

‘Thank you, my dear.’

It seemed good manners to walk at Aleksi’s side as his parents made their way into the foyer, and it wasn’t until Rachel and Alexandros were safely upstairs that she turned back towards the lounge.

‘I’ll make some more coffee,’ Aleksi said smoothly. ‘I have a few hours’ work ahead of me in the study.’

‘There’s plenty left in the percolator,’ Alyse said with a slight shrug. ‘It will take a minute to reheat. I’ll bring it in, if you like.’

With a curt nod he turned towards the study, and it was only a matter of minutes before she entered that masculine sanctum and set a cup of steaming aromatic brew on his desk.

He was seated, leaning well back into a comfortable leather executive chair, and he regarded her with eyes that were direct and faintly probing.

‘What do you think of my parents?’

‘I hardly know them,’ she said stiffly, longing to escape. In the company of Rachel and Alexandros she had been able to tolerate his company without too much difficulty, but now they were alone she was acutely aware of a growing tension.

‘You like Rachel.’ It was a statement, rather than a query, which she didn’t bother to deny. ‘And my father?’

‘He seems kind,’ she offered politely, and saw his mouth curve to form a cynical smile.

‘Far kinder than his son?’

Her polite façade snapped. ‘Yes. You seem to delight in being an uncivilised tyrant!’

An eyebrow rose in sardonic query. ‘Whatever will you come up with next?’

Her eyes flashed a brilliant blue. ‘Oh, I’m sure I’ll think of something!’

The creases at the corners of his eyes deepened. ‘I have no doubt you will.’

The temptation to pick something up from his desk and throw it at him was almost irresistible, and her hands clenched at her sides in silent restraint as she turned towards the door.

‘Goodnight, Alyse.’

His drawled, faintly mocking tones followed her into the hall, and she muttered dire threats beneath her breath all the way into the kitchen.

An hour later she lay silently seething in bed, plotting his figurative downfall in so many numerous ways that it carried her to the edge of sleep and beyond.

It was almost midday when Rachel and Alexandros came downstairs, coinciding with Aleksi’s arrival home, and after a relaxing meal Rachel eagerly saw to her grandson’s needs, gave him his bottle, then settled him down for the afternoon.

Over coffee there was an opportunity for Alyse to become better acquainted with Aleksi’s stepmother, and it was relatively simple to fill in details of Antonia’s life, although she was aware of Aleksi’s seemingly detached regard throughout a number of amusing anecdotes.

‘I have some photographs,’ Alyse told her. ‘Most of them are in albums which are somewhere in transit between here and Perth, but I brought a few snaps with me that you might like to see.’

They were pictures of Antonia laughing, beautiful and lissom with flowing blonde hair and a stunning smile.

‘What about you, Alyse?’ Aleksi asked quietly. ‘Were all the snaps taken only of Antonia?’

‘No. No, of course not,’ she answered quickly. ‘There didn’t seem much point in bringing the others with me.’

His gaze was startlingly direct. ‘Why not?’ Humour tugged the edges of his mouth. ‘I would have enjoyed seeing you as a child.’

‘Perhaps I should insist that you drag out shots depicting your pubescent youth,’ Alyse said sweetly, and heard Alexandros’s deep laugh.

‘He was all bones, so tall, and very intense. An exceptional student.’

‘Yes, I’m sure he was,’ Alyse agreed with a faint smile.

‘At nineteen he filled out,’ Rachel informed her, shooting Aleksi a faintly wicked grin, ‘developing splendid muscles, a deep voice, and a certain attraction for the opposite sex. Girls utilised every excuse under the sun to practise their own blossoming feminine wiles on him.’

‘With great success, I’m sure,’ Alyse remarked drily, and heard his husky laugh.

‘I managed to keep one step ahead of each of them.’

‘Shattering dreams and breaking hearts, no doubt?’ The words were lightly voiced and faintly bantering, but his eyes stilled for a second, then assumed a brooding mockery.

‘What about your dreams, Alyse?’ he countered, silently forcing her to hold his gaze.

She swallowed the lump that had somehow risen in her throat, aware that their amusing conversational gambit had undergone a subtle change. ‘I was no different from other teenage girls,’ she said quietly. ‘Except that my vision was centred on a successful career.’

‘In which young men didn’t feature at all?’

How could she say that Antonia was a carefree spirit who unwittingly attracted men without the slightest effort, while Alyse was merely the older sister, a shadowy blueprint content to shoulder responsibility? Yet there had never been any feelings of resentment or jealousy, simply an acceptance of individual personalities.

‘I enjoyed a social life,’ she defended. ‘Tennis, squash, sailing at weekends, and there was the cinema, theatre, dancing.’ Her chin lifted fractionally as she summoned a brilliant smile. ‘Now I have a wealthy husband who owns a beautiful home, and an adored adopted son.’ Her eyes glittered, sheer sapphire. ‘Most women would rate that as being the culmination of all their dreams.’

Aleksi’s soft laugh was almost her undoing, and it was only his parents’ presence that prevented her from launching into a lashing castigation.