Innocent Obsession. Anne Mather

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СКАЧАТЬ frowned. ‘Why doesn’t this—Leon employ a nanny?’

      ‘He did. He does. Dora—that’s her name—she’s had to go and take care of her sick mother—–’

      ‘Her sick mother!’ Brian was scathing.

      ‘It’s true!’ Sylvie flushed. ‘Can’t you try and understand? This isn’t easy for me either. Leon expects Margot, and I’m going in her place!’

      Brian sniffed. ‘For how long?’

      ‘I don’t know. Two or three weeks …’ Sylvie was doubtful, but unwilling to mention the six weeks Margot had stipulated.

      ‘Three weeks!’ Brian was aggressive. ‘That’s longer than the dig was going to last!’

      ‘I know it.’ Sylvie touched his sleeve tentatively. ‘I don’t want to go, Brian, honestly.’

      Brian’s jaw jutted. ‘So you say. But what about me? What am I supposed to do for three weeks? Hang about, waiting for you to come back? I’m going to be a laughing stock!’

      ‘No, you’re not.’ Sylvie wriggled a finger through the buttonhole in his leather jacket. ‘Besides,’ she ventured a smile, ‘aren’t I worth waiting for?’

      ‘I don’t know, do I?’ Brian retorted. ‘You haven’t let me find out yet!’

      Sylvie’s colour deepened. ‘There’s more to a relationship than sex,’ she said huskily. ‘And I don’t sleep around.’

      ‘I’m not asking you to sleep around,’ Brian countered, slipping his arms around her waist again and drawing her towards him. ‘Only with me.’

      ‘No, Brian.’

      ‘What do you mean? No—now, no—later, or no—for all time?’

      Sylvie licked her lips. ‘Just no.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Because I can’t.’

      ‘Or won’t?’

      ‘Brian, why is it so important to you?’ Sylvie shook her head. ‘Everyone knows I’m your girl. Why should it matter whether or not we’ve been to bed together?’

      Brian let her go with a smothered oath. ‘If you have to ask that, I’m wasting my time,’ he declared harshly. ‘Sylvie, don’t you ever—want to?’

      ‘Not—not specially,’ she admitted, wondering with a sudden pang whether there was something wrong with her. Brian was handsome and popular, and all the girls in school had tried to attract his attention, but for more than three months now he had been dating Sylvie. Their association had been good, at least so far as she was concerned, and his early attempts to take their lovemaking beyond the bounds she had set had given way to a steady relationship. But this evening, she realised, he had only been biding his time, and given the impetus of her proposed departure, he was being forced to precipitate his objective.

      ‘I don’t get you, do you know that?’ he said now, raking back his thick fair hair with an impatient hand. ‘You look such a sexy lady, but underneath I guess you don’t even know the score, do you?’

      Sylvie absorbed this in silence, slightly amazed by his description of herself as a ‘sexy lady’. Was that how he saw her? She couldn’t believe it. Not after that unfavourable comparison with Margot this afternoon.

      ‘Come on,’ he said now, ‘I’ll take you home. There’s not much point in pursuing this, is there? I mean, what with you going away and all. Call me when you get back, and we’ll talk it over, hmm? Until then we’re free agents, right?’

      You mean you are, thought Sylvie, but she didn’t say anything, and although she had a sinking feeling in her stomach when he left her at her gate, she couldn’t wait to examine her reflection once again, to see what she had missed.

      Sylvie had never been to Alasyia before, but she knew of it from Margot’s descriptions. It was on a peninsular, south-east of Athens, a pine-clad promontory overlooking the blue-green waters of the Aegean. Leon’s parents lived in Athens itself, and Sylvie vaguely recalled Aristotle Petronides’ leathery-brown face, and his wife’s more aristocratic features. They had attended the wedding in London, with evident misgivings, and had insisted on a more orthodox ceremony taking place, once they returned to Athens. Leon’s brothers and sisters—he was the second son in a family of eight—had not all been at the wedding, but his elder brother, Andreas, had been best man, and two of his younger sisters had accompanied their parents. Sylvie hardly remembered them, engrossed as she had been in her own role as bridesmaid, and although she supposed she might meet them again, she was not in a hurry to renew their acquaintance. Leon she might be able to handle; Aristotle Petronides was another matter.

      Her plane landed in Athens just after four o’clock in the afternoon, and in spite of the warmth of London in early July, nothing had prepared her for the heat wafting up from the tarmac as she stepped out of the aircraft. It was like a blanket, wrapping itself around her and stifling her, and she could well understand why a house at the beach was so desirable. She was glad she had taken her mother’s advice and worn a dress, instead of the inevitable trousers she was used to, although the liberal folds of Indian cotton were soon sticking to her legs. Her hair, too, felt hot and heavy, and she entered the airport buildings lifting its silky dampness up from her nape.

      It was then that she saw him, a tall man, dressed formally in a grey silk lounge suit, standing beside a pillar, watching her. He was evidently Greek, although taller and leaner than many of the men around him, and his raven-dark hair was smooth, and not curly, his dark eyes long-lashed and hooded. He was certainly an attractive man, she acknowledged, and yet there was something about that intense scrutiny that troubled her, something vaguely menacing about that frank appraisal. It made her glance about her anxiously, hoping Leon was not far away, bringing an awareness of her own vulnerability, in a country that was unfamiliar to her.

      She dragged her gaze away, concentrating on finding her passport in her shoulder bag, checking that she had all the necessary information. Leon had said that he would meet Margot at the airport. She had no reason to feel apprehensive. And it was obvious that a man like the man standing by the pillar would have some objective in coming to the airport in the first place, and not any intention of accosting a girl without any claims to sophistication.

      ‘Excuse me!’

      She had been so intent on avoiding the man’s eyes, she had failed to notice that the queue she had joined had moved on, and the deep male voice that addressed her sent a ripple of awareness up her spine. Swinging round, she came face to face with her adversary, and her lips parted in dismay when she realised he was blocking her path.

      ‘If you don’t mind—–’ she began, uncaring as to whether or not he understood her, only eager to reach the comparative security afforded by the passport officer, and his somewhat thin lips compressed.

      ‘I think I know you,’ he insisted, to her consternation. ‘You are—Sylvana Scott, are you not? Margot’s sister?’ He frowned, as she gazed at him aghast. ‘But tell me, what are you doing here? Where is Margot? Is she with you?’

      ‘Wh-who are you?’

      Sylvie’s lips could scarcely form the words. This wasn’t СКАЧАТЬ