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Nice, thought Jacquelyn.
She had barely had a peck on the cheek in the three years since Tim. She was never the most physical person, but she liked affection, as much as everyone else. She liked being held close; she liked her hair being stroked and all the intimacy that came with being with someone you cared for.
Another wave of self-pity washed over her.
Was she destined to be single her whole life? Would she ever meet someone else?
She looked around the room. She might not be the youngest person here, but she was almost certainly the only one who was still a virgin.
She wondered if anyone knew. Sometimes she felt as if she were wearing a sign. And sometimes, there were moments she wished she could just go out and find someone and have sex and be done with it.
Those months after Tim left she’d tortured herself thinking she’d been wrong, stupid, blindly falling in with Nonna’s views, not thinking for herself. She’d almost considered tracking him down to tell him she’d changed her mind. But he’d gone. And that was that. And now she was glad. She really was.
The ceremony was over. The audience was applauding. The final comments were being made. Some people had already started to move. The lights came up. She spun back round to see if Martin was still there, but he’d gone.
She threw down her napkin and pushed back her chair. It caught on the carpet. She struggled to right it as she looked up. Where on earth had he gone? Everyone was heading off to the bar, but where was Martin?
Panic gripped her. What if she lost sight of him? What if he disappeared and she couldn’t find him?
Then she saw him, heading off in the opposite direction. She picked up speed, almost stumbling over the parquet dance floor in her heels, desperate not to lose sight of him. But then suddenly from nowhere Tim appeared!
‘Jacquelyn, wait,’ he called, and he reached a hand around her arm.
She turned, confused, wondering what on earth to say.
The days she’d spent longing for the tiniest glimpse of him, five seconds of his time so that they could ‘work it out’. Yearning to see his face, feel his hands, just be in the same room as him, again.
Now all she felt was embarrassment. All she could think was that he was holding her back from the one thing she had come here to do.
‘I’ve got nothing to say to you,’ she said, tugging her arm away. His face, the one she had once thought handsome, twisted as if she had slapped him.
‘I know this isn’t the right time,’ he said, grabbing for her arm again, ‘but you have to know that I’m really sorry about the way I treated you. I’ve grown up, I’ve moved on...’
‘Look, I’m not interested.’
People were crowding at the opposite doors; thankfully no one seemed to be looking this direction. But he was right in front of her, blocking her view of the door to the hallway where Martin had disappeared.
‘I thought I could do it but what you wanted was unnatural, Jacquelyn,’ he whispered. ‘I’m a man. I have needs and you wouldn’t listen.’
‘We made a promise!’ she hissed. ‘You never once said that you couldn’t do it. Instead you just vanished! So you’ll have to live with that. Now let me go, I’m in a hurry.’
‘You made the promise for both of us. Your martyrdom is wasted, you know. That whole “pure as the driven snow” act is so last century.’
‘Look, get out of my way. I couldn’t care less what you think.’
She tried to step past him, but someone else was there.
‘Is everything OK here?’
A deep Australian drawl, a strong unflinching presence.
‘I’m trying to find Martin. Is he still here?’ she asked desperately, smoothing her hair. The last thing she wanted was him to hear any of this.
Nikos’s eyebrows were raised over dark eyes that flashed concern.
‘I need to see him.’
‘Yes, he’s here,’ he said, and he came towards her, reading the situation with a frown. Then he turned to Tim, bearing down on him with his six-foot stature.
‘Don’t you know any better than to crowd a woman?’ he said, stepping further into the space, his body telegraphing masculinity, strength, power, the like of which she’d never experienced before.
Tim’s face blanched and he took a step back.
‘Now look here. I’m a friend of Jacquelyn’s and I’m only trying to have a conversation.’
She looked at the two of them and a moment of clarity struck like a thunderbolt. Tim looked so short and plump and silly next to this man. What on earth had she seen in him? She had wasted so much time and tears, and now she was reduced to begging for crumbs from some rich man’s table when she should have been taking Ariana on to the next level?
She shook her head in despair. Where had she gone so badly wrong?
‘Tim, the only reason you’re here right now is because there are people here tonight who remember what you did, and you want me to say it’s OK. Well, it’s not OK. Nothing about it is OK. So why don’t you take your half-baked little excuse for an apology and your stupid plastic award and get out of my way?’
She turned to Nikos, whose eyes were wide. She’d shocked him too. Good.
‘I want to see Martin. Now. Where is he?’ she said.
A grin broke out across his face and he stepped to the side.
‘Come with me, I’ll take you to him.’
CHAPTER THREE (#udaee3373-3da6-523c-ac4d-e69eda21c6eb)
MARTIN’S SUITE WAS in the Duchess Wing, about a mile of plush velvet carpet to the east of the grand ballroom. They walked in complete silence along its length until the ornate double doors came into sight.
Nikos had the good sense not to say a word until they got there but he was weighing up what he’d just heard and it sounded nasty. Whatever the guy had done, breaking a promise sounded like the least of it. And accusing her of being a martyr. Nikos had met more than a few of those, but in his experience they tended to be the nice ones.
Maria had never played the martyr. Maria took what she wanted and what other people wanted too...
‘You all right?’ he asked, his hand on the doorknob. ‘Is there anything I can do?’
Jacquelyn looked up at him with eyes that told him she was still feeling some pain.
‘I’m fine,’ she replied. ‘Thank you.’
Nikos nodded and opened the door of Martin’s suite, ushering her in.
‘I found your friend Jacquelyn. She wants a word.’
Martin looked up, surprised. He was sitting at a fireplace filled with yet another giant arrangement of flowers.
‘Of course. If that’s OK with you, Nikos?’
Nikos stood back and watched her sail right past him and perch on the sofa opposite Martin. Her back was ramrod straight and she turned, flashing Nikos a look that might have said, thank you, but might as easily have said, beat it.
‘Yeah, sure. I was on my way to get my phone. I’ll be back in five. That long enough, do you think?’
Martin nodded vigorously. Jacquelyn didn’t move a muscle.
Nikos closed the door and walked back to his suite.
She was a force of nature, that one. The Ice Queen, but the way she’d blasted that guy was pure fire. It was impressive. And if she pitched like that to Martin he didn’t stand a chance.
Maybe he’d been too harsh on her. She was clearly passionate about her business, and good for her. If he’d been in tough times, the last thing he’d want to do was waste his precious time on small talk with a stranger.
He collected his phone and checked for messages and emails, frowning when he saw yet another one from his accountant, Mark, about the investigation into Maria’s missing assets. He had better get answers from Martin. This whole thing was getting more and more out of hand.
He rounded the corner of the hallway and paused. He put an ear to the door to see if they were still talking.
Martin’s deep voice was making reassuring noises; Jacquelyn seemed to be silent. He knocked on the door and walked in.
‘OK? All wrapped up?’
He didn’t have time to worry if it wasn’t. He had his own issues to deal with now.
‘Nikos. Great timing.’
Martin was facing Jacquelyn. They were both standing, but now Martin was the one who looked imploringly at him, and Jacquelyn’s eyes were bright with—hope?
‘I was just explaining to Jacquelyn that I’m retiring. She’s looking for an investor and I was trying to think of someone else who’d be a good fit. I don’t know if I mentioned but Ariana Bridal goes back quite a long way. They need to modernise, perhaps? Would that be right, Jacquelyn? And so maybe you or your connections would be a...better fit...?’
Nikos shook his head.
‘I’m not looking to invest in anything, Martin. I’m here to sort a problem.’
He held up his phone.
‘A problem that’s giving me a headache. While we were giving out awards, I’ve been getting more messages.’
‘I won’t take up much of your time, Mr Karellis.’
On a heartbeat Jacquelyn turned and walked towards him. She was breathtaking and he realised he was still standing holding his phone in the air. Quickly he pulled his arm down.
‘Time is what I don’t have. Martin?’ he said, meaning, Martin, what the hell are you thinking?
‘Maybe you could squeeze in five minutes with Jacquelyn before you go?’
‘I promise it won’t take longer than five minutes. Ten at the most. Martin understands. This is a business that has so much to offer. We go back decades and we’ve got great plans. We just need a break.’
Nikos looked at Martin, who raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders as if to say wouldn’t hurt.
With a sigh that he didn’t even know he was going to make, he breathed out an, ‘OK.’
‘Five minutes. If we get this sorted,’ he said to Martin. Then turning to Jacquelyn, ‘Wait in the bar and I’ll send someone.’
She nodded and smiled, and as she breezed past she stopped suddenly and grabbed his hand in both of hers. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered. ‘I guarantee you won’t regret it.’
He nodded gruffly, but the sensation of his coarse hand in her delicate fingers was sweet and soft and he was happy to linger there for a moment. He smiled, and she smiled back. Light seemed to sparkle in her eyes and her features lit up. The face of an angel.
She squeezed his hand and then let go and headed for the door, trailing behind her delicate scent.
He waited until she had gone and then closed the door. ‘What the hell’s going on, Martin?’ he said. ‘You know I’m under pressure here.’
‘You could have said no,’ said Martin, eyebrows raised.
‘Garbage. You set me up. There’s no way anyone could say no to that.’
‘She’s quite something, isn’t she?’
‘Hmmm,’ said Nikos, ‘but you do know that I won’t be giving her anything other than some hard home truths? I’m not getting mixed up in anything. Especially with a woman who just needs to stand in a corner and whistle and she’ll have men lying at her feet.’
‘She’s not like that at all. She’s from a very good family.’
‘That counts for nothing. Anyway, let’s get on with this. What’s going down? Why the year-long battle with your lawyers? Just what are you trying to prove?’
Martin stood with his back to the fireplace of flowers. The top of his greying head was visible in the ornate mirror. His face was cast in a sickly pallor, and he frowned and clasped his fingers. He was clearly agitated.
‘I’m not trying to prove or disprove anything. My back’s against the wall. All I know is that Maria had some investments. She was involved in something just before she died. I think it was illegal.’
Nikos nodded. No shocks so far...
‘I see. Do we have any clue as to what it was?’
He noticed Martin wringing his hands again.
‘Not exactly. She never confided in me—apart from the garbled message she left the night she died. And I think that’s what the police are following up too.’
Nikos turned away. The night she died...almost the worst night of his life.
He’d turned up at his villa in Greece and found his wife topless in the hot tub with his old man. The night her drug-taking and his old man’s drug-selling had combined in one fatal party. The night Nikos had walked away and never looked back, not even when she ran screaming after him.
No, he didn’t ever want to think about that night again, but it didn’t seem he had any choice.
‘That stuff about the drugs?’ he said quietly. ‘We both know she bought them from my dad.’
‘I think it’s more than that. I think he’s the one behind the other investments. At least, that’s what he’s telling me...’
Nikos looked up sharply.
‘What do you mean?’
