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‘Althea Paranoussis,’ Angelos confirmed with a shrug. ‘Daddy’s little rich girl. Stupid sl—’
‘Don’t,’ Demos warned him. ‘Don’t speak of her again. Ever.’
‘What do you care?’ Angelos took a step backwards, and came up against the bouncer. ‘She left you anyway. She’s good at that.’
‘I’m finished here.’ Demos addressed the bouncer, then started down the street. He didn’t look back as Angelos was hustled into the club.
Althea Paranoussis. He had a name. He knew how to find her. And he would, Demos thought with satisfaction. Soon.
CHAPTER TWO
SUNLIGHT poured through the wide windows of Althea’s bedroom, touching the single bed and the girlish white bureau with gold.
Althea lay flat on her back, unmoving, her eyes focused on the blank ceiling. She heard the deliberate heavy tread of her father down the front stairs of their town house and knew he was up, early as always, ready to take a cup of black tea and a koulourakia in the dining room, as he’d done every day of his adult life.
Althea let her breath out slowly but still did not move. She wondered if her father was still angry about her return last night. She hadn’t been out all that late, but he’d clearly been waiting for her to come home, and every second so spent had strained his patience.
He was tired of her. Tired of her parties, her late nights, her increasingly wild reputation. Althea smiled grimly. She was tired too.
‘This has to stop, Althea,’ Spiros Paranoussis had said last night. He’d been in his pyjamas and dressing gown, his white hair thin and wispy, his face flushed with anger. ‘You stop this behaviour or I shall have to stop it myself.’
‘I’m a grown woman, Father,’ Althea replied coolly. She’d stopped calling him Papa when she was twelve.
‘Acting like a spoiled child! Every day there is another story in the tabloids about what you’ve done, who you’ve been with. How am I to hold my head up in town? At work?’
Althea shrugged. ‘That’s not my concern.’
‘It is, alas, mine,’ Spiros said coldly. ‘And if you cannot see fit to curb your behaviour then I shall have to do so for you…by whatever means necessary.’
Althea had shrugged again and gone upstairs. He’d been threatening her for years with consequences he never cared to enforce. She refused to take her father seriously, refused to grant him the respect he demanded—the respect he felt he deserved—and it infuriated him. But he’d lost the right to her respect too many years ago for her to even consider giving it to him now.
With another sigh Althea swung her legs out of bed. She felt woozy, even though she hadn’t had much to drink last night. Just the cocktail and the glass of wine provided by Demos.
Demos… The mere thought of him caused her to wrap her arms around herself in a movement guided by self-protection. Safety.
He’d affected her too much. Made her think, made her feel, and she didn’t want to do either. She thought of the way his lips had almost—almost—brushed hers last night, and even now a deep, stabbing shaft of need made her realise she’d wanted his kiss.
She still did.
With a sigh she pushed her hair from her face and gazed dispiritedly at her reflection in the mirror. She was pale—too pale. The freckles were standing out on her cheeks and nose, her eyes burning bright and blue, and her hair a tangled mass pushed carelessly away from her face. She looked like the unruly child her father had accused her of being last night.
Althea’s mouth twisted. Yet what recourse did she have? Living in her father’s house, a high school drop-out, with no education, no money, no hope.
Hope.
Elpis.
He’d never been so far from the truth.
She slipped into a pair of skinny jeans and a close-fitting cashmere sweater in a soft, comforting grey, then tied her hair back with a scarf and slapped on a bit of make-up.
As she left the room she paused by the blazer she’d slung on a low settee. Against her better judgement she picked it up and held it to her face. It smelled of the nightclub, of stale cigarette smoke and cheap beer. But underneath those familiar and unpalatable scents was something deeper, foreign yet intimate. Demos.
She breathed in the tang of brine mixed with the clean scent of a woodsy aftershave. After a second’s hesitation she felt the pockets, but they were empty. Her lips curved in a reluctant smile; she had no doubt this was intentional. Demos Atrikes was going to find her, not the other way round.
And did she want to be found? Pushing the question as well as the unformed answer away, she left her bedroom.
Downstairs the housekeeper, Melina, was arranging a display of purple asters in a vase in the foyer. She gave Althea a sorrowful look and shook her head. ‘What have you done to make your papa so cross?’
Althea smiled thinly. ‘Nothing more than usual.’
Melina frowned, turning back to the flowers. ‘You were a good girl once,’ she said, which was her standard protest.
‘People change,’ Althea replied, with a deliberately wicked little laugh, and Melina’s frown deepened.
‘You need to be good to him. He works hard for you.’
‘And for himself,’ Althea replied, but she softened this reply by kissing the older woman’s wrinkled cheek. ‘Don’t fuss at me this early in the day, Melina.’
Melina sighed, and Althea moved past her into the kitchen. She liked Melina, yet she’d long ago recognised how much the housekeeper was capable of. These mild, ineffectual protests were the extent of her involvement in the family’s affairs.
Althea paused on the threshold of the dining room. Her father sat rigidly at the head of the table, a teacup halfway to his lips. He didn’t turn as he said, ‘Althea. Are you joining me for breakfast?’
She hadn’t eaten a meal with him in months. ‘No, I’m going out.’
Spiros bristled. ‘Where, may I ask?’
‘Shopping.’
‘You need more clothes?’ He turned slightly, and Althea saw his eyebrows rise haughtily. He was a banker and a millionaire, but he had always been tight-fisted.
‘As a matter of fact, no. But my friend seems to think she does, and I’m going with her.’ Althea made to leave.
‘When will you return?’
She turned back and saw the faint look of bewilderment on her father’s face, as if he couldn’t understand how they had come to this, descended to this. When she was little he’d taken her to the seaside, bought her ice creams, tucked her in bed. He looked at her now as if he wanted to know why that adorable little girl had become this defiant young woman. Yet he couldn’t quite bring himself to ask the question.
And Althea would never bring herself to answer it.
That confused, saddened look had used to soften her, but now it only disgusted her, moved her to contempt rather than compassion.
She shook her head, her eyes hard.
‘Later.’ Without another word she left the townhouse.
The sunlight sparkled on the placid water of the marina at Mikrolimano as humble fishing boats and luxurious yachts bobbed next to each other against a vista of whitewashed apartments and shops.
It was morning, but the sun was hot on the deck of Edward Jameson’s yacht as Demos stretched his legs out and took a sip of strong black coffee. ‘Tell me what you know of Spiros Paranoussis.’
Across the table Edward Jameson cut his fried egg into precise squares. Even though he spent half a year on his yacht in various European harbours, he still insisted on a full English breakfast to start his morning. Now he looked up, raising his eyebrows. Underneath shaggy white brows his pale blue eyes glinted shrewdly, full of easy humour.
‘Spiros Paranoussis? Why should I know anything of him at all?’
Demos smiled and shrugged. ‘Because I know enough to know he’s a banker in Athens, and you know everyone in finance in this city—as well as in most others in Europe.’
Edward smiled faintly and inclined his head. ‘Spiros Paranoussis…’ he mused. ‘Yes, he’s a banker. Second generation, current CEO of Attica Finance. Solid businessman, although rather uninspired. He hasn’t made much money, but he’s kept what he has.’
Demos nodded thoughtfully, his gaze on the expanse of blue-green sea that stretched to a cloudless horizon. He took another sip of coffee, aware of Edward’s speculative gaze.
The older man had been a mentor to him for twenty years, ever since Demos had loitered longingly by his yacht, eager, desperate for work. Jameson had employed him, and later helped him win a scholarship to study marine architecture. He would have given him much more, but Demos had refused. He would pay his own way, earn his own money, provide for his own family. And so he had, for as long as he’d been allowed.
‘As far as I know,’ Edward remarked mildly, ‘he is not the kind of man to be interested in yachts.’
Demos smiled. ‘No?’
Edward waited, too shrewd and too polite to ask Demos directly why he was fishing for information about Paranoussis.
‘And his family?’ Demos asked after a moment. ‘What do you know about them?’
Edward’s mouth tightened imperceptibly. ‘His wife died ten years ago, or round about that. He has one daughter. I met her once or twice, back when she was a child. Pretty girl, quiet and well-behaved. Although from what I’ve heard she’s now a bit of a liability.’
‘How so?’
Edward shrugged. ‘Wild, reckless, always getting herself in the tabloids.’
Demos nodded thoughtfully. In some ways he was surprised he hadn’t seen or heard of Althea before last night. He undoubtedly frequented Athens’s nightspots, although in general he preferred more discreet venues. He didn’t read the tabloids, however, and he realised with a wry grimace that he was probably considered too old for Althea’s crowd.
‘How old would the daughter be now?’
‘Twenty-two? Twenty-three?’ Edward leaned forward, his curiosity piqued. ‘Why do you ask, Demos? What is your interest in her?’
‘I met her last night.’
‘Met?’
Demos chuckled. ‘Yes, met. That’s all. And I wondered.’ Yet it was more than that, Demos knew. A lot more. He was not about to tell Edward the truth. That he’d met her and wanted her. That she intrigued him, challenged him, fascinated him in a way no other woman had.
And he wasn’t even sure why.
Edward returned to his breakfast. ‘I would usually warn you off colleagues’ daughters,’ he said wearily, ‘knowing your reputation with women. But this time I won’t bother. I’m not sure a girl like Althea Paranoussis has a heart to break—or at any rate a reputation that needs guarding.’
It was a more polite way of saying what Angelos had said last night, and Demos was surprised by his instinct to defend Althea from her accusers. What little he knew of her supported such statements. He thought of Angelos’s easy familiarity with her, with her body, and suppressed a grimace of distaste. Althea didn’t need defending. Perhaps she didn’t even deserve it.
And yet…
‘Although,’ Edward continued thoughtfully, ‘I’ve heard from various business associates that Paranoussis wants to see his daughter married.’
‘Married?’ Demos repeated, nearly spluttering over his coffee. He thought of his conversation with her last night; she was determined to stay clear of marriage. A free spirit—just what he wanted.
Edward sipped his coffee. ‘Marriage would steady her as well as the family’s reputation.’
‘Is it that bad?’ Demos asked. Most rich young girls were spoiled and shallow, at least in his experience. Surely Althea’s brand of entertainment was no worse than theirs?
‘Perhaps not to you,’ Edward replied with a little shrug, ‘but Attica Finance is a conservative organisation. Spiros wants to see his daughter taken care of.’
‘And out of the way?’
‘Out of trouble, perhaps.’ Edward paused, his fork suspended halfway to his mouth. ‘Does it matter so much to you, Demos? She’s just a girl.’
Just a girl. Edward’s tone was casually dismissive, yet Demos was shrewd enough to see the flicker of suppressed interest in Edward’s eyes.
He leaned back in his chair. ‘I don’t know how much it matters,’ he finally said, choosing to be candid. ‘I just met her.’
‘She might suit you,’ Edward replied. His eyes sparkled with both mischief and possibility. ‘Like you, she wants to have a good time. Socially she has all the connections…’
‘I don’t need connections.’
Edward’s little shrug was a silent eloquent reminder of his background, Demos knew. The son of a grocer, with his mother now married to a butcher and still living in a working class suburb of Piraeus. No matter how his life looked now, he’d always know where he’d come from.
‘Think about it,’ Edward said lightly, and began to butter his toast. ‘Paranoussis would be willing to arrange something…see her taken care of, as I said. And a man like you—wealthy, industrious—would impress him suitably.’
Demos smiled. ‘You want me to marry her?’ His voice had a lilt of disbelief.
‘Do you plan ever to marry?’ Edward asked, and Demos considered the question.
‘Perhaps. Eventually,’ he said at last.
‘The party circuit grows old, my friend,’ Edward said, a weary world of experience in his voice, and Demos nodded in agreement.
He was already feeling it. But marriage…?
That was another proposition altogether—and not a very welcome one. Yet even as he dismissed it his mind turned over the possibility. He’d always supposed he would need to marry at some point. He pictured Althea in the role of his wife and found it surprisingly invigorating. She wouldn’t be an innocent, irritating little miss; she’d be fiery and spirited…in bed as well as out of it. His lips curved in a smile of imaginative appreciation.
‘I imagine Althea will be married off within the year,’ Edward continued with a shrug. ‘Or sooner, if she continues to push her father. He’s had enough.’
Demos’s gaze snapped back to Edward’s. ‘He can hardly force her—’
‘Can’t he?’ Edward arched one eyebrow, ever shrewd. ‘She could be cut off without a cent, or an opportunity to earn one.’
‘She’s educated—’
‘Actually, she isn’t. She was expelled from school at seventeen, for bad behaviour.’
Demos sat back, considering. Althea might not have an education, but she was surely intelligent. She would survive if her father actually did make good on his threat and cut her off.
Anyway, he dismissed with a little shrug, Paranoussis was most likely just threatening Althea in an attempt to curb her behaviour. It had nothing to do with him; all he wanted was to see her again.
And, he acknowledged, his lips curving wryly, a bit more than that…
