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What Eva wanted was to go back to her previous numbness, to the place where her emotions had been as colourless as the décor in this apartment rather than the blazing colours of fire!
She breathed shallowly. ‘I want to collect my things and leave.’
‘But you will come back on Saturday?’
Eva knew that she shouldn’t—that she should consider running instead, as far and as fast as her car and credit card would take her. Which, considering the money currently in her bank account, was a very long way.
But, having finally stood up to Jack three years ago and put an end to the torment of their marriage, and then remained living and working successfully in New York despite the fact that Jack had made it clear he would rather she returned to England—probably so that he could forget he had ever made the mistake of marrying her in the first place—she had no intention of being forced to leave now just because Markos Lyonedes was making life uncomfortable for her.
She straightened determinedly. ‘I’ll come back on Saturday.’
‘That is good.’ Markos’s smile was still strained as he indicated she should precede him out of the kitchen to collect her things from the sitting room.
What was good about it? Eva wondered slightly dazedly once she was safely back in her car, driving back to her apartment. It couldn’t possibly be ‘good’ that minutes ago she had been so physically aroused by Markos that she wouldn’t have cared if he had laid her down on the coldness of the black and white tiled kitchen floor and taken her right then and there…
CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_2193bdff-250f-53a7-aaeb-684d347bc3e6)
‘OH, no…! Markos, turn the car around!’
‘What—?’ Markos turned his head to give Eva a startled glance from where he sat behind the wheel of his car on Saturday evening, driving them both to the party.
She clutched at the arm of his black evening jacket. ‘Turn the car around—now—and get us out of here!’ she repeated fiercely as she released his arm to stare up in horror at the brightly lit house at the end of the short gravel driveway.
There was already a car in front of them, and one had just turned into the driveway behind them too, effectively blocking any move on Markos’s part to do as Eva asked and turn the car around.
‘What’s wrong, Eva?’ He reached out with his free hand to clasp one of hers, instantly aware of how cold that hand was, considering the warmth of the summer evening.
What was wrong? Eva had just realised that the party Markos was taking her to was at the home of her ex-father-in-law—that was what was wrong!
Why hadn’t she realised sooner?
More to the point, why hadn’t she asked Markos on Thursday whose party it was and saved herself—and Markos—all this embarrassment? As it was, Markos’s black Ferrari was now effectively trapped between two other cars, making immediate escape impossible.
Maybe she should just get out of the car and walk back to the city?
Oh, yes, very practical—considering she was once again wearing three-inch-heeled sandals, black this time, to match with the black tube of a dress she wore, in which the length of her legs was very visible beneath the short hemline. Not only was it impractical, but if she tried to hitchhike a ride back into the city she was more likely to be taken for a hooker than a hitchhiker; she doubted too many drivers would recognise the black dress for the expensive designer label silk that it was.
So she couldn’t walk back to the city, and she couldn’t accompany Markos into the party either. She moistened the dryness of her lips before speaking, still staring at the crowded mansion house in front of them. ‘I can’t go in there, Markos.’
‘Dissatisfied customer?’ Markos teased.
Eva smiled faintly at his attempt at humour. ‘Not exactly.’
‘Then why can’t we go to the party?’ Markos had parked the car now and turned to look at her in the bright lights of the busy driveway, frowning as he saw how pale her cheeks had become.
The evening had been going so well up until this point. Eva had arrived promptly at Markos’s apartment at eight o’clock and, remembering how sceptical she was about compliments, he had deliberately kept his comments as to how stunningly beautiful she looked to a minimum. That figure-hugging black dress, her hair once again loose in blue-black waves about the bareness of her creamy shoulders… Instead he had decided to pretend an interest in the designs she had brought with her.
One look at Eva’s designs and he’d no longer had to pretend that interest. They were so vibrant with colour—not a hint of pink in sight, thank goodness!—that Markos had had no qualms whatsoever about allowing Eva free rein with all the rooms in his apartment.
Those initial designs proved that she knew exactly what he needed to feel comfortable in his own home. Perhaps, without realising it, she was coming to know him? Markos certainly hoped that was the case. And he’d been hoping to get to know her better later on tonight…
Consequently they had both been relaxed on the drive over here—only for this to happen. Although at the moment Markos still had no idea exactly what ‘this’ was!
‘Eva, talk to me,’ he urged gruffly.
She blinked, those golden eyes having darkened to a deep, deep amber. ‘I didn’t say you couldn’t go to the party—’
‘I’m not going anywhere without you,’ Markos assured her firmly.
‘There’s no reason why we both have to miss the party—’ She broke off as the door beside her was suddenly opened.
‘May I help you, ma’am?’ One of the young car valets, no doubt hired for the evening, stood outside on the gravel.
Eva’s look of panic deepened. ‘Markos…!’
He leant over to look out at the smiling teenager. ‘Just give us a minute or two, okay?’
The youngster’s smile faltered slightly. ‘Of course, sir. Except I really need to move your car to the back of the house, with so many other guests still arriving…’ he added awkwardly.
Markos sighed his frustration with this situation. Eva was his only concern at the moment. ‘You will wait—’
‘It isn’t his fault, Markos.’ Eva reached out and put a placating hand on his arm. ‘It’s okay,’ she assured him shakily. ‘I’m okay now.’
Which wasn’t exactly true. But her initial feelings of wild panic seemed to have settled down to less troubled ones, and now that the initial shock was over Eva knew that most of her residual feelings of unease were only because she had arrived at her ex-father-in-law’s home with the powerful and handsome Markos Lyonedes.
She had chanced to meet her ex-father-in-law several times socially in the past three years—it was impossible not to do so when they both remained part of New York society. The difference tonight was that this party was actually in Jonathan’s home—the home where Eva had once been welcomed as his daughter-in-law—and also that Eva had never been in the company of another man when the two of them had met in the past.
Not that she thought Jonathan would be in the least unwelcoming—he was far too charming for that to happen, and Markos was his guest after all. Eva was the one who felt distinctly uncomfortable about attending a party at her ex-father-in-law’s in the company of a man as powerful and charismatic as Markos Lyonedes. In the company of any man who wasn’t Jonathan’s own son!
‘Eva…?’
She turned to give Markos a reassuring smile. ‘I’ll be fine now, Markos. Really.’ She picked up her black clutch bag before turning to get out of the car.
Eva looked far from fine to him. Her face was still pale, and her eyes still that deep amber and wide with apprehension. But other than making a scene—something Markos was pretty sure Eva would not appreciate—he had no choice but to join her outside on the driveway before handing his car keys over to the obviously relieved young man waiting to park his car.
Markos took a firm hold of Eva’s elbow as they walked towards the mansion house ablaze with lights, the rooms visible to them obviously already filled to capacity with other guests. ‘Is there anything you want to tell me before we go in?’ he prompted softly.
There was a faint sparkle of humour in Eva’s eyes now as she gave him a sideways glance. ‘Such as?’
Markos had absolutely no idea.
Their host for the evening had been a widower for some years, and was a man in his sixties—surely not someone Eva had ever been personally involved with.
‘Don’t let your imagination run away with you, Markos,’ Eva drawled derisively as she gave him another teasing glance.
‘Ah, Markos—so pleased you could make it!’
The smoothly charming voice of their host interrupted them.
Markos instantly felt Eva’s tension, and he maintained a proprietorial hold on her elbow even as he turned to face the older man. ‘Jonathan.’ He nodded stiffly. ‘Can I—?’
‘Evangeline!’ The older man appeared momentarily stunned as he instantly recognised Eva, but that surprise was quickly masked as he once again turned on a politely charming smile. ‘How lovely to see you again, my dear.’
‘Jonathan,’ she returned softly, and the two of them kissed each other lightly on the cheek. ‘You’re keeping well, obviously.’
‘Very much so, thank you,’ Jonathan said smoothly, his eyes narrowed shrewdly as he assimilated the fact that Eva was here with Markos Lyonedes. ‘Evangeline, I feel I should warn you that the party this evening is—We’ll talk again shortly, if that’s okay?’ he added distractedly as yet more guests arrived noisily behind them. ‘Please, go through to the drawing room for champagne and canapés.’
Eva turned instinctively towards the blue and cream drawing room—a room which she had designed for Jonathan four years ago, before her marriage to his only son had come to such an acrimonious end—all the time aware of Markos’s brooding preoccupation as he walked beside her, his hand still lightly on her elbow.
He was deservedly preoccupied. Despite Eva’s advice to the contrary a few minutes ago, she knew that Markos’s thoughts must be running riot as he considered all the possible scenarios for her being acquainted with a man like Jonathan Cabot Grey.
Jonathan Cabot Grey Senior.
Because Jack, Eva’s ex-husband, was Jonathan Cabot Grey Junior…
‘Are you going to tell me what’s going on?’ Markos prompted softly once he and Eva were standing beside the unlit Adams fireplace a minute or so later, the two of them having been supplied with glasses of champagne by one of the many attentive waiters circulating the crowded and noisy room. ‘Why didn’t you want to come in? And exactly what is—or was—Jonathan Cabot Grey to you?’ he added harshly.
‘Jonathan Cabot Grey was my father-in-law.’ Eva was still too distracted by Jonathan’s unfinished warning even to attempt to prevaricate, wondering what it was Jonathan had wanted to warn her about. He hadn’t sounded in the least threatening, so it obviously had nothing to do with the fact that she was here with Markos. So what—?
‘Your father-in-law?’ Markos repeated incredulously, totally stunned by this unexpected revelation.
She nodded abruptly. ‘Cabot Grey was my married name.’
‘Of course. Evangeline Grey—Jonathan Cabot Grey…’ Markos realised with a pained wince, inwardly kicking himself for not having added two and two together before now.
She shrugged bare shoulders. ‘I established my business under the name Cabot Grey Interiors, but dropped the Cabot part after my divorce.’
‘So you were married to Grey’s son?’
‘The one and only,’ Eva confirmed, aware that several of the other guests had seen and recognised her now. Their gazes were speculative as they also saw the identity of the dark and handsome man standing beside her. Even in a roomful of other men dressed in evening clothes, Markos stood head and shoulders above them all, in both looks and autocratic bearing.
Eva realised she was grateful for his presence; if she was to be forced to meet any of Jonathan and Jack’s friends again then she was glad it was in the company of a man as impressively handsome and wealthily powerful as Markos Lyonedes!
She turned to smile at him regretfully. ‘I really am sorry about this, Markos.’ She placed her hand lightly on his arm. ‘I would never have put you in this embarrassing position if I had known it was Jonathan’s party you were inviting me to.’
Markos was still coming to terms with the fact that Eva had been married and divorced. Not that he had anything against divorce; he was of the opinion that it was far better to end something that wasn’t right than spend a lifetime of unhappiness with the wrong person. No, it was the thought of Eva having been married at all that disturbed Markos. That left him with so many questions unanswered…
When, and for how long, had Eva been married? Why had the marriage ended? Who had ended it? Eva or Jonathan Cabot Grey’s son? And if it was the latter, did she still love the man who had once been her husband?
He drew in a ragged breath. ‘Eva, what—’
‘Hello, angel.’
Markos found himself as irritated at hearing Eva addressed as ‘angel’ by another man as he had been the previous week when Glen Asher had called her ‘baby’. But even without Eva’s hand tightening to a painful grip on Markos’s arm at the first sound of that man’s voice, a single glance at the man standing behind her would have immediately identified him as being Jonathan Cabot Grey’s son.
The hair was golden-blond, where Jonathan’s was turning silver-grey, but other than that the family resemblance was unmistakable: blue eyes in similar boyishly handsome faces, both men lean and elegant in black tailored evening clothes.
There was no doubt in Markos’s mind that this was the man who had once been Eva’s husband.
This was what Jonathan had been going to warn her about a few minutes ago, Eva realised numbly, even as the full force of Jack’s presence hit her with the force of a blow.
He shouldn’t be here. Shouldn’t even be in the States. He had moved to France over a year ago, when he’d taken over the Paris offices of Cabot Grey Enterprises.
Yet it was most definitely him standing just behind her. Even if Eva hadn’t known his voice as well as she knew her own, there was no one else on earth who called her ‘angel’.
What was she supposed to do now? What was the protocol for introducing your ex-husband to the man you were now…now what? She couldn’t claim to be dating Markos when this was the first evening they had gone out together, but she knew they weren’t only business acquaintances. So what were they?
Well, she had better make her mind up—and soon—because the three of them couldn’t continue standing in this frozen tableau for much longer.
‘Angel?’ Jack prompted dryly, obviously coming to the same conclusion.
Eva gave a pained wince as once again he used the name he had once affectionately called her by. A long time ago. A lifetime ago. A different lifetime ago…
She drew in a deep breath and finally looked up into Markos’s rigidly set features. He stared past her at the other man with eyes as hard as the emeralds they resembled, his mouth thinned, jaw tight.
His harshly etched features softened slightly as he finally looked down and saw her expression of mute appeal. ‘Introduce us, will you?’ he prompted huskily even as his arm moved possessively about her waist.
The gentleness of Markos’s tone, and that supportive arm about her waist, instantly reassured Eva that whatever his inner feelings were about this strange situation Markos was there for her now—even if the warning gleam in his eyes also told her that he would expect answers to his numerous questions once they were alone.
Eva turned slowly to face Jack, her expression deliberately non-committal as she took in the subtle changes in his appearance since the two of them had faced each other across a divorce court.
He was now in his mid-thirties, and there were touches of grey at Jack’s temples that hadn’t been there three years ago. His face was thinner too, with lines etched beside his nose and mouth. Other than that he was still as lean and boyishly handsome as he had always been, and looking every inch the wealthy Cabot Grey heir in his tailored black evening suit and snowy white shirt.
‘Markos, this is Jonathan Cabot Grey Junior.’ She made the introduction stiffly. ‘Jack—Markos Lyonedes.’
Eva knew there was just a hint of satisfaction in her clipped tone as she stated Markos’s name. Understandably so, she inwardly defended herself, when the last time she and Jack had spoken for any length of time he had taken great pleasure in telling her all of her faults.
Jack’s eyes widened in obvious surprise as the other man’s identity registered. ‘Mr Lyonedes,’ he greeted him smoothly as the two men shook hands.
‘Cabot Grey.’ Markos coolly returned both the handshake and greeting.
‘Please call me Jack,’ the other man invited lightly, the smile fading from those narrowed blue eyes as he turned to look critically at Eva. ‘You’re looking well, angel.’
‘Eva looks beautiful,’ Markos corrected coldly.
Eva’s continued tension against his encircling arm left him in no doubt that this was the man who had somehow succeeded in convincing Eva that she was neither beautiful nor sexy. The very same man who had once been her husband.
Markos wondered under what circumstances Jack Cabot Grey could have made those hurtful and demeaning comments to Eva. Obviously they had not been happy ones, or the two would not now be divorced.
‘That’s what I meant, of course,’ Jack Cabot Grey agreed, with the same smooth charm as his father.
‘I’m afraid Jack and I are well past the stage of being insincerely polite to each other, Markos,’ Eva dismissed with noticeable brittleness. ‘Speaking of which—shouldn’t you be cosying up to your father’s other guests rather than wasting your practised charm on the uncharmable?’ She raised mocking brows and looked challengingly at her ex-husband.
The hardening of those deep blue eyes was Jack Cabot Grey’s only noticeable reaction to the taunt. ‘I believe Mr Lyonedes is one of my father’s guests…?’
But Markos was no more inclined to be charmed by this man than Eva was. Basically because he had never particularly liked men with the smooth and, as Eva had already stated, practised charm of a politician, but mainly because Markos resented the fact that this man had once been married to Eva. Lived with her. Known her longer and more intimately than any other man ever had.
Or possibly would again.
