The Greek Tycoon's Secret Child (9 page)

Dominic repressed the urge to thunder some sense into her. They wanted one another. The language of their bodies said it all. Wasn't that enough? he wanted to demand.

‘You can't stay here,' he said instead. His voice was rough with suppressed emotion.

‘I can't leave. Not yet.'

‘And, in the meantime, I walk away from what we have…'

‘We don't
have
anything.'

‘What we
could
have, correction.'

‘You've learned never to confide and I've learned never to speculate.' She was finally getting herself back into some semblance of control but his proximity was still suffocating her. She wriggled and he immediately stepped back.

His face was dark and scowling, and she couldn't stop herself from feeling just the slightest kick at the sight. Then the reality of her situation closed over her again. Frankie. No job. Waitressing in skimpy clothes to make ends meet. And this man who could take her in a minute, whose eyes made her burn, who was so totally unsuitable. In every respect.

‘Go.'

‘This isn't the end.'

Mattie gave another of her evasive shrugs. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but never got
there because they both heard the key in the door at precisely the same time, and as she turned around she could feel his eyes scan her averted face urgently.

What the heck had she been thinking? That Frankie would never reappear? Had she been so caught up with Dominic Drecos that she had managed to completely forget all about reality?

This is reality, she told herself fiercely, and don't you forget it.

Frankie staggered in, adopted the usual belligerent expression he assumed whenever he was drunk and confronted by her, then noticed Dominic standing to one side, very still, not in the least embarrassed. That changed his expression, Mattie noticed. From glowering to stupefied, all in the space of a couple of seconds.

‘Who the hell is
he
?' His words were slurred but his brain was still operating.

Dominic moved forward, not bothering to extend his hand in any form of greeting. Nor did he bother to introduce himself by name.

‘Your replacement,' was all he said. Mattie could barely look at him.
How could he?

Then he was gone. No rush. Just one last contemptuous stare at an inebriated Frankie.

‘W
HAT'S
going on, Mats?' He looked bewildered and vulnerable and a wave of pity swelled inside her. She didn't know who she hated more, Dominic for bringing about this situation or herself for allowing it.

‘We need to talk, Frankie. Tomorrow. When you're…'

‘Not the worse for wear?' He laughed bitterly. ‘Might as well get it over with, I say. This little talk of ours.' He managed to make it to the sitting room, where he promptly collapsed into a chair with his eyes closed.

Mattie wondered whether he had fallen asleep, but then he rubbed his eyes, opened them and looked at her.

‘D'you have to stand there in the doorway like a bloody sergeant major?'

‘Look, Frankie…' She took a few steps into the room then sat on another chair and pulled her legs up so that she was hugging her knees, giving herself the moral strength she needed when her insides were feeling like jelly.

‘How long's it been going on, Mats? A month? Two months? A year?' He covered his face with his hands, but when he next looked at her there was no expected anger or jealousy in his eyes, just a kind of sad regret.

‘Nothing's going on, Frankie. You have to believe me. I met him just over a week ago at the club. Well, he met me, actually. Followed me. But nothing happened between us.' She thought of the kisses that had ravaged her and made her want to drink up all of him. They
might well have slept together because the infidelity had already been committed in her head.

‘Don't blame you, Mats.' This time there was an edge of self-derision to his laughter that made her blood run cold. ‘Look at me. Think I don't know what I've become? Not much of the man you thought I was going to be, eh, Mats? Bit of a loser, all told.'

‘No.' She could feel tears prick the backs of her eyes and she went over to where he was slumped on the sofa and wrapped her arms around him, the way a parent might wrap her arms around a child who had been hurt. Except she couldn't kiss the hurt and make the pain go away.

‘Me and you, we ain't going anywhere, Mats.'

‘Don't say that, Frankie. I… You know how much I…'

‘Loved me once? Yeah, I know all that.' He held her arms and ran his fingers along them. It was the first time they had had any physical contact for a very long time, and there was no charge behind this physical contact now. Just the affection born of years of knowing one another. ‘I still love you, Frankie. I'd never hurt you, not in a million years! And Dominic is no one. We never made love.'

‘And I never meant to hurt you, pet, but we bring each other down. No good us denying it. Once I was going to be somebody, then the accident and everything got lost. Me, you, us. Two kids playing at housekeeping, that's all we were.'

‘Don't say that.' The errant tear turned into a silent stream.

‘I know you haven't got anywhere to stay, Mats and
I'm not going to chuck you out. I'd never do that. You can stay here for as long as you want, but…'

She'd thought of all of that, had known the truth of every word he was saying now, but she felt like a piece of glass suddenly splintered into a thousand pieces. For good and bad, Frankie had always been her certainty, even though they were bad for one another.

‘I've given you hell these past few months, Mattie. Hated myself for doing it but I just couldn't seem to help it. Don't cry, pet. Here, got a hankie somewhere. No, I haven't sorry. Use my shirt.'

‘I shouldn't have done that course. I should have stayed where I was. You were right.'

‘You're talking rot and you know it.' He sighed and wrapped his arms tighter around her. ‘I was jealous, was all. Seeing you moving on like that, and me without a job, down the boozer all the time. Us not talking like we used to. Mats, we were kids when we met and then stuff happened and we grew up but…'

‘No, don't say it,' Mattie whispered.

She knew what he was going to say. She had thought it herself over time, but she still wanted to shut the words out.

‘We weren't meant for one another, Mats. Not really. Lord, we haven't even touched one another for months. Time was when we couldn't keep our hands off each other! Remember how it used to be? When we were young?'

‘I can't walk away from you, Frankie. Not after everything we've been through.'

‘You need to, Mats. Can't keep depending on your goodwill all my life, now, can I? Tomorrow I'm going to clear out for a while. You can have the place, move out when you're good and ready.'

‘Where will you stay?' She raised her tear-streaked face to look dully at him.

‘Never you mind that. I've got friends.'

The conversation rang in her ears for days afterwards. She carried it around inside her like an invisible weight.

Except it wasn't one.

Just the opposite. It was like a fog that had suddenly begun to clear, and maybe it was her growing optimism that she could grasp her life and take control of it that attracted the attention of Lady Luck.

Lady Luck in the form of a potential job, not through the employment agencies as she had expected, but through Harriet Newton, the formidable course co-ordinator, who called her in because, in her words, she had a pleasant surprise in store for her.

‘Naturally, it's not a given,' she warned. ‘But an interview is a vital step and you…' she looked critically but kindly at her most enthusiastic student ‘…should have no problem impressing any potential employer…'

And her luck just ran on and on until she had to pinch herself just to make sure that it all wasn't some delightful dream from which she would awaken and find herself back in her wretched, stalemate situation.

True to his word, Frankie got in touch only by phone, seemed a lot happier than he had been living with her, actually congratulated her on her job offer and sounded as if he meant it.

She almost expected him to come over so that they could discuss the business of her moving out, and when, ten days after she had been accepted by Devereux Group, she heard the peal of the doorbell she sprang to her feet, knowing that this conversation now would not be half as painful as the last one they had shared face to face.

She was momentarily shaken to find Dominic standing outside, as devastatingly handsome as she recalled. Then, oddly, she felt a calm acceptance that he had come. She had known, somewhere inside her, that he would, and had been waiting for him. How on earth was that possible?

‘Well, do I get an invite in or shall we simply stare at one another for a few more minutes?'

That dark, velvety voice! The same one that had invaded her dreams every night, the same one she had had conversations with in her head, telling him about what she had been up to.

‘Sorry.' She stepped aside and he brushed past her and into the small hallway, but instead of walking into the sitting room he remained where he was until she had closed the door.

‘You look…different,' he murmured, looking at her. It felt like years since he had set eyes on her. In fact, he had had to restrain himself from coming over to see her, knowing that whatever had transpired between her and Frankie would still be too raw for her to tolerate the sight of him.

And he wasn't going to risk scaring her away. Not when he had made his mind up that he would have her, come hell or high water. And have her on his terms, with her compliance freely given rather than being dragged out of her because her body was temporarily not obeying her mind. He wanted her to yield to him without any barriers in place, with every ounce of her being.

He needed to wait.

‘Different?' Mattie laughed a little nervously. ‘I've had my hair trimmed.' Don't you like it? she wanted to ask. ‘That long hair was fine for the nightclub but…well,
actually I don't work there any more…my last night was a week ago…'

Dominic lowered his eyes for a fraction of a second, then he looked at her once more and smiled.

‘I take it a lot has happened with you. Why don't you tell me everything over dinner?'

All the old misgivings reared up into place, but then they were replaced by something she hadn't felt before in his presence, a sense of self-worth. Stupid, since she was still the same old person, but true.

‘Sure. Why not?' She glanced down at her jeans and jumper and then grinned. ‘Fast food somewhere, or do I have to make myself a bit more presentable?'

‘Fast food?'

‘You know what I mean. Dodgy chicken wrapped up in batter, semi-cold chips, plastic cutlery, fluorescent lighting, queuing system…' He looked so appalled at the prospect of that that she had to smother the instinct to burst out laughing.

‘Bottle of cold Chablis, halibut, skate,
pommes frites
…'

‘Oh. Fish and chips, in other words.'

‘But grown-up cutlery,' Dominic grinned. ‘I know a very good seafood place. You do like seafood, don't you?'

‘My favourite. I'll go and change. Why don't you go and wait in the sitting room? Frankie…'

He watched the shadow flit across her face and insanely wished that out of sight was a little bit more out of mind. Correction, a whole lot more out of mind.

‘Frankie won't be bursting in…'

She dressed quickly and carefully. Nothing at all sexy, nothing to remind him of the girl she had been. Chic, or at least as chic as she had been able to afford on her
limited budget. Black skirt snugly fitting but reaching to her knees, a silky pink vest top with a matching cardigan, fairly flat black shoes which she had bought in preparation for her job, sheer black tights because summer was giving way to autumn and there was a nip in the air that hadn't been noticeable a few weeks ago.

When she finally looked at her reflection in the mirror, there was an excited gleam in her eyes that made her hesitate for a few seconds.

Then she was walking into the sitting room, feeling like a teenager on her first date.

He hadn't sat down. He was standing by the window, half looking out, his hand in his jacket pocket, and he turned as soon as she walked in.

‘Better?' Mattie asked nervously. Her! Nervous! ‘Or should I wear my diamond tiara?'

‘The tiara might be just a little too much,' Dominic told her gravely, but heavens, she looked edible. The shorter hair suited her, gave her a tailored beauty that was even more alluring.

‘So,' he murmured as soon as they were in his car and heading out towards Chiswick, ‘no more Frankie?'

‘No more Frankie.'

‘Pleased?' He wished he could watch her, see the expressions on her face so that he could gauge what was going through her mind, but he needed to concentrate on the road and she was far too much of a distraction for sensible driving.

‘Yes and no.'

‘What does that mean?' His hands tightened on the wheel but he kept his voice low and steady.

‘Things weren't right between us. I mean, it's good that…that we've both reached the same conclusion, but…he was a big part of my life for such a long time
that it takes some getting used to…' Mattie cleared her throat. ‘He let me have the use of his house until I found somewhere of my own, and guess what…?'

‘What?' A twinge of guilt made his jaw tighten but it only lasted a second.

‘I've been offered a job and…' she paused to add drama to what she was about to say next ‘…part of the deal is that they've offered me an apartment! Can you believe it? I couldn't, to start with, but this company is spearheading a marketing campaign for a massive complex in south London. Apartments, health facilities, shops, the lot! And while they're involved in the marketing, there's a perk afforded to some of the employees of an apartment on site. I can't believe how it all happened at just the right time. Isn't it fantastic?'

‘Fantastic.' Another twinge of guilt but he consoled himself with the thought that she would have got there anyway. She had the dedication or else how could she have persevered with her course against all odds? And she had the talent. Top of her course from the minute she had stepped foot in the classroom.

‘You don't sound very pleased for me.' And for some reason, that was hurtful.

‘I'm incredibly pleased for you,' Dominic said abruptly. ‘How did Frankie react after I had gone?'

‘Not as I'd expected, actually. You don't think I'm capable of doing this job, do you?'

‘If you're capable of studying by day and working nights, then you're capable of becoming the next prime minister.'

‘Yes, well, I'll think about that. Although I don't suppose my background would work in my favour.'

‘What do you mean that he didn't react as you'd expected?'

‘He wasn't jealous. Just sort of resigned, really. In fact, he was the one who dumped me.'

Which was better, Dominic thought. That way, she would never wonder what might have been, and he didn't want her wondering what might have been. He wanted her free, free for him.

The restaurant appeared in front of them without him even realising that they had arrived. It was quaintly old-fashioned on the outside, but as they walked in he heard her brief intake of breath as she absorbed the luxurious surroundings. A lot of glass, a lot of chrome, home of the beautiful people who felt more virtuous when they were eating fish as opposed to meat.

‘Don't say it,' he warned, leaning towards her so that his breath was a warm whisper in her ear.

‘Don't say what?'

‘That this isn't the sort of place you're used to.'

‘This isn't the sort of place I'm used to,' she informed him, dutifully. But no one would have guessed. Heads turned, but there was just curiosity there, the curiosity at seeing two good-looking people entering a restaurant, and Mattie felt as if she had somehow taken a step into the bright new future lying in front of her like a Christmas parcel waiting to be unwrapped.