‘Don’t bring Imogen into it,’ Aristide sliced in grimly. ‘That’s old history.’
‘She’s on the island right now,’ his father warned him impatiently. ‘I was furious when I was told but her grandfather is dying and she’s entitled to visit. However, you own their properties—’
‘I’ve no intention of being that petty,’ Aristide parried, his lean, strong face taut. ‘Let sleeping dogs lie.’
‘As long as the dog doesn’t start barking and upset her replacement—’
‘Tabby’snota replacement. Tabby’s an entirely different kind of woman,’ Aristide murmured with innate assurance. ‘If you take the time to talk to her, you will realise that.’
In between conversations, Tabby sipped her tea and watched Aristide with his father, wondering what they were discussing because she could see Aristide’s hackles rising and his parent’s unapologetic stance.
‘They argue…frequently,’ Andromeda Romanos whispered in rueful warning. ‘But I’ve only once seen it come to an exchange of blows—’
‘Oh, my goodness…’ Tabby’s eyes rounded in dread.
‘I shouldn’t have mentioned it,’ the older woman said equally quickly. ‘It only happened that once and tempers had become very frayed, I’m afraid. That incident separated them for years, so it won’teverhappen again. They’re far too fond of each other to risk it.’
‘I’m relieved to hear that because I grew up in a violent home. My father drank and he often took his temper out on us,’ she confided.
‘How on earth did you and your mother cope?’
‘Well, ultimately we didn’t. They divorced years ago.’
Shortly after that exchange, Aristide retrieved her and offered to show her round the house. Some visitors were leaving, a few were staying over until the following day and some, like the former stepchildren, were staying at his father’s house.
‘It’s a huge house,’ Tabby commented as they stood in the giant hall with its contemporary limestone floor and modern paintings. ‘Did you inherit it?’
‘No. I built it during the period my father and I were at odds,’ Aristide confided with a wince. ‘I was only twenty and I was showing off—’
Tabby grinned as he directed her towards the glass and stone double-flight staircase. ‘You? Showing off? I don’t believe it!’ she mocked.
‘It’s far too big and unless I have half a dozen kids, I’ll never fill it. It doesn’t have much character either—’
‘So why did you build it?’
‘It was petty,’ Aristide said wryly. ‘But I was reminding my father that I was totally independent. I inherited my mother’s wealth and this island on the day she died. I’ve never had to fight or ask or struggle for anything, which is why I went into business. I needed the challenges.’
Tabby sighed. ‘My life has been so different from yours. Growing up, we were always struggling for money. Mum wasn’t well enough educated to get a decent job and what she did earn my father tended to take off her. He was always moaning about how his family sucked his artistic soul out of him,’ she muttered with a curled lip. ‘But I don’t believe he had an artistic soul. That was his excuse for ignoring the bills for rent, electricity and food and all the rest of the stuff you need to cover to survive.’
‘No wonder you were willing to marry a stranger for cash!’ Aristide said, startling her rigid with that assumption.
‘Oh, good heavens, no, is that what you think? But that wasn’t why I was willing to marry Tore Renzetti. No,thatwas to pay for Mum’s clinical trial in Massachusetts and cover her costs while she was there. It’s taken every penny of it too because Violet and I wanted to know she would be comfortable,’ she explained. ‘And she hasn’t known what it is to be comfortable very often since she left my grandfather’s home to marry my father.’
In receipt of her explanation, Aristide froze into stillness on the landing, his lean, powerful frame suddenly rigid with tension as he vented a harsh exclamation in Greek. ‘Why the hell didn’t you tell me about yourmother’sneed to pay for her treatment weeks ago?’ he demanded in raw disbelief.
‘It wasn’t relevant to us…and anyway, Violet ended up having to marry Tore instead, so it wasn’t really my story to tell any more,’ she proffered uncomfortably. ‘And I hope that I can trust you to keep those facts quiet. Now that my sister and Tore have fallen for each other and are staying together, I shouldn’t think either of them would want that original story told.’
‘I’m not going to discuss it with anyone,’ Aristide declared curtly. ‘I’m just furious that you threw Renzetti’s existence in my face that night and you all but encouraged me to think the very worst of you!’
Tabby shrugged a slight shoulder, not quite sure why he was so annoyed with her. ‘Well, I had to throw back something with all the accusations you were hurling,’ she reasoned defensively. ‘And I believed that telling you I was to marry Tore and thathewas wealthy would relieve you of the fear that you’d been specially targeted by me for some sort of profit venture—’
‘But it also made me believe that you were a cheat!’ Aristide flung back at her in condemnation. ‘And I don’t like people who cheat on their partners!’
Surprised by his vehemence and the fierce burnished gold of his gaze, Tabby flinched and spread her hands slowly in a soothing gesture. ‘I’ve never cheated on anyone. I’m sorry if I misled you but it was accidental—’
‘If you hadn’t misled me, I’d have been in touch with you far sooner than I was,’ Aristide shot at her, faint colour now edging his hard cheekbones while emotion still flared like a storm warning in his dark golden eyes, his annoyance and embarrassment visible. ‘Sometimes, you really can be a piece of work!’
‘I’ve apologised,’ Tabby reminded him flatly. ‘Have the grace to accept it and move on…’
