'Then what is it, Willow? What happened?' Charles sat down beside her and placed a comforting arm around her shoulders. With his other hand he removed the book she was still clenching in her fingers. 'You've got my book.
Surely you can't be that upset at having to give one away,' he tried to tease.
White-faced she looked at him with dull blue eyes, all the brilliance gone. 'No.' She tried to smile, but her lips trembled and she had to blink back more tears. 'Something much worse.' She had fallen in love and given away her heart and her life to a man without a shred of morality; a man who had used her quite ruthlessly for his own convenience.
With that knowledge came the dawning realisation over an
d above her own shock and despair that the time was past for her to procrastinate as she usually did. For the sake of her own pride and self-esteem she had to face the problem head-on; she refused to be any man's fool—she was worth more than that.
'Charles, you're a friend, and you have lived in Athens for years,' she said slowly, battling the tremor in her voice. She needed to know the truth. No more hoping for love. . .fooling herself. . .it was over. . .and her broken heart congealed into a hard lump of stone in her breast.
'Five, to be precise,' Charles answered.
'Then will you do something for me?'
'Anything for you.' He grinned.
'Tell me the truth?' Willow asked, her eyes as hard and cold as the blue diamond she wore on her finger. 'About Christine and Theo.' She did not really need to go on. Charles was cursed with the same complexion as her and a dull stain of red covered his pale face. 'How long has it been going on? Is it true Theo was planning to marry her, until I appeared with Stephen?'
'So that's it. I saw Christine come out of the cloakroom straight after you.'
'Please, Charles, I want to know it all from the very beginning.' She rested a hand on his arm. 'Did Theo divorce his first wife for adultery?' She saw the genuine surprise in his eyes. 'I thought not.' So that was another of Theo's lies. How many more had he told? she wondered bitterly. Then the shock that had frozen her emotions gave way to ice-cold fury. The arrogant, lecherous swine of a man, the no-good, double-dealing bastard! 'Come on, Charles, I want to know everything.'
His pale eyes looked compassionately into hers. 'It is only gossip, Willow—rumour, if you like. Apparently Dianne had hired Chrismark International Interiors to redecorate the house in Greece a year or so after she married Theo. Dianne was a woman who liked constant change, some said also in the bedroom, but I don't know about that. All I do know is Dianne and Theo became friends with Christine and of course they socialised together. Some say Dianne caught Theo with Christine in their bed, a few say it was the other way around and he caught Dianne with another man, take your pick. But, in all fairness, it was a no-fault divorce. It could all be lies, but Dianne went back to America.
'Theo had a couple of relationships with other women and then a year or so ago he began escorting Christine around. There was probably nothing in the rumours about them at the time of the divorce. Anyway, it was all very civilised, and in her professional capacity Dianne still does business with Theo's companies. When he is in New York some say she does more than that, but it is all just gossip.'
'You still have not answered my first question. Was Theo going to marry Christine?'
'What can I say?' He grimaced. 'Except, Christine certainly thought so, by all accounts.'
'Especially your secretary's.'
'Yes, but, Willow, Theo married you. I am sure you're making a fuss over nothing. I am not into women, but no man would want the Christines of this world if they could have a beautiful, talented, intelligent girl like you, and Theo Kadros is no fool.'
'No, he isn't. But I am,' she said bitterly. Charles had simply confirmed what she had guessed was true.
'Don't even think like that Willow. You are nobody's fool,' Charles said, rising to his feet. 'And what is more you are going to prove it. There is a washroom through there. He indicated a door. 'Spruce yourself up and let's get back. You are British, stiff bottom lip and all that, remember. . .'
Willow stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, her blue eyes dulled with pain. She had known from the very beginning that she was not cut out for Theo's sophisticated, amoral lifestyle. Their relationship had been a disaster in the making from the very start, and it was time she cut her losses and left.
Dear heaven, if the gossip was true, her fiend of a husband had slept with Christine and his ex-wife. . . Quickly she repaired her make-up, new steel now entering her spine. The pain would return, she knew, but first she was going to ditch her disreputable husband once and for all.
Ten minutes later she walked back into the main reception room, arm in arm with Charles. The first person Willow spotted was Theo standing in a group that included the ambassador and his wife. The couple standing next to him, Charles told her, was a man called Stavros, then his wife Alethea, and next to them stood Christine.
The sight of Theo in Christine's company served to stiffen her spine still further and feed her anger. My God! They were so blatant; had they no shame? A man like Theo obviously considered himself above the emotions of mere mortals. He took what he wanted without thought or consequence.
'Has Theo read all of your books?' Charles asked softly.
'What?' She glanced up in surprise. 'No, I don't think so.'
'Perfect. Attack is the best form of defence, so why not go for it?' Charles grinned down at her.
'I don't know what you mean,' Willow murmured.
'How do you feel about making a fool out of your arrogant husband for a change?' Charles said, his pale eyes dancing mischievously down at her. 'I have read all three of your books, and in the first one the villain is quite obviously taken from real life.' He nodded towards Theo. 'And I bet he has no idea.'
Charles was right; she had used Theo as her villain in her first book, and she was pretty sure he didn't know. Theo had only read her last book. Surprising he'd had time to do that given the numerous women he kept, she thought venomously.