A tense Theo who hadn’t said more than a dozen words to her since they landed, instructed the porter to place their cases in the master bedroom and tipped the man before walking outside onto the large wooden deck.
‘There’s a barbecue later this afternoon. Perla thought we might want to rest before then. You can go ahead and rest if you want to. I’ll go and catch up with Sakis and Ari.’
He walked away from her and headed out of the door.
The clear indication that she wasn’t welcome stung, although why she was surprised was beyond her.
He’d held ajar the possibility of continuing this thing between them and she’d slammed the door shut.
A small part of her was proud she hadn’t grasped the suggestion with both hands, while the larger part, the part that had fallen head over heels in love with Theo in spite of all the chaos surrounding them, reeled with heart-wrenching pain at what the future held.
But, as she’d told herself over and over again on the plane as he’d shut his eyes and surprisingly dozed off, she was taking the right steps now to prevent even more heartache later.
Because there was no way Theo would ever reconcile himself to having her as a constant reminder. Certainly not enough to love her.
The reality was that they’d fallen into bed as a result of some crazy chemistry. Chemistry fizzled out. Eventually, the constant reminder that a part of her was responsible for his inner demons and outer scars would grate and rip at whatever remained after the chemistry was gone.
He was better off without her.
Her heart protested loudly at that decision. Ignoring it, she went into the bedroom and lifted her case onto the bed. The cream sheath she’d bought for the wedding needed to be hung out before it creased beyond repair.
Unzipping her case, she opened it and froze. A red velvet box, similar to the black one Theo had presented her with a few days ago lay on top of her clothes.
With shaky hands she picked it up and opened it. The stunning necklace sparkling in the sunlight made her gasp.
The platinum chain had a small loop at one end, with a large teardrop diamond at the other that slipped easily through the hoop. The design was simple and elegant. And so utterly gorgeous she couldn’t stop herself from caressing the flawless stone.
Swallowing a lump in her throat at the thoughtfulness behind the necklace, she jumped when a knock came at the door. Thinking it was Theo who’d forgotten to take a key, she opened the door with a smile.
Only to stop when confronted by two stunningly beautiful women, one of whom was heavily pregnant, while the other carried a small baby in her arms.
‘Sorry to descend on you like this, only Theo was a bit vague about whether you were actually resting or if you were up for a visit.’ The women exchanged glances. ‘I’ve never seen him so scatty, have you?’ the pregnant redhead asked the blue-eyed blonde.
‘Nope, normally he’s quick off the mark with those hopeless one-liners. Today, not so much. Anyway, we thought we’d come on the off-chance that you were not resting and say hello…oh, my God, that necklace is gorgeous!’ The redhead reached out and traced a manicured forefinger over the diamond.
Then she looked up, noticed Inez’s open-mouthed gaze and laughed. ‘Sorry, I’m Perla soon-to-be Pantelides. This is Brianna Pantelides, Sakis’s wife. And this little heartbreaker is Dimitri.’
‘I’m Inez da Costa. I’m a…’ she paused, for the first time holding up her relationship with Theo to the harsh light of day and coming up short on explanations ‘…business associate of Theo’s.’
The two women exchanged another glance and she rushed to cover the awkward silence. ‘Please, come in.’
Brianna paused. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Sim…yes, I’m sure. I was just unpacking…’ she started and noticed Perla’s frown.
‘Why are you doing that yourself? We have two butlers and three villa staff attached to each residence.’
‘I think Theo sent them away,’ she said, then bit her lip as Perla’s eyebrows shot upward.
‘Did he? Ari did that once too, when we first arrived here four months ago. Then we proceeded to have an almighty row.’ She smiled at the memory and placed her hand lovingly over her swollen belly.