and began to run again, but there was no escape. Another crowd appeared from another side street, and another. Seeking an exit, they found themselves in an open square where a rock band was playing on a makeshift stage.
‘Where can you get privacy in this place?’ Lysandros roared.
‘You can’t,’ Petra cried. She was laughing now, every nerve in her body thrumming with joy. ‘There’s no privacy; there’s only music and laughter-and whatever else you want-’
‘It’s not funny,’ he growled.
‘But it is, it is-can’t you see-? Oh, darling, please try to understand-please try-’
He relented and touched her face. ‘Whatever you say.’
He wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that, but he knew they’d come to a place where she was at home, sure-footed, able to lead without faltering. A wise man would accept that and, since he prided himself on his wisdom, he did the sensible thing and let her lead him into the dance.
All about them the other couples swung around, while the band hollered. He knew nothing except that he was looking down at her face and she was laughing, not with amusement but with joy and triumph, inviting him to share. Once, long ago, she’d taken his hand and led him through the tunnel to success. Now she could do it again, except that this success would be different, not a matter of money and crushing foes, but a joyous richness and light, streaming ahead, leading to new life, and whatever that life might bring.
‘Let’s go,’ he cried.
‘Where?’ she called back in delight.
‘Anywhere-wherever you want to take me.’
‘Then come.’
She began to run, taking him with her, not knowing where she was heading or why; only knowing that she was with him and that was enough. Now the whole of Athens seemed to be flaming around them.
She stopped at last and they stood, gasping together, their chests heaving. From overhead came the sound of fireworks racing up into the black sky, exploding in an orgy of light, while down below the crowd cried out its pleasure.
‘Phew!’ she said.
He gave a sigh of agreement and she thumped him lightly.
‘You shouldn’t be out of breath. I thought you worked out every morning in the gym.’
He did exactly that, and was fully as fit as she expected, but in her company his breathlessness had another cause. He reached for her. Petra saw the firework colours flash across his face, and then his arms were tight about her and his mouth was on hers, teasing, provoking, demanding, imploring.
‘Who are you?’ he gasped. ‘What are you doing in my life? Why can’t I-?’
‘Hush, it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters but this. Kiss me-kiss me.’
She proceeded to show him what she meant, sensing the response go through him, delighting in her power over him and his over her. Soon they must reach the moment that had been inevitable since their meeting, and everything in her yearned towards it.
Lysandros felt as if he were awaking from a dream, or sinking into one. He wasn’t sure which. Her plea of ‘Kiss me’ was entrancing, yet something deep inside him was drawing away. He tried to fight it. He wanted her, but so much that it alarmed him.
Impulse had made him call her tonight. Impulse had made him drag her away from their unwanted companions. Impulse-the thing he’d battled for years-was beginning to rule him.
A puppet dancing on the end of her chain. And she knew it.
‘What is it?’ she asked, feeling him draw away.
‘This place is very public. We should get back to the table; I think I left something there.’
‘And then?’ she asked slowly, unwilling to believe the thought that was coming into her head.
‘Then I think we should both-go home.’
She stared at him, trying to believe what he was doing, feeling the anger rise within her. He hadn’t left anything behind and they both knew it. But he was telling her the magic was over. He’d banished it by an act of will, proving that his control was still strong, although he’d brought her to the edge of losing hers.
It was a demonstration of power, and she was going to make him regret it.
‘How dare you?’ she said in a soft, furious voice. ‘Who the hell do you think you are to despise me?’
‘I don’t-’
‘Shut up. I have something to say and you’re going to listen. I am not some desperate female who you can pick up and put down when it suits you. And don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean because you know exactly. They’re all standing in line for you, aren’t they? But not me.’
‘I don’t know who gave you such an idea,’ he grated.
‘Any woman you’ve ever known could have given it to me. Your reputation went before you.’
His own anger rose.
‘I’ll bet Nikator had something to say, but are you mad enough to listen to him? Don’t tell me he fools you with that “little brother” act!’
‘Why shouldn’t I believe he’s concerned about me?’ she demanded.
‘Oh, he’s concerned all right, but not as a brother. The rumours about him are very interesting at the moment. Why do you think Debra Farley left Athens so suddenly? Because he went too far, wouldn’t take no for an answer. Have a look at his face and see what she did to it when she was fighting him off. I gather it took a lot of money to get her to leave quietly.’
‘I don’t believe it,’ she said, ignoring the whispers within her brain.
‘I do not tell lies,’ Lysandros snapped.
‘No, but you can get things wrong. Even the great, infallible Lysandros Demetriou makes mistakes, and you’ve really made one about me. One minute you say you’ll follow “anywhere I want to take you”. The next moment it’s time to go home. Do you really think I’ll tamely accept that sort of behaviour?
‘What am I supposed to do now, Lysandros? Sit by the phone, hoping you’ll get in touch, like one of those Athens wives? When you called tonight I should have told you to go and jump in the lake-’
‘But you didn’t, so perhaps we-’
The words were like petrol on flames.
‘Well, I’m doing it now,’ she seethed. ‘You have your work to do, I have mine, and there’s no need for us to trouble each other further. Goodnight.’
Turning swiftly away before he could reach out, she hurried back through the streets to the little restaurant. George and Angela were still there, beaming at the sight of Petra.
‘We just knew you’d come back,’ Angela said. ‘You will come to the cave, won’t you?’
‘Thank you, I look forward to it,’ Petra said firmly. ‘Why don’t we discuss the details now?’ She smiled at Lysandros with deadly intent. ‘I’ll get a taxi home. Don’t let us keep you. I’m sure you’re busy.’
‘You’re right,’ he said in a forced voice. ‘Goodnight. It’s been a pleasure meeting you all.’
He inclined his head to them all and was gone. Nor did he look back, which Petra thought was just as well, or he would have seen a look of misery on her face that she wouldn’t have admitted for all the world.
Lysandros awoke in a black depression. Now the magical sunshine that had flooded the path ahead had died, replaced by the prosaic everyday light of the city. She wasn’t here, and it shamed him to remember how her presence had made him act.
‘Wherever you want to take me.’ Had he really said that?
He should be glad that she’d hurled the reminder at him, warning him of the danger into which he’d been sleepwalking, saving him in time.
In time?
He rose and went through the process of preparing for the day, moving like an automaton while his brain seethed.
She alarmed him. She mattered too much. Simply by being herself she could lure him out of the armoured cave where he lived, and where he had vowed to stay for the rest of his days.
For years women had come and gone in his life. He’d treated them well in a distant fashion, and seen them depart without regret. But this woman had broken the mould, and he knew that he must cut ties now or risk
