Lark in an Alien Sky Page 3

  `Would it have made any difference to the way things are?'

  She shook her head and gently freed her hands from his, looking across the wide, chillingly modern reception area when a distorted voice crackled from the broadcast system something about the flight for Athens. 'I wouldn't have been in a position to fall in love with Gregori if I'd been committed to you, would I?' she asked. 'I wouldn't have seen him again after that first time, nor would I have had the opportunity to know him as I did, or—' The voice crackled once more and she shook her head. 'It's too late now, Robert, and I have to go.'

  He reached for her hands again and drew her close for a moment while he kissed her lips, then looked down into her face with the glow of desperation in his eyes. 'If you can say that, you surely know now that you don't really

  love him,' he insisted, but Corinne drew away quickly and turned to go.

  `I loved him,' she said with a catch in her voice. 'I've yet to find out whether I still do or not. Goodbye, Robert, and—thank you for everything!'

  `Corinne!'

  She did not turn but waved a hand as she went, hurrying to answer the metallic summons of the flight call. The plane was waiting and somewhere only a few hours away Gregori would be waiting for her. She knew him well enough to know that he would be anxious, watchful, not yet sure that she would come as she had promised, and she did not see how she could have done other than fly out to him when he had so much at stake. His pride, as he had reminded her, was a considerable part of his character, and she still felt enough for him not to hurt him if she could help it.

  CHAPTER TWO

  IT was like a great relief map spread out below when Corinne caught her first sight of Greece, and then gradually the details became more clear, the colours more definite. She felt a tingling glow of pleasure as well as excitement when she looked down on it, much as Zeus might have looked upon it from Mount Olympus.

  The deep sapphire ocean was shredded by a wildly undulating coastline and scattered with a thousand tiny islands, as if someone had carelessly spilled a casket of

  jewels and left them to lie in the relentless sun. Delphi, Sparta, Olympia; all the magical names from the glorious days when the gods walked the earth were down there. The ruined temples and palaces of the fallen gods still standing on the same sunlit, wooded hillsides they had occupied when Aphrodite, the goddess of love, rose naked from the sea, and Apollo battled with the monster Python.

  The sky had a gem-like blueness that was reflected in the sea and gave breathtaking violet hues to the crown of Mount Hymettus. An impression of dazzling whiteness became the contours of definable buildings as the plane dropped lower, and the sense of godlike remoteness receded before the practical normality of airport buildings and runways.

  Down to earth once more, Corinne took a firm hold on her diminishing courage and followed her fellow passengers through the inevitable formalities. Smiling wryly to herself as she was passed through Customs, she wondered if any modern bride had come to her groom with quite so many doubts as she came to Gregori. Right up until the moment the aircraft landed she had been asking herself whether she had not been foolish to keep her promise to him, and yet the moment she saw him standing there waiting for her she felt such a sense of relief that she smiled instinctively.

  Yet again it struck her what a striking man he was, and it gave her a curious and unexpected feeling of pride that he should be there to meet her and no one else. The moment she set eyes on him she put down her baggage and let him come to her, her heart hammering wildly as he came striding through the crowded hall.

  He took her in his arms without hesitation and held her tightly with his face buried in her hair while he mur-

  mured words in her ear in his own tongue. Without her knowing their exact meaning, they nevertheless sent little shivers of pleasure through her, reminding her of other places, other times. He held her for some time like that, then looked down into her face with a hint of unmistakable challenge in his eyes.

  `So,' he said, speaking English for the first time, 'you came!'

  `I came,' Corinne agreed, and caught her breath anew when she was once more crushed in his arms.

  Then he eased her away, just far enough that he could look into her eyes. He said nothing, but sought her mouth after a second or two and kissed her in a way that was guaranteed to make her unsteady legs even less capable of supporting her, and she clung to him from the sheer need of something to cling to. Beneath her hands the softness of his shirt pulsed with an urgently beating heart that almost matched her own, and it was as if she had never had doubts at all.

  The sudden metallic sound of the announcer brought her back to a realisation of where she was, and curiously enough reminded her of Robert's much less affecting kiss, pressed on her in the few moments before she left him. With a hand on his chest, she pushed Gregori away and glanced up at his face for a second, once more plagued by uncertainty and doing her best to conceal it.

  To people around them with time to speculate, they must have looked like a couple of lovers reunited, and she supposed they were in a way; certainly Gregori would have agreed with it. They had been lovers in Paris and as far as he was concerned they still were; it was only her own feelings that were in doubt, and the doubt must soon be resolved. For unless she had misjudged him, Gregori was not likely to be a patient bridegroom.

  His hands were on her shoulders and his strong fingers curving into her flesh while he regarded her with gleaming dark eyes. 'I am so happy to see you, my lark!' The deep and unforgettable voice still had the same magical effect on her senses, and she smiled without being fully aware that she did. 'I am also relieved,' he went on with a touch of dryness, 'for I had fears right up until the moment I saw you that you would not keep your word to me. Yes, I confess to being fearful,' he added, as if by making such

  an admission he surprised himself.

  It was on the tip of Corinne's tongue to let him know just how close she had come to confirming his fears, but she was here, on alien ground, and she felt a need for him that she could not deny. 'I made you a promise,' she reminded him, 'and I don't break promises without a very good reason.'

  The brief glance he gave her seemed to doubt the truth of it, but he said nothing for the moment, and instead turned her in the direction of one of the exits, holding her arm in a firmly possessive grip that was oddly comforting. Looking up at him as they walked close together, her eyes had a hint of speculation.

  'You said if I didn't come, you'd come over and fetch me,' she reminded him. 'Would you really have gone to so much trouble, Gregori?'

  Her arm was crushed against him and he eyed her slightly flushed face for a moment before he answered her. 'Do you doubt it?' he asked, and when she grimaced doubtfully and shrugged, he paused in his step and bent to kiss her mouth 'hard. 'Never doubt it,' he told her huskily, and squeezed the arm he held. 'I do not easily let go that which I have made my own, you will learn that about me as you will learn many other things, my lark!'

  However softly the words were spoken, there was something about the way he said them that aroused her to protest. His possessiveness and his determination to make her his own had thrilled her in the early days, but now that it was all too close to becoming a fact, she shied away from it.

  'I don't belong to anyone, Oregon! I'm not a possession, like your house or your business!' It angered her to realise that he was treating her protest as if it was a mere gesture against the inevitable, and she frowned at him discouragingly. 'I mean it, Gregori—I'm not a possession!'

  'I have not said that you are,' he denied, but a glance at his face revealed a glittering darkness in his eyes and his mouth had a disconcerting half-smile at its corners.

  'I just want you to—'

  'I want you to love my country,' he interrupted quietly, and once more bent his head to kiss her mouth. 'Welcome to Greece, cigapitikoz!'

  Outside in the hot sunshine Corinne looked around her at the white buildings she had seen from the aircraf
t. Like all such views it was slightly less idyllic at ground level, but it was still exciting, and with Oregon's hand guiding her to where his car was parked, she had a sense of anticipation that was not all unpleasant.

  Oregon settled her with solicitous care into the front passenger seat, then stood for a moment before he closed the door, looking down into her face with disconcerting steadiness. She was hot and flushed and she kept her eyes lowered because she found him much too disturbing.

  Then he slid a hand beneath her chin and lifted it, leaning down to press his mouth over hers—a kiss that searched determinedly for a response from her. But Corinne could only think that she was on her way to his

  home, on her way to meet the family she .believed to be firmly against her marrying Gregori, and her lips remained coolly unresponsive.

  For a moment the glittering darkness of his eyes searched her face for a reason. 'You will be tired after the flight,' he decided, 'but the drive will give you time to rest a little before you meet my family.' He came around and got into the seat beside her but still did not start the engine; instead he half-turned to look at her. 'Is there something troubling you, Corinne?' he asked, and when she did not immediately answer him he frowned impatiently. 'If you tell me, I can put your mind at ease. Are you worried about meeting my family, is that it?'

  How could she bluntly inform him that the very idea of meeting his family filled her with dread? She was tempted, but instead she told him a half-truth, making an excuse that would explain her reluctance without being too frankly provocative.

  'I'm just nervous, Gregori. It's natural reaction in the circumstances.'

  The pressure of his hand sought to reassure her, and did to some extent. 'I do not like you to be nervous of meeting my family,' he said. 'But of course it is natural, as you say, in the circumstances.'

  `Just as it's natural that they're going to resent me!'

  `No!' She had not meant to let him know what she expected, and clearly he disliked her mentioning it. 'No, Corinne!'

  `But it's true, I know it is,' Corinne insisted. 'I know they don't really approve of you marrying me. Oh, I know you haven't said as much, but I can read between the lines! I assume they had someone—someone much more suitable that they'd rather you married. A Greek

  girl who would be a credit to the Kolianos name and not a junior secretary from a foreign country who—'

  'Corinne, stop it!' His sharp admonishment brought her up short and for a moment she looked vaguely ashamed of her moment of self-pity.

  'I'm sorry,' she murmured, 'but I can't help feeling that before long I'm going to regret this trip even more than I do now.' She considered for a second, then glanced at him from the corners of her eyes. 'You would have married someone else, a Greek girl, if I had decided not to come after all, wouldn't you?' she challenged, but caught her breath at his answer.

  'Almost certainly,' he said. I am the only surviving son and as such I have a responsibility to provide the next generation.' He caught her look and narrowed his eyes. 'Does that shock you?' he asked, and Corinne shook her head dazedly.

  She had to admit, when she looked at him, that she would have found it difficult to take if Gregori had simply accepted her initial decision to end it between them, and not been so insistent that she keep her promise to marry him. If he had come home and taken the Greek bride that she felt sure his family had in mind for him, as he had declared he would. It was a dog-in-the-manger attitude perhaps, but one she did not attempt to excuse at the moment.

  Gregori stroked a long forefinger down her cheek, and there was a hint of a smile on his mouth as he studied her for a moment. 'Is it not fortunate for me that I was able to find someone whom I could love, before my mother despaired of making a husband of me?' he asked, and leaned forward to kiss her mouth.

  Just for a moment Corinne felt the same wild abandon she had known first in Paris, and she yielded to the

  irresistible excitement of it. Only when he released her mouth with lingering slowness and she looked up into the dark, passionate face did she remind herself that he was still such an unknown quantity to her. He was a stunningly exciting stranger, but a stranger nevertheless, and she could not lose sight of the fact.

  Stroking his big hands over the soft curve of her cheeks, he studied her with gleaming dark eyes. 'Now I will take you home, my love,' he said.

  It was impossible not to be excited by her first acquaintance with Greece, and Corinne found it quite enough to take her mind, at least momentarily, off the situation that lay ahead of her. Rather disconcertingly Athens proved to be a thriving modern city, although she had only to raise her eyes to see the Acropolis outlined against a sky just as incredibly blue as any picture postcard. It was much more immediate than all the pictures she had seen, dangled like irresistible bait before would-be travellers tired of the modern world.

  There were suburban houses and factories, modern shops and a polyglot collection of people who could have belonged anywhere in the world. It was only glimpses of ancient glories, never very far away and tangled inextricably with modern development, that proclaimed the difference between Greece and any other country, and made it the cultural Mecca of half the world.

  Once beyond Athens itself, the scene began to change, though only slowly. The coast road led them through Glyfada with its wonderful beaches, past villas and exclusive hotels set amid pine trees and rocks. Through Voula where the foothills of Hymettus met the sea, the gentle slopes covered with bushes of wild thyme and origan and reminding Corinne that the bees there still

  provided what was claimed to be the best honey in the world; the nectar of the gods.

  Pine-clad promontories formed charming little bays with sandy beaches and warm red rock, and living there could be idyllic, she thought. It did not yet occur to her that it was to just such an idyll that Gregori was taking her.

  It was a moment or two before she detected a certain air of tension about him, and glanced at him curiously. He kept his eyes on the road they were following, but every so often he would send a swift glance to their left, as if he was watching for something, and following his glance she knew suddenly that her journey was almost at an end.

  Among a cluster of tall pine trees just ahead she caught sight of a gleaming white building, and guessed that Gregori was home. So sure was she that her heart began to beat harder and faster as tantalising glimpses of the building danced between the crowding pines like sunlight on water.

  Gregori turned the car into a narrow, pine-shadowed road that wound upward as well as round, and gave her a brief look over his shoulder as they began to climb. `Soon now,' he promised, and there was something about the way he said it that suggested he too might have certain reservations about the coming meeting with his family.

  Corinne simply nodded, for it was too late for words. The situation had snowballed beyond recall and soon she would know exactly how Gregori's family felt about his marriage to a foreign girl, some years his junior and as poor as a church mouse by their standards.

  While the car wound its way along the narrow road through the pines she thought about Robert and how

  earnestly he had sought to dissuade her from this trip. She was still not quite sure why she had been so insistent about keeping her promise to Gregori, and as she looked at the dark sternness of his profile against a background of pine trees, she wondered if she would ever be completely sure of anything concerning him.

  His gentleness seduced her, but his arrogance sometimes made her bristle with resentment. She was too uncertain about spending the rest of her life with him to feel pleasure at the prospect of being his wife, and yet she could not bear to think of him marrying anyone else. She had never felt so confused as she did at this moment, and it was much too late to turn back now.

  The house seemed to materialise with miraculous suddenness and stood before them, large and white, glistening in the sunlight and heart-stoppingly impressive. It had been built in a clearing, but the clearing had been transformed
into magnificent gardens that were a mass of colour and scent. The effect of coming upon it so suddenly was breathtaking, and her instinctive gasp of pleasure made Gregori turn his head and smile.

  'It surprises you?'

  `Yes, I suppose it does,' Corinne admitted without quite knowing why it should.

  Heaven knew what she had expected, but certainly not this paradise of beauty and colour that surrounded them as the car swept around a bed of red roses to stop in front of the house. Wide borders edged the open space in front of the house and continued on out of sight at either side of it, richly overflowing with oleanders, hibiscus, roses and carnations and a dozen other species that Corinne did not attempt to identify.

  Close to the house too the pine trees gave way to more exotic types, and figs, oranges and eucalyptus shaded the

  house and softened and muted its dazzling whiteness with fluttering patterns. The variety of different scents was almost overpowering as she stepped out of the car, and she breathed deeply at the headiness of them while Gregori's steadying hand lent his assistance.

  Three steps led upward from the driveway and at first sight Corinne almost imagined that he had brought her to some ancient temple. Double doors stood partly open and showed a glimpse of cool whiteness and a ceiling that soared into shadows, and with a flutter of dismay she recognised that it was simply the entrance hall to his home.

  Taking her arm, he took her up the steps and into the house, then turned and looked at her enquiringly. She knew what he was asking her with that silent glance, and she nodded automatically, doubting if he really knew just how much of an ordeal this introduction was going to be for her. She had not expected him to live in a shepherd's cottage, but this great house with its air of voluptuous luxury was equally unexpected, and she stared around her in the few moments before anyone else appeared.