Innocent Obsession

‘Your suitcases are downstairs,’ he said at last, without emphasis, moving his shoulders in an indifferent gesture. ‘I will have Spiro fetch them up for you.’

The crisp detachment of his tone made Sylvie increasingly aware of her own lack of sophistication. She was over-sensitive, she told herself impatiently. She had no reason to object to his assessment. After all, they were virtually related, he as Leon’s brother and she as Margot’s sister, but nevertheless no man had looked at her in quite that way, and she was left feeling raw, and strangely vulnerable.

‘Th-thank you,’ she said now, linking her clammy fingers together, and as he moved away to summon the chauffeur she endeavoured to compose herself. But she couldn’t dismiss the trickling of moisture that had invaded her spine, or dispel her awareness of his alien personality.

Madame Kuriakis reappeared, and at Andreas’s instigation showed Sylvie into the bedroom she could use to change in. If the housekeeper had any misgivings about the girl’s continued presence in the apartment, she managed to conceal them, but Sylvie, with her increased sensitivity, suspected she had very definite opinions of her own.

Left alone, Sylvie explored her domain with genuine curiosity. So this was what Margot had been loath to abandon, she reflected with unusual cynicism, trailing her fingers over apple-green damask and the gleaming patina of polished wood. Even the adjoining bathroom had a sunken bath, with its own jacuzzi unit, and she acknowledged without envy that luxury here was an accepted part of living. She was almost regretful she had only time to take a shower, although perhaps it was just as well. It would not do to get too accustomed to so much comfort.

By the time she emerged from the bathroom, a fluffy green towel draped sarong-wise about her, her suitcases had been deposited on the carved chest at the end of the bed. Extracting her keys from her handbag, she opened the largest of them with a thoughtful air and studied its contents with evident indecision.

Expecting to stay at Alasyia, which was sufficiently remote from civilisation to need little in the way of formal clothes, she had brought mostly casual wear and swimsuits. But she could hardly turn up at the Petronides residence for dinner wearing a cotton smock or beachwear, and the nearest thing to an evening outfit she possessed was a waistcoat and matching pants in amber-coloured velvet. It was worn with a cream shirt with wide, flowing sleeves gathered into a lacy cuff, and a frilled jabot below her small determined chin, and Sylvie had always thought it was quite flattering. The amber colour matched her eyes, which were several shades lighter than the rich brown they should have been, and the close-fitting pants accentuated the slender length of her legs. Nevertheless, she suspected that Madame Petronides might not approve, and she viewed the rounded curve of her hips with some anxiety. Was Margot right? Did she wear her clothes too tight? Did she eat all the wrong things? She sighed half irritably. Well, it was Margot’s fault that she was here, and if she didn’t suit, Margot would have to give up her selfish pursuits and replace her.

She studied the fall of corn-gold hair without satisfaction. Should she braid it, or coil it into a chignon, or leave it loose? Plaiting her hair would only accentuate her immaturity, she decided impatiently, and she didn’t really have the time to do a good job of creating a more sophisticated style. With a resigned shrug she tied it at her nape with a length of black cord, then regarded her appearance with as much objectivity as she could muster.

Where was she expected to sleep tonight? she wondered, after dimissing her appearance with a careless shrug. Acting on impulse, she folded up the Indian cotton and re-locked her suitcases, guessing there was little chance that she would be allowed to stay here. The idea that she might be expected to stay with Margot’s mother and father-in-law had little appeal for her, but she doubted she would be offered any alternative. If it was unacceptable that she should stay at Alasyia with Leon, it was certainly unacceptable for her to sleep at Andreas’s apartment.

When she entered the living room again, Andreas was already waiting for her, his dark looks enhanced by a black mohair dinner jacket. He was in the process of pouring himself a drink from the selection available on a tray resting on a carved wooden table, but he straightened at her entrance and inclined his head politely.

‘Can I offer you something?’ he enquired, indicating the glass in his hand, but Sylvie shook her head. She was nervous enough as it was, without the effects of alcohol to weaken her confidence, and Andreas shrugged his acceptance and raised his glass to his lips.

Unwilling to appear to be studying him too closely, Sylvie allowed her eyes to move round the lamplit room. It was quite dark outside the long windows now, and the lights of Athens beckoned insistently. Instinctively she moved towards the windows, catching her breath as the floodlit Parthenon attracted her enchanted eyes. She thought she had never seen anything more magnificent than the tall white columns outlined against the velvety darkness of the sky, and her lips parted in unknowing provocation as she gazed upon its ancient symmetry.

‘You find it interesting?’

She had been unaware that Andreas had come to stand beside her until he spoke, and now she looked up at him with some of the fascination she had felt still in her eyes.

‘It’s quite beautiful, isn’t it?’ she exclaimed, her voice husky with sudden emotion, and Andreas’s dark eyes were enigmatic as he met that ingenuous appeal.

‘How old are you, Sylvana?’ he asked, using her name for the first time, and warm colour surged into her cheeks.

‘I’m eighteen,’ she replied, answering automatically, but quickly too, as she turned her head away from his cool scrutiny. ‘And please call me Sylvie. Everyone does.’

Andreas shrugged. He had disposed of his glass, she noticed, and although she expected him to suggest that it was time they were leaving, he seemed curiously reluctant to abandon his position. Instead, he remained where he was, looking down at her, and it was she who shifted uneasily again, aware of her own lack of sophistication.

‘You do not mind—spending these weeks in Greece?’ he asked, with narrow-eyed interrogation, and Sylvie shook her head.

‘No. No, I don’t mind,’ she conceded. ‘At least—well,’ she qualified her statement, ‘it was the only thing I could do.’

‘You are not like Margot, I think,’ he opined dryly. ‘At eighteen, I could not imagine her giving up her time to look after her small nephew.’

‘Oh—–’ Sylvie managed a half smile of deprecation, ‘I’m not so noble. Who wouldn’t enjoy spending a few weeks in this climate!’ She made a gesture of dismissal. ‘Actually, I’m the lazy one of the family. Ask Mummy or—or Margot, they would tell you. I like lazing around—sunbathing, swimming, reading …’

‘You are still at school, yes?’ he suggested, and now her curiously tawny eyes flashed in annoyance.

‘I’m still at school, no!’ she retorted, unconsciously mocking his cultivated English. ‘I left school—some weeks ago. I’m going to university in October.’

Andreas’s lean mouth twisted. ‘My apologies, thespinis,’ he offered mockingly. ‘It was not my intention to insult you. Forgive me.’

Sylvie sighed. ‘You didn’t insult me. It’s just—well, I’m not a child, you know.’

Andreas inclined his head and how he did begin to move towards the door. ‘We must be leaving,’ he remarked, flicking back his cuff to consult the plain gold watch on his wrist. ‘We have a call to make on our way to my father’s house, and I do not wish to be late.’

Sylvie felt suitably chastened, although whether that was his intention, she had no way of knowing. With a feeling of irritation out of all proportion to the incident, she followed him across the room, then halted uncertainly when she remembered her suitcases.

‘I—oughtn’t we to take my luggage?’ she suggested, colouring anew when he turned to give her a preoccupied look. ‘I mean—I won’t be coming back here, will I?’ She hesitated. ‘Or will I?’

‘It is already arranged that you will stay here tonight,’ Andreas remarked, with faintly brusque resolution. ‘My sister Marina will return with us this evening, and she also will sleep at the apartment, so long as you are here.’

‘So long as I am here?’ Sylvie echoed, as she preceded him into the corridor outside, and Andreas closed the door behind them with definite precision.

‘It may take several days to reorganise my brother’s plans,’ Andreas told her, as the lift doors slid smoothly open. ‘Surely the prospect of staying in Athens for two or three days more does not distress you?’

‘N-o.’ But Sylvie was slightly disturbed by the prospect, and by the knowledge that she would be seeing a lot more of Andreas Petronides.

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