“Eric works long hours.”
“He’s making an effort to curtail that.” Another guilty flush. “It’s better for the children that he be around more.”
“Is it? Why?”
Sophie sighed. “It just is. I see this time and time again. Many families who employ nannies have one parent – or both – who is frequently out of the home. I know that’s the demands of jobs, but for the small time when children are young, they benefit enormously from having parents who are present.”
“I see,” he prompted silkily. If she knew him better, she might have detected the dark note to his voice. But she did not. At that stage, Sophie took Alessandros Petrides at face value.
“Yes. As I explained to Eric, he is well-thought of enough to shape his career around his family for a time.”
“And Eric listened to this?” Alex said, disbelief rich in his chest.
“Yes. Well,” she laughed. “He’s trying. He’s a workaholic, you know, but he makes a point of reading to the kids a couple of nights a week, even if he then has to go back to the office.”
“And my sister?”
Sophie’s shoulders squared defensively. But what was she defending? Her right to be alone with Eric? Or his sister? “What about her?”
“She doesn’t join you?”
“Helena spends more time with the children than Eric. She doesn’t need to make such a point to carve out special blocks of time.” She turned away from him and stirred the chicken again, then added some greens to the same pan.
“I presume you had references? Or did Eric hire you on the spot?”
“I told you,” she couldn’t flatten the offended sound from her words, “I was recommended personally by the Prime Minister. Prior to taking the role within his family, I was thoroughly background checked.” She turned around to face him again, holding the spoon in front of her like a shield. “Why are you asking me these questions? Have I done something to offend you?”
Alex’s smile was pure, sexy amusement “Not yet,” he shrugged cryptically.
Sophie stared at him in confusion. “The twins will be waiting for you.”
“Yes,” he agreed, then continued as though she hadn’t spoken. “And what do you do, Sophie, when you are not minding my nephews and defending my sister?”
She shrugged, then removed the pan from the heat. “I exist in a state of stasis.” She blinked her long lashes at him in an obvious gesture of sarcasm, and then shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude. But you were …”
“Being rude first?” He finished the sentence for her, and she broke out in a genuine smile.
“Yeah. Something like that.” She tipped the stir-fry into a pair of Thomas the Tank Engine bowls.
She was bewitchingly charming. Was it possible Eric had fallen under her spell? Could he have thrown caution to the wind and engaged in the kind of affair that would break Helena’s heart? Not only was it possible, Alex was becoming increasingly convinced that it was highly likely. Despite Eric’s political aspirations, Alex suspected Sophie was just the kind of woman who could make him forget everything he owed to himself and his wife.
“Would you please go and get the boys?”
He was still for a moment, lost in thought, and then he nodded, moving from the kitchen. It gave Sophie an opportunity to study him surreptitiously, as he cut across the expansive lounge area and headed to the stairs. He moved with an almost predatory grace. He was silent and stealthy, and yet even then, simply strolling across the ground floor of this Kensington townhouse, he moved with a barely concealed power and strength that made her heart race.
“Get a grip!” Sophie whispered. The incantation cheered her, as it always did. Those three words had been uttered by their mother, ad infinitum, whenever she’d needed to call on inner strength. As a result, all three Henderson sisters used the same phrase whenever they needed to shake themselves out of an annoying mindset.
It served as a reminder to find calm, and also as a talisman of their mother. In the five years since losing her, Sophie wasn’t sure a day had passed in which she hadn’t thought of Meredith Henderson.
“Are these what you were looking for?” Alex appeared with two boys at his heels, and grouped together like that, Sophie couldn’t help but gasp.
Her young charges were so like their uncle! Perhaps that explained why one look at Alex had filled her with a cumbersome sense of familiarity? It wasn’t a physical thing, so much as that he reminded her of the children she’d come to love dearly. For he was indeed the grown-up version of these two beautiful little beings. Six eyes, dark and almond shaped, stared at her, their similarities now impossible to miss.
“Sit up, darlings. I’ve made your favourite.”
“Oh, goody yum.” John scampered into his seat and Ian followed suit, slightly less enthusiastic in his appraisal of the meal that they regularly requested.
“And if you are very good, and make sure you eat all that yummy kale, there’ll be a lolly after dinner.”
“Bribing the children with sweets?” Alex queried sotto voce.
Sophie grinned and nodded, her heart thrilling at the idea of his disapproval – though she couldn’t have said why.
“They’re just vitamin lollies, Thios,” Ian countered. Though he was little, he didn’t miss a thing.
“I see.”
Sophie sat across from the boys, and indicated with a wave of her hand that Alex was welcome to join them.
His presence made the large space feel constrained somehow. Or perhaps that was just the way his leg brushed against hers beneath the table. She jerked away, not caring that it was an unmistakable gesture of innocence.
She fixed the children with an assessing gaze and then leaned forward. “Fork, darling one.” She turned to Alex, ignoring the way her heart began to palpitate in her chest. “John loves to use his fingers. We’re working on it, aren’t we?”
Alex found it difficult to fault Sophie’s credentials as a nanny, at least. She was attentive, affectionate, kind, patient and thorough, not letting either boy leave the table until both had finished their meals, and urging a form of conversation between the two without being overbearing. Though Alessandros had very little experience with children, he had eaten in enough restaurants and witnessed the appalling behaviour of this generation to be impressed. Though he preferred to give his sister some of the credit, he wasn’t sure that was deserved.
More seamless supervising as the boys were washed, their teeth were cleaned and they were wrangled into bed.
“But daddy was going to read to us!” Ian said darkly, his eyes moist from unshed tears.
“I know, darling, but daddy and mummy are out discussing grown up things.” Alex studied her from the door. Her voice quivered a little, but she didn’t otherwise betray any emotional response to the fact that Eric and Helena were enjoying a romantic evening.
Was that because she didn’t feel anything? Or because she was so assured of her place in Eric’s affections that she didn’t care?
Helena’s notion had been so easily dismissed before he’d met her. But now?
Coldness gripped his heart. How could Eric live under the same roof as this woman and not notice her numerous charms?
As he watched, Sophie’s face lifted towards the door and her eyes lanced his. His stomach clenched with desire, hot and undeniable.
He was used to the effect he had on women, but it was unusual for a woman to stir those same feelings of powerless attraction in him. In fact, he prided himself on his ability to remain detached from almost any situation.
Helena was, of course, an example. Seven years his junior, he loved her almost as a daughter, rather than a sister. She had always been young for her age, and he bore boundless maturity brought on by the responsibilities that had dogged him almost from birth.
He listened as she read to the boys, her voice mesmerising and intoxicating in equal measure. The story was one he hadn’t heard; then again, why would he have? Even
as children, no one had whispered sweet stories to them as they fell asleep. And as a grown man, he had little time or interest in books.
John was asleep before she’d finished, and Ian was not long behind.
Sophie finished the story though, and then gently closed the pages and stood. She kissed first Ian, and then John, before settling their sheets over their little shoulders.
He intentionally waited in the doorway for her, so that she’d have to brush past him. He didn’t know if she was involved with his brother in law, though he suspected it was highly likely.
The only thing he knew for certain was that he wanted Sophie all to himself. For a while at least.
2
“She was crying again, Eric.” Sophie kept her voice low, and her head bent towards her employer.
“Where?” He was tired. So tired of worrying about his wife, and trying to make her happy and well.
“In the laundry. Early this morning. Before I went for my walk.”
“She didn’t come to bed last night.”
Sophie bit down on her lower lip. The propriety of speaking to Eric about his wife had bothered her at first. But within only a few days of joining the household, Sophie had come to realise that Helena was struggling with the pressures of motherhood and her high profile as Eric’s wife. She had been hesitant, at first, to jump to any conclusions, but another few days into her tenure had convinced her that something was badly wrong.
Helena was depressed. She needed to meet with a professional and get proper support.
Only Eric didn’t seem to share Sophie’s worries. Or, if he did, he was determined to ignore them.
“How was she at dinner?” Sophie blushed at the question, which could have been seen as prying. But not by Eric. He understood. Sophie was worried about Helena, and especially about the boys. He’d come to count on her counsel in the last few months.
“Quiet.” He shrugged. “But she is always quiet lately.”
“Maybe you should go away for a while, like she suggested,” Sophie pushed, lifting a hand comfortingly to his shoulder.
“You’re the one who told me how important my place in the boys’ life is. I don’t want to leave them.”
“They could go with you. I could come.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“It doesn’t solve anything. That’s a temporary fix. Whatever is going on with Helena, she needs to right it.”
Sophie compressed her lips. “I don’t know if it’s that easy.”
“She has two children. Two children we spent five years trying to bring into being, and who love her and need her. I don’t give a shit if it isn’t easy. She must do it. There is an imperative on her to meet their needs.”
Across the room, Alex couldn’t hear what they were saying. Their pose was unmistakably intimate, with their faces close and her arm on his shoulder. They weren’t even trying to hide it!
Alex’s temper, under a tight reign for two days, began to fray as he realised with a grim frown, that his sister had been right. This beautiful ingénue had come into his sister’s life and was now attempting to usurp her place in it.
He was sure of it.
“Be patient. She will find her way.” A feint noise caught Sophie’s attention and she looked in its direction, straight into the hard, sardonic eyes of Alessandros Petrides. A shiver flexed down her spine. She looked away again quickly. “You have Alessandros here now. Have you spoken to him? Maybe he’d have an idea …”
“No.” Eric’s scowl formed a perfect line between his brows. He followed her gaze and shifted into a polite smile. “Listen, Soph. Alex is a … top chap. But when it comes to Helena, he’s controlling as hell. If he thinks she’s not happy, he’s just likely to put her on a Petrides jet to Greece.”
“Surely not,” Sophie countered, her eyes drifting back to Alex’s face. He was fuming about something; that much was obvious even to Sophie, who knew very little of the Greek billionaire beyond what the press had publicised over the years. “She’s your wife …”
“But she’s also his sister, and Alex will always trump me in Helena’s mind.” He let out a peevish sigh. “He’s the quintessential control freak. It’s better not to involve him or I’ll lose my wife for good.”
She laughed despite herself. “And here I thought you were far too staid for melodrama.”
He lifted his eyes heavenward. “It might sound melodramatic, but believe me, it’s no exaggeration. Alex doesn’t believe in second chances.”
“Second chances?”
“He gave me a chance when he agreed to our marriage. He was against it at first. Though I doubt he’d have liked any man who married Helena. But he trusted me. And he made it obvious that he was willing to give me one chance to make her happy. If he knows she’s miserable, he’ll do whatever he can to end it.”
“Eric,” she shook her head, her eyes so blue there were like denim in the dusk light that filtered in through the bay windows. “You’re being ridiculous. Helena is a grown woman. Her life has nothing to do with Alex.”
“You mightn’t think so, but trust me, he’ll make this his business and he’ll take over.” He shrugged, but his expression was tired. “Listen, we’ll stick to the plan. You keep a firm eye on the children, and I’ll slowly find a way to get through to her. But please keep it between us. Alex being here is a complication I hadn’t anticipated.”
Eric’s eyes moved beyond Sophie. Alex had stopped reclining indolently on the far side of the room and was prowling towards them. A hint of determination sparked in his expression.
Though Sophie and Eric couldn’t have known it, a plan, so perfect for its precision and cruelty, had come to Alex, fully formed.
“Sophie.” His accent was thick, his voice as seductive as ever. “The children are in bed. You are free for the night, are you not?”
“What?” She blinked, her eyes enormous as she lifted them to his face. He was bewilderingly handsome, particularly dressed as he was now, in a pale shirt that showed off his caramel skin.
He followed the direction of her gaze and rewarded her with a sensual smile, loaded with promise. I understand, it said. I want that too. “I would like to take you out.”
She shook her head, confused and uncertain. “You would like to … take me out?”
Eric looked from one to the other and decided it was his place to save his employee from the overpowering Alessandros Petrides. “Sophie usually goes to bed early, because the twins still stir overnight.”
“You don’t give her even a night off?” Alex’s tone held a note of warning, and Eric didn’t miss it. His brows beetled as he studied his friend.
“She’s never asked for one,” Eric demurred, shrugging his shoulders as though it didn’t matter to him.
“Then let this be the first time.”
“I’m fine,” Sophie interrupted, finally remembering that she had a voice and a say in matters.
His eyes were black and loaded with speculation when he turned to her. “But you do not yet know what I wish to show you.”
His intention was set. She would become his. And her mind would become so full of him, and her body would crave only his, so that any thoughts of Eric would flock completely from her mind.
And if he was wrong? If Helena were wrong? And there was an innocent explanation for her apparent closeness to Eric?
He discounted it almost instantly. Oh, of course there was a small possibility. But Alessandros had lived and died by swift decisions, and that attitude had rarely failed him.
Unfortunately for Sophie, Alessandros was not a man who had been born with a proverbial silver spoon. He’d grown up tough, fighting for everything he had in life, and it had turned him into someone who fought dirty, and with any tools at his disposal, if the ends justified the means. What would he not do for the sister he had raised? Seducing this woman was hardly unpalatable to Alex but he understood it was morally questionable. Only his loyalty to Helena hardened his resolve. He wou
ld have Sophie. And sooner rather than later.
Sophie opened her mouth to object but no words came out. She was momentarily mute. This was a man unlike any she’d ever met. He was handsome as sin, gorgeous, in fact, and she was filled with a drowning sense of powerlessness that was foreign to her.
Alex’s gaze moved from her eyes to her mouth, and then he angled his face toward his friend. “Good evening, Eric.” He put a hand in Sophie’s back, and before she could find her voice, or her mind, he ushered her towards the front door.
It was only when they’d reached the pavement outside the elegant townhouse that Sophie stopped walking and stared up at him. “Alessandros …”
“Alex, please,” his voice was barely a breath. A husk of sound that curled around her body and soul.
“Alex, what are we doing?”
His expression was droll, and he easily made her feel like a complete wowser.
“We are walking. Or, at least, we were, until you stopped and said, Alessandros.” His imitation of her voice sent shivers down her spine. Was that really how she spoke? So husky and intimate?
She turned away from him, embarrassment making her skin crawl. “But why?”
Alex’s fingers on her back began to run up and down her spine, sending answering darts of awareness shooting through her whole body. “Sophie, are you going to lie to me?”
“To lie to you?” She repeated softly, lifting a hand to her throat and toying with the necklace she always wore.
“Mmm,” he urged her forward and she fell into step beside him. “You are going to lie and pretend you don’t want to be here with me?”
“I …” She was anguished. Had she been so obvious?
“Are you going to lie and say you have not been thinking about me and wondering? Are you going to say you do not feel this same tug of attraction that warms my body when you are near?”
He was being direct. So direct. And with good purpose. He could not afford to delay. Not when his sister’s marriage was likely at stake.
He turned the corner and she followed. It was a beautiful, private square lined with elegant Georgian houses. One in the corner had darkly tinted windows and geraniums in the window boxes.