The Andreou Marriage Arrangement by Helen Bianchin Page B

downstairs.
    Subtle garden illumination provided sufficient light for him to see the slight feminine form curled up on one of four cushioned cane sofas nestled around a glass-topped table.
    He made a point of ensuring she heard his approach, and he caught the quick movement of her hands as she brushed each cheek before turning towards him.
    Tears?
    Somehow the thought of her needing to retreat out here to cry alone touched a place in his heart he’d previously considered beyond reach.
    The night air held a faint chill, and he sank down onto the sofa beside her.
    â€˜Unable to sleep?’ He kept his voice light, and caught the slight shake of her head.
    â€˜I didn’t mean to wake you.’
    â€˜The security sensor,’ Loukas corrected. ‘It beeped an alert when you opened the external door.’
    His features were shadowed in the half-light, and in the distance the city breathed life with its coloured neon billboards, street-lighting…casting a dappled reflection over the dark inner harbour waters.
    In a few hours the indigo sky would begin to lighten as dawn emerged, providing colour and substance to the new day.
    â€˜It’s peaceful out here,’ Alesha offered, aware her voice was edged with tiredness. Hardly surprising since she hadn’t slept at all. Yet she didn’t feel inclined to move.
    Nor did she particularly want to converse. The silence of the night, the solitude it offered, acted as a soothing balm, and most of all she simply wanted to close her eyes and let it wash over her, cleanse a little and ease the ache deep inside.
    There was a psychological process she needed to travel, a series of steps that would lead her from the dark back into the light, and it was better she took them alone. Then she could sleep.
    â€˜Go back to bed,’ she said quietly. ‘I’m fine.’
    Sure she was.
    â€˜Please.’
    It was the please that reached him, but he merely looked at her. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’
    Okay, so she’d pretend he wasn’t there.
    Difficult, when his presence acted as a compelling entity impossible to ignore. He radiated innate strength and vitality…a dramatic mesh, even in repose, that made her incredibly aware of him.
    Fool , she denounced in silent self-castigation. Why… why did you go into orbit, when you’d mentally conditioned yourself to have sex with him?
    Now you’ve created a wedge…oh, call it as it is…an emotional physical chasm so deep and wide, it’ll be almost impossible to breach.
    There was a part of her that felt inclined to urge him to take her to bed and…just do it.
    Sure. Like he was going to risk her freaking out again? What man would be willing to risk rejection after being so convincingly repelled?
    How could she explain that as much as she’d wanted his possession…somehow at the crucial moment Seth’s angry image had superimposed Loukas’ own.
    â€˜Did your ex rape you?’
    His voice was quiet, steady…yet she flinched from the words, and it took a few long moments to gather herself together.
    â€˜Rape conjures up a picture involving violence.’
    Loukas took hold of her hand and threaded his fingers loosely through her own. ‘Sex between consenting adults should be consensual. Not a demand or used as a punishment.’
    The shadows helped. His closeness provided security. And he deserved to know some of it. All of it, eventually, but for now some of it would be enough.
    â€˜Seth played a convincing part,’ she began quietly. ‘He fooled me, but not my father, who was against the marriage from the start.’ She couldn’t look at him. ‘It began almost as soon as we were married, with insults at first—about my lackof spine in demanding a substantial salary package, perks. When I refused to comply, he became…rough.’
    Loukas kept his voice even, in spite of the anger building inside him. ‘He hit