and that annoyed her. She could not bear to feel any response to Nik. Friendship was asexual and she had accepted that a long time ago.
‘Oh, my goodness, I forgot to tell Leo something…excuse me,’ Prudence gasped, hurrying across the yard in pursuit of the man whom Nik had seen earlier.
Leo? But Leo was an old guy, wasn’t he? The frequency with which she mentioned that name had made it familiar to Nik. He rested his shrewd scrutiny on the handsome blond man. He tensed when Prudence rested her hand on the guy’s arm in a revealing gesture of ease and trust and laughed at something he said. A frown line drew Nik’s well-shaped ebony brows together. Who the hell was this joker? Prudence could be dangerously naïve.
‘Who was that?’ Nik enquired on the way back to the helicopter.
‘Leo…My word, I forgot you hadn’t met each other! I should have introduced you—’
‘Never mind that now. I understood that Leo was about seventy-five…’
‘That was his father, Leo senior. He was a lovely old man. He used to call in every day.’ Prudence loosed a regretful sigh.
‘I remember you mentioning it…so what happened to the lovely old man?’
‘He died about eighteen months ago.’
‘You seem very friendly with his son.’
‘I ought to be…he’s been living practically next door for ages and he’s probably my closest friend on this planet! I’m very fond of him,’ Prudence confided without hesitation.
Nik’s lean, strong face clenched. Of course, there was nothing going on; he knew that. Prudence wasn’t the type. She was very honest and downright prudish. She was more interested in animal welfare and her garden than in men. With the exception of himself, of course. On the other hand, Nik had never believed that true platonic friendship was possible between men and women and he was suddenly conscious that she had been alone for a long time.
The helicopter delivered them to an exclusive country-house hotel. A table embellished with exquisite china, crystal and candles awaited them in a private room. French windows stood open on a stone balcony that overlooked the river. Having chosen her meal, Prudence wandered outside with a glass of orange juice to take in the view of the lush countryside. Too warm in the sunlight, she untied her wrap. Nik always made such an occasion of their meetings. She suppressed a pang of sadness, for she knew that she would really miss his presence in her life. But then, making things special for a woman came easily to Nikolos Angelis. Her soft eyes hardened to a surprisingly steely hue. When a guy kept three mistresses he had loads of opportunities to practise his womanising charm.
Nikolos strolled out to join her. ‘Happy birthday.’
‘Let’s not mind that now. I’ve something important to say to you and I’d just as soon say it before we sit down to eat.’ Prudence lifted her chin and smiled just a touch woodenly. ‘We got married because it was the practical thing to do…’
Nik was startled, for their conversations always remained safely rooted in the uncontroversial present. He stilled. ‘That’s not how I would put it—’
‘Does it matter how I put it?’ Prudence wrinkled her nose. ‘I only want to say that I think it’s time we divorced.’
The sudden silence seemed to rush like the unearthly quiet before a storm in Prudence’s ears.
‘Divorce?’ Nik studied her with fiercely narrowed dark eyes. ‘What is this? Where is this nonsense coming from?’
Disconcerted in turn, Prudence blinked. ‘I don’t understand. Nonsense…how is it nonsense?’
‘In my family we don’t do divorce.’
‘Don’t you?’ Unimpressed, Prudence raised a brow. ‘Well, thank goodness I’m not part of your family!’
Nik lounged back against the balustrade and surveyed her steadily. ‘You are angry with me…very angry.’
‘Anger would be too strong a word. I’m irritated. You’re making a quite unnecessary big deal out of something trivial—’
‘Since when was marriage a trivial matter?’
Although Nik was laying himself wide open for a counter-attack, Prudence valiantly resisted the temptation. ‘I don’t think I could comment on that when we’ve never had a normal marriage. Whatever, I would like a divorce now.’
Shimmering dark golden eyes lit on her like torches. ‘Why?’
The atmosphere was leaping and jumping with hostile vibrations. Thinking about her maternal ambitions, Prudence squirmed. In the mood he was in she was not prepared to bare her soul to him. ‘I don’t need to give you a reason—’
‘Yes, you do.’ His accent raked round the edges of her response, the intonation grim and intimidating.
Nik had never spoken to Prudence like that before and she resented it very much. ‘No, I don’t.’
Without warning, Nik flung up lean brown hands in an expansive gesture of frustration and reproof that was explosively Greek. ‘What’s come over you? Where is all this coming from?’
Soft pink mouth compressed, Prudence shrugged and turned away in a defensive movement to gaze out over the fast-flowing river. ‘Don’t talk down to me like I’m stupid—’
‘I have not done that.’
‘That’s exactly what you’re doing!’
Nik prided himself on his control over his temper. He had never dreamt that Pudding, of all people, would push him to the brink of losing it. He surveyed her with fulminating force. Without her awareness the pashmina had slid down her arms, baring her smooth, rounded shoulders and the creamy swell of her full breasts. Nik stared. He could not help staring, for he had not seen that much of her since the neckline of her wedding gown had showcased her ample curves and filled him with an instant lust that almost embarrassed him in the church. She had the kind of opulent bosom popularised by forties film stars in tight sweaters. It was many years since he had allowed himself to recall that fact. Suddenly he was having trouble concentrating. ‘I bring you here in all good faith to celebrate your birthday and out of nowhere you make—’
‘A perfectly reasonable suggestion that, since the emergency is long since over, we dissolve the legal connection between us!’ Prudence completed heatedly.
‘And I asked…perfectly reasonably…why?’
Her chin came up, her blue eyes bright with defiance. ‘That’s none of your business.’
Nik could not credit what he was hearing. ‘I insist…’
A little scarlet devil literally leapt up in the invigorating surge of Prudence’s anger. If he wanted the whole truth and nothing but the truth she would give it to him. ‘All right…’
‘Let’s eat while we talk.’ Nik urged her back indoors to where the first course awaited them.
Prudence sat down. Even in that short space of time her temper was fading and she was shaken by the hostility in the air, not to mention her own unfamiliar desire to fight with him. For goodness’ sake, she was hugely fond of Nik. There was no sense in destroying their friendship by trying to score points. An apologetic light in her soft blue eyes, she forced a smile back on her tense mouth and speared a juicy cube of melon. ‘I can’t believe we’re arguing.’
‘Believe it.’ Bereft of an appetite for food, Nik rested back in his seat in an attitude of highly deceptive indolence. His cutting-edge logic had already led him to draw a conclusion that shook him to his core. There was another man in her life; there had to be. For what other reason would she suddenly demand a divorce?
Prudence stole a glance at him from below her eyelashes. His remarkable eyes were smouldering like the stormy heart of a fire, eyes the colour of amber and precious gold that had haunted her thoughts