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PROLOGUE

‘I DON’T do English country weekends,’ Sander Volakis informed his father without hesitation

With difficulty, Petros Volakisfor the hundredth time since the death of his eldest son that he had devoted a little more tier one After all, on the face of it, Lysander, known as Sander to his friends, was a son that any man would be proud to possess

Extre and athletic, Sander had a shrewd brain for business and his outstanding entrepreneurial skills had already ensured that even without fa money Unhappily, however, Sander also had a darker side to his passionate temperament and a wild streak that ran deep He was obstinate as a rock, arrogant and fiercely independent, indeed very much an extrovert individualist in a family of unashamedly conservative people Over the years clashes between father and son had proved inevitable because Sander went his oay … always Parental disapproval had not deterred him But with the death of Titos, Sander’s older brother, the need to build bridges had increased a thousandfold, Petros reflected heavily

‘Eleni’s fauest,’ Petros argued ‘It’s not their fault that your brother died in the car crash and that his fiancée survived—’

Sander elevated a contradictory brow, his lean darkly handsoht in his dark gaze ‘Eleni only just escaped a charge of careless driving—’

‘They went out in Eleni’s car, so she was at the wheel!’ Petros snapped back at his son, frustrated by his unforgiving attitude ‘It was a snowy night and the roads were treacherous Have a little compassion and make allowances for human error Eleni was devastated by Titos’ death’

Not so devastated that she had resisted the urge to flirt with his younger brother within weeks of Titos’ funeral, Sander recalled with cynical cool But he kept that salient fact to hiallantly protest that Sander h only six months had passed since Titos’ deic event had transfor tycoon father’s only surviving heir, he was noed as a er catch than when he’d been seen as a mere s

‘Relations between our respective faain if you accept the invitation to stay at the Ziakis home,’ Petros declared

Sander gritted his even white teeth, resenting the request, for he had no desire to fill his late brother’s shoes in any way He liked his life just as it was and wondered if his parents were cherishing the ludicrous hope that he ht miraculously warood catch in shipping terht be beautiful and accoe Sander had not the smallest desire toprivate life remained as varied and adventurous as he could make it

‘I would really appreciate this, Sander,’ the olderundertone that hinted at how hard he found it to ask for a favour

Sander studied the older rief had indented more heavily on his face He was disturbed by that pull on his conscience and loyalty But he could not fill the hole that Titos had left in their fa been the indisputable favourite from birth, his older brother would be an impossible act to follow Sander had always refused to co he had noticed that it had annoyed their parents when he’d outshone their firstborn But what the hell was one weekend if it made his parents content that the social mores they based their entire lives on had been respected? Sander asked himself in sudden exasperation

‘All right, I’ll go … this once,’ he felta precedent and setting hi social occasions

‘Thank you Your mother will be relieved You’re alrave Manor and no doubt useful business connections as well,’ Petros continued, conscious that his son’s prie his oer base and fortune wereelse

In the wake of that unco neither man was best pleased with the other Driven now by a desire to do his duty, Sander proceeded to an upper floor in the Athens town house to visit his grieving mother, Eirene On his way his mobile buzzed and he checked the number: Lina, his current lover; this was already her third call since he’d left London He switched his phone to silent, resolving to ignore her and ditch her at the first chance he got A sense of injustice dogged hi lovers into all-too-predictable de stalker types in search of a co?

As usual, his mother lamented Titos’ death as if it had only just happened Sander sub wept over and reproached for his deficiencies in co the fastest possible retreat back to the airport and the freedom that he revelled in He kneould be quite a fewhome was always a downer in his view

CHAPTER ONE

‘OF COURSE you should go and take the opportunity to get to know your sister better,’ Binkie pronounced, bea treated to a luxury weekend in a stately ho you’ve been doing’

Unsurprised that the older woman had taken only the most positive view of the invitation, Tally sed back the admission that her father’s phone call and request had come as an unwelcome surprise She pushed her honey-blonde curls off her broith a rueful hand, her green eyes wary ‘It’s not quite that sio so that I can police Cosima’s every move—’

‘My goodness,’ Binkie cut in with a frown of dismay ‘Did he say so?’

‘Not exactly’

‘Well, then, aren’t you being a bit too ientle reproof, her kindly brown gaze resting on the younger woets in touch but why immediately assume the worst of his et to know each other’

‘I’m twenty years old and Cosima’s seventeen—if that’s what he wants ould he have waited so long?’

Tally responded wryly because, after a lifetime of disappointments and hurtful rejections, she was a dyed in the wool cynic when it came to either of her parents

Binkie sighed ‘Perhaps he has seen the error of his ways People can et older’

Reluctant to parade her bitterness in front of the wo mother, Tally stared a hole in the table because Binkie was always an optiative comment Binkie or, to be more formal, Mrs Binkiewicz, a Polish , had looked after Tally since she’d been a baby and had soon graduated fro care of her employer’s household as well Anatole Karydas was a very wealthy and powerful Greek businesshter’s existence from birth He hated Tally’s mother, Crystal, with a passion and Tally had paid the price for that hostility Crystal had been a well-known fashion nant …

‘Of course I planned it!’ Crystal had admitted in a rare ed for over a year, but his precious fa cold on the idea ofme’