CHAPTER TWELVE

      LEXI THOUGHT SHE’D welcome being back in her little Devonshire village. That she’d be relieved that her emotions were no longer spiking up and down, like one of those graphs you saw at the bottom of a hospital bed. Somehow she had imagined that life would resume a comfortable pace now that Xenon was no longer in it.

      But she had been wrong.

      She felt as if a giant light had been snuffed out, leaving her stumbling around in bewildering darkness. The daily routine she’d once loved now seemed empty; her days simply hours she needed to get through before she could escape to bed for yet another sleepless night. Even her jewellery making—something which had given her so much pleasure—now seemed to lack imagination and flair.

      She found herself looking blankly at the crude pieces of silver and wondering what on earth to do with them. Where before she would have been bursting with ideas, her imagination seemed to have deserted her.

      And she missed Xenon. She’d anticipated that; she just hadn’t realised how much. He had taken her back into his world and given her a glimpse of what life with him could be like and she had wanted that life back. God, she had wanted it. But she couldn’t have it.

      She couldn’t have him.

      She had left Rhodes with a heavy heart, having first crept into the sick room to kiss his sleeping grandmother goodbye. She’d said farewell to a frankly bewildered Marina, whose innate code of manners clearly prevented her from asking her why she was going so suddenly.

      Xenon had kissed her lightly on each cheek just before he’d closed the door on the car taking her to the airport. And in a way, that had been almost worse than if he’d gone into a massive sulk and refused to say goodbye. But no, he had managed to don the suave cloak of civility. He had even managed to slant her a half-smile, though he hadn’t quite been able to disguise the furious glitter in his eyes. And Lexi realised that her last memory of the man she loved would be of him giving her the kind of cool kiss he might have offered some casual acquaintance he’d just met at a party.

      The last thing she’d asked was for him to give her Jason’s contact details and, to her surprise, he had done this without hesitation. He’d explained that the vineyard was extremely remote and that her brother was taking a break from all electronic forms of communication, but that she could write to him there.

      And Lexi had. She’d written several times. Long letters, which she’d tried to make cheerful—which hadn’t been easy, except for the bits when she told him how proud she was that he was turning his life around. That bit had burst straight from her heart.

      The only things she received in return were a couple of postcards—battered old things which looked as if they had been taken when photography was still in its infancy. The messages they contained had been succinct but encouraging.

      It’s GREAT!

      And,

      Best time of my LIFE!

      Lexi found that she was longing to see him again and she told him so in her next letter, hoping that her motives weren’t selfish. That she wasn’t just wanting contact with him because her heart felt so empty.

      One gloomy November evening, she had just poured herself a cup of tea when she heard the sound of footsteps on gravel, only this time she was paying attention and they were very definitely not the distinctive tread of her estranged husband.

      She pulled open the door and for a moment she didn’t recognise the man who stood on the doorstep, a rucksack on his back, wearing a jacket which was way too thin for the inclement weather. His hair was bleached blonde, his skin deeply tanned—and he was fit and muscular. He looked like someone she used to know, but only vague physical traces of that person still existed.

      ‘Jason?’ Lexi blinked. ‘Jason, is that really you?’

      ‘Better get yourself a new pair of glasses, sis. Of course it’s me!’ Laughing, he dropped his rucksack and gathered her in a fierce hug.

      ‘You’d better come in.’

      ‘Just you try stopping me.’ And then he frowned. ‘Lexi, you’re looking awfully thin.’

      ‘Rubbish.’ She shut the door and smiled at him. ‘Have you eaten?’

      ‘Not since lunchtime.’

      Over mushroom risotto he told her everything that had happened. How much he loved working outside, on the land. ‘But it’s more than that, Lexi,’ he said, tearing off a huge hunk of garlic bread. ‘Wine-making is so complex—and Greek wine has the potential to really do something spectacular in the marketplace—the way Australian wine did decades ago. And Xenon is pleased with what I’ve been doing. In fact, he’s offered to give me a permanent role in the family vineyards if I want it. And I do.’

      Ah yes, Xenon. The one name she hadn’t mentioned. The massive elephant in the room as far as Lexi was concerned, although Jason clearly had no such reservations. He said his brother-in-law’s name with a mixture of loyalty, affection and the faintest trace of hero worship.

      ‘It was very decent of him to help you,’ she ventured.

      ‘Yes, it was.’ Jason’s silvery-green eyes—so like her own, only without the myopic tendencies—started shining with enthusiasm. ‘Without being too melodramatic about it, I owe him my life. If he hadn’t come and found me and plucked me out of the gutter, I don’t know where I’d be today.’

      There was complete silence. With a hand which wasn’t quite steady, Lexi put her fork down on her plate. ‘What are you talking about? You went to him, didn’t you? You asked him for money because you were in terrible debt.’

      ‘Is that what he told you?’ Jason grinned and swopped his empty plate with her still almost full one. ‘The debt bit was right—but I didn’t ask Xenon for help. I think I was past the stage of knowing I needed it, when he suddenly appeared out of nowhere and told me he was going to give me one last chance to turn my life around. But that if I blew it, there wouldn’t be another.’

      He finished off Lexi’s risotto. Then started talking about integrating into Greek village life and a young woman he’d met who now made such integration seem vital, but Lexi barely took in a word he was saying.

      She didn’t understand.

      Xenon had come to her and made it sound as if Jason was demanding financial help—and that he would withhold that help without her co-operation. But now Jason was telling her that Xenon had been the instigator. That he had gone to her brother and offered him a solution to his problem.

      Why had he done that?

      There was only one reason she could think of. The same reason he’d given her for wanting to stay married to her—childless or