Page 16 of Vows of Revenge

‘Oh, the usual tourist things,’ he said airily. ‘What about grand stately homes? England is famous for them, after all.’

‘Well,’ she ventured hesitantly, ‘Blenheim Palace is only a few miles out of Oxford, if you want to stay local.’

‘Sounds perfect,’ he said, taking another savoury and starting to demolish it. ‘Why don’t you show it to me?’

‘Me?’ She looked taken aback.

‘Yes, we could make a day of it—after your conference.’

‘Er—um...’ Her hesitation was palpable.

‘Do you have something else planned?’ he posed.

She might, for all he knew. Presumably she had friends in England. She might have arranged to see them while she was here, as well as her mother.

‘No...no, not really,’ she replied awkwardly. ‘I might visit an old schoolfriend, but not till next weekend.’

Damos smiled encouragingly. ‘Good,’ he said, and started on the scones.

He was past second base and things were going just the way he wanted them to. He spread cream and jam generously on his cut scone, took a hearty bite, and with his free hand indicated the remaining delicacies.

‘Eat up,’ he said cheerfully. ‘And tell me all you know about Blenheim Palace. Now that we’ll be visiting it together...’

Kassia sat in her seat at the conference, but her mind was not on the presentation. It was back on having afternoon tea with Damos Kallinikos.

Damos Kallinikos, who had turned up out of the blue, in Oxford, taken her off to tea at his hotel, and then lined her up to visit Blenheim Palace with him the day after tomorrow.

Why?

That was the question in her head. Why did he want to spend more time with her? Accosting her at the Ashmolean might just be explicable, with reference to his decision to fund Dr Michaelis next season. But taking her to tea? Going off to Blenheim with her?

It didn’t make sense.

I’m the last kind of female a man like him would spend time with.

She knew that for certain now. Back in Greece she’d been unable to resist the temptation of looking him up on the Internet—and what had leapt onto her screen had not been his business affairs, in which she was not really interested anyway, and besides he’d already told her it was marine and shipping and so on, but what interested the tabloids and celebrity magazines. And that was, quite definitely, his social life. A social life which always seemed to involve him having a beautiful female draped on his arm. She’d counted at least two women familiar from the TV, one of whom was a fashion model, and another two who were well-known socialites in Athens. What they all had in common was the fact that they were show-stoppingly beautiful and glamorous...

And if there was one description which would never be used of herself it was that.

Just as she had in her bedroom after that dinner on his yacht, she felt a wave of sudden longing go through her. Oh, to be capable of looking glamorous—beautiful—show-stopping—stunning!

But it was hopeless. She’d always known that.

Her father had spelt it out brutally, with his sneering criticism of her gangly frame, and even her mother, far more kindly, had sighed because nothing she ate ever seemed to give her any curves or stop her growing so tall. On top of that, her hair was mouse-coloured and hung limply if loosened, and her eyes were too pale, her lashes likewise. So she’d never bothered trying to dress fashionably, never bothered to do anything with her lank hair, never bothered to wear any make-up.

But then in the world she lived in none of that mattered. Academia might be an ivory tower, as she’d remarked to Damos the day before over tea, but in it you were never judged on your looks.

After all, she thought, it was not as if she never dated. She had as a student and still did—fellow archaeologists and academics—only it was never with anyone remotely in Damos Kallinikos’s league.

She gave a sigh. She must stop thinking about him. Yes, it was unlikely that he wanted to spend a day visiting Blenheim with her, but maybe he just preferred to have some kind of company, and someone who was English and knew a fair amount about history in general. Anyway, she’d agreed, and that was that.

We’ll spend the day there, see the palace, then he’ll drop me back in Oxford and wave goodbye.

Paths diverging again.

And Damos Kallinikos would be out of her life, and she wouldn’t see him again.

Again.

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