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‘So you should be. It’s a family set.’
Ella tensed. ‘Then I shouldn’t be wearing it.’
‘They’ve been mouldering in a safe for decades. Someone might as well wear them,’ Aristandros decreed in a bored tone that strangled the further protest on her tongue.
Feeling more than ever like a doll being decked out in decorative trappings, Ella put on the jewels. ‘I want to check on Callie before we leave,’ she told him then, barely glancing in the mirror to see how the superb necklace and earrings became her.
‘You have five minutes.’
Ella was dismayed to discover that her niece was still awake and crying intermittently. She had also pushed away the food that Kasma had tried to give her. Ella lifted the little girl out of her cot and examined her. She soon discovered that Callie was running a temperature and had swollen lymph-glands in her neck.
‘What’s wrong?’ Aristandros demanded from behind her a few minutes later.
‘I think Callie has tonsillitis. It’s probably viral, so antibiotics won’t do any good.’
Aristandros turned to the PA hovering at his elbow and instructed him to arrange for a doctor to call. Ella worried at her lower lip. Callie was miserable, and Ella didn’t want to leave her. Aristandros flashed her a sardonic look, and her chin came up at what she recognised as a direct challenge. She sped over to Kasma and hastily wrote down her mobile-phone number so that the nurse could keep her in touch with developments. She squeezed Callie’s hot little hand and walked away with guilty tears burning her own eyes.
‘She’s not seriously ill, is she?’ Aristandros breathed.
‘No, of course she isn’t. She’ll be fine.’
‘So, remember that you’re a doctor and stop over-reacting,’ Aristandros urged. ‘We’re going to a party.’
‘I’d rather stay here,’ Ella admitted, wondering how he was contriving to make her feel guilty as well. Her desire to comfort Callie had nothing whatsoever to do with her being a doctor.
‘But another doctor will be checking her out. She is in the best of hands. If there is further cause for concern, we will be informed,’ Aristandros pointed out levelly.
Feeling that she was making an unnecessary fuss, Ella breathed in slow and deep, and caught her reflection in a giant mirror as they descended the sweeping staircase into the hall. She barely recognised herself with the spectacular jewels glittering at her throat and ears, and the glorious dress shimmering in the soft lights.
Aristandros closed a hand over hers. ‘You look gorgeous, moli mou.’
CHAPTER SIX
THE PARTY WAS BEING thrown by Thierry Ferrand, an international banker and one of Aristandros’s closest friends. Thierry and his wife, Gabrielle, lived on the exclusive Avenue Montaigne near the Champs-Elysées, where a huge crowd of paparazzi was waiting on the street to catch photos of the guests arriving. This time round, Ella copied Aristandros, held her head high and acted as if the members of the press were invisible.
The Ferrand apartment had been transformed with jaw-dropping extravagance into a Moroccan backdrop for the party. The colourful tented walls, hanging lanterns and the hall fountain scattered with aromatic rose petals made Ella’s eyes widen. Aristandros anchored her to his side and introduced her to their hosts. She took an immediate liking to Gabrielle, a lively brunette with a contagious smile.
‘I believe you’re a doctor?’ Thierry Ferrand remarked.
‘Yes, but I’m no longer practising,’ Ella replied, a touch flatly.
Gabrielle studied her in surprise. ‘But why not?’
‘Ella plans to devote herself to my ward and her niece, Callie,’ Aristandros advanced.
‘It’s not easy to settle into being a lady of leisure,’ Gabrielle remarked. ‘I’m a corporate lawyer, Ella, and by the time my maternity leave was over I was ready to run back to work!’
‘You have a child?’ Ella asked.
Gabrielle needed no further encouragement to part Ella from Aristandros and take her upstairs to show off her adorable ten-month-old daughter who was fast asleep in her cot. The two women chatted.
‘You’re so normal and natural, not Ari’s usual style of companion,’ Gabrielle commented, her curiosity unhidden. ‘Several of his exes are here tonight, and the usual squad of man-hungry singles. I shouldn’t have dragged you away from him. You can’t afford to leave Ari alone for a moment. Women really do go mad for him.’
Ella shrugged, still bone-deep furious with Aristandros at his stony-hearted response to Callie’s illness and his determination that Ella should leave her to attend the party. As far as Ella was concerned, at that moment any woman was welcome to him. ‘Ari is very well able to look after himself,’ she said lightly.
