Dark Avenger

‘What do you mean—punished?’ she asked warily. She’d heard some pretty graphic descriptions of the way these proud and arrogant Greeks repaid insults to their family honour. And if the family was rich and powerful enough the guardians of the law had a habit of looking the other way.

‘An eye for an eye, Miss Stevens,’ he said with a grim smile, ‘a tooth for a tooth. I’m sure you’re familiar with the biblical reference?’

For a moment she couldn’t fathom what he was talking about then a seed of suspicion exploded and bloomed sickeningly in her mind.

Seeing the effect his threat had on her, he nodded with ironic amusement. ‘Yes, Miss Stevens. It’s only common justice, after all. What your brother did to my sister I can easily do to his.’ He paused, then, as if to make sure that she was in no doubt as to the fate he planned for her, he showed his teeth in another smile of grim anticipation. ‘I’m going to make you pregnant, Miss Stevens. Gloriously and abundantly pregnant.’

For a moment her breath was taken away by the sheer callousness of the man then she glared at him with a mixture of scorn and downright anger. ‘So you lied. You do intend to rape me after all. Just like the brute you really are.’ She gave him a withering snort of contempt. ‘You may be rich and you may think of yourself as a man of honour but as far as I’m concerned any man who’d contemplate such a thing is worth less than the scum in the gutters of Piraeus.’

It was a deliberate and calculated insult made with an outward show of bravado but the cold smile remained to taunt her.

‘You’ve got it all wrong, my dear Carrie. I’m not going to rape you. On the contrary. You’re the one who is going to make the running. You’re going to plead with me to make love to you. You’re going to beg me on your hands and knees.’

Uncertainty flickered in her eyes and she attempted a laugh of derision. ‘You must be stark raving mad. Hell would have to freeze over before I’d do that.’

‘You have a month,’ he told her calmly. ‘This trip will last a month and by the end of it you’d better be pregnant. Or else.. .’

‘Or else what?’ she demanded with a sneer.

His green eyes bored into her and he spoke every word slowly and carefully so that she was left in no doubt whatsoever. ‘In that case your brother will be returned to you. But my cousins will make sure that he has neither the desire nor the ability to father any more children.’

He smiled contentedly at her look of horror then he rubbed his hands together briskly. ‘Now why don’t you go below and make us some coffee while I look after the boat? We’ve got a very interesting and exhausting month ahead of us, I should say.’

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_f396808c-fbdc-5ef9-aa83-c32ae6fe4530)

CARRIE stood on the makeshift wooden jetty and watched as Nikos expertly used the derrick to lift the last of the cargo from the hold and swing it ashore.

John Chambers, the man in charge of the archaeological team, checked the items against his list. ‘Everything seems to be there, Carrie. You just made it on time. We were getting worried. We’re down to our last gallon of paraffin and tin of beans.’ He took an envelope from the pocket of his bush shirt. ‘This is a list of the supplies we’ll be needing by the end of September. Just the usual stuff.’

She smiled brightly. ‘No problem, Mr Chambers. The Miranda has never let you down yet, has she?’

‘Who’s the new deckhand?’ asked John in a loud voice, nodding in Nikos’s direction.

‘Just a temporary replacement,’ she said in an equally loud voice. ‘The more temporary the better, as far as I’m concerned.’

John guffawed. ‘I suppose Jimmy is up to his usual tricks, eh, chasing the young dolly birds on Mykonos? By God, I wouldn’t mind being nineteen again myself.’

It hadn’t been the most tactful thing to say in Nikos’s hearing and from the corner of her eye she saw him stiffen. At least now that night had fallen he’d had the decency to put on his shirt again, she noted with relief. She stood idly chatting with John while he loaded the stores into the Land Rover then she waved goodbye as he drove off then stepped over the bulwark on to Miranda’s deck.

Nikos had finished securing the derrick and now he glanced at his watch and grunted, ‘We can be on Paraxis within an hour. Cast off the lines and I’ll start the main engine.’

She glared at him and said stiffly, ‘This is still my boat. I’m not taking orders from you. Tomorrow we’re heading south. Paraxis is in the other direction.’

‘I need to buy some clothes,’ he said sharply. ‘I’ve nothing but the things I’m wearing.’

‘That’s not my fault,’ she retorted. ‘You should have thought of that before you took it on yourself to—’ Her sentence ended in a squeal as he grabbed her and unceremoniously lifted her up and dumped her back on the jetty.

‘Have it your own way,’ he growled. ‘You can stay here tonight. I’ll be back to pick you up in the morning.’

Furiously she watched as he turned his back on her and ducked into the engine compartment. His head reappeared for a moment and he shouted, ‘You can spend the night with your archaeological friends. I’m sure they can find you a spare tent.’

If only she could, she thought bitterly. Anything would be better than having to spend the night anywhere near him but the Land Rover had gone and it would be a four-mile trek in the darkness to the excavation site. Anyway, why should she be the one to go?

Defiantly she jumped back on board and, quivering with rage, she waited to confront him. If only some fairy godmother would turn her into a man for five minutes. A great hulking brute of a man with no neck and tattooed knuckles. Two minutes would be enough. That would give her enough time to teach Nikos Spirakis a lesson he’d never forget. She’d…she’d…

The main diesel rumbled protestingly into life and Nikos emerged and grinned at her. ‘So you’ve changed your mind? Good. Now go and cast off the stern line.’

Her voice smouldered with a low, barely contained fury. ‘Let’s get one thing straight here and now, Mr Spirakis. No one, not even someone as high and mighty as you, will give me orders aboard my own boat. And I’d remind you of something else. The Miranda is not only my boat, it’s my home. If anyone spends the night ashore it’ll be you.’

He raised a darkly amused eyebrow. ‘Your comments have been noted. Now cast off the stern line.’

‘Cast it off yourself,’ she snapped. ‘I’m going below.’

In the privacy of her tiny, cramped cabin she sat on the edge of her bunk with her chin despondently in her hands and stated at the blank bulkhead. God, what a mess! How was it possible for her life to have been turned upside-down in so short a time? If it hadn’t been for that cretin up there tonight would have been no different from countless other nights. She’d have been making dinner while Jimmy pottered about on deck, checking and doing routine maintenance. They’d have their dinner on deck then she’d wash up. Later they’d have a game of cards and share a bottle of wine and reminisce about their father and the good times they’d had. Jimmy would usually turn in first. On a warm night like this he’d fetch his sleeping-bag from below and spread it on the forecastle. She’d sit outside the wheelhouse for a while gazing contentedly at the stars until drowsiness overcame her and she too would turn in.

It had been a healthy, happy and uncomplicated way of life. They’d known they’d never make a fortune but that didn’t matter. Some day Jimmy might get married—or she might meet someone and fall in love herself. Who could tell? But neither of them had worried about it. Like their late father they’d been content to leave their future in the hands of fate.

It had all turned sour now, though. Instead of being kind fate had turned out to be a mugger in a dark alley.

She still hadn’t really come to terms with the ultimatum she’d been given but one thing was certain—she couldn’t allow the Spirakis family to carry out their threat against her brother. It was too barabaric and horrendous to contemplate.

There was really no choice, she realised bitterly. She would have to give in to Nikos’s demand. It would mean humiliation. Utter degradation. But what was that compared to being crippled for life?

Becoming pregnant and having a child she didn’t want was a prospect that filled her with dismay, but how was she going to avoid it? And when she had this child, what then? She’d have to support it and look after it as best she could but how was she going to do that and continue with her carefree, nomadic way of life? The Miranda was no place to try and bring up an infant.

As for Jimmy, he’d have to support the girl and the child he’d so thoughtlessly fathered. His hands would be full and he’d have no time for her in spite of the fact that it was all his stupid fault.

As for Nikos Spirakis, he was nothing but a sadist. ‘An eye for an eye’, he’d said. But he was wrong. There was a big difference. Jimmy had presumably seduced the Spirakis girl—or for all anyone knew it might well have been the other way around—but he certainly hadn’t raped her. But that was exactly what Nikos intended doing to her. He might try to deny it and twist the words but the moral blackmail he was using was simply violence on a more refined level.

The more she thought about it, the darker and more insoluble her problems became and after half an hour she gave up in disgust and went up on deck to cool off.

Her abductor’s face was a mask of shadow and light as he glanced down at her from the dimly lit wheelhouse and she turned her back on him disdainfully and stared ahead. The starlight reflected from the still and silent sea and dead ahead she could see the brighter lights of Paraxis.

The Miranda seemed to be moving faster than usual and she scowled. That meant that the throttle was wide open, which meant more engine wear and higher fuel consumption, but of course he wouldn’t let a little thing like that bother him. Glancing aft, she noted the phosphorescent wake stretching backwards, true and straight, and she grudgingly had to admit that, apart from the engine, he certainly knew how to handle a boat—but considering that his family was big in the shipping business that was hardly surprising.

Soon she could hear the sounds of the island carrying faintly across the water—taxi horns and the steady thump from one of the discos. She had no time for the larger Greek islands during the tourist season. It seemed to her that the main seafront towns and villages tarted themselves up like goodtime girls out to make a fortune while the pickings were good. They made her feel sorry and ashamed for the inherently decent islanders.

However, that was their worry. She had enough of her own to think about.

Suddenly her heart was in her mouth as Nikos took the Miranda at full speed into the crowded harbour. He headed directly towards a vacant berth at the quayside, threw the engine into reverse at the last moment, spun the wheel and nestled the Miranda gently alongside. She let out her breath in a sigh of relief. Damn him! He’d just done that to frighten or impress her.

Standing resolutely with her arms folded, she left him to do the tying up. As soon as he was ashore she was going to go below again, have some supper then lock her cabin door and try to get some sleep.

Nikos had other ideas. Grabbing her by the waist, he practically lifted her off her feet as he pulled her on to the quay.

Pushing him away, she spat, ‘Let me go. I’m not going anywhere with you.’

The green eyes glittered dangerously for a moment then he relaxed and smiled coldly. ‘You’ve no option, Carrie. If I leave you alone you might decide to do something stupid like sailing off without me. Of course I’d catch up with you sooner or later but in the meantime I’m afraid that your unfortunate brother…’ He shrugged and left the sentence unfinished.