Читать книгу Modern Romance January 2017 Books 5 - 8 - Мишель Смарт, Andie Brock - Страница 14

CHAPTER FIVE

THE NEXT DAY Xander sipped at his strong coffee, watching Elizabeth work. As soon as his plane had taken off, she’d taken herself to the furthest point away from him, to the large oak desk in his study area. There she had spent the past three hours making calls and working on her laptop.

She’d dressed in a short black skirt topped with an oversized monochrome top, her long hair sleek and glossy and falling over her shoulders. Last night, when he’d found her on the balcony, her hair had been wet. When she’d stormed away from him he’d noticed little curls springing up where it was starting to dry.

He remembered her curls so clearly and his heart throbbed to know they were still there even if they were straightened to within an inch of their life. She must have risen before the sun to get ready.

As polished as she appeared, carefully applied make-up could not disguise the dark rings under her eyes.

Done with her call, she put her cell phone on the desk.

He rose and walked over to her. ‘You should take a break.’

She didn’t look at him, turning her attention back to the screen in front of her and tapping out a few words on the keyboard. ‘When I’m finished.’

‘Lunch will be served soon.’ She hadn’t eaten anything since she’d landed in St Francis, her tuna tartare from the night before left untouched.

‘I’ll eat while I work.’

Her cell phone rang out. She snatched it up and put it to her ear.

‘Hey,’ she said in a much softer tone than she used with him.

Seating himself on the rounded sofa, nonchalantly hooking an ankle on his thigh, Xander listened to her one-sided conversation.

‘I’ll get it finished within the next hour,’ she was saying. Then she smiled. ‘Really? That’s great. I’d be lost without you.’ More silence, then, ‘I’ll call you later, when I’m settled.’

‘Who was that?’ he asked when she’d ended the call.

‘My PA.’

‘How’s she taking things?’ He thought of the large wedge of money he’d transferred into her four members of staff’s bank accounts.

‘He’s taking things fine.’

‘You have a male assistant?’

‘Yes. I call him my PA but, really, he’s my right-hand man. Not only is he an excellent organiser but he’s a whizz with technical stuff and can fix any of the gremlins our computer systems get with his eyes closed. Not that any of that matters any more.’ She sighed.

‘You work closely with him?’

‘More than anyone else, yes. Steve’s been with me pretty much from the beginning. He keeps the office running smoothly, which is just what I need as I travel so much. I couldn’t have done it without him.’

‘And is your relationship strictly professional?’ Her tone with ‘Steve’ had been tender. Now he knew it was a male she’d directed that tone at he felt an inexplicable urge to crush something.

Her face darkened. ‘Not that it’s any of your business but that’s a totally crass thing to ask.’

‘It is my business and it’s a natural thing to wonder about. You sounded very cosy speaking to him.’ Had their relationship been so obvious, so right there in front of them that his investigators had missed it?

‘Do not put me on the same level as you—not everything’s about sex. Steve’s my friend. I care about him. I care about all my employees. They’re all waking up to find they’ve lost their jobs but, rather than taking the money and running, they’re doing their best to help me wind the company up seeing as I’m going to be stuck in Greece for the foreseeable future and unable to do it myself, and they’re fielding calls from panicking clients who are all suddenly terrified their relationships are about to be exposed. So don’t even think of questioning my relationship with any of them. They’re the best bunch of people I know.’

As Xander had promised, pictures of the pair of them together had flooded the Internet, every gossip blog headlining with them. The photographer had got a good one of them in the car outside the hotel, when Xander’s hand had been buried in her hair. They were gazing into each other’s eyes.

Elizabeth had to admit, this picture would go a long way into making people believe they were in love. There was an intensity to their gazes that made her stomach do a funny turn.

It looked as if they were about to kiss.

She’d studied that picture for far too long, holding her breath as warmth spread through her veins until she’d clicked away from it with the tap of a shaking finger.

Two members of the cabin staff bustled through carrying trays of food.

‘I’ll eat here, thanks.’ Elizabeth pushed her laptop to one side to make room for hers. Xander indicated for his to be placed there too and sat himself on the leather seat opposite her.

She didn’t say anything, diving a fork into her salad and turning her attention back to her screen, determined to tune him out. It proved impossible.

Not wanting him to think he was affecting her appetite, she forced herself to eat. She was quite sure her Niçoise salad was the best salad she’d ever eaten but she couldn’t taste any of it.

Another message hit her inbox. She read it with a sigh.

‘A problem?’

She looked at the man responsible for this entire mess. ‘Nearly all my clients have terminated their contracts with me.’

Thanks to Xander tipping the paparazzo off, the whole world now knew about Leviathan Solutions. A member of his staff had released a statement that was practically word for word as he’d recited it in the car.

‘You knew that would happen,’ he reminded her.

‘Yes, but I wanted to tell my current clients personally. They deserve that much.’

At least the other Casanovas from the Celebrity Spy! scandal were matched already. She was confident Benjamin and Julianna would work out. They might have been playing cat and mouse with each other but, along with all the other things that made them perfectly suited to each other, there was real chemistry between them.

As for Zayn...the ladies she’d matched him with had turned out to be surplus to requirements as the beautiful Amalia, a PA, had unexpectedly been given the role. From the whispers Elizabeth had heard, blackmail was involved in this marriage. Whatever the truth, having seen Zayn and Amalia together she’d decided that, unlike Dante and Piper, they were a couple she would have matched.

She closed her eyes and fought back bitter tears.

She’d known yesterday that agreeing to rekindle their marriage would mean the end of her business. She hadn’t realised how swift its destruction would be.

‘Have you transferred the quarter-million you promised me?’ She didn’t have her pass key to access her bank via the Internet; Steve had promised to get it couriered to her in Diadonus.

She hated how Xander’s eyes narrowed at her question.

‘My current clients have paid for a service I can no longer provide,’ she explained hotly. ‘I have to refund them. There’s not enough in my account to pay it without that money.’

‘It’s been transferred.’

She sighed her relief and almost said thank you.

‘What will you do with the rest of the money I give you?’ he asked.

‘I’ll be earning that money. It won’t be a gift.’ By the time this was done, she would have earned every cent.

He quelled her with a stare. ‘Thirty million dollars is more than you’ve earned in your career. I’d say it’s a handsome pay-off for a few months’ work.’

‘Money isn’t everything.’

‘Tell that to the person who has nothing.’

Which was what she would have if they didn’t pull this off.

‘And if money means nothing to you, you would have turned it down.’

‘Just because I’m not that materialistic doesn’t mean I’m a fool. Once this is over I’ll still have to eat. I’ll still have a mortgage to pay.’ She just wouldn’t have her business. Her baby.

They’d talked of having babies, she remembered. They’d even chosen names. Imogen and Rebecca for the girls, Samuel and Giannis for the boys.

Leviathan Solutions was the closest thing to a baby she would have.

‘You’ll be able to pay your mortgage off.’

She shrugged. She wouldn’t allow herself to think of what she’d do with the money until this was over and the money was sitting pretty in her bank account.

‘How did you get into matchmaking?’ he asked. ‘You were going to be a writer.’

She forked a tomato and strove not to react. She hadn’t imagined he would remember anything important about her.

What harm could it do to tell him? It didn’t matter any more. The mystique she’d created around Leviathan no longer applied.

‘Chance. I had a college friend from my Brown days whose family would only agree to him joining the family firm if he married. Mike loathed the idea but not enough to forego his place in the firm. Phoebe was a friend from my junior high days, working as a legal secretary and hating everything about her life—she came from old money but her family had frittered most of it away. All she wanted was to marry someone with enough money for her to quit work, and raise kids and sit on charity boards. Shallow, I know, but she’s a really fun person to be around. Anyway, instinct told me they would be perfect for each other, and they were.’

‘How did that translate into providing a matchmaking service for the elite?’

‘Mike’s part of the Garcia family.’

Comprehension dawned in his eyes. Garcia’s was one of the largest privately owned investment banks in the US. ‘I see. And you went to college with Michael Garcia?’

‘Yes. I stayed in touch with a lot of my friends from Brown when I transferred to New York State.’

‘Why did you transfer?’ When Xander had received his investigator’s report on Elizabeth he’d been stunned to discover she’d transferred from the prestigious Ivy League Brown University to New York State. From the timings, it had happened soon after their time together on St Francis, right before she’d started her second year.

‘Lots of reasons, none of which I want to discuss with you.’

Shutters had come down on her amber eyes.

Whenever he’d unwittingly thought of her over the years he’d imagined her sitting at a desk, surrounded by novels and notebooks, scribbling away. Yet, instead of majoring in English Literature as she’d planned and becoming a scriptwriter, she’d majored in business and set up a matchmaking company.

‘Do you ever match people for love?’ She’d been an incurable romantic when he’d known her, a believer in destiny and the alignment of stars.

Her honey hair swung around her shoulders as she shook her head. ‘That’s not what my company’s about. What it was about. I brought together people who had specific needs in a partner which had nothing to do with love.’ Her eyes met his. ‘Both parties knew exactly what they were getting into. No lies. No deceit. No unrealistic expectations. No broken hearts.’

Her words were loaded with meaning, all of it singing loud and clear.

‘Doesn’t love come into it?’ he asked, refusing to believe the dreamer he’d met so long ago was completely gone.

She shook her head even more vigorously. ‘If people are stupid enough to want to be matched for love then they can go elsewhere for help in finding it. It doesn’t exist and I want no part in the destruction of their dreams.’

He contemplated her a little longer. Their thoughts on marriage aligned. Romantic happy ever afters were a nonsense. Hearing it from her lips though...it proved like nothing else that Elizabeth really had changed.

She was as cynical as he was.

* * *

Fourteen hours after leaving St Francis, they landed in Athens.

After years of travelling the world’s time zones, Elizabeth still struggled to adjust to the major differences. Her exhausted body thought it was midnight and time to sleep. The early Greek sunshine begged to differ.

Adjusting her watch to seven a.m., she followed Xander through the airport where they were whisked through the official bits, and out into a car. A short drive took them to a smaller airport, where they climbed the steps into a much smaller plane for the short flight to Diadonus.

Small but perfectly formed, Diadonus was part of the densely packed Cyclades and unmistakably Greek. The clear blue skies brought a chill to the morning but the rising sun promised warmer weather ahead.

Another car met them on the landing strip and soon they were on their way to Xander’s home.

‘Will your parents be there?’ she asked, voicing the fear in her belly that had been gnawing at her since they’d landed in Athens.

‘No. They rarely come to Diadonus. It’s unlikely you’ll meet them before the court hearing.’

‘Won’t they come and visit Loukas?’

The smile he gave her was bitter. ‘I can count on one hand the number of times they’ve visited him. Neither of them like it here. It’s too quiet for their tastes.’

‘But I thought you’d always lived here?’

‘The Trakas family has always had a home here but my parents prefer Athens. When I took over the running of Timos they moved there full-time.’

‘Do you live in the family home?’

‘Yanis and Katerina have it. I had a new home built for me five years ago.’

The new home turned out to be a palatial white Mykonian-style villa set above a horseshoe-shaped beach. Elizabeth had visited many palatial homes during the course of her career, none of which failed to evoke her admiration. This was the first that properly took her breath away. It had such simplicity and cleanliness yet such beauty, and the views... Breathtaking.

The Aegean rippled close by, its white surf skimming the sandy beach, clusters of white homes nestled close to the shoreline in all directions but far enough away to ensure absolute privacy. Squinting when she got out of the car, she could make out another island in the far distance.

Her throat closing, she followed Xander up white concrete steps to the front entrance. Her few possessions were taken in by a member of his household staff who materialised from nowhere with a friendly smile.

They had barely stepped inside before a squeal sounded out and a small, skinny figure in rumpled navy pyjamas hurtled into the reception room to throw his arms around Xander.

Loukas.

Xander lifted him high into the air and planted kisses all over his nephew’s face, to further squeals of delight.

It was only when he’d been placed back on his feet that Loukas noticed Elizabeth, hanging back a little, feeling decidedly like an intruder.

The happiness resonating from the blue eyes so like his uncle’s turned to wariness and he visibly shrank into himself.

Xander noticed the change and crouched down. ‘Loukas, this lady is my friend Elizabeth,’ he said slowly in English. Like generations of Trakas children, Loukas had an English nanny to ensure he grew up bilingual, but in recent months his learning had taken a backwards turn. His teachers at the local school he attended—a break from the Trakas tradition of educating privately in Athens—had reported him becoming ambivalent about his lessons and withdrawing more into himself. ‘She has come to stay with us.’

Loukas didn’t answer, just stared at Xander with his big blue eyes.

‘Will you say hello to her?’

Loukas shook his head, his thick mop of blond hair falling into his eyes. It needed cutting, Xander thought, his heart aching to see the emptiness in his nephew’s eyes.

It was at moments like this he wanted to grab his brother by the throat and shake him for all the crap he’d put his son through.

He knew Yanis and Katerina couldn’t help their addictions. He’d read all the literature and spoken to all the specialists; they all said the same thing. And in fairness to his brother and sister-in-law, they’d done their best to protect Loukas from it all. In their pitiful marriage they had at least tried to do the right thing by him, but they hadn’t accounted for their son being like a sponge and taking it all in: the regular hospitalisations, the frequent disappearing acts, the rows when the pain of their marriage broke through the alcohol and drug-inflicted stupors.

The best thing would be for them to divorce. They should never have married in the first place.

He did his best to understand them. The greatest emotion he felt towards them was pity but he could gladly shout himself hoarse to tell them that their best wasn’t good enough and that their son deserved better. But they already knew that.

Taking Loukas’s hand in his, Xander smiled. ‘Elizabeth is a nice lady. I promise. Maybe you can talk to her later. Would you like that?’

Loukas shook his head.

He could sense Elizabeth flinching behind him.

‘Can we have breakfast? I’ve been waiting for you,’ Loukas whispered in Greek. ‘We’ve set the table in the infinity room.’

‘Nai.’ Yes.

‘Not you.’ Loukas’s eyes suddenly fixed on Elizabeth. He’d rediscovered his English. ‘You go away.’

Elizabeth felt as if she’d been struck.

The little boy’s intense gaze didn’t leave her face, as if he thought he could make her disappear with the force of his will.

‘Loukas, that isn’t a polite thing to say to our guest, is it?’ Xander said in a low tone. ‘You must say sorry to her.’

To her horror, a tear appeared in Loukas’s left eye and fell down his face. His little shoulders heaved and this time a torrent of tears fell. Xander gathered him into his arms and carefully stood, Loukas clinging to him, his face buried in his neck.

Murmuring soothing words in Greek to his nephew, Xander threw an apologetic look at Elizabeth before indicating that she should follow them.

She walked behind them through an enormous living area, then through to a second cavernous room with a rounded ceiling. A dining table had been laid by a far wall. Xander set Loukas down and brushed away the last of his tears with his thumb, then took the seat next to him.

Feeling as awkward as she’d ever done in her life, Elizabeth sat herself opposite Loukas, Xander sitting between them at the head of the table. She barely registered the infinity pool just feet from them pouring out into a wall-less expanse that looked out over the Aegean, too overwhelmed at the situation to be overawed by anything like such an ostentatious display of wealth.

More staff appeared, carrying trays of yogurt and honey, fresh fruit, pastries and coffee.

Loukas shuffled his chair as close to his uncle as he could get, clearly thrilled to have him back. More than thrilled, she came to think later. Enthralled.

As she watched uncle and nephew interact, she understood why Xander had been so resolute in keeping his promise in returning to him. Xander was clearly Loukas’s hero.

When they’d finished eating and the plates had been cleared, a woman who was introduced as Loukas’s English nanny came in.

‘It’s time to get dressed,’ she told her charge. ‘We’re meeting Alekos soon to make dens.’

He pulled a mutinous face. ‘I don’t want to go.’

‘You wanted to the other day. Come on.’

Loukas looked hopefully at his uncle. ‘Can you come with me?’

Xander ruffled his hair. ‘We’ve had a long flight and need to rest. We’ll do something fun when you get back. Does that sound good?’

His chin wobbling, his nephew nodded and got down from the table.

Throughout their breakfast he hadn’t looked at Elizabeth once.