скачать книгу бесплатно
Engrossed in his paperwork, he was either oblivious to her presence or choosing to ignore her, so she said to the rather beautiful wavy dark brown hair on the top of his head, ‘Why?’
He lifted that noble head of his slowly and eyed her unhappily. Throwing the pen in his hand to the desk, he said impatiently, ‘Thanks to Nikos, my PA Eleni ran away last week. I have now made it company policy that there is to be no relationships between employees. A policy that is to be implemented at all twenty-six hotels within the Christou Group. I can hardly go against that policy within days of its implementation.’
‘I’m not following... How does that impact me in my role as your PA?’
He crossed his arms and threw her a sceptical stare.
Confused, she said, ‘I would never date my boss... And anyway, I... I overheard your telephone conversation just now. Aren’t you looking for a wife? I’m not wife material.’
His eyebrows shot up. ‘I was talking about you and Nikos.’
‘Oh.’ Despite the inferno igniting her cheeks she heard herself laugh. ‘Nikos and me! Are you serious? He’s like a little brother. We’re friends—nothing more. Just as I’m friends with Marios and Angeliki.’
‘You’re friends with them too?’
‘I’ve got to know them over the past few months through Nikos. Marios and I share an interest in sea-swimming and Angeliki is teaching me Greek—she’s stayed over with me some nights.’
‘Really?’
Why did he sound so appalled...so surprised?
She rested a hand on the flimsy material of her mermaid tail, itching to whip it off, to go and put on some proper clothes. But perhaps she should fess up to everything in order to clear the air completely between them. Although she got the feeling he wasn’t going to like it.
‘There’s something else we need to talk about, as I’m presuming that you aren’t aware of it... I’ve moved into your family villa.’
* * *
She had what?
The mermaid wove a finger through the ends of her golden hair and gave him an uncertain smile before adding, ‘Nikos said I should stay at the villa as I will need to work late most days and the four-mile cycle back to my house in the dark is pretty terrifying, with all those open drops down to the sea.’
Had Nikos lost his mind? Yes, those who lived in the furthest reaches of the island often had to endure less than favourable road conditions on this car-less island. But he was the only person who still lived in the family villa.
Earlier this year, when he had made it clear how unhappy he was with their work, one by one the others had moved out. Nikos and Angeliki had originally shared an apartment overlooking the harbour in town, but had reluctantly agreed to move in to the new management apartment adjacent to The Korinna, that Loukas had commissioned as part of the renovations.
Nikos needed to be on hand when Loukas—who, along with his role as CEO of the Christou Group was also general manager of The Korinna—was away on business. Marios lived on his boat, moored at the town’s old harbour.
Was having Georgie move in to the villa another of Nikos’s ways of getting him back for pushing him so hard? Or was Georgie lying to him? Were she and Nikos an item and this was their way of living close to one another whilst pretending that they weren’t breaking the company’s newest human resources policy?
‘Why didn’t Nikos have you move in with him and Angeliki?’
She gave him a quizzical look. ‘I don’t think Nikos is in the mood for company at the moment...he’s pretty heartbroken.’
Nikos? Heartbroken? When had that happened? Why the hell didn’t he know anything about it?
‘Because of Eleni?’
Georgie considered him for a moment, as though wondering why he should even have to ask that question. ‘Yes, of course because of Eleni.’
His guilt and frustration at his fractured relationship with his siblings coiled in his stomach. He didn’t need this stranger reminding him of how much he was messing up in his role as head of the family.
But she obviously wasn’t a stranger to his siblings...and she knew more about their lives than he did. That fact stuck in his gut like a piece of indigestible news.
‘How did you meet Nikos?’
‘Through Eleni. She and I met one day on the beach. We became friends and she and Nikos used to visit me.’
They had? ‘I thought their relationship was a short affair.’
‘They’ve been together since the start of this year.’ For a moment she looked at him and worried at her lip with her teeth. Then, in a rush, she added, ‘I guess you weren’t aware as you travel so much with work. That’s why Nikos left today—he’s followed Eleni to Thessaloníki to try to speak to her.’
Had it come to this? A stranger having to find excuses for him as to why he had no idea what was going on in his brother’s life?
Along with his reconnaissance visits to some of the most exclusive hotels in Europe, he had deliberately spent most of the winter and the spring on week-long stays in their different hotels dotted throughout Greece—principally to carry out organisational and management reviews and to get direct customer feedback from their guests.
But he had also hoped that his siblings would become more responsible and resourceful in his absence.
The steel rod in his spine tightened. ‘It’s not appropriate that a member of staff lives in my villa. Nikos should never have told you that you could move in.’
‘I know it’s not ideal, but all the staff accommodation is full. I promise that I won’t get in your way, and it will only be until the rush of the reopening is over.’
Why was she so keen to stay? ‘The reopening isn’t for another week—why have you moved in now?’
Her bright expression faded. ‘My builder removed my old windows last week, believing that the new ones were to arrive that day, but they didn’t. Now I’ve no windows. I didn’t really mind, but the guesthouse is single-storey and one morning I woke to find a herd of goats staring at me in bed. It was pretty terrifying. I couldn’t sleep after that.’
Thrown by the laughter that danced at the back of his throat at a vision of Georgie Jones awaking to a herd of the local inquisitive goats, Loukas picked up the bronze paperweight he had inherited from his father. His fingers traced the raised profile of a turtle while he tried to clear his head of that image and consider what he should do.
He would need a PA—especially in the coming week. But the last thing he needed was an employee who might be a distraction for Nikos. He should get rid of Georgie. But to do so would only give his siblings more ammunition for them to rally against him and complain about his lack of heart. Anyway, he couldn’t bring himself to pack her off home to a house with no windows. His lips twitched as he pictured her waking to see the staring goats.
‘Like I said, I couldn’t help but overhear about your need for a wife... I might be able to help you.’
His head snapped up. ‘Are you offering?’
Her mouth dropped open. It was hard not to be offended by the horror in her eyes.
‘Heavens, no—I’m not the marrying kind, and anyway I heard your requirements. I’m not sure I fulfil any of them.’
She tilted her head and he saw a glimpse of astute calculation in her eyes before she gave him a bright smile.
‘But I do have an extensive network of friends throughout Europe as well as here on Talos... Suitable women who might be interested in meeting with you. Employ me and you not only get a PA but also your own in-house matchmaker.’
This mermaid was full of surprises. Intrigued, he asked, ‘Have you any actual experience in matching people?’
‘I’ve set up a lot of successful blind dates in the past... And last summer I attended the wedding of a colleague from Malaga and my car mechanic, who I got together.’
Was he so desperate that he was seriously considering employing a woman dressed as a mermaid to be his PA and matchmaker? In a word: yes. The current owners were giving him a month to complete his purchase of the convent. After that they would sell to the next bidder.
Never slow to make a decision, he said, ‘Okay, here’s the deal: I’ll employ you until I can recruit a replacement PA. If by some miracle you manage to find me a woman who will happily live here on Talos, who understands that our marriage will be one of convenience, is successful in her career and prepared to play a senior role in the Christou Group, and who is tough, especially when dealing with people, then I’ll pay you two months’ wages as a bonus.’
He gestured to the paperwork on his desk.
‘I have work to do. I’ll see you here tomorrow morning at seven.’
She made a face. ‘What about love?’
‘It’s not part of the equation.’
By the puzzlement in her expression he could see that he needed to explain further.
‘I’m marrying for two reasons, Ms Jones. To fulfil a clause that is present in the lease of an Italian hotel I wish to purchase, and to have someone who will assist me in the day-to-day operation of the business, with a specific focus on people management and supporting me in managing my family.’
Georgie eyed him dubiously for a moment. ‘Am I right in assuming that a marriage contract would be drawn up?’
‘My legal director is working on it at the moment. It will be a two-year contract with a generous salary and bonus package.’
She shrugged. ‘It’s not conventional...but who knows? It might work for the right woman. Someone who would like the opportunity to be part of the Christou Group.’
She moved forward and shook his hand firmly.
‘I’m looking forward to working here,’ she said. Then she turned to leave and slowly, oh, so slowly, took tiny steps towards the door.
He tried to go back to his paperwork. But his eyes refused to obey.
She flicked her head and for a moment he caught a glimpse of the knot holding her bikini top beneath the heavy weight of her long hair. His fingers itched with the impulse to pull at that string. To undress this mermaid.
At the door she wobbled as she turned to him. And then, with that oh, so sweet and cheery smile, warm hazel eyes twinkling, she said, ‘See you bright and early.’
When she had disappeared from view he stood and stared out towards the Saronic Gulf.
He needed to focus on what mattered. Successfully relaunching The Korinna. Getting his family functioning again. Finding himself a wife.
Why, then, did he get the feeling he was going to struggle to ignore his new PA?
Chapter Two (#uf8563532-bef1-5e7f-be73-5a4263030674)
LOUKAS THREW OFF his bedclothes, his heart pumping.
What was that noise?
In the pitch-dark he fumbled for his phone.
Four forty-one.
There it was again. A soft banging.
He eased out of the bed and grabbed the gym shorts he had left out the night before.
He slowly opened his bedroom door.
The sound was coming from downstairs.
He bunched his fists and crept along the corridor, his bare feet moving silently across the tiled floor.
His nostrils twitched.
He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, bewildered for a moment, his mind a dizzying blend of childhood memories, his heart kicking against his chest.
He shook his head, trying to make sense of it all, trying to shake off the disorientation of waking from a deep sleep to the reminder of his mother’s baking.
Slowly the penny dropped.
His house guest.
Thee mou! He was going to kill Nikos...and probably her too.
Downstairs, he followed the corridor to the kitchen-dining room at the far end of the villa.
The dining area was in darkness, but the recessed kitchen lights reflected like satellites at night off the angled bank of patio doors out onto the terrace.
He followed the sweet, seductive scent of baking, heard the soft thud of an oven door closing, cursing Nikos every step of the way.
He had back-to-back meetings later today. There were management problems at their hotel on Hydra, and yet more planning problems with their hotel on Santorini. He needed his sleep disturbed like he needed a hole in the head.
He pulled up short of the kitchen.
Who the hell...?
Thrown, he stared at the woman who was busy transferring items from a baking tray to a wire cooling rack. Barefoot, and dressed in lilac pyjama shorts and a cropped white T-shirt, she was humming to herself.
Who was she?
And then she turned ever so slightly, and those full lips, high cheekbones and glittering eyes were unmistakable.
‘Georgie?’
* * *
Georgie screamed and dropped the baking tray. The tray ricocheted off the edge of the kitchen counter with a clang, flipped onto its side and plummeted straight down, the corner catching the middle of her foot.
She yelped at the sharp pain and jumped back, hopping on her uninjured foot. But then she stood on one of the just-out-of-the-oven croissants scattered on the floor. The croissant crunched under her weight before becoming firmly attached to her sole. She yelped again and shot up to sit on the kitchen counter, frantically shaking her foot in a bid to remove the scorching hot pastry.
The pastry dropped to the floor with a disgruntled plop.
She stared down at her throbbing feet in disbelief before daring to turn towards Loukas.
‘Georgie?’ he said again.
Why did he sound so confused?
