Conveniently Wed To The Greek
Kandy Shepherd
A marriage for the sake of her baby…When luxury hotelier Alex Mikhalis encounters the blogger who once nearly destroyed his reputation, he wants to get even. Only Adele Hudson isn’t exactly as he remembers. She’s pregnant, alone and he can’t stop his protective instincts kicking in!After a difficult break up, Adele is very wary of all relationships. She had no choice but to accept the Greek tycoon’s offer of a job, despite their complicated past. But his next suggestion is much more intimate: becoming his convenient wife!
A marriage for the sake of her baby...
When luxury hotelier Alex Mikhalis encounters the blogger who once nearly destroyed his reputation, he wants to get even. Only Adele Hudson isn’t exactly as he remembers. She’s pregnant and alone, and he can’t stop his protective instincts kicking in!
After a difficult breakup, Adele is very wary of all relationships. She has no choice but to accept the Greek tycoon’s offer of a job, despite their complicated past. But his next suggestion is much more intimate: becoming his convenient wife!
‘Why should I trust you?’ Memories of his intimidation on the courtroom steps flooded back.
Adele became aware that she and the tall, broad-shouldered Alex Mikhalis were the focus of interest among the customers of the café. She moved closer to him so she could lower her voice. He moved closer as well. Too close. She felt as if he were taking up all the air, making her heart race, her breath come short.
‘I’m a different man,’ he said, his expression intent, his dark eyes unreadable as he searched her face.
He looked different—that was for sure. Stripped of designer trappings to a raw masculinity that, in spite of her dislike of him, she could not help but appreciate. As for his nature… Leopards didn’t change their spots. And there had always been something predatory about him.
She couldn’t help the snort of disbelief that escaped her. ‘Huh! You? As if I’d believe—’
A flash of pain contorted his features, but was gone so quickly she might have thought she’d imagined it if it hadn’t made such an impression on her that it stopped her words short. For a long moment she stared up at him. It had been three years since she had faced him on the courtroom steps. He had been through trauma such as she couldn’t imagine. Who knew how that might have affected him? Maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe she should consider taking his offer. Maybe their convenient arrangement would change everything… for both of them.
Conveniently Wed to the Greek
Kandy Shepherd
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
KANDY SHEPHERD swapped a career as a magazine editor for a life writing romance. She lives on a small farm in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her husband, daughter and lots of pets. She believes in love at first sight and real-life romance—they worked for her! Kandy loves to hear from her readers. Visit her at www.kandyshepherd.com (http://www.kandyshepherd.com).
To Catherine and Keith,
with thanks for introducing me to the beauty of the Ionian Islands.
Contents
Cover (#u6841f04d-20cc-52ad-99d5-1d3c514a197f)
Back Cover Text (#uba45c29f-16e6-52dd-bcb4-b66f5f77464a)
Introduction (#uc79ad2a0-d7b8-5b56-bff7-65478d37270b)
Title Page (#u6659ca6a-a8b3-542f-8556-ba8f79226e3c)
About the Author (#u407a0956-3451-5a56-8a48-ff4d3183e7b4)
Dedication (#ubdc04095-97c3-581e-b9d5-9437804414d4)
CHAPTER ONE (#ubbc72fba-f9c2-5567-acdd-eaeeeb5d95da)
CHAPTER TWO (#u69619367-ffa7-5d5f-809c-a5c289490d57)
CHAPTER THREE (#u08ea186c-5e38-5c34-bc0f-075489644c47)
CHAPTER FOUR (#uf6767d14-e5b5-5988-bab7-afacda6fb952)
CHAPTER FIVE (#u757e715c-d474-515e-bffa-26b3cfce476d)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#uf99f15a4-555d-51b0-bd17-eea78c3acc23)
ADELE HUDSON WAS too busy concentrating on the yoga teacher’s instructions to take much notice of the latecomer who took a place to her left and unrolled his mat. From the corner of her eye she registered that he was tall, black-haired, and with the lean, athletic body she would expect from a man who did yoga. Nice. But that was as far as her interest went.
Until she attempted to balance on one leg, with the other tucked up against her upper inner thigh, in the vrksasana or ‘tree’ pose. It seemed impossible for a beginner. Why had she thought this class was a good idea?
Dell risked a glance to see if the guy next to her was doing any better. He held the pose effortlessly, broad shoulders, narrow hips, tanned muscular arms in perfect alignment. But the shock of recognition as he came into focus made her wobble so badly she had to flail her arms to stay upright.
Alexios Mikhalis. It couldn’t be him. Not here in this far-flung spa retreat on the south coast of New South Wales where she had come to find peace. Not now when she so desperately needed to regroup and rethink her suddenly turned upside down life. But a second quick glimpse confirmed his identity, although he looked very different from the last time she had seen him three years ago pummelling her reputation in court. This man had done everything in his power to destroy her career. And very nearly succeeded.
A shiver of dread ran through her—threatening her balance in more ways than one. He was the last person on earth she wanted to encounter. She had more than enough on her mind without having to shore up her defences against him. Quickly Dell looked away, praying her nemesis hadn’t recognised her. Tragedy had visited him since they’d last met, but she doubted he would be any less ruthless. Not when it came to her.
‘Lengthen up through the crown of your head,’ the yoga teacher intoned in her breathy Zen-like voice.
But it was no use. Dell’s concentration was shot. Why was he here? The more she tried to balance on one shaky leg, the more impossible the pose seemed. How the heck did you lengthen through the crown of your head anyway? In spite of all efforts to stay upright, she tilted sideward, heading for a humiliating yoga wipe-out.
A strong, masculine hand gripped her elbow to steady her. Him. ‘Whoa there,’ came the deep voice others might find attractive but she had only found intimidating and arrogant.
‘Th...thank you,’ she said, her chin down and her eyes anywhere but at him, pretending to be invisible. But to no avail.
His grip on her arm tightened. ‘You,’ he said, drawing out the word so it sounded like an insult.
Dell turned her head to meet his hawk-like glare, those eyes so dark they were nearly black. She tilted her chin upwards and tried without success to keep the quiver from her voice. ‘Yes, me.’
Her final encounter with him burned in her memory. Outside the courthouse he had stood on the step above her using his superior height to underline the threat in his words. ‘The judge might have ruled in your favour but you won’t get away with this. I’ll make sure of that.’
In spite of his loss since then, she had no doubt he still meant every word.
‘What are you doing here?’ His famously handsome face contorted into a frown.
‘Apart from attempting to learn yoga?’ she asked with the nervous laugh that insisted on popping out when she felt under pressure. ‘Resting, relaxing, those things you do when you come to a health spa.’ She didn’t dare add reviewing this new resort.
This was the tycoon hotelier who had chosen to do battle with her. She was the food critic who had dared to publish a critical review of the most established restaurant in his empire. He’d sued the newspaper that had employed her for an insane amount of money and lost.
Alex Mikhalis had not liked losing. That he was a winner was part of the ethos he’d built up around him—the hospitality mogul who launched nightclubs and restaurants that instantly became Sydney’s go-to venues, wiped out his competitors and made him multiple millions. ‘Playboy Tycoon with the Magic Touch’—her own newspaper had headlined a profile on him not long before her disputed review.
After the scene on the courtroom steps, she’d been careful to stay out of his way. Then he’d disappeared from the social scene that had been his playground. Even the most intrepid of her journalist colleagues hadn’t been able to find him. And here he was.
‘You’ve hunted me down,’ he said.
‘I did no such thing,’ she said. ‘Why would I—?’
‘Please, silence.’ The yoga instructor’s tone was now not so Zen-like.
‘Let’s take this outside,’ he said in a deep undertone, maintaining his grip on her elbow.
Dell would have liked to shake off his hand, then place her hands on his chest and shove him away from her. But she was a guest at the spa—here at the owner’s invitation—and she didn’t want to cause any kind of disruption.
‘Sorry,’ she mouthed to the instructor as she let herself be led out of the room, grateful in a way not to have to try any more of those ridiculously difficult poses.
With the door to the yoga room shut behind them, Dell took the lead to one of the small guest lounges scattered through the resort. Simple white leather chairs were grouped around a low table. It faced full-length glass windows that looked east to a view of the Pacific Ocean, dazzling blue in the autumn morning sun filtered through graceful Australian eucalypts.
Now she did shake off his arm. ‘What was that all about?’
‘My right to privacy,’ he said, tight-lipped.
Dell was struck again by how different the tycoon looked. No wonder she hadn’t immediately recognised him. Back then he’d been a style leader, designer clothes, a fashionable short beard, hair tied into a man bun—though not in court—flamboyant in an intensely masculine way. She’d often wondered what his image had masked. Now he was more boot camp than boutique—strong jaw clean shaven, thick dark hair cropped short, pumped muscles emphasised by grey sweat pants and a white singlet. Stripped bare. And even more compelling. Just her type in fact—if he had been anyone but him.
‘And I impinged on your privacy how?’ she asked. ‘By taking a yoga class that you happened to join? I had no idea you were here.’
‘Your newspaper sent you to track me down.’ It was a statement, not a question.
‘No. It didn’t.’ The fact she no longer worked for the paper was none of his concern. ‘I’m a food writer, not an investigative journalist.’
His mouth twisted. ‘Does that matter? To the media I make good copy. No matter how hard I’ve worked to keep off the radar since...since...’
He seemed unable to choke out the words. She noticed tight lines around his mouth, a few silver hairs in the dark black of his hair near his temples. He was thirty-two, three years older than her, yet there was something immeasurably weary etched on his face.
Another shiver ran up Dell’s spine. How did she deal with this? This wealthy, powerful man had been her adversary. He had threatened her with revenge. She was convinced his attack on her newspaper had led in part to her losing her job. But how could she hold a grudge after what he had endured?
‘I know,’ she said, aware her words were completely inadequate. Just a few months after his unsuccessful court case against her, his fiancée had been taken hostage by a crazed gunman in one of his city restaurants. She hadn’t come out alive. His grief, his anger, his pain had been front-page news. Until he had disappeared.
Wordlessly, he nodded.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘I...wanted to let you know that when...when it happened. But we weren’t exactly friends. So I didn’t. I’ve always regretted it.’
He made some inarticulate sound and brushed her words away. But she was glad she had finally been able to express her condolences.
She was surprised at the rush of compassion she felt for him at the bleak emptiness of his expression. He had lost everything. She didn’t know where he had been, why he was back. His colourful and tragic history made him eminently newsworthy. But she wouldn’t make a scoop of his secret by selling the story of her encounter with him. In spite of the fact such a story would bring her much-needed dollars.
‘Be assured I won’t be the one to reveal your whereabouts,’ she said. ‘Not to my press contacts. Not on my blog. I’m here for the rest of the week. I’ll stay right out of your way.’
She left him looking moodily out to the waters of Big Ray beach and had to slow her pace to something less than a scurry. No way did she want this man to think she was running away from him.
* * *
In theory, Alex should not have seen Adele Hudson again. The Bay Breeze spa was designed for tranquil contemplation as well as holistic treatments. In the resort’s airy white spaces there was room for personal space and privacy.
But only hours after the yoga class he encountered her in the guest lounge, still in her yoga pants and tank top, contemplating the range of herbal teas and chatting animatedly to an older grey-haired woman who was doing the same. He was on the hunt for caffeine so did not back away. Not that he was in the habit of backing away. He’d always thrived on confrontation.
Alex had always regarded the sassy food critic as an adversary—an enemy, even. Back then he had been implacable in protecting every aspect of his business—an attack on it was an attack on him. He certainly hadn’t registered anything physical about the person he’d seen as intent on undermining his success with her viperish review of his flagship restaurant. Yet now, observing her, he was forced to concede she was an attractive woman. Very attractive. And in spite of their past vendetta, he had seen compassion and understanding in her eyes. Not the pity he loathed.
She wasn’t anything like the type of woman he’d used to date—blonde and willowy models or television celebrities who’d looked good on his arm for publicity purposes. Mia had been tall and blonde too. He swallowed hard against the wave of regret and recrimination that hit him as it always did when he thought about his late fiancée and forced himself to focus on the present.
Adele was average height, curvier than any model, with thick auburn hair she’d worn tied back in the yoga class but which now tumbled around her shoulders. She wasn’t conventionally pretty—her mouth was too wide, her jaw line rather too assertive for ‘pretty’—but she was head-turning in her own, vibrant way. It was her smile he was noticing now—she’d never had cause to smile in his presence. In fact he remembered she’d been rather effective with a snarl when it had come to interacting with him.
Her mouth was wide and generous and she had perfect teeth. When she laughed at something the other woman said her whole face lit up; her eyes laughed too. What colour were they? Green? Hazel? Somewhere in between? The other woman was charmed by that smile. Alex could tell that from where he stood.
Yet when Adele looked up and caught him observing her the smile faded and her face set in cool, polite lines. Her shoulders hunched as if to protect herself from him and her eyes darted past him and to the doorway. Who could blame her for her dislike of him? He wished he could make up to her for the way he’d behaved towards her. As he’d tried to make amends to others he’d damaged by his ruthless, self-centred pursuit of success. Make amends to them because he could never make amends to Mia. Her death hung heavily on his conscience. His fault.
He headed towards Adele. She smiled at him. But it was a poor, forced shadow of the smile he’d seen dazzling her companion just seconds before—more a polite stretching of her lips. He found himself wanting to be warmed by the real deal. But not only did he not deserve it from this person he had so relentlessly hounded, it would be pointless.
There was something frozen inside his soul that even the most heartfelt of smiles from a lovely woman could never melt. Something that had started to shut down the day he’d got a phone call from the police to say a psycho had his city restaurant in lockdown and was holding his fiancée hostage with a gun to her head. Something that had formed cold and rock solid when Mia had lost her own life trying to save another’s.
‘Hello there,’ Dell said very politely. Then turned to the woman beside her and gestured towards him. ‘We met in the yoga class,’ she explained, not mentioning his name by way of introduction.
So she intended to keep her word about maintaining his privacy. He was grateful for that. Alex nodded to the older woman. He did not feel obliged to share anything about himself with strangers—even his name.
He turned to the artful display of teas in small wooden chests. ‘This is a fine selection,’ he said with genuine interest. He was here to glean information for his new project. A hotel completely different from anything he’d created before. He’d been isolated from the hospitality business in the past years and needed to be on top of the trends. He knew all about partying and decadence—what he sought now was restraint and calm. A different way of doing business. A different life.
‘Tea has become very fashionable,’ Adele said in what seemed a purposely neutral voice, more for the benefit of the other woman rather than any conscious desire to engage in conversation with him. ‘Not any old teas, naturally. Herbal teas, healing tisanes, special blends. I highly recommend the parsnip, ginger and turmeric blend—organic and vegan, which is a good thing.’
Alex gagged at the thought of it.
But if that was what people wanted at a place like this, it would be up to him to give it to them. Of course Adele would know about what was fashionable in foods and beverages. Her Dell Dishes blog attracted an extraordinary number of visitors. Or it had three years ago when he had instructed his lawyers to delve deep into her life with particular reference to her income.
At one stage he had thought about suing her personally as well as via the publishing company that had employed her as a food critic and editor of its restaurant guide. Back then, scrutinising Dell Dishes, he hadn’t thought she had done enough to monetise her site, to take advantage of the potential appeal to advertisers. Needless to say he hadn’t offered her any advice—he’d wanted to bring her down, not help her soar.
‘I’ll pass on the parsnip tea, thank you,’ he said, suppressing a grimace. ‘What I want is coffee—strong and black.’ He couldn’t keep the yearning from his voice.
‘No such thing here, I’m afraid,’ she said, with a wry expression that he couldn’t help but find cute. Cute. It was incomprehensible that he should find Adele Hudson cute.
He groaned. ‘No coffee at all?’
She shook her head. ‘Not part of the “clean food” ethos of the spa. You’ll have to sneak out to the Bay Bites café. They serve Dolphin Bay’s finest coffee. I can personally vouch for it.’
‘I might follow up on that.’
His friends the Morgan brothers, Ben and Jesse, had made the once sleepy beachside town of Dolphin Bay into quite a destination with the critically acclaimed Hotel Harbourside, Bay Bites, Bay Books and now the eco-friendly Bay Breeze spa in which Alex had invested in the early stages. It would not be long before he saw a return on his investment.
The new resort was still in its debut phase but had been an immediate success. It had been booked out for Easter a few weeks back. The Morgans had read the market well. In just one day Alex had picked aspects he liked about the operation and ones he didn’t think would translate to his new venture. What worked in Australia might not necessarily work in Greece.
‘Escaping for coffee is hardly in the spirit of eating clean food.’ Adele sounded stern but there was an unexpected gleam of fun in her eyes. Eyes that were green like the olives growing on the island in the Ionian Sea that had once belonged to his ancestors and that he had bought so it once more was owned by a Mikhalis.
He couldn’t help his snort of disgust at her comment. ‘So does “clean food” mean that all other food is “dirty”? I don’t like the idea of that. Especially the traditional Greek foods I grew up on.’
‘I think that term is debatable too,’ she said. ‘I wonder if—?’
Adele’s grey-haired companion chose that moment to pick up her cup of herbal tea and make to move away. ‘I want to say again how much I love your blog,’ she enthused. ‘My daughter told me about it. Even my granddaughter is a fan, and she’s still at school.’
Adele flushed and looked pleased. As she should—it was no mean feat to have her site appeal to three generations. ‘Thank you. I hope I can keep on bringing you more of what you enjoy.’
‘You’ll do that, I’m sure,’ the other woman said. ‘In the meantime, I’ll leave you two to chat.’ She departed but not without a speculative look from Alex to Adele and back to him again.
Alex groaned inwardly. He recognised that gleam in her narrowed eyes. The same matchmaking gleam he’d seen often in the women of his extended Greek family. This particular lady had got completely the wrong end of the stick. He had no romantic interest whatsoever in Adele Hudson. In fact he had no interest in any kind of permanent relationship with any woman—in spite of the pressure from his family to settle down. Not now. Not ever. Not after what he’d endured. Not after what he had done.
Besides, Adele was married. Or she had been three years ago. He glanced down at her left hand. No ring. So maybe she was no longer married. Not that her marital state was of any interest to him.
Adele had obviously not missed that matchmaking gleam either. When she looked back at him, the undisguised horror in her eyes told him exactly what she thought of the idea of anyone pairing her with him.
Alex had taken worse insults in his time. So why did that feel like a kick to the gut? He decided not to linger any longer at the tea station. Or to admit even to himself that he would like lovely Adele Hudson to look at him with something other than extreme distaste.
CHAPTER TWO (#uf99f15a4-555d-51b0-bd17-eea78c3acc23)
THE NEXT TIME Alex saw Adele Hudson he’d beaten her to their mutual destination—the dolphin-themed Bay Bites café that overlooked the picturesque harbour of Dolphin Bay. The café was buzzing with the hum of conversation, the aromas of fresh baking—and that indefinable feeling of a successful business. Alex missed being ‘hands on’ in his own restaurants so much it ached. That world was what had driven him since he’d been a teenager. Even before that. As a child he’d spent some of his happiest hours in his grandfather’s restaurant.
Here he could sense the goodwill of the customers, the seamless teamwork of the staff. All was as he liked it to be in his own establishments. And Adele had been right, the café did have excellent coffee. He was sitting at a table near the window, savouring his second espresso, when he looked up to see her heading his way, pedalling one of the bicycles Bay Breeze provided for guests.
She cycled energetically, a woman on a mission to get somewhere quickly. Her face was flushed from exertion as she got off and slid the bike onto a rack outside the café. She took off her bike helmet and shook out her auburn hair with a gesture of unconscious grace. Her hair glinted with copper highlights in the morning sunlight, dazzling him.
This woman was nothing to him but an old adversary. Yet Alex found it difficult to look away from her fresh beauty. Since he’d been living in Greece, getting back to basics with his family there, he felt as if he were seeing life through new eyes. He was certainly seeing something different in Adele Hudson. Or maybe it had always been there and he’d been so intent on revenge he hadn’t noticed. There was something vibrant and uncontrived about her, dressed in white shorts and a simple white top, white sneakers and with a small multicoloured backpack. She radiated energy and good health, her face open and welcome to new experience.
Alex didn’t alert her to his presence; she’d notice him soon enough. When she did, her first reaction on catching sight of him was out-and-out dismay, quickly covered up by another forced smile. Again he felt that kick in the gut—quite unjustifiably considering how he’d treated her in the past.
She stopped by his table and he got up to greet her, glad she hadn’t just walked by with a cursory nod. ‘So you took my advice,’ she said. Her flushed cheeks made her eyes seem even greener. Her hair was tousled around her face.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I become a raging beast without my coffee.’
It was a bad choice of words. The look that flashed across her eyes told him she found the beast label only too appropriate. And that not only did she dislike him, but it seemed she also might fear him.
A jolt of remorse hit him. That was not the reaction he ever wanted from a woman. He thought back to the court case. There’d been some kind of confrontation outside on the day the judge had handed down his decision—although surely nothing to make her frightened of him.
‘I’m not partial to raging beasts,’ she said. Beasts like you were the words she left unspoken but he understand as well as if she had shouted them.
Against all his own legal advice he’d gone after her and the major Sydney newspaper that had published her review. He’d been furious at her criticism of Athina, his first important restaurant—the one that had launched him as a serious contender on the competitive Sydney market. He’d had a lot to prove when he’d closed his grandfather’s original traditional Greek restaurant and reopened with something cutting-edge fashionable. The risk had paid off—and success after success had followed. And then she’d published a bad review of Athina, detailing how the prices had gone up and the quality gone down, along with the levels of service. It had seemed like a personal assault.
So much had happened to him since then. His fury at her review now seemed disproportionate—a major overreaction to what the court had found to be fair comment. In light of what had happened during the hostage scenario and its aftermath it seemed insignificant. She had nothing to fear from him. Not now.
He looked directly at her. ‘I told you this beast has been tamed,’ he said gruffly. It was as much an explanation as he felt able to give her. He didn’t share with anyone how he’d had to claw his way out of the abyss.
But her brow furrowed. ‘Tamed by the coffee?’
She didn’t get what he meant. But he had no intention of spelling out the bigger picture for her. How devastated he’d been by Mia’s death. The train wreck his life had become. He’d been a broken man, unable to deal with the public spotlight on him—the spotlight he’d once courted. There had only been the pain, the loss, the unrelenting guilt.
His father had intervened, packed him up and sent him back to the Greek village his grandfather had left long ago to emigrate to Australia. At first, Alex had deeply resented his exile. But the distance and the return to his family’s roots had given him a painfully gained new perspective and self-knowledge. He’d discovered he hadn’t much liked the man he’d become in Sydney.
The presence of Adele Hudson was like an arrow piercing his armour, reminding him of how invincible he’d thought himself to be back then when he’d been flying so high, how agonising his crash into the shadows. He forced his voice to sound steady and impartial. ‘The magical powers of caffeine,’ he said. ‘Can I order you a coffee?’
Adele gave him a look through narrowed eyes that let him know she realised there was something more to his words that she hadn’t grasped. But didn’t care to pursue. She peered towards the back of the café to the door that led to the kitchen. ‘No, thank you. I’ve popped in to see Lizzie.’
‘Lizzie Dumont?’
Jesse’s wife was a chef and the driving force behind the exemplary standards of the Morgan eateries. Alex had tried to poach her to work for him on a start-up in Sydney, a traditional French bistro. That was before he’d realised she’d been engaged to Jesse Morgan. That had stopped him. Back then he’d let nothing stop his quest for success—except loyalty to friends and family. That had never been negotiable.
‘She’s Lizzie Morgan now, well and truly married to Jesse,’ Adele said. ‘They have a beautiful baby boy, a brother for her daughter Amy.’
‘Yes,’ he said.
Lizzie had a child from her first marriage. Alex had admired Jesse for taking on a stepchild. Had admired him the more because it wasn’t something Alex himself could ever do. His feeling for family and heritage was too deeply ingrained to ever take on another man’s child. He would never date a woman who came encumbered.
‘Here she is.’ Adele waved at a tall woman with curly, pale blonde hair who had pushed her way through the doors from the kitchen.
‘Dell! It’s so good to see you.’ Alex watched as Lizzie swept Adele up in a hug. ‘It’s been too long. We’ve got so much to catch up on.’
‘We certainly do,’ said Adele, giving Lizzie the full benefit of her dazzling smile. Politely, she turned to include him in the conversation. No smile for him. ‘Lizzie, I think you know Alex Mik—’
‘Of course I do,’ Lizzie said. She greeted him with a hug and kisses on both cheeks. ‘He’s a good friend of Jesse’s. When we heard he was going to be in Sydney we invited him down to Bay Breeze. Long time, no see, Alex.’ Her smile dimmed and her voice softened. ‘Are you okay?’
He nodded. ‘As okay as I can be,’ he said. ‘I’ve appreciated the support from you and Jesse. It means a lot.’ He didn’t want to talk about his loss any further. Displaying vulnerability clashed with all the ideals of manhood that had been imbued in him by his family. ‘I didn’t know you two knew each other,’ he said. How much did Lizzie know of his history with Adele? No doubt he’d been painted as an ogre of the first order. A beast.
Lizzie beamed. ‘Dell was one of our first customers. Her glowing reviews of Bay Bites helped put us on the map. The bonus was we became friends. Though we don’t see each other as much as we’d like.’
Adele studiously avoided his eyes, obviously uncomfortable at the mention of her good reviews when she’d given Athina such a stinker. The court case had ensured she’d never reviewed his newer ventures, never put them ‘on the map’.
‘I’ve always loved this part of the world,’ she said. ‘And Bay Breeze is the icing on the cake. I love what you guys have done with it, Lizzie. The building, the fit-out, the food. The timing is perfect. Stress and burnout are endemic today. Offering this kind of retreat in such an awesome natural setting is just what a particular lucrative market is looking for.’
Had she read his mind? She could have been quoting him on the pitch for his new luxury boutique resort.
As she chatted with Lizzie, Alex was surprised at how much Adele knew about the hospitality business. She was both perceptive and canny. She understood how success came from meeting people’s needs but also about anticipating them. Giving them what they didn’t know they wanted until it was offered to them, all new and shiny. Knowing your customer through and through. Being open to change and nimble enough to adapt to it.
The strength of Bay Breeze she had pinpointed was on track with what he wanted for his new venue. It wasn’t often he met someone who was so in tune with how he thought about the business. Although that was perhaps not such a surprise when in the past he’d surrounded himself with too many ‘yes’ men.
‘So what are your plans for life after the newspaper?’ Lizzie asked her.
Adele frowned at Lizzie with what was obviously a warning. Alex realised she didn’t want him to hear that. Which made him determined not to miss a word.
‘What do you mean?’ he asked.
Lizzie sounded outraged. ‘That darn newspaper fired Dell. Booted her out with a cheque in lieu of notice.’
Adele glared at her friend for spilling the beans.
‘Is that true?’ he asked Adele. ‘You’ve lost your job?’
She shrugged. But he could see it was an effort for her to sound casual about such a blow. Especially in front of him. ‘Budget cuts, they said. It...it was a shock.’
‘Because of the court case?’ Regret churned in him. How much damage had he caused for something that now seemed unimportant?
She didn’t meet his eye. ‘No. That was three years ago. Although I was never popular with management afterwards. Being sued wasn’t regarded as a highlight of my résumé.’
He frowned. ‘What will you do?’ He felt a shaft of shame at what he had put her through. Although he had felt totally in the right at the time.
Alex expected a snarl and a rejoinder to mind his own business. But she couldn’t mask the panic in her eyes. ‘I don’t know yet. They only gave me the boot a week ago. But I’ve got options.’
‘Of course you have,’ said loyal Lizzie. ‘Publicity and marketing among them. That would be a logical move for you.’
Adele nodded to her friend. ‘Yes, I’ve thought of that,’ she said. ‘And I can freelance. It will also allow me to give my blog more attention.’
Alex doubted she could make enough to live on from that blog, in spite of the number of readers it attracted. Unless she’d made big strides with attracting advertising since he’d last looked at Dell Dishes.
‘Your husband?’ he asked after some hesitation. He was sure there’d been a husband.
Her mouth twisted. ‘Divorced.’ Her chin tilted upward. ‘In any case, I don’t depend on a man to support me.’
He wouldn’t have expected any other response from the feisty food critic. ‘Do you have children?’
Something he couldn’t read darkened her eyes. She shook her head.
‘Then come and work for me.’ The words escaped his mouth before he’d had time to think about them. But some of his best decisions had been made on impulse.
* * *
Dell looked up at Alex Mikhalis, the man she regarded as the devil incarnate. He towered over her, darkly formidable in black jeans and a black T-shirt that made no secret of his strength, his impressive muscles.
‘Did you just offer me a job?’ She couldn’t keep the disbelief from her voice. From behind her, she heard Lizzie gasp.
‘I did,’ he said gruffly.
‘Why would you do that?’
‘You need a job. I need help with a new venture. Your understanding of hospitality is impressive. You have skills in PR and publicity.’
Entitled and arrogant, he so obviously expected an instant ‘yes’. But it would not be forthcoming from her. She sympathised with his personal loss. That didn’t mean she wanted to work with him. Especially not to be under his control as an employee.
She couldn’t think of anything worse.
‘I appreciate the offer,’ she said. ‘But I can’t possibly accept. I suspect you know why.’
His legal team had undermined her credibility at every opportunity. Even though her newspaper had won the case, she had come out of it bruised and battered with her reputation intact but shredded around the edges. Even three years later she felt it had influenced her employer into ‘letting her go’. And that was apart from the stress it had put on her marriage.
He scowled. ‘I want to make amends.’
Alex Mikhalis make amends? To her? She frowned. ‘Is this some kind of trick?’
‘No tricks,’ he said. His voice was deep, assured, confident. Yet did nothing to reassure her.
‘I find that difficult to believe. You...you threatened me. Told me you would get even.’ He made her so nervous it was difficult to get her words out. She had heard the rumours of how effectively he had brought down his business opponents. But she would not let him sense her fear.
‘That was a different time and place. There is no threat.’
‘Why should I trust you?’ Memories of his intimidation on the courtroom steps flooded back.
Dell became aware that she and the tall, broad-shouldered man were the focus of interest among the customers of the café. She moved closer to him so she could lower her voice. He moved closer as well. Too close. She felt as if he were taking up all the air, making her heart race, her breath come short.
‘I’m a different man,’ he said, his expression intent, dark eyes unreadable as he searched her face.
He looked different, that was for sure. Stripped of designer trappings to a raw masculinity that, in spite of her dislike of him, she could not help but appreciate. As for his nature? Leopards didn’t change their spots. And there had always been something predatory about him.
She couldn’t help the snort of disbelief that escaped her. ‘Huh! You? As if I believe—’
A flash of pain contorted his features but was gone so quickly she might have imagined it if it hadn’t made such an impression on her that it stopped her words short. For a long moment she stared up at him. It had been three years since she had faced him on the courtroom steps. He had been through trauma like she couldn’t imagine. Who knew how that might have affected him? Maybe he was telling the truth.
She felt a gentle tap on her arm and turned, dazed, to see Lizzie. ‘Perhaps you should consider this offer,’ her friend said quietly. Her eyes gave her a silent message. You have debts.
Dell was only too aware of the debts she had run up during her marriage and that had become her responsibility. Lizzie always gave her wise counsel. Her friend would be horrified if she knew the decision she had made just the week before she had lost her job. If it paid off, she might need a job more than ever. And with so many people reviewing restaurants online for free, she felt the newspaper editor had been telling the truth when he’d told her that her role was redundant. Job offers weren’t exactly flooding her inbox. She forced herself to take a deep, calming breath.
Then turned back to face Alex. ‘Why do you want to make amends?’ she said. ‘And what makes you think we could work together? I’m a writer, not a restaurateur.’
‘I’ll answer both your questions with one reply,’ he said. ‘Every criticism you made about my restaurant Athina was true. My manager was systematically defrauding me. Your judgement was spot on. I should have taken your review as a warning instead of taking you to court.’
‘Oh,’ was all she was able to choke out. Alex Mikhalis admitting he was wrong?
A ghost of a smile lifted the corners of his mouth. She was more used to seeing him glare and scowl at her. The effect was disconcerting. A devil undoubtedly. But a fiendishly handsome devil. For the first time she saw a hint of the legendary charisma that had propelled him to such heights in a people-pleasing business.
‘I’ve shocked you speechless,’ he said.
‘I admit it. I’m stunned. After all that...that angst. When did you find out?’
‘When I slipped back into Sydney for the review of the police handling of the siege,’ he said, now without any trace of a smile.
Dell nodded, unable to find the words to say anything about what must have been such a terrible time in his life. The saga had made headlines in the media for weeks. ‘From my memory, the manager was your friend,’ she said instead.
‘Yes,’ he said simply.
How betrayed he must have felt on top of everything else he’d had to endure.
‘Perhaps if I had been an investigative reporter I might have discovered that,’ she said.
‘I wouldn’t have believed you. Everything in your review pointed that way. I just didn’t see it.’
‘Didn’t want to see it, perhaps,’ she said.
He paused, then the words came slowly. ‘I... I’m sorry, Adele.’
Alex Mikhalis apologising? After all this man had put her through?
She thought again about all he had been through since. Realised she was intrigued at the thought of what project he might be working on now. And that it wasn’t healthy to hold a grudge or wise to refuse an apparently sincere apology. Especially when she really needed a job. Lizzie was right. She should consider this.
‘Dell,’ she said. ‘Please call me Dell. Adele is my newspaper byline, the name on my birth certificate.’ She looked up at him. ‘Tell me more about this job.’
CHAPTER THREE (#uf99f15a4-555d-51b0-bd17-eea78c3acc23)
ALEX DIDN’T KNOW why it had suddenly become so important that Adele Hudson—Dell—accept his impromptu job offer. But he didn’t question it. Much of his success in business had come from following his instinct and he’d learned not to ignore its prompts.
Dell could be just the person he needed to help him launch his new project. The project he needed to get him back on track with life.
Mentally, he checked off the skills she brought to the table. Without a doubt she was good with words—a huge asset for launching into a new market. Another strength was she saw the hospitality industry through the eyes of the customer while at the same understanding how the business side operated. Her blog gave her an international view with access to readers all around the world. On top of that, she was smart and perceptive.
Her review of Athina had raised red flags he should have heeded. His traitorous so-called friend had been doing illicit deals with suppliers and siphoning off funds to a private bank account. He would have saved himself a good deal of money if he hadn’t let pride and anger blind him to the truth of what she had observed.
Since he’d been back living in the land of his ancestors he had thought a lot about the Ancient Greek concept of fate. Was it his selfishness or fate that had put Mia in his city restaurant when a sociopath had decided to make a deadly statement? Could it be that fate had brought Dell back into his life? Right at the time when he needed help to launch something different and she was in need of a job? At a time when he was growing weary of punishing himself for something that had been out of his control.
Dell looked up at him, her green eyes direct. ‘What exactly does the job entail?’ she asked.
Fact was, there wasn’t a job vacancy as such. He would create a role for her.
Alex looked around the café, filling up now as lunchtime approached. Lizzie had left them to return to the kitchen. ‘We need to go somewhere more private where we can talk.’
Dell nodded with immediate understanding. ‘What about the harbour front?’ she said.
He put cash on the table to cover both his coffee and a very generous tip. ‘Good idea.’
He followed her out of the café. She looked good in shorts with her slender legs and shapely behind. In fact she was downright sexy. How had he not noticed that sensuous sway before? Alex forced his gaze away. This was about business.
He walked with her past the adjoining bookstore towards a lookout with a view across the stone-walled harbour with its array of fishing and pleasure craft. The scene was in some ways reminiscent of the fishing village his Greek ancestors came from, in others completely different.
He’d been born and grown up in Australia and thought of himself as Australian. But his Greek heritage was calling to him. He was back here just for a quick visit to help celebrate his father’s sixtieth birthday and to take a look at Bay Breeze. Greece was where he wanted to be right now. He didn’t think he could ever live back in Sydney again. Not with the memories and regrets that assaulted him at every turn.
‘No one will overhear us here,’ Dell said when they reached the lookout. ‘Fire away.’
He looked around to be sure. His success hadn’t come about by sharing his strategies. ‘I would usually require you to sign a confidentiality agreement before discussing a new project.’
She shrugged. ‘I’m good with that. Just tell me where to sign.’
Through his dealings with her as an adversary he’d also come to a grudging admiration of her honesty. According to the judge, her review had been scrupulously within the boundary of fair comment. And his lawyers had been unable to dig up even a skerrick of dirt on her.
‘I wasn’t expecting this, so I don’t have an agreement with me,’ he said.
‘You can trust me,’ she said. ‘I’m good at keeping secrets.’
He had been accused of being a ruthless and cynical businessman—never taking anyone on trust. Yet instinct told him he could talk to this woman without his plans being broadcast where they shouldn’t.
Still...he hadn’t changed that much. ‘I’ll email a document to you when I’m back at the resort.’
‘Of course,’ she said with a tinge of impatience. ‘I’ll sign it straight away. But right now I’m dying of curiosity about the role you have in mind for me.’
Alex leaned back against the railing. ‘I’m not at Bay Breeze for the yoga and the parsnip tea,’ he said.
Dell’s green eyes danced with amusement. ‘I kind of got that,’ she said.
‘I’m a stakeholder and I wanted to see what my investment has got me. The more I’m involved, the more I like the well-being concept. It seems right for the times.’ And for his time.
‘You want to start a similar kind of resort?’
He nodded. ‘It’s already under way. On a private island. Upscale. Exclusive. To appeal to the top end of the market. But my experience is all in restaurants and nightclubs. A resort is something different and challenging. I need some help.’ Alex had to force out the final words. He never found it easy to admit he needed help in anything. Had always seen it as a weakness.
‘That’s where I come in?’
He nodded. ‘But I don’t have a job description for the role. I wasn’t expecting someone like you to come along at this stage.’
‘You mean you’re making the job up as you go along?’
She was direct. There was another thing he’d found interesting about Dell during their legal stoush. He added another, less tangible asset to the list of her attributes. He would enjoy working with her.
‘Yeah. I am. Which is good for you as I can shape the role to your talents. I have input from top designers and consultants for the building and fit-out. I’ve got my key hospitality staff on contract. But I want someone to work with me on fine-tuning the offer to guests and with the publicity. Establishing an exclusive well-being resort on a private island is something different for me.’
‘That is quite a challenge,’ she said.
‘Yes,’ he said. And a much-needed distraction. He’d go crazy if he didn’t throw himself into a big, all-consuming project.
He’d thought he could walk away from his business. The business he blamed for Mia’s death. She’d been a chef in one of his restaurants when he’d met her. There had been a strict company rule against fraternising between staff in his businesses. He’d instigated it and he’d broken it when he’d become beguiled by Mia. They’d been living together—her pushing for marriage, he putting it off—when the chef at his busiest city lunchtime venue had been injured in an accident on the way to work. Mia was having a rostered day off. Alex had pulled rank and insisted she go into work that day to replace the chef. He could not take that memory out again, to pick and prod at it, a wound that would never heal.
Since he’d been away, he’d discreetly sold off his Sydney venues one by one. All except Athina. He couldn’t bear to let his inheritance from his grandfather go. Financially he never needed to work again. But he had to work. He hadn’t realised how much his work had defined him until he hadn’t had it to occupy himself day after lonely day.
Dell’s auburn brows drew together in a frown. ‘Why me? There must be more experienced people around who would jump at the chance to work with you on such a project.’
He didn’t want to mention fate or kismet or whatever it was that had sent her here. The hunch that made him think she was what he needed right now. ‘But it’s you I want. And you need a job.’
‘The role does interest me,’ she said cautiously. ‘Although I’d want to keep my blog. It’s important to me.’
‘I see your blog as an asset, complementary to your work with me,’ he said. ‘You could utilise it for soft publicity, along with social media.’
She nodded. ‘I’ll consider that.’
‘I’m thinking the title of Publicity Director,’ he said. He named a handsome salary.
She blinked. ‘That definitely interests me,’ she said.
‘I pay well and expect utmost commitment in return.’
‘I have no issue with that,’ she said. ‘I’ve been described more than once as a workaholic.’
Her mouth set in a rigid line and he wondered if it was the ex-husband who had criticised her. He remembered wondering why he hadn’t been at court to support his wife during the case. ‘Truth is, if I get really involved, the line between work and interest blurs,’ she said.
As it always had with him. ‘I think you’ll find this interesting,’ he said. ‘The project is under way but the best is yet to come. You’d be coming on board at an exciting time. I want to open in June.’
Her eyes widened. ‘It’s already April. Isn’t that leaving it late?’
‘Agree. It’s cutting it fine. I won’t expect full occupancy until next year.’
‘When would you want me to start?’ she asked. He could sense her simmering excitement. ‘Because I’m firing with ideas already.’
‘A week. Two weeks max.’
She smiled. ‘I could do that.’ That big embracing smile was finally aimed at him. For a moment, he had to close his eyes against its dazzle. ‘I love the idea of an exclusive private island. Where is it? North of Sydney? Queensland? South Australia?’
He shook his head. ‘Greece.’
‘Greece? I... I wasn’t expecting that.’
Alex had expected her to react with excitement. Not a clouding of her eyes and a disappointed turn down of her mouth. He frowned.
‘My island of Kosmima is in northern Greece where my ancestors come from. Where I’ve been living with my Greek family since I left Australia. The most beautiful private island in the Ionian Sea. I’m sure you would love it.’
* * *
Of course she would love it.
Dell had always wanted to visit Greece. It had held a fascination for her since she’d studied ancient history at school. The mythology. The history. The ancient buildings. She wanted to climb the Acropolis in Athens to see the Parthenon. To visit the picturesque islands with their whitewashed buildings and blue roofs. There was nowhere in the world she wanted to visit more than Greece.
But travel had long been off the cards. She’d committed young to her high-school boyfriend and been caught up in mortgages and marriage to a man who hadn’t had an ounce of wanderlust in him. She’d travelled some with her parents and longed to travel more. Even to live abroad one day.
But there was something else she’d wanted more. Wanted so desperately she’d put all her other dreams on hold to pursue it.
‘I...assumed the job was in Australia,’ she said.
He shook his head. ‘No new venues in Australia for the foreseeable future. Europe is where I want to be. But I’d like a fellow Australian on board with me. Someone who knows about my businesses here, understands how things operate. In other words, you.’
So this was how it felt when big dreams collided.
Dell swallowed hard against the pain of her disappointment. ‘I’m very sorry, but I’m going to have to say no to your job offer. I can’t possibly go to Greece.’
His dark eyebrows rose in disbelief. She had knocked back what anyone might term a dream job. Her dream job. She suspected Alex wasn’t used to people saying no to him. But there was disappointment too in those black eyes. He had created a role just for her, tailored to her skills. She was grateful for the confidence he had put in her ability.
But she couldn’t tell him why she had to turn down the most enticing offer she was ever likely to get. Why she couldn’t be far away from home. That there was a chance she might be pregnant.
CHAPTER FOUR (#uf99f15a4-555d-51b0-bd17-eea78c3acc23)
WHEN DELL HAD been a little girl and people asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, she had always replied she wanted to be a mummy. They had laughed and asked what else, but she had stubbornly stood her ground.
She didn’t know why, as heaven knew her mother hadn’t been particularly maternal. And her father had verged on the indifferent. Both her parents had been—still were—research scientists for multinational pharmaceutical companies. She suspected they would have been happy to stop at the one child, her older brother, and when she’d come along when he’d been five she’d been more of an inconvenience than a joy. Her brother was of a scientific bent like her parents. She, while as intelligent, had broader interests they didn’t share or understand.
As a child, Dell had loved her dolls, her kitten, her books and food. Her mother was a haphazard cook and by the time she was twelve Dell had been cooking for the family. It became a passion.
At the insistence of her parents, she had completed a degree in food science. A future in the laboratory of a major grocery manufacturer beckoned. Instead, to the horror of her parents, after graduation she went straight to work as an editorial assistant on a suburban newspaper. She showed a flair for restaurant reviewing and articles about food and lifestyle and her career went on from there.
At twenty-two, she married Neil, her high-school boyfriend. He supported her in her desire to become a mother. That was when her plans derailed. In spite of their most energetic efforts, pregnancy didn’t happen. At age twenty-seven they started IVF. The procedure was painful and disruptive. The hormone treatments sent her emotions soaring and plunging. The joy went out of her love-life. But three expensive IVF procedures didn’t result in pregnancy. Just debt.
Then Neil had walked out on her.
Growing up, Dell had often felt like a fluffy, colourful changeling of a chick popped into the nest of sleek, clever hawks who had never got over their surprise in finding her there. She had become adept at putting on a happy face when she’d felt misunderstood and unhappy.
The end of her marriage had come from left field and she’d been devastated. She’d loved Neil and had thought she’d be married for ever. She shared her tears with a few close friends but presented that smiling, fluffy-chick face to the world.
Being suddenly single came as a shock. She’d been part of a couple for so long she didn’t know how to deal with dating. After a series of disastrous encounters she’d given up on the idea of meeting another man. Work became her solace as she tried to deal with the death of her big dream. Accepted that, if IVF hadn’t worked, she wasn’t likely to ever be a mother.
Then just weeks ago the fertility clinic had called to ask what she wanted them to do with the remaining embryo she had stored with them.
Dell knew she should have told them she was divorced. That her ex-husband was in another relationship. But they didn’t ask and she didn’t tell. She’d undergone the fourth procedure the week before she’d been fired. All her other attempts at IVF had failed. She hadn’t held out any real hope for this time. But she’d felt compelled to grab at that one final chance.
Now, the day after her meeting with Alex Mikhalis, Dell lay back on her cool white bed at Bay Breeze racked by the cramps that had always heralded failure. She took in a great, gasping sob then stayed absolutely still, desperately willing that implant to stay put. Her baby. But a visit to the bathroom confirmed blood. She’d failed again.
She would never be a mother.
Dell stood at the window for a long time staring sightlessly out to the view of the sea. Her hand rested on her flat, flat stomach. There was nothing for her here. No job. No man. No close family. Just parents who, if she left the country, would wave her goodbye without thinking to ask why she was going. Her friends were starting families and moving into a life cycle she couldn’t share. She hadn’t told anyone about this last desperate effort to conceive so there was no one to share her grief. But she did have all her cyber friends on her blog. She had to put on her fluffy-chick face and move on.
Without thinking any further, she picked up the house phone and called through to Alex Mikhalis’s room. She braced herself to leave a message and was shocked when he answered. Somehow she found the words to ask could she have a meeting with him. His tone was abrupt as he told her to be quick—he was packing to head back to Sydney.
Dell had no chance to change. Or apply make-up. Just pushed her hair into place in front of the mirror and slicked on some lip gloss. Yoga pants were de rigueur in a place like this anyway. He wouldn’t expect to see her in a business suit and heels.
He answered the door to his room. ‘Yes?’ he said, his voice deep and gruff and more than a touch forbidding.
For a long moment Dell hesitated on the threshold. He towered over her, in black trousers and a charcoal-grey shirt looking every inch the formidable tycoon. Half of the buttons on his shirt were left open, as if he’d been fastening them when she’d sounded the buzzer on his door. It left bare a triangle of olive skin and a hint of dark chest hair on an impressively muscled chest.
Her heart started to beat double-quick time and she felt so shaky at the knees she had to clutch at the doorframe for support. Not because she was nervous about approaching him. Or feared what kind of a boss he might be. No. It was because her long-dormant libido had flared suddenly back into life at the sight of him—those dark eyes, the proud nose, the strong jaw newly shaven but already shadowing with growth. He was hot.
Dell swallowed against a suddenly dry mouth. This unwelcome surge of sensual awareness could complicate things. She was beginning to rethink his devil incarnate status. But who knew if he was sincere about having changed? After all, she’d seen him at his intimidating worst on those courtroom steps. She had to take him on trust but be cautious. That did not mean fancying the pants off him.
Eyes off the gorgeous man, Dell.
He stepped back and she could see his bag half packed on his bed. Perhaps he was headed to Greece and she would never see him again. This could be her only chance.
She forced her lips into a smile, the wobble at the edge betraying her attempt to be both nonchalant and professional. And not let him guess the turmoil of her senses evoked by his half-dressed state. ‘Your job offer?’ she said.
He nodded.
‘Can...can a person change her mind?’
* * *
Alex stared at Dell. What had happened? Thinly disguised anguish showed in the set of her jaw, the pallor of her face, her red-rimmed eyes. The expression in her eyes was sad rather than sparkling. But as she met his gaze, her cheeks flushed pink high on her cheekbones, her chin rose resolutely and he wondered if he’d imagined it.
‘I’d like to accept the job.’ She hesitated. There was an edge to her voice that made him believe he had not imagined her distress. ‘That is, if the position is still on offer.’
Alex had been gutted when she’d turned him down. Disappointed out of all proportion. And stunned that he’d been so shaken. Because of course she’d been right. Whisper a word in a recruitment agent’s ear and he’d be inundated with qualified people ready to take up the job with him. Why Dell Hudson? Because it was her and only her he’d wanted. He’d had no intention of taking her ‘no’ as final. In fact he’d been planning strategies aimed at getting a ‘yes’ from her.
Once he’d made up his mind about something it was difficult to budge him. It was a trait he had inherited from his stubborn grandfather. No one else would do but her. Was it his tried and tested gut feel telling him that? Or something else? It was nothing to do with the fact he found her attractive. That was totally beside the point. He did not date employees. Never, ever after what had happened with Mia.
‘Why did you change your mind?’ he asked Dell.
She took a deep breath, which emphasised the curve of her breasts outlined by her tight-fitting tank top. How had he never noticed how sexy she was? He forced his eyes upward to catch the nuances of her expression rather than the curves of her shapely body.
‘A...sudden change of circumstances,’ she said. ‘Something...something personal.’
‘Problems with a guy?’ he asked. Over the years he’d learned to deal with the personal dramas of female staff. Not that it ever got easier.
She shook her head and again he caught that glimpse of sadness in her eyes. ‘No. I’m one hundred per cent single. And intending to stay that way. I’m free to devote my time entirely to my work with you.’
‘Good,’ he said. He didn’t want to hear the details of her marriage breakup. Or any bust-ups that came afterwards. That was none of his concern. This was about a job. Nothing more.
Although he found it very difficult to believe she was single by choice.
‘I don’t let my personal life impinge on my work,’ she said. ‘I want your job and I want to go to Greece.’
‘You’re sure about that? You’re not going to change your mind again?’
She took another distracting deep breath. ‘I’m very sure.’
He allowed himself a smile, knowing that it was tinged with triumph. Reached out to shake her hand. ‘When can you be ready to fly to Athens?’
CHAPTER FIVE (#uf99f15a4-555d-51b0-bd17-eea78c3acc23)
SHE WAS IN GREECE, working for Alex Mikhalis!
It had all happened so fast Dell still felt a little dizzy that, just two weeks after her wobbly encounter with him in the yoga room, the man who had been her adversary—the man she had loathed—was her boss.
So far so good. It had been a long, tedious trip to get here even in the comfort of the business-class seats he had booked for her—twenty-three hours to Athens alone. Then another short flight to the small airport at Preveza in north-western Greece.
Too excited to be jet-lagged, she staggered out into the sunshine expecting to find a sign with her name on it held up by a taxi driver. But her new boss was there to meet her. Tall and imposing, he stood out among the people waiting for passengers. He waved to get her attention.
Dell’s breath caught and her heart started hammering. It was the first time she’d seen Alex since that meeting in his room at Bay Breeze. For a moment she was too stunned to say anything. Not just because her reawakened senses jumped to alert at how Greek-god-handsome he looked in stone linen trousers and a collarless white linen shirt. But because she wasn’t sure what rules applied to their changed status. It was quite a leap for her to take from enemy to employee.
‘Good flight?’ he asked.
‘Very good, thank you,’ she said, uncertain of what to call him. He was her employer now but they had history of a kind. ‘Er...thank you, Mr Mikhalis.’
His dark eyes widened as if she’d said something ridiculous, then he laughed. ‘That’s my father’s name,’ he said. ‘Alex will do. You’re not working for a corporation here. Just me.’
He held out his hand to take hers in a firm, warm grip. ‘Welcome on board.’ His handshake was professional, his tone friendly but impersonal. She would take her cue from that. And totally repress that little shiver of awareness that rippled through her at his touch.
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