by Kay Thorpe
Her last words seemed to go unheard. He was looking at Spiros.
'If you cannot afford new tyres you should not be on the roads. This is not the first time you have been forced to carry out repairs at the roadside while your passengers wait in the heat of the day.'
'It could happen to anyone.' Gone was the cheerful youth Nicky had hitherto known. Spiros both looked and sounded sulkily resentful. have changed over the wheel.'
The other moved a couple of paces to look at it, kicked contemptuously at the rubber and said, still in English, 'This, too, will not last more than a few kilometres. You will take your vehicle back to the town and I will carry the despoinis to her destination.' He caught Nicky's change of expression, added briefly,I am Nikos Alexandros. You will please get into the car.'
Nicky moved automatically to the door he was holding open for her, slid down on to the leather seat and watched Spiros transfer her suitcase from one boot to the other. The owner of the Xenia got into the car beside her, reached out a lean brown hand to the ignition and switched on the engine without glancing in her
direction. Then they were moving off along the road, leaving Spiros standing disconsolately beside the Renault.
`He hasn't been paid,' she exclaimed in sudden recollection before they had gone ten yards. 'I must . .
`It will be taken care of.' The tone was smooth, the chiselled profile aloof. 'You need not concern yourself with such matters, Miss Brent. There are more important things awaiting your attention at the Xenia. You are experienced in dealing with people?'
`I've had a little practice,' she acknowledged. 'I worked as a courier taking parties of tourists round London before I joined the Company.'
`There is a great difference,' he returned, 'between spending an hour or two with a party and living with them and among them. You have flown here from London this morning?'
`No, from Athens.' A flash of resentment moved her to add steadily, 'Where I have spent the last two months learning to cope with the demands of some five hundred guests at a time.'
He looked at her then, a brief flickering glance which dimmed the battle flame before it had barely begun to glow.
`Do not think that because at the Xenia you will have only forty guests with which to cope you will necessarily have more time to yourself. You are not here on holiday.'
That stung. She said swiftly, 'I'm aware of it, kyrie, and I have no intention at all of taking things easy.'
`I am very glad to hear it,' he returned imperturbably. 'You are very young to be given such responsibility. I had imagined that they would send
someone nearer the age of the young man- who was here previously.'
And of the same sex preferably, surmised Nicky, reading between the lines.
`I'm twenty,' she claimed, allotting herself a few weeks' advance stature without the least flicker of compunction. 'And you're lucky to get anyone at all right in the middle of the season like this.'
`So?' He flicked a dark brow. 'Then we must certainly make the most of you, must we not?'
Had that remark, in that particular tone of voice, been made by any other man, she would have suspected some double meaning, Nicky thought, stealing a glance at the olive-skinned, insiduously attractive features. As it was, she could only believe that the intonation had been unintentional. The autocratic Nikos Alexandros would have little personal interest in a mere nobody of an English girl.
The road began to climb again, passing dwellings which clung precariously to the mountainside and emitted thin spires of smoke from leaning chimneys. Right on the summit itself there was a whole- village, a double row of white-walled cottages gay with geraniums and brightly painted shutters. A group of men in rough working clothes sat together outside one building distinguished from its fellows by half a dozen scattered chairs. They followed the progression of the car with lethargic interest, hands clasped lovingly about glasses of ouzo or retsina, or whatever it was they were drinking. There wasn't one woman or child in sight, only a dog which scratched itself lazily in the sun and moved with reluctance only seconds before the car
would have hit it.
From there the descent into the valley took only a matter of minutes, less nerve-racking, certainly, than the ascent in Spiros's company, yet still not exactly a journey Nicky could relish. Half-way down they came upon the makings of a new road, with a bright yellow digger standing idle against the far bank, its saw-toothed bucket part way under a heap of freshly dug earth. Of the men who must have been working on the site during the morning there was no sign.
For a couple of miles or so the ride was smooth and easy, winding down along the foothill spurs until the valley floor was reached at last and the new gave way once more to the old. Jolting along between haphazardly cultivated fields where nothing stirred in the somnolent heat of the early afternoon, Nicky began to think that the journey would never end. She was hot and tired, and longed for the luxury of a shower and a change of clothing.
'You have eaten?' asked her companion suddenly, speaking for the first time in several minutes.
I had lunch in Athens before the plane left,' she answered, closing her eyes against the glare of the sun. 'I m not in the least hungry, but it will be grand to have a cool drink when we reach the hotel. Is it very far now?'
'One kilometre,' he said, and took a totally unexpected right-hand turn in through a pair of tall iron gates which opened into a broad courtyard separated from the road by a high stone wall. The house stood back, a square two stories of pale green walls and white stucco relief, its long shuttered windows a pale echo of the bougainvillea massed around the arched entrance door.
'You will have your drink before we go any further,' announced Nikos, switching off the engine. 'We will go into the house where it is cool.'
Nicky fumbled clumsily with the catch, saw the light dim as he came round the side of the car and was next moment being assisted politely from her seat. His hand was cool and firm against the bare skin of her elbow, his touch disturbing. She was glad when he released her and invited her to enter his home.
Her first impression of the interior of the Alexandros villa was of simplicity bordering almost upon the austere. Plain white walls, cool terrazzo floor, a flight of polished wooden stairs with a couple of high-backed chairs and a small carved table at the base. Through an archway on the right lay the high-ceilinged saloni, softened by a scattering of glowing Bokhara rugs and exhibiting a beautifully executed fresco which took up the greater part of the rear wall. The wide glass-panelled doors on the far side of the room had pull-down blinds and opened on to a covered loggia which in turn gave access to the gardens.
Nikos invited her to a seat on a long couch covered in dark blue linen, excused himself and disappeared through the archway again, leaving Nicky to enjoy the dim coolness of the room. Two minutes later he was back, carrying a tray bearing two tall glasses tinkling with ice cubes.
'A speciality of the house,' he said, handing her one of them, and then with a hint of satire as she looked at the drink a little doubtfully, 'There is nothing in there which will harm you, you have my word. It consists of a mixture of fruit juices with just a taste of brandy. You will find it very refreshing.'
Tasting it, Nicky could only agree. She sipped slowly from the glass, very much aware of his regard as he leaned carelessly against a chair back a few feet away.
`Do your parents not object to losing their daughter for the whole of the summer?' he asked into the silence. `Or have you brothers and sisters enough to fill the gap you have left behind?'
`No,' she said, 'I'm the only one. They're just not the kind to take advantage of it.'
`You are very fortunate. In Greece, even today, you would not have such freedom. Greek daughters stay at home until they are married.'
`Isn't that rather feudal?'
He inclined his head. 'You cannot be expected to understand the ways of our people. In your country the' men have forgotten how to be men; they allow their womenfolk to rule them.'<
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`That's not true,' she said. 'They recognize our right to be regarded on equal terms — at least some of them are beginning to. The Company certainly acknowledges the fact that women are as capable as men of doing a good job.'
`The Company makes no allowances for emotionalism, I am afraid.'
Nicky looked back at him steadily. 'I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean.'
He lifted broad shoulders. 'You are young, and very attractive, and likely perhaps to turn the heads of some of our male guests — to say nothing of my staff. Would you be capable, do you think, of coping with such eventualities while remaining quite uninvolved yourself?'
She said evenly, 'My training included advice on the handling of all possible eventualities, and my head isn't easily turned. Is that all that's worrying you, kyrie?'
A smile touched the corners of his mouth. 'No, it is not. But for the moment it must be enough. I have annoyed you?'
`Not a bit.' She met his gaze unwaveringly. 'You're entitled to your opinions in your own country. But as you are contracted out to the Company I think you'll just have to trust to their judgment in my case.'
The dark eyes had sudden amber glints in them. 'Do not be too certain of yourself, Miss Brent. The Xenia is still mine to command, and while you are here you will answer first to me over any matter concerning my guests. Do I make myself clear?'
`Perfectly clear, kyrie.' Nicky put down her glass on a marble-topped table with a feeling that the Company might have some reservations regarding her handling of this particular situation, picked up her bag and got to her feet. 'Do you think we might go now? I'd like to be settled in before I start meeting the guests after siesta.'
He was still only half-way down his own drink, but he made no demur. Accompanying him out to the car, she reflected that the call had, anyway, been only a means to an end, an excuse to stop and put her properly in her place before they reached the hotel — or attempt to do so at any rate. One thing was certain, she had no intention of knuckling under to this Greek despot in any capacity. Her first loyalty must and would lie always with the Company.
Three minutes' drive along the flat stretch of road brought them to the outer limits of the sizeable village
which was Perata. The Xenia lay just off the main street, long, ,low and balcony-strewn, each set of rails bearing its own gay box of geraniums along with an incidental complement of drying towels and other bits of holiday paraphernalia without which no holiday hotel anywhere ever looks quite complete. Beyond was the sea, fronted by a wide strip of sand over which were scattered umbrella-shaded tables and chairs.
The shutters were closed, the whole place quiet. Nikos handed Nicky from the car, closed the door and led the way up the broad stone steps into a cool airy vestibule. This, too, was devoid of- life, but he did not hesitate, making for the desk and the door behind it.
A moment later Nicky was being introduced to a rangy man in his late twenties whose' red-brown hair, unmistakably English face and easy smile were a vast relief.
was under the impression that Gerry was going to bring you out himself,' he said. 'Did you see him at all?'
'Yes, but he had to go back to the hotel,' she told him. 'He'd arranged a taxi for me, though. Unfortunately ..
'Unfortunately he had chosen the vehicle of young Verikou,' put in Nikos smoothly. came upon them at the head of the pass after the tyre had burst, and sent him back to the town. I shall see Stamatis over this later.' To Nicky he added coolly, 'Good-bye for the present, Miss Brent. Do not forget what I have said.'
Seething inwardly, she watched him leave the room, turning back to find Lee Merril regarding her with a quizzical expression.
`If it's not too inquisitive a question,' he said, 'what is it you're not supposed to forget?'
`That he's the boss.' She pulled a face as she sat down in the chair he had brought forward. 'Is he always like that?'
His grin was good-humoured. 'It depends how often you get across him. He's pretty tolerant in most things.'
But not where female emancipation is, concerned, I gather. Women should be kept behind locked gates with leave to speak only when spoken to and no ideas at all beyond pleasing their menfolk.'
`Steady on a bit,' he said in mild protest. 'Greek women aren't like that at all. True, they look up to their men with some respect, but they're certainly not as downtrodden as you're saying they are. Things have changed a lot.'
`Not according to Kyrios Alexandros. He . . Nicky stopped, shrugged and laughed. 'Sorry, I was forgetting he's your employer.'
The grey eyes were twinkling 'Don't let it throw you. He wouldn't thank me for acting as his champion. Can I get you a drink — or would you rather see your room?'
`My room, I think. I'd like to unpack before the folk start coming down or in.' She came to her feet, hesitated, then said frankly, 'How do you personally feel about the Company? Are you another who believes they should have little jurisdiction over the people they send here during the season?'
`Not at all. Not when it's they who have to carry the can if anything goes wrong.' He studied her thoughtfully. 'Are you sure you're not putting words into
Nikos's mouth? I can't imagine him making such a statement.'
didn't; it was more of an intimation.' She put on a deliberately cheerful expression. 'Oh well, I suppose I can force myself to pay lip-service to His Highness on the odd occasion. It's only for three months.'
The manager of the Xenia smiled back. 'It should be an interesting three months, if nothing else. It isn't often that an Alexandros finds himself with a battle on his hands these days.'
It wasn't all that often she did herself, thought Nicky with wry humour as she went with him from the room. All the same, it would do no harm to show Nikos Alexandros that she was capable of standing up both for herself and for the Company if the need arose.
The room to which Lee showed her was right at the far end of a corridor on the first floor, a small cramped area with barely space to move between bed, wardrobe and narrow desk.
'Sorry about this,' he offered. 'I'd have found you something better if we hadn't been booked solid right through to the end of the season. There's a shower in the bathroom next door, and as all the other rooms have their own you shouldn't have much difficulty in using it whenever you want. Think you'll manage?'
'Don't you start that, too,' she exclaimed. I only just got through telling your boss how capable of managing we British females are !'
'Burnt any good bras lately?' he asked on a dry note, leaning his shoulders up against the jamb. hope you're not thinking of starting a movement over here while you're at it.'
'It's not a bad idea,' she admitted, then looked at
him and laughed. 'You know, I never realized until an hour or so ago just how militant I could feel. The Greeks I met in Athens weren't a bit like . . . him.'
'Strictly speaking, he's a Corfiot — and they have ways of their own. Most of the women who come here seem to find him fascinating, even from a distance. I've a feeling they're secretly pining for the days of the dominant male.'
'Masochists,' she retorted. 'You still get one or two letting the side down.'
'But not Miss Nicola Brent.' He was grinning, taking her no more seriously than she intended. 'Mind if I drop the Miss?'
'You can drop the Nicola too, I'm never called anything but Nicky.'
'Want to bet?' with emphasis. He came away from the jamb. 'Your own name is derived from the Greek — did you know that? Come on down about five if you want to catch them all together.'
Nicky closed the door after him with a smile. Gerry had been right; she was going to get along with Lee Merril. He could not be more than a couple of years younger than his employer, and yet in attitude there was a whole world of difference.
Before getting down to her unpacking she crossed to the narrow window with its view over the courtyard at the side of the hotel, silently blessed the huge silver poplar which might deny her a glimpse of the sea from this point
, but more than made up for it by providing a sunshield without which this tiny room would have become a virtual oven during these sultry hours, listened to the incessant vibration of the cicadas and became aware of a quivering sense of anticipation.
There was something about this place which Athens had lacked.
It was five o'clock exactly by her watch when she left the room to make her way downstairs again. The pale tan dress with its distinctive motif round collar and cuffs felt crisp and neat, and she herself was refreshed after an hour's nap on her bed. Nevertheless, she could not stop her nerves from fluttering just a little as she came into the vestibule and saw the small group of people gathered about the noticeboard by the main doors.
Not that these people looked frightening in any way. Two middle-aged couples in casual summer apparel and three children of varying ages could hardly be that.
`Hallo,' she said clearly as they turned towards her `I'm Nicky Brent, your new rep. Sorry you've been without anyone for a few days, but I hope to make up for it.'
`Gordon,' said the man in the Bermuda shorts and flowered shirt which did nothing for his paunchy figure. 'Margaret and Roland. These . . .' indicating the other couple... 'are the Baxters, and we share the children between us two to one.' His eyes, looking her over, were boldly speculative. 'Nice to have someone to turn to again — especially so now. How about joining us for tea?'
Just for a second Nicky met his wife's eyes. 'It's very nice of you,' she said evenly, 'but I have to introduce myself to all the others, too. I hope you're all enjoying your holiday?'
`Oh yes, it's wonderful here.' It was Margaret Gordon who spoke, her tone resigned. 'And I'm sure
we're going to enjoy the rest of the fortnight even more, aren't we, Roland?'
With some relief Nicky saw Lee emerge from the inner sanctum behind the desk. She excused herself and went across.
`I see you've been discovered by our resident Casanova,' he murmured, and she pulled a face.
`Uncovered would be a better word, I think. You should have an early warning system in operation when he's around !'
