Dell faltered to a halt as she realised she’d held the floor for too long, having scarcely paused for breath. ‘Er...that is if you think so too...’
He stood watching her, dark eyes enigmatic, before he broke into a slow smile. ‘That’s exactly what I think,’ he said.
Dell felt as breathless as if she’d run a long race. It seemed she’d passed a test of some sort. After all, he’d acquired her on an impulse too. She kept up to date with food trends. She had a degree in food science, which had covered commercial food preparation. She had critiqued a spectrum of restaurants and resorts in Sydney. But that wouldn’t have mattered a flying fig if she hadn’t proved herself to be on the same wavelength as Alex when it came to his project.
‘That’s a relief,’ she said. ‘I do tend to go on when I’m...passionate about something.’
He smiled again, teeth white against his olive skin, eyes warm. His shirt was open at the neck, rolled up to show tanned forearms. Had a man ever looked better in a white shirt? It would be only too easy to get passionate about him.
‘Don’t ever hold back,’ he said. ‘I like your enthusiasm. It energises me.’
Passion, energy, his eyes focused on her, his hands—
She couldn’t go there.
She took a deep, steadying breath. ‘One more thing,’ she asked. ‘Have you decided on a name for the resort?’
‘Pevezzo Athina,’ he said without hesitation. ‘Pevezzo in the local dialect means “safe haven”. That’s what I want it to be: a haven from life’s stresses for our guests.’
And for you too, Dell thought.
‘Why the name Athina again?’ she said. ‘In homage to your restaurant in Sydney?’ She felt uncomfortable mentioning it, considering their history.
‘That restaurant was named by my grandfather after the taverna on the adjoining island, Prasinos, which was run by his parents. It’s still there. Pappouli left his home for a better life in Australia. The seas here were becoming over-fished and he found it difficult to make a living as a fisherman. He wanted more. I’m named after that grandfather, in the Greek way.’
Dell took up the story. ‘So he started Athina restaurant in the city, serving traditional Greek food. It was a great success. First with other migrants like himself and then the Australian business people caught on to how good the food was and it became an institution.’
‘You know a lot about it. Of course you do. Because of the—’
‘The court case,’ she said. No point in avoiding the elephant lurking in the garden.
‘What you did not realise—what no one outside our family knew—was how important Athina was to me personally.’
‘You defended it so...so fiercely.’
‘You mean irrationally?’
‘I didn’t say that,’ she said, her voice dwindling away. But she meant it and he knew it.
‘My grandfather came to Australia with nothing, unable to speak more than a few words of English. He ended up successful and prosperous. His kids became professionals—my father is an orthopaedic surgeon, his sister a dermatologist. All thanks to Athina. As a kid, I spent happy times with my pappouli and my yia-yia at the restaurant. I’d get underfoot in the kitchens, annoy the chefs with questions. Helped out as a waiter as soon as I was old enough.’
‘So that’s where your interest in restaurants started.’ An image of what a dear little boy he must have been flashed into her mind. But she pushed it away. Neil had been dark-haired and dark-eyed—the image of Alex as a child came way too close to what her longed-for babies might have looked like. She had to put that dream behind her.
‘I didn’t want to be a chef. I wanted to be the boss.’ He smiled, an ironic twist of his mouth. ‘That’s what comes of being the only son in a Greek family. But the pressure was on for me to be a doctor, to keep the migrant dream alive of being upwardly socially mobile. I enrolled in medicine. Loved the social life at uni, the classes were not where I wanted to be. My parents were not happy, to say the least.’
‘And your grandfather?’
‘Pappouli wasn’t happy either. He left Greece and his extended family to better himself. Everyone saw me as going backwards when I dropped out of uni and started work behind a bar. It didn’t count that it was at the most fashionable nightclub in Sydney at the time. No one thought it was worth applauding when I became the club’s youngest ever manager. I continued to be a great disappointment.’
She knew some of this story. But not the personal insights about his family. Not how his spur to success was proving himself to them. ‘If I remember, your grandfather became ill.’
‘He had a stroke. I insisted on running the restaurant for him while he was in hospital. Straight away I could see Athina’s time was past. It was now in the wrong end of town for a traditional Greek restaurant. The older people who had come for the nostalgia were dying off. The younger punters had moved on. I saw what could be done with it, but of course my hands were tied.’
‘Until...’ Dell found she couldn’t say the words.
‘Until my grandfather died and left the restaurant to me. You know the rest.’
Not quite all the rest—much as she ached to know it. But Alex was her boss. Knowing this was relevant to the naming of the resort. His private life continued to be none of her business. ‘I see why you want to honour your grandfather. Thank you for sharing that with me.’
She’d believed she and Alex were poles apart. Perhaps they had more in common than she could have dreamed. Both brought up by parents who wanted to impose their ambitions and expectations on their kids. She’d fought those expectations to get where she was. As a result, she remained a disappointment to her parents too. Alex’s arrogance and ruthlessness seemed more understandable now. But it seemed he’d paid a price.
She had to fight an impulse to hug him.
‘Now I better understand your attitude in court,’ she said. Not that she was condoning it.
He sighed. ‘It seems a long time ago in a different place. I’m a different person.’
Was he truly? Was she? She remembered how she’d wondered if he’d worn his public image like a mask. Was she now seeing glimpses of the man behind the mask? Because she liked what she saw.
‘I’d rather put it right behind me if we’re to work in harmony together,’ she said. In harmony. She was already using the language that would define this place.
‘I’ve apologised and I hope you have forgiven me,’ he said, a little stiffly. ‘One day I’ll take you to my family’s Taverna Athina and you can see where it all started.’
‘I’d like that very much.’ She realised she was hungry to find out as much as possible about this man who was beginning to take up way too much time in her thoughts.
CHAPTER SEVEN
TWO WEEKS INTO her new job and Dell was loving every minute of it. She and Alex worked so well together she found herself musing that if they had met under different circumstances they might be friends. More than friends, her insistent libido reminded her with inconvenient frequency.
Often when she was with him, from nowhere would come a flash of awareness of how heart-thuddingly handsome she found him. When he laughed—and he seemed to laugh more often these days—he threw back his head and there was a hollow in his tanned neck that she felt an insane urge to press her lips against. When they were going through a document or a set of plans, she’d become mesmerised by his hands, imagining how his long, strong fingers might feel on her bare skin.
She treasured the day he’d taken her to Athens for work. The music he’d played in the car on the way to the airport had been the same music she liked. They’d operated with the designers and suppliers like a team—so much so the people thought they’d been working together for years. But on the journey home, when she’d felt overwhelmed by sudden tiredness, she’d been very careful
to stay on her side of the car. She didn’t trust herself. Sometimes she’d awoken from dreams of him—dreams filled with erotic fantasy.
Every time she realised the way her thoughts were taking her, her redhead’s skin would flush. She prayed he didn’t notice, because she never saw anything in his reactions to her to indicate he might feel in any way the same about her.
Although he had never mentioned Mia—not once—she got the impression she’d been the love of his life and no other woman would ever measure up to her.
According to his aunt Penelope, her landlady, there was no woman in his life. Not that Dell had indulged in gossip with her about her nephew, in spite of her curiosity. There was no guarantee it wouldn’t reach Alex and she doubted he’d be happy about her speculating on his love life—or lack of it—with his family. Then there was the annoying fact that Aunt Penelope appeared convinced that she and Alex were more than boss and employee. The older woman seemed to think that the more often she subtly mentioned her suspicions, the more likely Dell would cave in and admit it through the course of the conversation.
But no matter how Dell denied it, she could no longer deny the truth to herself—she was developing a crush on her boss.
What a cliché—and not one she had thought she would ever find herself caught up in. The anticipation of seeing him brought a frisson of unexpected pleasure to her working day. She found herself taking greater care with the way she dressed. If Alex happened to compliment her on her dress, she would hug the knowledge to herself and make sure she wore something similar the next day. He’d mentioned he liked her perfume—and she had to fight the temptation to douse herself in it. But her secret crush was harmless, she told herself. He would never know.
There was only one flaw in her new life in this Greek paradise—a new susceptibility to seasickness. It was most inconvenient when she was working on an island accessible only by boat.
Every day, Alex’s cousin Cristos took her and some of the tradespeople across and back to Kosmimo in his blue-painted converted wooden fishing boat. At first she’d looked forward to it. She’d always been fine on the water, whether sailing on Sydney Harbour with friends or a cruise to Fiji with her parents.
Yet this small boat chugging across calm, clear waters had her gagging with nausea all the way. She’d sat by turns at the front and back of the boat but it was no use. In desperation, she’d got up earlier to catch the construction company’s much bigger boat, but it was no different. She had to deal with a niggling nausea until mid-morning. By mid-afternoon she was dreading the return trip for another dose.
It was getting worse. This morning she’d managed to get up the steps from the jetty to the lower levels of the building and into the bathroom just in time. She’d tried eating a bigger breakfast, a smaller breakfast, no breakfast at all, but the outcome was the same.
Afterwards, she splashed cold water on her face. Fixed her make-up to try and conceal the unflattering tinge of green of her skin and brushed back her lank hair from her face. She gripped the edge of the hand basin and practised her fluffy-chick smile in the mirror. The last thing she wanted was for Alex to notice all was not well.
She loved working here with him. However she was aware it was early days yet. Theoretically, she was still on probation although he had told her several times how pleased he was with her job performance. But how could she continue in a job on an island only accessible by boat if she was going to feel like this every day?
* * *
Alex finished going through some plans with the plumber who was installing the fittings in the guest bathrooms. A smile of anticipation tugged at the edges of his mouth as he headed back to the office that would become the hotel’s administration centre but right now served just for him and Dell. She should be at her desk by now.
He realised the day didn’t really start for him until she smiled a ‘good morning’ greeting. Her warm presence was like the dark Greek coffee that kick-started his day. How had he managed without her?
But as he got to the office he stopped, alarmed. She was leaning on her elbows on the desk, her head resting in her hands in a pose of utter exhaustion. Had she been out last night partying late in the nightclubs of Nidri? Somehow he didn’t think so. She wouldn’t be so unprofessional to come to work with a hangover.
‘Dell, are you okay?’
She looked up, her splayed hands still holding onto her head. ‘Alex. I thought you were out the back with the builders,’ she said in a voice so shaky it hardly sounded like her. Her face was so pale a smattering of freckles stood out across the bridge of her nose. Make-up was smeared around her eyes. Her wavering smile seemed forced.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, fear stabbing him.
He’d become accustomed to her presence in his day. Her smile, her energy, her awesome attitude to work, the way he could fire ideas off her and she’d come back with ideas to counter or complement his own. Whatever he’d directed her to do she’d taken a step further. He’d found himself thanking whatever lucky star had made him turn around to see her in that yoga class. She couldn’t be ill. Especially with so much still to do before the hotel would be ready to open. He depended on her. He couldn’t imagine his days on the island without his right-hand person. Fate had delivered her to him at just the right time.
He could see what an effort it was for her to force out the words. ‘I feel dreadful. The boat. I’m getting seasick. I don’t know why as I don’t usually suffer from it.’
He frowned. ‘But the sea is so calm.’
‘I know. The first few days I was fine. But since then it’s getting worse.’
‘Is Cristos showing off and speeding around? That would make anyone sick.’ He’d have words with his cousin if that was the case.
‘Not at all, he’s very good and taking extra care since I told him I wasn’t feeling well.’
Maybe it was her time of the month. Alex knew enough not to suggest it. Two older sisters had trained him well in that regard. Not that he wanted to press for details. ‘Are you sure it’s the boat? You’re living in a new country. It could be the water. Or the food. Maybe you’re allergic to something. Eggplant perhaps. You told me you’re on a mission to try all the different Greek ways of cooking it and put them on your blog. You could be eating too much.’
‘I suppose it could be that.’ She looked doubtful.
‘Or a stomach flu?’
‘I don’t think so. But I guess it’s a possibility.’
‘Then I suggest you go see a doctor as soon as you can. Perhaps you need to get medication for motion sickness. At least until you get more used to the boat. Aunt Penelope will be able to help find an English-speaking doctor in Nidri. I’ll take you back in my boat now.’ The sooner she sorted this out, the better.
She groaned and put up her hand in protest. ‘Thank you but no. I couldn’t face getting back into a boat right now. I’ll feel better as the day goes on and go back with Cristos this evening as usual.’
‘See a doctor tomorrow. I insist. Call and make an appointment this morning. Don’t come in to work until you find out what’s wrong. If it’s serious and you have to take time off work let me know. Whatever the result let me know.’
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her would she like him to come with her. But that would be overstepping the mark as her employer. It would be appropriate as a friend, and he realised he already thought of her as a friend. The informal nature of their work arrangement had seen a kind of intimacy develop very quickly between them.
If he was honest with himself, he would admit he didn’t view her in just a platonic way. He found her very attractive. Not his tall and blonde type, but alluring just the same. Curvy and auburn-haired was growing on him in a major way. He reacted to the sway of her hips in a tight pencil skirt, the tantalising hint of cleavage when she was shoulder to shoulder with him discussing a pl
an, the wide curves of her mouth. And he delighted in that smile. Always her warm, embracing smile that made him feel better than any other stimulant ever had.
But he forced himself to turn away, to switch off his feelings. He was not ready for another woman in his life. Was not certain he would ever be ready. And it was never a good idea to have an affair with a member of his staff.
* * *
Next morning, Dell stared across the desk at the doctor, too shocked to comprehend what she was saying. It wasn’t the doctor’s lightly accented English that was incomprehensible, it was her words. ‘You are pregnant, Ms Hudson.’
‘You are pregnant.’ The three words she had longed almost beyond reason to hear reverberated through her head but the doctor might as well have said them in Greek for all the sense they made. The middle-aged woman had insisted on Dell taking a pregnancy test, routine in cases of unexplained nausea she had said. Dell had muttered to herself about what a waste of time it was. To her utter shock, the test had proved positive. Then the doctor had examined her to confirm the diagnosis.
‘But it’s impossible for me to be pregnant,’ Dell protested. As she explained her history, the doctor took notes.
‘I would say that your IVF has been successful,’ the doctor said. ‘Bleeding in pregnancy is not uncommon. What you experienced could have been caused by implantation or any number of reasons. Have you had other symptoms?’
Conveniently Wed to the Greek Page 6
