‘What about your motion sickness?’
‘The doctor has given me some strategies to cope with that,’ she said. ‘No medication, of course.’
‘What about the boat ride to and from the island every day? You looked very shaken by it yesterday.’
Her chin tilted up. She wouldn’t give him any excuse to renege on his decision. ‘I’ll just have to grit my teeth and bear it, won’t I?’ she said. ‘This job is really important to me, Alex.’ You are important to me, but I’ll never be able to let you know that now.
‘I think there’s a better way. You should move onto the island.’
‘But...but none of the rooms are ready for occupation,’ she said.
‘There are two self-contained suites in the pavilion,’ he said. ‘You’ll have to share it with me.’
CHAPTER NINE
HOW DID SHE deal with this new development?
Sharing an apartment with Alex would be quite the challenge, Dell realised. That afternoon, she followed him as he carried her suitcase across the marble floor of the pavilion into the sumptuous bedroom that was to be hers. She noted that, as he had said, the bedrooms and bathrooms were completely separate—thank heaven.
Growing up, she had shared a bathroom with her brother. And of course she had shared a bathroom with her ex. But she could not even imagine having to share a bathroom with Alex. Not in a room where the occupants spent most of their time naked. Not when her imagination would go crazy thinking about him naked in the same space where she was naked. Standing where he stood to shower that tall, broad-shouldered body, twisting to soap his powerful chest and lean, six-pack belly. At least, she assumed he’d have a six-pack belly. He did in those dreams that came to taunt and tantalise her—where he was wearing considerably fewer clothes than he did in real life. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Enough.
She had to stop this crazy fantasising about Alex. It was never going to happen. She was pregnant and he was not okay with it, no matter how much he quoted his employer code of practice. Her pregnancy was an inconvenience to him. There’d never before been a sign he was interested in her as anything other than an employee; there certainly wouldn’t be now she was pregnant. She had a thrilling new life ahead of her—mother to her miracle baby—and that life would not include Alex. Once she went back to Australia she doubted he would be anything more than a name on her résumé, her boss on a particularly exciting project.
That new life was not quite the way she had envisaged it for all those years—having the child’s father around had been the plan. But she had not the slightest regret about her rash visit to the clinic. In fact the more she thought about it, the happier she became that she had made that reckless choice. Her baby. Now she needed to concentrate on doing the best possible job she could do so Alex would not regret keeping her on in a job she still sorely needed. She needed to earn to both pay off her debts and start saving for the baby. Indulging in fantasies about her handsome boss was a time-wasting distraction.
‘This bedroom is magnificent,’ she said, looking around her at the restful, white room straight out of a glossy interiors magazine. The furniture was sleek and modern, the huge bed piled with expensive linens and pillows. A few carefully chosen paintings hung on the walls, contemporary works she recognised as being by the artist she had visited in Athens with Alex. He had commissioned a series of arresting scenes of the islands for the resort. Nature also provided its own artworks, the windows framed a view of the green hills behind. Tasteful. Private. Peaceful. Well, as peaceful as it could be with him in a room just across a corridor. ‘It’s incredibly luxurious for a pool house,’ she said.
‘I understand the previous owner lived in it when he flew in to check on the construction of the main house.’
‘That makes sense,’ she said. ‘Is your room the same as this one?’
Why did she say that? She didn’t want him to show her his bedroom. To see his bed and imagine him there, his tanned, olive skin against the pale linen sheets, as he sprawled across—She flushed that tell-tale flush but thankfully he still had his back to her. Why was her libido leading her on such a dance? Pregnancy hormones? Or him? She didn’t need to think about the answer. Fight the unwelcome feeling as she might, she had never felt so attracted to a man.
‘Yeah, it’s the same,’ he said. ‘A slightly different colour scheme.’ He was more subdued than she’d seen him, closed off, communicating only what he needed to. Possibly he was regretting his offer for her to share the pavilion with him.
What would he think if he could see the scenarios playing in her head, where he played a starring role? Again she flushed, this time with mortification.
She forced herself back to the real world. He was her boss. She was nothing more to him than an employee—valued, she knew, but an underling just the same. Now she felt she had to work even harder, to prove herself to him all over again. Prove that being pregnant was no barrier to performance. She would do well to keep reminding herself of that.
‘Thank you, Alex, for this. I think I feel better already knowing I don’t have to face that boat trip twice a day. As soon as the sickness abates I can go back to the villa.’
‘When you’re ready,’ he said. ‘You can stay here as long as you need to.’
Dell followed him through to the spacious living area and kitchen. Despite her good working relationship with Alex, she felt awkward at the subtle shift between them that being roommates would inevitably bring. She knew she was intruding but at the same time she was very grateful for the offer of such wonderful accommodation on the island. She was happy at the villa but this apartment was the ultimate in opulence. Once the resort was up and going, the pavilion would become exclusive, highly priced accommodation for well-heeled guests. What a treat to stay here in the meantime. She could never afford this level of luxury on her own dime.
‘So how do we handle this?’ she asked him. ‘I’m aware I’m invading your privacy and I’ll stay out of your way as much as possible. What do you do about food? Do you cook for yourself or—?’ She actually knew a daily housekeeper came over on the construction crew boat every day to cook and clean for him. But she didn’t want to admit she’d been snooping into his life.
He told her what she already knew and she pretended it was news to her. ‘The housekeeper can leave meals for you, too, if you like,’ he said. ‘Or you can order what you need to cook your own meals. Just coordinate with her when you’re likely to need to use the kitchen. There’s breakfast stuff in the pantry. Again, order what you need.’
So no shared meals, then. No intimate evenings over the elegant table set in the loggia overlooking the pool. Not that she’d expected that. Alex made it very clear he put her in the same category as the housekeeper—mere staff.
‘I’ll leave you to unpack and settle in,’ he said. ‘Then you can join me in the office. That is, if you feel up to it.’ He was bending over backwards to be considerate when she knew he must be cursing the break in their timetable.
‘I’m feeling better by the minute, just knowing I don’t have to get back into a boat every day.’
He paused. ‘I need to go to Athens again day after tomorrow. Will you be able to come?’
‘I’ll manage,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to miss out.’ If she had to nibble on dry crackers and swig lemonade all day to keep the nausea at bay she’d be there.
‘We’ll have a very full day. Pack for a night away,’ he said. ‘If you want to see the Acropolis, it might be a good opportunity to get up early and do it before we fly back. I don’t know how you’ll feel about all the walking and steps involved in getting up to the Parthenon once you’re further into your pregnancy. It will get too hot as well.’
‘That’s very thoughtful of you. I’d love to.’ Why was he being so nice?
‘Good.’ He turned on his heel. ‘I’ll see y
ou in the office. I’ve got work to catch up on.’ The implication being he had lost valuable time attending to her. Dell felt bad about that. She had hours to make up too. She’d work later that evening. Which would make any awkward encounters in the pool house less likely. She would be careful to schedule her meals around his so she did not intrude.
He started to stride away. ‘Alex. Before you go. One more thing.’
He turned back to face her.
‘Your aunt Penelope...’
‘Yes?’
‘I got to like her while I was staying in the villa. She’s teaching me Greek, you know. And sharing her traditional recipes. My blog fans are loving them.’
‘Very nice,’ he said dismissively. But Dell felt she had to plough on.
‘As I got to know her, I realised that she...well, your aunt Penelope is the disseminator of information to your extended family.’
‘Which is your kind way of saying she’s an outrageous gossip.’
Dell laughed. ‘I wouldn’t quite say it like that, but yes.’
Alex laughed too and Dell felt a relaxing of the thread of tension that had become so taut between them since she’d dropped her bombshell back at the café in Nidri.
He might not be so relaxed when he heard what she had to say next. ‘Er...with that in mind, do you realise your aunt thinks I’m moving in to the pool house to be with you? I mean, not to share like a roommate, to actually live with you. She’s convinced we’re lovers.’
‘What?’ Alex exploded. ‘Where the hell did she get that idea from?’ His eyes narrowed. ‘What did you say to give her that opinion?’
‘Nothing. Not a word, I promise you. As far as I’m concerned you’re the boss and I’m the employee. You’re helping me out because I’m suffering so much from motion sickness it’s affecting my efficiency in my job. That’s all I told her.’
His face set granite hard. ‘It needs to be perfectly clear that there is nothing else whatsoever between us and never could be.’ Dell tried not to react to the shard of pain that speared her at his words. She knew that to be the case, but hearing it so vehemently expressed hurt.
‘Promnestria.’ He spat the Greek word.
‘What does that mean?’ Dell asked. ‘It...er...doesn’t sound very pleasant.’
‘It means “matchmaker”, and I’m using it as a shortcut to express how annoyed I am at the interference from my family—well-meaning as they are. My aunt, and some of the other women, know very well I don’t intend ever to marry. Yet they continue to speculate about me and every halfway eligible female who comes my way. And even the entirely unsuitable ones.’
Like me, thought Dell, the shard of pain stabbing deeper.
He cursed some more under his breath. This time she didn’t ask for a translation.
‘I’m afraid there’s more,’ she said.
He rolled his eyes heavenward. ‘I’m so fond of my aunt but—’
‘She also suspects I’m pregnant. I think she recognised the signs I never saw myself. At her age I guess she’s seen it all before. I have a feeling she’s crowing with delight because she thinks my baby is...is, well, yours.’
The normally eloquent Alex seemed completely lost for words. Dell squirmed in an agony of expectation of his reaction. Suddenly her job didn’t seem so secure after all.
When he finally found his voice, it was ominously calm. ‘How on earth would she think that?’
Dell shrugged. ‘I guess she thought we knew each other in Australia. Put two and two together and came up with completely the wrong answer.’
‘What have you told her?’ Again she caught a glimpse of her old adversary. Alex seemed as though he was looking for her to slip up in her evidence. Had he really changed? She so wanted to believe he had.
She willed him to believe she was telling the truth. ‘Nothing, I assure you. Not about the court case, nothing. I’m here to work, Alex, not to gossip with your family. I mean it.’ It was a trap she’d been determined not to fall into, beguiling as Aunt Penelope could be.
‘Good,’ he said abruptly. But his taut look relaxed and she felt like she was off the witness stand.
‘It won’t be long before it becomes obvious that I’m pregnant. Should I tell your aunt? And that the baby isn’t yours?’
He shook his head. ‘My publicity director’s personal life is none of their concern. Although in one way you telling them would quell some of the speculation about the reason you’ve moved in here. People close to me know I would never get involved with a woman carrying another man’s child.’
His eyes didn’t meet hers as he said that. Dell was relieved. It gave her valuable seconds to hide her surprise. Was that a message for her? She didn’t need it spelled out.
‘On balance,’ he continued, ‘your pregnancy is your business. My family can stay out of it.’ Not for one moment would he think she might not want him along.
‘I shall hereby resist all hints, innuendos and subtly worded questions,’ she said, holding up her hand as if swearing an oath.
‘Thank you,’ he said. He stilled, his shoulders tensed, his stance braced. ‘I can’t bear to be the subject of gossip—my private life bandied around as if it’s some game. Not after...not after everything that happened. When I couldn’t turn around without seeing a paparazzi shot of myself with some journalist analysing my expression and suggesting what I was feeling. Photos of her and me together before...before...’ His words faltered to an end in a tortured groan.
Again Dell felt a great rush of compassion for him. She couldn’t begin to imagine how she would have dealt with what he had been through, the horror and loss, the immeasurable pain. She ached to put her arms around him and comfort him. But he was her boss and she his employee and he had drawn the line between them. She kept her distance.
‘I promise I will not encourage your aunt in any speculation about my personal life or yours. Not that I will be seeing much of her while I’m staying on the island. There’s a lot to be done here. I’m going to concentrate my efforts on that.’
‘As far as my family is concerned, I suggest we present a united front—your role in helping me with the launch of Pevezzo Athina is why we spend time together,’ he said. ‘There is nothing else of interest to great-aunts, aunts, cousins and whoever else seems determined to see something else that simply isn’t there.’
His tone was businesslike in the extreme, in complete denial of the informal, friendly tone she had become used to. As he spoke, she noticed the shift in the angle of his shoulders away from her, distancing her, re-establishing boundaries.
‘Of course,’ she said, swallowing against the lump of disappointment that threatened to choke her.
He turned on his heel to head out of the pavilion and towards the main building.
Dell watched him, his stride both powerful and graceful as he walked away, each footstep seeming to determine a new distance between them.
Some of the magic of this special place where she had been so happy seemed to spiral away above him to dissipate in the cloudless blue sky.
CHAPTER TEN
TWO DAYS LATER Alex gritted his teeth as he walked by Dell’s bedroom suite. From behind the closed door he could hear the faint splashing of her shower. He could plug his ears to the sound. But he couldn’t block his imagination. Images bombarded him of her in there, naked, the water flowing over the creamy skin of her shoulders, her breasts and downwards over the curves of her hips. Was she slowly soaping her body? Did she have her face tilted up towards the jets of water as if she was preparing to receive a kiss?
His kiss.
His wild imaginings were torture. Living with Dell in such close proximity was torture. Even a glass left on the sink with the lipstick outline of her lips on the rim drove him into a frenzy of fantasising about that mouth on his. It was crazy. A
nd totally unlike him.
He’d always been confident with women. To be frank, he’d never had to chase them. From the age of fourteen they’d chased him. And he’d been only too happy to be caught. He’d never gone through that stage of stuttering awkwardness in the presence of a beautiful woman. Until now.
The pressure of denying his attraction to his lovely employee, totally out of bounds because she was pregnant to another man, was telling on him. To his immense frustration, conversation with her about anything other than work had become awkward, stilted. Because of him.
He could tell she was puzzled at his often abrupt tone, at his silences. She made the effort to be her usual friendly self, but with an edge of uncertainty as she became unsure of his reaction. But he seemed incapable of returning to that comfortable working relationship, that easy camaraderie and repartee. Not when he couldn’t get her out of his thoughts. Not as a trusted workmate. Or a person he thought could be a friend. But a smart, sensual, very appealing woman. A woman he desired.
He wasn’t looking for this. He didn’t want it. Not when her pregnancy complicated everything. But the feeling wouldn’t go away. No matter how many times he plunged into the chilly water of the pool and swam laps until he was exhausted.
When she’d lived at the villa, he could escape to the pavilion. Now her warm presence had invaded his man cave, where he’d been able to retreat with his dark thoughts and memories. In just days, it had become stamped with her personality, even when she wasn’t actually there. The sound of her laughter seemed to linger on the empty stillness, tantalising hints of her perfume wafted to greet him, there was Dell food in the fridge.
The enforced intimacy was making him yearn for something more, needs and feelings he had long denied himself because of the guilt that tore him apart over Mia’s death. Sharing a house with a woman—if only in the roommate sense—was bringing back painful memories of his late fiancée.
He had been happy dating Mia but she had pressed for more commitment. In fact she had delivered an ultimatum—get engaged or she walked. He had agreed to the engagement, she had agreed to move in. But then it had stalled with his ambivalence about setting a date for the wedding. As their relationship had gone on, he hadn’t been certain they had enough in common to build a life together, the kind of committed family life he’d had growing up with his parents and grandparents. Under his playboy, party prince exterior that was what he’d known he’d wanted one day. He still hadn’t been certain Mia was the one when he’d sent her to her death.
Conveniently Wed to the Greek Page 8
