Page 3 of Billion-Dollar Baby Shock

‘You’re not from around here, are you?’

Tara shook her head, aware of the feather on the mask floating somewhere off to the side of her head.She’d thought it was too much but her little sister Lucy, who was a fashion design student, had insisted.She’d said, ‘I’ve researched this, Tara.You don’t want to stand out for the wrong reasons, believe me.’

And, to give her her due, Tara’s outfit did seem to blend in pretty well, which wasn’t bad considering it was home-made.There were women dressed in a lot less and a lot sparklier and a lot more expensive.If Tara did stand out it was because she was like a milk bottle next to the far more honeyed tones of skin around her.

She said in a more modulated tone, ‘I’m from Ireland.Dublin.’

‘Nice country, very green.And wet.’

‘I can’t argue with that.’

He held out his hand, palm facing up, and Tara looked at it.She realised he wanted her to give him the food she’d rolled up in a napkin.She put it into his palm and he coolly handed it over to a server behind the tables, who took it without so much as a flicker of surprise.

Now she was really mortified.Maybe this guy wassome kind of special security dressed up like a guest and she was going to be taken out discreetly and turfed out—

‘Okay, so what do you like?Not prawns, evidently.’

She blinked.He was holding a plate and a pair of tongs and looking at her.She looked at the food and pointed at skewers of chicken.He picked a couple up and put them on the plate along with some salad.

‘Do you like hummus?’

She nodded, totally bemused, and watched as he loaded up her plate with more things.Flatbread, cheese, olives.

He handed her her plate and then filled a plate for himself.He caught a waiter and snagged two glasses of sparkling wine and said, ‘Follow me.’

Tara did as she was bid.He was even taller from the back.And broader.She could see that his hair was dark and thick.Longer than she might have thought.Brushing against the edge of his collar.

He brought her outside, where tables had been set up with candles flickering.People were sitting and eating as the sky darkened over Athens and lights illuminated the iconic city.The Acropolis was lit up on a hill nearby.Tara hadn’t had time to fully appreciate where she even was, she’d been so desperate to get here.

She had to find Dionysios Dimitriou.

And yet here she was having food with a total stranger.

He pulled out a chair at an empty table on the wide terrace and she sat down, telling herself that she did need to eat and it would be better to meet the father of her child when she didn’t feel faint from hunger.

Are you sure it’s not the stranger’s effect?

He sat down opposite her and Tara took a quick sip ofwine to give her some courage.She put the glass back down.‘Thank you.I wasn’t sure what the protocol was.’

He speared some meat and put it in his mouth, utterly unfazed by this whole scene.He shook his head, ‘No problem at all.You might still have been dithering if I hadn’t taken pity.’

She could see the gleam of something wicked in his dark eyes behind the mask and her heart pounded and her skin felt hot.‘I wasn’t dithering… I just wasn’t sure what to choose.’

He lifted his glass.‘Yamas.’

Tara lifted hers too and felt a strange unsettling motion as if the earth had just shifted on its axis for a second.‘Cheers.’

She ate to try and stave off the strange feeling but it was still there every time she sneaked a glance at the man across the table.When she’d eaten enough to feel a little less…hollow, she wiped her mouth and sat back.

He’d finished eating.A clean plate.She observed, ‘You were hungry too.’

Enigmatically, he said, ‘I learnt a long time ago never to leave food behind.’

Before she could fully absorb that or respond he asked, ‘So how do you know Leo and Angel Parnassus?’

Tara knew they were the hosts of the party.Her brother had drilled that into her.She said, ‘I’m a big fan of Angel Parnassus’s jewellery.’She wasn’t lying.She’d looked her up online and had immediately coveted the delicate subtle pieces.But there was no way that Tara could possibly ever afford even the tiniest item the woman designed.

The man said, ‘Her work is amazing.’