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She’d met his stepmother Helen and half-brother Anatolios, at a general board meeting that morning. The stepmother was tall and thin and cold, effortlessly supercilious. His half-brother was nothing like Aristotle. He was blond, shorter and had a spoilt, weak-looking face. It hadn’t taken Lucy much to deduce that his brother had a serious jealousy complex as he’d frowned sulkily throughout the meeting, clearly hating having Aristotle back to remind everyone who the real boss was. After meeting them, she didn’t entirely blame Aristotle for wanting to keep his distance.
‘…to put in an appearance at the charity ball tonight.’
Lucy realised she was being spoken to and looked up. ‘I’m sorry…?’
Her voice drifted away as she was caught by the gleam in Aristotle’s eyes. They were sitting close together, side by side at a table, with papers strewn everywhere. For the whole week, ever since the night they’d arrived and that earth-shattering moment in the car, she’d been rigid with tension, happily throwing herself into work to try and escape from dealing with…this.
But it hummed around them now, this awareness. She’d been so careful not to let it catch her unawares, but she had failed in this instance. And in all honesty she knew that it was largely to do with Aristotle’s own restraint. He’d been cool and solicitous all week. Not a hint of what had happened in his behaviour. At first it had thrown her, she’d been absurdly suspicious, but now…She realised it had been there all along. She knew it and he knew it, and much to her utter shame a flutter of dark excitement erupted deep in her belly.
She tried to ignore it. ‘I’m sorry—what did you say?’
Aristotle looked at her and stifled a groan. Her eyes were huge pools of swirling grey, like a stormy ocean, with lashes so long and dark he could already imagine them fluttering against his cheek. How he’d managed not to touch her all week he couldn’t really fathom. It had taken super-human restraint, but he’d been determined to prove to himself that she didn’t exert that much control over him. Except it had been an exercise in failure, because she did. His mind had constantly been taken from business.
It didn’t help that because of the wardrobe he’d provided, which was perfectly respectable, she was unwittingly displaying more of her luscious body. He knew she was deliberately choosing the most unrevealing clothes, but conversely they were making him want to unwrap her like a delicious parcel.
At the board meeting earlier, when he’d seen his own half-brother’s eyes riveted to Lucy’s cleavage, he’d wanted to reach across the table and punch him in the face. Being driven to violence by a woman was a very novel experience, and he had to put it down to sexual frustration.
He cleared his throat and dragged his eyes back up, vowing silently to himself that he’d have her in his
bed within twenty-four hours. He couldn’t take much more of this.
‘The charity ball tonight. Everyone will be there—including Parnassus. Needless to say it’ll be seen entirely as a coincidence that we’re there too. When we meet any of his people we’ll affect no knowledge of having met before.’
Lucy had seen the extent of the security detail that both Aristotle and Parnassus commanded, so there had been no chance of a leak. Again the size and importance of what they were working on stunned her.
She asked abruptly, ‘Why is it so important that nobody knows of this, exactly?’
Aristotle’s mouth thinned. ‘Because our two companies merging will put a lot of noses out of joint. We’ll effectively be blowing any competition out of the water; the only companies who will remain safe are the ones who are huge enough to withstand the pressure—people like Kouros Shipping, for instance.’
Lucy nodded, she’d heard of Alexandros Kouros. ‘But…your family?’
His eyes flashed at her persistence, but he answered tightly, ‘My stepmother and brother would oppose this absolutely. Helen would see it as a dilution of my father’s name and a threat to her security. If my brother had even an inkling of this happening he’d do his best to derail it just to get at me. That’s why we have to be vigilant. And they’ll be at the ball tonight too.’ His mouth twisted. ‘Although I wouldn’t worry about him too much—no doubt he’ll be more concerned about scoring the best drugs and the best women.’
Lucy hid her shock at this evidence of little love lost. She quashed her immediate questions. She had no desire to know about Aristotle’s family history. None at all.
Chapter Six
THAT evening, after they’d eaten a sumptuous dinner, Lucy found herself separated from Aristotle. She was feeling almost relaxed, which she knew had something to do with the fact that she’d been seated apart from him, even though she’d felt the weight of his gaze from across the table, periodically.
She’d been seated next to Kallie Kouros, the wife of Alexandros Kouros, who’d proved to be down to earth and utterly charming, giving Lucy hilarious tidbits of information about Athenian society. When her gorgeous husband had come to whisk her away they’d looked so in love, and he’d been so innately protective, it had made a very secret part of Lucy ache…It surprised her, as she’d never found herself envious of happy couples before.
Lucy craned her neck to try and find Aristotle, not even sure why she felt compelled to do so when he was clearly only too happy to leave her to her own devices. Finally she saw him across the room, with his head bent towards a very blonde and very beautiful woman. She saw him smile and it impacted her deeply. He’d never smiled at her like that. Yes, he did, reminded a little voice. That night outside your apartment.
Immediately she could feel her blood cooling, the colour draining from her face. A strange falling feeling made her feel shaky all of a sudden. On a complete reflex, to deny her reaction and the fact that it might possibly be stemming from feeling jealous, she whirled around and made blindly for the ladies room.
After collecting herself she went to the sink and splashed some cold water on her face. When she stood up again she nearly jumped out of her skin to see Helen Levakis, Aristotle’s stepmother standing beside her, reapplying her blood-red lipstick.
She looked at Lucy and said, ‘Lizzie, wasn’t it?’
Lucy shook her head, fascinated by this woman’s brittle shell. ‘Lucy.’
The woman smiled insincerely. ‘My apologies. Ari seems to have a new assistant every time he comes home.’
Lucy washed her hands briskly. ‘It’s no problem.’
Helen Levakis turned and rested back against the ledge. ‘You’re sleeping with him, aren’t you? I saw that little look outside, when you saw him with another woman.’
Lucy tried and knew she was probably failing to keep the shock from her face. This woman had stuck a knife right into the tender heart of her, and to realise that was huge.
