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Greek’s Baby of Redemption
by Kate Hewitt
CHAPTER ONE
‘STAY.’
Milly James stilled, shock racing through her at the sound of that single word, uttered in a husky voice by a man she’d never actually seen in person. Her employer.
‘Pardon...?’ She turned around slowly, blinking into the dim gloom of the wood-panelled study, the curtains drawn against the Aegean’s azure sky, the tiniest sliver of lemony sunlight peeking through the heavy material. It was a beautiful summer’s day, but in the gloomy shroud of the study it could have been the depths of a dark winter’s night, the thick stone walls of the villa keeping out the island’s baking heat.
‘Stay.’
It was clearly a command, uttered with brusque authority, and so slowly she closed the door, the final-sounding click echoing in through the room.
She hadn’t even realised he was in the study when she’d opened the door to do her usual dusting, only to stumble back at the sight of him sitting in the shadows, barely visible.
Alexandro Santos’ instructions had been clear—he was not to be disturbed. Ever. And now she’d unwittingly done just that, because she’d heard the car motor starting and she’d thought he’d gone out. Her heart climbed its way to her throat as she tried to make him out through the gloom. Was he angry? How could she have been so careless? ‘I’m sorry, Kyrie Santos. I didn’t realise you were here. Is...is there something you need?’ she asked in as steady a voice as she could.
In the nearly six months since she’d been hired as housekeeper by Alexandro Santos, she’d never spoken to him, save for the first, rather abrupt conversation on the telephone when he’d offered her employment. This was the first time he’d been back to his luxurious retreat on the Greek island of Naxos since she’d started work, and she’d been tiptoeing around the villa for the last two days, trying to avoid him since he’d made it so clear he didn’t want to be bothered. At all. And now she might have messed it up completely.
‘I’m very sorry,’ she blurted, wishing he would say something to break the taut silence. ‘I won’t disturb you again...’
‘Never mind that.’ He dismissed her words with a flick of his fingers; she sensed the movement rather than saw it. ‘You asked if I needed something, Miss James.’ He spoke in a cold drawl, more than a hint of darkness in his tone. She wished she could see his face; the room was so very dark, and the sliver of light barely touched the top of his midnight-dark head.
She blinked, her eyes straining to see more, and, as if he sensed her scrutiny, he moved from where he’d been sitting behind his desk, walking to the window so his back was to her, the light gilding his outline in gold—all six feet three of powerfully built man, his crisp white shirt stretching tautly across his back and broad shoulders.
‘Yes,’ he answered his own question. ‘I do need something.’
‘Then how can I help you?’ Milly asked, glad that there might be something she could do. ‘Would you like a meal...or the room tidied...?’ She trailed off, because she had the sudden, inexplicable sense that he didn’t want either of those things, and she felt foolish for offering them.
Alexandro Santos didn’t answer her. He hadn’t moved, and she still couldn’t see his face. She knew what he looked like from the Internet search she’d done when she’d first been hired: dark hair, sculpted cheekbones, cold, blue eyes, a body of leashed and lethal power.
