AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There was a knock on the door and Jace went to open it, wondering why Eleanor had not used the key card he’d given her.
‘Monsieur Zagorakis.’ The concierge stood in the corridor. ‘I have a package for you from Mademoiselle Buchanan.’
‘Merci.’Jace frowned as he took the sealed envelope from the man. He closed the door and ripped open the envelope. The diamond engagement ring that he had placed on Eleanor’s finger earlier in the day fell into his palm. What the hell?
The accompanying note was brief.
I know what you did and I don’t want to marry you.
Jace’s jaw clenched. His mind flew back to when he had been a young man and he recalled Katerina’s mocking rejection of his marriage proposal. He’d saved his wages from his job as a labourer on a building site for months so that he could buy her an engagement ring, but she had looked scathingly at the tiny diamond he’d proudly offered her.
‘Of course I’m not going to marry you! I want a husband with money and career prospects,’Katerina told him. ‘Not someone who spent time in prison and has a criminal record. You’re a sexy stud, Jace, but you are not good enough for me.’
Soon after, he’d heard that Katerina had married a wealthy shipping tycoon who was old enough to be her father. Jace reread Eleanor’s note and something black and ugly coiled through him when he realised that she must have found out about his past.
He’d seen no reason to tell her. It had happened a long time ago and he’d paid his debt to society. The stakes had been too high. He hadn’t explained that he’d been to prison, fearing she might refuse to marry him. No marriage meant no hotel, and no possibility of honouring the promise he had made to his father.
Jace stared at the diamond ring glittering in his palm and swore. He picked up the phone and pressed the number for Eleanor’s room. She did not answer, and her mobile went straight to voicemail. Cursing, he put a call through to the reception desk and learned that Mademoiselle Buchanan had checked out five minutes ago.
Theos. Anger ran like molten lava through Jace’s veins as his plan to reclaim the Pangalos unravelled. It had always been about the hotel, but there was an inexplicable heaviness in his chest when he thought of Eleanor. She had seemed besotted with him, yet she’d left without a word. Why hadn’t she given him a chance to explain what had really happened when he’d been given a prison sentence?
The answer was obvious to him. Despite his wealth and his meteoric rise to success, he could not escape from his past. He had clawed his way out of the gutter, but Eleanor must have decided that he was not good enough to be her husband, Jace thought bitterly.
CHAPTER ONE
One year later
ELEANORLOVEDTHEpeace and tranquillity of flying in a hot-air balloon. The balloon floated on the breeze, creating a magical sensation of stillness and silence. She could taste the crisp morning air and feel the sun on her face.
After gaining her private pilot’s licence six months ago, she and another pilot, Nigel, had clubbed together to buy a balloon and they took it in turns to fly whenever the weather was suitable. The conditions were perfect this morning. She had met Nigel and the ground crew in a field before dawn, and they had helped her to inflate the balloon and heat the air inside the canopy with the burner. Eleanor had climbed into the basket, the ropes were untied and the balloon rose gently into the sky.
The mist had cleared with the sunrise and the view over the Oxfordshire countryside from two thousand feet up was breathtaking. In the distance she could see the graceful spires of the university buildings, while below, the River Thames was a ribbon of silvery blue curling through the green fields. As the balloon drifted serenely over a park, she heard dogs barking and recognised the sweet song of a skylark.
Her first experience of ballooning had been as a child when she’d been diagnosed with scoliosis and had to wear a back brace to prevent the curve in her spine from getting worse. She had hated being trapped in a rigid plastic jacket that fitted underneath her arms and went down to her hips. Her condition had prevented her from doing many physical activities, but her parents had continued to take her brother and sister on adventure holidays and skiing trips. Eleanor had stayed with her grandparents and she’d put on a brave face and assured everyone that she did not mind missing out on family events. But inside she’d felt hurt. Scoliosis made her different, a problem for her parents, and, she was convinced, less loveable than Mark and Lissa.
Her grandfather had been the only person who’d seemed to understand how Eleanor felt. One time when her parents and siblings were away, Pappoús had arranged for her to have a flight in a hot-air balloon. It had been an amazing experience and while in the air she had forgotten about her back pain and lack of mobility.
Since her surgery she had been able to lead a normal life, but she’d continued to suffer from a lack of self-confidence. Hearing Jace describe her as unremarkable had spurred Eleanor on to prove to herself that he was wrong, and she had fulfilled her dream of becoming a balloon pilot.
Flying required her to stay focused and in the moment, and today more than ever she was glad of the distraction to stop herself from remembering that a year ago Jace had proposed to her.No, she would not think about him, she ordered herself. And she definitely wouldn’t cry. She’d wasted enough tears on Jace Zagorakis.
Down on the ground, something glittered brightly and caught her attention. It was probably caused by the sun on a window, but the sparkle evoked memories of the diamond engagement ring Jace had placed on her finger. Eleanor screwed up her eyes to hold back her tears that brimmed despite her best effort to banish them, along with memories of the lying Greek who had shattered her heart. She had not told anyone about her engagement, which was probably the shortest on record, she thought bitterly.
She’d had a lucky escape, she reminded herself. If she hadn’t overheard Jace’s phone conversation she would have slept with him in Paris. And she would have married him, unaware that he did not love her. All he’d wanted was the hotel on Sithonia. Eleanor brushed away a tear. A year ago she’d listened to her heart and ignored her common sense, which had warned that sexy, charismatic Jace was out of her league.
She forced her mind from the past, frustrated that she had allowed memories of Jace to infiltrate her aerial sanctuary. Flying the balloon gave her a sense of identity and pride that she had completed the extensive training and passed the exams to earn her pilot’s licence. After an hour she looked for a suitable field where she could land and contacted the ground crew on the two-way radio to tell them where to meet her. Bringing the balloon down required all her piloting skills as she controlled the rate of descent. When she was safely down on the ground and the balloon had been packed away, she congratulated herself for not thinking about Jace for a whole hour.
Balloons could only fly early in the morning or in the evening when the air was cooler and more stable. By ten a.m. Eleanor was driving through the centre of Oxford on her way back to Francine’s. The hotel had been named after her English grandmother, whose family had bought the historic property and turned it into the finest hotel in the county.
For the past year Eleanor had thrown herself into work. Before her grandfather had died, he’d talked about updating the Oxford hotel’s rather dated interior. When Eleanor had inherited the company, she’d pushed ahead with plans for Francine’s to undergo an extensive refurbishment. It had meant closing the hotel for three months while the work was carried out, and the loss of revenue, combined with escalating building costs had led to a dramatic dip in Gilpin Leisure’s profits.
Fortunately, the Pangalos was doing well, so her brother had assured her. She had put Mark in charge of the beach resort to make up for him being snubbed by their grandfather. Since she’d broken off her engagement, she had distanced herself from the place where she’d first met Jace. There was no reason why she would have to meet the lying toad ever again, but to be on the safe side Eleanor did not plan on going to Greece any time soon.
An expensive-looking black saloon car was parked at the front of Francine’s when Eleanor drove onto the forecourt. Business had been slow to pick up since the hotel had reopened, but the marketing department had run a promotional campaign to attract new bookings. With any luck, whoever owned the luxury car would decide to stay in the most expensive suite for a month, she thought as she drove round to the back of the hotel.
A private wing adjoining the main building had been Eleanor’s home since her parents had died in an accident when she was twelve, and she and her brother and sister had been brought up by their grandparents. She had a meeting with the hotel’s event’s manager scheduled for eleven o’clock and ran up to her room to change her clothes before heading into the kitchen to grab a coffee.
She was surprised to find that her sister was up and dressed before midday. Lissa lived in London and only came back to Oxford occasionally, usually when she wanted money. Pappoús’s decision to put Eleanor in control of her sister’s trust fund until Lissa was twenty-five had put a further strain on their relationship.
