He was looking at her with what seemed genuine contrition now. ‘It was wrong of me to do that to you in the dining room,’ he said. ‘I just couldn’t resist teasing you. I shouldn’t have done it. You might have walked out – and then I would have had no lunch.’ He made her laugh then.
‘So you forgive me,’ he said. ‘To make it up to you I will take you to dinner. Let me have your telephone number and my PA will call you to make arrangements.’ How arrogant is that, thought Melanie, hastily revising her opinion of him.
‘Thank you, but that will not be necessary,’ she said stiffly. ‘Also I find that I will be very busy over the next few weeks’
He looked put out but quickly rallied. ‘Apologies again,’ he said. ‘I am not doing this correctly. Let me start again. Please Miss Stafford, will you do me the honor of dining with me on some evening at a date mutually convenient.’ Melanie nodded her approval of this new approach.
‘Good, that’s settled then,’ he said. ‘Friday. I will pick you up at 7.30.
Melanie gasped, ‘Whatever happened to mutually convenient?’ But he was fishing his blackberry out of his jeans pocket and demanding ‘Address?’ Giving in with a sigh Melanie told him, adding her telephone number for good measure.
Melanie cast him curious glance as he was stuffing the blackberry back his jeans pocket and asked, ‘Do you hate wearing a suit so much that you change out of it as soon as you can?’
‘Not at all,’ he replied. ‘I wear suits a lot. I just don’t like to fly in them.’
Melanie looked puzzled. ‘Fly?’
‘Yes,’ he clarified. ‘My helicopter. It’s on the roof.’
He left her then, no goodbye, no ‘see you Friday’ and Melanie sighed with exasperation. What had she let herself in for?
Chapter Three
The nearer Friday came the more Melanie wanted to cancel the date. ‘I don’t think I want to go out with a man who lands his own helicopter on roofs,’ she told Maisie. Her head waitress gave her a despairing look.
‘I wish someone would land on my roof in a helicopter. The only thing that lands on my roof comes from pigeons.’ Melanie laughed and said, ‘Well, he didn’t actually land on the roof – he landed on a helipad on the roof.’
‘Oh, big difference, that’ guffawed Maisie. ‘Don’t be daft. Go out with him. I expect he’ll take you to a really top chef’s restaurant and you might pick up some recipe ideas.’
Appealing as that was Melanie made a valiant effort to cancel. First she telephoned his headquarters in the City of London and asked the telephonist to put her through to his office. ‘What is your business with Mr Chalambrous?’ she was asked. ‘Personal’, said Melanie briskly.
Back came the reply. ‘I’m afraid Mr Chalambrous is unavailable.
Two further telephone calls were no more successful, though on the last call she did succeed in getting past the switchboard to what she presumed was an outer office, only to be told the same. Well, if he’s that unavailable maybe he won’t turn up on Friday, Melanie thought crossly.
But he had, ringing her doorbell on the dot of 7.30. Grabbing her handbag she opened the door to him and made to step out but he forestalled her with a light touch. Striding through into her sitting room his tall broad shouldered presence seemed to her to fill her small apartmernt.
She loved her home, loved where it was, too. A vibrant melting pot of a community where the streets and markets rang with myriad different dialects in a part of London tourists rarely saw. Melanie hadn’t really given it a thought when she offered her address. Now she smiled to herself picturing the top of the range car he was no doubt driving parked in her small side street. Had he ever even visited such a neighborhood?
‘So, this is where you live,’ he said, gazing around him.
Melanie bridled. She had bought her apartment on a large mortgage as the moment her business had started to make a small profit and had furnished it carefully with a mixture of modern and antique furniture from markets and salerooms. ‘If I catch as much as a hint of a sneer he’s out of that door,’ thought Melanie savagely. But he surprised her, saying, ‘You have excellent taste.
He was gazing at her, his eyes over her body, lingering on her breasts, his look predatory and frankly appraising. Unsure of where he was taking her to dinner Melanie had settled on a soft, floaty chiffon top over her only pair of designer jeans paired with high-heeled sandals. The cut of the jeans, she knew, flattered her long, slim legs. Even with her three-inch heels she still barely came up to his shoulder. Under his gaze sexual warmth coursed through her body, startling her with its intensity.
‘Yes, a truly very beautiful woman.’ He had spoken almost as if to himself.
Melanie felt herself color. To cover her confusion offered him a drink.
‘Chivas Regal,’ he said, his manner off-hand. ‘No ice.’
Melanie had only one brand of Scotch and it wasn’t one of the most expensive on the supermarket shelf. Indignation with him had risen inside her once more. He had to be the most arrogant man she had ever met. ‘The ‘no ice’ bit I can do,’ she had rejoined, her tone cool. ‘The Scotch will have to be a little more downmarket.’ He smiled that lazy smile of his and said, ‘Then I will have to get you a supply of what I drink as I intend to be a regular visitor.’
True to his word that is what he has become. As the days and weeks past Melanie found herself falling more and more under his spell. She discovered that underneath the arrogant exterior he sometimes displayed there was a kind, caring man, interested in everything and everybody.
She was amused that he took such an interest in her catering business. ‘But it’s a minnow compared to the mega deals your company does,’ she laughingly protested. ‘All businesses start small,’ he’d said. ‘It takes nerve and courage and the will to succeed. You have proved you have those qualities. But you must be tough, too and sometimes in life we do things people don’t always approve of.’
Melanie looked away disconcerted. She had done something in her life very wrong, even though she had not done it for herself but for someone else. It was still wrong and she knew it. Would Nicos understand? She wanted very much to tell him.
‘I want to tell you something about me.’ she began. He interjected, ‘I want to know everything about you and if we are going to spend the rest of our lives together I want you to know everything about me.
Melanie’s heart sang. She had hardly dared hope for a future with him. However hard she tried to keep her emotions in check she could not help but know that she had fallen deeply and dangerously in love with him. All thoughts of what she was about to confess flew out of her head as he took her hand and said ‘I want us to be together always.’ ‘I will tell him’ she told herself. ‘When the moment is right.’
But somehow it never was. And as the days and months turned into a year nothing seemed to matter but the love they had for each other.
Chapter Four
Wrapped in thoughts of the past Melanie gazed unseeingly out of the train window as green fields gave way to outer London suburbs. ‘Did I really know him or was I just blinded by desire for him,’ she thought miserably. She wanted to hate him for what he was doing to her now but she could still feel the heat of him against her, the ease with which he had aroused her and she knew in her heart that time had stopped for them both when Nicos had pulled her into his arms and only the jarring telephone bell had brought them back from the brink.
The train pulling into the London Station pulled her back to the present along with it. ‘Tomorrow, when Nicos tells them what I’ve done, I won’t have a job,’ she thought.
But Nicos had told them nothing. Her boss, the formidable Lucy Chambers, had simply asked her if she was feeling better and then dumped extra work on her desk. Among the pile was a fax from the office of Tele-Sky Communications confirming Mr Chalambrous’s telephone call to Ms Chambers of yesterday afternoon and requesting Gabriella Hinckley be sent a contract of employment forthwith.
To
o relieved at first to wonder why Nicos had said nothing Melanie worked her way through the morning, surreptitiously returning Stephanie Brook’s file to its proper place and resolving to do her best to get the girl the best possible placing in return for the use of her name.
Lunchtime came and Melanie thankfully gathered up her bag and made for the door. If Nicos had not exposed her already then the chances are he wasn’t going to. She hurried down the stairs and into the street heading for her favoite sandwich bar. She was almost there when to her shock and fear a hand clamped her wrist. Before she had time to scream she felt herself swung round face to face with her attacker.
‘Nicos,’ she breathed. ‘What in hell do you think you’re doing? You frightened the life out of me.’ He didn’t apologise, nor did he release his grip. ‘Come with me,’ he ordered. Melanie tried to snatch her wrist from his hold, but he was too strong for her.
‘Stop struggling. People will think I’m trying to mug you.’
‘Just what are you trying to do?’ she hissed. He loosened his grip but didn’t release his hold. ‘I just want to talk to you.’
Melanie with a determined pull succeeded in wrenching her arm away. ‘Send me a legal letter. That’s your usual form.’ Nicos ignored her jibe. Putting a firm hand under her elbow he steered her along the pavement and through the swing doors of a nearby five star hotel. She found herself seated opposite him at a low table in the lounge. How had that happened? She’d been determined to brush him off but he had taken control the way he always had. He had that kind of command about him, she recognised ruefully.
She looked across at him. Even in his dark business suit and formal shirt he exuded animal grace and an innate sexuality. His liquid brown eyes were fixed on her. She looked away disconcerted.
‘I think I should apologise,’ he began. ‘Yes, you certainly should,’ she interrupted fiercely. ‘You practically dragged me in here by my hair.’
‘That’s not what I was going to apologise for,’ he said evenly. ‘And I didn’t drag you in. You walked in of your own accord. And you’re hair looks perfectly fine.’ Melanie looked daggers at him.
‘My behavior when you came to the house was inappropriate,’ he continued.
‘Inappropriate!’ she exclaimed, her voice rising. ‘Is that how you would describe it? How about unreasonable and altogether pig headed.' She sat further back on the sofa, arms folded and glared at him.
Inexplicably he started to laugh. ‘All right,’ he concurred. ‘I will accept your so elegant description of pig headed; but unreasonable? No, I was not unreasonable. It was unreasonable of you to expect me to agree to such a scheme.’
Melanie opened her mouth to reply but he stopped her with a raised hand. ‘I didn’t come here to discuss that. I came to apologise for what I said to you. I am sorry.’
‘So you think saying you’re sorry makes everything all right,’ said Melanie heatedly. ‘If you are really sorry you would do as I asked.’
‘I am not in the least sorry that I turned down your proposal. I am just sorry about the terms in which I expressed it. His formal choice of words incensed Melanie even further.
‘You wouldn’t know how to say sorry if you tried.’
‘I am trying,’ he said. ‘but obviously not doing very well. Perhaps you can give me a lesson. You could start by apologising for barging into my office under false pretences.’
Melanie sucked in her breath. Was that a glint of amusement in his dark liquid eyes? ‘You’re making fun of me. Don’t you dare.’ She glared at him.
‘I’m not, I’m really not,’ he protested, throwing up his hands, but he was laughing. ‘It’s just those beautiful green eyes of yours are flashing like laser beams at me. You’re quite scary, you know.’ Melanie threw him a withering look. ‘You don’t look in the least scared.’
‘Oh, but I am,’ he said. ‘You look as if you are going to throw something at me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in such a rage.’
‘Perhaps you never did anything to cause it before,’ she snapped.
As long as she stayed angry with him she was safe. Safe from what? The way he was making her feel? She wanted to touch him, run her hands over the width of his shoulders, feel his demanding mouth on hers. She pulled herself up with a start. Where were these treacherous thoughts coming from? This was the man who was denying her access to her daughter.
‘You’re still so beautiful,’ he said unexpectedly. He was looking at her with naked desire and Melanie was thrown into turmoil. His eyes raked over her body. It was as if without touching each other all their senses had fused together and the atmosphere between them was suddenly charged with sexual longing.
‘I want to make love to you,’ he said huskily. Melanie couldn’t speak. Her throat was dry. She wanted to stay angry with him but his words had conjured up a mind picture of his powerful body arched over hers, his sensuous mouth closing on her own. She wanted him, she always had.
A waiter bore down on them, silver tray held aloft, and broke the sexual spell that held them. Melanie shook her head in disbelief. How had she let him get to her like that? The waiter was placing wine glasses and bowls of nuts on the low table in front of them she made the most of the diversion to collect her thoughts. This unplanned meeting was not going at all the way it should.
The drinks served the waiter departed and Melanie groped for something that would discharge the atmosphere. ‘I believe you were about to apologise to me,’ she said more coolly than she felt.
‘For saying I want to make love to you? I would never apologise for that.’
‘That’s not what I meant and you know it.’ Crossly, she felt herself blush.
Nicos flashed her a mocked contrite look. ‘Let me see. I was going to say sorry for being pigheaded, wasn’t I? Although I prefer to think of it as sticking to my guns.’
‘’Uuurghhh,’ went Melanie. ‘If I had a gun now I’d shoot you with it.’
‘I knew you were a dangerous woman,’ he said. . ‘It goes with the titian hair and the green eyes. It’s your war like ancestry. Unlike my placid and equable Greek roots.’ He looked smug. Melanie snorted. ‘Placid! You practically had me thrown out of your office. And you sexually assaulted me.’
‘I seem to remember you were quite a willing participant,’ he countered.
Melanie almost immediately regretted her outburst. What was she doing bringing that encounter up? It seemed she couldn’t look at Nicos without being reminded of sex with him. ‘Changing the subject…’ she began severely.
‘Why change the subject from sex? he said with pretend innocence. ‘As you know, it’s one of my favorite subjects.’
‘Changing the subject, she went on determinedly, ‘why did you accost me in the street like that?’
‘I didn’t want to come to the agency, and I figured you’d come out around lunch so I waited outside till I saw you’ he said.
‘Why didn’t you just telephone?’
‘I thought after what I said to you that you might hang up on me?’
Melanie considered this. ‘I might have done,’ she said.
He was smiling at her now. ‘You were very brave the other day – bearding the lion in his den.’
‘The lion has a very nasty roar,’ she said feelingly. He laughed. ‘You kept me awake all night wondering how you had pulled off your little subterfuge. I had no idea you were working at that agency. If I had I might have chosen another,’ he said, banteringly.
‘How did you find out?’ she had to ask ‘I wasn’t thinking very clearly. I forgot you had no idea I worked there. I spent the morning dreading you would complain to my boss
‘I went to the file my London PA had sent me. She had enclosed all copies of correspondence. Your name was on one of the letters.’ He didn’t add that seeing it had been a stab to his heart.
‘What I said to you was more than inappropriate, it was unforgivable. My only excuse is that I was in shock.
He looked down as if unable to meet he
r eyes and Melanie realised that his apology was costing him. Nicos didn’t do ‘sorry’. She couldn’t help feeling for him. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I accept your apology.’ And to lighten the atmosphere adding in mock reproof, ‘don’t let it happen again’.
He looked almost gratefully at her. ‘Forgive me, then?
‘Sort of,’ she replied, unwilling to make too great a concession. Nicos was very used to getting his own way. But somehow she sensed he was sincere.
He went on in a quiet voice, ‘My only excuse is that seeing you again was very painful.’
‘Don’t you think it was for me?’ Melanie sounded sharper than she intended.
He raised his head. ‘Was it?’ he queried, disbelief evident in his tone.
‘How can you ask that,’ she said sadly. ‘Perhaps you shouldn’t have engineered this meeting. We can’t seem to be together without quarrelling and you don’t want to hear the truth.’
‘Our truths might be very different.’ His voice had an edge to it. ‘I was true to you. You were not true to me.’
Melanie sighed. ‘I should leave before we both say things we shouldn’t.’
‘Don’t go,’ he said. ‘Don’t leave like this. We may never see each other again. Don’t let this be our last memory.’
Melanie’s heart dropped. Never to see Nicos again? It was what she wanted, wasn’t it? But why was the thought so painful? Unbidden, tears formed in her eyes.
Misunderstanding the cause of her distress, Nicos said, ‘I won’t seek you out again. You have my promise.’
‘You could have lost me my job if you’d complained’ she blurted out, wanting him to think there was another reason for her tears.
‘I would never have done that. I would never hurt you.’
‘You are hurting me,’ said Melanie sadly. ‘Every day without my daughter I am hurting.’
‘You made that choice,’ he said and his expression hardened.
The Passionate Greek Page 3