The Touch of Aphrodite

by Joanna Mansell

  Before she could get herself a drink, however, strong arms suddenly locked around her and she found herself being swept back on to the dance-floor. Her new partner was tall, and a black silk mask hid most of his face. She smiled up at him in the semi-darkness and waited for him to introduce himself, but he didn't say a word as he expertly guided her round the floor. One of his hands pressed lightly against the small of her back, the other held her fingers in an unexpectedly tight grip.

  Emily discovered that she was beginning to feel slightly dizzy. She didn't know if it was from the heat, or the rather stifling presence of her partner. He seemed to be having a rather odd effect on her breathing; perhaps it was because he was holding her much more tightly than any of her other partners had done. She found herself almost gasping for breath as he drew her still closer, the music little more than a dull thud in her ears. Or was it the thud of her heart? And her hand felt hot against his, so hot, as if there were small flames dancing over her fingertips and across her palm.

  The music slowed, became more smoochy. His body moved against hers in a sensual rhythm and, to her alarm, she found herself responding. Her feet barely seemed to touch the floor, her skin burned, she felt as if she had to get some air or she would simply collapse into his arms. But they were very strong arms, and she was sure that they wouldn't let her fall; she could feel the strength of his muscles against her —

  Then the dance was suddenly over. Emily felt both relieved and yet oddly agitated. Who was he? Would he leave her now, and find another partner? Still without saying a single word to her? And would he give her a friendly parting kiss, as several of the other men had done?

  She found herself shivering at the prospect. Yet it was a strange kind of shiver, almost of excitement. She couldn't remember ever feeling a sense of terrified expectancy quite like this. And then he was kissing her, but it wasn't like any other kiss she had received tonight.

  Swift, deep, intense, punishing —and then it was over. Emily could feel herself shaking. Then the trembling increased as her partner finally spoke.

  'Did you enjoy that, Emily?' said Nikolaos Konstantin's voice harshly. 'And do you intend to kiss every man in this room tonight, and drag the reputation of the Konstantin family right through the gutter?'

  He whipped off his mask, and Emily found herself staring straight into Nikolaos's dark, glittering eyes. She couldn't say anything, couldn't move. And then, as if he couldn't help himself, he suddenly bent his head and kissed her again.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  THE second kiss was as intense as the first, and Emily had the strange impression that it had shocked him almost as much as it had her. Then Nikolaos released her, took a step back, and stared down at her. She still couldn't get out a single word. She seemed to have been totally paralysed by that kiss.

  His dark eyes remained fixed on her, seeming to be boring right inside her head. Then, with an obvious effort, he tore his gaze away.

  'I want to see you first thing in the morning,' he said tautly. 'Be in my office at eight o'clock.'

  He turned round and strode off, and Emily didn't begin to breathe normally again until he had left the room and was completely out of sight. Shaken and wide-eyed, she made her own way towards the door. As far as she was concerned, the masquerade ball was definitely over! She licked her dry lips, but then hurriedly stopped because she thought that she could still taste him.

  Stop it, that kiss wasn't important, wasn't important, wasn't important, she told herself over and over as she hurried up to her room. It would never have happened at all if she had realised that it was Nikolaos she was dancing with.

  Why hadn't she recognised him? she wondered. Of course, there had been the darkness, the heat, the music —and that black mask that had covered most of his face. But she should have known it was him; something should have told her, warned her —

  Back in her room, she stripped off the dark red dress, tossed it over the chair, and hurried into the shower. She turned the setting right down, and let the cool water cascade over her hot skin until it made her shiver. Then she got into bed, and tried to sleep.

  It was impossible, of course. Emily kept remembering that she had an appointment with Nikolaos at eight o'clock the following morning. Every time she thought about it, her nerves gave a sharp twinge and she would begin to toss restlessly again.

  By the time the sun finally came up in the morning, she had slept for no more than a couple of hours, and then only fitfully. She crawled out of bed, examined her pale face and heavy eyes in the mirror, and gave a grimace. She wasn't going to dazzle anyone with her looks today!

  She didn't bother to dress up for the interview. Instead, she pulled on a loose jogging suit and wriggled her feet into a pair of trainers. After she had endured Nikolaos's lecture —and she was absolutely sure that was why he had summoned her to his office this morning, to let her know in no uncertain terms what he thought about her behaviour last night — she would go for a run. Although not fanatical about keeping fit, she found that a leisurely run helped her to relax. And she was absolutely sure that she would need something to help her relax by the time Nikolaos had finished with her!

  With her head held at a defiant angle — although she didn't feel in the least defiant inside —she made her way to his office, knocked briskly on the door and then walked inside.

  She immediately felt at a disadvantage because Nikolaos was dressed very formally this morning, in a light-coloured and immaculately cut suit. A paper-thin gold watch glittered on his wrist, and the crisp whiteness of his shirt made his hair and eyes seem even blacker than usual. In contrast, she felt distinctly under-dressed in her old jogging suit.

  That made her more antagonistic than she had intended. 'Well?' she said, almost challengingly. 'Here lam.'

  She tensely waited for him to bring up the subject of last night. And those two kisses —what would he say about them? Emily found that she was inwardly trembling as she waited for the lecture to begin. Instead, though, Nikolaos said in a crisp tone, 'I've decided that it's time you started work.'

  Emily blinked in surprise. 'Work?' she repeated, caught completely off balance —as he had no doubt intended.

  'It is why you're here,' he reminded her, although with absolutely no trace of the sarcasm she might have expected. His gaze briefly flicked over her.

  'You'll need to wear something more suitable.'

  'I —I was going for a run.' She was still flustered. He wasn't going to mention last night? Not say anything about it at all? Apparently not, because his voice remained crisp and impersonal as he spoke again.

  'I suggest that you go for your run, shower, and then change into something more suitable. Be back here in an hour. Then we'll discuss how you can most usefully spend your time over the next few months.'

  'Oh —yes —right,' Emily managed to get out, still not quite believing that he wasn't going to say one single word about the masquerade ball. Nikolaos had begun to flick through some papers on his desk, though, clearly indicating that this particular conversation was at an end. She backed out of his office, took a deep breath, and finally began to relax just a fraction. Perhaps he was simply so busy that he had forgotten about last night, she told herself hopefully. Then she shook her head. Although she couldn't have explained why, she was quite certain that he hadn't forgotten those kisses. He had obviously decided to ignore them, however. He intended to behave as if they hadn't even happened.

  Emily was very happy to go along with that. She certainly hadn't forgotten them, either, but she was sure that she could, given time. At least, that was what she told herself. Anyway, it wouldn't happen again, so it wouldn't be a problem.

  She decided to skip the run. She went straight back to her room, showered, and then put on a straight, dark skirt with a rather prim white blouse. There wasn't very much she could do with her hair —the glossy gold curls had always had a mind of their own —but she clipped it back from her face with a couple of plain slides, and then used soft, subt
le colours to tone down the vivid blue of her eyes, and the redness of her lips where she had bitten them nervously.

  She took one last look in the mirror, and wrinkled her nose. 'You look like Miss Plain Jane, the perfect secretary,' she told herself. 'But at least Nikolaos won't be able to complain about the way you look!'

  Emily tried to convince herself that she felt relaxed and confident as she went back down to Nikolaos's office. The truth was that she felt very unrelaxed. He seemed to be able to do that to her with such ease; make her feel about sixteen again, a young girl trying to act like a grown-up. Nikolaos glanced up as she walked in, and then shot a swift second glance at her, obviously momentarily startled by the change in her appearance. He didn't comment on it, though. Instead, he briskly indicated that she should sit in the chair on the other side of the desk.

  'A year is an extremely short time to learn everything you need to know,' he began without preamble. "If you're serious about wanting to take over the running of Dimitri's hotel, then you'll have to work very hard, and for long hours.'

  'I'm serious,' Emily assured him, without hesitation. 'And I'll work as long and as hard as necessary. I'm looking forward to it, especially learning about the financial side. You know that I'm training to be an accountant. Dealing with all the varied finances of a hotel will be very good work experience.'

  Nikolaos looked at her thoughtfully for a while, his dark, intense gaze making her want to squirm in her seat, but Emily forced herself to sit very still. Finally, he gave a brief nod.

  'I see no reason why you shouldn't start right now. I'll arrange for the manager to show you the accounts for this particular hotel. Once you fully understand where the profits —and losses —come from, everything will become much clearer. What you'll then need is practical experience

  —which I intend to give you. And one more thing. Don't expect to be treated leniently or granted special favours because of who you are,' he warned.

  'I don't expect any such thing,' she said rather indignantly.

  'Then I suggest you begin work,' he said.

  From the gleam in his eyes, Emily guessed that he intended to work her much harder than the other members of his staff. He wanted to push her to the limits, to see what she was capable of—or if she would crack. But she certainly wasn't going to crack, she told herself with some determination. This was a challenge that she fully intended to see through to the end. And she had the feeling that, although Nikolaos would work her until she was just about ready to drop, he would also be fair. He would never push her too far, beyond all reasonable limits.

  Emily left his office with a new sense of confidence. She felt as if she was taking the first steps towards getting her life back together. She would be working again, doing something positive, and she was sure that she could make a success of this. She certainly wanted to, for herself as well as for Dimitri.

  During the next few weeks, she certainly worked harder than she had ever done during her life before. The financial side was easy; Emily had a natural aptitude for figures, she could read a balance sheet as easily as a newspaper headline. Once she had studied the accounts and balance sheets, though, and understood how all the different financial sections of the hotel fitted together, Nikolaos began to make sure that she had some practical experience. He took her round each part of the hotel, introduced her to the staff, and explained clearly and in detail how everything worked and meshed together. Under his close supervision, she spent time on the reception desk, dealt with reservations and the payment of bills, learnt how the bar and restaurant dealt with the sudden rush of customers at mealtimes, and toured the small shops situated on the ground floor which provided additional services for hotel guests — hairdressers and beauty parlours, elegant designer clothes and jewellery.

  Then Nikolaos took her behind the scenes, so that she appreciated the importance of the hotel porters, the bellboys, the housekeeper and the room maids.

  And her new experiences weren't confined to the hotel; he took her with him to various business meetings. Emily was fascinated by the way he dominated those meetings, putting his ideas forward with power and clarity, winning people round to his point of view with sudden flashes of devastating charm. She also began to learn a lot more about his business interests, since he had decided that she needed more all-round experience. He took her to one of his vineyards, where she spent several absorbing hours learning about the production of wine. On another occasion, they stopped for lunch in a high-class restaurant which specialised in Cypriot dishes. Here, Nikolaos introduced her to the meze, a great array of dips with sesame seed bread, salads, smoked sausages, marinated ham, vine leaves stuffed with rice and lamb, charcoal-grilled pork, ewe's-milk cheese, and a dozen more tantalising dishes.

  'Try as many as you like and eat as much as you want,' Nikolaos told her, and Emily, starving hungry, did her best to obey. It wasn't until the end of the meal, when she overheard a conversation between Nikolaos and the head waiter, that she realised Nikolaos owned the restaurant. And that it was apparently only one of a large chain he owned all over the island. Every night, she tumbled into bed and slept like a log, totally exhausted but satisfied by what she had accomplished that day. She was very aware that Nikolaos's dark eyes were fixed on her much of the time, watching and assessing her. Sometimes, she thought that he was waiting for her to make a major mistake. Or just give up, because she couldn't cope with the pressure of work.

  But Emily did neither of those things. Oh, she certainly made small mistakes, but because the rest of the staff in the hotel were friendly and helpful she quickly managed to put most of them right. And she got on well with the staff; they laughed and joked with her, sometimes in English and sometimes in Greek, which Emily spoke rather haltingly, although with increasing confidence as she practised. She had learned some basic Greek from Dimitri, although this was the first chance she had really had to use it. As she gradually began to understand how all the different sections of hotel work meshed together, she became more and more fascinated by it. So many people, all doing different jobs, and yet all with the same aim in mind —to provide first-class accommodation and service for the guests who came to visit this beautiful island. And the guests themselves were endlessly changing, providing even more variety. Some were pleasant and appreciative of how hard the staff worked, others were far more demanding, a few downright rude and even aggressive. Emily learnt how to soothe ruffled guests, and keep her own temper at the same time, even on the rare occasions when they actually became abusive. And Nikolaos eventually let her take complete charge of different sections of the hotel for a few days at a time, so that she understood the different problems that the management staff had to face.

  She had very little free time, but after a week when she had put in particularly long hours Nikolaos turned the car off the main road on the way back from a business meeting which they had both attended, and headed up into the hills. Emily looked at him in surprise, but when he offered no explanation she simply sat back, relaxed, and began to enjoy the peace of the countryside, and the caressing heat of the sun. She realised that the Cypriot spring had crept over the island, almost unnoticed, while she had been working so very hard. There had been a steady, gentle rise in the temperature, and the countryside was now bursting into great sheets of colour as the spring flowers blossomed in the bright, warm sunshine. Fields of scarlet poppies and yellow daisies dazzled her eyes as Nikolaos drove along the narrow roads, rockroses tumbled down the hillsides, clumps of wallflowers and blue irises stood out vividly against the green of the grass. And the citrus trees were in bloom now, their scent seeming to drift everywhere, turning the air of the entire island deliciously fragrant. Nikolaos drove to a small village in the hills behind Limassol. He negotiated a series of spectacular hairpin bends at a speed which made Emily nervously half close her eyes, but she needn't have worried; he swung the large car expertly round the tight corners and then brought it to a halt on the outskirts of the village. They spent a pleasant h
alf an hour wandering through the quiet streets of the village, finally stopping at a taverna for a glass of light, sparkling white wine. The owner entertained them with a tale of a huge snake which allegedly lived in the local cemetery and went for walks around the village at night. He looked a little disappointed when his famous tale of the snake didn't make Emily shiver, but she had never been scared of anything that wriggled or crawled. She simply grinned and told the owner of the taverna that it was a pity the snake didn't go for its stroll during the day. Then it could be seen and photographed by tourists, and become a celebrity.

  When they finally got back into the car and headed back to the hotel, Emily realised the reason for the unexpected trip. Nikolaos had needed to relax for a couple of hours, to take a break from the gruelling schedule that he set himself. But why had he taken her with him? she wondered curiously. Surely he didn't find her a relaxing person to be with?

  On the other hand, they had worked together surprisingly well over the past few weeks. There had been very little friction or argument, with the only nerve-jarring moments —on Emily's part, at least —coming on those occasions when she found herself physically close to him. He could still play havoc with all her nerve-ends just by standing next to her, but she knew that she had kept her reactions well under control and there was no reason for him to suspect that she found his physical presence so very disturbing. When they arrived back at the hotel, there was an urgent phone call for Nikolaos. When he had taken it, he came back to her with a light frown on his face. 'That was the night manager,' he told her. 'He's unwell, and won't be able to work his next few shifts.' He paused for a moment as if turning something over in his mind, then he said decisively, 'I want you to take over his duties until he's fit to return to work.'

  Emily blinked. 'You mean that I'll be completely in charge? Of the whole hotel? All night?' She knew that she was gabbling a little, but she was so surprised that she just couldn't help it.