At the Greek Tycoon's Bidding

by Cathy Williams

  Having reached his momentous decision to win her back, he knew that he would have to approach her in a different manner. He recognised that he had taken her for granted—hence her unjustified remarks about being second best. It was something he intended to rectify, so he smiled warmly at her and stood aside.

  ‘You’re smiling,’ Heather said suspiciously, not budging. She longed to fly inside his apartment, which she missed horribly, even though she had told herself a million times that it was far better having her own place, where she could do her own thing without restriction. ‘Why are you smiling? I thought…’

  ‘What…?’

  She rapidly revised the truth that had been about to emerge. ‘That you weren’t in a very good mood when you left earlier. I didn’t think you ever wanted to set eyes on me again.’

  Theo flushed darkly. The way he had stormed out of her flat was not something he especially wanted to remember. It was distinctly un-cool. Fortunately, something else seemed to be playing on her mind and she rounded on him fiercely, stabbing one finger into his chest.

  ‘And there’s nothing wrong with you!’ she couldn’t help but hiss.

  ‘Were you hoping that there would be?’ Theo asked, frowning.

  Released from her state of dread, Heather could feel herself ready to vent eloquently on the object of her misplaced worry.

  She caught herself in the nick of time. She had already suffered one episode of misreading a situation and reacting like a fool. She wasn’t about to let on to him now the extent to which she had been worried about him. He might suspect that the glorious life of unbridled freedom she was living was anything but. She inhaled deeply.

  ‘I’m not coming inside until you tell me why you had to get me out of bed at an ungodly hour and come round here.’

  ‘It’s not the first time I’ve got you out of bed at an ungodly hour…’ To work, yes, when she had been living with him in her role as general factotum, and later, when his mother had been in the apartment recuperating, to make love. His eyes darkened at the sudden memory and a smile of pure sexiness curved his mouth.

  Heather steeled herself against the rampant heavy-lidded provocation of his gaze. ‘And that was fine when it just involved a dressing gown and a few paces to the nearest computer.’ She looked at him narrowly. ‘Please don’t tell me that you dragged me all the way here because you need some work doing.’

  Much as Theo was enjoying the sight of her, pleasantly at peace with himself for the first time in weeks now that he had resolved to get her back, they could hardly stand at his door talking indefinitely.

  ‘All will be explained once you’re inside. In fact…’ he paused to step aside and allow her to pass ‘…I won’t actually have to say a word. It will be self-explanatory.’

  Intrigued to death, but still suspicious after her foolish mistake in jumping to all the wrong conclusions earlier on, when he had sprung his visit on her, she scuttled past him, taking care not to come into contact with his body even in passing.

  ‘Okay. So what exactly am I supposed to be doing now? It’s late, and I’m not in the mood for games.’ Heather folded her arms imperiously and stared around her, aware that he was heading towards the kitchen, cool as a cucumber.

  ‘Wait a few minutes. Care for a drink?’

  He didn’t wait for her to answer. Instead, he poured her a glass of wine and brought it over to where she was still standing, bristling as much as it was possible to bristle without saying anything.

  ‘Come and sit.’ He urged her towards the black leather sofa. ‘I really am sorry to have disturbed your sleep…’ Theo attempted to look contrite, a sentiment that did not sit easily on his face. ‘I myself was working when…’

  ‘When…? When what…?’

  He didn’t answer, because he didn’t have to. Heather followed the direction of his gaze, twisting around with her glass in one hand, and her mouth dropped open.

  Standing there in all her natural glory was the sister Heather had not clapped eyes on for longer than she cared to remember. Claire had changed surprisingly little, although her hair seemed much blonder than it had years ago.

  A smile of pure pleasure illuminated Heather’s face, and after the initial shock she stood up, rested her glass gently on the nearest table, and went towards her sister with outstretched arms.

  ‘Claire.’ She hugged her, then stood back, then hugged her again. ‘You never said you were coming!’

  Claire allowed herself to be hugged and smiled sheepishly. ‘Well, I didn’t actually make my mind up until recently,’ she said, clearing her throat. ‘And then I thought I’d just pay you a surprise visit. You’ve changed.’ This time it was she who stood back and surveyed her sister assessingly. ‘You’ve lost weight or something. Remember what a little podge you used to be?’

  All at once Heather was catapulted back through time, back to the days when their roles had been clearly defined, with beautiful Claire winning all the physical plaudits. She blushed and nodded.

  ‘If you had given me some advance warning, I would have…made a bed up for you. I don’t live here any more, you see. In fact, I now rent a flat of my own, not too far away.’

  Claire had already installed herself on the sofa alongside Theo, and was checking out her surroundings with the same assessing eyes that she had used on her sister. ‘Shame. This is an amazing place. As I told Theo when I got here.’

  Heather blinked and the disturbing image settled into focus. Her stunning blonde sister, taller, thinner and prettier than she could ever be in a thousand years of changed wardrobes and weight shedding, sitting next to a man whose dark, devilishly sexy good looks were a striking and yet harmonious contrast, if such a thing were possible.

  She felt her cheeks grow pink. Jealousy was trying to burrow its way into her, and it was a huge effort not to succumb. As if to add fuel to the fire, Claire turned to Theo, her face wreathed in smiles, and began an extravagant one woman monologue on the charms of his apartment.

  When Claire bothered to make an effort with men, it was always a sight worth seeing. As an adolescent, Heather had looked on in awe whenever her sister had decided that some boy or other was worth making a play for. Out would come the sweetest of smiles, the liveliest of sidelong glances, the most sincere of expressions, and of course Claire was not stupid. She did not simper banalities like a bimbo. She might not have seen the point of exercising her brain over-much, not when her chosen field of work was acting or modelling, but she could still yank it out of cold storage when it suited her. And from the looks of it, it certainly suited her now.

  Heather shuffled to a chair and found it hard to get a word in edgewise. Matters weren’t helped by the rapt attention Theo seemed to be giving Claire. All ears, and probably eyes too, Heather thought dazedly.

  When she finally managed to make her presence felt, Heather asked her why she had suddenly decided to return to England. Was it a holiday? Was she back for good?

  But Claire was now exhausted, it seemed. She yawned delicately, covering her mouth with her hand, and then stood up and stretched. It was very graceful. It made Heather think of some kind of choreographed dance movement. The nasty and uncharitable thought flashed through Heather’s head that it was contrived and designed to draw Theo’s attention to the pert breasts, the slim waist, the flat brown stomach peeping out when she raised her arms.

  She squashed the thought and stood up as well. ‘Where are your bags?’ Knowing her sister, there would be more than one. ‘I’ll fetch them. I’m sorry. You must be exhausted. We’ll go straight back to my place, and of course you’re welcome to stay with me for as long as you’re over here.’ She smiled, but the smile felt forced, and she didn’t want to look at Theo just in case she found him staring at her sister. Men always did. It was a natural reaction they just couldn’t help. ‘It’ll be great catching up in the morning, Claire.’ There, that was better. Back into her usual appeasing role, always making life easier for her sister. ‘You can tell me what you’v
e been up to.’

  ‘Dear Heather.’ Claire gave Theo one of her most wide-eyed expressions of girlish camaraderie. ‘She’s always been such a carer. I know I’ve been horrid—’ she turned to her sister with a rueful smile ‘—hardly ever getting in touch. But I knew you wouldn’t mind. I had dreams…’ The implication was that Heather was just a little too dull to have dreams.

  Heather hoped guiltily that Claire’s move home wasn’t going to be a permanent one.

  ‘I have dreams too, Claire.’ Asserting herself was an uphill struggle. Having always played the same role in her relationship with her sister, it was woefully easy to slip back into it.

  ‘Have you? Well…look, I’ve just brought a couple of bags, and to answer your question, yes, I’m planning on making my home in London.’

  ‘That’s super.’

  ‘I shall need somewhere to stay until I get a place of my own…’

  ‘You can stay with me as long as you like. Although it is a very small flat…’

  ‘Oh, it’ll be fun to share! Remember we used to at home, when we were kids?’

  Heather remembered a shared room in which ninety per cent had been given over to her sister’s possessions while she’d had to make do with compacting everything she owned into the minimum amount of space. She nearly groaned aloud at the prospect of that recurring.

  ‘Unless,’ Claire said, sliding her eyes mischievously over to Theo and lowering her voice huskily, ‘some dishy chap comes along and rescues poor little me…’

  Heather held her breath and waited for the inevitable offer. After all, wasn’t there a vacancy for one housekeeper up for grabs? Housekeeper able and willing to offer services beyond the call of duty? And who could resist Claire’s charms? She might not have the elongated stick-like beauty of his usual women, but she had a hell of a lot more vivaciousness. And she wouldn’t be one to go harping on about commitment and relationships. She enjoyed her freedom as much as Theo did.

  Theo couldn’t fail to catch the meaningful glitter in Claire’s eye. He stood up smoothly, making sure that he didn’t reveal in his eyes the depth of distaste that he felt, and nodded in the direction of the bathroom.

  ‘Your sister had a bath when she arrived,’ he told Heather. ‘You must have things there to collect…?’ He spared Claire a glance, noticing the little pout that changed her face from appealing angel to sulky child.

  ‘Heaps. Thanks for reminding me.’ She flounced out.

  Theo looked at the cute retreating rear thoughtfully, then walked over to Heather and stared down at her.

  ‘I’m sorry Claire interrupted your evening. I didn’t get around to dropping her an e-mail to let her know my new address.’ In truth, Heather’s e-mails to her sister had become few and far between. Claire rarely replied to the ones she sent, and in the end Heather had confined herself to the occasional one, filling her in on superficial bits of information.

  Now, of course, she felt horribly guilty. She had to remind herself that they were no longer kids. They were both adults, and Claire had as much responsibility for maintaining their relationship as she had. But lifelong programming had kicked in. Heather felt muddled. Suddenly she wanted her old self back. The big, sack-like clothes she could hide behind. The ungainly body which had never deserved to be put on display.

  ‘Has she always been like that?’ Theo asked quietly, wishing that Heather would at least look at him. But she stubbornly stared down at the ground and shrugged.

  ‘Like what?’

  He gently placed his finger under her chin and Heather grudgingly met his eyes.

  ‘Asserting her superiority…putting you down…showing no interest in you or what you’ve been up to. I could go on. She had quite a little chat with me before you came here. Made sure to let me know in not so many words how poor little Heather had been such a sad thing growing up, such a brick…always there in the background helping out.’

  Heather couldn’t actually reply to this because her throat felt thick with tears of humiliation.

  ‘You don’t have to feel sorry for me,’ she said in a fierce undertone.

  ‘I don’t. You feel sorry for yourself.’

  Heather recoiled as if she had been struck. How dared he be so accurate in summing her up? Claire would have had loads of stories to tell and, yes, she could just imagine her sister cleverly putting her down. She wondered whether they had both chuckled over her. Had he told her about their brief fling? Had he confided his own amusement and irritation over the way he had managed to ambush her emotions? She hated herself for thinking like that, and in some part of her knew that Theo was not the type of man to behave in such a manner, but she couldn’t think straight. She was fifteen again, fat and gauche and watching from the sidelines as her sister flaunted her good looks and tried to give her little pointers on improving her image.

  ‘I do not!’ she retorted feebly. ‘Anyway, Claire can’t help being the person that she is.’

  ‘I saw my bathroom after she’d used it. How are you going to live with all that clutter in your small flat?’

  ‘Is that your way of telling me that you’ll do me a favour by letting her move in here with you?’ Like a horse without reins, her imagination galloped along at a pace, disregarding the hurdles and bolting towards a conclusion that left her miserable and sickened. She just couldn’t bear the thought of Theo and her sister…

  Whatever answer he had been about to make was interrupted by Claire, who breezed back into the room gaily waving a larger than average holdall which, she informed Heather, was jam-packed with all her cosmetics. ‘The bags are over there, in the corner. Would you be a darling and bring them for me? I’m so tired I could lie right down on this floor and fall asleep!’

  Heather sighed under her breath. She would have to have a long chat with her sister about the impossibility of staying with her for long. There just wasn’t going to be the room to house the mountain of things Claire seemed to have brought over with her—and who only knew what else was sailing its way across the Atlantic, destination one minuscule flat that could barely contain the possessions of its one frugal tenant?

  ‘I’ll get my driver to take you to your place. Leave the bags. He’ll bring them down for you.’

  ‘You have a driver?’ Claire’s eyes widened as she digested this further piece of information about Theo’s financial status.

  ‘He’s very, very, very rich,’ Heather said, with a lack of tact that shocked her—although when she glanced at Theo it was to find that he was smiling with dry amusement.

  ‘Oh, three verys might be one too many,’ he murmured, wickedly teasing.

  Claire, catching an undertone that Heather seemed oblivious to, waded in quickly, making sure that attention was returned to her. ‘One can never be too thin or too rich,’ she piped up. ‘To quote somebody or other.’ She grinned flirtatiously at Theo while Heather ostentatiously avoided them both by planting herself firmly at the door, hand on knob, ready to go.

  ‘So I’ve heard,’ Theo said noncommittally. He reached into his pocket for his mobile and had a swift conversation, unnerved by Claire’s china-blue eyes narrowly fixed on him. By the door, Heather was standing in a state of such rigid tension that he felt she might crack if he touched her.

  ‘Thanks again,’ Heather said as they congregated around her.

  Theo deliberately positioned himself so that his back was to Claire and leant over Heather, resting his arm against the doorframe. ‘Okay?’ he murmured. Having lived his life on one manageable emotional plane, Theo was now resigned to the wild assortment of feelings the woman standing and glaring roused in him. Right now, the urge to protect her was like a physical need. The phoney, altruistic intentions he had piously claimed for warning her away from Scott now crystallised into a very real, pressing desire that she shouldn’t be hurt or overwhelmed by her sister.

  Unfortunately, he thought, she was hardly going to believe a word he said on the subject, given that he had already used up his ration of so-ca
lled concern for her welfare.

  ‘I’ll be seeing you,’ he promised, and Heather shot him a jaded, disbelieving look.

  ‘Well,’ she muttered, ‘if you do, it certainly won’t be in your office on all fours, cleaning your floor.’

  ‘Are we ready to leave?’ Claire said plaintively, and Theo drew back, cursing under his breath.

  ‘My car should be ready. I’ll come down with you.’

  ‘No need!’ Heather said brightly. ‘We sisters just want to catch up on our own now!’

  Claire surrendered grudgingly to this suggestion, but rounded on her sister as soon as they were in the lift and heading down.

  ‘God, Heather, you never told me he was drop-dead gorgeous!’

  ‘If you like that sort of look…’

  ‘Well, yes. I know you go for the more boring type, but he’s definitely my kind of guy—and if I’d had any idea what he looked like I’d have worn something a bit better!’

  Heather was still dwelling on the assumption that she could only ever be interested in boring men. Since when had she let her sister get away with thoughts like that? Had she always accepted Claire’s sweeping assumptions that she was someone prepared to let life slip by her while she toiled away in the background, doing nothing in particular?

  ‘Wait a minute,’ she objected belatedly, as they stepped into the waiting car—Claire’s oohs and ahhs leaving Heather in no doubt that Theo’s already magnificent standing had now flown off the scale—‘since when did you think that I only go for boring men?’ It took a lot of courage to stand up for herself, and she could feel her neck begin to prickle uncomfortably.

  She waited for Claire’s famous temper to become evident, and was surprised when her sister stared at her, red-faced and open-mouthed. ‘I didn’t mean that you just go for boring guys,’ she stuttered. ‘It’s just that…you know…well…’

  ‘That the only kind of men who would be attracted to me would be the boring type…?’

  ‘You have to admit that dynamic, sexy men would never have given you a second glance in the old days!’ Claire burst out, and Heather stared at the stranger sitting next to her coldly. With everything in her she wanted to tell Claire about her fling with Theo, wanted to throw it in her face as proof that she wasn’t the eternal no-hoper her sister seemed to think she was. But that would have been a terrible breach of confidence, and since it was apparent that Theo hadn’t said a word about it there was no way that she was about to.