by Sophia Lynn
“Ah, so it is professionally expedient for you to be friendly with me?” There was a careful chill to his voice that made her hurry to correct it.
“No, actually, quite the opposite.”
“Explain.”
“The more time I spend with someone doing this kind of work, the closer I get to them. The better I can do my job, the more I learn to care for them. As it is, I already like you way more than I should. Right now, the only difficulty is keeping enough of a lid on it to maintain a professional distance.”
For some reason, that made Nikolos grin.
“I’m glad I am not alone in this,” he said with a sigh. But before she could question him more closely, they had arrived at the hospital.
Nikolos’s family were known to be great philanthropists. It was a tradition starting with his great-grandmother and had continued ever since. Nikolos was there to represent the successful completion of one of the many toy drives his family sponsored for the children’s wing.
With an expertise born of long practice, Marianna faded discreetly into the background as Nikolos presented the hospital with an award for impressive achievement, and greeted the director warmly.
She watched him closely, wondering how she was going to describe this in the article she was writing. He was handsome, but more than that, there was a certain sense of gravity and distance to him. He was every inch a royal while he was on the stage, and she could see how every head in the room turned toward him, as if they were sunflowers and he was the sun itself.
Marianna observed some of the female administrators and nurses elbowing each other, commenting on his good looks, and that gave her a strange mixed feeling of distaste and pride. She had no idea where those emotions came from, so she stuffed them away. It was too much to think about then.
There was a brief luncheon after the ceremony, and Marianna was grateful, as she’d skipped breakfast that morning. She was seated between a pediatrician and a minor television star, and they were both interesting people who kept her talking and laughing.
The caterers were just passing out the desserts when she glanced up and realized, just as she had been watching him earlier, now Nikolos was watching her. He was smiling, but there was a certain masklike quality to it. For some reason, she felt a deep pit opening up in her stomach, and she wasn’t sure why.
The lunch finally ended, and she lurked in the lobby until Nikolos freed himself from the people who wanted handshakes and photo opportunities. When he entered the lobby on his way back to the car, he blinked as if surprised to see her.
“Are you ready to go?” she asked. “I don’t mind waiting longer if you have things you still want to do.”
“Not at all,” he said after a long moment. “Come on.”
When they got to the car, the sense of unease she had picked up on during lunch was as thick as a London fog, and finally Marianna had to do something about it.
“All right,” she said. “What’s the problem? Did I use the wrong fork? Did I terribly embarrass your family in a way that I should not have? What is it?”
Nikolos looked startled that she had brought it up, but he rose to the challenge magnificently.
“I was surprised to see you in the lobby,” he said curtly. “I had thought that you might have gone home with one of the men you were flirting with. I had my bet on the pediatrician. You’re not the sort to be charmed by empty good looks.”
If there was a compliment there, she was certainly too steamed to find it.
“Are you serious?” she cried. “I was seated at lunch by someone who stuck me wherever she could find room. If you think that I’m here…husband hunting or doing anything but my job, I’m not, and I’m offended that you think I am!”
“And all of that leaning close and batting your eyes?”
She could have spat in frustration.
“Well, I suppose I was leaning close because it was bloody loud in there. And maybe I was blinking my eyes because I put my contacts in today, and they itch if I wear them too long. But it doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have to make excuses for things that I simply do not need to be excused for!”
Her loud words hung in the air-conditioned silence of the car. She was breathing a little heavily. She knew it was possible her job might end right now. She was meant to observe and write about Nikolos, not yell at him for being a jackass.
He was silent for a long moment, weaving in and out of traffic with the absentminded expertise of a race car driver.
“You’re right,” he said at last. “I’m sorry.”
She frowned. “Really?”
“Yes.” For a moment, it was as if Nikolos struggled to find the words, but then he started talking again.
“Yes. I met you when you were pretending to be a socialite, and then I met you again when Philip introduced me to you at the trattoria. In both settings, I was pleased to see that you were a young woman of integrity who was well worth my regard. My jealousy only reflects poorly on me, and I apologize.”
“Thank you,” she said softly. She heard the word jealousy there as clear as day, but at the moment, she was going to ignore it. The idea he was jealous was too fraught with unspoken feelings, too loaded for her to really grasp. She felt dizzy, as if she was spiraling up to a great height. She had no time for such things now.
“Is this going to end up in the article, do you think?” he asked, a slight edge of humor in his voice. “I’m afraid that I’m not going to come across as all that sympathetic if it does.”
“I don’t think it will,” Marianna said graciously. “It is one incident. I have the rest of the month with you to see if it was a trait or a onetime error.”
“I will endeavor to make sure that I present myself better,” he said, and she was already shaking her head.
“I’m fibbing,” she said. “Please, be yourself. I don’t want you to have to worry about putting your best face forward, or doing anything like that. What I can tell you is that this article is meant to explore the real truth of you, and as far as I can tell, the truth of you is a good, kind and interesting man. You don’t have to put on a face when your real one is so fine.”
There was a long silence.
For a moment, Marianna wondered if she had said too much. Opal had always appreciated when she was brutally honest with her, and at this point, she had no other idea how to behave with Nikolos.
“Thank you,” he said finally. “I…I will keep your words in mind.
* * *
He wanted to take her to the ruins in the countryside, the old ones that spoke of Greece’s deep history and roots. He wanted to take her to the gemlike little islands on the Greek coast, dotted with temples to gods old and forgotten. He wanted to take her to bed.
Instead, Marianna said she had notes to compile and a story to plan, and so she asked to be dropped off at her hotel.
When he pulled up to the steps of her hotel, he found her watching him with those astonishingly clear gray eyes. No, not gray, they were far more silvery, the effect only enhanced by the fine black line that rimmed her irises. For a single, unnerving moment, it felt as if she were looking into his soul, and that she could see all the darkness there, and the pettiness, and the fears. He had never felt quite so small, but then she smiled, her face lighting up.
“You’re a better man than you are afraid you are,” she said quietly, almost like she was telling him a great secret.
“Thank you,” he said, too stunned to move, and then before he could come up with a rational response, she was gone, closing the door behind her and striding up the stairs.
Before he could do something foolish like go after her, he gunned the engine and pulled away from the hotel.
You’ve got it bad, he thought grimly.
He had known it last night, but he hadn’t wanted to believe it. Somehow, this little minx from the United States had hooked a finger through his heart. The worst part was she didn’t even seem to know it. Instead, she was tugging it along after her witho
ut a single backward glance, and he was compelled to follow.
When he stopped for a quick coffee, he realized there was a text waiting for him. This time it was a charming tour guide he had met while he was visiting the southern part of the country a few months ago. She was in Athens for the night, and she wanted to know if they could renew their acquaintance.
He hesitated for a moment, but he knew what his answer was going to be before he even typed it in.
Sorry, I have plans this evening. Enjoy your night in Athens, though!
He put away his phone with a sigh. He had to do better. That meant for the next month, he would need to be on his best behavior.
Or your very worst behavior…
He couldn’t deny the thought was there. Nikolos had seen the way that Marianna looked at him. He could feel the heat that seemed ready to pour from her at a moment’s touch. He could still remember the kiss they had shared less than twenty-four hours ago.
The temptation to do exactly what most of the world expected him to do was right there, and it was hard to deny. It was especially hard when he thought about how good it would feel, and how good he knew she would feel as well.
He thought about those silvery eyes. He thought about how disappointed she might be, and he sighed heavily.
As Nikolos made his way back to his penthouse, he reminded himself that he only had to be good for a month. After that, he could get back to his regular life, his real life, and she would be gone.
God help him, but the thought left a dark pit inside him.
Chapter Four
Marianna suspected something was up at the charity ball the next night. By the luncheon at the conservation center the day after, she was certain about it. She just didn’t know what she was going to do.
It was painfully obvious to her that Nikolos was putting on a face. It wasn’t quite a false one. If it had been a false one, that would have given her something to work with. No, this face was his. The generosity was real, the gregariousness and the charm were certainly real. However, she couldn’t help thinking that in some deeply unnerving way, Nikolos had checked out and left a very handsome puppet to take care of things.
The man she’d met in Los Angeles and again at the small trattoria was gone, and in his place was a responsible young pillar of society, a man who had the world in his hand. Marianna stuffed her disappointment back down because the truth was she had deeper reasons to be concerned.
If he doesn’t show me his real self, I’m going to get to the end of the month and have absolutely nothing to write about. Or worse, I will find that I have nothing to say but the cheerful nonsense that ends up in so many pamphlets and fluff pieces.
She deeply wanted to do something real about Nikolos, and at this point she wanted to do it for him as well. A few times, she had glimpsed behind the mask, and what was behind it was a deep well of something darker. There was a man who sometimes seemed compelled to live down to other people’s expectations, who had never truly been trusted to do anything but his worst. The fact that he didn’t do his worst was impressive, and in fact, from what Marianna had seen, he did a great deal of good as well.
Sometimes, when he turned at just the right moment, she caught a glimpse of him that melted her heart. She couldn’t tell what it was, whether it was some kind of vulnerability or some kind of longing for truth, but it was there.
That’s the man I want to share with the readers, she decided abruptly. If they want to get to know him, that is the man they need to get to know.
The only trouble was that man was hard to find. Marianna followed him to a garden party, where she became gradually more certain that she would get nothing of substance from him, nothing at all, unless she took matters into her own hands. Otherwise, she might as well turn the job over to someone who was more capable than she.
Never mind that the thought of leaving the job behind was enough to make tears come to her eyes.
She woke up early on Friday to see that there was an interesting assignment for the evening. Nikoloswas due at the grand reopening of a library that was some seven hundred years old. Of course as his faithful shadow, she would be coming as well. She checked the time and was pleased to see the ceremony wasn’t due to start until seven in the evening. That gave her all the time she needed to get herself together.
Marianna realized with a flinch that she had been wearing black a great deal. It certainly allowed her to cut a dramatic figure, but the truth of the matter was she had never liked how it looked on her. It was too severe by far.
On impulse, she took a cab to the shopping district, where goods from all over the world were gathered to be sold. She was too nervous to go into any of the true boutiques that Opal and Mei favored, but she found a tiny shop full of vintage goods down a dark alley. She just stopped in to browse, but once she was there, a gorgeous dress in deep blue caught her eye. The fitted bodice was embroidered with silver thread, and the wide, gauzy skirt floated around her like a cloud. She paid for the dress without a second thought, and as she made her way home, she smiled.
I will get something real out of you yet, Nikolos, she thought.
On an impulse, she texted Nikolos that he should go on ahead without her. He agreed without hesitation, which made her a little sad, but she didn’t stop to think why it might have done so. She had far too much to do to be upset about such a trivial thing.
Perhaps if he didn’t realize that he was being observed, he would be more natural, she thought.
That was the hope, anyway.
* * *
Nikolos felt a twinge of dismay mixed with relief when he realized that Marianna would not be accompanying him to the library opening. He finally had a chance to get away from her watchful silver eyes, to be without her curiosity. He had never felt as if she were judging him. If he had, he simply would have gotten rid of her.
No, the fact that she was merely curious was what made it hard. She didn’t understand him, and so she asked him to explain himself. The result was that he stayed on the straight and narrow, and worse, he had to think about it.
The relief was far smaller than he thought it was. In no time at all, it was eaten up by sadness. Over the last few days, he had become very comfortable and familiar with his flame-haired shadow. She had been with him for large chunks of the day, and though she was respectful of his space, there was a kind of weight to her presence he had begun to long for.
He told himself it was silly, that he would have missed any other pretty woman acting in a similar capacity, but he knew that was not the case. There was an elemental sense of missing something that was a part of him.
Nikolos was in a dark mood as he dressed in his tuxedo and made his way across town to the library. He was faintly surprised at himself when the library head and the preservationists came out to greet him, and he was able to be friendly and open.
Has she changed me so much already? Nikolos wondered.
The truth was that just a few weeks ago, he would have been bored out of his mind. He would have shown up, drunk a single toast, made an indifferent speech and been off before someone could start a conversation with him.
Now, with Marianna’s gentle curiosity about the world at large in his mind, he found a new patience for the people around him, for their passions and their needs. Through their eyes, he could see the library for the wonder it was. He could take pride in the fact that it was his family’s love of the antique and the vital that had helped open its doors again.
Oh well, perhaps if Marianna is not here, I can still be pleased with myself.
The event started with a series of toasts from the library head, and then the older man offered Nikolos the microphone.
“Literacy had always been one of the cornerstones of Greek greatness,” he began. He had prepared a speech, and though the note cards were in his pocket, he started speaking from the heart instead.
“Throughout the ages, we Greeks have always understood that as the least of us falls, so the greatest does as we
ll. Instead of trying to sever the ties between the two, our forefathers and foremothers made the decision to make that link stronger instead. Now when one falls, the other can carry them forward.
“Tonight, ladies and gentleman, we reopen one of the things that makes that bond all the stronger. This library has served Athens for generations, and over the last ten years, as it fell into disrepair and disorder, it was my family’s turn to serve it. We are proud of the part we have played in bringing this holy place of learning back to its people, and we are humble enough to know that our contribution is small compared to the work of the people who stand here with me.
“Now, please raise your glasses in a toast with me. To knowledge, new and old.”
He raised his glass and tossed the liquid down his throat, smiling at the thunderous applause his speech received. His father had been a good speaker as well. Nikolos hadn’t thought that he was, but then when would he have been able to find out.
He was giving the champagne flute to a passing waiter, when out of the corner of his eye he saw a vision of loveliness. Before he saw her beautiful face, her silvery eyes, or even her dramatically curvy figure, he saw her hair. It was a deep auburn, but the natural shine turned it to a beacon in the brightly lit room.
For the last few weeks, he had been trying to forget the gorgeous socialite he had met in Los Angeles. Instead, he had gotten to know a hardworking woman with a good spirit who wanted to tell his story so badly. He’d thought the socialite was a mask, but now he could see that if it was, it was a mask she wore very well.
He absentmindedly chatted with the people who wanted time with him, but no matter where she went, he had his eyes on Marianna. Suddenly, and with aching certainty, he realized no matter where she was in a room, he would know. It was as if his heart and his brain were a compass, and she was true north.
Nikolos knew what kind of trouble that put him in. She was a woman who was after a career and a story. She was not interested in a fling.
Then he saw her laughing at the remarks made by a man twice her age. He saw her responding with bright eyes to something the man said, and he saw the man’s gaze resting surreptitiously on the low cut of her dress.