“Don’t apologize. I never heard a thing,” Leo said, as she grimaced at the screen. “Although as your on-site medical advisor, I ought to insist you send that device straight back to your suite.”
“I’ll do better than that. I’ll take it there myself,” she muttered, sweeping off toward the lift. She was glad he hadn’t suggested going with her. If he’d done that, he would have found out she’d arranged the call herself—partly to stop Leo getting above himself, but mostly for the chance to go and see the first flowers she had ever been sent.
Thirty seconds later, Sara flung open the door of her suite. She was greeted by the voluptuous scent of lilies, and the sight of a starburst of flowers arranged on the coffee table of her lounge. They were so lovely, she knew she’d never be able to look at Leo in the same way again.
Taking three long, lingering breaths of the expensive atmosphere, she tried to clear her head. He’d suggested this was his opening shot at seduction. She ought to hate him for it, but that was impossible. The flowers were such an amazing gesture.
Throwing her phone onto the settee, she marched back to the restaurant and took her place at the table.
“I’m so sorry about that, Leo. Now, as this is a business meeting, you’ll want your...” She left an almost imperceptible pause before saying, “PA in attendance.”
“No. In fact, I’ve dismissed my team for the evening.”
Alarm bells rang inside Sara’s head. “Why? I’ve already told you this is on a purely professional basis.”
“I wouldn’t approach you for anything less, Sara. The fact is, I’d appreciate the advice of an unbiased observer on a...delicate matter. My whole entourage is handpicked and I’m certain of their loyalty, but that’s a big part of my problem. No one will risk telling me I’m wrong. At times, I need to talk hardheaded business sense. My current bunch of yes-men and women are delightful, but they aren’t always useful.”
“And Krisia is in love with you. That’s bound to cloud her judgment.”
“Rubbish,” he said after a moment’s pause, but she could see her words had rattled him. “Don’t change the subject. The truth is, none of them talk straight to me. You do.”
It sounded like praise, but Sara was on the alert for empty flattery. “Then I’ll start as I mean to go on, Leo. You might as well have left your jacket and tie at the piano. There’s no need to overheat on my account.”
“I wouldn’t say that.” There was a definite double entendre in his voice. “Nick has a strict dress code for this part of the restaurant. We have a deal. He does everything to respect my privacy. I respect his rules.”
“Really? The more you don’t tell me about yourself, Leo Gregoryan, the more intrigued I am.”
He smiled. “That’s how I like it.”
Not for the first time, Sara thought how sexy Leo looked in a tux. As he unbuttoned his jacket and pulled out his cuffs, she had another drink. As an attempt to distract herself, it was useless. “Then start bouncing your ideas, mystery man.”
“First, I must be sure you’ll treat everything I say with absolute confidentiality.”
Sara nodded.
Though he said, “Fine,” his body language told a different story. He linked his hands in front of him on the tablecloth. Then he sat back, gnawing his lip. Finally, he threw his arms wide. “I owe it to a lot of people, including many generations of my family, to make a success of my new job.”
Sara leaned forward, expecting to find out at last what had made him abandon his career. “And this job would be...?”
He took a sip of wine. As she watched, the embers of passion began glowing deep inside her. He was good-looking, for sure, but something else about him grabbed her attention and held it, tight. “I’ve inherited all my father’s lands,” he told her at last. “Think of as a larger version of one of your English country estates. Until recently, my homeland has had little contact with the rest of Europe. I’ve got a million plans for improving the place, but then so had my father. And my elder brother—to begin with. I’m going to stop the rot. As you insist you’re coming to my subject cold, I’ll run my ideas past you, as an independent observer. Your job is to spot any flaws.”
It was obvious he didn’t expect her to find any. His jaw was set, and his dark eyes were resolute. Sara felt a twinge of uncertainty. It would be hard to concentrate with him looking at her like this, but she loved the sound of the challenge he was sending her. “Go ahead.” She ran her fingers up and down the cold column of her glass, hoping the condensation would cool her rising temperature. “If we work well together tonight, maybe you’d consider employing my firm to oversee your improvements?”
The waiter arrived with their first course. While it was being served, Leo toyed with the knife lying across his side plate. Sara watched his long sensitive fingers. They were designed for running over those piano keys...or for chasing the shiver that coursed up and down her spine whenever he was near.
“That’s the first hurdle I have to overcome. My father had people—or in his case, henchmen—to take care of the day-to-day running of things. When my brother took over, he tried to shoulder all the responsibility, but with limited success. I’m going all the way.” His choice of words almost caused Sara to choke on her drink, but he was too busy thanking the waiter to notice.
“Apparently, my staff have already engaged a PR firm to help drag everyone at home into this century, but there’s some sort of problem with the arrangements,” he said, beginning his meal. “I’m not expected to bother myself with that side of things, but the first thing I’m going to do is put a stop to ‘jobs for the boys.’”
Sara was impressed. “I can’t see anyone having a problem with that.”
“You think so? The problem is, my younger brother is in charge of security. Athan is the man I trust to share my vision, but I can’t have one rule for myself, and another rule for everyone else.”
“Is your brother any good at his job?”
“He’s the best in the business, and everyone knows it.” There was a rich undercurrent of pride in Leo’s voice. Sara wondered how it felt to have someone like him on her side.
“Then your brother can be the example you hold up to everyone else. Give them performance-related incentives.”
He winced at the jargon, and she giggled. “You’re paying for my advice, so I have to make it sound official! Make sure you come down hard on your brother if he steps out of line. Treat him the same way you’d treat anyone else.”
Her reply seemed to please him. He didn’t speak again until their starters had been cleared away.
Resting his elbows on the table, he tapped his fingers against his lips a couple of times before clearing his throat. “You’re discreet?”
“I’m famous for it.”
“Then I’ll tell you something in strictest confidence. It must never go any further, Sara.” His dark eyes drove their way into the core of her being with the intensity of diamond-tipped drills. “Loyalty to my heritage stops me returning to England to complete my medical training. Athan’s by far the better man to take control at home.”
“Why so modest, all of a sudden? You strike me as the sort of guy who could turn his hand to anything.”
“I can, but running a country needs a natural leader with the killer instinct. I can’t go against my instincts, and ‘he did his best’ isn’t going to cut it for this job.”
Sara goggled. “I thought you ran an estate, not a country?”
Leo muttered something under his breath that she couldn’t quite catch. Then his lips drew back in a snarl. “I’m laying my life bare, and you pick up on a slip of the tongue?”
She refused to be put off. “The most important part of my job is listening to people, so they get exactly what they want. I’m interested in solving people’s problems, not networking over expense-account dinners. The board of directors at ACS is full of Savile Row suits at the moment. What it needs is someone who sees clients as people, not just names on a dat
abase and an invoice.”
“And you are that person.”
“Yes,” she said, before realizing he’d made a statement and not asked a question. “So step down in favor of your brother. Other people do it.”
“I’m not ‘other people.’ I am—” He stopped, then fussed with his jacket and tugged down his sleeves in a shameless bit of displacement activity. “It’s not an option I can choose. It would never work anyway.”
“Then why mention it in the first place?”
He stared at her in disbelief. When she didn’t respond, his smile came back. “Because I expect you to come up with a workable alternative, as it’s too insane a concept to broach with the people concerned.”
“You want my advice? I’ve given it. Palm your family business off onto your smart-ass brother straight away, and let him sort the problem out.”
Leo frowned. “The job was entrusted to me, not him. In any case, Athan enjoys his own job too much to want mine. Our current regime gives him all the excitement he wants without having to get involved with the paperwork, as he puts it.”
“Man of action, is he?”
“You could say that. I leave him to do all the flashy, cut and thrust stuff.”
“You’re a bit of a hero yourself, don’t forget.” The waiter arrived to clear their table. “That’s why dinner is on me tonight,” she said. “It’s to make up for your impromptu swim earlier on.”
His eyes opened wide with surprise. “In my country, women never pay for their own dinner.”
Sara frowned. “Hey ho. I can see this relationship is going to take some work.”
He put up his hands. “I never mix business with pleasure, and I don’t do relationships. I’ve already told you that.”
She tutted her disgust. “A typical male reaction to an innocent remark. I was talking about our business relationship. It was you who put a sexual spin on it.”
“Sexual spin? Hmm...”
Temptation flared in his eyes, and her body warmed. Careful not to let it show, she gave him a silent, penetrating stare.
“Very well, Miss Astley. I’ll restrain myself, if you’ll agree to stop using corporate newspeak.”
“So no mention of ‘low hanging fruit’ then?”
“Not unless you want me to throw you back into the bay.” Leo savoured his wine, regarding her over the rim of the glass. Placing it on the table, he eased it out of the way before putting his elbows on the table again. “So…what drew you to party planning?”
Sara gave him a stern look. “I’m in the concierge business, Leo, which is more project planning. I make other people’s lives run smoothly,” she said, wishing her own life ran as well as her professional work.
“That, if you don’t mind me saying so, is far too ordinary a job for a woman like you.”
“That’s why I do it. My clients are the important ones, not me. Apis Concierge Solutions attracts them by its reputation. When I take charge, they soon find out how hard I work behind the scenes to give them their heart’s desire.”
“Does that refer to your private life, as well as your business interests?”
It was exactly the sort of question Sara had been praying he wouldn’t ask. “That depends.”
“On what?”
“On how I’m feeling at the time.”
“Or possibly who?”
“Like you, I never mix business with pleasure.” She managed to sound firm, but it was a resolution as wobbly as whipped cream when she looked into Leo’s come-to-bed eyes.
“I’m glad to hear it.” Leo smiled. “Although I find working with someone is a guaranteed passion killer. That’s why I never do business unless it’s with someone I like for other reasons.” His fingers ran down over the stem of his wine glass to lie in golden relief on the snowy-white tablecloth. They were so close to hers, Sara felt the warmth of him. It radiated from his skin, and smoldered in the depths of his eyes.
“And I love my work.” Her words were no longer rigid with conviction.
“You love it so much, I’ve heard your booking in this hotel is open-ended.”
“I didn’t make the reservation, so I can’t comment. Who told you that?”
“Nick, the owner. Krisia tried to book the suite you’re in, and was told Apis Concierge Solutions has it on a long lease.”
“Then I was right.” Sara congratulated herself, the report already half-written in her head. “I knew there had to be a reason why they sent me here in particular. They must be thinking about making the Paradise one of our recommended venues. I can use my stay here to produce an in-depth report on the place.”
Leo watched her with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. “Do you honestly think medical leave would be a ruse to get you to do more work? Wouldn’t your bosses have simply told you to come and study the place?” His expression softened to real concern. “Own up. Maybe you really are here for your own good. Why do you find that so difficult to accept?”
He was back in medic mode. Sara drew her hand well away from his. “I suppose you’re right,” she said. “I have been throwing myself into my work even more than usual.”
“Why?”
“No reason you need bother about.” She gave him a smile to soften her words, but that didn’t alter her resolve. She still had a lot of hurt to get over before she opened up to a man again.
“Let me guess. Stress and overwork have sucked you dry.” His voice was smooth and encouraging.
Sara was so busy trying to decide whether to tell him more about herself, she didn’t notice his hand reaching out to her across the table until he drew a caress over her knuckles.
His touch felt as good as he looked. Sara knew she ought to pull away, but it had been so long since anyone had tried to comfort her.
And it’s only our hands touching, she thought. That’s nothing.
Chapter Five
It didn’t feel like nothing. The sensation developing deep inside her whenever she looked at Leo was something she had to laugh about, or she’d end up crying. She knew it. “Damn. I thought my secret was safe,” she tried, but her voice shook.
“You have no reason to keep secrets. As the song says, you look perfect to me. Music never lies.”
He took her hand and lifted it to his lips. The kiss touched her fingertips and vanished before she had time to think. “If you had a euro for every woman who’s fallen for your fibs, I bet you wouldn’t have to work for a living.” She tried to sound sarcastic but the low, husky quality of her voice ruined that plan.
“I’d never call what I do work.” Leo’s eyes glittered. He still had hold of her hand, and his smile was fixed. “It’s more a lifestyle thing.”
“It sounds like we’re in much the same business, Leo. Don’t tell me you do eighteen-hour days too, at the beck and call of a willful public?”
“That sounds more like a shift in A&E. I’d rather work there than sit around doing nothing and lording it over a horde of minions.”
Sara stopped smiling and detached herself from his hand. “I hate delegating work too. I’d rather see a job through alone, from beginning to end.”
“That’s what I had in mind when I escaped from home and went away to university in London. I was determined to make an independent life for myself then, and I’m looking forward to doing it a second time.”
Sara blinked at the unexpected edge to his voice. A muscle tensed along the smooth plane of his jaw. “That’s why I think you’ll always be a doctor at heart, Leo. You hate the job you do now, don’t you?”
He turned an enigmatic gaze on her. “Whatever else I might say to you, Sara, that’s one thing you’ll never hear from me.”
She said nothing for a minute, then sighed. “That’s what I call loyalty. I used to wish I had a close family like yours. It was always just Mom and me. Now I’m on my own. Keep telling me about the downside, about how you had to kill your dreams to keep your family firm afloat, and maybe you’ll persuade me I haven’t missed out after all.”
/>
“I haven’t killed anything. A sense of tradition is important.”
Sara made a wry face. “I used to think that about marriage, until I met a man who almost got me to the starting gate. Then I saw sense, and gave him his marching orders.”
“It’s a woman’s prerogative.”
“That’s why I’m a free spirit now. If and when I ever give in to temptation, it’ll be marriage or nothing for me.”
He was unimpressed. “That’s too extreme. You’re cutting yourself off from so many subtle gradations of pleasure. Flirting by candlelight, for example.” He sat back as the waiter brought the dessert menu. “You can only blow the final whistle when you’ve tried playing the game. The whole point of coming here on holiday is to leave everyday concerns behind. Go off duty for once, Sara. Who’ll know if your icy exterior melts a little in this beautiful Grecian heat?”
His whisper made the candle flames dance. They reignited the cinders of need deep inside Sara’s body. As they glowed again, heat rose through her body. “I will. I’ll know.”
Her words were supposed to warn him off. Instead, they came out sounding like a dare. She watched Leo rise to the challenge. His whole body moved like a predatory animal, and he gave her a smile confirming her fears. Resistance would be useless.
“Ah, you’re saying that because you need time to adjust to all this rest and relaxation. Right now you’re tense, and still too ready to overreact to every situation. A few days at the Paradise will loosen you up. Then you’ll be more...willing to expand your horizons.”
“My horizons don’t need expanding, thanks. I have my work.”
“Yes, you’ve told me. But with respect, isn’t that why you’re here? Working too hard?”
“It’s how I earned this break.”
His Majesty's Secret Passion Page 5