Acquired by Her Greek Boss

by Chantelle Shaw

  ‘If you speak to Alekos, will you pass on a message?’ Warren said.

  ‘Oh, I’ll give him a message, don’t you worry.’ She disguised her sardonic tone with a bland smile. The Texan would be shocked if he knew she intended to tell Alekos he was an arrogant, manipulative bastard. Beneath her outwardly calm exterior she was seething. Alekos had played her for a fool but she would never give him the chance to humiliate her again.

  * * *

  After the cloudless blue skies and golden sunshine of Monaco, the typical British summer weather of rain and a chilly wind that whipped along Piccadilly did nothing to lift Sara’s spirits. It was strange to be back in the office without Alekos and she felt annoyed with herself for missing him as she tried to focus on work.

  ‘Sara, do you have a minute?’ Robert Drummond, the CEO, stopped by her desk on Friday afternoon.

  ‘Of course. What’s up, Bob?’ She noticed he seemed tense. ‘Can I get you a coffee?’

  ‘No, thanks. Remind me, when will Alekos be back?’

  ‘He’s due in the office next Wednesday. His trip to Dubai is a private visit but I can contact him if necessary.’ She hadn’t heard from Alekos since they had left Monaco but she had not expected to, and luckily there had been no work issues that required her to phone him.

  The CEO frowned. ‘Keep this to yourself. There has been some unusual trading activity of the company’s shares in recent days. It’s probably nothing to be concerned about but I’ll keep my ear to the ground and talk to Alekos when he’s back.’

  After Bob had gone, Sara drummed her fingertips on her desk, wondering if she should call Alekos. She was still his PA for now and it was her job to alert him of anything that might affect the company. Her phone rang and her heart leapt into her throat when she saw his name on the caller display.

  ‘Sara, I need you to come over immediately.’ Alekos’s sexy Greek accent was more pronounced than usual, making the hairs on her body stand on end. Damn the effect he had on her, she thought bitterly.

  ‘You want me to come to Dubai?’ She was pleased that she sounded cool and composed.

  ‘I returned to London earlier than planned,’ he said tersely. ‘I’m working from home. I’ve sent Mike to collect you, so go and wait in the car park for him.’

  She stared at the envelope on her desk containing her letter of resignation. The sooner she gave it to Alekos the better.

  ‘Sara—’ he sounded impatient, and nothing like the sensual lover who had spoken to her tenderly when he’d made love to her ‘—did you hear me?’

  ‘Yes.’ She dropped the envelope into her handbag. ‘I’m on my way.’

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ALEKOS’S LONDON HOME was a penthouse apartment next to the river with stunning views of the Thames, Tower Bridge and the Shard.

  His valet opened the door to admit Sara into the hallway and her tension racked up a notch when she heard a female voice from the sitting room. Did he have a woman here? Maybe someone he’d met in Dubai. It was only four nights ago that he had slept with her. She was tempted to hand the letter in her bag to the valet and ask him to deliver it, but just then the sitting room door opened and Alekos’s mother came out to the hall. When she saw Sara she burst into tears.

  ‘No, no, Sara,’ she sobbed, ‘you must not allow Alekos to work. The doctor said he has to rest.’

  Sara had met Lina Gionakis a few times and had found her to be charming but excitable. She frowned. ‘Doctor? Is Alekos unwell?’

  ‘He could have died,’ Lina said dramatically.

  ‘Rubbish.’ Alekos’s gravelly voice made Sara’s pulse race as she followed his mother into the sitting room and her gaze flew to him, sprawled on a sofa by the window. He was wearing faded denim jeans, a cream shirt undone to halfway down his chest and no shoes. She dragged her eyes from the whorls of black hairs that grew thickly on his chest and stared at his bare feet. There was something curiously intimate about seeing his feet that reminded her of when he’d stripped in front of her before he had undressed her in his bedroom on Artemis.

  Pink-cheeked, she jerked her gaze up to his face and did a double take when she saw he was wearing a black eye patch over his right eye.

  ‘Polo,’ he said drily, answering her unspoken query. ‘I was hit in the eye with a mallet during a match.’

  ‘The doctor said you are lucky you were not blinded in your eye.’ Lina wrung her hands together. ‘Promise me you will wear a helmet and faceguard in future. What if you had fallen from your horse? A head injury can be fatal. Polo is such a dangerous sport and you know I couldn’t bear it if I lost another son.’

  ‘Mana, I am not a child.’ Alekos was clearly struggling to control his impatience with his mother and he looked relieved when the valet returned with a tea tray. ‘Sit down and Giorgos will serve you tea and cakes while I go over a few things with Sara.’

  He strode out of the room and Sara followed him into his study. ‘Is your eye injury serious?’

  ‘Not really. The blow from the mallet caused a blood vessel in my eye to rupture and my vision is blocked by a pool of blood covering the iris and pupil. The condition is called a hyphema and it shouldn’t result in long-term harm.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s fairly painful and I have to use eye drops and wear the patch for a few weeks. But I’ll live,’ he added sardonically.

  ‘Your mother is very upset. What did she mean when she said she couldn’t bear to lose another son?’

  Alekos leaned his hip against the desk and folded his arms across his chest. But, despite his casual air, Sara sensed a sudden tension in him. ‘I had an older brother,’ he said abruptly. ‘Dimitri died...in an accident when he was twenty-one. My mother still mourns him and, as you saw just now, she is terrified of losing me or one of my sisters.’

  ‘I’m not surprised after such a tragic event. You’ve never mentioned your brother to me.’

  ‘Why would I?’

  Why, indeed? she thought painfully. Alekos was an intensely private man who guarded his personal life and his family. He would not choose to confide in his PA, not even one he’d had sex with. It was a timely reminder that she meant nothing to him and she opened her handbag and gave him the letter.

  ‘What’s this?’

  ‘My formal notice of resignation. I can’t continue to work for you after we...’ Colour flooded her cheeks. ‘After what happened a few nights ago.’

  ‘We had sex,’ he said bluntly. ‘It’s too late now to be embarrassed about it.’

  ‘But I am embarrassed. We both behaved unprofessionally and that’s why I have to leave my job.’

  ‘Theos, Sara.’ Impatience was etched onto his hard features. ‘Why are you getting so worked up because we spent one night together? It didn’t mean anything.’

  She felt a knife blade pierce her heart. ‘You made that very clear when you left the next morning without saying a word.’

  Dark colour streaked along his cheekbones. ‘You were asleep.’

  ‘You made me feel like a whore.’ She drew a shuddering breath and would have laughed at his astonished expression if she hadn’t wanted to cry. ‘It would have been less insulting if you’d left a cheque for my sexual services on the pillow.’

  ‘You wanted me as much as I desired you,’ he said grimly. ‘Don’t pretend you were the innocent one in this.’

  Alekos’s words hung in the air. He must have thought she was a freak when he’d discovered she was a twenty-four-year-old virgin, she thought painfully. She had been stupidly naïve to have fallen for the well-practised seduction routine of a playboy. ‘When you read the letter, you will see that I have requested to leave earlier than the three months’ notice my contract stipulates. It will be easier if I go as soon as possible.’

  She turned and walked over to the door, but his harsh voice made her hesitate.

  ‘Damn it, Sara. Where’s your loyalty? You can’t leave me now when I need you.’

  ‘I’m sorry about your eye, but you said there will be no long-te
rm damage.’ She fought the insidious pull on her emotions. Alekos did not need her; he simply wanted to avoid the inconvenience of having to employ another PA. ‘And how dare you throw my loyalty in my face after you showed me no loyalty at all?’ She breathed hard as her anger with him exploded. ‘I told you that Lionel Kingsley is my father in absolute confidence. How could you betray my secret to Warren McCuskey?’

  ‘I didn’t...’

  She ignored him and continued. ‘You were determined to sell a yacht to Warren and you knew that Lionel has a lot of influence over him. When you learned that I was Lionel’s daughter you suggested we could pretend to be a couple so I could meet my half-siblings. But the real reason was to give you access to Warren, and your manipulation worked,’ she said bitterly. ‘One reason why Warren has decided to buy Artemis is because you let him think you are in love with me—his best friend’s secret daughter.’

  ‘I didn’t tell him.’ Alekos’s voice was as sharp as a whiplash and made Sara flinch. ‘Warren asked me if I knew you were Lionel’s daughter, and I said yes because it would have looked odd if you hadn’t told me when we were supposedly in a relationship.’

  She looked at him uncertainly. ‘Then how did Warren know?’

  ‘It’s likely that Lionel confided in his closest friend.’

  Sara had to acknowledge the truth of what Alekos said but it didn’t ease the hurt she felt. ‘You still used my relationship with my father to your advantage to promote GE.’

  He did not deny it. ‘There is no room for sentiment in business. Which is why I need you to carry on being my PA, for now at least.’ He straightened up and walked towards her, and his face was grimmer than Sara had ever seen it.

  ‘GE is the target of a hostile takeover bid. In the past few months a large amount of company shares have been bought, seemingly by several smaller companies. I received a tip-off that these companies are all owned by one individual who has accumulated a significant number of GE’s shares. In business, an unwanted takeover bidder is known as a black knight. If the black knight acquires fifty-one per cent of GE’s shares he will be able to appoint a new management team and board of directors, and effectively take over the company.’

  ‘Do you know how close the black knight is to acquiring fifty-one per cent?’

  ‘Too damned close. It will be more difficult for him now he’s out in the open. Instead of buying up shares stealthily through his various companies, he will have to try to persuade GE’s shareholders to sell stock to him.’

  ‘Are you saying that if this black knight does manage to buy enough shares, you could lose the company that your grandfather set up?’ Looking closely at Alekos, Sara saw evidence of the strain he was under in his clenched jaw and the two grooves that had appeared on either side of his mouth. Despite his cavalier treatment of her, she felt a tug on her soft heart. ‘There must be something you can do to stop him.’

  ‘There are various strategies which I am already putting in place, but my best hope—only hope, to be brutally honest—is if I can convince the shareholders, many of whom are board members, not to sell their shares and remain loyal to me.’ He raked his hair off his brow. ‘As you are aware, I haven’t always had the support of every member of the board. In fact, the black knight is a board member.’

  ‘Orestis Pagnotis,’ Sara guessed.

  ‘Actually, no, it’s Stelios Choutos. He doesn’t like the new direction I am taking GE and his takeover bid is backed by an American hedge fund. Fortunately, Warren McCuskey’s decision to buy Artemis will win me a lot of support from shareholders. An injection of two hundred million dollars into the company’s coffers couldn’t have come at a better time.’

  ‘I’m sorry about your problems, but I still intend to resign. I don’t see what use I can be.’ Sara’s heart jolted when Alekos moved to stand between her and the door. The patch over his eye made him look even more like a pirate and his rugged good looks were a dangerous threat to her peace of mind.

  ‘I need to have people around me who I can rely on and trust. If you are really determined to walk away from your job for no good reason I’ll allow you to leave after you’ve served one month’s notice. The future of GE will have been decided by then,’ he said grimly. ‘I’ll pay you a full three months’ salary. But in return I will expect you to be at my call constantly while I fight to save my company.’

  Sara warned herself not to be swayed by his admission that he trusted her. But didn’t she owe Alekos her loyalty while GE was under threat? She bit her lip, torn between feeling it was her duty to help him and the knowledge that if she stayed in her job and saw him every day it would be harder to fall out of love with him.

  ‘All right,’ she agreed before she could change her mind. ‘I’ll stay on for one month. But I want six months’ salary.’

  The extra money would pay for the college art course she wanted to do. Instead of having to wait until she had sold her mother’s house, she would be able to start the art course in the new term in September. She had never made any demands on Alekos and had put him on a pedestal, always doing her best to please him. The result was that he’d treated her badly. He had made it clear that she did not matter to him, and she realised that she had wasted two years of her life loving him when he did not deserve her love. It was time she started to value herself, Sara decided.

  ‘I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you are as mercenary as most other women,’ Alekos said in a hard voice. ‘I’ve admitted I need your help.’

  ‘There is no room for sentiment in business,’ she quoted his words back to him coolly. ‘If you want me, you’re going to have to pay for me.’

  * * *

  Alekos felt as if his head was going to explode. His eye injury had caused him to suffer severe headaches, but he hadn’t taken any of the strong painkillers he had been prescribed because they made him feel drowsy and he’d needed to have all his wits about him at a crucial meeting with a group of shareholders.

  He pinched the bridge of his nose to try and control the pain in his head. Behind him, the staccato click of stiletto heels on the marble-floored foyer of GE’s offices in Athens sounded as loud as gunshots. He dropped his arm as Sara came to stand beside him and saw her frown when she darted a glance at his face.

  He knew he did not look his best. For the past two weeks he’d survived on patchy meals, not enough sleep and too much whisky, while he’d criss-crossed the globe to meet with shareholders and tried to persuade them to back his leadership of GE. Since Stelios Choutos had issued GE with a formal notice of an intended takeover bid the battle lines had been drawn. Shareholders either supported the company’s current chairman or the disgruntled board member Stelios. So far, Stelios was winning.

  Now Alekos had brought the battle to GE’s birthplace in Greece. He stared at the blown-up photographs on the wall of his grandfather and founder of the company, Theo Gionakis, his father, Kostas, and brother, Dimitri. Failure was not an option he would consider. But maybe he was second best, as he was certain his father had thought. He wasn’t the true Gionakis heir. Self-doubt congealed in the pit of his stomach.

  ‘Why are there photos of your grandfather, your father and your brother above the reception desk, but not a picture of you?’ Sara asked.

  ‘They are all dead,’ he said bluntly. ‘The photo gallery is of past chairmen. Although my brother never actually became chairman, my father had his picture placed here after Dimitri died.’ Alekos’s jaw clenched. ‘If my brother had lived to take over from my father, maybe GE would not be under threat.’

  ‘Surely you don’t believe that?’

  ‘I have no way of knowing whether I am as good a chairman as I have no doubt Dimitri would have been.’

  He felt Sara’s eyes on him but he carefully avoided her gaze. It was easier, he’d found, if he did not look directly at her. That way his heart did not thump quite so hard and he could kid himself that the effect she had on him was a temporary aberration. For the past two weeks he had spent v
irtually every waking hour with her while they had worked together to save the company. When he was alone in bed at night it was his fantasies about making love to her, fuelled by erotic memories, rather than worry about GE that kept him awake.

  He glanced at a message on his phone. ‘The helicopter is waiting for us on the helipad. Let’s go.’

  ‘Go where?’ she asked as they rode the lift up to the roof of the building. ‘I know you have a home in Athens, and I assumed I would check in to a hotel.’

  ‘You will stay with me. It’ll be easier if you are on the same premises when we have to work late,’ he countered the argument he could see brewing in her green eyes. Theos, she could be stubborn. But he was damned glad she was on his team.

  Sara had impressed him with her dedication to GE. She’d accompanied him on his tour of cities around Europe, as well as to the US and the Far East. They had clocked up thousands of air miles to visit GE’s shareholders and at every boardroom meeting, every dinner, every long evening spent in hotel bars Sara had invariably charmed the shareholders with her warmth and grace and personable nature.

  She was an asset to the company and he did not want to lose her as his PA. He dismissed the thought that he did not want to lose her at all. She was not his, and perhaps this inexplicable possessive feeling was because he had been her first lover.

  They boarded the helicopter and it took off, flying over Athens and out over the coast. ‘I thought we were going to your house?’ Sara said.

  ‘We are. It’s down there.’ Alekos pointed to a small island just off the mainland. ‘I own the island. Its name is Eiríni, which means peace in Greek.’

  The helicopter hovered above the many trees that covered the island. From the air, Eiríni appeared like an emerald jewel set amid a sapphire-blue sea and some of his tension eased. This was home, his private sanctuary, and it occurred to him that Sara was the only woman, apart from his mother and sisters, who he had ever brought here. When they landed, he pulled in deep breaths of the fresh sea air mingled with the sweet scent of the yellow mimosa bushes that lined the path leading up to the house. But, as always, the scent that filled his senses was the evocative fragrance that was Sara.