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Yes, Luka’s door was always closed.
Not so today.
‘I want to discuss your appalling treatment of my staff and your inexcusable conduct towards my mother.’
Theo almost choked, but then attempted a recovery. ‘Your staff? We are partners. I gave you—’
‘You gave me nothing,’ Luka said, and got right in his father’s face. ‘You actually believe your own lies. Now, as I said, we need to talk...’ He gestured to a table, for he too would prefer privacy for this but the fact he had first addressed the issues in front of the bar manager had been deliberate.
Theo would listen, or Luka would act.
‘I bought this restaurant,’ Luka said, ‘from the money I made picking up rich woman...’
‘Luka,’ his father warned, for a waiter was setting up the table and could hear what was being said.
‘What?’ Luka shrugged. ‘I’m not ashamed of it.’
Well, perhaps he was a bit, but having told Cecelia the real truth about his start he felt more reconciled with it.
So he told his father a truth that had consistently been ignored. ‘I gave you an opportunity to work, and you spurned it. I have put up with it for years for my mother’s sake. No more. I am hiring a new manager, who shall report directly to me. One more episode of your foul temper used on my staff and I shall take you through the courts to extricate you from our agreement and the restaurant’s name shall be changed to Luka Kargas.’
‘It would kill your mother.’
‘She’s already dying,’ Luka pointed out, and then he looked right at his father. ‘Actually, she isn’t, because I am moving her to London for her treatments and I am going to ensure that she rests and is taken care of between them.’
‘You can’t just swan in here and dictate—’
‘Oh, but I can,’ Luka said. ‘I own the complex, and I have a half-share in the restaurant, and,’ he added, ‘I can destroy you if I so choose. You should be pleading with your wife to seek treatment, because if it wasn’t for her you’d be seeing your days out in a shack on the hills and, believe me, Theo, you don’t want to test me on that.’
‘I’m your father!’ Theo reared and stood and leant across the table and grabbed Luka’s shirt.
‘More’s the pity,’ Luka said. ‘And I strongly suggest that you get your hands off me. I’m not ten years old any more, or a skinny teenager up against a brute. I could floor you and I am more than willing to do it.’
Sensibly, his father removed his hand, for it was clear Luka meant every word. But he was not finished yet. ‘You have no idea the ruthless bastard I can be. I could crush you and your so-called empire in the palm of my hand,’ Luka said. ‘And I will say it again, just so we’re clear—the only reason I’ve held back where the resort is concerned is for the sake of my mother.’
It was Luka who stood up and walked off back towards his villa.
He’d have loved to have hit his bully of a father, but what good could come from that? So instead he stripped off and dived into the pool, pounding out several lengths before hauling himself from the water a touch breathless.
And then he messaged Cecelia.
We need to talk.
His message came up on her computer and Cecelia tensed, because though they had spoken about work both online and on the phone on many occasions, this sounded rather personal.
She replied quickly.
I’m about to call someone in for an interview.
So?
Of course he didn’t mean that they needed to speak about what had taken place between them, Cecelia scolded herself for her less-than-professional reply. If Luka Kargas wanted to speak to his PA it didn’t matter if she’d been about to call someone in.
‘I have to speak with Mr Kargas,’ Cecelia said to the interviewee. ‘I’ll be back when I can.’
Cecelia didn’t apologise for keeping Sabine waiting, for the potential PA might as well get a glimpse of what she would be in for.
A moment later his face appeared on her screen and Cecelia got more than a glimpse.
His chest was naked and her view was of a dark mahogany nipple surrounded by a swirl of black hair. But then he angled the screen better and she saw that his hair was wet and he was squinting from the bright sun.
‘What can I do for you?’ Cecelia asked.
Her voice was cool, her demeanour brisk and she was determined that they were back to business.
‘What are you doing?’ he asked.
‘Working.’ She frowned. ‘Marco has a few things he needs to run by you but apart from that things are ticking along.’
She was wearing a grey dress with a sheer grey silky cardigan, because perish the thought that she might show too much skin. Her hair was neat and pulled back and yet now he knew another side to her he couldn’t help but see her buttoned-up appearance for what it was. A defence strategy.
‘I want you to fly here,’ Luka said. ‘I want you here tonight.’
Cecelia stared back at him. ‘For work?’
‘No.’
She liked it that he was direct.
In fact, Cecelia liked it that he had basically asked her to get on a plane for sex. But what happened when he got bored? She reminded herself of all the reasons she had refused his original offer.
He would wake up one morning and instead of kisses she would sense his restlessness.
His slight disdain.
Oh, she had seen it on too many occasions not to know what was in store for her.
At least here in London she was but a taxi ride away from salvaging her pride when he told her they were through.
But in Xanero?
Did she book her own flight home?
Or would they suffer it through until she left his employ less than three weeks from now?
‘If it isn’t for work, then I shan’t be joining you.’
‘Fine,’ Luka snapped. ‘In that case, I need you to go and view some apartments for me.’
‘Sure.’
‘And I want you to interview some private nurses. Make sure they speak Greek.’
Cecelia took down the details.
It was now all very businesslike. Surly, but businesslike. Yet she ached to know more about his mother, though she resisted asking for details that were not with the remit of a professional relationship.
They had spent one night together, and she knew from his reputation that that didn’t give her the keys to his private life.
‘How are the interviews for your replacement going?’ Luka asked.
‘I’m getting there,’ Cecelia said. ‘I’m on the second round, so I should have a shortlist of three for you to choose from.’
‘Any stand-outs?’
Cecelia hesitated.
Luka was a demanding boss but she almost had to shake the stars from potential employees’ eyes to ensure they understood what the job entailed.
But one had stood out.
Sabine.
She had an incredible work history and was bright and engaging. The only trouble was that Cecelia didn’t like her.
‘There’s one,’ Cecelia said. ‘Sabine. I’m just about to interview her again and give her a tour but...’
‘But what?’
‘I don’t know,’ Cecelia admitted.
‘Try telling me.’
‘I don’t like her.’ Cecelia shrugged. ‘But, then, she’s not for me to like. I’ll see how this interview goes. She speaks Greek, which might be a help with your mother, and...’
‘My mother will be coming to London for treatment, not for little get-togethers with my PA.’
He turned off the computer and closed it up.
Luka really did not want her to leave.
And yet it was perhaps for the best because despite strong words about PAs not getting involved with his family, he had told Cecelia some things he had never told anyone. And he had her interviewing nurses and looking for apartments.
He trusted her, and Luka was more comfortable trusting no one.
* * *
With that awkward conversation over, Cecelia got on with the second-round interviews.
Cecelia was self-aware enough to know that it was probably for private reasons that she couldn’t take to Sabine. The young woman was gorgeous, with piercing blue eyes and straight black hair cut in a jagged, edgy style. She made Cecelia feel terribly drab.
‘Luka will probably call you Sab, or Sabby...’ Cecelia said in an offhand comment as she showed her around. ‘It drives me crazy.’
‘He can call me what he likes as long as he pays me.’
Cecelia held in a breath.
Sabine was arrogant and overly confident perhaps, but she really was the perfect match for Luka.
She could almost hear the banter between them.
‘This is his suite,’ Cecelia explained as she opened the door. ‘It’s serviced daily but I tend to check it as it sometimes needs an extra service. Not currently, though, he’s still in Greece.’
‘So I read!’ Sabine said.
Cecelia had been doing her level best not to read about him, but once the interviews were wrapped up she found that she could not resist.
The headlines were all in the same vein: Xanero Magnate Returns.
It would seem that the weekend had been spent out on his yacht and she knew full well what went on on board.
She clicked on the article and there were the glossy beauties that always surrounded him and the sun hanging low in a fiery sky.
Luka didn’t even wait for nightfall to get a party started.
It wasn’t just the resumption of his sex life that concerned her, though—oh, but it did, desperately it did—but also what had happened that morning between them.
Cecelia could not believe she’d had unprotected sex. Though she kept willing herself calm, yesterday she had caved and made an appointment with her GP.
At the conclusion of the interview today Cecelia was heading there.
‘Well, thank you for coming in,’ Cecelia said as she walked Sabine to the elevator. ‘You can expect to hear from me by the end of the week.’
‘I’ll look forward to it.’ Sabine smiled and the women shook hands.
Cecelia really didn’t like her, but it would seem she was the only one to feel so.
‘She seems really nice,’ Bridgette commented as Cecelia walked back from the elevator.
Yes, it was probably for rather personal reasons that she didn’t like her, Cecelia guessed, and decided that she would be putting Sabine forward.
Luka could make the final call.
‘I’m going out for a couple of hours,’ she told Bridgette. ‘I won’t have my phone on.’
‘What should I say if Luka calls because he can’t get hold of you?’ Bridgette checked, because his PA was always supposed to be available.
‘Tell him I’m...’ She didn’t know what to say. ‘Tell him I’m taking a long lunch.’
Lunch didn’t come into it.
Instead, she took the underground until she was practically home and spent the next hour sitting in the waiting room at her GP’s surgery.
Cecelia was rarely there and finally, when her name was called, she rather hoped she would be in and out in a few minutes with her mind eased.
Dr Heale introduced herself and Cecelia told her the reason she was there.
‘It’s probably nothing,’ Cecelia started. ‘In fact, I’m sure I’m wasting your time...’
‘Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?’
Very well.
Why was discussing sex always so awkward for her? The shame came from her aunt and uncle, Cecelia knew. They spoke in whispers and were still mortified by the salacious circumstances in which her mother had died.
Cecelia did her best to push all that aside and to speak in a matter-of-fact tone. ‘I had unprotected sex last week.’
‘When?’
‘On Monday night,’ Cecelia said. ‘Or rather on the Tuesday morning.’
‘You’re on the Pill?’ Dr Heale checked, reading through her notes.
‘Yes,’ Cecelia said, ‘though I usually take my Pill at night...’
‘And you didn’t?’
‘No.’
‘Well, you’ve left it too late for the morning-after pill.’
She hadn’t really thought about it the morning after, but now Dr Heale was telling her that she’d had a window of a week.
That window was closed to her now.
‘But it’s probably fine?’ Cecelia pushed, only Dr Heale wasn’t exactly rushing to put her at ease; in fact, she was reading Cecelia’s notes.
‘Are you still with your fiancé?’ she asked.
Cecelia remembered the last time she had been there, carefully going on the Pill before she and Gordon did anything.
There had certainly been no up-against-the-wall sex with him!
‘Er, no.’
‘Do you have a new partner?’
‘Not exactly,’ Cecelia croaked. ‘It was a one-off, well...’
‘That’s fine,’ Dr Heale said. ‘But with a casual encounter it is, of course, more important that you’re careful.’
She was right, except there was nothing casual about Cecelia’s feelings for Luka.
And there was that sting of shame again—not that Dr Heale turned a hair. If anything, she was very practical.
‘Perhaps, while you’re here, we should run a sexual health check,’ she suggested.
It looked like Cecelia would not be in and out in a couple of minutes; in fact, she returned from lunch a full hour late.
‘Luka’s been calling the office,’ Bridgette warned. ‘And he’s not best pleased that your mobile’s turned off.’
He certainly had been calling, Cecelia thought when she turned it back on. She had barely sat down before he called again.
‘How was the dentist?’ he asked, and there was an edge to Luka’s voice for he was quite sure where she had been.
‘Excuse me?’ Cecelia flared.
‘You’re the one making up excuses. Were you off visiting your new office? Or perhaps having lunch with your new boss—whoever that may be?’
‘No,’ Cecelia calmly responded. ‘I had an appointment. Now, what can I do for you?’
You can get here, Luka wanted to answer.
He had never had to chase or pursue, and the one woman who could have made him feel better had distanced herself from him.
‘How did the second-round interviews go?’
‘Very well. I have a shortlist of three for you to interview.’
‘Bring them in early next week.’
‘So you’ll be back on Monday?’ Cecelia checked.
But Luka had already rung off.
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