Island Fling With The Tycoon

Could a fairy-tale wedding...

...lead to her own love story?

Sparks fly when Piper Evans meets tycoon Caleb Martin on the way to her brother’s wedding. Gorgeous but uncompromising, he’s the kind of man heartbroken Piper has sworn to stay away from. Yet when the perfect wedding turns to disaster, Piper must search for the runaway groom—with Caleb’s help! Island hopping around Greece, Piper finds herself increasingly tempted by the man who’s totally off-limits...

Being an author has always been THERESE BEHARRIE’s dream. But it was only when the corporate world loomed during her final year at university that she realised how soon she wanted that dream to become a reality. So she got serious about her writing, and now she writes the kind of books she wants to see in the world, featuring people who look like her, for a living. When she’s not writing, she’s spending time with her husband and dogs in Cape Town, South Africa. She admits that this is a perfect life, and is grateful for it.

Also by Therese Beharrie

Tempted by the Billionaire Next Door

Surprise Baby, Second Chance

Her Festive Flirtation

Conveniently Wed, Royally Bound miniseries

United by Their Royal Baby

Falling for His Convenient Queen

Billionaires for Heiresses miniseries

Second Chance with Her Billionaire

From Heiress to Mum

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Island Fling with the Tycoon

Therese Beharrie

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09155-8

ISLAND FLING WITH THE TYCOON

© 2019 Therese Beharrie

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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Version: 2020-03-02

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For Grant,

who routinely helps me turn my dreams into reality.

Thank you for Greece.

And for our Greece group and the wonderful

tour guides in Mykonos and Santorini.

Thank you for making a dream—

and this book—possible.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

FIVE MINUTES.

It wasn’t long to wait. Things happened, even to drivers from five-star resorts. Or was it five-star accommodation? A five-star villa? Piper Evans wasn’t sure. Her brother Liam had used all those terms when he’d told her she’d be staying there. The name of the place was Pleasure Villas, though that wasn’t in any of the pictures he’d sent. Either way, Liam had hyped it up so much Piper could have sworn he was trying to get her to move to Greece rather than stay a week for his wedding.

But that was Liam. Or it had been Liam since they’d reconnected after their father’s death. Enthusiastic, sincere. Responsible...? She wasn’t entirely sure how to answer that. He hadn’t been, once upon a time. He was getting married now, though, and marriage didn’t exactly scream irresponsibility.

And yet she was still waiting at the airport for a driver he had been meant to arrange for her.

Ten minutes.

Why had she left the task to Liam anyway? She knew how he could be. She had countless examples of him letting her down. Sure, it seemed like he’d changed. The getting married thing, and all that. Or had she only wanted to believe that?

No, she thought. He had changed. Mostly since he’d met Emma, his fiancée, but still. Before their father had died, she and Liam had been in touch once, maybe twice a year. Then Liam had started dating Emma, and he’d been in touch more. Piper occasionally met up with them for meals. She wouldn’t go so far as to say they were erasing the past, but this was a start. Enough of one that she could see how Emma influenced Liam.

Their relationship had lasted longer than any of Liam’s previous ones. The one-year mark had come quickly, and he was still deeply in love. Then the engagement, planning a wedding—all within six months—and her brother wasn’t running.

She tried not to feel resentment at that. Rather, she focused on the hope that surged inside her. Liam’s relationship with Emma proved people could move forward regardless of their past. Maybe that meant she could, too. One day, she might finally be able to erase the marks her father had left on her life, her relationships, like Liam had.

Except it was now twenty minutes since she’d arrived, and her driver still wasn’t there. Which meant her brother hadn’t organised her a ride to the accommodation, as he’d assured her several times he had.

She let out a breath. Forcibly relaxed her clenched jaw. She searched the car park of the small Mykonos Airport, looking for anyone who could be looking for her. But, as had been the case for the past twenty minutes, no one seemed to be there without a purpose. She walked back through the sliding doors, circled the small waiting area. She saw only one person.

He’d been there when she’d landed. He held a sign that said Sunset Resort and wore a glowering expression behind dark sunglasses. Something about him made her shudder, and she was immensely glad she wasn’t staying at Sunset Resort.

She pulled her eyes away from the stranger, sighed and pulled out her phone. She’d bought an international SIM card for this very reason.

Maybe you don’t believe Liam has changed after all.

‘Hello?’

‘Liam,’ she said, relief making her voice breathy. ‘I’m so glad you answered.’

‘Did something happen? Are you okay?’

‘I’m fine.’ She began walking to the sliding doors again, dragging her bag behind her. ‘I’ve just been waiting for almost half an hour for the driver you arranged.’

‘You have been?’ he asked. ‘That can’t be right. Are you sure?’

‘Considering I’m here alone—have been for the last thirty minutes—yes, I’m sure.’

‘I’m sorry, Pie,’ he said, using the name he’d given her as a child. She still hated it. ‘Someone should have been there right when you landed. I gave Caleb your flight details. He’s been tracking you, and there’s no way he’d make you wait.’

‘Caleb?’ she said, wondering why the name sounded so familiar.

‘Yeah, Caleb. Emma’s brother.’

‘Oh, Caleb,’ she said again, as if she knew the man and hadn’t only heard his name.

To be honest, Piper thought him a fantasy. Emma talked about her mysterious older brother whenever they got together, yet Piper had only met Emma’s younger siblings. For all she knew, Emma had made up this mythical tale of the protective, kind older brother who’d taken care of them after their father died.

Piper had done that with Liam. When her father had refused to let her leave the house or made her jump through hoops when she wanted to study, she’d pretended Liam hadn’t left home as soon as he’d got the chance. She’d told herself he was working hard to get her out of the situation he’d escaped.

She hadn’t indulged such fantasies for long. Maybe this wedding was finally the opportunity for reality to eclipse Emma’s fantasy, too.

‘Let me give him a call and find out what happened.’

‘Okay.’

Liam hung up without saying goodbye, which would have bothered her more if he hadn’t done so for her sake. A moment later, she heard a ringing from behind her. Close behind her. She turned. Found her head shifting up to look at the man with the sunglasses before he answered his phone.

‘Caleb,’ he said in a voice that made her skin feel prickly. He listened, then nodded. ‘I have it handled.’ He finished the call, though Piper could still hear speaking coming from the other end.

They looked at each other. Piper’s heart began to pound. It jumped into her throat when her phone rang. She brought it to her ear without breaking eye contact.

‘Yeah?’

‘Pie, Caleb says he has it handled. I have no idea what that means, but—’

‘It means he’s here,’ Piper interrupted. ‘My ride’s here.’

‘Did you say he’s here?’ Liam asked, tone incredulous. ‘As in, you think Caleb is there to pick you up?’

‘Yes.’

‘That can’t be right.’

‘Hold on.’ She lowered her phone, pressing it to her chest. ‘Are you Emma’s Caleb?’

‘Yes.’

‘You’re here to pick me up?’

‘Yes.’

She narrowed her eyes. ‘Yeah, it’s him,’ she said, speaking into the phone again. ‘I’ll see you soon.’

‘Pie? Piper!’

‘What?’

‘Be careful.’

‘Be...’

But her brother had already ended the call. This time, she didn’t mind because she barely noticed he had.

* * *

He was having a day. Caleb Martin did not have days.

He had successes. Wins. But this morning the catering company his sister Emma had hired to cater the rehearsal party—because a dinner was too small for her grandiose wedding—had cancelled because some pop star had hired their services instead. Emma had come to him in a panic and, though Mykonos wasn’t his home, Caleb had had to call in favours with every Greek contact he had to replace the caterer.

Since he didn’t have that many Greek contacts, it had taken nearly all morning to find someone else. Then, as if sensing his vulnerability, his driver had handed in his resignation. Apparently, the demands of the wedding were too much for the local to handle. The man clearly wasn’t used to responsibility.

Caleb hadn’t had the choice. He’d been forced into duty the moment his father had died and he’d been made guardian of his three young siblings. Perhaps that was why he didn’t have patience for the driver quitting. Or perhaps it was because the man had done so minutes before Liam’s sister was supposed to land. With everyone running around preparing for the party that was two hours away, Caleb had no choice but to do it himself.

But she’d been late. Or not late, he thought, looking at the woman peering up at him. Confused. Though how she could be confused when he was the only man standing in the damn airport, Caleb had no idea.

‘So, you’re picking me up?’ she said, bright brown eyes looking at him curiously. He couldn’t figure out if they were light brown or dark brown, or a mysterious mixture of the two. All he knew was they stood out against her skin—another interesting shade of brown—and that they tempted him into forgetting his annoyance.

‘Since I’m the only person in this airport with a sign,’ he said, voice harder than he’d intended, ‘the answer is obviously yes.’

She studied him before she answered. ‘Two things. One, you’re holding a sign that says Sunset Resort. The place I’m supposed to be staying at is called Pleasure Villas.’

Her cheeks turned a pretty pink colour. It almost distracted him from what she’d said. He looked down, cursed when he saw she was right. He’d grabbed the wrong sign from the seat of the car his driver had used.

Great.

‘Two,’ she continued as if she hadn’t paused to make him feel like a fool, ‘I was the only person standing out there for the last half an hour, too. If it was obvious that I should have noticed you, surely the same goes for you?’ Her eyebrows rose. ‘At least I have a legitimate excuse for not speaking to you. I didn’t know you’d be coming. But what’s your excuse? Didn’t you at least look at a picture of me?’

No, he hadn’t. Nor did he have an excuse, which she knew, based on that self-satisfied look on her face. He didn’t know how he could find the arrogant expression appealing. How he could be fascinated by the easy curves of her lips. He hadn’t even got to those intriguing eyes yet and he could feel his body leaning in, giving in to the desire to be closer to her.

He shut it down like a mousetrap on a mouse.

‘If you’re done, we can go.’

Amusement flickered in her eyes, but she was wise enough not to respond. She merely nodded and gestured for him to lead the way. He kept his complaints about the bad luck he was having to himself, though his mind went haywire, thinking about everything he should have been doing instead of fetching a snappy soon-to-be relative.

No, he thought immediately. She wouldn’t be his relative. Good thing, too, or the way his body was still demanding to be closer to her would be criminal.

Grunting, he took the handle of her bag. When he was met with resistance, he looked at her.

‘Is this going to be a problem?’

‘You tell me,’ she replied mildly. Which, of course, only annoyed him more.

‘I’d like to help you with your bag,’ he said through his teeth. ‘Would you give me the great pleasure of doing so?’

Her expression changed then. So marginally that if his attention hadn’t been focused on every twitch of her features he wouldn’t have noticed it. Her lips pursed for a second; the lines around her eyes became more distinct. Tension fluttered across her face, disappearing almost as soon as it appeared.

When she looked at him, her eyes were dull. Inexplicably, his stomach dropped.

‘Why?’ she asked him, her voice steady despite the tension. ‘Why do you want to carry my bag?’

‘Not because I don’t think you can do it,’ he replied, watching her closely. It caused another minute change—a ripple of pleasure. But surely she couldn’t take pleasure from him thinking she could do something as simple as carry her own bag? ‘I help my sisters with their things all the time.’

‘I’m not your sister.’

The words were soft. Softened something inside him, too. The annoyance went up another notch.

‘No, you’re not.’ He waited a beat. ‘Perhaps I wanted to be a gentleman.’

‘Something tells me being a gentleman isn’t a top priority for you.’

He didn’t wince, but he wanted to. She was right. He’d been acting like a jerk since they’d met. But the knowledge of it didn’t change that he was annoyed. That that annoyance wouldn’t allow him to be soft and kind with her. Although it did give him an excuse to give her what she wanted. What, apparently, was important to her.

‘Fine,’ he said after a beat, releasing his hold on her bag. ‘You can do it yourself. The car’s this way.’

He walked away, pretending not to notice her shocked expression.

CHAPTER TWO

EMMA’S BROTHER WAS not quite as mythical as she’d made him seem. He was very much human, Piper thought, unashamedly studying him as he drove.

His jaw was locked, the sharp angles of it more pronounced because of the tension. Most of his expression was still obscured by his glasses, though she could tell he was glowering. The glasses seemed necessary for that—or, rather, the expression seemed necessary. She hadn’t seen anything other than it since they’d met.

It wasn’t her fault he’d had the wrong sign. And maybe she should have asked him, but she never approached strange men. She steered away from men in general, actually. Found it to be a good rule since she didn’t trust her own judgement.

The first man she’d trusted had manipulated her whenever she’d allowed it. When she hadn’t, too. The second man she’d trusted had abandoned her; she still hadn’t forgiven her brother for that, if she was being honest. As for the third man...

She’d chosen Brad, and somehow he’d ended up being exactly like her father. She’d paid for that. Was still paying for it in the form of caution and rules and the constant fear of falling for the wrong person again.

She sucked her lip in, looked out of the window. Her trip down memory lane had extinguished her curiosity about the man beside her. Instead, she focused on the actual lane they were driving along. It was an apt description for the narrow road they were rattling down. Caleb handled it with a confidence she wasn’t sure the road warranted.

She wanted to tell him to slow down, to give way to the large buses driving the curves of the narrow road. To watch out for the scooters zooming past them at what felt like every turn. But her voice wouldn’t work. She suspected it had something to do with feeling vulnerable, and the fact that she didn’t want him to know she was.

It seemed to be an unofficial mark of their short relationship, this vulnerability. Her inability to speak because of it. Back at the airport, when he’d assumed she’d wanted him to carry her bag without asking, it had kept her from accusing him of taking control like the men in her past. It had also kept her from blurting out a thank you when he’d told her he believed she could do it herself, unlike the men in her past.

That difference was why she’d been surprised he’d given in so easily. Nevertheless, her entire body had braced for the argument she’d thought would come. They’d been inevitable before, with Brad. And he’d disguised control with gentlemanliness, which was part of why it had taken her years before she’d seen it. It wasn’t the only reason, but still, she was careful because of it. She didn’t take anything at face value any more. She couldn’t trust herself to.

The car jerked to the side as a bus took a narrow corner wide. A sound escaped from her lips.

‘We’re fine,’ he said curtly.

‘I didn’t say anything.’

‘You made a noise.’

‘It was involuntary.’

‘We’re still fine.’

‘So you say,’ she muttered, refusing to look out of the window on his side as the bus loomed over them.

‘You shouldn’t have come to Mykonos if you’re afraid of tight roads.’

‘I couldn’t get out of it.’

‘You tried?’ he asked, surprise making his voice lighter.

‘Everything. But Liam had an answer for every concern.’ She looked at him. ‘Some of that was because of you,’ she said accusingly.

‘I didn’t do anything.’

‘Aren’t you paying for the extravagant wedding?’

‘Well, yes, but—’

‘I couldn’t afford to come here by myself.’ She sighed at the idea. ‘It was a legitimate excuse. Then Emma’s magical unicorn of a brother swoops in and suddenly I have no reason to back out.’

Caleb made a strangled sound that would have been amusing had another bus not rounded the corner. She hissed out a breath.

‘You didn’t learn your lesson from the first bus?’ he asked darkly. ‘We’re fine. This is how people drive here.’

‘Doesn’t mean I have to like it.’

‘That’s true.’

He pulled back onto the road. She closed her eyes when it seemed as if he was still too close to the walls keeping them from falling off the edge of the cliff.

She had an intense wave of nostalgia for home. In Cape Town, South Africa, she had a choice about what kind of road she wanted to drive on. It wasn’t the standard, these narrow and inclined roads. No, the standard was wide open spaces with plenty of lanes to feel safe in.

‘Piper.’

She opened her eyes at the sound of her name. She hadn’t expected it. Hadn’t expected to like the way he said it either.

Piper.

She heeded the warning of her inner voice and steeled herself.

‘What?’

‘Worrying about traffic means you’re missing the view.’

‘I live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I’ve seen views.’

‘Just look.’

She did, but reluctantly. Made sure he knew it, too, with a little exhalation and roll of her eyes. The sharp intake of breath she took once she looked out over the stone walls wasn’t contrived though. She hadn’t been lying when she’d told Caleb about the Cape Town views, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate new ones.

This one was particularly stunning, the vast blue ocean stretching out, broken up by rocks and islands in the far distance. On the island itself, white buildings stretched up at different layers, marked by the blue shutters she associated with Greece though she’d never been there before. Interspersed were stretches of brown land, green trees, pink flowers. It was striking and, she had to admit, it distracted her from the drive.