The scent of jasmine and lemon blossom flooded her senses as a blurred, round shadow of a person rushed toward them, chattering in animated Greek. Kizzy felt small, cool hands press her down into a cushioned seat and it was only a matter of seconds before she heard the clank of ice cubes and a cool drink pressed against her lips.
The liquid soothed her parched throat as her eyes gradually began to focus. Before her, she saw the concerned face of an elderly woman whose eyes twinkled as she smoothed gnarled hands down Kizzy’s smoldering cheeks and tutted over her hot brow.
Another sip of homemade lemonade was gently offered before the woman straightened to deliver a blistering verbal attack on Andreas, hovering silently nearby. A rueful smile of contrition began to form on his face as her finger wagged in rapid time to what sounded like a fierce chastisement. She turned her back on him to give Kizzy her full attention.
“I sorry, my English not so good.” Her smile was warm and inquisitive. “I show you room and then you eat, yes?”
Kizzy sighed with embarrassment. “That’s very kind of you, and thank you for the drink; it was most welcome. But I’m afraid I can’t stay here.”
“What Miss Dean is trying to say, Dorinda,” Andreas interjected firmly as he leaned on the back of Kizzy’s seat, “is that it has been a very long day. I will show her to her rooms when she has had time to recover her composure. We look forward to the meal you’ve prepared for us.”
Dorinda smiled with pleasure as Andreas playfully shooed her in the direction of an open door in the walled courtyard.
“You’ve put me in a very awkward position now,” Kizzy whispered hoarsely. “I said I couldn’t afford to stay in a place like this. Now Dorinda has been so hospitable and kind, I’d feel rude if I just left.”
“So stay,” Andreas replied with a nonchalant shrug.
“You’re going to make me spell it out again, aren’t you?” she said. “I have no money. I’ll have to request an advance on my first salary payment just to cover tonight.”
She pressed her lips together with humiliation and quickly glanced around at the intricate medieval stonework of the walled garden, the copper lanterns and luxurious potted plants. “Assuming my first month’s salary will cover the cost of this place for the night.”
“It will be more than adequate,” he said with a smile. “Villa Madeline has a very low standard room rate as it happens.”
“But you said earlier on the boat that it was about five hundred euros a night!”
“Did you think I had just ignored you during that conversation?” His dark eyebrows rose in question. “Do I really come across as a thug who would deliberately go against a lady’s express wishes?”
“I don’t understand.” Kizzy felt her hands begin to shake with nerves again.
“Welcome to my Lindian home,” Andreas said, and saw her look of surprise. “I hope you enjoy staying here as much as I always do.”
He watched as her mouth opened to form a protest and then snapped quickly shut. She wasn’t prepared to slum it on the beach as a matter of principle, then?
Kizzy took a slow sip of her drink as her brain struggled to find a reasonable way forward from this awkward situation. She couldn’t think of anything more stressful than sharing an intimate meal with Andreas Lazarides—apart from spending a night under the same roof. Yet what choice did she have? She couldn’t easily turn down his generous hospitality. Andreas had acceded to her wishes regarding the hotel and was offering her free accommodation in his home.
The man was behaving in a perfectly respectable manner, for which she should be grateful. If she could just pull herself together and be rational about everything, she would see that things weren’t as awful as she imagined.
After all, how hard could staying in this fantastic place be?
“Your home is beautiful,” Kizzy managed. “And I’m grateful for your generous offer. But I will only burden you for as long as it takes to secure a suitable place of my own. In the meantime, I’ll be as unobtrusive as possible and will earn my keep.”
She got to her feet, reaching out to steady her empty glass as it tottered on the table. “And I can start by helping Dorinda with dinner.”
“Absolutely not!” Andreas rose to his full height to look at her. “Dorinda would never forgive either of us. The kitchen is her domain entirely and she’s very territorial.
“Please, sit back down,” he added less harshly. “It’s only been a few minutes since you arrived. Let your body recover.”
…
Andreas watched as Kizzy slowly resumed her seat. He found her almost overwhelmingly attractive, to the point that he’d come on to her like a teenager on the yacht earlier, and then had brought her to the point of exhaustion, just to see how she would react. He’d been cruel and arrogant, he realized, but now he would try to make amends for his behavior.
“We’ve been charging across the planet like lunatics for the last ten hours or so, and it’s just occurred to me that you must have someone to call, to let them know where you are.” He laughed uncomfortably at the angry glare she shot in his direction. “After all, you haven’t been kidnapped.”
“It does feel like I have.”
“You’re free to leave at any time,” Andreas told her, managing to suppress a surprising feeling of irritation. She was not his captive. “The door’s over there, you may leave whenever you wish.”
“Don’t play games with me, Mr. Lazarides,” Kizzy countered sharply. “You know damn well I had little choice in the matter, and it was you who insisted on bringing me here to ‘keep an eye’ on me until your ridiculous legal document is sorted out. I still can’t believe you’d think me capable of deliberately hurting Mr. and Mrs. Antonides. I never would. They mean too much to me.”
“You’ll also recall how I said I couldn’t take a risk on that. Besides, you do stand to gain from this arrangement. I’m guaranteeing you a good job in some area of my business. If you’d stayed in Portsmouth, Timi’s Taverna would have gone under way before now and you’d be in a far worse position.”
“I could have made it work if you’d given me a chance.”
“No, you couldn’t. It was on the point of being taken into administration even before the Antonideses sold. The debts were astronomical.”