One Night...Nine-Month Scandal

Alekos was frowning down at his mobile. ‘Excuse me. I need to make a call.’ He sprang to his feet and paced to the far end of the terrace, his shorts riding low on his lean hips, his feet bare.

Unable to decide whether his sudden need to make a phone call was the result of her mentioning the baby, Kelly felt a flash of anxiety. Even after ten days of almost continuous love-making she still couldn’t completely relax. Electrifying sex and generous gifts hadn’t been enough to delete the dull ache of worry that gnawed away at the pit of her stomach. And her anxiety was not without foundation, was it? Alekos had made no secret of the fact he hadn’t wanted children. Even if she now understood and was sympathetic to the reason, it didn’t change the fact that this wasn’t what he would have chosen.

A person didn’t change overnight, did they?

She’d grown up watching her mother try to convert her father from wild boy to family man. It hadn’t worked.

Watching Alekos, Kelly felt a flicker of unease, unable to dismiss the fact that he’d made the call after she’d brought up the subject of the baby. Was he using it as an escape from a subject he found hard to discuss? Did it mean he was still having trouble accepting the situation?

She watched him as he paced the terrace and talked, gesturing with his hands, making an instantaneous shift from Mediterranean lover to ruthless businessman while she reasoned with herself.

He was here, wasn’t he? That had to count for something—a lot, actually. Of course he wasn’t going to get used to the idea overnight, but he was obviously trying.

Attempting to push away the dark mist that was pressing at the edges of her happiness, Kelly glanced round the beautiful gardens that tumbled from the sunlit terrace down to the beach. The rioting, colourful Mediterranean plants attracted birds and bees, and the only sound in the air was the cheerful chirrup of the cicadas and the occasional faint splash as a swallow swooped to steal water from the swimming pool.

It was paradise.

Paradise with a cloud on the horizon.

Ending the phone call, Alekos strode back to her, simmering with frustration. ‘What do you do when two of the children in your class constantly scrap?’

‘I separate them,’ Kelly said instantly and he looked at her, eyes narrowed.

‘You separate them?’

‘Yes. I don’t let them sit together. If they sit together then they focus on their interaction rather than their work. They put all their energies into being in conflict with the person next to them, rather than listening to me.’

‘Genius,’ Alekos breathed, dialling another number and lifting the phone to his ear. He spoke in Greek, his tone clipped and businesslike as he delivered what sounded like a volley of instructions.

Kelly waited patiently until he’d finished talking. ‘What was that all about?’

‘Two of my very senior executives seem unable to interact without generating major conflict.’ Alekos strolled to the small table and poured some lemonade for her. ‘They’re both too good to lose, and I’ve been trying to find a way of making them work together. It hadn’t occurred to me to separate them. It’s a brilliant idea.’

Kelly flushed with pleasure, ridiculously pleased by his praise, and incredibly relieved that it obviously was a really pressing crisis that had driven him to take that call, nothing to do with

the baby. ‘So that’s what you’ve done?’

‘Yes.’ Ice cubes clinked as they tumbled into the glass. ‘I’ve moved one of them to Investor Relations. Perfect. I think you should come and work for my company. You can sort out all the people problems that drive me demented. You’re very clever.’ He handed her the drink and she took it gratefully, touched again by his praise.

‘I’m just a schoolteacher,’ she muttered. ‘I teach eight-year-olds.’

‘Which makes you extremely well qualified to deal with my board,’ Alekos drawled, glancing at his watch. ‘Go and get dressed into something slightly less provocative. I want to take you out.’

‘Out?’

‘Yes. If you want to talk and not have sex then we’d better go somewhere extremely public.’

He took her to Corfu town and they wandered hand in hand around the old fortress, mingling with the tourists. ‘Did you always want to be a teacher?’

‘Yes.’ Kelly was rummaging in her bag. ‘When I was small I used to line my toys up in a row and give them lessons. Alekos, I’ve lost my sunglasses and my new iPod. I know I put them in my bag. I think.’

‘Your sunglasses are on your head. I have your iPod.’ Visibly amused, Alekos pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to her. ‘You left it in the kitchen. Maria found it.’

‘The kitchen?’ Kelly took it from him gratefully, trying to remember when she’d taken it to the kitchen. ‘How weird.’

‘It was in the fridge,’ he said dryly, and she gave a helpless shrug.

‘Even more weird. I suppose I must have left it there when I was pouring myself a glass of milk.’