In some ways he understood her need to test their compatibility. He’d done too good a job of convincing her that their first kiss had meant nothing to him. And he had hurt her. Something he would not easily forgive himself for and a reality he would do his best to make up for.
He had never reacted to a woman so strongly. On any level. At first he had believed the difference was their close friendship, but he was beginning to wonder if there wasn’t more to it. Love.
Could he have fallen after spending a lifetime determined to avoid the emotion?
“Good afternoon, Father. Spiros.” Phoebe did not smile, and she was dressed as if they should be in a boardroom.
Although, looking around the older man’s office, Spiros considered that perhaps discussing their upcoming wedding here was little better. It was why he’d taken the contracts to the Leonides home the first night. For him, this was not merely a business proposal.
“Good afternoon, Phoebe,” Aristotle said. “I called your office earlier, but you were not there.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
The older man frowned at the non-answer.
Spiros stepped forward and gave Phoebe a traditional greeting. She was stiff in his arms, but she did not reject him. Was she shy now, in front of her father? Worried he would know what they had done?
Aristotle indicated a seating area surrounding a low table over by the window. “Let’s sit over there. Though I still think we should have at least met at a restaurant.”
“Why?” Phoebe asked as she moved across the plush carpet in her Italian heels. “This is a business meeting—business I prefer will have no chance of being overheard by a passing waiter or fellow eater.”
“You have a point,” the older man said heavily.
Phoebe sat down in a chair, leaving either end of the couch for Spiros and her father. Both men sat.
“I take it you are now willing to agree to the marriage?” Aristotle asked.
Fully expecting an unqualified agreement after their activities of the previous night, Spiros was struck dumb by Phoebe’s next words.
“If certain conditions are met, yes. But there are stipulations I will not be moved on, and I don’t know how open either of you will be to fulfilling them.”
It was a good thing he couldn’t speak, or the words whirling furiously in Spiros’s mind would have revealed his and Phoebe’s secret in no uncertain terms.
Her father was not so impeded. “What are you talking about? What kind of conditions? You think to hold me hostage with my company’s well-being?”
“Isn’t that what you’ve already done with me?” Phoebe asked, without a tremor of emotion in her voice.
Aristotle flinched as if struck. “That was not my intention.”
“But it is the reality. So let’s dispense with false protestations and get down to establishing bargaining positions. The way I see it is this—Spiros wants to redeem his family’s honor.”
Spiros nodded. That much he could do at least—though she was certainly oversimplifying his reasoning.
“Father wants to save his company.”
Aristotle nodded.
“Neither of you would feel your needs were met simply by a large loan being tendered by Spiros.”
“No,” the two men said in unison.
While he had offered that option, he had also told Phoebe he needed her. Did she remember that?
“That is what I thought. The family merger being via marriage is almost as important as the other issues.”
Again the two men spoke in accord. “Yes.”
“I too want to see the company saved, and for Spiros to be at peace with his brother—which I don’t think will happen unless he is given an opportunity to right the wrongs he perceives.”