The Demetrios Virgin

His own private pool. Saskia fought not to be impressed, but obviously she had not fought hard enough, she recognised ruefully as Andreas gave her an impatient look.

‘I’m not trying to make a point, Saskia, one-upmanship of that boastful sort is anathema to me. My grandfather may be a millionaire but I most certainly am not.’

It wasn’t entirely true, but something about the look in Saskia’s eyes made him want to refute any mental criticism she might have that he was some kind of idle playboy, lounging by a swimming pool all day.

‘It’s just that I happen to like an early-morning swim when I’m here at the villa; my sisters used to claim that I woke them up so I had this pool installed for my own use. Swimming laps helps me to clear my thoughts as well as allowing me to exercise.’

Saskia knew what he was saying, she felt the same about walking. Whenever she was worried about something, or had a problem to mull over, she walked.

As he watched her Andreas asked himself grimly why he was going to so much trouble to calm and reassure her. That frightened heartbeat he had felt thudding so anxiously against his own body just had to have been faked. There was no way it could not have been. Just like that huge-eyed watchfulness.

Saskia bit her lip as she looked away from him. It was obvious that Andreas meant what he said about sleeping in his office, but right now it wasn’t their sleeping arrangements that were at the forefront of her mind so much as what was happening during their waking hours—and what she herself had just experienced when he kissed her.

She couldn’t have secretly wanted him to kiss her. Surely it was impossible that that could happen without her being consciously aware of it. But what other explanation could there be for the way she had responded to him? her conscience demanded grittily.

‘Right,’ she could hear Andreas saying dryly, ‘now that we’ve got that sorted out I’ve got some work to do, so why don’t you have something to eat and then have a rest?’

‘I need to unpack,’ Saskia began to protest, but Andreas shook his head.

‘One of the maids will do that for you whilst you’re resting.’

When he saw her expression he told her softly, ‘They work for us, Saskia. They are servants and they work to earn their living just as you and I work to earn ours.’

* * *

‘OH, I’M SORRY, I didn’t wake you, did I?’ Pia said sotto voce. ‘But it will be dinner time soon and I thought you might appreciate some extra time to get ready.’

As Saskia came fully awake and struggled to sit up in the bed she recognised that her unexpected visitor was Andreas’s sister Olympia.

The arcane grin that crossed Pia’s face as she added, ‘We normally dress down here, not up, but Athena is bound to want to make an impact,’ made Saskia warm to her friendliness.

‘Where’s...?’ she began anxiously, but didn’t get any further than the first word of her enquiry.

‘Where’s Andreas?’ Pia supplied for her, ‘Grandfather telephoned to speak to our mother and then he wanted to have a word with Andreas.’ She gave a small shrug. ‘He’s probably still on the phone, and I have to warn you he isn’t in a very good mood.’ As she saw the way Saskia’s eyes became watchful she hastened to assure her. ‘Oh, it isn’t you. It’s Athena. She’s brought her accountant with her and Andreas is furious. He can’t stand him. None of us can, but Athena insisted that Grandfather invited Aristotle personally.’

As Pia darted about the room, switching on lamps to illuminate the darkness of the Greek evening, Saskia swung her feet to the floor. She had fallen asleep fully dressed and now she felt grubby and untidy. The thought of having to sit down at a dinner table with Andreas and Athena was not one she was looking forward to, but Pia was right about one thing: she would need to make an impact. Andreas would no doubt expect it of her. Still, with her suitcase full of the new clothes he had insisted on buying for her, she had no excuse not to do so.

‘Maria’s already unpacked your cases for you,’ Pia informed her. ‘I helped her,’ she added. ‘I love that little black number you’ve brought with you. It’s to die for. Your clothes are gorgeous. Andreas kept coming in and telling me not to make so much noise in case I woke you up.’ She pulled another face. ‘He’s so protective of you.