LITMIR.BIZ

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They were satisfied he had everything in hand and had forgotten her, Ellie realised.

      ‘Shall I ask my PA to expect your call?’ Kosta prompted.

      ‘You’d meet with me?’

      ‘It’s that simple, Ms Mendoras.’

      His husky tone strummed an unwelcome chord inside her, which Ellie tried very hard to ignore.

      ‘There’s really no need for all this drama…’

      Ellie squeezed her eyes shut briefly in defeat. But wasn’t this everything she wanted? Alexander Kosta offering to meet with her? The faint spice of his cologne invaded her nostrils, reminding her how closely they were standing.

      ‘Take my offer,’ he said coldly, ‘or leave it. I really don’t care.’

      Ellie’s gaze rested on the business card. ‘I’m not agreeing to anything until you allow me speak to the crowd—’

      ‘Why would they want to listen to you? What could you possibly offer them?’

      He was right, Ellie realised with frustration. ‘If no one cares about Lefkis, as you suggest, what is the point in my making an appointment to see you?’

      ‘Because you care?’ he challenged. ‘Now, are we finished, Ms Mendoras?’

      Ellie’s anger grew as she remembered the eviction notice that had been served on her that morning. All the other fishermen had left the deep-water harbour, but she had stayed on because they had asked her to make this protest. She could see how naïve she’d been now. ‘Yes, we’re finished. I have wasted enough time on a man who doesn’t care about this island or its people—’

      ‘You make a lot of assumptions about me. And if you won’t stop this nonsense now I think we’d better talk sooner rather than later.’

      Ellie’s throat constricted with panic as Alexander beckoned to one of his men. Her flesh crawled at the thought of some man she didn’t know touching her.

      ‘Escort this young lady to the Olympus. I’ll deal with her when I’ve finished here. Ms Mendoras will be my guest,’ he added, as an afterthought.

      The man’s attitude towards her changed immediately. His boss’s message to treat her with respect had been received.

      ‘I’m not going anywhere,’ Ellie said stubbornly.

      She was looking at his yacht and he could see the fear in her eyes. Good. Girls like Ellie Mendoras should be taught a lesson. A yacht the size of the Olympus wasn’t just another boat in the harbour, it was another country, subject to its own rules and boundaries, all of which were decided by him. She knew that once on board she would be cut off from the outside world.

      ‘I prefer neutral ground,’ she insisted.

      ‘I’m afraid you have no choice in the matter.’ He nodded to his man.

      He felt his senses stir. The chase excited him. He would close her down and end the protest very soon.

      ‘I couldn’t…be alone with you,’ she said hesitantly.

      The protest was over that easily? Surely not! ‘I’m sure I can answer your concerns.’ He gave a curt nod, telling his man to keep an eye on her.

      A rousing cheer greeted him as he returned to the stage. He had to wait for the crowd to quieten down before he could speak. When they did he asked them to be patient a little longer, and, leaning from the stage, he identified a local woman who he knew commanded respect, and asked her to join him.

      Ellie couldn’t hide her surprise when Alexander came back with Kiria Theodopulos. The old lady was one of the elders of the island, and highly respected. ‘What are you doing?’ she asked him suspiciously.

      ‘Since you feel the need for a chaperon, I have invited Kiria Theodopulos to join us on my yacht.’

      Ellie shivered inwardly. Alexander Kosta was blocking her every move, but she couldn’t waste this opportunity to put the locals’ case for purely selfish reasons. ‘All right,’ she agreed, ‘I’ll do it.’

      CHAPTER TWO

      ‘YOU are well-meaning, but misguided, Ms Mendoras.’

      ‘And you are an arrogant plutocrat who presumes he knows what’s best for everyone…’

      OK, this was not going exactly to plan. The atmosphere between them was deteriorating rapidly. It seemed they couldn’t inhabit the same space without passions being roused.

      Ellie and Alexander were confronting each other in Alexander’s study on board the Olympus. She was standing stiff and angry on one side of his desk, while Alexander lounged comfortably in a padded leather chair on the other.

      As far as he was concerned he alone knew what was best for the island, Ellie fumed. He wasn’t prepared to listen to anyone else’s point of view, least of all hers. Just as she had imagined, the Olympus was more than a floating home; the yacht was Alexander Kosta’s kingdom—a kingdom he ruled without a council.

      ‘Why don’t you sit down and relax, Ms Mendoras?’

      He pointed to the comfortable chair one of his lackeys had drawn up for her.

      ‘I’m here to make a point, not to make myself comfortable.’

      ‘Please yourself.’ He shrugged.

      Ellie was deeply conscious that, sitting silently some distance away from them, Kiria Theodopulos was a party to everything. The old lady was both her rock and her sticking point. She felt safe, but she couldn’t say half the things she would have liked to. Respect for the old lady’s traditional values meant she had to keep a curb on her tongue. ‘Mr Kosta—’

      ‘Ms Mendoras? Or may I call you Ellie?’

      As Kiria Theodopulos gave an almost imperceptible nod Ellie knew she didn’t have much alternative.

      ‘Good,’ he said smoothly, ‘and in that case I have no objection to you calling me Alexander…’

      ‘You’re too kind.’ She could think of plenty more things she’d like to call him, but for now Alexander would have to do.

      ‘So, tell me what’s on your mind,’ he prompted.

      In truth? Very little right now. Ellie’s mind had emptied faster than a sieve. Calling Alexander Kosta by his first name was far too intimate for her liking. But she could handle it, Ellie reassured herself. ‘You can’t expect to throw Lefkis open to all comers, Alexander, and have no consequences…’

      He took his time to answer her and rubbed one firm thumb pad across the stubble on his chin before he did.

      ‘You seem to know a lot about my future plans for the island, Ellie.’

      His expression suggested quite the contrary; that she knew nothing.

      ‘Do you really care for this island, or was your protest today prompted by self-interest?’

      ‘What?’ Ellie couldn’t believe her ears.

      ‘It just seems to me to be too much of a coincidence that on the day you learn you are about to lose your berth in the deep-water harbour you launch a campaign against me…’

      Kiria Theodopulos stiffened as if she would have liked to intervene. ‘Of course I care about my berth,’ Ellie said quickly, wanting to save the old lady further hurt. ‘It was my father’s, and his father’s before him.’ Her eyes turned to emerald ice as she held Alexander’s gaze, daring him to contradict her.

      ‘Well, I just can’t understand your concerns. What is wrong with your new berth on the other side of the island?’

      ‘Exactly my point!’ Ellie blazed. ‘It’s on the other side of the island. Why is that, Alexander? Is the fishing fleet too unsightly for your new visitors? Will

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