LITMIR.BIZ

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you’re here; because you’re curious.’ His thin lips twitched. ‘Let me tell you why I let Price arrange this meeting.’

      Paige took a considering breath but once again the waiter made the decision for her. Returning to take their order, he regarded them both with polite, enquiring eyes, and Nikolas turned somewhat impatiently to his own menu.

      ‘Shall I order for us both?’ he enquired, and because Paige was too bemused to argue with him she gave an unwilling nod. ‘We’ll have the avocado mousse and the grilled salmon,’ he told the waiter smoothly. ‘It is fresh salmon, not farmed?’ After gaining the waiter’s reassurance, he said, ‘Thank you.’

      Paige had forgotten how efficient Nikolas was in any situation. How easily he could make a decision and act on it without resorting to discussion. He could decide what he was going to eat in less time than it had taken Martin to open a menu, and he had an effortless air of command that would persuade even the hardiest maître d’ to do his bidding.

      The waiter collected the menus and went away and they were alone again. But not for long. The wine waiter returned with his list, but this time Nikolas was ready for him. ‘A bottle of the ’97 Chardonnay,’ he said, waving the list away. ‘That’s all.’

      Paige breathed deeply, trying desperately to achieve even a little of his composure, but it was almost impossible. Despite her frustration at being put in such a position, she couldn’t deny a certain exhilaration at this unexpected turn of events. It was a long time since anything had inspired her to the kind of emotional upheaval Nikolas had so effortlessly created. And, while she still resented the way both he and Martin had treated her, her eyes were continually drawn to the lean brown fingers that played with the stem of his glass and the coarse black hair that dusted his wrists below the pristine cuffs of his shirt.

      Nikolas was such a masculine animal, she thought, a sense of suffocation at his nearness almost overwhelming her. The only man she’d ever known who could reduce her to trembling supplication with just a single look. Or, at least, he had when she was younger, she corrected herself fiercely. She was much older—much wiser—now.

      ‘So,’ he said, startling her out of her reverie, ‘you would like to know about the job, ne?’

      ‘If I must,’ she answered tautly. ‘If there really is a job.’

      ‘You think I would be here otherwise?’

      Paige realised that to admit that that was what she had been thinking was conceited, and amended her response. ‘Perhaps.’

      ‘First of all, am I right in assuming that you are looking for employment?’ he asked softly, and two red flags of colour burned in her pale cheeks.

      ‘If Martin said it, then it must be true,’ she replied frostily, resenting the question. ‘I suppose he also told you I have no qualifications to speak of.’

      ‘You have discussed your problems with him?’ Nikolas frowned.

      ‘No.’ Paige was indignant. ‘Sophie did. She’s desperate for me to get a job so we can find somewhere else to live.’

      ‘Ah, Sophie.’ He nodded. ‘Your sister. Regrettably, we were never introduced.’

      Paige shrugged. ‘She was at school when—when—’

      ‘When your father was attempting to blind me with his elder daughter’s beauty?’ suggested Nikolas ironically. ‘Yes, I know. How old is she now?’

      ‘Sixteen.’ Paige pursed her lips. And then, because she couldn’t let him get away with defaming her father’s memory, she added, ‘And Daddy only introduced us. It wasn’t his fault that we—that you betrayed his trust.’

      Nikolas’s lips twisted. ‘You do not really believe that.’

      ‘Why not? And the Murchison deal appeared to be an attractive proposition. He was trying to do you a favour by offering you the chance to invest…’

      ‘In something that folded only a few months later,’ remarked her companion bleakly. ‘At which time, I’d have lost a considerable amount of money.’

      You could afford it, thought Paige defiantly, but she kept that opinion to herself. ‘It might have succeeded if you’d been prepared to back it,’ she said instead, only to meet a blank wall of contempt.

      ‘Be honest,’ said Nikolas harshly. ‘Theos, the shipping line was already losing money and all your father really wanted was someone else to share the burden of his mistake. Why else do you think he destroyed our relationship? As soon as he realised he was wasting his time with me, he moved on to the next—what is that word you use?—sucker? Yes, sucker.’

      ‘That’s not true.’

      ‘Of course it’s true.’

      ‘No—’

      ‘Yes—’

      ‘Avocado mousse, madam.’

      The arrival of the meal put an end to any further argument, and although Paige had the feeling she was betraying her father’s memory by even being here now she refused to let Nikolas Petronides have the last word. All the same, meeting his dark eyes across the table, eyes that could turn from black velvet to burnished agate in a twinkling, she suspected she was playing a dangerous game.

      ‘Perhaps we should discuss why I had Price invite you here,’ he declared, after the waiter had departed again. ‘I’m sure you understand why I prevailed upon him to offer the invitation. I was fairly sure that were I to contact you you would not submit.’

      ‘Submit?’ Paige pushed the delicate mousse around her plate. ‘That’s a typically Petronides word to use, isn’t it? But you’re right. I wouldn’t have come.’

      ‘I thought not.’ He paused. ‘That was why I suggested that as Price was a friend of yours he should arrange this meeting.’

      Paige absorbed this as the wine waiter poured some of the deliciously flavoured Chardonnay into her glass. But when they were alone again she exclaimed, ‘And Martin had no idea that—that we knew one another?’

      ‘I’m afraid not.’ Nikolas looked at her over the rim of his own glass. ‘Poor Paige. The men in your life do seem perfectly willing to throw you to the—wolves, do they not?’

      Paige refused to let him provoke her. ‘Is that a warning, Kirie Petronides?’ she asked mockingly, and had the satisfaction of seeing his eyes darken accordingly.

      But, ‘Maybe,’ was all he said, and it was Paige who felt every nerve in her body tingle at the veiled menace in his voice.

      They didn’t speak again until the grilled salmon had been served and then it was Paige who felt compelled to break the uneasy silence that had fallen. ‘I—I would have expected Yanis to handle any employee recruitment,’ she murmured, aware that she had barely touched the mousse and was only making a paltry effort with the salmon. A morsel caught in her dry throat and she was forced to cough and resort to her wine before continuing, ‘He is still with you, I assume?’

      Nikolas was not deceived by her attempt at casual conversation. ‘Yanis is still my assistant, ne,’ he conceded evenly. ‘But this is a rather—delicate affair.’

      ‘Why?’ Despite herself, Paige was puzzled. She couldn’t believe it was anything to do with her.

      ‘Because it is a personal matter,’ he replied, taking another mouthful of his wine. Then, because she was still looking at him enquiringly, he went on, ‘The job I have in mind concerns my ward. In such circumstances, it is not—suitable—to leave the decision in Yanis’s hands.’

      Paige gasped. ‘Your ward?’ She looked stunned. ‘I didn’t know you had a ward.’

      ‘That is because I did not have a ward when we—knew one another,’ he told her. ‘Ariadne’s father was a close friend, and when he and his wife were killed three years ago I discovered

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