Redeemed By Her Innocence / Sheikh's Royal Baby Revelation. Annie West
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strode past the drained hot tub, ignoring it, and right up to the pool house, just as she noticed him. She looked up, startled, touched her hand to her chest in an endearing way. In her simple blue sundress, with broad straps over sleek shoulders, she looked good. She looked great. That was all he could think.
‘I’m so sorry!’ she said. ‘I didn’t see you there. I would have been ready for you up at the house if I’d known.’
‘I’m the one who needs to apologise, dragging you all this way and then leaving you here to fend for yourself all afternoon. Have you been OK? Got everything you need?’
‘Yes. Totally,’ she said. ‘I’ve had a lovely afternoon sitting out here. It’s the best waiting room I’ve ever been in. It’s beautiful. You’re so lucky.’
He looked around, nodding. The Aegean was particularly calm, particularly blue. Behind him sparrows were flying in and out of the bushes and hedges that screened the pool, just as they’d always done. The sun was beginning its late afternoon slide, the light that perfect hot, bright dazzle that made everything look at its best. And the pure, cool twenty metres of water right beside him looked as inviting as he’d ever seen it. It was pretty near as perfect as anywhere could be.
Jacquelyn stood up and smoothed her dress, catching his eye. He forced his gaze to remain on her face.
‘So where do you want to do this?’ she said brightly. ‘Up in the house? It’s only me and the laptop. I can fall in with whatever suits.’
He ran his hands through his hair, biting down on the adrenalin that was building in him. He didn’t want to go back in there. He didn’t want to sit down politely and listen to anything she had to say. He wanted to be out here, in the sunshine, living life, remembering Greece the way it used to be for him. He wanted to shake off the cobwebs of Maria’s death once and for all, and he couldn’t think of a more engaging woman to do it with.
‘To tell you the truth, the thing that would suit me most now is just to chill for a while. I’ve been on the go for hours and I need to unwind.’
He glanced at the pool house and her eyes followed his, widening when she looked back at him.
‘How about we shelve the business talks for a bit? I don’t think that tagging on a pitch right now is going to be the best idea—we both need to be clear-headed. What do you say?’
He winced as the words came out of his mouth. She was going to be more and more convinced that there was a crock of gold at the end of this rainbow when, really, it was much more likely to be a crock of something else.
‘Well, yes. Of course. I don’t want to get in the way. I’ll fall in with your plans. You were good enough to invite me here in the first place—I’m just happy to get the chance.’
Why did that irritate him slightly? That she was glad only to be here for her five-minute pitch? He wanted her to want to be here because he was Nikos Karellis the man, not the CEO of House. He opened a bottle of water and splashed some into two glasses, handing her one.
‘You need to stop apologising for yourself. Would be my first piece of business advice. If what you’ve got to offer is worthwhile, people will be prepared to wait for it.’
Her lips formed a surprised ‘oh’ and he was sure she was about to start with another apology but she clamped her mouth closed.
‘Thanks for the advice, then,’ she said, taking the glass and putting it straight down on the table.
‘You’re welcome. Always better to say thanks for your patience than to apologise for holding someone up. It’s assertive. Someone in your position needs to be very assertive.’
‘I’ve never had any complaints before,’ she said, and he noted as she drew herself up. He noted because the slight movement drew his eyes to the curves under her dress, the way it creased and hugged and flattered.
‘I’m sure you haven’t had many complaints at all,’ he said, and he meant it innocently enough, but in the pause that extended now between them, in the moment in which they each regarded the other, the unmistakeable heat of sexual tension began to bloom. He felt the physical rush and saw it reflected in the widening of her eyes, the slight parting of her lips.
‘If any,’ he finished, underlining the point, unnecessarily.
‘I meant,’ she said, clearing her throat, ‘I haven’t had any complaints about being assertive. Though that doesn’t seem to get me anywhere. In the business world.’
He drained his glass and reached for more. In the quiet afternoon, the only sounds were the slosh of water in his glass, and the bursts of cicadas through the heavy heat. The sun beat down on his back, warmth spread and seemed to soothe his tense shoulders. The world was beginning to slow and right itself. Greece was seeping under his skin again.
‘Maybe you’ve been talking to the wrong people. I guess some people, some men, are threatened by an assertive woman.’
‘Well, I can’t seem to be any other way,’ she said, walking to the edge of the terrace. She placed her hands lightly on the top of the barrier and stared out to sea. Sunlight glinted on her golden hair and bathed the edges of her shoulders; the skirt of her dress floated up in the warm summer’s breeze.
‘Be yourself,’ he said. ‘It’s working well from where I’m standing.’
She cast a glance back over her shoulder.
‘With all due respect, it’s easy for you to say. You don’t have to ask anyone to finance your company. You’ve got everything you could ever need.’
Everything he could ever need? People thought that having the cars and houses and planes was everything. Easy mistake to make but they were so wrong. He wanted peace. He wanted trust. He wanted to be able to wake up in the morning to birdsong; he wanted to roll over in his bed and hold the warm body of the woman he loved, not slide into cold space, wondering where she was and who she was with, and what she’d done.
But he doubted he would ever find it, if it even existed.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, and he looked up from his self-pity. ‘I overstepped the mark there. I had no right to say that. It was unprofessional. I just want you to know that I’m really grateful for this chance—I don’t want to do anything to ruin it.’
‘Oh, come on, Jacquelyn. Give yourself a break. Maybe you should try being a bit less professional for a while. All I’m saying is that I’d be grateful for your company for the next few hours. As one human being to another, the real Nikos and the real Jacquelyn.’
She was on the back foot. He could see tension in her eyes and the nervous way she clasped her hands. She walked over to where her laptop sat and moved it out of the wedge of sunlight that had crept onto the table. Then she closed the lid halfway.
‘Well, the thought of spending time here… Who wouldn’t want to do that? I mean, it’s gorgeous, and I haven’t had a holiday in four years, but…’
‘There’s a “but”?’
‘But can I get your word that the pitch will definitely go ahead?’ she said, her hands clasped in front of her chest.
‘The pitch will definitely go ahead,’ he repeated, nodding. ‘Come hell or high water, you’ll get your chance to talk about your business. I’m only talking a walk, a swim, then an early dinner. You could stay here tonight—there’s plenty of space,’ he said quickly, when he saw a look of surprise and shock sweep over her face. ‘Get an early night and then you’ll be fresh for the morning. Pitch at nine and I’ll have the jet ready for ten-thirty. I’m heading back to New York via London tomorrow too. I think that would work—yeah?’
‘You mean stay all night? I don’t think so. I wasn’t really counting on that. I’m not really prepared.’
‘I wasn’t counting on it either,’ he said, with an honesty that he didn’t expect. ‘This is the first time