Helena hoped the acid burning her stomach at this hadn’t reflected on her face, especially as the two Greek women were so excited about it. She’d learned over the weekend that they were both artists. Sharing the roles of live-in housekeeper and chef gave them a roof over their heads, an income and the time and space to produce their art. She supposed it was possible that Theo hadn’t noticed their physical attributes when deciding to employ them. It was also possible that pigs really did fly.
Where was he?
Had he had an accident? He should be here.
She closed her eyes and took five long breaths, but it didn’t quell the rolling in her stomach or the growing tightness in her chest. When she put her glasses back on she had to blink a number of times for her vision to clear. Her concentration remained shot.
A vision of his yacht capsizing flashed through her mind.
Removing her glasses again, she put a hand to her heavy heart and took another five breaths, assuring herself he was fine, of course he was fine. She mustered some dark humour to think that he’d better have had an accident or she would kill him for his lazy unprofessionalism...
Her office door opened and he strolled in, a grin on his gorgeous face. ‘Good afternoon, agapi mou. How was your weekend?’
She shot up from her seat, suddenly light-headed. Without her glasses her vision was atrocious, but even so she could see the stubble on his unshaved face and the mussed hair. For once he was wearing an actual suit, an expensive, hand-tailored navy blue one with an open-necked white shirt, the tie removed.
As he neared her, she caught the scent of feminine perfume clinging to him, intermingling with his woody cologne.
‘Helena?’
She stared at him, clenching her teeth, the relief that he was alive and well already fading as the horrible perfume filled her airways, almost making her gag.
He tilted his head. ‘Why are you looking like you want to stab me?’
She hadn’t realised her temper was hanging by a thread until it snapped. ‘Where the hell have you been?’
CHAPTER SEVEN
THEO OPENED HIS mouth but Helena was in no mood to let him answer. She was perilously close to retching. ‘Don’t bother. I can smell where you’ve been. You said you’d be back before breakfast. It’s already lunch time! I’ve a million things to run by you, but while I’ve been sitting here twiddling my thumbs waiting for you to turn up, you’ve been off shagging.’
He raised a brow. ‘Shagging?’
‘You know—that thing you’re an expert at. Quite frankly, I couldn’t care less who you shared a bed with last night—from the look and smell of you, I’d be surprised if you even bothered with a bed—but I will not tolerate your hedonism impacting on my time. You stroll in four hours after the working day’s begun without a care in the world and have the cheek to ask why I look like I want to stab you? I don’t want to stab you, you selfish arse. I want to punch your selfish face.’
There was a glimmer in his eyes as he contemplated her before saying silkily, ‘You sound jealous.’
His observation acted like a red rag to a bull. ‘You wish. Either you find the decency to keep your hedonism outside of working hours or I’m going home.’
He moved closer to the side of her desk, his voice dropping to a murmur. ‘You think?’
She glared at him with all the venom she could muster. ‘Don’t think my signing the contract means you get everything your way. There are employment laws, you know, whatever you might think.’
‘If you want to take your chances with the law, then go ahead. I won’t try to stop you. But if you want to prove that you’re not the little girl who ran away any more and prove that you’ve matured into a woman, then that means dropping the prudish, indignant act.’
Outraged, Helena shoved her chair back and stormed over to him. ‘You patronising, sexist—’
‘Cut the outrage. It’s boring.’ But he didn’t look bored. Quite the opposite.
‘The only thing that’s boring is your endless procession of women,’ she spat. ‘Don’t you have any—?’
But whatever she was about to shout at him evaporated from her mind and died on her tongue when an arm suddenly wrapped around her waist and pulled her to him.
Legs weakening on impact, heart hammering in her throat, she gazed up at the face of the only man on this earth with the potential to make her laugh like a drain and cry like a baby. The only man on this earth who made her feel anything.
The back of a long, tapered finger brushed down her cheekbone, sending shivers dancing over and through her skin. The wide mouth curved at the corner, a spark of light in the ice-blue eyes. ‘Hello, Helena,’ he murmured. ‘It’s good to have you back.’ And then the wide mouth covered hers.
The impact of his lips pressed against hers was immediate. Every cell in her body gave a collective sigh as long-forgotten sensations ignited and pulsed through her in an instantaneous rush. Resistance didn’t cross her mind. Her lips parted and, hooking an arm around his neck, she raised herself onto her toes, closed her eyes and sank into the warmth of his coffee-scented mouth and hard body. Her breasts were crushed deliciously against his chest as he tightened the embrace, holding her so securely that she didn’t need her legs, weakened further by the surge of molten heat between them that fired into being as the hard ridge in his trousers pressed against her abdomen, to keep her upright.
In the breath of a second the kiss turned into something wet and savage. Hands flattened and swept possessively over her
