He took their glasses and the wine bottle into the living room, which consisted of a two-seater sofa and single armchair crammed around a low coffee table, then went back to the kitchen and served their food onto chipped plates, found the cutlery and carried it into the living room too. Making one last trip to the kitchen, he found her solitary tray rammed behind the microwave then returned to the living room and sat on the two-seater sofa. The sofa was so old that the springs had gone. No sooner had his backside landed inches from the floor than Helena appeared in the doorway. She’d changed from the ugly robe thing into an equally ugly red T-shirt and even uglier black and white checked workout leggings. He just knew she’d selected the vilest items of clothing she possessed especially for him. He doubted she realised that, as gross as the items were, they clung to her hourglass figure like a dream.
‘I see you’ve found your level,’ she said with an evil smile.
Theo responded with a suggestive smile of his own. ‘You know me, I like to go down low.’
She hit him with a thousand-yard stare but he was rewarded with a deep stain of colour across her beautiful cheeks.
Figuring the floor had to be more comfortable than this excuse for a sofa, Theo heaved himself up then shifted the coffee table until it was placed where he could unfold his legs beneath it.
When he was uncomfortably settled on the threadbare carpet he took his first mouthful of phat kaphrao, a street food he’d discovered during his backpacking days on his first visit to Bangkok and which he could eat until the sun came up. This particular phat kaphrao didn’t quite have the fresh chilli kick he so enjoyed but it was a decent effort.
Helena waited until Theo’s big mouth was full of food before saying primly, ‘Let us get one thing straight. If—and it’s a big if—I take the job, there will be no flirting. I know it’s second nature to you but it’s inappropriate.’
The sparkle in his eyes as he swallowed his food let her know she’d missed her mark even before he shook his head. ‘I wish very much I could make that assurance but my mother always told me never to make a promise I couldn’t keep.’
‘That’s my condition.’
‘It’s a condition I can’t meet. You should eat before your food gets cold.’
‘I’ve already told you, I’m not hungry.’ She wouldn’t even look at her plate. If she did, her empty belly might start rumbling.
Damn him, since the food delivery she’d had to block her nose off from breathing in his horrible cologne and the scent of her favourite food. She couldn’t believe he remembered she liked Thai. She thought, after all the women he’d had since she left, she’d have become nothing but a blur, a face amongst many. She was surprised he remembered her name.
Helena wished she’d been able to forget his face. She wished she’d been able to forget everything she’d felt for him.
She wouldn’t eat his food but she would drink his wine, she decided. Theo only bought the best, so she was certain the wine would be delicious. Leaning over, she took her glass from the table and brought it to her lips. Theo’s dancing ice-blue eyes watched her every move.
The wine slipped down her throat like nectar and she had to resist closing her eyes to savour it.
‘Back to my condition,’ she said briskly.
‘A condition I will not meet.’ Another huge forkful of chicken, chilli and basil disappeared into his mouth.
She narrowed her eyes, wishing she could fire lasers from them. ‘Flirting with an employee isn’t just inappropriate, it’s unprofessional and can be construed as sexual harassment.’
He washed his mouthful down with a large drink of wine and grinned. ‘You will be a contractor, not an employee.’
‘I don’t imagine your fiancée will care about the difference if she catches you flirting with me.’
His eyebrows drew together. Heaping another pile of food onto his fork, he laughed, ‘What fiancée?’
‘The fiancée you’re building the house for.’
‘You must be mistaking me for someone else. I’m not getting married.’
Her heart jolted so hard at this she had to keep her bottom rooted to the armchair to stop herself springing out of it.
‘My apologies,’ she said stiffly. ‘When you said you were building on the peninsula I made an assumption.’
He shook his head in a chiding fashion. ‘First rule of business: never make assumptions. I have no intention of ever marrying, so rest easy, agapi mou, I can flirt with you all day every day.’
‘What about your girlfriend’s feelings?’
His laughter was even louder. ‘What girlfriend?’
Having far too much pride to admit to reading any article about him even inadvertently, she arranged her face into a mask of nonchalance. ‘Are you saying you don’t have one?’
The sparkle in his eyes deepened. ‘Would it bother you if I did?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she spluttered. ‘I just think it’s cruel to commit to one person and then flirt with another.’
‘I’ve only committed myself to one person before and she left me.’ Theo raised his glass and winked, enjoying the latest stain of colour on Helena’s face. ‘I never make the same mistake twice.’
She clamped her lips together.
‘But, seeing as my love-life is on your mind, I am of the same opinion as you.’ He smiled. ‘It is cruel to string lovers along. Honesty is always best, do you not agree?’
He watched her absorb the barbed sting he’d just launched, satisfaction filling him. If Helena had been honest with him from the beginning and not strung him along, he would never have been fool enough to propose, let alone go to all the trouble and expense of preparing an elaborate wedding. He would never have suffered the humiliation of standing at an altar waiting for a bride who would never
