rest of the evening, as she accompanied him around the room, meeting and greeting the people involved in the Parnassus side of the merger, she could almost be forgiven for thinking she’d imagined the whole thing.
While they were in Athens Lucy was to be Aristotle’s executive assistant. She’d met Martha, his Greek PA, a pleasant older lady who she’d spoken to on the phone before. She met them at the hotel earlier. She was going to deal with the day-to-day office stuff. Martha wasn’t aware of the merger. In fact none of his family seemed to be—something which had perplexed Lucy.
Mr Parnassus approached them now, distracting her from her thoughts. He and Aristotle had already gone to his study for a private meeting as soon as they’d arrived. Now this old and stooped man, who walked with a cane, looked Lucy up and down with a wink. They’d been introduced earlier.
He said to Aristotle, ‘Well, Ari, do you think we can trust her?’
Aristotle’s voice was deep and authoritative. ‘Absolutely. She’s been with my firm for over two years now.’
As they continued to converse, Lucy decided that she liked Parnassus. He had a friendly twinkle in his eye. Suddenly he declared that Aristotle should go and mingle so that he could ‘take this beautiful young woman outside for a turn around the patio’.
At a pointed look from her boss that Lucy couldn’t really fathom, she gave her arm to Parnassus and led the way outside. It was night and the sky was clear, stars twinkling over a commanding view down into Athens. Momentarily relieved to be out of Aristotle’s disturbing orbit, Lucy breathed in. ‘It’s so beautiful here. You have a lovely home, Mr Parnassus.’
‘Please, call me Georgios.’
Lucy smiled. ‘Very well. Georgios.’
He looked at her with shrewd eyes. ‘He must trust you very much. This merger is very important. Not even his own family know about it.’
Lucy’s belly clenched painfully. It wasn’t so much about trust as necessity and desire, but of course she couldn’t explain that. She frowned slightly. ‘I’m aware of that.’ She didn’t want to say more. She didn’t know Aristotle’s reasons for not divulging this to his family, and she knew the only reason they were here in Athens was because Parnassus had requested it.
‘He’s driven.’
Lucy was lost in her thoughts for a moment. She almost didn’t hear what the man said. But he was continuing, looking down at the view laid out before them.
‘He reminds me of myself when I was his age.’ Parnassus smiled, but it seemed sad. ‘He reminds me of my own son. In exile. Driven to succeed at all costs. And for what?’
Lucy was nonplussed. Parnassus caught her look and chuckled. ‘I’m sorry—you don’t want to hear an old man’s ramblings. We should go back inside.’
She put out a hand. ‘Oh, not at all … I just … I don’t know Ar—’ She blushed. ‘That is, I don’t know Mr Levakis all that well.’
Parnassus stalled and looked at her closely. He gestured with an arm to encompass the view and the villa. ‘See all this?’
Lucy nodded and sat back against the balustrade, captivated by this wizened man, by his deeply ingrained accent which he obviously hadn’t lost despite living in the US for decades.
‘It’s taken me years to build it up. My family left this country in shame, and all I’ve ever wanted was to come back in a blaze of glory.’
Lucy frowned. ‘But … that’s what you’re doing with this merger, isn’t it?’
He shrugged one bony shoulder. ‘Ack. In some ways. It’s not how I imagined it, even though I’ll get what I want for my children, whether they want it or not: re-introduction and acceptance into Athens society. But the ultimate glory will belong to that man in there, and he’s welcome to it.’
They both looked to where Aristotle stood, surrounded by a fawning crowd. Lucy shivered slightly despite the treacherous heat curling down low in her abdomen. He reminded her of a lone wolf. Head and shoulders above everyone else, supremely confident, supremely sexy and yet … alone. She hadn’t really thought of him like that before, and didn’t like the tender feelings it aroused.
At that moment a very glamorous-looking middle-aged woman came out to the terrace. Parnassus introduced her as his wife, bade Lucy goodnight and went back inside. Lucy turned to face the view again, her mind full of questions. She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling a sudden cool breeze. What did Parnassus mean about Aristotle? Did he somehow see him heading for an empty life, driven by a need to succeed? Clearly he wasn’t far wrong. Aristotle had said himself that this merger was the most important thing, and yet—
She jumped when she felt a warm blanket of heat settle around her shoulders and heard a deep, ‘We should get going. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow.’
His jacket was warm with his body heat and scent. It enveloped Lucy, making her sway a little as they went back in. She didn’t say a word. Every nerve was twanging at the thought of sharing a car with him again, and her head was bursting with all the enigmatic questions Parnassus had posed.
But she needn’t have worried. Aristotle couldn’t have made it clearer he had no intention of touching her. Lucy sat in her corner and watched as they were driven down the hill towards the city centre. Feeling somehow compelled, she turned to face Aristotle and asked, ‘Don’t you have a family home here?’
She sensed him tensing, but he just said, without looking at her, ‘Yes, it was my father’s home, but I prefer to stay in a hotel.’
And then, before Lucy could halt her runaway mouth, she heard herself asking, ‘Why don’t your family know about the merger?’
His head whipped around so fast that she nearly flinched back. The lines in his face were stark. ‘What makes you ask that?’ The thread of warning was explicit.
Lucy shrugged. ‘I just … wondered.’
‘None of them are aware,’ he said curtly. ‘And I’ve already told you they must not know. As far as they’re concerned I’m here for three weeks to check up on the Athens side of the business.’
Lucy’s jaw clenched. ‘I know all that, and of course I won’t be telling them anything. I’m well aware of the terms of my contract.’
She turned her head away, stunned to feel a welling of emotion and discover that she had sudden tears stinging the backs of her eyes. What on earth was that about?
When she felt her hand being taken by a much larger, warmer one, her heart tripped. She looked around warily. She couldn’t really see Aristotle’s face in the dark gloom.
He sounded weary all of a sudden. ‘Look, it’s complicated, OK? It’s family stuff between them and me and they just don’t need to know. It’s for security reasons …’
‘That’s all you had to say.’ Lucy took her hand from his and took off his jacket, handing it back to him. ‘I’m warm enough now, thanks.’
Boss/assistant. The lines of demarcation were unmistakable. Aristotle cursed himself again for having lost control earlier. In all honesty the depth of that desire still
