The Enigmatic Greek (7 page)

‘
Efcharisto.
’ Eleanor included Yannis in her smile as the pair left.

‘As you can probably tell,’ said Alex, ‘Sofia, like everyone else on the island, was impressed by your bravery last night. We are instructed to eat the cold dish first,’ he added, and seated her at the table under the window before sitting opposite her.

Eleanor mentally raised an eyebrow as she transferred stuffed aubergines to their plates. Alexei obviously took it for granted she would serve him.

‘I would have asked Sofia to stay to serve the meal,’ he said, apparently reading her mind, ‘But I thought you might prefer less formality.’

‘You were right.’ She tasted the aubergine’s spicy tomato filling. ‘This is very good. On my travels I’ve kept to fish and salad mostly.’

‘You don’t eat meat?’

‘I do, but in some places goat was on the menu, and my courage failed!’

He laughed. ‘You’re safe tonight. I’m told the
entrée
features pork.’

Eleanor felt like pinching herself from time to time as she ate, to be sure she really was dining with Alexei Drakos. She’d been bowled over by his charisma from the first, so deeply attracted to him on sight his threats had been a bitter blow. But right now, instead of enduring her company politely as she’d expected, he was pulling out all the stops to put her at ease. And to be fair he was really something to look at now his hair, damp from a shower earlier on, had dried to a sun-streaked gold halo. Well, maybe not a halo. This man was no saint.

‘Is a penny enough for your thoughts?’ he said abruptly, and smiled slowly as a wave of scarlet flooded her face. ‘Obviously not!’

‘This is all so unreal,’ she said, going for part of the truth. ‘When I came to the island to report on the festival I never thought for a minute that you would speak to me at all, let alone agree to an interview.’

‘You can thank my mother for that. She asked me to give you the reward you asked for, and because we are both indebted to you I will do so. But,’ he stated with emphasis, ‘I will personally check every word of the article when it’s finished. And if and when I’m satisfied it must go off before you leave.’

‘By all means. You can stand over me while I press Send!’

Alex raised a cynical eyebrow. ‘And how do I know your
editor will print it exactly as it stands? He could apply his own spin and make something completely different out of it.’

‘I’ll give you his email address so you can hit him with the threats you made to me. Believe me; Ross McLean will do whatever you want to get his exclusive.’ Eleanor took their plates to the trolley and returned with the hot
entrée
dishes. She set them on the table and handed Alex a pair of large serving spoons. ‘There you go.’

‘Ah! I obviously took your help for granted earlier.’

‘Not a problem.’ Eleanor smiled demurely. ‘I’m grateful to you for the food I’m eating, whoever serves it.’

Alex shook his head in sorrow as he filled their plates. ‘A beautiful woman is sharing a meal with me and feels only gratitude?’

‘Not at all.’ And wasn’t that the truth. ‘As I said before, I feel the unlikeliness of it too.’

He laughed. ‘Nevertheless here we are, sharing a meal as men and women do everywhere. But in return for this supper you’re so grateful for,
kyria
journalist, you must sing for it. Tell me more about Eleanor Markham.’

She eyed him challengingly. ‘I will if you return the compliment.’

‘I have promised to do so!’

‘But that will be an interview with Alexei Drakos, the public figure, with every word I write subject to your approval.’ She smiled persuasively. ‘I’d like to know more about the private man. Strictly off the record, of course.’

He gave her a hard look. ‘No notebook or camera?’

She shook her head. ‘Just my sworn oath to tell no one. Ever.’

Alex concentrated on slow-cooked pork of melting tenderness for a moment or two. ‘I’m not in the habit of discussing my personal life with anyone, least of all a journalist.’

‘Forget I’m a journalist. Just think of me as a woman,’ Eleanor said promptly.

His eyes moved over her in deliberation which sent her pulse up a gear. ‘Impossible to do otherwise,’ he assured her. ‘Very well, Eleanor Markham. You give me your life story and I’ll respond with some of mine.’

‘Some?’

‘That’s the deal.’

‘Done.’ She got up, serving spoons in hand. ‘In that case, I’ll help you to more of this delicious meal.’

When he threw back his head and laughed Eleanor’s heart did a quick forward roll against her sore ribs. ‘You’re happy to wait on me now.’

‘Absolutely.’

‘Then I accept. And now you talk.’ He filled their glasses and looked at her expectantly.

Eleanor topped up his plate and resumed her chair. ‘There’s not much to tell,’ she began, wishing there were. ‘My career began with a Saturday job on a local newspaper when I was a schoolgirl. I was offered a full-time job there later, but went to university instead. I graduated with a respectable English degree, worked hard to add qualifications in journalism and photography to go with it and gained experience with various newspapers before my present job.’ She looked up to meet the intent dark eyes. ‘That’s it, really.’

‘For a writer, there’s very little human interest in your story, Eleanor. Where are the tales of wild student parties and the men in your life?’ he demanded.

She sighed. ‘In my past, regretfully.’

Alex eyed her thoughtfully as he drained his glass. ‘All of them?’

‘The ones from the wild student days, yes.’

‘How about in the present?’

‘As I told your mother, my job is hard on personal relationships.
But I have good friends so the drawback doesn’t bother me too much.’ She pulled a face. ‘Compared with your life mine sounds numbingly dull.’

‘Not recently,’ he reminded her, and picked up her hand to examine her bruised knuckles. ‘It was anything but when that reprobate kicked you into the sea last night.’

Eleanor agreed with a shiver which had more to do with his touch than the incident. ‘I haven’t thanked you properly for rescuing me—though when you first grabbed me I thought it was the man, trying to drown me for real.’

‘It was like trying to rescue an eel!’ he agreed and eyed her quizzically. ‘But did you really need rescuing?’

‘No. I’m a fairly strong swimmer. Once I made it to the surface, I could have swum back to the jetty easily enough. Well, maybe not easily. The wretch hurt me quite a bit.’

‘Which is why I dived in after you. When you’d just laid into my mother’s kidnapper it was the least I could do.’

‘And much appreciated,’ said Eleanor and sat back. ‘Your turn now.’

He leaned over to refill her glass. ‘What do you want to know?’

‘Anything you care to tell me. Perhaps I could just ask some questions? It’s entirely up to you whether you answer them.’

‘If you wish,’ said Alex, resigned.

‘Can we go back to the time when you started in prep school? Why was it such hell?’

He was silent for some time, wondering why it felt so easy to confide in her, when normally he refused to talk about himself to anyone at all other than his mother, and even then only rarely. ‘To admit this is very bad for my image, but at first I missed my mother so much I buried my face in the pillow every night so no one heard me cry. I was a pretty average size at that age, and cursed with this
hair. I could speak English fluently enough, due to tutors my father employed to prepare me for the new school, but I spoke it with an accent—as I still do. When the rugby season started, things looked up. In the front row of the pack in a scrum I learned a few tricks—not all of them in the rule book—which were a great help. I put on a burst of growth, grew taller very quickly, did well at other sports and life became bearable.’

‘How old were you when you went away to school?’

‘Too young,’ Alex said without inflection.

Eleanor eyed him with compassion, picturing a little boy with golden curls crying at night for his mother. ‘I didn’t go away to school, at least not until I went to university, so by the time I flew the nest I was raring to go.’

‘A much better arrangement.’ He shrugged. ‘But, hard though school was in the beginning, I made good friends there in time, including the master who opened up the world of technology to me.’

‘I read that you made a fortune from it while you were still in school.’

Alex shrugged. ‘I have two people to thank for that: my grandfather, who put up the money to back me on my venture, and my father.’

Eleanor stared at him in surprise.

‘Milo Drakos bought me the latest and most expensive computer to play with every time I went to stay with him.’ He smiled grimly. ‘This only stopped when I refused to go there any more.’

‘He gave up buying expensive bribes?’

‘No. He became involved with a woman who hated me.’ He shot her a look. ‘Surely your research turned up that bit of information?’

‘No, it didn’t. Is your father still involved with her?’

Alex shook his head. ‘The relationship was short-lived,
because the lady not only objected to my visits but demanded that he marry her and adopt her son from a former marriage; a huge mistake on her part.’ The dark eyes hardened. ‘She had no hope of it anyway. It annoys the hell out of me to admit it, but I’m sure Milo’s still in love with my mother.’

Eleanor could well believe it. The electricity in the air had fairly crackled when Milo Drakos had walked into his ex-wife’s bedroom the night before. ‘May I ask how she feels about him?’ she said carefully.

‘I can’t tell you. If I bring the subject up she refuses to discuss it. My beautiful mother may look sweet and malleable, but she has a will of iron, and pride to match.’ He broke off at a knock on the door and smiled at Sofia as she came in to put a coffee tray on a table in front of the sofa.

‘The meal was delicious,’ Eleanor told her.

‘
Efcharisto
,’ said the woman, pleased, and began clearing the dinner table. ‘Do you need anything else,
kyrie?
’ she asked Alex.

He shook his head. ‘Nothing more tonight.’

She wished them both good night and went out with the trolley.

‘Yannis didn’t come back with her,’ said Eleanor. ‘Does she live nearby?’

‘Right here in the
Kastro
, in a ground floor apartment adjoining the kitchen.’

‘She’s a widow?’

Alex nodded soberly. ‘When her husband died a year or so after I took over the island I offered her the job of housekeeper, with rooms in the
Kastro
for her and the boy.’ He gestured towards the sofa. ‘Let’s move over there.’ He smiled blandly. ‘Perhaps you’d even pour my coffee.’

Eleanor grinned at him. ‘My pleasure!’

Alex shot her a probing glance as they sat down. ‘Do
you feel happier now you know that Sofia and Yannis sleep in the building?’

She stared at him in surprise. ‘No. I wasn’t unhappy before.’

‘So you really do believe I mean you no harm.’

‘It never occurred to me to think otherwise.’ She paused. ‘I assume Sofia is accustomed to catering for guests?’

Alex gave her a smile which transformed his face from merely handsome to off-the-charts breath-taking. ‘If that’s a way of asking whether I bring a lot of women here, the ladies I know are city dwellers who demand venues more sophisticated than a remote island lacking even a
taverna.
Besides, this place is my retreat. And, if you’re worried about the proprieties, your deeds yesterday ensure that your reputation can survive a couple of nights alone here with me.’ He reached for the coffee pot and refilled their cups. ‘Tell me more about yourself and the life you lead.’

E
LEANOR
shook her head. ‘I’d much rather talk about Alexei Drakos.’

He raised a dark eyebrow. ‘You had no trouble in talking about yourself to my mother.’

‘That’s different.’

‘Because you liked her from the moment you met, whereas you’re still not comfortable with me.’

Her eyes flashed. ‘Do you blame me? It’s not every day I meet a man who threatens me with a lawsuit!’

He shrugged impenitently. ‘I will always do everything within my power to protect my mother. And at the time of my threat I’d only just met you. But since then I have compelling reasons to be grateful to you.’

‘I see. So when will you give me the interview?’

‘In the morning—early, if you wish.’

‘I do.’ And once she’d written the piece and Alexei had vetted it she would send it off to Ross McLean and then catch the first possible flight back home. Alex might be the most powerfully attractive man she was ever likely to meet, but she disliked the idea of being marooned here with no way of getting off his island until he agreed to take her to Karpyros to catch the ferry. As soon as he did she would leave whether she could get an earlier flight or not. She could spend the waiting time exploring Crete.

‘What are you thinking about now?’ he demanded. ‘Nothing pleasant, by the look on that expressive face of yours.’

‘On the contrary, I’m glad that you’re willing to get on with the interview right away.’ She smiled politely. ‘The moment you approve it I’ll send it off and get the ferry to Crete out of your way.’

He raised a dark eyebrow. ‘This is rather different from the woman who insisted on a week’s holiday. What’s changed your mind?’

Her chin lifted. ‘On Karpyros I could have left any time I wished. Here I can’t.’

Alex frowned. ‘You’re not a prisoner, Eleanor. The precautions are purely for your own safety. I will take you over to Karpyros early in the morning if you want.’ He paused. ‘Of course, if you do that you won’t get your interview.’

She nodded, resigned. ‘Which leaves me with no choice.’

‘Exactly.’ He got to his feet and held out his hand. ‘You’re obviously tired. I’ll see you to your room.’

She ignored the hand as she got up. ‘Thank you. But I don’t need an escort.’

‘My intention,’ he assured her, ‘Was to leave you at your door, I swear.’

A wave of heat flooded her face. ‘I didn’t think otherwise,’ she said stiffly, and to her embarrassment gave a sudden yawn.

The eyes that looked so dark under the crown of dark-gold hair glittered with mockery. ‘I’ve offended you and embarrassed the hell out of you, and now I’ve bored you to death.’

‘Absolutely not.’ Eleanor smiled sweetly. ‘I’ve been hanging on your every word—as I will tomorrow during the interview.’

‘Is that all you can think about—?’ He stopped short,
eyes narrowed in hostile speculation. ‘Is
that
why you tried to rescue my mother? Was the blasted interview so vital you actually risked your life to make me agree to it?’

Eleanor glared at him, incensed. Fists clenched, she turned on her heel and made for the door but he was there before her to open it. She brushed past and hurried ahead of him along the hall to reach his mother’s room in time to shut the door in his face.

‘Open this door!’ Alex called, equally furious, by the sound of him as he hammered on it.

She gave the paintwork a look vitriolic enough to strip it to the bare wood and went into the bathroom to shut out the pounding. It was a good thing Sofia lived out of earshot. She bit her lip, not sure that it was such a good thing after all. She hadn’t thought of it before he brought the subject up, but the fact remained that she was alone up here with Alexei Drakos, who was now in a towering rage. She gritted her teeth. He wasn’t the only one. She needed another shower to cool off before she could think of bed. She turned on the water and opened the bathroom door a crack. All was quiet. Alex had obviously stormed off to his room, or his office, or wherever.

Eleanor swathed a towel round her head to protect her hair, then stood under a lukewarm shower until she felt calmer. Later, in the camisole and boxers she wore to bed, she leaned back on the bed to read for a while, but soon gave up trying to concentrate. Strange. Alone in the little apartment over on Karpyros, she had felt perfectly safe, but here, locked away at the top of what was virtually a citadel, she felt anything but. Alexei Drakos’ fault, damn him.

A quiet knock on the door brought her bolt upright. ‘Who is it?’

‘Who do you think? Open up, please.’

‘Why?’

‘I want to speak to you.’

With reluctance Eleanor slid off the bed and pulled on her dressing gown. She opened the door a crack and peered through it.

Alexei Drakos made no attempt to move nearer, but she tensed at the look in his eyes.

‘You said you meant me no harm,’ she said sharply.

‘I don’t. But I object to having doors shut in my face in my own home.’

‘It was either that or get physically violent. As I did yesterday with the intruder,’ she reminded him.

‘Quite a temper you lost back there.’

‘Do you blame me? You actually accused me of helping your mother just to get an interview!’ Her eyes speared his. ‘For the record,
kyrie
Drakos, my sole thought was getting her away from the man who snatched her. I was so furious I could have killed him with my bare hands.’

‘You had a damned good try,’ he agreed, his tone lighter. ‘I suppose I must be grateful you slammed the door instead of attempting to murder
me
!’ He moved nearer. ‘I came to apologise. May I come in?’

With reluctance Eleanor opened the door wider and retreated to sit bolt upright on one of the blue velvet chairs where she’d felt so at ease with Talia Kazan.

Alex eyed her speculatively as he took the other chair. ‘Do you feel better now?’

‘I’m working on it.’

‘I apologise for the crack about the interview.’ He laid his hand on his heart. ‘I’m sure your motives were of the purest when you went into battle for my mother.’

‘Are you?’

‘Am I what?’

‘Sure.’

He crossed his long legs and sat back, eyeing her objectively.
‘Now I’ve had time to think I am sure, yes. But consider it from my angle—you had only met my mother that day. It was hard to believe you’d put yourself at such risk for a stranger without
some
kind of ulterior motive.’

‘I acted on basic gut instinct. Motives didn’t come into it. Your mother needed help; I did my best to give it.’

Alex smiled wryly. ‘Yet you’re no amazon. Our man Spiro refused to believe a woman was responsible for his injuries.’

‘He would have had a few more if he hadn’t kicked me into the sea!’

‘I think the worst part for him was the scorn from Theo Lazarides.’ His lips twitched. ‘He is deeply impressed by you, Eleanor.’

She shrugged. ‘It’s nice to know somebody respects me.’

‘I do.’ Alex leaned forward, hands clasped loosely between his knees. ‘Even if the interview
was
part of your motive, I respect a woman willing to go to such lengths to gain her heart’s desire.’

‘I suppose I take that as an apology.’ She smiled sweetly. ‘I trust the door incident didn’t dent your male hubris too much?’

‘It was a new experience. Not one I cared for.’ His eyes held hers as he got up. ‘I apologise for hammering on the door.’

‘For the second time today, if we’re counting.’

‘I must cure myself of the habit. Tomorrow I promise to be sweetness and light all day.’ He smiled sardonically. ‘At least I promise to try. Goodnight.’

‘Goodnight.’

Alex went out and closed the door behind him. ‘Now lock it,’ he called as he left, and strode along the hall to his own room when what he really wanted was to go back to Eleanor and take her to bed. Having a door slammed on his
face had fired up his libido to the point where he needed a cold shower. He shook his head, baffled. Eleanor appealed to him more than any woman he’d met in a long time, though for the life of him he couldn’t say why. Her figure was boyish, and her temperament abrasive, but he wanted her. And since they were alone here, shut away from the world for a day or two, it would be only natural for a man and woman to take the best possible advantage of the situation.

Even with the door securely locked it was a long time before Eleanor went to sleep, and when she did she dreamed about monsters that chased her into the sea. It was a relief to wake to sunlight and the knowledge that today she could get the interview done and be free to go. Powerfully attractive though Alexei Drakos might be, the constant hint of danger about him kept her on edge all the time. Eleanor shrugged irritably and slipped out of bed to unlock the door, ready to admit Sofia with her breakfast, then washed, dressed in denim shorts and one of her dwindling supply of fresh T-shirts and secured her hair back in its pony-tail, ready to get to work.

When the expected knock sounded on her door, Eleanor opened it to find Alex outside, damp of hair and radiating vitality, as though he’d been up for hours.

‘
Kalimera
, Eleanor Markham.’

‘Good morning,’ she said, surprised. ‘I was expecting Sofia.’

‘I asked her to serve breakfast in the tower room. Will you join me?’

‘Thank you, but I don’t eat much breakfast,’ she warned as she followed him.

‘A pity you couldn’t have joined me for a swim first to give you an appetite, but in the circumstances it’s not advisable.
I can provide a pleasant place for the sunbathing you yearned for, but you must keep to a bath for your water fix.’ He held out a chair at the table which was laid with hot rolls, fresh fruit and two steaming pots, one of which was tea, he informed her. ‘My mother left some of her favourite brand for you.’

‘How kind!’ Eleanor was struck again by the fantasy aspect of the situation as she faced Alexei Drakos across a breakfast table with a backdrop of sunlit blue Aegean below. After their little altercation of the night before, she had expected him to be hostile; instead he was slaying her with that smile of his. ‘It must be wonderful to live in a place like this.’

‘I don’t live here. Kyrkiros merely serves as an occasional escape-hatch from life in the real world.’

She smiled. ‘Like a kind of holiday home, complete with castle and state-of-the-art office where you can keep tabs on your empire.’

‘I do that wherever I am.’

‘And Stefan keeps you in touch from Athens?’

‘Stefan heads a team there, yes.’ He watched her buttering a roll, his eyes amused. ‘Shouldn’t you be noting this down?’

Eleanor shook her head. ‘I’ll put my journalist’s hat on later when we get down to business.’ She picked up the coffee pot and filled his cup.

‘Thank you,’ he said in mock surprise. ‘Are you softening me up to get at all my secrets?’

‘Whatever works,’ she said cheerfully.

‘How long an interview do you want?’

‘I’ll take all the information you’ll give me.’

‘It won’t be that much,’ he warned. ‘After you’ve finished, I’d like to show you something before you get down to work.’

Eleanor smiled hopefully. ‘You’re going to show me over the
Kastro
?’

He shook his head. ‘It’s still a work in progress down in the basement area. It was made safe when I first took over here, of course, before the living quarters were done. But I keep to local labour for the renovation work, with fishermen who transform into builders and stone masons in winter when wild winds and rough seas put a stop to fishing, so the progress is slow. Right now I’ll show you my garden instead.’

After breakfast Alex led the way along the hall past the bedrooms and the lift, and on round a bend which brought them to the head of the spiral stone staircase ascending from below, with a further short flight leading up to what she thought must be an attic of some kind.

‘I’ll go first,’ he said. ‘But be careful, the steps are uneven in places.’

Intrigued, Eleanor kept close behind him. At the top Alex opened a door to let in a glare of sunlight and turned to help her up the last couple of steps.

‘Welcome to my secret lair.’

Eleanor gazed in delight at a rooftop garden. Huge terracotta pots overflowing with greenery and flowering plants surrounded a central paved space furnished with chairs and tables shaded by parasols.

‘How absolutely lovely.’ She smiled as she noticed a screen suspended between two pillars. ‘Surely you’re not worried about privacy up here?’

Alex shook his head. ‘When the
meltemi
blows at the end of summer the screen is very necessary.’

She laughed. ‘I can relate. Cowering behind a windbreak on a windy beach was part of the deal on childhood holidays. How about you?’

‘I spent my summer holidays at my father’s house on Corfu.’

‘I remember. You were too busy swimming and sailing and playing with your computer to need windbreaks as we ordinary mortals do.’

‘Most ordinary mortals fly off to the sun for their holidays.’

‘
Touché
,’ she conceded and sat down on one of the reclining chairs. ‘My parents were never keen on air travel, so my first holidays abroad were spent with college friends. The travelling was the big attraction in my present job.’

Alex drew up a chair beside her. ‘Will your editor give you a promotion when you send him the article?’

She laughed. ‘Highly unlikely.’

‘I could make it a condition.’

‘Absolutely not—thank you.’

‘I can at least insist that your name is on the article.’

She thought about it. Her name would be above the travel series as usual, but the Alexei Drakos exclusive was so important to Ross he would want it under his own by-line.

Alex frowned. ‘You don’t want that either?’

‘No, thank you. I don’t.’ She could just imagine Ross’s reaction.

‘As you wish. When do you want to start?’

‘In half an hour? I’ll get my things together.’

‘No tape recorder!’

‘No problem. Where shall we do this?’

‘In my office. I’ll show you.’

They went back down the steep stairs to the hall and on to the lift, which took them down a floor to his office. When he made no move to invite her inside, Eleanor smiled politely, told him she’d return in half an hour and went back up to the guest room.