Page 30 of Greek's Temporary "I Do"

‘So do I,’ Da-Eun replied with a smile.

‘Wait...what?’ Excitement unfurled like a whip within her. ‘You’re going to do it? You’re in?’

Da-Eun laughed. ‘That is why I like working with you, Helena. You can be all work one minute and then a ball of excitement the next.’

Helena blushed and tried to apologise.

‘No, don’t be sorry. It’s refreshing,’ Da-Eun insisted. ‘This is a cause you not only believe in but have personal experience with. It’s so much better than these po-faced men who would do absolutely anything just to make money.’

Helena hoped Da-Eun didn’t see the way her words had caused her to pale. Didn’t realise how close she had come to the truth. Because wasn’t that what she was doing? Absolutely anything to get her hands on her inheritance.

No, she assured herself. It wasn’t like that. She wasn’t doing it to put the money in her back pocket, like Gregory had, or like countless others who took advantage of any loophole they could find. This was different. Yes, she was doing a wrong thing, but it would achieve the right thing in the end for Incendia, and that was all that mattered. She closed down the call with promises to send contracts and set up meetings for when she returned from her honeymoon.

The shares are yours. The money is yours. Your father made silly, outdated stipulations on your inheritance and you’re doing what you have to, in order to save a charity you believe in.

A very Kate-sounding no-nonsense response sounded in Helena’s head and she let it soothe her doubts. After all, she had just managed to secure Incendia’s first international brand ambassador!

Leo hung back from the threshold, watching Helena’s video call, struck by how natural she looked. In control. Powerful in an innate way that he hadn’t seen before now. It reminded him of watching his father and hers doing a business deal over lunch.

It wasn’t arrogance that had given them a near lazy sense of ‘ease’, but belief. Belief in their skills, belief in their company, and knowledge. Knowledge that they were the best in the business. And, watching Helena now, he was surprised to find himself enjoying that about her too.

And, just like that, he was regretting not having done his research on Incendia. The way she had talked so passionately about it couldn’t be faked. Whoever she’d been speaking to knew it, and so did he. But the person on the call had called it a ‘cause’. And although he loved his company, he had never met anyone in business who called their company a cause.

What was it about what this company did that made Helena so desperate that she would marry his brother to access money to cover the financial hole? The questions that he’d managed to keep at bay until now began to burrow through his mind like woodworm, burrowing little holes into every conversation they’d had before now.

He watched as she wrapped up the conversation, the sun catching the golden glints in her hair, the oversized shirt hanging from her shoulders, indolently revealing the smooth skin he’d spent an alarming number of hours thinking about. A gentle tan had sun-kissed her skin with freckles that looked wholesome, even as his body responded to the near primal passion he had glimpsed the night before.

It seemed that, despite the warning his brain had been given, his body still hadn’t got the message. All night he’d been tormented by impressions of a kiss that was just as real as his erotic dreams had provided. He’d woken up, his body on fire and full of a tension that wouldn’t quit until Helena and this entire situation was firmly in his rear-view mirror.

He was about to turn away when Helena got to her feet and he realised that the shirt, which stopped midway down her long thighs, was all she was wearing. Whether it was a shirt or a dress, he didn’t give a damn. He would go out of his mind if he spent the next few days in close proximity to a woman who was his every fantasy come to life.

He tried to leave again, when his attention was snagged by her cry, ‘Yes!’ He turned back to find her dancing up and down as if she’d won some great victory.

‘Yes, yes, yes!’ she cried again.

As she punched a button on her mobile, he wondered when he’d last felt like that about a deal or a contract.

Never, he realised with a start.

Gwen’s damage had happened too soon after he’d stepped up to take over the helm from his father for him to ever fully trust or feel such pure easy joy or trust in a new deal again.

‘Megan, we did it!’ he heard Helena cry into the phone. ‘Jong Da-Eun is coming on board.’

Even from here he could hear the high-pitched scream of the person Helena had called, especially when Helena had pulled the phone away from her ear to laugh, and he couldn’t help but smile at their exuberance.

‘Yes, yes, I know. So can you move forward with the contract? Absolutely... No, that won’t be necessary, just send it out to the list in the dossier.’

There was a pause and some of the joy dimmed from her features. ‘No update? Nothing from the CPS?’

Leo frowned, recognising the acronym for the British Crown Prosecution Service.

It’s not failing. It’s employee theft.

‘Okay... No, that’s okay. If you can just chase Dr Matheson for his research proposal, then we can begin to create the fundraising plans.’

And once again his interest was piqued.

What did Incendia do?

---