Page 44 of Virgin's Night with the Greek

On landing, they disembarked in silence. On the tarmac, she didn’t throw herself into his arms and indulge in one last kiss. She didn’t break down and beg him to convince her she was wrong about everything. She simply said a cool goodbye, turned on her heel and walked off in the opposite direction, all the while reminding herself she’d had a very lucky escape indeed.

‘So what’s up?’

Three weeks after Leo’s return to the city, Zander emerged onto the roof terrace of Leo’s Athens penthouse apartment and set down two bottles of beer on the table.

‘Nothing’s up,’ Leo muttered, pulling one towards him, wiping his thumb over the condensation and wishing it was as easy to swipe a path through the chaos of his thoughts.

His brother sat down and stretched out his legs. ‘You’ve been like a bear with a sore head ever since you came back from Santorini. Everyone’s terrified of you. Especially Maria. She said she’s never known you to be like this in all the years she’s been your assistant. She even said she preferred me, which means things must be really bad.’

‘Tough few weeks,’ Leo replied, focusing on the view to avoid his brother’s unusually probing gaze. ‘It happens.’

‘Not to you,’ came the dry reply. ‘And they haven’t been that tough.’

Irritatingly, Zander was right, on both fronts. Generally, when there was an issue at work Leo simply upped his degree of control until it passed, and there’d be far less to catch up on than he’d anticipated, thanks to his brother’s eminent capability. He didn’t know why he was so on edge and off balance. His usual method of simply burying his concerns and focusing didn’t seem to be working.

‘So what’s this, then?’ he asked, indicating the beer with a casual wave of his hand. ‘An intervention?’

‘Yes. On behalf of all of us. We want to know what’s going on.’

His siblings had been discussing him? He didn’t much like that either. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he snapped, opting for denial, hoping against hope his brother would take the hint and leave it.

‘Willow Jacobs,’ Zander replied, annoyingly doing neither.

At the mention of her name, Leo went still. He clenched his jaw and pushed back the memories that were now trying to barge their way into his head. He would not think of her. Whenever he did, his head spun and his chest tightened. He had no idea why. Yet his brother required some sort of response. ‘What about her?’

‘Are you in love with her?’

His heart skipped a beat and then began to race, but he drew in a deep breath of warm evening air and forced himself to calm down. ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

‘I saw the photos,’ said Zander. ‘Everyonesaw the photos.’

Leo shuddered.

‘Olympia said she could see it in your eyes.’

‘Olympia is mistaken.’

‘You staked a claim on her the night of Daph’s wedding,’ Zander pointed out unhelpfully. ‘I’ve never known you to do that sort of thing before.’

No, well, he’d lost his mind for a while. But he had it back now. The merger was on track. Lazlo appeared to be keeping their mother under control. The status quo had resumed. Exactly as he’d planned. He hadn’t even had to work for it. By announcing her intention to go home that last morning on Santorini, Willow had made it unexpectedly easy for him. It was therefore absurd to feel rejected. At the airport, he’d watched her walk away and he’d been relieved. Not gutted like a fish.Relieved. She had the potential to bring out the absolute worst in him. He’d had a very lucky escape.

‘It was a blip,’ he said flatly. ‘A lapse of sanity. It’s over.’

‘That seems a shame.’

‘What would you know about it?’

‘Very little, I have to admit. Our parents didn’t exactly set a fine example. But look at Daphne and Ari. Where love exists it’s a beautiful thing. You did look happy and relaxed with her in those photos.’

No. He hadn’t. He hadn’t looked anything in those photos, and he was done talking about it.

‘I thought you wanted to discuss business,’ he said, shifting round and fixing Zander with his iciest glare.

‘That’s right.’

‘Well?’

‘Do you genuinely enjoy running the company?’ his brother asked, unfortunately not remotely fazed by the glare. ‘Because I do. So if you don’t, I’d be more than happy to take over permanently.’

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