Conveniently Wed To The Greek

Alex didn’t alert her to his presence; she’d notice him soon enough. When she did, her first reaction on catching sight of him was out-and-out dismay, quickly covered up by another forced smile. Again he felt that kick in the gut—quite unjustifiably considering how he’d treated her in the past.

She stopped by his table and he got up to greet her, glad she hadn’t just walked by with a cursory nod. ‘So you took my advice,’ she said. Her flushed cheeks made her eyes seem even greener. Her hair was tousled around her face.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I become a raging beast without my coffee.’

It was a bad choice of words. The look that flashed across her eyes told him she found the beast label only too appropriate. And that not only did she dislike him, but it seemed she also might fear him.

A jolt of remorse hit him. That was not the reaction he ever wanted from a woman. He thought back to the court case. There’d been some kind of confrontation outside on the day the judge had handed down his decision—although surely nothing to make her frightened of him.

‘I’m not partial to raging beasts,’ she said. Beasts like you were the words she left unspoken but he understand as well as if she had shouted them.

Against all his own legal advice he’d gone after her and the major Sydney newspaper that had published her review. He’d been furious at her criticism of Athina, his first important restaurant—the one that had launched him as a serious contender on the competitive Sydney market. He’d had a lot to prove when he’d closed his grandfather’s original traditional Greek restaurant and reopened with something cutting-edge fashionable. The risk had paid off—and success after success had followed. And then she’d published a bad review of Athina, detailing how the prices had gone up and the quality gone down, along with the levels of service. It had seemed like a personal assault.

So much had happened to him since then. His fury at her review now seemed disproportionate—a major overreaction to what the court had found to be fair comment. In light of what had happened during the hostage scenario and its aftermath it seemed insignificant. She had nothing to fear from him. Not now.

He looked directly at her. ‘I told you this beast has been tamed,’ he said gruffly. It was as much an explanation as he felt able to give her. He didn’t share with anyone how he’d had to claw his way out of the abyss.

But her brow furrowed. ‘Tamed by the coffee?’

She didn’t get what he meant. But he had no intention of spelling out the bigger picture for her. How devastated he’d been by Mia’s death. The train wreck his life had become. He’d been a broken man, unable to deal with the public spotlight on him—the spotlight he’d once courted. There had only been the pain, the loss, the unrelenting guilt.

His father had intervened, packed him up and sent him back to the Greek village his grandfather had left long ago to emigrate to Australia. At first, Alex had deeply resented his exile. But the distance and the return to his family’s roots had given him a painfully gained new perspective and self-knowledge. He’d discovered he hadn’t much liked the man he’d become in Sydney.

The presence of Adele Hudson was like an arrow piercing his armour, reminding him of how invincible he’d thought himself to be back then when he’d been flying so high, how agonising his crash into the shadows. He forced his voice to sound steady and impartial. ‘The magical powers of caffeine,’ he said. ‘Can I order you a coffee?’

Adele gave him a look through narrowed eyes that let him know she realised there was something more to his words that she hadn’t grasped. But didn’t care to pursue. She peered towards the back of the café to the door that led to the kitchen. ‘No, thank you. I’ve popped in to see Lizzie.’

‘Lizzie Dumont?’

Jesse’s wife was a chef and the driving force behind the exemplary standards of the Morgan eateries. Alex had tried to poach her to work for him on a start-up in Sydney, a traditional French bistro. That was before he’d realised she’d been engaged to Jesse Morgan. That had stopped him. Back then he’d let nothing stop his quest for success—except loyalty to friends and family. That had never been negotiable.

‘She’s Lizzie Morgan now, well and truly married to Jesse,’ Adele said. ‘They have a beautiful baby boy, a brother for her daughter Amy.’

‘Yes,’ he said.

Lizzie had a child from her first marriage. Alex had admired Jesse for taking on a stepchild. Had admired him the more because it wasn’t something Alex himself could ever do. His feeling for family and heritage was too deeply ingrained to ever take on another man’s child. He would never date a woman who came encumbered.

‘Here she is.’ Adele waved at a tall woman with curly, pale blonde hair who had pushed her way through the doors from the kitchen.

‘Dell! It’s so good to see you.’ Alex watched as Lizzie swept Adele up in a hug. ‘It’s been too long. We’ve got so much to catch up on.’

‘We certainly do,’ said Adele, giving Lizzie the full benefit of her dazzling smile. Politely, she turned to include him in the conversation. No smile for him. ‘Lizzie, I think you know Alex Mik—’

‘Of course I do,’ Lizzie said. She greeted him with a hug and kisses on both cheeks. ‘He’s a good friend of Jesse’s. When we heard he was going to be in Sydney we invited him down to Bay Breeze. Long time, no see, Alex.’ Her smile dimmed and her voice softened. ‘Are you okay?’

He nodded. ‘As okay as I can be,’ he said. ‘I’ve appreciated the support from you and Jesse. It means a lot.’ He didn’t want to talk about his loss any further. Displaying vulnerability clashed with all the ideals of manhood that had been imbued in him by his family. ‘I didn’t know you two knew each other,’ he said. How much did Lizzie know of his history with Adele? No doubt he’d been painted as an ogre of the first order. A beast.

Lizzie beamed. ‘Dell was one of our first customers. Her glowing reviews of Bay Bites helped put us on the map. The bonus was we became friends. Though we don’t see each other as much as we’d like.’

Adele studiously avoided his eyes, obviously uncomfortable at the mention of her good reviews when she’d given Athina such a stinker. The court case had ensured she’d never reviewed his newer ventures, never put them ‘on the map’.

‘I’ve always loved this part of the world,’ she said. ‘And Bay Breeze is the icing on the cake. I love what you guys have done with it, Lizzie. The building, the fit-out, the food. The timing is perfect. Stress and burnout are endemic today. Offering this kind of retreat in such an awesome natural setting is just what a particular lucrative market is looking for.’

Had she read his mind? She could have been quoting him on the pitch for his new luxury boutique resort.

As she chatted with Lizzie, Alex was surprised at how much Adele knew about the hospitality business. She was both perceptive and canny. She understood how success came from meeting people’s needs but also about anticipating them. Giving them what they didn’t know they wanted until it was offered to them, all new and shiny. Knowing your customer through and through. Being open to change and nimble enough to adapt to it.

The strength of Bay Breeze she had pinpointed was on track with what he wanted for his new venue. It wasn’t often he met someone who was so in tune with how he thought about the business. Although that was perhaps not such a surprise when in the past he’d surrounded himself with too many ‘yes’ men.

‘So what are your plans for life after the newspaper?’ Lizzie asked her.

Adele frowned at Lizzie with what was obviously a warning. Alex realised she didn’t want him to hear that. Which made him determined not to miss a word.

‘What do you mean?’ he asked.

Lizzie sounded outraged. ‘That darn newspaper fired Dell. Booted her out with a cheque in lieu of notice.’

Adele glared at her friend for spilling the beans.

‘Is that true?’ he asked Adele. ‘You’ve lost your job?’

She shrugged. But he could see it was an effort for her to sound casual about such a blow. Especially in front of him. ‘Budget cuts, they said. It...it was a shock.’

‘Because of the court case?’ Regret churned in him. How much damage had he caused for something that now seemed unimportant?

She didn’t meet his eye. ‘No. That was three years ago. Although I was never popular with management afterwards. Being sued wasn’t regarded as a highlight of my résumé.’

He frowned. ‘What will you do?’ He felt a shaft of shame at what he had put her through. Although he had felt totally in the right at the time.

Alex expected a snarl and a rejoinder to mind his own business. But she couldn’t mask the panic in her eyes. ‘I don’t know yet. They only gave me the boot a week ago. But I’ve got options.’

‘Of course you have,’ said loyal Lizzie. ‘Publicity and marketing among them. That would be a logical move for you.’

Adele nodded to her friend. ‘Yes, I’ve thought of that,’ she said. ‘And I can freelance. It will also allow me to give my blog more attention.’

Alex doubted she could make enough to live on from that blog, in spite of the number of readers it attracted. Unless she’d made big strides with attracting advertising since he’d last looked at Dell Dishes.

‘Your husband?’ he asked after some hesitation. He was sure there’d been a husband.

Her mouth twisted. ‘Divorced.’ Her chin tilted upward. ‘In any case, I don’t depend on a man to support me.’

He wouldn’t have expected any other response from the feisty food critic. ‘Do you have children?’

Something he couldn’t read darkened her eyes. She shook her head.

‘Then come and work for me.’ The words escaped his mouth before he’d had time to think about them. But some of his best decisions had been made on impulse.

* * *

Dell looked up at Alex Mikhalis, the man she regarded as the devil incarnate. He towered over her, darkly formidable in black jeans and a black T-shirt that made no secret of his strength, his impressive muscles.

‘Did you just offer me a job?’ She couldn’t keep the disbelief from her voice. From behind her, she heard Lizzie gasp.

‘I did,’ he said gruffly.

‘Why would you do that?’

‘You need a job. I need help with a new venture. Your understanding of hospitality is impressive. You have skills in PR and publicity.’

Entitled and arrogant, he so obviously expected an instant ‘yes’. But it would not be forthcoming from her. She sympathised with his personal loss. That didn’t mean she wanted to work with him. Especially not to be under his control as an employee.

She couldn’t think of anything worse.

‘I appreciate the offer,’ she said. ‘But I can’t possibly accept. I suspect you know why.’

His legal team had undermined her credibility at every opportunity. Even though her newspaper had won the case, she had come out of it bruised and battered with her reputation intact but shredded around the edges. Even three years later she felt it had influenced her employer into ‘letting her go’. And that was apart from the stress it had put on her marriage.

He scowled. ‘I want to make amends.’

Alex Mikhalis make amends? To her? She frowned. ‘Is this some kind of trick?’

‘No tricks,’ he said. His voice was deep, assured, confident. Yet did nothing to reassure her.

‘I find that difficult to believe. You...you threatened me. Told me you would get even.’ He made her so nervous it was difficult to get her words out. She had heard the rumours of how effectively he had brought down his business opponents. But she would not let him sense her fear.

‘That was a different time and place. There is no threat.’

‘Why should I trust you?’ Memories of his intimidation on the courtroom steps flooded back.

Dell became aware that she and the tall, broad-shouldered man were the focus of interest among the customers of the café. She moved closer to him so she could lower her voice. He moved closer as well. Too close. She felt as if he were taking up all the air, making her heart race, her breath come short.

‘I’m a different man,’ he said, his expression intent, dark eyes unreadable as he searched her face.

He looked different, that was for sure. Stripped of designer trappings to a raw masculinity that, in spite of her dislike of him, she could not help but appreciate. As for his nature? Leopards didn’t change their spots. And there had always been something predatory about him.

She couldn’t help the snort of disbelief that escaped her. ‘Huh! You? As if I believe—’

A flash of pain contorted his features but was gone so quickly she might have imagined it if it hadn’t made such an impression on her that it stopped her words short. For a long moment she stared up at him. It had been three years since she had faced him on the courtroom steps. He had been through trauma like she couldn’t imagine. Who knew how that might have affected him? Maybe he was telling the truth.

She felt a gentle tap on her arm and turned, dazed, to see Lizzie. ‘Perhaps you should consider this offer,’ her friend said quietly. Her eyes gave her a silent message. You have debts.

Dell was only too aware of the debts she had run up during her marriage and that had become her responsibility. Lizzie always gave her wise counsel. Her friend would be horrified if she knew the decision she had made just the week before she had lost her job. If it paid off, she might need a job more than ever. And with so many people reviewing restaurants online for free, she felt the newspaper editor had been telling the truth when he’d told her that her role was redundant. Job offers weren’t exactly flooding her inbox. She forced herself to take a deep, calming breath.

Then turned back to face Alex. ‘Why do you want to make amends?’ she said. ‘And what makes you think we could work together? I’m a writer, not a restaurateur.’

‘I’ll answer both your questions with one reply,’ he said. ‘Every criticism you made about my restaurant Athina was true. My manager was systematically defrauding me. Your judgement was spot on. I should have taken your review as a warning instead of taking you to court.’

‘Oh,’ was all she was able to choke out. Alex Mikhalis admitting he was wrong?

A ghost of a smile lifted the corners of his mouth. She was more used to seeing him glare and scowl at her. The effect was disconcerting. A devil undoubtedly. But a fiendishly handsome devil. For the first time she saw a hint of the legendary charisma that had propelled him to such heights in a people-pleasing business.

‘I’ve shocked you speechless,’ he said.

‘I admit it. I’m stunned. After all that...that angst. When did you find out?’

‘When I slipped back into Sydney for the review of the police handling of the siege,’ he said, now without any trace of a smile.

Dell nodded, unable to find the words to say anything about what must have been such a terrible time in his life. The saga had made headlines in the media for weeks. ‘From my memory, the manager was your friend,’ she said instead.

‘Yes,’ he said simply.

How betrayed he must have felt on top of everything else he’d had to endure.

‘Perhaps if I had been an investigative reporter I might have discovered that,’ she said.

‘I wouldn’t have believed you. Everything in your review pointed that way. I just didn’t see it.’

‘Didn’t want to see it, perhaps,’ she said.

He paused, then the words came slowly. ‘I... I’m sorry, Adele.’

Alex Mikhalis apologising? After all this man had put her through?

She thought again about all he had been through since. Realised she was intrigued at the thought of what project he might be working on now. And that it wasn’t healthy to hold a grudge or wise to refuse an apparently sincere apology. Especially when she really needed a job. Lizzie was right. She should consider this.

‘Dell,’ she said. ‘Please call me Dell. Adele is my newspaper byline, the name on my birth certificate.’ She looked up at him. ‘Tell me more about this job.’

CHAPTER THREE

ALEX DIDN’T KNOW why it had suddenly become so important that Adele Hudson—Dell—accept his impromptu job offer. But he didn’t question it. Much of his success in business had come from following his instinct and he’d learned not to ignore its prompts.

Dell could be just the person he needed to help him launch his new project. The project he needed to get him back on track with life.

Mentally, he checked off the skills she brought to the table. Without a doubt she was good with words—a huge asset for launching into a new market. Another strength was she saw the hospitality industry through the eyes of the customer while at the same understanding how the business side operated. Her blog gave her an international view with access to readers all around the world. On top of that, she was smart and perceptive.

Her review of Athina had raised red flags he should have heeded. His traitorous so-called friend had been doing illicit deals with suppliers and siphoning off funds to a private bank account. He would have saved himself a good deal of money if he hadn’t let pride and anger blind him to the truth of what she had observed.

Since he’d been back living in the land of his ancestors he had thought a lot about the Ancient Greek concept of fate. Was it his selfishness or fate that had put Mia in his city restaurant when a sociopath had decided to make a deadly statement? Could it be that fate had brought Dell back into his life? Right at the time when he needed help to launch something different and she was in need of a job? At a time when he was growing weary of punishing himself for something that had been out of his control.

Dell looked up at him, her green eyes direct. ‘What exactly does the job entail?’ she asked.

Fact was, there wasn’t a job vacancy as such. He would create a role for her.

Alex looked around the café, filling up now as lunchtime approached. Lizzie had left them to return to the kitchen. ‘We need to go somewhere more private where we can talk.’

Dell nodded with immediate understanding. ‘What about the harbour front?’ she said.

He put cash on the table to cover both his coffee and a very generous tip. ‘Good idea.’

He followed her out of the café. She looked good in shorts with her slender legs and shapely behind. In fact she was downright sexy. How had he not noticed that sensuous sway before? Alex forced his gaze away. This was about business.

He walked with her past the adjoining bookstore towards a lookout with a view across the stone-walled harbour with its array of fishing and pleasure craft. The scene was in some ways reminiscent of the fishing village his Greek ancestors came from, in others completely different.

He’d been born and grown up in Australia and thought of himself as Australian. But his Greek heritage was calling to him. He was back here just for a quick visit to help celebrate his father’s sixtieth birthday and to take a look at Bay Breeze. Greece was where he wanted to be right now. He didn’t think he could ever live back in Sydney again. Not with the memories and regrets that assaulted him at every turn.

‘No one will overhear us here,’ Dell said when they reached the lookout. ‘Fire away.’

He looked around to be sure. His success hadn’t come about by sharing his strategies. ‘I would usually require you to sign a confidentiality agreement before discussing a new project.’

She shrugged. ‘I’m good with that. Just tell me where to sign.’

Through his dealings with her as an adversary he’d also come to a grudging admiration of her honesty. According to the judge, her review had been scrupulously within the boundary of fair comment. And his lawyers had been unable to dig up even a skerrick of dirt on her.

‘I wasn’t expecting this, so I don’t have an agreement with me,’ he said.

‘You can trust me,’ she said. ‘I’m good at keeping secrets.’

He had been accused of being a ruthless and cynical businessman—never taking anyone on trust. Yet instinct told him he could talk to this woman without his plans being broadcast where they shouldn’t.

Still...he hadn’t changed that much. ‘I’ll email a document to you when I’m back at the resort.’

‘Of course,’ she said with a tinge of impatience. ‘I’ll sign it straight away. But right now I’m dying of curiosity about the role you have in mind for me.’

Alex leaned back against the railing. ‘I’m not at Bay Breeze for the yoga and the parsnip tea,’ he said.

Dell’s green eyes danced with amusement. ‘I kind of got that,’ she said.

‘I’m a stakeholder and I wanted to see what my investment has got me. The more I’m involved, the more I like the well-being concept. It seems right for the times.’ And for his time.

‘You want to start a similar kind of resort?’

He nodded. ‘It’s already under way. On a private island. Upscale. Exclusive. To appeal to the top end of the market. But my experience is all in restaurants and nightclubs. A resort is something different and challenging. I need some help.’ Alex had to force out the final words. He never found it easy to admit he needed help in anything. Had always seen it as a weakness.

‘That’s where I come in?’

He nodded. ‘But I don’t have a job description for the role. I wasn’t expecting someone like you to come along at this stage.’

‘You mean you’re making the job up as you go along?’

She was direct. There was another thing he’d found interesting about Dell during their legal stoush. He added another, less tangible asset to the list of her attributes. He would enjoy working with her.

‘Yeah. I am. Which is good for you as I can shape the role to your talents. I have input from top designers and consultants for the building and fit-out. I’ve got my key hospitality staff on contract. But I want someone to work with me on fine-tuning the offer to guests and with the publicity. Establishing an exclusive well-being resort on a private island is something different for me.’

‘That is quite a challenge,’ she said.

‘Yes,’ he said. And a much-needed distraction. He’d go crazy if he didn’t throw himself into a big, all-consuming project.

He’d thought he could walk away from his business. The business he blamed for Mia’s death. She’d been a chef in one of his restaurants when he’d met her. There had been a strict company rule against fraternising between staff in his businesses. He’d instigated it and he’d broken it when he’d become beguiled by Mia. They’d been living together—her pushing for marriage, he putting it off—when the chef at his busiest city lunchtime venue had been injured in an accident on the way to work. Mia was having a rostered day off. Alex had pulled rank and insisted she go into work that day to replace the chef. He could not take that memory out again, to pick and prod at it, a wound that would never heal.

Since he’d been away, he’d discreetly sold off his Sydney venues one by one. All except Athina. He couldn’t bear to let his inheritance from his grandfather go. Financially he never needed to work again. But he had to work. He hadn’t realised how much his work had defined him until he hadn’t had it to occupy himself day after lonely day.

Dell’s auburn brows drew together in a frown. ‘Why me? There must be more experienced people around who would jump at the chance to work with you on such a project.’

He didn’t want to mention fate or kismet or whatever it was that had sent her here. The hunch that made him think she was what he needed right now. ‘But it’s you I want. And you need a job.’

‘The role does interest me,’ she said cautiously. ‘Although I’d want to keep my blog. It’s important to me.’

‘I see your blog as an asset, complementary to your work with me,’ he said. ‘You could utilise it for soft publicity, along with social media.’

She nodded. ‘I’ll consider that.’

‘I’m thinking the title of Publicity Director,’ he said. He named a handsome salary.