her followed for the past two weeks.’ He looked bemused that Zach would ask such an obvious question. ‘And hardly a team was required... Actually I had reasons for not wanting to use in-house expertise. I was employing someone who proved to be an idiot...’
‘The same person you had following her?’
‘And he can whistle for his money. He was utterly inept, took any number of photographs, mostly of her back or lamp posts. And as for covert? She noticed him and threatened to report him for stalking... Took his photo, then hit him with her shopping bag. Did she see you?’
‘No, I’m thinking of taking up espionage as my second career. I had no idea I was signing up for such a dangerous task. So, who is this scary lady?’
‘My granddaughter.’
A quiver of surprise widened Zach’s dark eyes as his ebony lashes lifted off the angle of his cheekbones. He really hadn’t seen that one coming!
‘Her mother was beautiful too...’ The older man seemed oblivious to Zach’s reaction as he considered the photograph, his fingers shaking as he held it up. ‘I think she has a look of Mia, around the mouth.’ His hooded gaze lifted. ‘You knew I had a daughter?’
Zach tipped his head in acknowledgement. He had of course heard the stories of the wild-child daughter. There was talk of drugs and men, but no one knew if Alekis had seen her since she’d married against his wishes, and so the story went that she’d been disinherited. This was the first time Zach had heard mention of a granddaughter, or, for that matter, heard Alekis speak of his family at all; though a portrait of his long-dead wife hung in the hallway of his palatial home on the island he owned.
‘She married some loser, Parvati, threw herself away on him—to spite me, I think,’ the older man brooded darkly. ‘I was right. He was a useless waster, but would she listen? No, he left her when she got pregnant. All she had to do was ask and I’d have...’ He shook his head, looking tired in the aftermath of emotional outburst. ‘No matter, she always was as stubborn and...’ His voice trailed away until he sat there, eyes half closed.
Zach began to wonder if he had fallen asleep. ‘Sounds like the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.’
To Zach’s relief, the older man opened his eyes and directed a scowl up at Zach, which slowly faded. The smile that replaced it held a hint of pride. ‘Mia was a fiery one. Like her mother to look at but...’ His voice trailed away again.
If the likeness in the painting he had seen was accurate, Alekis’s wife had been beautiful, though not in the same style as the granddaughter with the glowing amber eyes. Zach could see no similarity between the two. The portrait was of a beautiful woman with a beautiful face but not a face to haunt a man. Unlike the face of the woman with the golden eyes. She was Alekis’s granddaughter—he was still struggling to get his head around that.
Alekis’s lack of family had been something they’d had in common, part of their unlikely bond that had grown through the years. Now it turned out that there was family and he was assuming Alekis wanted to be reunited. If the older man had asked his advice, Zach would have told him it was a bad idea. But Alekis wouldn’t ask or listen any more than Zach would have if someone had told him beforehand that reconnecting with his own past would leave him with memories that would offer no answers and no comfort.
‘I suppose I could have made the first move. I was just waiting but she never...’ He wiped a hand across his eyes and when it fell away Zach pretended not to see the moisture on the old man’s cheeks.
The truth was, he was finding it uncomfortable to see the man he had always considered self-contained and unsentimental and way past being a victim of his emotions show such vulnerability. But then maybe that was what a reminder of his own mortality did to a man?
‘I suppose everyone has regrets.’
‘Do you?’
Zach raised his brows at the question and considered it. ‘We all make mistakes,’ he said, thinking of his grandmother staring out of the window with blank eyes on his last visit to the home. ‘But never the same one twice.’ Twice made you a fool or in love—in his eyes the latter made you the former.
He could not imagine ever allowing his heart, or at least his hormones, to rule his head. Not that he was a monk; sex was healthy and necessary but he never mixed it with sentiment, which had given him a reputation for being heartless, but he could live with that. Living with the same woman for the rest of his life? Less so!
‘I regret...but it’s too late for that.’ Alekis’s voice firmed. ‘I want to make amends. I intend to leave her everything. Sorry if you thought you were getting it.’
‘I don’t need your money.’
‘You and your damned pride! If you’d let me help you’d have got to the top a lot quicker, or at least with a lot less effort.’
‘Where would be the fun in that? And you did help. You gave me an education and your advice.’ Zach spoke lightly but he knew how much he owed to Alekis, and so did the shipping magnate.
‘A gift beyond price, wouldn’t you say?’
Zach’s lips quivered into an appreciative smile. ‘You really are feeling more yourself, but the moral blackmail is unnecessary, Alekis.’ He spoke without heat. ‘What do you want me to do?’
‘Bring her to me.’
The face with the golden eyes floated into his head and Zach felt some nameless emotion flare inside him at the idea of seeing that face again.
The older man was staring again at the image on the screen.
‘Will you?’
Zach’s thickly defined sable brows lifted. ‘Bring, as in...?’ He shook his head, adding in an attempt to lighten the rather intense atmosphere that couldn’t be doing Alekis’s heart any good, ‘I’m assuming we are not talking kidnap here.’
‘It shouldn’t come to that.’
‘That wasn’t actually an offer.’
The older man didn’t appear to hear him.
‘Does she have a name?’ Zach asked, pretending not to see the moisture the older man wiped from the corners of his eyes.
‘Katina.’ Alekis’s lips tightened. ‘Greek only in name, she was born in England. Her history is...’
Zach was amazed to see a look close to shame wash over the older man’s face.
‘She has been alone for a long time. She thinks she still is. I intend to make it up to her, but I’m concerned that the shock will...’
‘I’m sure she’ll cope,’ Zach soothed, repressing the cynical retort on the tip of his tongue. Discovering you were set to become wealthy beyond anyone’s wildest dreams was the sort of shock most people recovered from quite quickly.
‘It will be a culture shock. She’s about to become an heiress and the target of vicious tongues and gold-diggers. She’ll need to be protected...’
‘From what you say she seems pretty well able to protect herself,’ Zach inserted drily.
‘Oh, she’s clearly got spirit, but it takes more than spirit. She needs to be taught how things operate,’ her grandfather continued. ‘And I’m stuck in here, which is why I’m—’
Zach, who had listened with growing unease at the direction of this, cut in quickly. ‘I’d love to help but that sounds pretty much like a full-time job to me.’
His mentor gave a deep sigh that made Zach’s teeth clench; the smile that accompanied it was a nice blend of understanding and sadness. ‘And you have every right to refuse.’ Another sigh. ‘You owe me nothing. Please don’t run away with the idea I’m calling in a debt. I will discharge myself and—’
Zach lowered his shoulders. He knew when he was beaten.