she informed him. “The day after tomorrow is the final date for me to confirm or cancel everything without penalty.
“I’ve been waiting to discuss the fair with you until you’d recovered from Mrs. Landau’s passing. She was extremely fond of you, too. It should please you to know that every contact person has assured me they wouldn’t have held on this long for anyone but Dimitrios Pandakis. It’s an honor to work for you.” She had a struggle at the last to keep the emotion out of her voice.
In an unconscious gesture he raked his hands through the luxuriant black hair she longed to touch. “Here I was beginning to think you were perfect, Ms. Hamilton. Now I can see you’re not above bribery to get what you want. For that flaw, you’ve won yourself a full evening of work that could take us well into the night.”
With those words he’d just given her the first taste of her heart’s desire.
“While you arrange to have our dinner sent up, I’ll cancel my plans to attend the symphony and we’ll start again. I want to hear this from the beginning.
“Slowly this time. Detail by detail until I’ve picked that brilliant brain of yours. I can see I’ve also underestimated the value of your American university education. Did you study any languages?”
“My degree specialized in classical European history, so there were several classes I had to take in Latin and Greek.”
“You speak and understand Greek?” He sounded incredulous.
“No. But since I came to work for your company I’ve been trying to do both with the help of a tutor.”
“Who?”
“A graduate student from Athens who lives in my apartment building. He trades me lessons for meals.”
“You cook, too?”
“Yanni’s not particular.”
Alex couldn’t remember Dimitrios ever smiling at her before now. What a gorgeous man he was.
“When you call downstairs, tell the kitchen to send a gallon of coffee with the food.”
“Which brand of decaffeinated do you prefer?”
He lifted a sardonic brow. “Forget everything you learned from Mrs. Landau.”
“You don’t really mean that. I happen to know she had your very best interest at heart.”
Once more his black eyes flashed fire. “You happen to know a lot more than I thought possible.”
I sincerely hope so. Otherwise how will I ever become unforgettable to you?
More tears dripped down Alex’s face as she remembered that evening with him. He’d loved her idea and had let her run with it. But nothing else had changed in the intervening months. Nothing personal.
Her mother was right about him not being normal. Even Alex knew it was time to give up. The trade fair would have to be her swan song.
Unless she died of pain first…
Dimitrios left his New York office with the morning newspaper under his arm and rode the elevator to the parking garage level of the building.
“Ms. Hamilton hasn’t arrived yet?” he asked his driver who was waiting for them with the limo.
“I haven’t seen her, Mr. Pandakis.”
He checked his watch. No crime had been committed because it was a only few minutes past eight. It surprised him because she was the most punctual person he’d ever met.
At the end of work yesterday he’d told her he would drop by her apartment on the way to the airport to pick her up. To his surprise she’d said it wouldn’t be necessary because she’d be coming by the office early to take care of some last-minute business.
“Mr. Pandakis?”
Dimitrios turned in time to see one of the parking attendants approach him.
“Your secretary just called. She said she was running late and her friend would drive her straight to the airport.”
He blinked. No doubt Ms. Hamilton had many friends, but the only one he’d ever heard about was Yanni. A compatriot.
Besides cooking him meals in exchange for language lessons, was she his pillow friend? It might explain why she’d chosen not to call Dimitrios on her cell phone to tell him about the change in plans. Particularly not if her tutor were lying next to her having a hard time saying goodbye.
The idea that Ms. Hamilton might have a love life made her more of an enigma than ever because she’d never let it interfere with her work. For quite some time he’d been aware that she wasn’t like most women. That’s why she’d become so valuable to him.
He climbed in the back of the limo. “Let’s go to the airport.”
“Yes, sir.”
Dimitrios unfolded the paper. The first thing he noticed on the front page of the Times was a fantastic shot of three ships. At closer inspection they turned out to be a Viking longboat plus a Greek and a Roman galley moored in the bay of Thessalonica awaiting the fair. A nice-size article accompanied the photo.
He saw Ms. Hamilton’s hand in the write-up. Except to give her the okay on the project, Dimitrios really hadn’t been—
His thoughts were interrupted by the ring of his cell phone. He pulled it from his pocket and checked the caller ID. It was someone from the villa.
“Yassou?”
“Kalimera, Uncle. You are coming home today aren’t you?”
His nephew sounded anxious. “I’m on my way to the airport now.”
“Good. There’s a lot I have to talk to you about.”
“I take it things are still at an impasse with your mother.”
“Yes. She refuses to discuss anything with me when she doesn’t even know what I’m going to say.”
“You and I have been over this before. She’s afraid of losing you, Leon.”
“How do I convince her that couldn’t possibly happen?”
I’m not sure you can. He rubbed his eyes. “Tell you what. Tomorrow morning the three of us will sit down together and talk this out.”
“Thank you. Mother’s much better with you there. Can I pick you up at the airport?”
Dimitrios wasn’t immune to the pleading in his nephew’s voice. “It will be late. I’ll have my secretary with me.”
“Where’s she staying?”
“I’ve booked her at the Mediterranean Palace.”
“No problem. We’ll run her by there on our way home, but it may take us a while. The traffic’s horrendous. You’re going to be surprised at what you see when you get here. The city’s been transformed while you’ve been in New York.”
“I’m looking forward to viewing the finished product.”
“Besides all the booths that have gone up, the buildings and churches, even the White Tower is festooned with pennants and medieval banners. The city’s been invaded with people, and there are six ships in port now.
“Wait till you get a look at the Egyptian barge from Cleopatra’s time on loan for the event! Five days aren’t going to be enough for people to see everything.”
“I think five days is about all our fair city will be able to handle.”
“That’s what Vaso said. We had lunch with some government officials from the prime minister’s office who were looking around yesterday. They said they’d never seen anything like this in their lifetime. The praise for you is pouring in already and the fair hasn’t even started yet.”