to spread her wings for some time now, and she’d always resisted, insisted she was happy here on the estate. How could she not be? She had everything she wanted right here. She didn’t need more, didn’t want adventure or excitement. Not as she once had.
Because look where that had got her.
‘Nonno...’ she began, and Giovanni shook a finger at her in gentle admonition.
‘You are not going to refuse an old man a dying wish?’
‘Don’t say that—’
‘Cara, it’s true. And I wish to have this book very much. To turn its fragile pages and read of how love surpasses any glory, any tragedy...’ His voice choked once more and Talia bit her lip as guilt flooded through her.
How on earth could she even consider refusing her grandfather’s request, all out of her own selfish fear? How could she say no to Giovanni, her nonno who had taken care of her since she was a baby? Who had been as both mother and father, and lived with her these last seven years, accepting her limitations, loving her anyway?
‘I’ll try, Nonno,’ she said finally, and Giovanni leaned forward to rest his bony hand on top of hers.
‘I know you will, cara,’ he said, his voice hoarse as he smiled at her. ‘I know you will try your hardest. And you will succeed.’
* * *
‘There is one more woman to see you, Kyrie Mena.’
Angelos Mena looked up from his desk and the stack of CVs he’d scanned and then discarded. None of the young women he’d interviewed that afternoon had been remotely appropriate for the position. In fact, he suspected they’d been more interested in cosying up to him than getting to know his daughter, Sofia, just as the last three nannies had been.
His mouth thinning in disgust, he ran his hand through his hair and then shook his head. ‘One more? But that should be all.’ He tapped the discarded pile of papers on his desk. ‘I have no more CVs.’
His assistant, Eleni, spread her hands in helpless ignorance. ‘She has been waiting here for several hours, saying she needs to see you.’
‘She has tenacity, then, at least.’ He pushed away from the desk. ‘You might as well send her in.’
With a click of heels Eleni left his office and Angelos rose to stand by the floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked Athens. Tension knotted the muscles of his shoulders and made his temples throb. He really hadn’t needed the complication of his new nanny delaying her start by six weeks. Finding an acceptable temporary replacement was a challenge he did not relish, especially considering that not one of the dozen women he’d interviewed today had been suitable.
Some had had experience, yes, but when he’d called Sofia in to see if his daughter approved, she’d resisted the women’s cloying attempts at friendship. Even Angelos had been able to see how patently false they were. He’d noticed how several of the women hadn’t wanted to look at Sofia; several others had stared. Both reactions had made his daughter shrink back in shame, and the injustice of it made Angelos seethe with fury. His daughter had nothing to be ashamed about.
Not like he did.
‘Mr Menos?’
Angelos turned around to see a slender young woman standing in the doorway. She looked pale but resolute, her sandy brown hair tousled, the simple pink cotton sundress she wore hopelessly wrinkled. Angelos frowned at the sight of her dishevelment. Clearly she did not dress to impress.
‘And you are?’ he asked, his tone deliberately curt.
‘I’m sorry...um...signomi...but I don’t speak...den...uh...milau...’ She stammered, a flush washing over her face, making her hazel eyes seem luminous in her freckled, heart-shaped face.
‘You don’t speak Greek?’ Angelos finished for her in flawless, clipped English. ‘And yet my daughter’s only language is Greek. How...interesting, Miss...?’ He arched an eyebrow, smiling coldly. He did not have time for another completely unsuitable candidate to witter her way through an interview. Better to have her scurry away now.
‘Miss Natalia Di Sione,’ the woman said. She straightened her spine, fire flashing in those golden-green eyes, surprising Angelos. The woman had spirit. ‘And actually, your daughter does speak a bit of English, if you are referring to the young girl who has been sitting outside the office all afternoon.’
Angelos’s eyebrows snapped together. ‘You have been talking to her?’
‘Yes.’ She eyed him uncertainly, the tip of her tongue coming out to moisten her lips. Angelos acknowledged the tiny gesture with an uncomfortable tightening in his insides that he resolutely ignored. ‘Was I not supposed to?’
‘That is neither here nor there.’ He tapped the pile of CVs on his desk. ‘You have not provided me with a CV, Miss Di Sione.’
‘A CV?’ She looked blank and irritation rose within him. She was clearly unsuitable and hopelessly unprepared. A change from the hard polish of the last few candidates, but irritating nonetheless.
‘I am afraid I do not have time to indulge you, Miss Di Sione,’ he said. ‘You are clearly completely unsuitable for the position.’
‘The position...’ For a moment she looked utterly flummoxed, her forehead crinkling, her mouth pursing. Angelos moved from around his desk and towards the door. As he passed her he caught a whiff of her scent, something clean and simple. Almonds, perhaps. He reached for the door handle. ‘Thank you for your time, Miss Di Sione, but I prefer you don’t waste mine.’
‘But I haven’t even talked to you yet,’ she protested, turning around to face him. She tucked her unruly hair behind her ears, drawing his attention to the long, golden-brown strands, her small, perfectly formed ears.
Good grief. He was staring at her ears. What was wrong with him?
His gaze dropped from her ears to the shoulders that she’d thrown back, and now he noticed her slender yet gently curving body. He yanked his gaze back upwards to her face and determinedly kept it there.
‘I’ve learned enough from our brief conversation. You have no CV, you wear a crumpled dress to a job interview—’
‘I just got off a plane,’ she shot back, and her gaze widened. ‘A job interview...’
‘You are here,’ Angelos bit out, sarcasm edging every word, ‘to interview for the temporary position as nanny?’
‘Nanny? To your daughter?’
‘Who else?’ Angelos exploded, and she nodded quickly.
‘Of course, of course. I... I apologise for not having my CV with me.’ The tip of her tongue touched her lips again and Angelos looked away. ‘I only heard about this...position recently. Could you...could you tell me exactly what it entails?’
He frowned, wanting to dismiss her, needing to, because he knew she was completely unsuitable. And yet...something about her clear gaze, the stiffness of her spine, made him hesitate. ‘You would care for my eight-year-old daughter, Sofia. The nanny I hired has had to look after her ill mother, and she cannot start until the end of August. Therefore I require a replacement for the six weeks until then. This was all in the advertisement?’
She nodded slowly, her hazel eyes wide, sweeping him with that unsettlingly clear gaze. ‘Yes, of course. I remember now.’
His breath released in an impatient hiss. ‘Do you have any child-care experience, Miss Di Sione?’
‘Please, call me Talia. And the answer to that is no.’
He stared at her in disbelief. ‘None?’ She shook her head, her wavy hair falling about her face once more. She tucked it behind her ears, smiling at him almost impishly, and Angelos’s simmering temper came to a boil. She had an unfortunate amount of gall to demand an interview with absolutely no experience to recommend her. He shook his head.