“The hotel is simply a place to sleep.” She tried reasoning with him. “I’ll be available to you at all hours otherwise.”
The tension was mounting. “What aren’t you telling me?”
She’d seen him in this mood before. He wouldn’t give up until he had the answer he wanted. She’d learned from past experience it was pointless to try to thwart him.
“Someone else is staying with me.”
His black eyes penetrated the distance between them. “Yanni?” he asked in a deceptively silken voice.
“No. His name is Michael. I don’t think I’ve mentioned him before.”
“No, I don’t believe you have. Does this Michael appreciate the fact that you’re here on business?”
“Yes. Of course. Please don’t think that I was attempting to take advantage of your generosity. I’m willing to pay for the room personally.” She didn’t believe it was necessary to mention Michael’s friends.
“Do you suppose he’ll live if I ask you to stay here at the villa until I’m back to normal?”
Unless his pain was much worse, she couldn’t understand why he sounded so surly. Under normal circumstances he never allowed any weakness to show.
Obviously the trade fair was even more important to him than he’d let on. It was only natural he didn’t want anything to go wrong this close to the opening. The thing to do was placate him until he started feeling better and could walk around without too much discomfort.
When she thought about it, she realized he was used to having her in calling distance at the office. Oftentimes they sat across from each other at his desk to do business until late. She could see it would frustrate him to have to phone back and forth to the hotel.
“Apparently my request is causing you grief.”
At the sarcastic comment, heat filled her cheeks. “Not at all!” she rushed to assure him. “I was just thinking that I have to get something from him.”
“Leon can run by the hotel in the morning and pick up whatever it is you need, unless you require it tonight.”
“Oh, no. I— It’s a costume.”
A half-smile broke the corner of his mouth. For some reason her comment had pleased him.
“Let me guess. For your television interview you’re going to appear as Thessalonica, wife of the King of Macedonia.”
She chuckled softly. “It’s not for me. In any case I won’t be going anywhere near the media.”
“Who then?”
“The man in charge.”
“If you’re referring to me, I haven’t been in charge of anything since you took over Mrs. Landau’s job.”
Not to be put off, she said, “You’ll need to try it on first to make certain it fits properly before you appear on camera.”
He stirred as if he were trying to get up, but then he slumped back. It revealed so much.
“You actually went to the trouble to find a costume for me?”
She swallowed hard. “I had it made.”
After a pregnant silence, “Give me a clue.”
“Well—you were a military commander of Thessalonica in the early fourth century.”
“There were dozens of those.” His voice grated.
“This one was appointed by the Emperor Maximian to take his place.”
“As I recall, Maximian persecuted Christians.”
“That’s right, but this commander was a defender of Christ. For defying the emperor he was cast into prison. Then an angel of God came to him and told him to be brave. A few days later he was martyred and became a saint.”
Another silence ensued. Much longer this time. He’d guessed who it was.
Before she could hear him say it, there was a rap on the door. Then the housekeeper appeared with a tray. Behind her came Ananke and Leon, followed by a bearded, middle-aged man carrying a doctor’s bag.
“So, Dimitrios. I hear you received a big bump on your head. Let me take a look at it.”
Alex stood up to leave.
“Sit down and eat, Ms. Hamilton,” Dimitrios ordered her.
The doctor winked at her. “Dimitrios never did make a good patient. Since he has spoken, you’d better obey.”
The housekeeper set the tray down on the table, then left while the other two stood waiting to hear what the doctor had to say. Alex had little choice but to abide by her boss’s wishes.
After checking Dimitrios’s vital signs, the doctor asked Leon to bring him some warm water from the bathroom. He explained he was going to clean the wound.
As he examined it he said, “Tell me how this happened.”
“Ms. Hamilton knows more about it than I do,” came the wry response.
Everyone looked at Alex, who had to finish swallowing her bite of sandwich before she could say anything.
“As he was coming back to his seat, the plane hit an air pocket. His body flew, and his head hit the wall of the plane knocking him unconscious.” It was still distressing to recall the incident, let alone talk about it.
“Hmm. Considering what you’ve been through, Dimitrios, you seem in amazingly good shape. But I don’t doubt you’ve got a concussion.
“I’m not going to give you anything for the pain yet. Someone will have to watch you for the next twelve hours. If you become ill or sleep too long, then you’ll have to be brought to my office for an X ray.
“However, if all goes well, and I think it will, by noon tomorrow you can start to eat and drink what sounds good to you. You’ll be dizzy for a time. Don’t try to overdo when you first get up. Call me if you have any questions.”
He closed his doctor bag and started to leave. Ananke accompanied him to the door. “I’ll stay with him.”
“I’ll trade off with you, Mother.”
“I appreciate both your offers, but Ms. Hamilton has already agreed to sit up with me.”
His declaration shocked everyone, especially Alex, who almost fell off the chair at the lie.
“She slept most of the way over on the plane,” he continued. “Now that she’s awake and I’m too dizzy to go sleep, we’ll be able to get our work done without interruption.”
“But you can’t expect your secretary—”
“My secretary has the entire responsibility of the trade fair on her shoulders, Ananke,” he cut in. “She needs tonight to go over the details with me. If I should suddenly lose consciousness, she’s perfectly capable of letting you know. Isn’t that true, Ms. Hamilton?”
The tension in the room was unbearable. There were strange undercurrents Alex couldn’t begin to understand. His nephew looked confused and hurt. Along with an angry look at Alex, his sister-in-law reflected her son’s feelings. Unfortunately Dimitrios was waiting for an answer.
“Yes, of course.”
ALEX felt tremendous guilt to hear the bedroom door close behind Leon and Ananke.
“Don’t worry, they’re going to be fine,” Dimitrios