‘No!’ Spy looked alarmed, but Brittany didn’t answer. Instead she stared sightlessly across the plateau to the ocean.
‘Brittany?’ Lily prompted her. ‘Have you been in love?’
‘Not sure.’ Her friend’s voice was husky. ‘Maybe.’
‘Wow. Ball-breaking Brittany, in love?’ Spy raised his eyebrows. ‘Did you literally fire an arrow through his heart?’ He spread his hands as Lily glared at him. ‘What? She’s a Bronze Age weapons expert and a terrifyingly good archer. It’s a logical suggestion.’
Lily ignored him. ‘What makes you think you might have been in love? What were the clues?’
‘I married him.’
Spyros doubled up with soundless laughter and Lily stared.
‘You—? Okay. Well that’s a fairly big clue right there.’
‘It was a mistake.’ Brittany tugged the trowel out of the ground. ‘When I make mistakes I make sure they’re big. I guess you could call it a whirlwind romance.’
‘That sounds more like a hurricane than a whirlwind. How long did it last?’
Brittany stood up and brushed dust off her legs. ‘Ten days. Spy, if you don’t wipe that smile off your face I’m going to kick you into this trench and cover your corpse with a thick layer of dirt and shards of pottery.’
‘You mean ten years,’ Lily said and Brittany shook her head.
‘No. I mean days. We made it through the honeymoon without killing each other.’
Lily felt her mouth drop open and closed it again quickly. ‘What happened?’
‘I let my emotions get in the way of making sane decisions.’ Brittany gave a faint smile. ‘I haven’t fallen in love since.’
‘Because you learned how not to do it. You didn’t go and make the same mistake again and again. Give me some tips.’
‘I can’t. Avoiding emotional entanglement came naturally after I met Zach.’
‘Sexy name.’
‘Sexy guy.’ She shaded her eyes from the sun. ‘Sexy rat bastard guy.’
‘Another one,’ Lily said gloomily. ‘But you were young and everyone is allowed to make mistakes when they’re young. Not only do I not have that excuse, but I’m a habitual offender. I should be locked up until I’m safe to be rehabilitated. I need to be taken back to the store and reprogrammed.’
‘You do not need to be reprogrammed.’ Brittany stuffed her trowel into the front of her backpack. ‘You’re warm, friendly and lovable. That’s what guys like about you.’
‘That and the fact it takes one glance to know you’d look great naked,’ Spy said affably.
Lily turned her back on him. ‘Warm, friendly and lovable are great qualities for a puppy, but not so great for a woman. They say a person can change, don’t they? Well, I’m going to change.’ She scrambled to her feet. ‘I am not falling in love again. I’m going to take your advice and have rebound sex.’
‘Good plan.’ Spy glanced at his watch. ‘You get your clothes off, I’ll get us a room.’
‘Not funny.’ Lily glared at him. ‘I am going to pick someone I don’t know, don’t feel anything for and couldn’t fall in love with in a million years.’
Brittany looked doubtful. ‘Now I’m second-guessing myself. Coming from you it sounds like a recipe for disaster.’
‘It’s going to be perfect. All I have to do is find a man who doesn’t tick a single box on my list and have sex with him. It can’t possibly go wrong. I’m going to call it Operation Ice Maiden.’
Nik Zervakis stood with his back to the office, staring at the glittering blue of the sea while his assistant updated him. ‘Did he call?’
‘Yes, exactly as you predicted. How do you always know these things? I would have lost my nerve days ago with those sums of money involved. You don’t even break out in a sweat.’
Nik could have told him the deal wasn’t about money, it was about power. ‘Did you call the lawyers?’
‘They’re meeting with the team from Lexos first thing tomorrow. So it’s done. Congratulations, boss. The US media have turned the phones red-hot asking for interviews.’
‘It’s not over until the deal is signed. When that happens I’ll put out a statement, but no interviews.’ Nik felt some of the tension leave his shoulders. ‘Did you make a reservation at The Athena?’
‘Yes, but you have the official opening of the new museum wing first.’
Nik swore softly and swung round. ‘I’d forgotten. Do you have a briefing document on that?’
His PA paled. ‘No, boss. All I know is that the wing has been specially designed to display Minoan antiquities in one place. You were invited to the final meeting of the project team but you were in San Francisco.’
‘Am I supposed to give a speech?’
‘They’re hoping you will agree to say a few words.’
‘I can manage a few words, but they’ll be unrelated to Minoan antiquities.’ Nik loosened his tie. ‘Run me through the schedule.’
‘Vassilis will have the car here at six-fifteen, which should allow you time to go back to the villa and change. You’re picking up Christina on the way and your table is booked for nine p.m.’
‘Why not pick her up after I’ve changed?’
‘That would have taken time you don’t have.’
Nik couldn’t argue with that. The demands of his schedule had seen off three assistants in the last six months. ‘There was something else?’
The man shifted uncomfortably. ‘Your father called. Several times. He said you weren’t picking up your phone and asked me to relay a message.’
Nik flicked open the button at the neck of his shirt. ‘Which was?’
‘He wants to remind you that his wedding is next weekend. He thinks you’ve forgotten.’
Nik stilled. He hadn’t forgotten. ‘Anything else?’
‘He is looking forward to having you at the celebrations. He wanted me to remind you that of all the riches in this world, family is the most valuable.’
Nik, whose sentiments on that topic were a matter of public record, made no comment.
He wondered why anyone would see a fourth wedding as a cause for celebration. To him, it shrieked of someone who hadn’t learned his lesson the first three times. ‘I will call him from the car.’
‘There was one more thing—’ The man backed towards the door like someone who knew he was going to need to make a rapid exit. ‘He said to make sure you knew that if you don’t come, you’ll break his heart.’
It was a statement typical of his father. Emotional. Unguarded.
Reflecting that it was that very degree of sentimentality that had made his father the victim of three costly divorces, Niklaus strolled to his desk. ‘Consider the message delivered.’
As the door closed he turned back to the window, staring over the midday sparkle of the sea.
Exasperation mingled with frustration and beneath that surface response lay darker, murkier emotions he had no wish to examine. He wasn’t given to introspection and he believed