She managed a smile—that encompassed both the people facing her. ‘It’s very good of you to see me like this.’ Arianna smiled back, but Lisa found herself confronting a brick wall in Tino’s eyes.
Damn! Damn! Damn! She was only being nice for Arianna’s sake. This picture of domestic bliss had really thrown her. She should have known that ‘nice’ didn’t suit her. She had given Tino the advantage over her right away…
She had pictured a butler showing her into a room where there would have been a chance to look around and draw conclusions about the very private Constantine Zagorakis. Those conclusions would have helped her to hone her business strategy. There would have been time to sip a refreshing drink while she lowered the temperature in her heart to freezing just to remind herself that the idea of courting Clifton Steel must have been in his mind all the time he’d been holding her, leading her on to the point where he’d almost kissed her.
A few steadying breaths and she could feel her determination flowing back. She was over her jealousy, and ready to concentrate on rescuing the deal. On bettering him, on triumphing over the bastard!
‘You’re always welcome, Lisa.’
Always welcome? Was he mocking her now?
‘Andreas told us to expect you.’
‘It won’t take long.’ Lisa glanced apologetically at Arianna. She refused to see the young woman as a rival, if only because that would have meant Tino had some sort of hold over her. ‘I’m staying at the Zagorakis guest house,’ she added in case he should think she was looking for board and lodgings. She had the satisfaction of seeing his gaze sharpen.
‘Tino, please—’ Arianna touched his arm ‘—Lisa looks so pale. She must be tired. She’s had a long journey.’
Pale and tired? Pale because she was strung out like a wire, perhaps…
‘Arianna’s right. Won’t you come in, Lisa?’
Was the humour in his voice only apparent to her? Lisa wondered as she went past them both into the house. She would have to handle this carefully. It might be just a game to him, but she had no intention of losing Bond Steel to Tino Zagorakis.
The hallway was magnificent. It couldn’t have been a more perfect setting for two such beautiful people. A plant- filled atrium stretched towards a stained glass cupola set into the roof, and where the dying rays of the sun penetrated it caused jewels of light to tremble on the floor beneath her feet.
Something made her turn and she noticed Arianna slipping away. Doubtless all Tino’s women would be equally well trained. They would have to become used to coming second to his business interests.
Beneath the curve of an impressive staircase she spotted a grand piano—it surprised her if only because it wasn’t there for show. The lid was raised, and there was a selection of music littering the stand, as well as the floor around the piano stool.. Barto´k, Bach, Liszt and Brahms, all challenging, cerebral pieces, with a strong dose of romance in the mix…
‘Are you interested in music, Lisa?’
She could feel Tino’s stare burning into her back. ‘Yes, I am, as it happens.’
‘Does it surprise you to find music here?’
‘Surprise me? No.’ No one knew anything about Constantine Zagorakis, or the way he lived, but she was intrigued by the music, and felt sure it must belong to someone else. Zagorakis didn’t possess the heart for music. ‘Does your friend play the piano?’
‘Are you talking about Arianna?’
Lisa shrugged. She didn’t want him mistaking her interest for good old-fashioned female jealousy. ‘Yes, I wondered if the music belonged to Arianna.’
‘Arianna plays the piano occasionally—but more to learn her parts than anything else. She’s an opera singer by profession.’
‘I see.’ Why didn’t that surprise her? Was it because there was something about the dark-eyed beauty that reminded her of her idol, the late diva suprema, Maria Callas? There was the same passion and the same intensity in Arianna’s expression. Was there the same heartbreak courtesy of a Greek billionaire in store for her too?
‘Does Arianna do lot of travelling?’ Do you travel with her? Or do you play away when she’s working?
Tino made a noncommittal sound, and she wasn’t about to repeat the question. And now he was holding open a door she saw led into his study. She had been so busy with her own thoughts, she hadn’t realised they had arrived at their destination.
His study was cool, though surprisingly cosy. The cushions were designed to sink into, and the lighting was subtle. Two sofas were arranged either side of a large stone fireplace, but the fire wasn’t lit as the weather was too warm. The windows were open and she could hear the insistent chirrup of cicadas through the slim, slatted blinds.
‘Make yourself comfortable, Lisa.’
‘Thank you.’ She hadn’t realised how weary she was, but much depended on this visit and she couldn’t afford to lose concentration. She had to secure the deal. She had to save Bond Steel, whatever the personal cost. She couldn’t let Tino take the company as easily as he had stolen her self-control.
He invited her to sit down.
‘I’ll go and get some drinks. White wine all right?’
Wine? To soften her up? She still rued the champagne she had shared with him on Thursday night. ‘Just water for me, please.’
As Tino left the room Lisa knew, however well prepared she was, there were certain things she couldn’t know. How far down the road was his deal with Clifton? Could she still convince Zagorakis that her small engineering works was the best option for him, and that he didn’t need the aggravation of two larger companies like Bond and Clifton?
Doubt washed over her to the point where she wondered if her fighting juices were all used up—and then the door swung open and he walked in. ‘Does Arianna know who you were with on Thursday night?’
‘I doubt she’d be interested.’
As Tino stared at her Lisa wondered what was she doing making any of this personal—the one thing she had vowed not to do. But, however cold-bloodedly she approached the situation, a very female part of her wanted answers. Watching him open a bottle of Chablis, she wished things could have been simpler between them. If they had been she would have asked him who the hell Arianna was, and get it over with.
There was a jug of iced water on the tray as well as a bowl of fresh fruit, and there was also a plate of what looked suspiciously like home-made cookies. Lisa hadn’t eaten a thing since breakfast, and now she realised how hungry she was. But how could she eat cookies when foremost in her mind was an image of Arianna playing earth mother for Tino in the kitchen?
Tino made the torture worse, biting into one of them and then uttering a deep-throated sound of pleasure. The last time she had heard him make a sound like that was when he’d almost kissed her—
‘Won’t you have one?’ He held out the plate.
Apart from wanting to crack it over his head, no way was she going to touch it. Tino was so cool, so together, she wanted the cookies to glue his teeth together, or pull them out, or, better still, stick in his throat and choke him.
‘Do try one.’ He kept on watching her. ‘I can assure you, they’re delicious.’
‘Thank you, no.’ She waved them away with an impatient gesture. ‘Care to tell me why you’re cosying up to Clifton?’
‘Ever the businesswoman, Lisa?’ He shook his head as he put the plate down on the table. ‘You’re