LIZZIE, LIZZIE, LIZZIE... What are you hiding?
As he opened the door to his Thames-side penthouse flat Damon was still brooding. It had been shock enough to see Lizzie Montgomery again. To discover he could still read her as he had eleven years ago was even more unsettling—because he knew there was something she wasn’t telling him.
He’d called in at the apartment to pick up his overnight bag. It was his father’s seventieth birthday in a couple of weeks and his PA had called to remind him that Damon’s go-ahead was still required for number of arrangements. They included a rather special youth orchestra from London that had been booked to play at his father’s birthday party.
Too many loose ends had been generated by his absence abroad, Damon reflected as the driver took his bag. Lizzie had briefly derailed his plans, but they were back on track now. He’d like to see her again, but she’d have to fly out to the island. He’d fix it with Stavros, and his PA would make the arrangements.
That was how simple things were for him. He saw no reason for them to change.
* * *
As usual, Lizzie could hardly get a word in. She was meeting Thea for their daily snatched chat over brunch in a café just across the road from the music college, and today Thea was particularly excited.
‘The new Gavros building is right next door to the music conservatoire,’ Thea was enthusing. ‘You should see it. Everything’s been changed around and made super deluxe since that boring insurance company owned it.’
And the Gavros building was as dangerously close to the music conservatoire as it could possibly be Lizzie realised as she called for the bill. She hated it that the tension generated by the Gavros name was threatening to distract her from this precious time with Thea, but she had to find out more.
‘You’ve been inside the Gavros building?’ Her heart hammered nineteen to the dozen as she waited for Thea’s answer.
‘Of course!’ Thea enthused, sucking gloopy milk from her fingers. ‘We had to audition for the man—’
Lizzie’s heart dived into her throat. ‘What man? Was he tall and dark?’
‘No. Short, fat and bald,’ Thea said—to Lizzie’s relief. ‘He said he worked for the Gavros family. We’re playing at a birthday party in Greece, on an island owned by the Gavros family.’
The Gavros family?
Thea glanced up as Lizzie inhaled sharply. Lizzie quickly distracted Thea with talk of new clothes. ‘You’ll need a sunhat, a swimming costume, and perhaps a couple of sundresses—What?’ She laughed as Thea mimed thrusting her fingers down her throat whilst gargling theatrically.
‘Sundresses are for old ladies,’ Thea insisted. ‘And you need new clothes more than me,’ she added with engaging honesty. She frowned. ‘You are coming to Greece to hear us play, aren’t you?’
‘Of course I am,’ Lizzie confirmed, her stomach clenching with alarm as she thought about it. ‘I haven’t missed a concert yet, have I?’
‘Good.’ Thea relaxed.
Lizzie’s concerns about the Gavros family would have to be put to one side. She’d take any job to pay her way. Practical considerations—like where the money for her airfare would come from—were secondary to Lizzie’s determination that she would do whatever it took to support Thea.
‘Do you know whose birthday party it is?’ she asked casually as they went up to the counter to pay the bill.
‘Some old gentleman, I think,’ Thea said vaguely, clearly not too interested.
It didn’t have to be Damon’s father. Thea’s grandfather.
Lizzie’s stomach clenched tight. Sucking in a breath, she jumped straight in. ‘You know we never talk about your father—’
‘Because we don’t need to,’ Thea cut across her, frowning. ‘And I don’t want to,’ she added stubbornly. ‘Why do I need a father when I’ve got you?’
‘It might be nice to—’
‘Ha!’ Thea exclaimed dismissively. ‘We don’t even know where he is. He’s probably on the other side of the planet.’
‘What if I did know?’
‘But you don’t,’ Thea insisted. ‘And if you talked to my friends at school about parents at war you wouldn’t be so keen to look for him either.’
‘Not all marriages are like that.’
‘Just most of them,’ Thea said confidently. ‘And we’re happy, aren’t we? Why would you want anything to change?’
‘But what if things did change?’ Lizzie tried gently.
‘I’d change them back again.’
Thea sounded as confident as Lizzie had once been. And now their precious time together was up, Lizzie realised. She had to go to work and Thea had to go to school.
‘We’ll talk again,’ she promised.
‘In Greece,’ Thea reminded her.
‘In Greece,’ Lizzie confirmed as she raised her umbrella to shelter them both.
* * *
Organising his father’s party was a welcome change from Damon’s usual work. He was enjoying it far more than he’d expected to. The high spirits of the volunteers was heartening. Everyone wanted to do their bit for the man who had done so much for them. Damon’s father was universally loved. He’d brought prosperity to the island, and now he’d retired and passed the baton on, Damon was determined to do the same for those who had remained loyal to his father.
They would do more events like this, he decided. Mixing with good people had reminded him that not everyone was a fraudster or a gold-digger.
As he’d learned during the course of his meteoric rise, massive wealth brought vultures flocking, and they came in all shapes and sizes. Which was the only reminder he needed that what he’d seen in Lizzie eleven years ago had been the possibility for something more. He looked forward to his plans where Lizzie was concerned coming to fruition. And Stavros had proved a staunch ally.
The setting for his father’s concert couldn’t be bettered, he concluded as he walked across the sugar sand beach. An open-air stage had been erected on the playing fields behind the school where the youth orchestra were staying. The orchestra was already here and rehearsing and, like everyone else within earshot, he’d been entranced by their music.
One particular young livewire, with black bubbly curls and mischievous eyes, had just played the most extraordinary solo. She was the young violin prodigy everyone was talking about. She wasn’t self-conscious or inflated by her success, as she might have been. She just loved her music—as Thea had told him.
He smiled as he remembered her explaining, ‘Thea’s a Greek name. I’m a bit Greek.’
He’d laughed. ‘I’m a bit Greek too,’ he’d told her.
‘No. You’re all Greek,’ she’d argued, staring up at him intently. ‘I can tell that from the colour of your eyes.’
‘Is that such a bad thing?’
‘No. It’s a very good thing,’ she’d assured him. ‘My mother’s half-Greek, and my grandmother was all-Greek. I’m a bit Greek because I choose to be. You should meet my mother,’ she’d added, squinting against the sun as she studied his face.
‘Should I?’ Another matchmaker, he’d thought, groaning inwardly.
But this matchmaker was different, he thought, remembering Thea’s dramatically mournful expression as she’d explained, ‘My mother’s young, and very beautiful, and she’s all alone.’
‘Tragic,’ he’d agreed, playing along. ‘But I’m sure that if she’s anything like you she won’t be alone for long.’
After which he’d thought he should extricate himself as diplomatically as possible. Thea might have the makings of a great matchmaker, but he wasn’t looking for a match.
* * *
Stavros had saved Lizzie. His cousin had a beach restaurant on the island owned by the Gavros family, and his cousin just happened to be desperate for more staff...according to Stavros.
Another coincidence? Or not?
Lizzie had known she couldn’t afford to be picky when Stavros had adopted a dreamy expression as he’d described the island of his birth, adding, ‘You haven’t heard from Damon, I suppose?’
‘No,’ Lizzie had admitted, thinking it better to break it to him that, sooner rather than later, that Cupid had failed. ‘And I don’t expect to.’
So here she was, standing outside Cousin Iannis’s restaurant, on what looked and sounded like a party night. She was feeling optimistic. How could she not, when Thea had called to say she had settled in and everything was going really well, and she’d made a lot of new friends on the island?
It was hard not to fall in love with the island, Lizzie thought as she stared up at the star-peppered sky. It was warm even this late at night, and the candles glowing inside the restaurant gave everything such a welcoming glow. Traditional music was playing, and the scent of delicious food made her hungry.
Iannis had picked her up at the airport, and now he ushered her inside and directed her towards the kitchen.
‘We’re in training for the big birthday party next week,’ he explained above the din of crashing plates and shouts of, ‘Oopa!’
Iannis was the double of his cousin Stavros, and Lizzie doubted either man needed an excuse to hold a party. They were both kindness personified. Stavros had insisted on paying for her flight, saying he owed her holiday money, and now there was this—the warmest of welcomes.
‘No work tonight!’ Iannis insisted as she glanced at the row of servers’ aprons hanging on pegs in the lobby outside the kitchen. ‘You’ve only just arrived, so tonight you’re my guest at the party. Your apartment is just up those stairs by the entrance door—’ he indicated where ‘—and your luggage is already on its way up to your room.’
‘You’re too kind.’
‘No. You’re too kind,’ Iannis argued. ‘Stavros has told me all about you—and he has insisted that I mustn’t work you too hard. No buts,’ he warned. ‘Your time here is to be a holiday. It’s all arranged.’
Flinging the door to the kitchen wide, he ushered Lizzie in to meet his staff.
She froze on the threshold. ‘Damon?’
What was he doing here?
Leaning back against the wall, looking as hot as sin, Damon raised a brow and smiled faintly as she walked in.
‘Are you stalking me?’ she challenged lightly.
‘Surely it’s the other way around?’ he countered in his low, husky drawl.
She was instantly tense, thinking of Thea just a few miles down the road.
‘Lizzie?’ Damon pressed.
He was instantly suspicious. ‘Damon,’ she replied coolly.
Lifting her chin, she met his stare steadily. Pulses of heat rushed through her. He was so unbelievably good-looking, and she needed thinking time. She should have known he would be on the island—after all, his family owned it—but somehow she’d just blanked the possibility from her mind.
‘Is something distracting you?’ he asked.
Oh, so much! ‘The sight of such delicious food,’ she lied.
He looked at her as if he didn’t believe a word of it. ‘It certainly is a distraction.’
‘I didn’t expect to see you,’ she admitted.
He raised a brow, and his eyes burned with amusement as his gaze roved openly over the outline of her body beneath her jeans and simple top. She would have said something, but with Iannis looking on with interest she knew that wouldn’t be wise. She hated to disappoint her matchmakers, and she wouldn’t be rude in front of them, but neither Iannis nor Stavros knew her history with Damon. And nor would they, if she had anything to do with it.
‘Damon has been working all day to make things special for my staff,’ Iannis explained. ‘We are catering the big birthday party next week.’
That was all she needed to know. Why else would Damon be here if it weren’t for the fact that it was his father’s birthday they were talking about?
‘He wanted my people to have a night off,’ Iannis was explaining proudly.
Lizzie quickly pulled herself together. ‘That’s very good of him,’ she agreed.
‘And as soon as you’ve settled in you must come down to the party,’ Iannis insisted. ‘That’s right, isn’t it, Damon?’ he pressed.
‘Most definitely,’ Damon confirmed, with a look at Lizzie that sucked the breath clean out of her lungs.
‘Eat—drink—dance—make love!’ Iannis exclaimed helpfully, with a wide smile. ‘That’s all that’s allowed tonight.’
So long as they weren’t all compulsory, Lizzie thought, while Damon’s wicked smile reached his eyes and stayed there.
‘Oh, and there are some gifts waiting for you on the bed upstairs,’ Iannis added.
‘Gifts for me?’ Lizzie glanced at Damon.
‘They’re nothing to do with me,’ he said.
So gifts from whom? Lizzie wondered.
‘I’ll see you downstairs as soon as you’ve had chance to freshen up,’ Damon called after her as she left the kitchen.
She turned at the door. ‘I’m not sure I’ll be coming down again.’
‘Of course you will.’
He said this in a way that made her run up the stairs as if the hounds of hell were after her.
Closing the door on her apartment, she closed her eyes and sucked in a deep, steadying breath. Damon only had to look at her for lust to surge through her veins, and that was dangerous. She was a very different person now from the girl she’d been at eighteen. She had far more sense, Lizzie told herself firmly as she switched on the light and looked around.
The first thing she saw were the ‘gifts’ laid out on the bed. She knew immediately who they were from, and rushed across the room to pick the dresses up and hold them to her face. Then she reached for her phone.
‘Sundresses for the old lady!’ she said, laughing happily as Thea came on the line.
Thea giggled. ‘Do you like them?’
‘I love them—but you shouldn’t be spending your money on me.’
‘I bought them at the market on our first day here. As soon as I saw them I knew I had to buy them for you. I fell in love with the sunny yellow one right away, and the blue’s so pretty.’
‘I love them both,’ Lizzie admitted. She would never have wasted her scant funds on buying anything so frivolous for herself.
‘Do they fit?’ Thea demanded.
‘They’re perfect.’ Hugging the dresses close, she battled to contain her emotions.
‘Be sure to wear one of them for the concert.’
‘I will,’ Lizzie promised. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow. I can’t wait to hear you play.’
‘Playing the violin isn’t everything,’ Thea informed Lizzie, stalling her thoughts in a way that had never happened before.
‘What do you mean?’ Lizzie asked, wondering if she’d said or done something to discourage Thea.
‘Just that. Love’s far more important than anything else,’ Thea explained loftily. ‘Love is all I care about now. I’m in a romantic phase.’
‘I see...’ Lizzie said faintly.
She didn’t see at all. Instead she wondered if she’d ruined two people’s lives now.
She had to stop this, Lizzie accepted. She was always feeling guilty about something, and she had done so since her father’s trial. As soon as she had discovered how many innocent people he’d harmed, and thought about the many expensive gifts he’d bought for her over the years, she had been plagued with guilt until it had become part of her psyche.
‘Gotta go,’ Thea said, startling Lizzie back into the moment. ‘I’ll send you a text!’
‘Bye, sweetheart...’
She was the luckiest woman on earth, Lizzie thought, smiling as she stared at the small screen filled with kisses. She was so lucky to have Thea in her life, and she would never take that joy for granted.
The joy in which Damon should be sharing?