Beauty and the Greek (5 page)

B
ETH,
her attention on the tall svelte blonde who Theo had introduced simply as Nicola, didn't register the long low limo until the gleaming monster had pulled up literally beside her.

The uniformed driver got out and opened the door for her.

Was she meant to get in? Beth paused uncertainly and glanced towards Theo—no help there; his attention was on his companion.

They certainly made a striking couple.

It occurred to Beth that Theo's plan might have stood a better chance of working if he had chosen a woman like Nicola to seduce Andreas… Actually, now that she thought about it, why not choose Nicola?

From what she'd seen so far, it didn't seem likely that any request he made would receive a negative response—the woman acted as if she'd do anything for her boss.

Maybe he was more than a boss?

The possibility—no, cancel that,
probability
—introduced a cynical twist to Beth's reflective smile. Not that it was anything to do with her if they were sleeping together, though it did strike her as rather unprofessional.

One advantage of looking the way she did was that no one had ever accused her of sleeping her way to the top,
not that she was at the top or even halfway there. Actually, she wasn't sure how far up the ladder she wanted to go.

She had more fallen into her career than planned it. Sometimes she asked herself what she was doing with her life, then she got her pay cheque and thought that so long as she could pay the bills it didn't really matter.

Smiling at the driver, Beth slid inside. ‘Crikey!' She saw the driver grin at her involuntary exclamation and wiped the expression of wide-eyed wonder from her face. ‘Very nice,' she added in a bored drawl, trying, and she suspected failing, to give the impression that she was accustomed to this sort of opulence.

If she didn't want to come over as terminally gauche Beth realised she really would have to watch the wide-eyed wonder stuff.

When, a moment later, willowy Nicola in her figure-enhancing black jacket, miniskirt and thigh-high boots joined her, Theo had vanished. As the car drew away from the kerb, Beth was unable to keep a lid on her misgivings.

‘I'm not sure this is a good idea.' Not a good idea? It was total and absolute insanity. She wondered what would happen if she demanded they stop the car, but something stopped her from finding out.

The thought that Theo might be right and Andreas might notice her.

‘Relax,' her companion advised. ‘Enjoy.' She tilted her head to study Beth's face and observed with a note of surprise, ‘Theo's right—your face does have potential.' She drew out the word thoughtfully and reached out a hand to brush the hair back from Beth's brow.

Beth jerked away from the clinical contact. ‘Would you like me to show you my teeth too?' she asked, baring them in a white gritted smile, the thought of two people who
could stop conversation simply by walking into a room discussing her looks or, rather, lack thereof was utterly mortifying.

The other woman looked startled and then laughed.

‘You were talking about me?' Beth began angrily, then stopped, realising the stupidity of the question. Considering the context of the situation, it was obvious they'd been discussing her.

‘It's a pity you're not taller but…' Without finishing the observation, Nicola settled back in her seat and, producing a compact from her bag, began to reapply the scarlet outline of her lips.

Beth watched her, realising that, despite her initial impression, the other woman was not beautiful but she was striking.

Striking, poised, polished and confident.

What was her relationship with her employer? Just how close were they?

An image flashed, unbidden, into Beth's head. She blinked to banish the shocking impression of long limbs entwined and glistening skin and shook her head to drive away the soft moans and fragmented gasps whispering in her ears.

Lifting a hand to her burning cheeks, Beth experienced a twinge of envy, not,
obviously
, because the older woman might be sleeping with her boss—for that, in her opinion, the other woman would deserve her deepest sympathy—it was the other woman's poise and confidence she envied.

The statuesque blonde smiled complacently at her reflection and clicked her compact closed, finally satisfied with the reapplication of colour. She lifted a hand to the razor-cropped bleached hair and turned her attention back to Beth.

‘Relax—this is going to be fun.'

Easy for you to say, Beth thought, directing a cranky look at her travelling companion, though she knew her annoyance was directed at the wrong person.

‘Not my idea of fun.'

The other woman shrugged and, miming a
sorry
, took the ringing phone from her jacket. She listened for a moment and then said, ‘No, that won't do at all.' She closed her eyes and, for the space of several minutes, listened in silence before issuing a hissing sound of annoyance from between her clenched white teeth and saying sarcastically, ‘Would you like to tell him that? No, I thought not.' She spent the next few minutes with the phone welded to her ear, speaking intermittently before finally closing it and sliding it back into her pocket. ‘Sorry about that.'

‘Was that…him?'

‘Theo?'

Beth took the amused laughter as a
no
and asked, ‘Have you worked for…him long?'

‘Theo, you mean?'

Beth nodded and wondered why she was so reluctant to say the man's name.

‘Three years.'

‘I've been working for Andreas for three years too, but of course I'm just a secretary.'

‘There is no such thing as
just
a secretary.'

Beth rolled her eyes and said, ‘Let me guess—a Theo quote?' If he lost his billions he could always take up motivational speaking, she thought sourly.

The other woman grinned and shrugged. ‘Actually, I was a secretary too.'

Beth's eyes widened. ‘I assumed that you were some sort of fast track graduate.' The Kyriakis organisation had the pick of the crop of new talent emerging from all the
top universities and the competition for graduate places in every department, from legal to finance, was intense.

‘No, I was never what you'd call academic, and now…' she mused, casting a knowing look at Beth's face. ‘You're thinking I slept my way to the top, or at least halfway up?' she speculated, looking more amused than annoyed.

‘No, really, I…' Beth lied guiltily.

‘My previous boss used to pat me on the head and then take the credit for my ideas.'

Beth, who caught herself nodding sympathetically in response to this change of subject, stopped and said defensively, ‘Andreas isn't like that.'

‘Glad to hear it, but I wasn't so lucky and when I got sent to cover for Theo's PA when she was out sick I expected more of the same from him.'

‘But you didn't get it?' Beth asked, curious in spite of herself. In-house gossip on Theo was confusing; people said he was impossibly demanding, but Beth had noticed that these people were not the ones who worked directly with him. Those people tended to be incredibly loyal…or maybe they were too scared to complain?

She had always assumed the latter but she had to admit that Nicola did not act like someone who was downtrodden and intimidated.

‘No.'

‘But I thought—' Beth's glance fell from the other woman's bright blue gaze and she shook her head and mumbled, ‘Forget it.'

‘That he is impossibly demanding and difficult?' The tall blonde gave a husky chuckle. ‘He is both,' she admitted cheerfully. ‘He pushes himself hard and he expects the same level of commitment from others, but he's generous and a great teacher.' She gave a sly grin and added innocently, ‘But maybe you know that already?'

Beth looked at her blankly. ‘I don't understand…' the penny dropped and she stopped dead, the colour flying to her cheeks. ‘No, I don't.'

Close or not, it would seem that Theo had only told this woman the details he considered she needed to know. It came as no surprise to learn that he was not big on explaining himself.

‘Calm down!' Nicola soothed. ‘I was just asking.' Her glance skimmed over Beth and she added, ‘Though you're not really his type.'

‘You mean I'm not eye candy.'

Just because this woman painted Theo as some progressive saintlike boss, it didn't mean he was. If she was sleeping with her boss, she was not going to tell people he was hell to work for.

‘You
really
like him?'

Beth's incredulity appeared to amuse the other woman. ‘Theo Kyriakis is one of the few men I know who isn't threatened by intelligent women. If you get the chance to work for him,' she continued seriously, ‘go for it. He is seriously a great teacher.'

The idea of being taught anything by Theo Kyriakis made a shudder of distaste trace a shaky path down her spine. ‘I really don't think that's going to happen.'

The other woman shrugged. ‘No, you're probably right; he doesn't mix business and pleasure.'

The mortified colour flew to Beth's cheeks. ‘God, no, it's not like that.'

‘Not my business,' said the blonde cheerfully. ‘But, if you are looking for a job, I'm ready to fly the coop. He's offered me the New York office, but I'm not so sure,' she revealed with surprising candour.

‘I thought you were his assistant.'

‘I am—or I was; Theo likes to work with people he thinks have potential.'

Beth, who had heard enough about perfect boss Theo, released a slow, cleansing breath and changed the subject—anything but Theo Kyriakis was fine by her. ‘Where are we going?'

‘The spa is our first stop… You're booked in for the usual suspects.'

Beth, who hadn't a clue what the
usual suspects
entailed, nodded.

‘I could do with a massage myself,' Nicola mused, rotating her shoulders. ‘But no time,' she added regretfully.

‘You probably think this is odd?'

The blonde's pencilled brows rose. ‘Theo always has a reason and if he wants me to know he tells me; if not…' She looked at Beth and shrugged.

The spa turned out to be every bit as luxurious as Beth had anticipated, but the afternoon of pampering and relaxation she had expected never really happened.

From the moment she arrived she was organised with military precision, attacked from all sides by a stream of professionals who all had a
no pain, no gain
mentality.

When Nicola returned two hours later she been buffed, polished and clipped within an inch of her life.

‘So how was that?' Nicola asked.

‘I had no idea that grooming could be so painful. If anyone comes within fifty yards of me with wax again I will prosecute. It is assault,' Beth told her bitterly.

Nicola looked sympathetic. ‘Don't worry, you've only got hair and nails left—that's relatively painless.'

‘This is a salon?' Beth said, shading her eyes as she stared up at the impressive façade of the Georgian terrace they had just stopped in front of.

‘It's not a salon; it's Theo's London place. Have you never been here?'

Beth shook her head and thought
I don't want to be here now
.

‘The stylists are here.'

‘I was expecting…' She stopped, shook her head and heaved a sigh—why waste her breath?

It was fast becoming obvious that her expectations were not of any real importance—what Theo wanted, Theo got.

‘I don't suppose I have any say in the matter.' Beth caught the other woman looking at her oddly and forced a smile. ‘Come on then, let's get it over with,' she said gloomily as she approached the building with the enthusiasm of a condemned woman.

T
HEO,
who had been drumming his fingers on the desk, stopped as the door opened. He saw Nicola standing there and frowned.

‘I said have her ready for seven.'

Nicola glanced at her watch. ‘It's only a quarter after.'

‘The clock is still ticking. How long does it take to cut a woman's hair and put her in some clothes? I would have thought…' He broke off and frowned as the intrusive sound of the army of stylists exiting noisily in the hallway drowned him out.

‘She's still upstairs.'

Theo hid his frustration behind a stony expression. ‘Why?'

Nicola held up her hands. ‘Look, don't blame the messenger. I tried, I really did, but your Beth is not what you'd call a big entrance girl.'

‘What are you talking about?'

‘Your date won't come out—a first for you…?' she observed, trying to disguise her amusement.

A sound of irritation emerged from between Theo's clenched teeth. ‘So she's hiding in the bedroom. Presumably the makeover was not a success.'

‘The makeover was…'

‘What colour did they put her in?'

‘Black.'

Theo clicked his tongue with exasperation. ‘I
expressly
said she needed some colour.'

‘You did,' Nicola agreed calmly.

‘The woman spends her life in dull colours.' Black would drain her already pale skin and make her look more colourless than ever. Even he knew that and no one was paying him to know about fashion.

Nicola stopped as Theo held up his hand.

‘All right, I get the picture, but she can't look
that
bad.' If the girl had unrealistic expectations it was not his fault.
You raised her expectations
said the voice in his head.

‘Well, actually she—' Nicola found herself talking to thin air. She reached the hallway in time to see her boss gain the top of the curving flight of stairs.

Theo made a quick detour into his own dressing room, grabbed a fresh shirt and tie from the nest rack of similar items and, shrugging himself out of the one he'd been wearing all day, left the room.

He banged on the door before barging in, stopping dead when he found the room empty.

‘Go away!'

The small voice came from the adjoining bathroom.

‘Come out, Beth.' He struggled to inject a coaxing note into his voice. Female dramatics did not amuse him. Less still did the feeling of guilt he could not shake.

Inside the bathroom, Beth shook her head, then stopped as her new hairstyle bounced before settling back into place.

She had been unable to contain her disquiet as the drifts of shorn hair on the floor became a deep soft pile.

‘I don't really think short hair suits me.'

We have kept most of the length
, the man who called himself simply Anton had explained, conveying the strong
impression as he did so that he was not accustomed to defending his artistic efforts.

When he had finished, the loose curls down her back did still reach her shoulder blades but it didn't stop Beth feeling naked and exposed—though not, obviously, as exposed as this dress made her feel—with the heavy, long hair around her face reduced to feathery tendrils.

Both he and the make-up artist had raved about her cheekbones and said it was criminal that she had been hiding them.

Theo leaned his shoulders on the wall and consulted his watch. ‘What do you intend to do? Stay in there for ever?'

Beth turned on the tap to drown out his voice. She could think of worse ideas at that moment than never leaving the bathroom, and a person could actually live for a long time on water and she had plenty of that. She dabbed a wet tissue to her lips and scrubbed hard. The colour stubbornly stayed put; it didn't even smudge.

Beth leaned on the wall and, close to panic, shut her eyes. She took a deep breath—this was ludicrous, but not life-threatening.

She walked over to the mirror and stared at her reflection.
No, it's not ludicrous, but I am, for getting sucked into this entire Cinderella scenario.

Theo had dangled a carrot and she had fallen for the bait.

The hair, the make-up, even the clothes, she thought, glancing down at the close-fitting black sheath that clung to her waist and hips like a second skin before flaring out from the knee—they had all been part of the bait.

‘Well…?'

Ignoring the impatient voice on the other side of the door, Beth turned her back on the person staring back at her from
the mirror; it was bizarre to see a stranger looking back at her. What she needed was an industrial cleaner to get this stuff off her face and her own clothes.

Her clothes were in the other room. ‘I'm not coming out while you're there.'

She heard him snap out an expletive before he finally said, ‘Fine. I have to go to meet them now; stay there if you want to.'

And, after a few moments, she heard the door open and then close. Beth listened, unable to believe it had been that easy…before she cautiously opened the bathroom door.

Other than the racks of designer garments and rows of shoes that the hit team from the exclusive department store had left behind, the room was empty. With a sigh of relief, she ran over to the bed to retrieve her own clothes.

Only they were not where she had left them. Instead, there was a crumpled shirt and tie that she would have sworn had not been there before.

‘Where on earth?' she mumbled, pulling aside the quilt to look beneath it.

‘Looking for these?'

With a startled gasp, Beth swung around, straightening up just as a tall figure re-entered the room. He was holding the neat stack of her clothes, which he dropped on the floor before beginning to casually button the shirt that hung open to his waist, revealing the ridged muscles of his flat belly and a teasing glimpse of the light dusting of body hair on his golden chest.

Beth's eyes made an unscheduled journey from his face to his waist as a silent shiver that began low in her pelvis rippled outwards until her entire body was involved.

She took a deep breath and dragged her eyes upwards. So Theo Kyriakis was in pretty good shape—this was not exactly news.

Actually,
pretty good
might, she conceded, be the under-statement of the century. He had the sort of body fantasies were made of, though not, obviously, her own.

Theo had been annoyed his plan had gone pear-shaped but prepared to cut her some slack. It wasn't her fault that things hadn't worked and he was actually reasonably philosophical about the failure.

But he had been surprised. Theo considered himself a pretty good judge of such things and he had been sure that Elizabeth Farley would scrub up pretty well; of course he hadn't been expecting miracles or a wow, stop-in-your-tracks moment.

His expectations had been much more realistic, but he had genuinely thought that getting her out of those drab clothes would be a vast improvement and a bit of gloss to draw attention to those lush, seductive lips would make any man forget her less than classical features.

An image of that mouth was drifting through his mind as she whipped around to face him, her newly styled hair fanning out like a silky cloud around her face before settling in silky waves down her back.

Theo got the wow moment he had not been anticipating—it hit him like a fist connecting with his solar plexus.

A husky expletive slipped unnoticed from his lips as he drew a deep breath; he had no more control over his body than an adolescent in the first grip of lust as he stood there, nailed to the spot, and stared.

He had, admittedly, thought she had potential but not this! Who knew that under the frumpy suits and high-buttoned collars was a body that any woman would trade her entire collection of designer handbags for, and any man…he shook his head slightly and exhaled the air that had been trapped in his lungs in one long sigh and thought…any man, including his brother, would want to possess.

The mystery was why any woman would hide a body like that.

And, despite his misgivings, the black had not turned out to be a mistake, he conceded, sending up a silent apology to the stylists who, it turned out, did know their job. The stark column of black brought out the opalescent sheen of her pale creamy skin and the loose, low cowl neckline of the dress revealed the beauty of her lovely neck and shoulders while offering tantalising little glimpses of her small high breasts when she moved.

‘You said you'd go,' Beth accused, directing a bitter look at his face.

Theo didn't respond. He just carried on staring at her with a fixed intensity that she found unnerving; if she had felt self-conscious and awkward previously in the unaccustomed finery, now his reaction made her feel a million times worse.

It wasn't until she heard his startled exclamation of dismay—that Beth realised that she had still, in one stubbornly optimistic corner of her brain, nurtured a faint hope that she was overreacting. A man with an ounce of sensitivity would have hidden his disappointment, she reflected bitterly.

‘Well, now you know,' she said, lifting her arms wide and performing a shaky twirl, the accompanying laugh emerging as a rusty croak. ‘Sorry.'

‘Sorry?'

There was an oddly blank look in his eyes as they connected with her own; they were so dark that it was impossible to tell where the pupil ended. The effect was strangely hypnotic.

The nerve-shredding awkward silence stretched.

What else was she meant to say? she wondered as she finally wrenched her eyes from his; she only made it as
far as his sternly sensual mouth and the muscle that was clenching beside it.

He was clearly really aggravated that his plan had fallen apart at the first hurdle. It had not even occurred to him to consider how she might be feeling… No, of course it hadn't. My God, he had to be the most egocentric and selfish man on the planet!

The resentment inside her suddenly exploded. ‘Don't look at me like that—it's not my fault!' she yelled.

‘There is no need to raise your voice.' His eyes slid to her heaving breasts. Andreas's eyes were going to pop out of his head when he saw her.

This transformation worked on many levels. His brother was going to be kicking himself that this woman had been sitting a few feet away from him for years and he was going to be consumed with jealousy because she was with Theo.

‘Actually, there is a need.
I
told you it was a ridiculous idea, but you would have it your way, as usual…' Breathing hard through flared nostrils, she planted her hands on her hips, unwittingly causing the fabric of her dress to pull tight across her breasts, and fixed him with a resentful glare. ‘Do you ever listen to anyone else? Silly question; of course you don't. Well, for the record, I know I look ridiculous so I don't need you to tell me.' Or look at me as if I've grown a second head.

She wrapped her arms across her chest in a protective gesture and wished he'd stop staring. ‘And don't you dare tell me to put a positive slant on it,' she warned him darkly.

‘All right, I won't,' Theo agreed, adjusting the knot of his tie.

‘Because I'm up to here,' she informed him, raising her hand a foot above her head, ‘with being positive and putting
a brave face on it when life actually sucks.' She paused to catch her breath and thought this was definitely one of those life-sucking moments. ‘A slutty dress,' she observed bitterly, ‘is not going to change the fact I'm just not eye candy material.'

Hearing the self-pitying quiver in her voice, she lifted her chin and thought, live with it, Beth, you weren't some sexy siren when you got out of bed this morning so, actually, nothing has changed.

‘The dress is not slutty.'

‘You mean I am?' she queried sharply.

A shadow of impatience moved across Theo's face. ‘Don't be ridiculous.'

‘I'm simply not sexy,' she added, unable to shake free of the self-pitying mode.

Any sexier and she would need to carry a government health warning. ‘The dress,' he said, struggling for patience, ‘is not
slutty
; it is classy and sexy.' And she was clearly certifiable if she truly had no inkling of how she looked.

‘Oh, I'm sure it cost a lot of money,' she admitted, stretching out a leg to examine the effect as the folds of fabric pulled tight against her thigh. She pointed her toe and, thinking of the hand-sewn label she had spotted, admitted, ‘I'm sure it would look tremendous on someone who could carry it off.' And someone with less in the breasts department; the lift effect of the boned bodice and loose cowl neckline was alarming, she decided, squinting down at of the amount of cleavage on display.

‘Why can you not carry it off?' Theo asked.

Assuming he was joking, she gave a snort of laughter.

‘If you're worried about the money…' Beth grimaced. She wouldn't blame him if he was; there hadn't been a single price tag on any of the outfits hanging on the rail they'd wheeled in but she was pretty sure any one would
have cost more than her yearly clothing budget ‘…I'm sure they'll take the dress and the other things back.'

Which would leave her wearing very little. Without warning, a picture formed in his head to illustrate the point; he saw her standing there minus the slinky dress, and in his expert opinion, she was not wearing a bra.

It took him the space of several heartbeats before he could banish the steamy, distracting image.

‘Just what is your problem?'

Honesty prevented Beth from yelling
I'm looking at it
, because he hadn't made her spend the day being pampered and primped. But it was tempting, really tempting.

What he had done was what he did best—he had exploited her weakness,
made
her do this.

Why would any woman hide a body like that? he wondered as his gaze moved over the slender female curves. Her breasts were surprisingly full, her hips narrow by contrast and her waist incredibly narrow; her slim hips had a deliciously feminine flare.