She turned on Andreas so abruptly that a thick skein of chestnut hair escaped the cheap clip that still secured her chignon. She brushed it angrily away. “Some food wouldn’t have hurt the boy, would it?”
“You have no understanding of the way things are here.” Andreas gestured dismissively with a sweep of his arm and, turning his back on her, strode toward the harbor’s edge. Briskly, he began to descend the steps that led down to the water before asserting himself further. “I do. So accept my judgment on this matter.”
“Do as I’m told, in other words?”
Kizzy swallowed angry tears as she stared furiously down into that impassive expression. His indifferent shrug chilled her to the bone. His eyes were harsh as volcanic rock.
Andreas indicated that she should step aboard the speedboat that was waiting for them. His lips thinned to an angry slash as he noted her continuing mutiny. “We have a schedule,” he pointed out, and stepped on board, roughly offering her a hand as the vessel bobbed about in the creamy swell.
“I wish I could afford to walk away from all this,” Kizzy hissed, standing motionless on the stone steps. She continued to stare into the abyss of his exacting gaze. “Away from you.”
“Well, I do believe you can’t.”
He pulled her firmly downward by the wrist, ensuring that she fell into the unyielding cradle of his chest and upper arms.
“And I would appreciate it if you could start behaving in a respectable manner in public,” Andreas Lazarides whispered harshly against her ear. “I wouldn’t want your insubordination to rub off on the rest of my staff.”
“Oh for—”
Kizzy stifled a novel urge to swear at him, and hauled herself free. She reminded herself that a huge loan repayment was due in under a week’s time and she still had no means of meeting it.
“I hope you don’t think I’m impressed by this dingy!”
Andreas flicked her a bleak look from beneath his dark brows. “I’m not in the habit of trying to impress dishonest barmaids. Especially unemployed ones.”
Vitriol coursed through her veins in reaction to this barbed remark. She couldn’t stop herself from blurting out the most insulting thing she could manage at short notice. “So you’ve got a boat as well as your own private plane.” She sniffed ostentatiously. “It’s not the biggest in the harbor though, is it? I would have expected it to match the size of your ego…and heartlessness.”
Andreas sighed. “You flew here in a jet actually, and this, I grant you, is little better than a dingy. But it is manned.”
“Oh, of course it is,” she replied tartly. “Heaven forbid you’d have to get your own impeccable hands dirty.”
Kizzy watched as the Greek businessman raised both those hands to his head and ruffled them exasperatedly through his hair. “And I’d like to know exactly where we’re going, if that’s not too much to ask.”
Unexpectedly, and to her intense annoyance, Andreas Lazarides began to laugh. Only briefly, but it was still a laugh.
“Come on, Kizzy,” he said, with the secret joke still working its magic on his lips. “Stop messing around and sit down. Make yourself comfortable. We have a significant voyage ahead of us to Lindos.”
His smile faded to an impatient frown when she still refused to budge.
“Look, I’ve told you where we’re going. Now sit down, will you?”
Kizzy slumped indecorously onto one of the plush seats of the outboard and snapped her head away from his direct line of vision.
She didn’t want to look at the despicable man, let alone register the sizzle of awareness as she watched the smooth, sexy curve of his desirable mouth.
The boat drew out slowly and surged forward in the direction of the open sea. Ahead, two enormous bronze deer glinted on massive columns either side of the harbor. Kizzy gripped her seat tightly. Fully aware of the choppier water that awaited them farther out, she just prayed that the small boat was up to fending off the blue ferocity of the Aegean.
“You okay?” Andreas shouted over the roar of the engine and the relentless pounding of water against the vessel’s bow.
As if he cared, Kizzy thought, and grimaced in response. She took a deep breath. Her stomach lurched uncomfortably a couple of times as the launch rode the swell of a passing container ship. She closed her eyes against the brilliant mirage of white, blue and green: a confection of water, bleach-white hulls, and sky that had scored an image on the back of her eyes. She felt her body rise and fall with the engine thrusts, shuddering with the impact of persistent waves.
She was just beginning to wonder how much longer she could maintain her composure when, as suddenly as their journey had begun, the muffled unseen world around her began to change.
Kizzy felt the wind begin to slacken its assault on her hair; the vibration of pulsing cylinders began to slow. They were stopping for some reason before they had reached the open sea.
They were going to sink!
Her eyes flashed open in alarm and were confronted by a gilded nameplate fixed to the hull of a tall white vessel before them. The name was written in Greek, and although she had no understanding of the words, Kizzy knew instantly what it meant—she had just made a complete idiot of herself. Again.
“I do hope you find my everyday Rhodian yacht, Elektron, more to your tastes than a humble dingy, Miss Dean,” Andreas announced, his smile wry.
Kizzy chose to ignore both his remark and the amusement that danced in his dark eyes. As she rose unsteadily from her seat, the young man who had been controlling the outboard stood up quickly to steady her. The young man smiled warmly, murmuring a few honeyed-sounding words into her ear as he squeezed her upper arm.
“Thank you,” Kizzy said.
His hand fell away to deal with the array of ropes and securing mechanisms that were suddenly emerging.
She glanced briefly at Andreas, who was scowling at her again. “I didn’t understand a single word of what he said, I’m afraid.”
Andreas’s tone was savage. “He said, ‘Take it easy, beautiful, and I’ll see you some time soon.’”
Her cheeks suddenly flushed and she looked away.
Taking Kizzy by the elbow, Andreas guided her briskly out of the speedboat and onto a low, wide platform below a curved flight of white steps. “I will make sure that he is disciplined for his impertinence,” he muttered. “But I rather think you brought that lax behavior upon yourself.”
Was there no end to this man’s condescension?