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She heard him get up and move away but didn’t look up. Instead she asked herself what the hell just happened as she secured Declan securely in a baby sling, which made it easier to negotiate the steps, even with a bag containing the baby essentials banging against her hip.
Arthur was on the tarmac. He waved but walked across to Zac who had disembarked ahead of her and was speaking to someone official-looking. Even from a distance it was obvious that the official was eager to please.
Waiting to be told where to go, she stood on the tarmac, which seemed to reflect the heat it had absorbed back at her. With an anxious glance at the baby, she fished in the bag for a sunhat, which she fitted carefully on a contented Declan’s head. She had anointed him with suncream during the flight, using the spare left on her own nose—even so, she could almost hear the sound of her freckles breaking out as she stood there. Despite the precautions she was anxious to get the baby out of the sun.
She delved a second time into the bag, giving a little grunt of triumph when her fingers located what she was looking for, a cheap and cheerful plastic handheld fan, which she directed at Declan.
Allowing herself a few seconds of fan use, she directed it down her cleavage before she moved it back to Declan. Her clothes were sticking to her skin as she looked around, controlling her impatience with difficulty. After the build-up of expectation she was here, and here was not very exciting. Her emotions had dipped. One stretch of tarmac was much the same as another.
She was trying to remember how long Zac had said their transfer would be when he appeared at her side.
‘How long did you say it took to—’
‘The helicopter transfer takes less than thirty minutes,’ came the terse-sounding response. ‘Before you ask, I’ve checked that it’s OK for babies. So this helicopter will be a first for you too, I’m assuming?’
Her lips tightened. He made her sound freakish, and there was no sign of the tentative rapport of their journey. Well, if he thought it was weird that she was a first flyer imagine what he’d make of her being a virgin. Not that she’d get to know because it was not information she was about to share with him.
‘There is a large part of the population, who aren’t Greek billionaires, that haven’t been in a helicopter.’
He didn’t comment on her spiky response beyond a sardonic look that made her feel embarrassed.
‘Arthur will take you to the house. I have some business I need to attend to in Athens. I’ll probably stay over.’
He delivered the information as though this were the plan all along, but it wasn’t a plan at all, it was more a sticking plaster. The humiliating reality was he had to put some distance between them because he couldn’t think past the sexual attraction, an attraction that seemed to divest him of his normal objectivity, and turn his iron control back on itself.
Rose just nodded, wondering what thebusiness’sname was, and knowing that she had no right to feel a sense of hurt that lay like a boulder in her chest.
Not that she was interested. As far as she could see they all looked pretty much identical...
Wonder if he ever gets the names mixed up?
She was not at all jealous of the identikit women.
‘You all right?’ Arthur sounded anxious.
Rose realised that she had been staring at the back view of Zac as he strode away, seemingly unaware of heads turning to follow the tall dynamic figure.
‘Fine,’ she said, painting on a cheerful smile. Zac’s coldness didn’t hurt her at all, why would it?
‘Can I carry something that isn’t alive and kicking?’ Arthur gave a little wave to the baby, admitting, ‘I never know what to say to children.’
‘Babies are pretty uncritical,’ Rose, amused by the confession, assured him. If only all men found it so easy to admit to their weaknesses, life would be much simpler, she mused, thinking of one particular man. ‘If you don’t mind the bag...?’
She slid the bag from her aching shoulder and handed it over, smiling her gratitude. She might travel light, but a baby did not.
Zac had walked on ahead so Rose had a grandstand view of the ripple effect of his progress—like a Mexican wave, heads turned and eyes followed him.
Rose wasn’t surprised. He was very watchable, though she couldn’t watch him as when she reached the concourse he had vanished. She searched for a distinctive dark head above the throng but there was no sight of him.
‘This way...’
Rose nodded and followed, suspicious of something like sympathy in the older man’s eyes. Was he thinkinganother one...? He must have seen it before, women falling for his boss and throwing themselves at him.
Her chin lifted. Well, she wasn’t one of them, she had more pride. She was there to do a job and that was what she would do, she decided, lifting a hand to shade her eyes from the sun, which was now directly overhead.
With Arthur in charge the golf-buggy transfer to the helipad was smooth. The only hitch came when they were about to lift off. The pilot, who was speaking into his mouthpiece, turned around, hand raised, and yelled above the low-level din.
CHAPTER NINE
