Helios Crowns His Mistress(18)

She wanted it to be perfect—not just because of her professional pride, but also for Helios, his grandfather and his brothers.

‘Your meeting with Helios,’ Pedro said. ‘He’s waiting for you in his private offices.’

‘Oh.’ She rubbed at her lips, avoiding Greta’s curious stare, willing them both not to notice the flames licking at her face.

Helios had been as good as his word. No one knew they were sharing a bed again, not even Greta. It wasn’t just guilt preventing Amy from confiding in her friend, but the feeling that what she and Helios had now was just too intimate to share.

‘Yes. Yes, I remember.’

Excusing herself politely, still not meeting their eyes, Amy hurried away. When she’d kissed Helios goodbye that morning, before coming to work, she’d assumed that he would be flat-out busy all day. His itinerary had given her a headache just looking at it. A frisson ran up her spine as she imagined what he might be wanting from her. She doubted very much that it had anything to do with the museum.

Helios’s private offices were attached to his private apartment. Getting there was a trek in itself. She could cut through her own apartment and use their secret passageway, but during daylight hours it wasn’t feasible, not when this was an ‘official’ meeting, even if it would shave ten minutes off her walk.

The usual courtiers guarded his quarters. They were expecting her and opened the door without any questions. She stepped inside, into a large reception area. The door to the left led to his apartment. She turned the handle of the door to the right.

Talia, Helios’s private secretary, rose to greet her, a pastry in her hand. ‘Hello, Amy,’ she said with a welcoming smile. Usually immaculately presented, today Talia had a wild-eyed, frazzled look about her. ‘He’s expecting you.’

Did Talia suspect Amy and Helios had resumed their relationship? Did anyone suspect?

Amy smiled back politely. ‘How are things?’

Talia crossed her eyes and pulled a face. ‘Busy. This is the first time we’ve stopped all day.’ She pressed a key on one of her desk phones. ‘Despinis Green is here,’ she said.

‘Send her in,’ came the response.

Amy found Helios sitting behind his sprawling desk with Benedict, his black Labrador, snoozing beside him. Benedict cocked an ear and opened his eyes when she walked into the office, then promptly went back to sleep.

‘Take a seat,’ Helios said politely, his eyes following her every movement with a certain knowingness.

As soon as the door was closed and they had some privacy he rose from his chair and stepped round the desk to take her in his arms.

‘Was there a reason you made up a non-existent meeting other than to make out with me in your office?’ she asked with bemusement when they came up for air.

His hands forked through her hair and he kissed her again. ‘The French Ambassador’s flight was slightly delayed, giving me an unexpected half-hour window.’

‘It took me that long to get here,’ she said teasingly.

‘I know.’ He gave a mock sigh. ‘I suppose a few kisses are better than nothing.’

She laughed and rested her head against his chest. ‘Should I go now?’

He looked at his watch. ‘Five minutes.’

‘That’s hardly any time.’

Not that she could do anything more than share a few kisses with him in his office, with Talia on the other side of the door and the palace full of Very Important People who all demanded his time. How he kept his good humour was a mystery...

‘There’s always time for kissing,’ he said, tilting her chin up so he could nuzzle into her cheek. ‘Especially as I won’t get the chance to touch you again for at least another ten hours...’ Before she could get too comfortable, however, he stepped away. ‘To answer your original question—yes, I did have an ulterior motive for seeing you other than the insatiable need to kiss you.’

She rolled her eyes.

‘Before I tell you... I don’t want you to think I’ve been interfering.’

‘What have you interfered with?’

‘I told you, I’m not interfering. I’m helping,’ he added, with a deliberate display of faux innocence.

‘What have you done?’

His features became serious. ‘I’ve been in contact with your birth mother.’

Her heart almost stopped. ‘And?’ she asked breathlessly.

‘She has agreed to meet you in a neutral place on Monday.’

She shook her head, trying to clear the sudden buzzing that had started in her brain at this unexpected development.

‘Are you angry with me?’

‘No. Of course not.’ She wrapped her arms around him and breathed him in. His scent was so very reassuring. ‘It’s in your nature to take charge and boss people around.’

He laughed and rubbed his hands down her back. ‘I wrote to her in my capacity as your boss. And in my capacity as her Prince.’

‘It’s amazing how people are able to do an about-turn on the basis of a simple word from you.’

‘It certainly is,’ he agreed cheerfully.

‘If I were a princess I would throw my weight around everywhere.’

He pulled back and tapped her on the nose. ‘No, you wouldn’t... And I don’t throw my weight around,’ he continued, feigning injury.

She grinned. ‘You don’t need to.’ Stepping onto her toes, she pressed a kiss to his lips. ‘Thank you.’

‘Don’t thank me yet—there are no guarantees the meeting will go well.’

She shrugged. ‘Having met Leander, I have no expectations. I don’t want to be part of her family or cause trouble for her. I just want to meet her.’

‘Just...be careful. Don’t build your hopes up.’

‘I won’t,’ she promised, knowing his warning came from a place of caring, just as his interference had. If their roles had been reversed she would be warning him too.

‘Good. I’ll email you the details.’

‘Thank you.’

One of the landlines on his desk buzzed. Sighing, Helios disentangled his arms from around her and pressed a button. ‘Yes?’

‘The French contingent have landed and are expected in twenty minutes.’

‘Thank you. I’ll leave in a moment to greet them.’ Disconnecting the call, he shook his head and grimaced. ‘One more kiss before duty calls?’

Obliging him, Amy leaned closer, raised herself onto the tips of her toes and brought her mouth to his, giving him one last, lingering kiss before he broke away with a rueful smile.

‘I’ll see you later and we’ll do a lot more than kissing,’ he said, then strode to the office door and opened it.

‘The Koreans will be arriving within the hour,’ Talia called as he walked past her.

He shook his head. ‘Whose idea was it to have so many guests arrive a day early?’

‘Yours,’ Talia said, her expression deadpan.

‘The next time I come up with such an idea you’re welcome to chop my hands off.’

Hoping her demeanour was as nonchalant as his, Amy said goodbye to Talia. When she stepped out into the corridor Helios had already gone.

* * *

Gala day had arrived.

If Helios had been busy the day before, it was nothing compared to today. His whole morning had been spent meeting and greeting guests and making sure everything was running perfectly.

This was a day he’d looked forward to. No one could organise an occasion better than the Agon palace staff and he always enjoyed celebrating the events they hosted. He was immensely proud of his family and his island, and never turned down an opportunity to discuss its virtues with interesting people.

With his grandfather’s situation as it was, he’d expected the day to feel bittersweet, with the joy of celebrating the great man’s life certain to be shadowed by the knowledge that it would soon be ending.

What Helios hadn’t expected was to feel flat.

There was a strange lethargy within him which he was fighting against. Merely shaking hands and making eye contact felt like an effort. His mouth didn’t want to smile. He hadn’t even found the energy to be disappointed by the news that the solo violinist Talos had been working so closely with would not be able to perform due to severe stage fright.

One bright spot had been the unveiling of his grandfather’s biography, which he and his brothers had looked through with their grandfather privately before the pre-Gala lunch. To see the man who’d raised them make his peace with Theseus had warmed him. And King Astraeus had surprised them all by revealing that he knew about Theseus’s son and his plans to marry the boy’s mother, and had given his blessing.

These were all things that should have had Helios slapping his brothers’ backs and calling for a glass of champagne.

They’d gone through to the lunch together. Again, he should have revelled in the occasion, but the food had tasted like cardboard, the champagne flat on his tongue.

His fiancée, who’d arrived with her father and her brother, Helios’s old school friend, had sat next to him throughout the lunch. He’d had to force the pleasantries expected of him. When Catalina’s father, the King of Monte Cleure, had commented about the announcement of their engagement it had taken all his willpower not to slam his knife into the table and shout, To hell with the announcement!