What the Greek's Money Can't Buy(8)

                Although he was staring straight at it, the mark was so out of sync with the rest of her no-nonsense persona, he wondered if he was hallucinating.

                No, it was definitely a tattoo, right there, etched into her flawless skin.

                Intrigued, he returned his gaze to the busy fingers tapping away. As if sensing his scrutiny, her fingers slowed and her head started to lift and turn towards him.

                Sakis glanced down at his watch. ‘We’ll be landing in three hours. Let’s take a break now and regroup in half an hour.’

                Despite the loud whirr of her laptop shutting down, he noticed her attention didn’t stray far from the device. Her attention never wavered from her work—a fact that should’ve pleased him.

                ‘I’ve ordered lunch to be served in five minutes. I can hold it off for a few more minutes if you would like to look over the bios of the people we need to speak to when we land?’ Her gaze met his, her blue eyes cool and unwavering.

                His gaze dropped again to her ankle. As he watched, she slowly re-crossed her legs, obscuring the tattoo from his gaze.

                ‘Mr Pantelides?’ came the cool query.

                Sakis inhaled slowly, willed his wavering control to slide back into place. By the time his gaze reconnected with hers, his interest in her tattoo had receded to the back of his mind.

                Receded, but not been obliterated.

                ‘Have lunch served in ten. I’ll go take a quick shower.’ He rose and headed for the larger of the two bedrooms at the rear of his plane.

                At the door, he glanced back over his shoulder. Brianna Moneypenny was reaching for the attendant intercom with one hand while reopening her laptop with the other.

                Super-efficient and ultra-professional. His executive assistant was everything she’d said on the tin, just like he’d explained to Ari.

                But it suddenly occurred to Sakis that, in the eighteen months she’d worked for him, he’d never bothered looking inside the tin.





                                      CHAPTER TWO

                ‘I NEED TO get to the site asap once we land,’ Sakis said in between bites of his chef-made gourmet beef burger.

                Brianna curbed her pang of envy as she forked her plain, low-fat, crouton-free salad niçoise into her mouth and shook her head. ‘The environment minister wants a meeting first. I tried to postpone it but he was insistent. I think he wants a photo op, this being an election year and all. I told him it’d have to be a brief meeting.’

                His jaw tightened on his bite, his eyes narrowing with displeasure. Brianna didn’t have to wonder why.

                Sakis Pantelides detested any form of media attention with an almost unholy hatred, courtesy of the public devastation and humiliation Alexandrou Pantelides had visited on his family two decades ago. The Pantelides’ downfall had been played out in full media glare.

                ‘I have a helicopter on standby to take you straight to the site when you’re done.’

                ‘Make sure his people know my definition of brief. Do we know what the media presence is at the site?’ he asked after swallowing another mouthful.

                Her gaze darted to his. Green eyes watched her like a hawk. ‘All the major global networks are present. We also have a couple of EPA ships in the area monitoring things.’