What The Greek Wants Most

She pulled down her box-pleated hem and wished she’d worn something a little longer than the form-fitting mid-thigh-length royal-blue sleeveless dress. The traffic had been horrendous and she’d arrived home much later than planned. The dress had been the nearest thing to hand. Now she stared down at the four-inch black platform heels she’d teamed with it and grimaced at the amount of thigh and legs on show.

The light breeze lifted a few strands of her loose hair as she turned to her brother and saw him jerk his chin towards the largest yacht moored at the far end of the pier. ‘Trust Pantelides to rub my nose in it,’ he said acerbically.

She looked from the sleek black, gold-trimmed vessel back to her brother. ‘Rub your nose…what are you talking about?’

With a sullen look, he strode off down the jetty. ‘That’s my boat.’

‘Yours? When did you buy a boat?’

‘I didn’t. I couldn’t. Not after the mess up with Pai’s last campaign. That boat was supposed to be mine!’ Dark anger clouded his face.

Her heart jumped into her throat. ‘Pietro, a boat like that costs millions of dollars. Besides that very unsubtle hint that I in any way stood in the way of your acquiring it—which is preposterous, by the way—there’s no way you could ever have afforded a boat like that, so—’

‘Forget it. Let’s go and get this over with. It’s bad enough Pai pulled out of coming tonight. Now I have to schmooze for both of us. You have to play your part, too. It’s clear Pantelides’s got a thing for you.’

Disgust and anger rose in her and she snatched her hand away from Pietro when he tried to lead her down the gangplank.

‘I won’t participate in another of your soulless schemes. So you may as well forget it right now.’

‘Inez—’

‘No!’ Feelings she’d bottled up for much longer than she cared to think about rose to the surface. ‘You keep asking me to throw myself at prospective investors so you can fund Pai’s campaign. You’re his campaign manager and yet you can’t seem to function without my help. Why is that?’