Again, he felt his mouth curve upward. He killed the motion. ‘Your resilience, if nothing else, should prove interesting. The butler will see you out. Be ready to leave first thing in the morning.’ He started to walk away, then paused. ‘And Vayle?’
Her eyes widened a fraction. ‘Hmm…yes?’
‘I haven’t forgotten that you said, “I’ll do anything”. And, believe me, I mean to test it.’
‘Where are we?’ Vayle asked as she wandered onto the widest enclosed terrace she’d ever seen in real life. She was learning ‘real life’ in Nelios Petralis’s world was on a wildly different scale to hers.
She was a little shell-shocked by the dizzying speed of everything that had happened this morning. After a protracted tour of Nelios XV—which had far surpassed everything her imagination had conjured up where tasteful and even obscene luxury were concerned—they’d taken the super-speedy lift to the top of their hotel. There they’d boarded a sleek helicopter with Andreas, Capaldi and a handful of sharp-suited, sharp-eyed, tablet-wielding staff wearing menacing-looking earpieces.
They’d flown north, and upon landing the others had all immediately dispersed with almost robot-like efficiency, leaving her alone with Nelios. Vayle wasn’t afraid to admit, she’d been a teensy bit intimidated by it all. But it dimmed beneath the sheer magnificence of their current location.
‘A private estate that’s been in the owner’s family for generations,’ Nelios answered. ‘They’re in dire straits and are thinking of selling. I’m considering adding it to the Nelios Group’s portfolio but I haven’t decided yet. My short stay here is a test run, of sorts.’
‘Well, you should seriously consider it. It’s stunning,’ she breathed. And, when his gaze pivoted to her, Vayle wasn’t even self-conscious about her blatant appreciation of the property. She shrugged and carried on. ‘But I don’t need to tell you that.’
‘No, you don’t. But I’m still interested in hearing your theories on how to best position this in a hospitality market,’ he said.
‘There’s no such thing as free advice, Mr Petralis,’ she half-joked.
She’d spent the night tossing and turning, swinging between guilt about wondering if Agnes was avoiding her because she bore some culpability, the way her son had accused, and reminding herself of the older woman’s unfailing kindness to her over the years. Then, pushing away the unsettling sensation that thought brought, she’d attempted to plot how best to utilise thetime she’d bought for herself. Why, given a second opportunity, she hadn’t addressed that thinly veiled warning from Nelios about using her words against her. Hell, it was almost as if she wanted him to push her, just to see how far she would let him go…
Which was absurd.Right?
His face remained stoical. ‘You’re still convinced you can change my mind about your hotel’s fate?’ His voice held a little more bite, altering the atmosphere from taut to downright edgy.
Vayle’s belly clenched but she fought to hang onto her composure. ‘Maybe this should be less of a professional discourse and more of a personal, human one?’
He approached her slowly. Vayle told herself she remained where she was, and didn’t obey her instinct to step back, because firstly it would show weakness—and shewasn’tafraid of him, despite the wild fluttering in her belly and at her throat—and secondly because Nelios would respect her more if she met him on equal footing.
And, yes, she needed him to respect her. She’d withstood too much from her father and come out on the other side to allow her opinions and needs to be cast aside.
‘Personal?’ he echoed, his eyes now set to narrow-eyed sizzling as they trailed her from head to toe and back again. ‘Is this where the “I’ll do anything” is finally unleashed?’ he enquired softly.Lethally.
‘What…unleashed…? What are you talking about?’
Head tilted, his focus never once waned or altered. After another tense moment his mouth twisted and he stepped back. Did she think he intended to ease up on his imposing demands? Not by a long shot. ‘You were saying about this place?’
She stared at him for a moment longer before forcing her brain to track with the abrupt change of subject and the peculiar, hollow sensation it’d left behind, almost as if a buildinganticipation had been dashed. Because it occurred to her now that she’d never quite taken back that ill-advised statement. Never stated categorically that she’d changed her mind and that, no, she wouldn’t actually offer to ‘do anything’.
So do it now.She inwardly shook her head. Doing it now would be ineffectual—bolting the door after the horse had fled. But when…if…it came back up, then she would make her feelings clear on the subject.
Realising he was still waiting for her response, she cleared her throat. ‘There’s a darling little village in France, barely two thousand acres, that people rent whole for various gatherings. This could be an uber-exclusive version of that. Throw in an excellent ground team, with prime activities and marketing to the super-elite where they’re guaranteed they’ll have the whole place to themselves, and not have to encounter another snooty billionaire, and you’ll have them falling over themselves to jump onto your waiting list. You could be booked out for years.’
The edge had receded from his eyes by the time Vayle was finished, and he almost looked…impressed. Contemplative.
She couldn’t stop the little fizz of pride that welled up inside her. At the very least, she could take heart in having distracted him from ‘I’ll do anything’ that still dredged unfathomable feelings inside her.
‘Interesting,’ he muttered after a minute.
She raised her brows. ‘Just…interesting? I challenge you to top that.’
One corner of his sensual lips quirked. ‘I will not rise to the bait, alas. I pay eye-watering sums to far better marketing experts to provide me with innovative ideas.’
The fizz threatened to sputter out but she lifted her chin. ‘Go ahead, then. I’ll wait with bated breath to see what they come up with.’
For some reason that made his gaze drop to her mouth and made that same mouth tingle so wildly, her breath caught. And, between those two crazy reactions, they were frozen in a charged bubble of intense awareness when Andreas entered. They were still caught in it when he started to speak.
While her head buzzed with whatever the hell was happening to her, Nelios responded to his right-hand man without taking his eyes off her. It took a minute to realise that Andreas had left, and that Nelios was addressing her once again. ‘Sorry, what?’
