Sophie Weston - The Millionaire's Virgin

‘That was quite a dive,’ Tino said, steadying her as the waves buffeted them against each other.

‘Well, I could hardly let you get the better of me.’

‘No, indeed.’

He had already slipped the rope from the ice-box over his shoulder, she noticed, trying to avoid brushing against him.

‘Are you going to make it to shore all right without me?’

‘I should think I can manage.’ The sooner she left him, the safer she would be!

‘In that case, after you.’ Pulling away a couple of strokes, he gave her room to kick out.

This was not what she had imagined when she’d left home, Lisa realised, striking out for the shore. This was the first deal she had negotiated in an aquamarine sea beneath a blazing hot sun with a man like Tino Zagorakis. All the more reason to keep her wits about her.

‘You’re full of surprises.’

And he did look surprised when she opened the ice-box on the beach. She had just pulled out the sun cream and now her rather squashed hat. ‘I’m not a complete numbskull, you know.’ She rammed the battered hat onto her head. But as she dipped inside again to find the sun cream so did Tino, putting their faces millimetres apart.

‘Would you like me to rub some cream onto your back?’

‘No.’ Her voice was sharper than she intended as she pulled back abruptly. ‘Thank you,’ she managed belatedly.

Why had it never occurred to her that they would land up on a beach together practically naked? She should at least have tied her wrap around her waist. As it was they might as well have been two castaways on their own desert island… And now she was blessed with Tino for the whole day, Tino in his customary mocking mood…

Lisa looked away to distract herself. There was an apron of pristine ivory sand, beyond which the land broke up into scrub with a shading of feathery tamarisk trees, and beneath those some gnarled, and not half so friendly, prickly juniper bushes. Wild flowers were scattered about the sand dunes where they were sitting—pink campions, violet sea- lavender…

‘Do you like it here?’

‘I love it. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen—but then I thought that when I first saw Villa Aphrodite. You’re a very lucky man.’

‘Luck played no part in it.’

Lisa tensed. Tino’s voice had changed. He reminded her of Jack Bond. That was exactly the sort of comment her father would have made.

They ate in silence after that, drinking sharp green wine out of pottery beakers. The olives, soaked in oil, were plump and delicious, and the shopkeeper had included some sweet fat raisins to eat with the crusty bread and goat’s cheese. There was even a drawstring muslin bag containing some sugared almonds for their pudding. They reminded Lisa of other people’s weddings.

‘Almonds and raisins.’ Loosening the string on the muslin pack, Tino tipped some of them into his hand, and then added some raisins to the mix. ‘The bitter and the sweet, just like life.’

Lisa seized the opportunity. ‘About Arianna…’

Lisa noticed how closed Tino’s expression had become. There was definitely more to his relationship with Arianna than he was letting on. She was right to probe.

‘I’ve told you all you need to know about Arianna.’

‘You told me that she was Stella’s daughter, but—’

‘But what? What more do you want to know about her, Lisa?’

Not just Arianna.. you and Arianna. ‘I’m not sure yet.’

‘Yet?’ He stared at her thoughtfully for a moment, and then his eyes brightened with understanding. At the same time one corner of his mouth tugged up in his trademark annoying half-smile. ‘Do you think I’ve brought you here to pounce on you?’

‘I think you’ve got marginally more style than that.’

‘That’s very kind of you—and for your information, I have known Arianna since the day she was born. If you think of her as my sister you will have the true picture.’

‘That’s it?’ It was actually a lot more than she had expected him to tell her, and enough to set her pulse rate racing.

‘That’s all you’re getting. Would you like some?’

‘Some what?’ Lisa froze, still debating the implications of a single and unattached Tino as he leaned towards her.

‘Almonds and raisins.’

‘Oh, yes… thank you.’

He filled their beakers with more wine.

The little she had learned about him had fuelled her curiosity, as well as her determination to keep his revelations on a roll. ‘Tell me about that beautiful piano you have at Villa Aphrodite.’

On the point of handing her the beaker, he drew back. ‘What do you want to know about it?’

‘Do you play?’

‘Yes.’

‘Just ‘‘yes’’?’

He shrugged. ‘What more is there to know?’

She guessed he had already given her more information than he had ever given to anyone outside his inner circle, but that wasn’t going to deter her from discovering more. Taking the beaker of wine from him, she said casually, ‘I don’t mean to probe, but—’

‘If I need a private investigator,’ Tino cut across her, ‘I’ll know who to call.’

‘So you do enjoy playing the piano.’

Throwing back his head, he made a throaty, frustrated sound. ‘Yes. Is that all?’

‘If you’d rather not talk about it…’

‘Oh, no,’ he assured her sarcastically. ‘I love to chat.’

‘I gathered.’

‘I learned to play the piano as an adult.’

Lisa went very still. ‘You must be very good,’ she said carefully, not wanting to push him too hard. ‘Those are difficult, demanding pieces.’

‘I play well enough.’

‘I guess you needed a hobby.’

‘You guess? Are you waiting for me to confirm or deny your guess, Lisa?’

‘No, of course not—I’m sorry.’

‘I always wanted to play the piano, that is all.’

‘And you couldn’t have lessons as a child?’

‘No.’ Impatience was pinging off him now. ‘I couldn’t have piano lessons until I paid for them myself.’

Lisa knew she was by no means the only child who had yearned for things she couldn’t have until the day she took charge of her own destiny, but something about Tino’s stilted confession suggested he had wounds that ran deep. His lack of history intrigued her. Had he erased the past to hide something so terrible that even she could not imagine what it was? The thought that they might share something so intrinsic to their make-up was deeply unwelcome. It gave them a bond—a bond she didn’t want to share with a man who held her company’s fate in his hands; no one knew better than she how ruthless the past could make you.

‘I first met Stella when I was a very small boy. She had an old piano and I loved the sound of it.’

Lifting up her head, Lisa hid her amazement. Tino had started talking about the past again, and without any prompting this time.

‘Arianna was born when I was seven.’

‘So, you grew up in the same neighbourhood?’ Damn, damn, damn! Why couldn’t she just learn to keep her mouth shut?

‘Something like that. Shall we pack up?’

He had changed like quicksilver, and she knew that was the end of his revelations. She knew it because she recognised the same technique she always used to put up a smokescreen to hide the past. She would get nowhere pushing him now.

They travelled back with only the rhythm of the engine and the sibilance of the water streaming past the wooden boat breaking the stillness of late afternoon. Lisa could understand why Tino loved island life, and why he worked so hard to preserve his anonymity. To be able to exchange the feverish pace of the business world for the solitude of Stellamaris had to be the most precious thing he had… But still his past intrigued her. Why was it all such a secret? He had told her a little about the piano, and something about Stella and Arianna, but what else was he hiding? Would she find out more on Stellamaris? Or would she leave the island knowing as little about Tino Zagorakis as she did now?