Cathy Williams - Greek Mavericks - His Christmas Conquest

‘I’ve been meaning to…’ Sophie admitted sulkily and Theo tut-tutted under his breath.

‘Well, we can’t do anything at the moment but, as soon as the power is back, I suggest we install a simple program so that we can collate all the information scattered in these boxes.’

‘We …?’ Sophie felt obliged to reveal the extent of her ignorance of all things technical. ‘Computers and I have never had much of a friendship.’

‘That being the case, I’m surprised what’s-his-name couldn’t have helped you out there.’

‘I think we were just so busy trying to get the stuff together that…that…’

‘That it never occurred to you that there might be a far quicker way to do it…?’ He grabbed a stack of files and strolled over to her desk, where he proceeded to drag the nearest chair to hers so that he could position himself next to her. ‘Okay. Look at these.’ He pointed to some symbols and picked out various key words, which meant frankly nothing to Sophie’s untrained eyes. ‘We could install a program that would automatically collate information that belongs under the same banner. So, for example, experiments based on certain solutions, where your father was in contact with the same person at roughly the same time, could automatically reach the same file at the click of a button.’

‘You could do that?’ Sophie asked, seriously impressed. She desperately wished that she had paid a bit more attention in IT at school. ‘How?’ she demanded. ‘Did you do a computer course at college?’

Computer course? College?

‘I dabbled in it at university,’ Theo conceded.

‘Oh, right.’

‘Surprised?’ He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his thighs.

‘Oh, no. Not at all. Well, not that you went to university…I’m just surprised that you took an interest in something like computing. Was it part of your creative writing course?’

‘Whoever said anything about creative writing?’ That little white lie by Gloria, delivered for all the right reasons, to protect him because as a high profile name in business he might have attracted unwanted attention, was now beginning to haunt Theo. He refused to enlarge upon it by fabricating a mystery past.

Sophie frowned. ‘Well, what did you do at university?’ she asked.

‘Economics and law.’

‘You’re kidding, right?’

‘Why should I be kidding?’ Theo asked dryly.

‘Because…’ Sophie spluttered, predicting that this would lead right back to his conviction that she had stereotyped him. ‘So…yes, I can see that you might be interested in computers if you liked law and economics…’

Theo grinned. ‘Does that make me a boring person, do you think?’

‘You’re the least boring person I’ve ever met!’ The words were out before Sophie had a chance to think about how they sounded. She cringed back, mortified, into the chair and tried to think how she could explain that what she had meant was that he was too arrogant, too opinionated and too clever by half to ever be considered boring . Which didn’t mean that he was fun or exciting or stimulating!

‘Is that a fact?’ Theo drawled lazily.

‘I mean …’ What did she mean? He was looking at her expectantly, waiting for her answer. Didn’t he realise that that was just plain conceited—to enjoy hearing himself discussed?

‘My computer isn’t very up-to-date,’ Sophie said, changing the subject. ‘I couldn’t afford to buy a new one when I started my teacher training course and I only realised afterwards that there’s a reason why people get rid of their computers after a couple of years. They just become obsolete. So I hope this amazing program you have in mind won’t be too much for it to handle.’

Theo leaned back in his chair and looked at her. Just when he felt as though he was close to working her out, she skittered away and he was left trying to figure out her complexities. She didn’t find him boring—she had just said so even though he had had the sneaking suspicion that she might have wished she hadn’t. She was attracted to him, although she was determined not to act upon it. He wondered whether there was something going on with the Robert character, although she had been at pains to deny it. Where was the man, anyway? She hadn’t actually answered his question when he had asked earlier.

‘I’ll check and see,’ Theo said indifferently. ‘We could always get a new one.’

‘Get a new one?’ Sophie looked at him as though he had taken leave of his senses.

‘Computers have come down in price substantially over the years…’

‘And getting one would still cost too much, never mind how substantially they’ve come down in price over the years! Why do you think I’ve had to rent out the cottage? I need the money!’ She cast a despairing look around her. ‘I’ve only been through half of this. There’s more stuff upstairs and more yet in the cottage, buried in boxes in the attic. And I’ve unearthed more bills than I can shake a stick at. You have no idea! Your rent has already been eaten up paying off creditors. So when it comes to flinging another few hundred pounds in the direction of a new computer, then you can think again.’

The sympathy on his face was too much. Sophie stood up, stretched and tried to gather herself by walking over to the kettle to make a cup of coffee for them. Belatedly she remembered that no power meant no functioning kettle, and she turned to look at him with an apologetic smile.

‘Sorry. You haven’t come here to take time out so that you can be bored by my problems.’

‘Is there no one who can guarantee you a loan until such time as you can pay them back?’

Sophie thought of Robert and hesitated. ‘Not really…’

‘What does not really mean?’

‘Robert has said that he would be willing to bail me out. I mean, obviously that would depend on how much I end up owing…’

‘Where is he now?’ Theo frowned in frank dismissal. ‘Anyway, tell me, what’s the catch?’

‘Oh, no catch!’ Sophie waved a little too airily. ‘I’d make you some coffee but no electricity for the kettle. Are you all right with the heating off? It’s just a localised power cut. A few miles down the road and you can easily do some shopping, find somewhere warm to sit and have some tea…’

Theo wondered why she was suddenly so desperate to change the subject. ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch, Sophie, and I can tell from the look on your face that whatever offer your friend came up with has some strings attached to it. So what are they? Hefty interest rate? The cottage as collateral? I’d be very careful about taking money from a loan shark.’ He felt himself getting hot under the collar at the thought of an opportunist taking her for every penny she had. And he would because Sophie, for all those forthright mannerisms that would send any normal man’s blood pressure soaring in irritation, was an innocent in the world of finance. It would have been no problem for him to give her the money but he knew that she would never accept it, not even if she knew the full extent of his massive personal fortune.

‘Robert’s no loan shark! Anyway, either he’s dull and insecure or he’s a clever opportunist. He can’t be both!’ Sophie objected hotly, already regretting her slip-up.

‘I never said dull… You just did. Interesting. Well, what repayment scheme does he have in mind?’ Theo asked, raising his eyebrows in a mixture of curiosity and cynicism.

‘Stop twisting my words. All I’m saying is that I’ve been offered a life belt if I think I need one. And if I mentioned the word dull it’s because that’s the picture you insist on conjuring up every time his name is mentioned! Never mind that you’ve met him for five seconds!’