Sarah Morgan - One Night...Nine-Month Scandal

Finally entering her password correctly, the girl gave him a terrified smile. ‘What bid do you want me to place?’

Alekos looked at the screen and made a judgement. ‘Two-million US dollars.’

The girl gave an audible gasp. ‘How much?’

‘Two million.’ Alekos watched the clock counting down: sixty seconds. He had sixty seconds to retrieve an heirloom that he never should have given away. Sixty seconds to close the door on a relationship that never should have happened. ‘Do it now.’

‘But the limit on my credit card is only f-five hundred pounds,’ the girl stammered, ‘I can’t afford it.’

‘But I can. And I’m the one paying for it.’ Glancing at the girl’s ashen features, Alekos frowned. ‘Do not pass out. If you faint now, I won’t be able to bid for this ring. Dmitri is head of my legal team—he will witness my verbal agreement. We now have thirty seconds, and this is very important to me. Please.’

‘Of course, I—sorry.’ Her hands shaking, Eleni tapped the amount into the box, hesitated briefly and then pressed enter. ‘I—I’m—I mean you’re —currently the highest bidder,’ she said faintly and Alekos lifted an eyebrow.

‘Is it done?’

‘Providing no one puts in a last-minute bid.’

Alekos, who wasn’t taking any chances, promptly put his hands over hers and entered four-million dollars.

Five seconds later, the ring was his and he was pouring the shaking girl a glass of water.

‘I’m impressed. Under pressure you responded well and you did what needed to be done. I won’t forget it. And now,’ he kept his voice casual, ‘I need to know exactly where to send the money. Does the seller give you a name and address?’

Ignoring Dmitri’s startled glance, Alekos reached for a pen and paper.

He needed to decide whether to do this in person or hand it over to lawyers.

Lawyers , his common sense told him. For all the reasons you haven’t tracked her whereabouts over the past four years.

‘You can email any questions you have,’ Eleni said weakly, her eyes on the diamond on the screen. ‘It’s a beautiful ring. Lucky woman, ending up with that on her finger. Wow. That’s so romantic.’ She looked at him wide-eyed and Alekos didn’t have the heart to disillusion her.

Had he ever been romantic? If being romantic was to indulge in an impulsive, whirlwind romance then, yes, he’d been romantic. Once. Or maybe ‘blinded by lust’ would be a more accurate assessment. Fortunately he’d come to his senses in time. With a cynical smile at his own expense, Alekos reflected on the fact that a business approach to relationships, such as the one he had with Marianna, was vastly preferable. He’d had no particular wish to understand her, and she’d showed no interest in trying to understand him.

That was so much better than a girl who tried to climb into your thoughts and then seduced with raw, out-of-control sex that wiped a man’s brain.

Feeling the tension ripple across his shoulders, Alekos stared out of the window as Dmitri hastily ushered the girl out of the room, promising to deal with all the financial aspects of the transaction.

Closing the door firmly, the lawyer turned to face Alekos. ‘I’ll arrange for the funds to be transferred and the ring collected.’

‘No.’ Driven by an impulse he decided was better not examined, Alekos reached for his jacket. ‘I don’t want that ring in the hands of a third party. I’ll collect it myself.’

‘In person? Alekos, you haven’t seen the girl for four years. You decided it was best not to get in touch. Are you sure this is a good idea?’

‘I only ever have good ideas.’ Closure, Alekos thought grimly, striding towards the door. Hand over the money, take the ring and move on.

‘Breathe, breathe, breathe. Put your head between your legs—that’s it. You’re not going to faint. OK—that’s good. Now, try telling me again—slowly.’

Lifting her head, Kelly mouthed the words. No sound came out. She wondered whether it was possible to go mute with shock. It felt as though her entire body had shut down.

Her friend glared at her in exasperation. ‘Kel, I’m giving you thirty seconds to produce sound from your mouth and then I’m throwing a bucket of water over you.’

Kelly dragged in air and tried again. ‘Sold—’

Vivien nodded encouragingly. ‘You’ve sold something—right. What have you sold?’

‘Sold.’ Kelly swallowed. ‘Ring.’

‘OK, finally we’re making progress here—I’m getting that you’ve sold a ring. Which ring?’ Viv’s eyes suddenly widened. ‘Holy crap, not the ring?’

Kelly nodded, feeling as though all the air had been sucked out of the room. ‘Sold ring—eBay.’ She felt dizzy and light-headed, and she knew she would have been lying on the floor in a dead faint by now if she hadn’t already been sitting down.

‘All right, well, that’s good.’ Her expression cautious, Vivien’s smile faltered. ‘I can understand why that seems like such a big thing. You’ve been wearing that ring around your neck for four years—which is probably four years too long given that the rat who gave it to you didn’t turn up for the wedding—but you’ve finally seen the light and sold it, and I think that’s great. Nothing to worry about. No reason to hyperventilate. Do you need to breathe into a paper bag or something?’ She looked at Kelly dubiously. ‘You’re the same colour as a whiteboard, and I’m rubbish at first aid. I closed my eyes in all the classes because I couldn’t stand the revolting pictures. Am I supposed to slap you? Or do I stick your legs in the air to help blood flow? Give me some clues here. I know the whole thing traumatised you, but it’s been four years, for crying out loud!’

Kelly gulped and clutched her friend’s hand. ‘Sold.’

‘Yes, yes, I know! You sold the ring! Just get over it! Now you can get on with your life—go out and shag some stranger to celebrate. It’s time you realised that Mr Greek God isn’t the only man in the world.’

‘For four-million dollars.’

‘Or we could just open a bottle of— what? How much? ’ Vivien’s voice turned to a squeak and she plopped onto the floor, her mouth open. ‘For a moment there I thought you actually said four-million dollars.’

‘I did. Four-million dollars.’ Saying the words aloud doubled the shaking. ‘Vivien, I don’t feel very well.’

‘I don’t feel very well either.’ Vivien gave a whimper and flapped her hand in front of her face. ‘We can’t both faint. We might bang our heads or something, and our decomposed bodies would be discovered weeks from now, and no one would even find us because your place is always such a mess. I bet you haven’t even made a will. I mean, all I own is a load of unwashed laundry and a few bills, but you have four-million dollars. Four-million dollars. God, I’ve never had a rich friend before. Now I’m the one who needs to breathe.’ She grabbed a paper bag, emptied out two apples and slammed it over her mouth and nose, breathing in and out noisily.

Kelly stared down at her hands, wondering if they’d stop shaking if she sat on them. They’d been shaking since she’d switched on her computer and seen the final bid. ‘I—I need to pull myself together. I can’t just sit here shaking. I have work to do. I have thirty English books to mark before tomorrow.’

Vivien pulled the bag away from her face and sucked in air. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. You never have to teach small children again. You can be a lady of leisure. You can walk in there tomorrow, resign and go for a spa day. Or a spa decade!’

‘I wouldn’t do that.’ Shocked, Kelly stared at her friend, the full implications of the money sinking home. ‘I love teaching. I’m the only one not looking forward to the summer holidays. I love the kids. I’ll miss the kids. They’re the nearest I’m ever going to get to a family of my own.’