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mistake, but it’s being treated like a major crime!’ Ellie recounted in an accusing undertone. ‘You’re blackmailing me into doing what I don’t want to do…and I don’t appreciate your conviction that because I’m poor I’m more likely to be dishonest!’
    â€˜Are you quite finished?’
    Feeling as if she had run smash-bang into a brick wall and bruised herself all over, Ellie reddened and compressed her lips.
    â€˜Today of all days,’ he breathed with harsh emphasis, ‘I am not in the mood for this nonsense. Come on. We have wasted enough time.’
    â€˜You believe me, then…?’ Ellie prompted a minute or two later as she struggled to keep up with his long, powerful stride.
    â€˜All I believe is that I caught you before you contrived to disobey my explicit warning not to telephone anyone,’ Dio contradicted with succinct bite. ‘You’re little and sneaky. Why does that not surprise me?’
    â€˜I am not sneaky!’
    â€˜You could have explained that you had another employer. I’m not an unreasonable man,’ Dio stated grimly. ‘But you chose to sneak instead of being open and honest.’
    If he said ‘sneak’ again, she swore she would slap him. Her cheeks flamed, but the threat of thirty lashes at dawn wouldn’t have dragged an apology from her. Asking him permission to do anything would have choked her. And, whether he liked it or not, that call to Mr Barry still had to be made. Unfortunately the prospect of telling little white lies to Mr Barry in Dio Alexiakis’s presence made her squirm.
    Ellie didn’t make a habit of lying. If anything, she tended to be too honest, too blunt. She knew her own failing well,but some of her failings were also her strengths. She was fiercely independent and had never been a team player. She loved having the freedom to make her own decisions. As a result, both her jobs suited her perfectly. She preferred to work alone and without interference.
    Almost an hour later, when Dio’s brooding silence was fraying her nerves, her passport and her keys were handed over at a prearranged meeting point by an older man in a dark suit, whom Dio called Demitrios. Both men totally ignored her, and talked for what felt like a very long time in Greek.
    â€˜I hope you didn’t leave my place in a mess,’ Ellie finally remarked, rather loudly.
    When she spoke, Demitrios frowned in complete surprise, much as if a suitcase had suddenly opened its mouth and tried to chat.
    â€˜And I hope you locked up properly again.’ At that point a strangled groan erupted from Ellie. ‘For goodness’ sake, how the heck did you get past the alarm system in the first place? And did you reset the—?’
    â€˜My security staff are not stupid,’ Dio interposed crushingly, openly aggravated by her interruptions. ‘The premises will have been left in order.’
    Ellie tilted her chin. ‘It must be comforting to know that you have staff who can trespass as efficiently as burglars.’
    Dio dealt her a thunderous glance from brilliant black eyes.
    â€˜It’s rude to ignore people,’ she told him stubbornly, and spun away.
    But then you’re just a cleaner, she reminded herself in exasperation. The lowest of the low in any staff hierarchy. Even worse, she was stuck with a guy used to being waited on hand and foot by servants. Behaving as if she was the invisible woman didn’t tax Dio in the slightest. He expected her to maintain a respectful silence unless first invited tospeak. But she had never been that good at keeping her tongue between her teeth, she acknowledged ruefully.
    Feeling cold now that she was no longer being kept warm by carting heavy bags around, not to mention the need to walk at about five times her natural speed, Ellie took out the black coat, ripped off the sale label and put it on. The hem hit the floor. If she pulled up the