looked around for a moment. âAnd I havenât seen her since, so whatever you said worked.â
Leo had an instant reaction to hearing the Kassianides name mentioned. It was the name of their enemy; a name that represented loss , pain , humiliation, and unbelievable heartache. He frowned, trying to understand. âAngel Kassianides⦠Sheâs a Kassianides?â
Ari looked back and nodded, frowning when he saw Leoâs face. âYou didnât know?â
Leo shook his head, his brain struggling to take in this information. Why would he know what Tito Kassianidesâ children looked like? Theyâd not dealt directly with the Kassianides family during the merger. The merger itself had been all that was needed to precipitate their downfall. It had been a clean and sterile revenge, but it felt curiously insufficient now, when heâd been faced by one of them here tonight. When heâd kissed one of them.
He felt acutely vulnerable; if Ari had recognised her, then who was to say that others hadnât? He remembered how heâd led her outside with one thought in mind: getting her alone so he could explore his attraction, with no clue as to her identity. He let anger dispel the unwelcome feeling of vulnerability. Had she been planning some sort of incident? What the hell had she been playing at with him? Seducing him with those huge blue eyes and then trying to pretend she didnât desire him? Sheâd been toying with him from that moment by the pool. Those widening eyes must have held recognition of who he was, not the mutual flash of attraction heâd believed it to be. The thought made bile rise. He hadnât felt so exposed⦠ever .
Had her father sent her, like some sort of pawn? Had the whole thing been an act? Leoâs entire body stiffened in rejection of that thought. Just then he saw his own father approaching, with a delegation of other men. He had no time to process this now, and for the rest of the evening Leo would have to act and smile and pretend that he didnât want to rip off his bow tie, throw his jacket down and go and find Angel Kassianides and get her to answer some very pertinent questions.
A week later, New York
Leo stood at the huge window in his office that looked out over downtown Manhattan. The view was familiar, but he didnât see it. All he could see, and all he had seen every time he closed his eyes since Athens, was Angel Kassianidesâ angelic face, tipped up to his, eyelids fluttering closed, just before heâd kissed her. He laughed caustically to himself. Angel . Whoever had named her had named her well.
He wrenched his mind away from Angel and thought of Athens. Not that heâd admit it to anyone yet, and certainly not his father, but Athens had changed something fundamental inside him. New York was spread out below him and he felt nothing. It was as if even though heâd been born and brought up here it had never claimed him. It didnât resonate within him the way it once had. Now it was just a fast-living jumble of towering buildings.
Heâd even rung his mistress that morning, after avoiding her all week, which was not like him , and broken it off. Her histrionics still rang in his ear. But he hadnât even felt a twinge of conscience. Heâd felt relief.
Angel. It irritated him how easily she kept inserting herself into his consciousness. He hadnât been able to indulge in seeking her out and asking her just what the hell sheâd been playing at in his fatherâs villa due to a crisis erupting here in his head office. A crisis that looked set to continue for at least a few weeks, much to his irritation. Not that it was serving to take his mind off her. He wasnât used to women distracting his attention, and certainly not ones he hadnât even slept with.
Anger bubbled low within him. The feeling that heâd been made a fool of was a novel one, and not something he wasprepared
Jean-Claude Izzo, Howard Curtis