you need when the time is right.’
At that moment a bell sounded and a light came on over the seats, an indication that they should fasten their seatbelts. Immediately Nikos held out his hand, palm upwards.
‘Phone…’ he snapped, with an impatient beckoning gesture of the hand that was between them.
Her mind still half on her mother and George, Sadie blindly followed the command that was in his rough, irritated voice. She had dropped her mobile phone into his upturned palm before it occurred to her to question what he wanted with it.
‘Hey—hang on…!’
But she had spoken too late. Even as she opened her mouth Nikos’s long fingers had snapped shut over her phone, and without another word he dropped it swiftly into the pocket of his jacket, out of sight and out of reach.
‘You can’t do that!’ she protested. ‘That’s my property!’
The look he turned on her said that he could do whatever he wanted and she couldn’t stop him.
‘I prefer to have your communication with the outside world under my control.’
‘But how can I keep in touch with my mother—with home?’
A touch of panic made her voice raw. How would her mother cope if she wasn’t at the end of a line to offer help if she was needed? The rough and ready support system she had been able to set in place might be enough, but only if Sarah could contact her daughter at any moment she felt she needed to.
‘You will be able to phone Thorn Trees once a day to see how things are. But other than that—’
‘It isn’t enough!’
‘It will have to be enough. Because that is how it is going to be.’
‘But my mother—is unwell.’
She was severely tempted to move forward, try to snatch the phone from the pocket of his immaculately tailored jacket, but the urgent sense of need warred uncomfortably with a strong sense of self preservation. She was here, on her own, in his plane, thousands of feet up in the air. If she caused a scene, started a struggle, then she was at a disadvantage from the off. Nikos would only have to raise his voice and call his staff…
No, don’t be ridiculous. He wouldn’t even need to call anyone, she acknowledged to herself. Nikos could see off her feeble attempt at resistance so easily that she would be a fool even to try it. But even so she still couldn’t give in to such domineering behaviour.
‘You have no right—!’
‘I have every right. I am the one who makes the rules, not you. You are here because I allow you to be here—no other reason. And you are here to do a job.’
‘A job I can’t do without a phone…’
Her eyes went to the laptop case still in his possession, carefully tucked under his arm, and a shiver of cold panic ran along every nerve. Did he really mean to isolate her totally, have her under his complete control?
‘Or my computer.’
‘Any information or help you need will be provided once we are in my villa. All you have to do is ask.’
‘I can’t work that way.’
‘You work any way that I ask of you.’
It was a deliberate verbal slap down, reminding her harshly just who was in charge here. And she would be every sort of a fool to forget that, Sadie reminded herself miserably. She had been in grave danger of forgetting just how important this job was to her.
She was grateful for the lifeline he had tossed her, the chance to let her mother stay in the only place where she felt safe. And now here she was, risking everything by setting herself against the only man who could ensure that would still happen. She should be thanking him, agreeing to go along with anything he suggested. But still—stealing her phone…!
‘I do not want the paparazzi finding out anything about this,’ Nikos went on, snatching the conversational rug fromunder her feet and stunning her into silence in the space of a single heartbeat.
That she understood. She had no argument against it, and she couldn’t even try to find one. The paparazzi and the popular press had been the bane of
At that moment a bell sounded and a light came on over the seats, an indication that they should fasten their seatbelts. Immediately Nikos held out his hand, palm upwards.
‘Phone…’ he snapped, with an impatient beckoning gesture of the hand that was between them.
Her mind still half on her mother and George, Sadie blindly followed the command that was in his rough, irritated voice. She had dropped her mobile phone into his upturned palm before it occurred to her to question what he wanted with it.
‘Hey—hang on…!’
But she had spoken too late. Even as she opened her mouth Nikos’s long fingers had snapped shut over her phone, and without another word he dropped it swiftly into the pocket of his jacket, out of sight and out of reach.
‘You can’t do that!’ she protested. ‘That’s my property!’
The look he turned on her said that he could do whatever he wanted and she couldn’t stop him.
‘I prefer to have your communication with the outside world under my control.’
‘But how can I keep in touch with my mother—with home?’
A touch of panic made her voice raw. How would her mother cope if she wasn’t at the end of a line to offer help if she was needed? The rough and ready support system she had been able to set in place might be enough, but only if Sarah could contact her daughter at any moment she felt she needed to.
‘You will be able to phone Thorn Trees once a day to see how things are. But other than that—’
‘It isn’t enough!’
‘It will have to be enough. Because that is how it is going to be.’
‘But my mother—is unwell.’
She was severely tempted to move forward, try to snatch the phone from the pocket of his immaculately tailored jacket, but the urgent sense of need warred uncomfortably with a strong sense of self preservation. She was here, on her own, in his plane, thousands of feet up in the air. If she caused a scene, started a struggle, then she was at a disadvantage from the off. Nikos would only have to raise his voice and call his staff…
No, don’t be ridiculous. He wouldn’t even need to call anyone, she acknowledged to herself. Nikos could see off her feeble attempt at resistance so easily that she would be a fool even to try it. But even so she still couldn’t give in to such domineering behaviour.
‘You have no right—!’
‘I have every right. I am the one who makes the rules, not you. You are here because I allow you to be here—no other reason. And you are here to do a job.’
‘A job I can’t do without a phone…’
Her eyes went to the laptop case still in his possession, carefully tucked under his arm, and a shiver of cold panic ran along every nerve. Did he really mean to isolate her totally, have her under his complete control?
‘Or my computer.’
‘Any information or help you need will be provided once we are in my villa. All you have to do is ask.’
‘I can’t work that way.’
‘You work any way that I ask of you.’
It was a deliberate verbal slap down, reminding her harshly just who was in charge here. And she would be every sort of a fool to forget that, Sadie reminded herself miserably. She had been in grave danger of forgetting just how important this job was to her.
She was grateful for the lifeline he had tossed her, the chance to let her mother stay in the only place where she felt safe. And now here she was, risking everything by setting herself against the only man who could ensure that would still happen. She should be thanking him, agreeing to go along with anything he suggested. But still—stealing her phone…!
‘I do not want the paparazzi finding out anything about this,’ Nikos went on, snatching the conversational rug fromunder her feet and stunning her into silence in the space of a single heartbeat.
That she understood. She had no argument against it, and she couldn’t even try to find one. The paparazzi and the popular press had been the bane of
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