Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56653 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56653 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
“I don’t want to talk about my father.”
“And we won’t talk about him any more after this. Or anything else for that matter.”
His head jerked up at that. “Bobby, dammit, if you could just let me—-”
“Let you what? Change my mind? Because we both know you could, but I’m asking you not to. You see, I've had a lot of time to think about this, and here’s what I came up with. You were so guilty about your father’s illness that you exiled yourself here, hoping to start anew. But you got bored and you saw me as a challenge.”
“It’s not like that.”
“It is exactly like that, and Leandro—-” Her voice caught, having realized that it was her very first time to call him by his name.
The way he was looking at her told Bobby he was just as aware of the fact, and that he, too, found it significant.
The knowledge made her swallow and square her shoulders simultaneously. She had no doubts that Leandro Christopoulos was fiercely intelligent, and she knew it would only be a matter of time before he figured out why the fact that she had called him by his name was very telling.
Well, she did not want to be there when it happened and he realized what a big fake she was.
She said gruffly, “All I’m saying is that I don’t want you to see me as a challenge because I don’t need that kind of complication in my life. You had your fun. Good for you. But can we please leave it at that? I don’t think it’s a good idea we’re in each other’s lives.”
Chapter Seven
“You should have asked me for advice, you know,” Priscilla Strathmore said sagely as she fed herself another forkful of organic salad. She considered Leandro Christopoulos’ tense profile thoughtfully. Her dear second cousin was normally as fun loving as she was, but she supposed one changed after witnessing a parent battle with death.
The thought had her nearly shuddering. She prayed no such drama would occur in her life. She just wasn’t cut out for stuff like that. She preferred her life to be as easy as possible and wasn’t shy at all about admitting it.
Leandro didn’t talk, but she expected that. Like the other children in the clan, Priscilla had spent her childhood summers in Greece and even in those days, Leandro had been very moody. One moment he would be friendly and then something would happen to make him aloof, almost offensively so.
Maybe, she mused idly, it was because he was adopted. His real parentage was no secret. It was pretty hard to keep something like that a secret since Elena had been well past child-bearing age when he had joined the family.
“Are you listening to me?” she asked finally when he still hadn’t said a word. In fact, he had barely said a word the whole time they were in the restaurant.
Leandro made himself look at Priscilla. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“I said,” Priscilla repeated patiently, “you should have come to me to ask for advice.”
This time, his lips quirked. “You know I wouldn’t do that.”
“Why not?”
He said truthfully, “Because you’re a twit – a lovable twit, mind you, but still a twit.”
She giggled.
“See?”
She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I may be sillier than most, but I’m far from being stupid. I have Christopoulos blood running in my veins too, you know.” She wagged her finger at him. “If you really like Roberta Granger—-”
Leandro frowned. “Back up a second there. Why are you talking about Bobby?”
“Because I’m going to give you valuable advice about her?”
“I thought you were going to give me advice about Greek politics.”
She was just as incredulous as he was. “Why would I when I don’t even know what position Uncle Orion is running for?”
He grimaced. “Good point.” It was just another sign that he was clearly losing it. Five days. It had been five days since he had last seen Bobby, and here he was, acting like he was a lovesick fool. Wake up, you piece of ass, he told himself furiously. He had wasted enough time thinking about what he could have had with Bobby – and didn’t. He needed to find a woman to replace her and resume his plans for getting back in the good graces of the public.
Priscilla snapped her fingers in her cousin’s face. “Leandro! Pay attention. I’m trying to tell you something important here!”
He flushed. “I’m sorry. I really just have too many things on my mind—-”
“If you’re thinking about your Bobby, then you have all the more reason to listen to me. I know her, okay? We’re not like BFFs or anything, but we’re friends.”
“And?” He didn’t see where this was going. After all, Priscilla was friends with everyone. She was one of those rare women who didn’t possess a mean bone in her body, choosing to deliberately let insults intended to hurt her fly over her head instead.