Page 49 of Hot Greek Summer

‘Well, he could certainly do with the inner peace.’ Stella sniffed. ‘Might make him a bit more pleasant.’

‘Actually, he was very complimentary about my croissants this morning when I collected his tray.’

‘So he should be. You’re the best cook on the island.’

Frankie laughed softly. ‘And you’re drunk. You don’t know any other cooks on the island.’

‘Not drunk,’ Stella sighed, laying her cheek on the bench. ‘Just tired.’

Winnie patted her hair. ‘Have a little snooze, Stell. We’re probably going to be down here for the next hundred years, you might as well.’

As it turned out, Winnie had overestimated. Forty minutes later someone wrenched the door open from the other side and came down the steps to find three snoozing English women, a half-empty bottle of gin and a secret distillery.

CHAPTER TWELVE

‘Ladies? Stella?’

Winnie reared up as Angelo appeared in the cellar, his tie loosened to accommodate his popped top button, his shirt sleeves rolled back.

‘Can I help you?’ she said, still half asleep.

‘I think it’s the other way around, Win,’ Frankie mumbled, straightening up. They hadn’t really drunk all that much gin, but the fact that they’d drunk it neat, and in Stella’s case on an empty stomach, had sent it straight to their heads.

Winnie elbowed Stella, half laughing. ‘Wake up, Stell. Angelo has come to save us.’

Stella mumbled something into the bench, clearly not keen on the idea of waking just yet.

‘Stella,’ Frankie said, more sharply in an effort to penetrate Stella’s haze.

‘I’ll wake her,’ Angelo said. ‘There was someone upstairs in reception, perhaps you ladies should head on up and take a look.’

Frankie and Winnie exchanged glances, and decided on balance that it was probably OK to leave Corinna’s brother with Stella.

‘I’m going to prop the door open at the top,’ Frankie looked at him through narrowed eyes, as if she were warning a teenage boy who was being allowed up to a girl’s bedroom.

‘Come on, Frank,’ Winnie said. ‘We need a big glass of water before we go out and face anyone.’

‘Stella.’

God, was she back at school being shouted at by the headmaster? Maybe if she just kept her eyes closed Mr Tennyson would go back to his dusty spot at the back of her head.

‘Stella, wake up.’

Gah, still here. ‘Go away. I’m tired and you’re not real.’

That seemed to have done the trick. Oh shit! No, it hadn’t! He was touching her! Ew, that wasn’t all right. Opening her eyes to give him a piece of her mind, she sat up and looked straight into the dark, brooding eyes of Angelo Vitalis.

‘You’re not Mr Tennyson.’

He crossed his arms and stared at her. ‘Sorry to disappoint you.’

She frowned, still not completely with it. ‘Not disappointed. He always smelt of cigarettes and liked to hang around the changing rooms.’

‘Are you drunk?’

Was she? Shaking her head experimentally, she found that actually she wasn’t too bad now she’d had forty winks.

‘Don’t think so.’

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