Page 10 of Vows of Revenge

First contact.

First real him-to-her contact.

And all over the collapse of Bronze Age civilisation...

Well, so what? Whatever it took to bring her alive in the way it had just showed in her face was fine by him. Just fine.

Because, however it happens, I need to make personal contact with her—make the connection that can eventually lead to where I want it to go.

His eyes went on holding hers for a moment longer. As they did, he felt something go through him—something unexpected.

Was it the way her face had lit up and, yes, even in the soft light bathing them on the deck, the way that he’d caught that silvery glint in her eyes...?

It was doing something to him...

But it was time to back off—which was all part of the subtle approach that he knew was going to be necessary with her.

‘You know,’ he said, injecting just the right amount of humour and sincerity into his voice—both of which, he realised, he felt quite genuinely, ‘if you intended to make a sales pitch for getting me to sponsor the dig, you’ve just made it.’ He looked at her wryly. ‘Doesn’t it ever strike you that it is...unusual...to be so passionate about something that has not existed for over three thousand years?’

There was open curiosity in his voice. Kassia Andrakis was like no other woman he’d met, and the novelty of it was catching at him.

‘I don’t know,’ she answered slowly. ‘Maybe because it’s a...a continuum. Like I said this afternoon, those people back then—however long ago it seems to us—were just like us. Living their lives as best they could. Just as we do.’

His wry look turned into a wry smile. ‘That’s not a bad way to live—then or now. Living our lives the best we can.’ Damos heard his voice change. ‘It certainly fuelled my determination not to stay poor—and to enjoy all that comes my way.’

He held her gaze for another moment. He put nothing into it of flirtation, nor any intimation of it. He wanted only to keep this moment of contact going. It was something to build on.

Then he glanced towards the wine chiller. ‘Speaking of enjoying all that comes our way...this wine will go to waste if we don’t finish it.’

He casually refilled her glass, and then his own, replacing the depleted bottle back in its chiller. He’d exaggerated the predicament of the wine—any leftovers would, he knew, be consumed below deck by the crew. One of the perks of the job, and something he was perfectly happy with.

He wanted to keep the atmosphere light, and so, taking another mouthful of his own wine, he sat back again.

‘Does your work ever take you to Istanbul?’ he asked casually. ‘I’ll be heading off there tomorrow.’

Kassia shook her head. ‘I’ve visited Hissarlik—the site of Troy—in my time, but I have never made it to Istanbul.’

For a moment Damos considered inviting her to go with him, then set it aside. That would be premature. No, better just to use this evening as prep for planning his next encounter with her. Though where and how were yet to be decided on... One thing was definite, though. When he moved on in his seduction of her he did not want it to be in Greece, and certainly not in Athens. It needed to be kept private—very private. Until, with his goal in sight, it suited him for it to become very public knowledge...

Especially to Cosmo Palandrou.

There was a dark glint of anticipation in his eye. Because that would be the moment when he would have outmanoeuvred Yorgos Andrakis. Spiking his guns completely. Andrakis would have nothing to offer Cosmo—nothing that Cosmo would accept.

Damos’s face hardened. No, Cosmo Palandrou would never want Yorgos Andrakis’s daughter as his bride...

Not once he knows—and all of Athens knows!—that she’s been my mistress...

Because for all that Cosmo might swallow Kassia being a dowdy archaeologist, not a glamorous trophy socialite, providing she brought with her the promise of the Andrakis riches, he wouldn’t stomach marrying a blatant cast-off of another man—and Damos Kallinikos at that. That would stick in his craw...would be an affront to his ego and self-esteem...and Andrakis’s bid for his company would be dead in the water.

Leaving the way clear for me.

But he wasn’t there yet. First he had to get Kassia Andrakis into his bed.

He brought his thoughts back to where they needed to be to achieve that end. How to build on where he’d got with her so far and take it to the next base.

‘Do you travel much for your work?’ he asked now, in a conversational manner.

‘I go to conferences outside Greece sometimes. My mother lives in England, so a UK conference is a good opportunity to visit her.’

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