Greek Mavericks: His Christmas Conquest. Cathy Williams

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СКАЧАТЬ he was thorough and uncomplaining. Sophie had realised some time back that she could ask for little more.

      ‘They can and they will,’ he now said, linking his fingers on his stomach and looking at her. ‘It may have escaped you but this part of the world doesn’t rank right up there with London, Tokyo and New York…’

      ‘Which isn’t to say that the electricity board can plunge us all into darkness virtually in the middle of winter!’ Sophie protested.

      ‘For a few hours, Soph! I think we can all manage to do without electricity between eight and one tomorrow! Course, we won’t be able to work here,’ he pointed out, casting a jaundiced eye around him. ‘This place is like a dungeon without the lights on.’

      Sophie’s mind was already racing ahead. Would they have notified Theo of the power cut? Probably not. She had had her mail redirected to her office address as soon as the cottage had been let. It would be her responsibility to let her tenant know the situation.

      Which meant facing the man.

      ‘Why don’t you and I bunk off tomorrow? Go do a little Christmas shopping…You could do with a break. I’ll treat you to lunch…’

      Sophie, staring off into the distance, wondered how she could avoid the uncomfortable task of calling in on Theo. She shuddered to think what his reaction would be on seeing her on his doorstep. Or, rather, on her doorstep.

      ‘Hello? Is anybody there?’

      Sophie registered that Robert had been saying something to her but, for the life of her, she didn’t know what precisely, and her expression must have given her away for the smile dropped and he reddened.

      ‘I’m sorry, Robert. What were you saying?’

      ‘I was saying that you need to take a break from all this, Sophie.’ He made a sweeping gesture towards the paper overload swamping the surfaces of the desks and quite a bit of the ground as well. ‘This stuff isn’t important, not really, and you’re getting consumed…’

      ‘The quicker I go through it, the faster it’ll be finished and I can get back to finishing my teacher training.’

      ‘And leave here? The cottage? Everything…?’

      ‘Just for a while…’

      ‘What if you literally can’t afford to leave?’

      ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘I mean, if there’s no money in the till, you might have to abandon your course or sell the cottage. Now, I know you don’t want to…’

      ‘To be having this conversation…’ She stood up and slung on her jumper, then her coat. Her life was in turmoil now, but she pinned her hopes on the future sorting it out, smoothing over the problems. She didn’t want to confront the grim possibility that nothing might be sorted out and she might, just might, be left picking up pieces for longer than she anticipated. ‘I can’t afford to have this conversation,’ she continued, grabbing her bag and stuffing the power cut note inside it. ‘I can’t afford to think that everything is going to start falling apart around me…’

      ‘Which it needn’t…’ Robert had leapt to his feet and was rallying around her like a diligent sheepdog rounding up a wayward stray sheep. Sophie glanced up from where she was now trying to locate the office keys in her capacious bag.

      ‘Oh, Robert, not this again. I know you feel sorry for me…’

      ‘Is that what you think?’

      ‘Well…yes…’ She laughed nervously because he was standing quite close to her and there was a shy nervousness about him that was making her feel a little confused. ‘I do, as a matter of fact. I mean, we’ve known each other off and on over the years and I don’t suppose you ever expected this situation to happen. I mean, that’s why you’ve been so kind to me, isn’t it…’ Keys located, she closed her fist around them and shoved her hands into her deep coat pockets.

      ‘Why do you imagine that I worked with your father for such a long time…? Off and on…?’ He reached out and stroked her hair. Sophie’s eyes widened. If she could have commanded the ground to open up and swallow her whole, she would have. This was certainly a week for shocks. First Theo and now this—pleasant, background Robert declaring…what? She resisted the urge to laugh. Somehow she didn’t imagine that he would appreciate the gesture. He was, as Theo had hinted, vulnerable and probably insecure around women.

      ‘Because you liked him?’ Sophie offered hopefully, and Robert shook his head.

      ‘Sure I liked him…’ There was genuine wistfulness in his voice. ‘And I enjoyed his company, his enthusiasm, but I also enjoyed hanging around here so that I could see you…’

      ‘Me?’ she squeaked.

      ‘Which is why I want to help bail you out of this mess if you need to be bailed out…I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but…’ He allowed a few seconds of silence to elapse, during which Sophie had ample opportunity to dwell on the most pessimistic scenario he could come up with. ‘What if, at the end of this exercise, the only thing you discover is a mountain of debt? You can sell the cottage, but there’s still a mortgage on it.’

      ‘How do you know that?’

      ‘How does anyone around here know anything?’ Robert answered with a wry grimace. ‘The birds on the trees…But what I’m saying,’ he carried on, considering his words carefully, ‘is that I’ve saved enough for you to carry on with your course, to do what you want to do…’

      ‘And you would lend me the money?’ Sophie asked dubiously, ‘even though I wouldn’t be able to pay you back for a while…?’

      ‘I wouldn’t have to lend you the money,’ he said patiently and he shook his head when she continued to stare at him in baffled silence. ‘What I’m saying is…Would you consider marrying me?’ He laughed nervously and grabbed her hand, tugging it away from the warm protection of her coat pocket.

       ‘Marry you?’

      ‘I know we haven’t got a conventional relationship…’

      ‘Robert, we haven’t got a relationship!’

      ‘Which is something I want to remedy…I would really like to settle down now, start a family.’

      ‘But we’ve only ever been just good friends, Robert…’

      ‘It doesn’t have to stay that way. I’m attracted to you, Soph…’

      ‘No, you’re not!’

      ‘I am! What can I say to convince you?’

      For the second time in about as many days, Sophie was caught utterly off guard. One minute he was standing there, looking at her earnestly. The next minute he had managed to close the gap between them without her noticing and his lips were on hers, exploring her open-mouthed surprise.

      Like a badly dubbed movie, there was a couple of seconds of delay between Sophie being aware of what was going on and reacting to it, but when she did react it was with some vigour.

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