Ethan smiled, embarrassed, but said in his perfect and fluent French, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“They are going to live with us for a few months,” Niarchos explained.
Ethan’s gaze lingered on Isis. She was a mature woman of fifty. Tall, curvy, a bit on the plump side, she had luscious brown hair that touched her shoulders and a very interesting and charming face. Then his gaze moved to Eve and paused there.
The teenage girl was shyly looking down. He thanked his tanned skin for hiding his blushing cheeks. He was arrested by her beauty and delicate movements.
Eve was average height, with a lean body full of curves in the right places and peachy cream skin. Her hair was long and ink-black. Her nose was up-turned and her mouth small and full. She was wearing an expensive light-pink dress and pink-and-white flats. His grandfather had described her perfectly: a shy girl that had just left a Catholic boarding school.
To Ethan, she looked like an angel.
An angel he had a sudden and uncontrollable desire to touch.
“Eve is starting at your school this month, Ethan.” Isis softly nudged Eve in Ethan’s direction. “Eve, say hello to Ethan. He is going to help you adjust, aren’t you, Ethan?”
Ethan nodded and opened his mouth to say something, when Eve raised her eyes and, with an enchanting smile, greeted him, “Bonjour.”
He discovered that her eyes were a beautiful shade of chocolate. He felt his grandfather press a hand on his back, motioning for him to kiss the girl. He stepped forward and kissed her cheek.
She blinked twice, smiled a bit more and then looked down again.
“Good morning, Eve.” He liked the way her name sounded. “Nice to meet you.”
Isis smugly smiled to Niarchos, who said, “Let’s move to the terrace and have some coffee while Athena arranges your things in your rooms.”
11:43 a.m.
“And do you like to read?” Ethan asked Eve as they strolled through the gardens. Books and studies were the only topics he didn’t have any problem talking about.
She looked up at him and a smile graced her naturally pink lips, hypnotizing Ethan.
“Oh, yes, I do. You know, the Abbess at my old school was very strict about what we could read.” She giggled and the sound went directly to Ethan’s heart, making it beat quicker. “But my friends would always smuggle a forbidden book to my room at night.”
“I see.” They had reached the end of the enormous garden by the beach. “Do you want to sit a bit? The view here is incredible.” Ethan loved the wide square gazebo his grandfather had built specially for him. It had a white trellis with pink and orange bougainvillea. In the spring, the flowers attracted hummingbirds. When it rained, he would spend hours there, reading, admiring the transparent blue Mediterranean Sea and listening to the sound of the rain on the wooden roof and the leaves. The gentle lapping of the waves on the sand brought Ethan peaceful and happy thoughts. It was his favorite place.
He waited for her to sit on the sofa and admired her shapely legs as she shed her flats and tucked her feet under her thighs, leaning on the pillows. He sat beside her, keeping a respectable distance. “So, what kind of books did you read?”
“Oh, you know…” she giggled again and bit her bottom lip, looking down at her fingers.
He shifted a little closer keeping his half-arousal concealed. The girl was doing things to him he didn’t understand, and although he was afraid of those feelings, he was unable to stay away. He wanted to touch her skin to see if it felt as smooth as it looked.
“I don’t. Tell me.”
She raised her puppy eyes to him and whispered conspiratorially, “Promise you won’t tell my mother?”
The way she was confiding in him made him feel bold and he scooted closer to her. “I promise.”
Eve shifted on the seat, slid one of her bent legs closer to him and her double buttoned dress with pleated skirt climbed up a bit, revealing more of her soft rounded thighs.
Ethan’s mouth dried. He licked his lips. “So? What kind?”
With her knee touching his hip, she leaned over, balancing herself with a hand on his thigh and put her mouth near his ear. Her warm hand sent electric shocks through him and her soft breath tickled his ear when she murmured, “About sex.”
“Sex,” he repeated hoarsely as a thrill of desire ran directly to his crotch. Jesus! I want this angel.
His breathing became uneven. He raised his hand to touch her face. When she didn’t recoil, he put his open palm on her cheek, the tips of his fingers touching her silky hair. His eyes fluttered closed. Such softness. I want to touch her all over. But I don’t know how. What—
A soft kiss on his lips interrupted his thoughts. His eyes flew open and he gasped.
Eve backed away, blinking. “I’m sorry. I—”
She put her hands over her face and her hair covered her lowered face.
He awkwardly put his hand on her bare knee. “I’m sorry. I don’t…” I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to do. I’m so clumsy.
She looked at him between her fingers.
“Please? Eve?” Ethan squeezed her knee lightly. What should I do?
Eve took her hands slowly from her face. “Don’t tell anyone. Please? It’s just that you are so…handsome.” She put her hand over his and moved it further up her thigh, under her dress, and she pressed her hand down on his. “I have never seen such a handsome man. You know,” her eyes fluttered innocently, but her gaze never strayed from his, as she once more leaned in his direction and, a breath away from his lips, whispered, “I never had a boyfriend.”
Ethan didn’t resist temptation and closed the space between them, putting his lips over hers. Oh. Soft lips. Sweet lips. Angel lips.
His platonic thoughts gave way to fierce feelings as her tongue slid over his lips, her hands wandering gently in his hair and she murmured on his closed mouth, “Oh, Ethan, you make me want forbidden things. Open your mouth.” Her soft tongue probed and found entrance.
Ethan succumbed.
He forgot all his mother and father had done to him.
He forgot all about that awful night and worse morning.
Eve’s kiss was all he could think about.
Chapter 7
7:37 p.m.
“Ethan. Come in,” Niarchos welcomed his grandson into his bedroom.
Ethan entered and shifted on his feet, unsure.
Niarchos closed the door and smiled inwardly as he quickly surveyed his grandson. “You dressed nicely.”
“Er…well, I—We have visitors. I thought—”
“You did very well, my boy.” A pleasant smile graced Niarchos’s face. “Isis and Eve are very refined. You know, women like well-dressed men. Especially French women.”
“They are very beautiful.” And I want Eve, Grandpa. What should I do?
Niarchos finished buttoning his long-sleeved shirt, zipped up his tailored trousers and buckled his belt. He turned away from the mirror and faced his grandson with his mind set on his course of action. One way or another, he would see Ethan transformed into a confident man. “How do I look, Ethan?”
“Handsome and powerful as always, Grandpa.” He shifted from one foot to another and looked away, blinking nervously.
Niarchos put a hand on Ethan’s shoulder and guided him to the veranda, sitting in one of the armchairs. “Sit, Ethan. Tell me what is bothering you.”
Ethan blushed even more. He didn’t know how to talk about sex, so he sat silent by his grandfather and looked down at his black Ferragamo shoes.
“Ethan?” he coached.
Ethan peered at his grandfather from beneath his lashes and said, “Eve. She’s—I want—” His hand smoothed his white shirt and whispered low, “She makes me want things.”
Niarchos took pity on the teenager and said gently, “Ethan, desire and sex are the most natural things that can happen between a man and a woman. There is no need to be ashamed or shy about it.” He stifled his smile when
he noticed that under Ethan’s tanned skin his blush deepened even more. “Look at me, Ethan.” He waited patiently for his grandson to look up and continued, “You’re a handsome man—”
“But, Grandpa, I don’t know what to do, how or where to touch her. I don’t know how to kiss. She’s so graceful and I’m so clumsy.” He gibbered as his feelings played havoc inside him. “I—Help me, Grandpa. Please.”
It was exactly the reaction Niarchos wanted. And he had his speech ready.
10:21 p.m.
Ethan watched his grandfather carefully all through the evening, learning from the older man; the small gestures of politeness and the subtle way he touched Isis; his answers to her questions and the way he made her talk about the topics that interested her.
Niarchos was completely different from Ethan’s father and mother. Not that George or Calista were blatantly rude. No. They were superficially refined and polite. But Niarchos was the epitome of politeness and refinement, and there was a subtleness to his passions that made Ethan decide that he would rather emulate his grandfather than his parents. Ethan disliked exhibitionism.
He wanted love and trust. He wanted to belong. Ethan was sure that he would find everything he wanted in Niarchos. His grandfather had always been caring. That night especially, Niarchos had been gentle when he explained to him that he would like sex very much.
Ethan decided he would learn from his powerful grandfather how to seduce Eve.
And how to seduce the world.
London, Park Lane
Ethan Ashford’s Penthouse
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
8:07 a.m.
Ethan stretched in bed and looked at the woman sleeping next to him. What am I doing? She’ll never replace Sophia in my heart.
He rose from the bed and called his assistant, “Good morning, Scott. I want a full report in fifteen minutes, downstairs.”
“Of course, sir.”
Ethan headed to the bathroom musing about Scott.
Scott Mulberry was a thin, blond, and pale thirty-five year old man. He had been working for Ashford Steel since he was twenty-five and was the assistant to another director. Ethan noticed him during a boring meeting when Scott filled in for the missing director. He had spoken with such certainty and clarity about the problem at hand that Ethan promoted him that day to his assistant. He always dressed impeccably and was very polite, almost subservient.
A hard working and ambitious man, Scott was totally devoted to his family. Every month, he sent his earnings to his single mother for the tuition of his five younger siblings and to help her at home.
Ethan had gained his utter loyalty when he had helped Scott’s mother buy a much needed new house.
Scott, from that time on, had included Ethan in his prayers.
He chuckled thinking about his secretary as he showered with Original Vetiver gel from Creed. He had started buying all his toiletries from Creed because it reminded him of Sophia. Since she had broken up with him, he had been obsessed with her. If he were honest, Ethan had been obsessed by her since that fateful plane ride to Geneva.
He looked at his reflection in the mirror, studying his face and body as he dried his hair and shaved.
He still couldn’t understand why she had left him for Alistair. He couldn’t figure her out. And he needed to understand. He needed her.
He went to his dressing room, with just a towel around his lean hips. Before choosing his suit, he buried his nose in the clothes he had bought for her. They still held her scent.
So good, so sweet, so Sophia. He inhaled more deeply. Don’t worry, Ashford, you will have her back. You just have to plan things carefully.
A few minutes later, he was sitting in the dining room enjoying a breakfast of bread and fruits with an espresso, while reading The Financial Times, when Scott knocked at the door, holding a black leather file in front of his chest as a shield.
“Sir, if I may?”
“Good morning, Scott. Come in, please.” He motioned to the chair next to him. “Sit. What have you got for me?”
“Sir, I’m trying my best—” Scott almost choked on his words as Ethan leveled him with a hard stare. “I already have a man on the inside, day in, day out. He’s not perfect, since he works as security only outside her house. But I’m working on—”
“Scott, Scott…” Ethan shook his head, slowly. “Have you gotten the list of employees like I asked? From the house and Leibowitz Oil?”
“Yes, sir, it’s here.” As Ethan scanned the lists, Scott continued, “But the thing is, sir, she pays all her employees very well and she’s a very good employer. As you are, sir. She helps them when they need; she is very polite, calm, and fair. They like her very much and are loyal.”
“She is a great woman. Monitoring her life is going to teach you a lot. Learn from her, Scott.”
“I will, sir, as I do from you. But I’m having difficulties discerning a bribable employee inside her house. They are, as I said, extremely loyal.”
“Loyalty, as you know, is not easily discarded, but everyone has flaws, vices, needs. No one is perfect.” No one but her. “How about the list of firms that provide services at her house?”
“Here, sir.” Scott opened the leather case and pulled out two sheets full of names and information.
“Ah! Very good, Scott,” Ethan relaxed on the chair as he sipped his coffee. “Do you have a pen?”
“Here, sir.”
“Not for me. Please, start taking notes. You are going to research the following…hmm…” His eyes roamed over the list. “The laundry company, the pool cleaner, the restaurateur, no. Not him. Her youngest sister recommended him,” he mused. “Ah, yes, the gardening firm. Look for employees who have debts, mortgages, kids or parents who are ill. I want all the information you can gather. Call James and Carter. Work with them. Only with them,” he said dryly, “and, Scott, I don’t need to remind you—”
“No, no, sir, of course not.” The thin man mopped his forehead with his handkerchief.
“And her schedule? Have you obtained it?”
“Yes, I took the liberty of making a timetable for you, sir.” Another sheet appeared from inside the black leather case. “She teaches at Cambridge once a week on Wednesdays and she stays there doing research until eleven o’clock usually. Once a month, she stays until four o’clock for her PhD. She goes to therapy in South Kensington twice a week with Dr. Guilhermina Kent, a very renowned psychologist, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, at nine fifteen in the morning. She goes home after work at around five o’clock. Once a week, on Wednesdays, she has private fencing classes at home at four-thirty—”
“Who is the teacher? I want a full report on his life. In fact, I want a full report on her secretary, Sarah, and on the ones that work with her at Leibowitz and at the Foundation. Don’t bother with Davidoff. He’s as loyal as a dog. Professor Holbrook and Dr. Kent won’t be useful either. I want all these by the end of the week. Send all the information,” he waved his hand over the sheets Scott had given him, “to my personal e-mail. Encrypted, of course. I don’t want you doing this work from Ashford Steel. Do it here at my home office, always using the private network. Also, I want to know how her PhD is going and who are her supervisors.”
“As you wish, Mr. Ashford. And, if I’m not intruding, sir…”
Ethan shoved a hand in his perfectly combed hair, impatiently, “Shoot, Scott.”
“May I ask if you are satisfied with the…ah…your Sophia?”
My Sophia? She’s not my Sophia. Ethan sighed. “Scott, that woman is not even a shadow of Sophia. The real Sophia is unique and incomparable, but, all in all, I’m satisfied. Please, ask Mary to buy her a gift. Diamond earring studs, maybe. And some new lingerie. She can choose whatever she deems sexy. And more of the Sublime Vanille perfume.” Ethan eyed the pen his assistant was holding, “And, Scott, ask Mary to buy you a Montblanc. That pen isn’t acceptable for a man in your position.”
“Huh?” Scott swallowed and the pen
vanished below the table. “Of course, sir. Thank you. Anything else?”
“Have you checked her phone lines?”
“Yes.”
“I want you to call a hacker—”
“A-a hacker, sir?” Scott stammered.
“Yes,” Ethan stated calmly as he looked for the hacker’s contact in his BlackBerry. “He is the best in his field.”
Scott’s eyes widened and he almost rubbed his hands together; he so loved spying. “Do you want him to bug her lines?”
“Of course! Here.” Ethan’s cell phone screen showed a cell phone number and a name, Ghost.
“And, sir, he can hack into her computers too.” Scott got excited. “And break into the security system of her house. Surely, it’s controlled by a remote computer.”
“Scott, never forget this, information is essential. Always. Always listen. Even to gossip.”
“Of course, sir. Employees love to gossip about their employers’ lives,” Scott said eagerly, not realizing what he was saying.
“Unfortunately,” Ethan said curtly. “I want everything done. Everything. But it’s crucial I’m kept informed of every step. And I want Ghost to wipe clean all traces of any research you do from my computer. In fact, buy yourself a new laptop. Start working with that, and don’t leave it here. Ever.”
“Mr. Ashford, I keep all vital information encrypted. I would never leave anything that could be traced back to us.”
Ethan smiled at him, his azure eyes twinkling. “Scott, you are the best.”
Scott puffed out his thin chest. “Thank you, Mr. Ashford. Do you want to meet with Ghost, sir?”
“Scott, people in his line of work are necessarily secretive. He will never meet a client and we will never know anything about him. If we want something done, we have to leave instructions in a p.o. box. Surely you can understand his fastidiousness.”
“Ah.” Scott was breathless. “Of course, I understand.”
“Good. Scott, no handwritten notes. Should notes be necessary, type them and use gloves to handle them.”