Miss Prim's Greek Island Fling

‘Do you need anything else?’

The beds in Rupert’s villa were always made up. He employed a cleaner to come in once a week so that the Russel siblings or any close friends could land here and fall into bed with a minimum of fuss. But even if the bed hadn’t been made pride would’ve forbidden him from asking her to make it...or to help him make it.

He fell into a chair and slanted her a grin—cocky, assured and full of teasing to hide his pain as he pulled his hiking boots off. ‘Well, now, Squirt...’ He lifted a foot in her direction. ‘I could use some help getting my socks off. And then maybe my jeans.’

As anticipated, her eyes went wide and her cheeks went pink. Without another word, she whirled around and strode from the room.

At that precise moment his phone started to ring. He glanced at the caller ID and grimaced. ‘Rupert, mate. Sorry about—’

The phone was summarily taken from him and Finn blinked when Audra lifted it to her ear. Up this close she smelled of coconut and peaches. His mouth watered. Dinner suddenly seemed like hours ago.

‘Rupe, Finn looks like death. He needs to rest. He’ll call you in the morning and you can give him an ear-bashing then.’ She turned the phone off before handing it back to him. ‘Goodnight, Finn.’

She was halfway through the kitchen before he managed to call back a goodnight of his own. He stood in the doorway and waited until he heard her ascending the stairs before closing his door and dialling Rupert’s number.

‘Before you launch into a tirade and tell me what an idiot I am, let me apologise. I’m calling myself far worse names than you ever will. I’d have not scared Audra for the world. I was going to call you in the morning to let you know I was here.’ He’d had no notion Audra would be here. It was a little early in the season for any of the Russels to head for the island.

Rupert’s long sigh came down the phone, and it made Finn’s gut churn. ‘What are you doing in Kyanós?’ his friend finally asked. ‘I thought you were in Nice.’

‘The, uh, cast came off yesterday.’

‘And you couldn’t blow off steam on the French Riviera?’

He scrubbed a hand down his face. ‘There’s a woman I’m trying to avoid and—’

‘You don’t need to say any more. I get the picture.’

Actually, Rupert was wrong. This time. It wasn’t a romantic liaison he’d tired of and was fleeing. But he kept his mouth shut. He deserved Rupert’s derision. ‘If you want me to leave, I’ll clear out at first light.’

His heart gave a sick kick at the long pause on the other end of the phone. Rupert was considering it! Rupert was the one person who’d shown faith in him when everyone else had written him off, and now—

‘Of course I don’t want you to leave.’

He closed his eyes and let out a long, slow breath.

‘But...’

His eyes crashed open. His heart started to thud. ‘But?’

‘Don’t go letting Audra fall in love with you. She’s fragile at the moment, Finn...vulnerable.’

He stiffened. ‘Whoa, Rupe! I’ve no designs on your little sister.’

‘She’s exactly your type.’

‘Except she’s your sister.’ He made a decision then and there to leave in the morning. He didn’t want Rupert worrying about this. It was completely unnecessary. He needed to lie low for a few weeks and Kyanós had seemed like the perfect solution, but not at the expense of either Rupert’s or Audra’s peace of mind.

‘That said, I’m glad you’re there.’

Finn stilled.

‘I’m worried about her being on her own. I’ve been trying to juggle my timetable, but the earliest I can get away is in a fortnight.’

Finn pursed his lips. ‘You want me to keep an eye on her?’

Again there was a long pause. ‘She needs a bit of fun. She needs to let her hair down.’

‘This is Audra we’re talking about.’ She was the most buttoned-up person he knew.

‘You’re good at fun.’

His lips twisted. He ought to be. He’d spent a lifetime perfecting it. ‘You want me to make sure she has a proper holiday?’

‘Minus the holiday romance. Women like you, Finn...they fall for you.’

‘Pot and kettle,’ he grunted back. ‘But you’re worrying for nothing. Audra has more sense than that.’ She had always disapproved of him and what she saw as his irresponsible and daredevil lifestyle.

What had happened eight weeks ago proved her point. What if the next time he did kill himself? The thought made his mouth dry and his gut churn. His body was recovering but his mind... There were days when he was a maelstrom of confusion, questioning the choices he was making. He gritted his teeth. It’d pass. After such a close brush with mortality it had to be normal to question one’s life. Needless to say, he wasn’t bringing anyone into that mess at the moment, especially not one who was his best friend’s little sister.

‘If she had more sense she’d have not fallen for Farquhar.’

Finn’s hands fisted. ‘Tell me the guy is toast.’

‘I’m working on it.’

Good.

‘I’ve tried to shield her from the worst of the media furore, but...’

‘But she has eyes in her head. She can read the headlines for herself.’ And those headlines had been everywhere. It’d been smart of Rupert to pack Audra off to the island.

‘Exactly.’ Rupert paused again. ‘None of the Russels have any sense when it comes to love. If we did, Audra wouldn’t have been taken in like she was.’

And she was paying for it now. He recalled her pallor, the dark circles beneath her eyes...the effort it’d taken her to lift his backpack. He could help with some of that—get her out into the sun, challenge her to swimming contests...and maybe even get her to run with him. He could make sure she ate three square meals a day.

‘If I’d had more sense I’d have not fallen for Brooke Manning.’

‘Everyone makes a bad romantic decision at least once in their lives, Rupe.’

He realised he sounded as if he were downplaying what had happened to his friend, and he didn’t want to do that. Rupert hadn’t looked at women in the same way after Brooke. Finn wasn’t sure what had happened between them. He’d been certain they were heading for matrimony, babies and white picket fences. But it had all imploded, and Rupert hadn’t been the same since. ‘But you’re right—not everyone gets their heart shredded.’ He rubbed a hand across his chest. ‘Has Farquhar shredded her heart?’

‘I don’t know.’

Even if he hadn’t, he’d stolen company secrets from the Russel Corporation while posing as her attentive and very loving boyfriend. That wasn’t something a woman like Audra would be able to shrug off as just a bad experience.

Poor Squirt.

He only realised he’d said that out loud when Rupert said with a voice as dry as a good single malt, ‘Take a look, Finn. I think you’ll find Squirt is all grown up.’

He didn’t need to look. The less looking he did, the better. A girl like Audra deserved more than what a guy like him could give her—things like stability, peace of mind, and someone she could depend on.

‘It’d be great if you could take her mind off things—make her laugh and have some fun. I just don’t want her falling for you. She’s bruised and battered enough.’

‘You’ve nothing to worry about on that score, Rupe, I promise you. I’ve no intention of hurting Audra. Ever.’

‘She’s special, Finn.’

That made him smile. ‘All of the Russel siblings are special.’

‘She’s more selfless than the rest of us put together.’

Finn blinked. ‘That’s a big call.’

‘It’s the truth.’

He hauled in a breath and let it out slowly. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’

‘Thanks, Finn, I knew I could count on you.’

* * *

Audra pressed her ringing phone to her ear at exactly eight twenty-three the next morning. She knew the exact time because she was wondering when Finn would emerge. She’d started clock-watching—a sure sign of worry. Not that she had any intention of letting Rupert know she was worried. ‘Hey, Rupe.’

He called to check on her every couple of days, which only fed her guilt. Last night’s false alarm sent an extra surge of guilt slugging through her now. ‘Sorry about last night’s fuss. I take it the police rang to let you know what happened.’

‘They did. And you’ve nothing to apologise for. Wasn’t your fault. In fact, I’m proud of the way you handled the situation.’

He was? Her shoulders went back.

‘Not everyone would’ve thought that quickly on their feet. You did good.’

‘Thanks, I... I’m relieved it was just Finn.’ She flashed to the lines of strain that had bracketed Finn’s mouth last night. ‘Do you know how long he plans to stay?’

‘No idea. Do you mind him being there? I can ask him to leave.’

‘No, no—don’t do that.’ She already owed Rupert and the rest of her family too much. She didn’t want to cause any further fuss. ‘He wasn’t looking too crash hot last night. I think he needs to take it easy for a bit.’

‘You could be right, Squirt, and I hate to ask this of you...’

‘Ask away.’ She marvelled how her brother’s Squirt could sound so different from Finn’s. When Finn called her Squirt it made her tingle all over.

‘No, forget about it. It doesn’t matter. You’ve enough on your plate.’

She had nothing on her plate at the moment and they both knew it. ‘Tell me what you were going to say,’ she ordered in her best boardroom voice. ‘I insist. You know you’ll get no peace now until you do.’

His low chuckle was her reward. Good. She wanted him to stop worrying about her.

‘Okay, it’s just... I’m a bit worried about him.’

She sat back. ‘About Finn?’ It made a change from Rupert worrying about her.

‘He’s never had to take it easy in his life. Going slow is an alien concept to him.’

He could say that again.

‘He nearly died up there on that mountain.’

Her heart clenched. ‘Died? I mean, I knew he’d banged himself up pretty bad, but... I had no idea.’

‘Typical Finn, he’s tried to downplay it. While the medical team could patch the broken arm and ribs easily enough, along with the dislocated shoulder and wrenched knee, his ruptured spleen and the internal bleeding nearly did him in.’

She closed her eyes and swallowed. ‘You want me to make sure he takes it easy while he’s here?’

‘That’s probably an impossible task.’

‘Nothing’s impossible,’ she said with a confidence she had no right to. After all her brother’s support these last few weeks—his lack of blame—she could certainly do this one thing for him. ‘Consider it done.’

‘And, Audra...?’

‘Yes?’

‘Don’t go falling in love with him.’

She shot to her feet, her back ramrod straight. ‘I make one mistake and—’

‘This has nothing to do with what happened with Farquhar. It’s just that women seem to like Finn. A lot. They fall at his feet in embarrassing numbers.’

She snorted and took her seat again. ‘That’s because he’s pretty.’ She preferred a man with a bit more substance.

You thought Thomas had substance.

She pushed the thought away.

‘He’s in Kyanós partly because he’s trying to avoid some woman in Nice.’

Good to know.

‘If he hurts you, Squirt, I’ll no longer consider him a friend.’

She straightened from her slouch, air whistling between her teeth. Rupert and Finn were best friends, and had been ever since they’d attended their international boarding school in Geneva as fresh-faced twelve-year-olds.

She made herself swallow. ‘I’ve no intention of doing anything so daft.’ She’d never do anything to ruin her brother’s most important friendship.

‘Finn has a brilliant mind, he’s built a successful company and is an amazing guy, but...’

‘But what?’ She frowned, when her brother remained silent. ‘What are you worried about?’

‘His past holds him back.’

By his past she guessed he meant Finn’s parents’ high-octane lifestyle, followed by their untimely deaths. It had to have had an impact on Finn, had to have left scars and wounds that would never heal.

‘I worry he could end up like his father.’

She had to swallow the bile that rose through her.

‘I’m not sure he’ll ever settle down.’

She’d worked that much out for herself. And she wasn’t a masochist. Men like Finn were pretty to look at, but you didn’t build a life around them.

Women had flings with men like Finn...and she suspected they enjoyed every moment of them. A squirrel of curiosity wriggled through her, but she ruthlessly cut it off. One disastrous romantic liaison was enough for the year. She wasn’t adding another one to the tally. She suppressed a shudder. The very thought made her want to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over her head.

She forced her spine to straighten. She had no intention of falling for Finn, but she could get him to slow down for a bit—just for a week or two, right?

CHAPTER TWO

‘YOU HAD BREAKFAST YET, Squirt?’

Audra almost jumped out of her skin at the deep male voice and the hard-muscled body that materialised directly in front of her. She bit back a yelp and pressed a hand to her heart. After sitting here waiting for him to emerge, she couldn’t believe she’d been taken off guard.

He chuckled. ‘You never used to be jumpy.’

Yeah, well, that was before Thomas Farquhar had locked her in a cupboard. The laughter in his warm brown eyes faded as they narrowed. Not that she had any intention of telling him that. She didn’t want his pity. ‘Broken sleep never leaves me at my best,’ she said in as tart a voice as she could muster. Which was, admittedly, pretty tart.

He just grinned. ‘I find it depends on the reasons for the broken sleep.’ And then he sent her a broad wink.

She rolled her eyes. ‘Glass shattering and having to call the police doesn’t fall into the fun category, Finn.’

‘Do you want me to apologise again? Do the full grovel?’ He waggled his eyebrows. ‘I’m very good at a comprehensive grovel.’

‘No, thank you.’ She pressed her lips together. She bet he was good at a lot of things.

She realised she still held her phone. She recalled the conversation she’d just had with Rupert and set it to the table, heat flushing through her cheeks.

Finn glanced at her and at the phone before cracking eggs into the waiting frying pan. ‘So... Rupe rang to warn you off, huh?’

Her jaw dropped. How on earth...? Ah. ‘He rang you too.’

‘You want a couple of these?’ He lifted an egg in her direction.

‘No...thank you,’ she added as a belated afterthought. It struck her that she always found it hard to remember her manners around Finn.

‘Technically, I called him.’ The frying pan spat and sizzled. ‘But he seems to think I have some magic ability to make women swoon at my feet, whereby I pick them off at my leisure and have my wicked way with them before discarding them as is my wont.’

She frowned. Had she imagined the bitterness behind the lightness?

‘He read me the Riot Act where you’re concerned.’ He sent her a mock serious look. ‘So, Squirt, while I know it’ll be hard for you to contain your disappointment, I’m afraid I’m not allowed to let a single one of my love rays loose in your direction.’

She couldn’t help it, his nonsense made her laugh.

With an answering grin, he set a plate of eggs and toast in front of her and slid into the seat opposite.

‘But I said I didn’t want any.’

Her stomach rumbled, making a liar of her. Rather than tease her, though, he shrugged. ‘Sorry, I must’ve misheard.’

Finn never misheard anything, but the smell of butter on toast made her mouth water. She picked up her knife and fork. It’d be wasteful not to eat it. ‘Did Rupert order you to feed me up?’ she grumbled.

He shook his head, and shaggy hair—damp from the shower—fell into his eyes and curled about his neck and some pulse inside her flared to life before she brutally strangled it.

‘Nope. Rupe’s only dictum was to keep my love rays well and truly away from his little sister. All uttered in his most stern of tones.’

She did her best not to choke on her toast and eggs. ‘Doesn’t Rupert know me at all?’ She tossed the words back at him with what she hoped was a matching carelessness.

‘See? That’s what I told him. I said, Audra’s too smart to fall for a guy like me.’

Fall for? Absolutely not. Sleep with...?

What on earth...? She frowned and forced the thought away. She didn’t think of Finn in those terms.

Really?

She rolled her shoulders. So what if she’d always thought him too good-looking for his own good? That didn’t mean anything. In idle moments she might find herself thinking he’d be an exciting lover. If she were the kind of person who did flings with devil-may-care men. But she wasn’t. And that didn’t mean anything either.

‘So...?’

She glanced up at the question in his voice.

‘How long have you been down here?’

‘Two days.’

‘And how long are you here for?’

She didn’t really know. ‘A fortnight, maybe. I’ve taken some annual leave.’

He sent her a sharp glance from beneath brows so perfectly shaped they made her the tiniest bit jealous. ‘If you took all the leave accrued by you, I bet you could stay here until the middle of next year.’

Which would be heaven—absolute heaven.

‘What about you? How long are you staying?’

‘I was thinking a week or two. Do some training...get some condition back.’

He was going to overdo it. Well, not on her watch!

‘But if my being here is intruding on your privacy, I can shoot off to my uncle’s place.’

‘No need for that. It’ll be nice to have some company.’

His eyes narrowed and she realised she’d overplayed her hand. It wasn’t her usual sentiment where Finn was concerned. Normally she acted utterly disdainful and scornful. They sparred. They didn’t buddy up.

She lifted her fork and pointed it at him. ‘As long as you stop calling me Squirt, stop blathering nonsense about love rays...and cook me breakfast every day.’

He laughed and she let out a slow breath.

‘You’ve got yourself a deal... Audra.’

Her name slid off his tongue like warm honey and it was all she could do not to groan. She set her knife and fork down and pushed her plate away.

‘I had no idea you didn’t like being called Squirt.’

She didn’t. Not really.

He stared at her for a moment. ‘Don’t hold Rupert’s protectiveness against him.’

She blinked. ‘I don’t.’ And then grimaced. ‘Well, not much. I know I’m lucky to have him...and Cora and Justin.’ It was a shame that Finn didn’t have a brother or sister. He did have Rupert, though, and the two men were as close as brothers.

‘He’s a romantic.’

That made her glance up. ‘Rupert?’

‘Absolutely.’

He nodded and it made his hair do that fall-in-his-eyes thing again and she didn’t know why, but it made her stomach clench.

‘On the outside he acts as hard as nails, but on the inside...’

‘He’s a big marshmallow,’ she finished.

‘He’d go to the ends of the earth for someone he loved.’

That was true. She nodded.

‘See? A romantic.’

She’d never thought about it in those terms.

His phone on the table buzzed. She didn’t mean to look, but she saw the name Trixie flash up on the screen before Finn reached over and switched it off. Okay.

‘So...’ He dusted off his hands as if ready to take on the world. ‘What were you planning to do while you were here?’

Dear God. Think of nice, easy, relaxing things. ‘Um... I was going to lie on the beach and catch some rays—’ not love rays ‘—float about in the sea for a bit.’

‘Sounds good.’

Except he wouldn’t be content with lying around and floating, would he? He’d probably challenge himself to fifty laps out to the buoy and back every day. ‘Read a book.’

His lip curled. ‘Read a book?’

She tried not to wince at the scorn that threaded through his voice.

‘You come to one of the most beautiful places on earth to read a book?’

She tried to stop her shoulders from inching up to her ears. ‘I like reading, and do you know how long it’s been since I read a book for pleasure?’

‘How long?’

‘Over a year,’ she mumbled.

He spread his hands. ‘If you like to read, why don’t you do more of it?’

Because she’d been working too hard. Because she’d let Thomas distract and manipulate her.

‘And what else?’

She searched her mind. ‘I don’t cook.’

He glanced at their now empty plates and one corner of his mouth hooked up. ‘So I’ve noticed.’

‘But I want to learn to cook...um...croissants.’

His brow furrowed. ‘Why?’

Because they took a long time to make, didn’t they? The pastry needed lots of rolling out, didn’t it? Which meant, if she could trick him into helping her, he’d be safe from harm while he was rolling out pastry. ‘Because I love them.’ That was true enough. ‘But I’ve had to be strict with myself.’

‘Strict, how?’

‘I’ve made a decision—in the interests of both my waistline and my heart health—that I’m only allowed to eat croissants that I make myself.’

He leaned back and let loose with a long low whistle. ‘Wow, Squ—Audra! You really know how to let your hair down and party, huh?’

No one in all her life had ever accused her of being a party animal.

‘A holiday with reading and baking at the top of your list.’

His expression left her in no doubt what he thought about that. ‘This is supposed to be a holiday—some R & R,’ she shot back, stung. ‘I’m all go, go, go at work, but here I want time out.’

‘Boring,’ he sing-songed.

‘Relaxing,’ she countered.

‘You’ve left the recreation part out of your R & R equation. I mean, look at you. You even look...’

She had to clamp her hands around the seat of her chair to stop from leaping out of it. ‘Boring?’ she said through gritted teeth.

‘Buttoned-up. Tense. The opposite of relaxed.’

‘It’s the effect you and your love rays always seem to have on me.’

He tsk-tsked and shook his head. ‘We’re not supposed to mention the love rays, remember?’

Could she scream yet?

‘I mean, look at your hair. You have it pulled back in a bun.’

She touched a hand to her hair. ‘What’s wrong with that?’

‘A bun is for the boardroom, not the beach.’

She hated wearing her hair down and have it tickle her face.

‘Well, speaking of hair, you might want to visit a hairdresser yourself when you’re next in the village,’ she shot back.

‘But I visited my hairdresser only last week.’ He sent her a grin full of wickedness and sin. ‘The delectable Monique assured me this look is all the rage at the moment.’

He had a hairdresser called Monique...who was delectable? She managed to roll her eyes. ‘The too-long-for-the-boardroom-just-right-for-the-beach look?’

‘Precisely. She said the same about the stubble.’

She’d been doing her best not to notice that stubble. She was trying to keep the words dead sexy from forming in her brain.

‘What do you think?’ He ran a hand across his jawline, preening. It should’ve made him look ridiculous. Especially as he was hamming it up and trying to look ridiculous. But she found herself having to jam down on the temptation to reach across and brush her palm across it to see if it was as soft and springy as it looked.

She mentally slapped herself. ‘I think it looks...scruffy.’ In the best possible way. ‘But it probably provides good protection against the sun, which is wise in these climes.’

He simply threw his head back and laughed, not taking the slightest offence. The strain that had deepened the lines around his eyes last night had eased. And when he rose to take their dishes to the sink he moved with an easy fluidity that belied his recent injuries.