It was twenty-ninth of July and Shy had just celebrated her twenty-second birthday in April. Shy was enjoying her vacation in Greece as a gift from her parents. The warm breeze held a hint of humidity and Shy was just returning to her room after a day at the temples spent looking for anything regarding her ancestors. It intrigued her how they linked her family name of Angelis to Helen's when Angelis had originated in another part of the country. She had read somewhere that her line was not the spawn of Paris' and Helen's love affair, but of another Greek who had stolen Helen from him. In the same text she read that Paris had actually fathered a child from a handmaiden before he met Helen.
So much for true love. Shy thought as she entered the hotel lobby of where she was staying.
Of course no one would dare question mythology so the book she had read was just considered conspiracy theories of an overactive imagination. Still, it was extremely well researched and totally capable of being regarded as truth. The book even named descendents of the match between Paris and the handmaiden who went by the name of Aglaia which meant "splendor and beauty". Mersinias, Karabatsos, Nikolias, and Rouvelas were just a few. Apparently the handmaiden's love child favored his father and used it to his advantage.
Shy took a seat in the antique hotel lobby that imitated the architecture of the land with her nose buried in the book. The bright orange light of the Greek sun filtered in from the revolving doors and drowned her page in gold. She could hear a familiar voice speaking Greek to the doorman, but did not bother to remove her eyes from the words before her.
Suddenly, the words on the page were darkened by shadow and she glanced up at her visitor. The sun shone brightly behind him casting his face in shadow, but she could feel the power he projected on her and she knew who it was.
"I don't wish to disturb you, dear." He said as gently as he could, taking a seat in front of her.
"The distraction is welcomed. I was getting too wrapped up in school work I was supposed to leave behind on this vacation." Shy said, shutting the book over on her lap. "What brings you to Greece, Desmond?"
He smiled and the lines beside his eyes revealed themselves. Shy could not help but smile back as she could see he was dressed in a suit and guessed that he would say business.
"Business." He said, just as she planned in her mind. "I rarely travel when it isn't business involved."
"My father told me of your offer for the company." Shy said evenly, fixing her skirt and crossing her legs over.
Desmond's beady gray eyes traveled from her ankles to her long legs and rested a glance on her thighs. Shy let him linger on her for a moment before continuing the conversation.
"You do realize how many people will lose their jobs, don't you? Those people aren't just employees, Desmond. They're friends."
Desmond smirked and raised his eyes to hers. "That's why it's in shambles, my dear. If everyone is treated as an equal there is nothing to balance."
"And you enjoy your pedestal." Shy said not taking her eyes away from his.
"Have dinner with me." Desmond said sternly.
Shy rolled her eyes and stood up. She looked down at Desmond who did not rise with her. "No thank you. I don't want to dine with the man who befriended my father for twenty years only to steal his company from beneath him."
Desmond stands and towers over Shy a few inches from her body. "You were much more polite when you were a child. To think, you're father named you the exact opposite of what you are. Although, I do like the fiery types."
"Are you attempting to flirt with me?" Shy raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at him.
"I wouldn't belittle you that way. You are much too brilliant. I just want to have dinner with a friendly face. Think of it as a belated birthday present."
Shy's eyebrow remained raised as she tried to read his face for a trace of what his plan might be. Then, she pursed her lips and sighed. "We'll have dinner in the restaurant here. I will meet you in an hour in this very spot. We'll have dinner and discuss other options for my father's company. If the subject changes during the dinner, I assure you it will not be a friendly face you are eating with."
Desmond's expression mocked her. He was not intimidated, but he still agreed. "Very well."
Shy entered her room after the dinner that went as she planned. Desmond and she had come to an agreement that her father could select who he wished to stay at the company and who he wished to add. She was surprised that Desmond had taken her seriously and she turned the take-over into a merger. She kept thinking of how her father would be thrilled at the news.
Still, as she sat at the foot of her bed in the large suite her parents ordered for her, she felt uneasy. The talk seemed a little too easy for her.
She took off her strappy heels and stretched her feet in front of her when there was a knock at the door. Shy rose to her feet, her champagne colored satin dress flowing behind her as she made it to the door to look through the peep hole. She didn't see anyone. Against her better judgment she opened the door to look out.
Shy took a step out and was grabbed to the side by a warm, rough hand. She gasped, but was met by those same gray eyes that had probed her body during dinner when he thought she wasn't looking. Then, the smile spread across his lips.
Shy touched her chest and took a deep breath in. "You scared me, Desmond! What do you want?"
"You are beautiful, Shy. More beautiful than any I've ever seen." Desmond caressed her pale cheek with his right hand. He was untucked and disheveled.
"Have you been drinking more wine?" Shy said snidely, but did not pull away from his touch.
Desmond inched her closer with his hand on her cheek and swallowed. "I won't take Athens away from your father, Shy if it hurts you."
Athens was the name of her father's company and at this Shy was confused. She looked at the sincerity in Desmond's eyes and she believed him.
"Why would you do that for me?" She replied in a whisper. Her heart quickened and her palm felt wet within his.
"I adore you. I would give you the world, if I could only have you." Desmond's hand moved from her cheek to her neck where she could feel her own pulse beating against his hand.
He let her hand go and placed his free hand on her waist. "Marry me and your happiness will be my only venture."
The hall felt quieter to her now and all she could feel was the burning of her cheeks and the rise and fall of her chest. She found her thoughts racing in her mind. She could save her father's company; she could have anything she wanted. She believed him.
Before she knew it she was nodding, "Yes." The word barely escaped her lips before she felt Desmond's on top of them.
He pulled her close to his body and kissed her more urgently. She let him. She felt incapacitated by his kiss. Her functions had ceased and she could neither welcome him nor push him away.
Desmond placed his hand on her bare thigh and slipped his hand underneath her short dress. Shy closed her eyes and let out a sigh as he moved to kiss her neck and feel her. They stood in the hall alone and Shy silently wished for someone to come out and interrupt. He inched her back to the wall and she was trapped.
Finally, her hands found their way to his shoulders and she pushed. Desmond backed away trying to catch his breath. There was no lustful hunger in his eyes like she had seen before with others. There was just a look of concern. Desmond had never been resisted before.
Shy swallowed hard. "Not now."
Desmond leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Of course. I apologize."
"You should go back to your room." Shy said gently, touching his shoulder to smooth out his collar.
Desmond nodded and kissed her lips one last time before leaving her alone.
Shy entered her room and locked the door behind her. She looked to her left at a mirror hanging on the wall above a small table where she kept her key. Her lips and the area around them was red and her hair had fallen out of the comb that was holding it to the side.
She stared blankly at the reflection before her. She then took the comb out and let her hair fall on her shoulders. She was flushed and tired, but even more importantly…she was engaged.