The Greek Tycoon Box Set: The Complete Serial: Books 1-10 (38 page)

“Seems appropriate,” she said, smiling. “Will you, Mr. Kostas, toast our life together?”

“But of course,” Atreus said, smiling right back. “Prepare the glasses, soon-to-be Mrs. Kostas.”

Carla couldn’t get enough of hearing that either. She reached for two champagne glasses and held them out to him. Luckily Dios was too involved in his jam sandwich to try and join in.

Atreus popped the cork with ease and poured the bubbling liquid into each glass. Then he took his glass from Carla and clinked it against hers.
 

“To our happy lives together.”

She smiled.
 

“To our happy lives together.”

Carla sipped, then drank deeply, loving its half-sweet, half-bitter taste, and the sensation of the bubbles sliding over her tongue. She leaned back on the tartan rug and took in the beautiful surroundings. The flowers, the chalky blue sky with its fluffy clouds, Dios, Atreus, her love for all of them affected her deeply in that moment. She could not remember the last time she had been so purely happy as she was then.
 

She glanced over at Atreus to watch him in the same reverie of contentment.
 

“I want to stay here forever,” she said.

“Here in Scotland?”

“Here in this moment. I wish I could stop time right now, and we’d live like this for the rest of our lives. It’s so beautiful.”

“Yes,” Atreus said thoughtfully. “Yes.”

She found herself quite swept up in emotion.
 

“Our love will make every day beautiful.”

“Every day,” Atreus repeated. “And that’s a promise.”

*****

“No, don’t leave, either of you,” Carla said. “It’s not your fault.”

She had a red-eyed Cressida and red-eyed Olivia sitting in front of her, on the hotel patio.

“But, I should have known,” said Olivia. “I should have.”

“So should I,” Cressida said. “I went to Cambridge, for goodness’ sake. You’d think I’d be less naïve.”

Carla sighed.
 

“Well, Olivia, I can tell you that Brian is very persuasive and a very good liar. He’s had plenty of practice. But you’re a very good hotel manager, and you’ve picked up things so quickly. I’d love for you to stay.”

Olivia gave a little smile and dabbed at her eyes.
 

“But how can you trust me after that?”

Carla smiled encouragingly.
 

“If you had been involved you’d be off enjoying your cash, or in the back of a police car, not sobbing your eyes out to me.”

Olivia managed a laugh then though it was more of a half-laugh, half-sob.

“I really want you to stay, Olivia, I’m serious.”

“Okay,” Olivia said. “Thank you so much.”

“Aww,” Carla said, getting up and wrapping Olivia up in a hug.
 

She hated to see people cry.

Cressida sniffed and straightened her back.
 

“I should resign. That is the only honorable thing I could do.”

“Nonsense,” said Carla.

“But I was the manager,” said Cressida. “I shouldn’t have been involved with anyone romantically, much less my junior. Maybe if I hadn’t been involved, I could have seen through his act and none of this would have happened.”

Carla shrugged.
 

“Well, maybe, but I didn’t see through his act and I certainly didn’t fancy him.”
 

She smiled at her attempt at a joke, but Cressida remained downcast.

“I don’t see how you could possibly want me working for you after this. I’ve shown myself unprofessional on many levels.”

“Some people advise against workplace romances,” said Carla. “And maybe they’re right, maybe they’re wrong, I don’t know. But what I do know is that you’ve been excellent from the start. It would be a disaster if you left.”

Cressida smiled a little.
 

“So you really would like me to stay on?”

“Of course!”

“Oh, thank you.”
 

And soon they were hugging too.

“Look, Atreus is coming,” Olivia said.

And indeed he was. Atreus and Carla had called all the staff out for an evening dinner. Some of the housekeeping staff were just beginning to set up the tables and chairs on the terrace.

Once everything was arranged and all staff members were present, Carla and Atreus took their spaces at the top table, Dios in the highchair next to them.

Atreus stood up.
 

“Good evening, everyone! We’ve called you here for dinner to make an announcement to you all!”

The End
(of Book 9)

Continue on to read Book 10…

THE GREEK TYCOON

Book 10:
 
A Very Greek Wedding

By Kay Brody

Chapter 1

The housekeeping staff had set out numerous chairs and tables on the terrace of Westling House, and every single staff member of Atreus’ and Carla’s was in attendance.

Atreus stood up from his place at the top table next to Carla and Dios.
 

“Good evening, everyone! We’ve called you here for dinner to make an announcement to you all!”

An interested murmur spread throughout the staff.

“We are very pleased with the way everyone dealt with the very delicate, and very scary, situation we were all put through recently,” he said. “And with that in mind, I’d like to offer you all a bonus of £500 this month.”

Carla watched with delighted eyes as they broke into quiet smiles and whoops.

“The hotel will continue, and will not be shut down because of people who tried to ruin everything. We will not let them win. We will continue.”
 

Atreus reached down for her hand and glanced at Carla, so much love in his eyes.
 

“As for Carla and I, we’ll be taking some time out. As you all know, we are living in the Gardener’s Cottage, and we shall delegate all our responsibilities in the hotel for the foreseeable future. My fiancée is pregnant, so we shall be entering another baby into the Kostas fold, which I absolutely cannot wait for.”
 

Carla squeezed his hand, never feeling more grateful than she did right now. This man had come into her life and somehow it all make sense now.
 

“And,” she said, getting up to stand beside him, “we have changed our wedding date.”

“We were going to get married after the baby is born, but we just can’t wait,” Atreus said.
 

Carla loved to see the sparkle in his eyes. She could not resist leaning in toward him to plant a kiss on his cheek.
 

“So we shall be married in September!” she announced.

The staff began to clap and cheer, and the whole place was full of smiles. Atreus drew her into a gentle embrace until it all died down, then grinned at the staff.
 

“Anyways, that’s enough about us. I think it’s time to eat!”
 

He nodded at the staff by the doors, and soon food was being served in the buffet carts—a veritable feast.

Atreus sat down and watched the staff as they filed through, chattering excitedly in high spirits. It was clear he enjoyed seeing them happy.
 

Carla gazed at him, a smile spreading over her face. She had never known what joy it would bring her to marry a man who cared about the wellbeing of others. That had never been one of the traits she’d even thought of when dreaming up her ideal man, back at her desk in London. Come to think of it, her ideal man had not been Greek, or had a child, or had a pesky ex-wife, or been a millionaire more than a hundred times over. But Atreus was all of those things, and she loved him with a certainty she’d never had before. He was the one she’d be with for the rest of her life. She had not even a flicker of doubt about that.

Coming through the cottage door that evening was different since their announcement had finally been made. They were to be free to enjoy each other’s company without having to think of balance sheets or clean towels or upkeep of the landscaping.
 

As soon as they got in, Atreus scooped Dios up in his arms and leapt up the stairs by twos. Carla followed and soon they all collapsed on the king-size bed and giggled together. Atreus tickled Dios until he squealed.

“This is perfect,” Carla said, lying on her back and smiling at the ceiling. She had never felt a contentment so deep. “This is perfect.”

Atreus rolled over onto his front.
 

“Hey, babe, look at me.”

She propped herself up on her side and took Dios’ chubby hand in hers.
 

“I’m looking.”

“I’m gonna need that hand,” Atreus said, then fished in his pocket. “Close your eyes.”

Carla did.

“Here we are; open them!”

She opened her eyes to see that beautiful diamond ring they had picked out together—the largest stone flashing in the light while the tiny ones around the band glistened.
 

“Oh,” she breathed, not knowing what to feel. She had loved that ring so much when they had first picked it out, but then Brian had taken it. The thought of his abusive hands touching it sent shivers down her spine. “Atreus, I…”

His face fell.
 

“I thought you’d want it back.”

She took it from him and turned it over in her fingers, discomfort and pleasure fighting in her chest.
 

“I’m not sure,” she said, then looked up at him.

“You mean; will it be a reminder of the past? Of Brian?”

 
Even though Brian was now in jail for kidnapping Jules and Felix Swanson-Jessup, along with Tom and their other accomplices, Carla had still not quite relaxed yet. In her nightmares, he wiggled out of the bars to come and ruin their lives once more. She nodded, then jumped as Dios swiped the ring from her with his tiny hand and giggled happily. Atreus and Carla looked at each other in disbelief.

“Hey, you,” Atreus said, prying the ring out of Dios’ fingers and planting a kiss on his fat cheek when he squawked his protest. “That’s Mama’s.”

Carla felt a deep sense of comfort. She loved being called Mama.

Atreus looked over the ring and sighed, then touched Carla on the cheek and gazed right into her eyes.

“To me, it could be two things. A horrible reminder of the past and the people who want to stop our future.”

Brian flashed through Carla’s head. Serene. Nikolas.

“Or a symbol of our overcoming them,” he suggested. “The victory of family and love over everything.”

She hadn’t thought of it like that. The little diamond that was now on her ring finger was elegant, and she loved it, but the allure of wearing the original ring, despite what anyone had done, appealed to her. It was bold and brave and, sure, the mark of someone who was certain that no one could break down their relationship.

“All right,” she said, smiling.

It felt like they were moving to the next level. She slipped the smaller ring off her finger.

“Why don’t you put that one on your other hand?” Atreus said. “It could be… a pregnancy ring!”

She laughed.
 

“A pregnancy ring?”

“Why not? It’s just as much a big deal as engagement, if not more so.”

“Well, all right.”

He took the ring from her and slipped in onto the ring finger of her right hand.
 

“To you, Carla soon-to-be-Kostas, the mother of my children.” Then he picked up the bigger ring, the one that now meant their refusal to be torn apart by anyone or anything. Carla presented her hand to him, and he leaned down to kiss it. His dark eyes were wide and full of sincerity as he pushed the ring onto her ring finger. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she said. She turned her hand at all angles, letting the light bounce off it and splinter into rainbows. “We’re going to be together forever.”

“Even when things get tough?” he asked.

She nodded.
 

“Especially when things get tough.”

*****

“It’s a girl!” Carla announced through the phone, then switched it on the loudspeaker.

“Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!” her grandmother’s voice echoed through the car.
 

Her grandfather, Charles, sounded like he had tears in his eyes.
 

“Couldn’t be happier,” he said.

“We’ve even picked a name,” Atreus said from behind the steering wheel.
 

It seemed such a long time ago since they’d discussed it together in Dubai. They glanced at each other before saying it right at the same time.