Mediterranean Nights: The Mistress Purchase / The Demetrios Virgin / Marco's Convenient Wife. PENNY JORDAN

Sadie agreed even more shortly. ‘Or the Greek Destroyer, as I call him!’

      ‘Destroyer?’ Mary shook her head. ‘You really don’t like him, do you?’

      ‘I certainly don’t like what he’s planning to do to Francine!’ Sadie told her fiercely.

      ‘Well, by all accounts he’s a very shrewd operator,’ Mary allowed. ‘The consortium he heads is worth billions, and since he took on that new designer to redesign the women’s wear side of his acquisitions… well, there isn’t a woman going who doesn’t secretly yearn for a little something with their label on it.’

      ‘No?’ Sadie gave her a grim look. ‘Well, I certainly don’t.’ When she saw her friend’s face, she protested, ‘Mary, he doesn’t just want to buy the perfume house, he wants to buy the rights to the perfume my grandmother left to me as well…. Raoul is trying to pressurise me into selling it, but there is no way I am going to. That perfume was designed by my great-grandfather for my great-grandmother. He only allowed a handful of clients to have the perfume. My grandmother left the secret of its make-up to me because she knew that I would protect it! The whole reason she quarrelled with her brother was because he wanted to do exactly what Raoul wants to do now.’

      ‘So don’t go to France, then!’ Mary told her forthrightly.

      ‘I have to. I own thirty per cent of the business, and there’s no way I’m going to let Raoul sell it to this… this… Greek…’

      ‘Sex god?’ Mary supplied helpfully, with a gleam in her eyes.

      ‘Sex god?’ Sadie queried disapprovingly.

      ‘Haven’t you seen his photo in the financial press?’

      When Sadie shook her head Mary grinned.

      ‘Wow, is he something else! His great-grandparents were Greek, and they settled in Australia as a young couple.’

      ‘You seem to know a lot about him,’ Sadie challenged her.

      ‘Like I just said, he’s a very sexy man—and I’m a sexy-man-hungry woman!’ Mary grinned. ‘Speaking of which, you are crazy, you know, hiding yourself away down here in Pembroke when you could be living the high life in Paris and Cannes—not to mention flying here, there and everywhere mixing powerfully potent perfumes for your celeb clients. How does Raoul feel about your business, by the way?’ she asked.

      ‘Francine no longer makes one-off perfumes to order,’ Sadie responded, ‘so there is no conflict of interest there. But…’

      When she paused, Mary urged her to continue. ‘But?’

      Sadie gave a small sigh.

      ‘Well, Raoul is pressing me to produce a new perfume. The one he tricked me into wearing at the trade fair was one of his late father’s “mistakes”. Grandmère always said her brother did not have a “nose”, and her nephew seems to lack one also! Now he wants me to create a new perfume for Francine.’

      ‘But you don’t want to?’ Mary guessed.

      Sadie gave an exasperated sigh.

      ‘I do want to. I want to very much. In fact it would be a dream come true for me to create a new Francine perfume. But…’ Sadie lifted her hands expressively.

      ‘As you know, my perfumes come from wholly natural materials, and are made in a traditional way, whereas Raoul favours modern procedures and chemically manufactured products. And it’s not just that! I just hope that I can persuade him not to go ahead with this sale, Mary. Raoul is the majority shareholder, of course, but we are one of the last few remaining traditional perfume houses, and to sell our birthright for—’

      ‘A mess of pottage?’ Mary interrupted obligingly, tongue in cheek.

      ‘I just don’t want to sell the business to this Greek billionaire, and I have said as much to Raoul.’

      ‘Mmm. All this talk of potions and lotions reminds me—how about mixing up a little something special and man-attracting for me?’

      ‘I make perfume, not magic potions,’ Sadie reminded her sternly.

      Mary gave her a wicked look.

      ‘Same thing, isn’t it?’ Her expression changed when she saw how sombre Sadie was looking. ‘Something else is worrying you, isn’t it?’ she guessed.

      Sadie frowned.

      ‘Everything is so complicated, Mary. As it stands now Francine is worth very little in financial terms. The business is almost all dried up, and the staff are mainly freelancers. In reality all that is left is the name. And it is the name that this Greek Destroyer wants to buy.’

      ‘Just the name?’

      ‘I don’t know! Raoul rang me last night and told me that he has informed Leoneadis Stapinopolous that I am working on a new scent, and that my scent and my skills will be part of the deal. I told him that he had no right to say any such thing. I am a minor shareholder in Francine, that is all. I do not work for the house!’

      Angrily Sadie paced the floor.

      ‘Raoul accused me of being deliberately difficult and of not realising what a wonderful opportunity this sale is. But an opportunity for what, Mary? Granted, it will give us both a considerable sum of money—especially Raoul, since he is the majority shareholder. But it will destroy the true essence of Francine and I just cannot agree to that. Never mind create a new scent. Raoul is putting so much pressure on me, though…’

      She gave Mary a wry smile. ‘If I do what Raoul wants me to do I shall be selling my birthright and my creative soul! Raoul reminded me last night that I was very fortunate to have been left the formula for Francine’s most famous perfume by my grandmother. In actual fact he made me feel a little bit guilty about it, Mary.’

      ‘Guilty? You? What on earth have you to feel guilty about?’ Mary demanded robustly. ‘Sadie, I know strictly speaking it is none of my business, but we have been friends for a long time and I just think that you should perhaps be a little bit cautious where your cousin is concerned,’ she added forthrightly.

      Sadie smiled in pleasure as she stepped into the foyer of her hotel. She had booked it on the recommendation of a client, who had raved about it to her, and now she could see why!

      Although its location in Mougins meant that it was some distance away from Grasse, which was where the tall narrow house which was home to both the business headquarters and her cousin Raoul were situated, Sadie did not mind.

      The hotel-cum-spa was the kind of place she loved—it was a positive haven of tranquillity and charm, unlike the glitzy Cannes hotels favoured by Raoul, who had been openly angry and bitter when he had told Sadie how much he resented the fact that the Paris premises the family had once owned were no longer in their possession.

      ‘Why the hell did our great-grandfather choose to sell the Paris house and retain the one in Grasse? When I think what that Paris place would have been worth now!’

      Sadie had said nothing. Her own grandmother had told her that the elegant family apartment and shop the family had originally owned in the capital had had to be sold in order to pay off her brother’s gambling debts, and Sadie had no desire to reopen old family wounds!

      She had booked into her hotel for the whole week, having decided to combine her business meeting with Raoul with visits to the flower-growers in the area from whom she sourced some of her supplies of natural ingredients for the perfumes she made.

      As she checked in and signed the visitors’ book Sadie hid a small smile as she saw the elegant French woman behind the reception desk sniff discreetly in her direction. The perfume Sadie was wearing was unique, and one she had steadfastly refused to supply to anyone else, no matter how much they pleaded with her to do so.

      It was based on the original secret recipe her grandmother had left her, but with a subtle addition that was