The Kalliakis Crown. Michelle Smart

      He was silent for a moment, and when he spoke there was an amused tinge to his voice. ‘You don’t give up, do you?’

      ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

      ‘Oh, I think you do. I remind you, despinis, that you signed a contract.’

      ‘And you said you would get me help.’

      ‘I said I would help you and that is what I am doing.’

      He brought the car to a stop at the front of a large cream building and faced her. Even in the dark she could see the menace on his features.

      ‘I will accept no excuses. You will learn the composition and you will play it at the gala and you will do it justice. If you fail in any of those conditions then I will impose the contracted penalty.’

      He didn’t have to elaborate any further. The ‘contracted penalty’ meant turning the theatre into a hotel and causing the disbandment of the orchestra. That penalty loomed large in her mind: the threat to ruin every member of the orchestra’s reputation...her own most especially.

      ‘Understand, though,’ he continued, ‘that I am a man of my word. I said I would ensure that you are mentally fit to get on the stage and play, and that is what I will do. Starting now.’

      He got out of the car and opened the boot, pulling out a black sports bag. ‘Follow me.’

      Not having any choice, she followed him into the building.

      The first thing that hit her was the smell.

      She’d never been in a men’s locker room before, but this was exactly what she’d imagined it would smell like: sweat and testosterone.

      The second thing to hit her was the noise.

      The third thing was the sight of a man with a flat nose, standing behind the reception desk at the entrance, spotting Talos and getting straight to his feet, a huge grin spreading over his face.

      The two men greeted each other with bumped fists and a babble of Greek that ended with Talos giving the man a hearty slap on the back before indicating to Amalie to follow him. As they walked away she couldn’t help but notice the blatant adoration on the flat-nosed man’s face. Not a romantic adoration—she’d witnessed that enough times from her mother to know what it looked like—but more a look of reverence.

      Past the reception area, they slipped through a door and entered the most enormous room.

      Silently she took it all in: the square ring in the corner, the huge blue mats laid out in a square in another, the punching bags dangling at seemingly random places...

      ‘Is this a boxing gym?’

      He raised a hefty shoulder. ‘I’ve boxed since my childhood.’

      ‘I can’t box!’

      He gazed down at her hands. ‘No. You can’t. Throwing a punch at even the softest target has the danger of breaking a finger.’

      She hadn’t thought of that—had been too busy thinking that she’d never hit anyone or anything in her life and had always considered boxing to be the most barbaric of sports. It was fitting to learn that it was Talos’s sport of choice. Her encounters with him were the closest she’d ever come to actually hitting someone.

      He pointed to the corner with the blue mats. A tall, athletic blonde woman was chatting to a handful of men and women, all decked out in proper sports gear. ‘That is Melina, one of the instructors here. I’ve signed you up for her kickboxing workout.’

      Amalie sighed. ‘How is enduring a kickboxing workout supposed to make me mentally fit for the stage?’

      Without warning he placed his hands on her shoulders and twisted her around, so her back was to him. His thumbs pressed into the spot between her shoulder blades.

      ‘You are rife with tension,’ he said.

      ‘Of course I am. I’m here under duress.’

      She tried to duck out from his hold but his grip was too strong. He was too strong. His thumbs felt huge as they pressed up the nape of her neck. And warm. And surprisingly gentle, despite the strength behind them.

      ‘The workout will help relieve tension and fire up your endorphins.’ He laughed—a deep rumble that vibrated through her pores—and released his hold on her. ‘All you will do is kick and punch into the air. If it helps, you can pretend I’m standing in front of you, receiving it all.’

      She turned back to face him. ‘That will help.’

      The glimmer of humour left him. ‘Your aggression needs an outlet.’

      ‘I’m not aggressive!’ At least she never had been before. Talos brought something out in her that, while not violent in the sense she’d always associated aggression with, made her feel as if a ferocity had been awoken within her, one that only reared up when she was with him. Or thinking about him. Or dreaming about him...

      This workout might just prove to be a blessing after all.

      ‘Maybe not, but the tension you have within you comes from somewhere...’

      ‘That’ll be from being here with you,’ she grumbled.

      ‘And once you have learned to expel it your mind will be calmer.’

      ‘What about my body? I haven’t exercised in for ever.’

      His eyes swept up and down her body, taking in every part of her. It felt like a critical assessment of her physique and she squirmed under it. She waited for his verbal assessment but it never came.

      ‘I will introduce you to Melina,’ he said, striding away to the growing crowd around the instructor.

      Melina’s eyes gleamed when she spotted Talos, then narrowed slightly when she caught sight of Amalie, hanging back a little behind him.

      Introductions were made and then Talos left them to it, heading to the ring in the corner, where a sparring bout had just started between two teenage boys. After a quick conversation with their trainer, Simeon, he left the main hall and went into the adjoining gym to start his own workout. He might spar later with Simeon, but first he wanted to warm his body up and get his muscles moving.

      It felt as if it had been an age since he’d worked out, although it had only been one day.

      Moving through the equipment, following the routine that had served him well since his army days, he found his concentration levels weren’t as sharp as usual. Through the glass wall dividing the gym from the main hall he could see the kickboxing workout underway, and noted how Amalie had placed herself at the back of the pack, how self-conscious her movements were.

      He didn’t usually enjoy using the treadmill, but today he stayed on it for longer than normal, watching her. The warm-up was over and the session had begun in earnest. As the session progressed her movements went from tentative to a little less so. He could see the concentration on her face as she tried to copy what everyone around her was doing—the way she pivoted on the heel of her left foot before throwing an imaginary hook, the way she put her fists by her face, shifted her weight to her right foot, then brought her left knee up to her chest before kicking out.

      She had an excellent centre of gravity, he noted. And for someone who professed to never exercise, her body was delectable, the leggings and long T-shirt she wore showing off her slender form to perfection.

      She must have sensed his eyes upon her, for suddenly her gaze was on him, a scowl forming on her pretty face.

      He didn’t normally find a woman’s anger cute, but with Amalie it was like being glared at by a harmless kitten.

      Harmless kitten or not, the jabs and kicks she gave from that moment on brought to mind the image of a wildcat. She cut through the air with one particularly vicious right hook and he knew with deep certainty that it was his