Greek Mavericks: His Christmas Conquest. Cathy Williams

when she had needed one but was that any reason to consider developing a relationship with him? On the other hand, she wasn’t getting any younger and they did get along, at least on a superficial level, which was the only level they had previously enjoyed.

      What was the harm in just seeing whether there was something there that could be developed further?

      ‘Don’t tell me the boyfriend has deserted the sinking ship?’ Theo slid open the drawer of one of the metal filing cabinets and began looking at the files.

      ‘You need a computer,’ he said, as the level of paperwork became ever clearer. ‘It’s the only way you’ll be able to keep track of everything here and, aside from that, it’s a bloody fire hazard.’

      ‘I’ve got a computer,’ Sophie told him airily.

      ‘Where is it?’

      ‘Upstairs. I just haven’t got around to…logging some of this stuff in…It takes time, you know…All that computer work, et cetera…I mean, it’s all right for you. You just have to sit there telling stories and typing away.’

      It occurred to Theo that the whole figment of his occupation was becoming a burden, but he quickly reminded himself how much more satisfying it was to be incognito, at least for a short while. Hadn’t he lived his entire life with the weight of expectation on his shoulders? Without any siblings to share the responsibility, he had had little option but to fulfil his duty as son and heir to a shipping empire. Just as well he had found it to his liking. All the same, it was good to be suddenly in this make-believe role, with only himself to please and absolutely no one else.

      ‘I know a thing or two about computers. I could have a look at what you’ve done so far, see whether it mightn’t require some updating.’

      ‘You know about computers? How do you know about computers? No! Let me guess! The way you seem to know about everything. Information just wafts into you, through osmosis! Lucky you.’

      ‘You haven’t logged any of this on to a computer, have you?’

      Sophie wanted to ask him how he had the nerve to waltz into her office and begin making assumptions about her approach to the workload. Did he think that it was a walk in the park trying to come to terms with your father’s death and sort out the chaos he had left behind without you ever suspecting a thing at the same time? However, there he was, sitting there and looking as though he knew what he was doing, which, of course, he didn’t, and she just wanted to dump the lot on to him and ask him to deal with it while she went to her bed and slept for a few weeks till it was all cleared up.

      ‘I’ve been meaning to…’ Sophie admitted sulkily and Theo tut-tutted under his breath.

      ‘Well, we can’t do anything at the moment but, as soon as the power is back, I suggest we install a simple program so that we can collate all the information scattered in these boxes.’

      ‘We…?’ Sophie felt obliged to reveal the extent of her ignorance of all things technical. ‘Computers and I have never had much of a friendship.’

      ‘That being the case, I’m surprised what’s-his-name couldn’t have helped you out there.’

      ‘I think we were just so busy trying to get the stuff together that…that…’

      ‘That it never occurred to you that there might be a far quicker way to do it…?’ He grabbed a stack of files and strolled over to her desk, where he proceeded to drag the nearest chair to hers so that he could position himself next to her. ‘Okay. Look at these.’ He pointed to some symbols and picked out various key words, which meant frankly nothing to Sophie’s untrained eyes. ‘We could install a program that would automatically collate information that belongs under the same banner. So, for example, experiments based on certain solutions, where your father was in contact with the same person at roughly the same time, could automatically reach the same file at the click of a button.’

      ‘You could do that?’ Sophie asked, seriously impressed. She desperately wished that she had paid a bit more attention in IT at school. ‘How?’ she demanded. ‘Did you do a computer course at college?’

      Computer course? College?

      ‘I dabbled in it at university,’ Theo conceded.

      ‘Oh, right.’

      ‘Surprised?’ He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his thighs.

      ‘Oh, no. Not at all. Well, not that you went to university…I’m just surprised that you took an interest in something like computing. Was it part of your creative writing course?’

      ‘Whoever said anything about creative writing?’ That little white lie by Gloria, delivered for all the right reasons, to protect him because as a high profile name in business he might have attracted unwanted attention, was now beginning to haunt Theo. He refused to enlarge upon it by fabricating a mystery past.

      Sophie frowned. ‘Well, what did you do at university?’ she asked.

      ‘Economics and law.’

      ‘You’re kidding, right?’

      ‘Why should I be kidding?’ Theo asked dryly.

      ‘Because…’ Sophie spluttered, predicting that this would lead right back to his conviction that she had stereotyped him. ‘So…yes, I can see that you might be interested in computers if you liked law and economics…’

      Theo grinned. ‘Does that make me a boring person, do you think?’

      ‘You’re the least boring person I’ve ever met!’ The words were out before Sophie had a chance to think about how they sounded. She cringed back, mortified, into the chair and tried to think how she could explain that what she had meant was that he was too arrogant, too opinionated and too clever by half to ever be considered boring. Which didn’t mean that he was fun or exciting or stimulating!

      ‘Is that a fact?’ Theo drawled lazily.

      ‘I mean…’ What did she mean? He was looking at her expectantly, waiting for her answer. Didn’t he realise that that was just plain conceited—to enjoy hearing himself discussed?

      ‘My computer isn’t very up-to-date,’ Sophie said, changing the subject. ‘I couldn’t afford to buy a new one when I started my teacher training course and I only realised afterwards that there’s a reason why people get rid of their computers after a couple of years. They just become obsolete. So I hope this amazing program you have in mind won’t be too much for it to handle.’

      Theo leaned back in his chair and looked at her. Just when he felt as though he was close to working her out, she skittered away and he was left trying to figure out her complexities. She didn’t find him boring—she had just said so even though he had had the sneaking suspicion that she might have wished she hadn’t. She was attracted to him, although she was determined not to act upon it. He wondered whether there was something going on with the Robert character, although she had been at pains to deny it. Where was the man, anyway? She hadn’t actually answered his question when he had asked earlier.

      ‘I’ll check and see,’ Theo said indifferently. ‘We could always get a new one.’

      ‘Get a new one?’ Sophie looked at him as though he had taken leave of his senses.

      ‘Computers have come down in price substantially over the years…’

      ‘And getting one would still cost too much, never mind how substantially they’ve come down in price over the years! Why do you think I’ve had to rent out the cottage? I need the money!’ She cast a despairing look around her. ‘I’ve only been through half of this. There’s more stuff upstairs and more yet in the cottage, buried in boxes in the attic. And I’ve unearthed more bills than I can shake a stick at. You have no idea! Your rent has already been eaten up paying off creditors. So when it comes to flinging another few hundred pounds in the direction of a new computer, then you can think again.’