Page 201 of Modern Romance September 2025 5-8

Jane rolled her eyes at his vagueness. ‘What do you do?’

‘I’m in a family business.’

‘How quaint,’ she responded, intentionally goading him. ‘Do you work with your parents?’

‘My father retired five years ago,’ he said. ‘And my mother died in the spring.’

Jane’s grip on her champagne flute almost faltered. She’d known that, though she’d temporarily forgotten. The way he said it pulled hard on her heart.

‘I’m sorry.’ The response was dragged from deep within her. She reached out and put a hand on his knee, surprising herself with the need to offer comfort. ‘That must have been very hard.’

He nodded once, sipped his champagne, looking away, and Jane could have cursed. She wished she hadn’t seen this side of him, this glimpse of humanity, because it would have been easier to ensure she didn’t feel anything for Zeus as humanising as pity.

He was someone she had to bait into a fake relationship, and in order to achieve that, she had to continue to regard him as her best friend’s nemesis and nothing more. That was easy when he was flirting like it was a professional sport, and looking at her in the same way those other men in the bar had. But when he said something so intimate, how could she not soften, just a little? Just for a moment?

‘What brings you to Athens?’

The change of subject was swift and slightly disconcerting, because she was still wrapped up in sympathy and softness for him, whereas Zeus had regrouped alarmingly fast. She tried to keep up, but took a sip of champagne just to help settle those frustratingly discordant nerves.

‘How do you know I don’t live here?’ she asked, stalling for time.

‘You’ve never heard of me,’ he pointed out.

‘Okay, buster. Spill. You’re obviously famous or something,’ she said, glad to turn the tables and redirect conversation back to him.

‘Not famous,’ he disputed. ‘But locally known.’

‘Because you have the kind of eyes a woman could lose herself in?’ She couldn’t resist teasing, enjoying the way those dark eyes flashed to hers with speculation and heat.

His laugh was unsettling, though, because it shook her to her core right when she had thought she was back in control.

‘Because my family has been based here for hundreds of years, run businesses out of Athens that are known all over the world.’

‘You’re Zeus Papandreo,’ she said, glad she could at least get that out in the open, as it made her feel like less of a liar.

‘Guilty as charged.’

‘But you’re not guilty,’ she murmured. ‘You’re proud.’

‘Yes.’

Anger fired inside her. Proud because he was a Papandreo. Proud because he belonged to that family. With no notion of the dark side of the moon, of what it had been like for Lottie to grow up shunned and hidden, with the ignominy of her conception and birth hanging over her head as though she were some dirty secret.

‘I can understand why,’ Jane muttered, wishing she were a slightly better liar, because she couldn’t quite flatten the contempt from her tone, and Zeus was so perceptive, she was almost certain he caught it. She expelled a breath and forced a smile, trying again. ‘Your family’s success is remarkable.’

He shrugged. ‘It’s easy to be successful when you have a legacy like this behind you.’

More anger whipped inside her. Not only had this man grown up with everything at his fingertips that should have been Lottie’s, he was also clearly moving the pieces in his life to marry, swiftly, to further deny Lottie what should now be hers.

Hell, if Jane hadn’t already been committed to this, then she was doubly so now. She would move heaven and earth to secure Lottie’s birthright, even just so Lottie could sit at the top of the tower and look down on Zeus and their father for a time. She’d earned that right, damn it.

‘Modesty, Mr Papandreo?’ she asked, pleased that she was able to continue acting flirtatious when she was feeling anythingbut.Except, that wasn’t strictly true. Regardless of how much she hated and despised this man, because of what he’d had that Lottie should also have had, her body seemed to have its own ideas.

‘Honesty. I’m secure enough in my achievements without needing to exaggerate them.’

She arched a brow, and out of nowhere, she imagined that if he was anyone else, she might actually have been halfway enjoying herself. He was such a consummate flirt; he made this easy.

‘So, Jane, you’re on holiday in Athens?’ he prompted after a beat’s silence.