In Petrakis’s Power by Maggie Cox, Natalie is on her way to London to see her father, after his anxious request for her to meet with him. She has no idea why he wants to see her so desperately, but her mind is running wild with the possiblities. When she meets Ludo on the train to London after he offers to pay her fare when she lost her ticket (first class no less!), he is easy on the eyes, easy to talk to, and a welcome distraction from her worries.
Upon arrival in London, Natalie agrees to meet Ludo for dinner the next night…her intention is to pay him back for the train ticket. Ludo’s intention is to protect his privacy and spend an evening a woman who very much intrigues him.
With Natalie’s father’s revalation that he is on the brink of financial disaster and that a company is willing to buy him out of his hotel chain, even if it is for way less money than Natalie feels he should be getting, she is looking more and more forward to the evening out with Ludo. They are both shocked when Natalie goes to her father’s business meeting with him to discover that Ludo is the Greek tycoon who she feels is taking unfair of her father’s situation. To Ludo it is just business, but Natalie feels she can no longer trust him, nor will it be appropriate for her to go out with him.
When Ludo suggests a bizarre proposition to Natalie that will give her father more money and her a chance to go to Greece with him, pretending to be his fiancee, she is shocked but at the same time she is excited. The trip to Greece will bring Natalie and Ludo closer than they imagined, and soon neither is too sure they are still pretending. But as open as they are with each other, there is a lack of communication on how their relationship is changing, and confusion and miscommunication could separate them forever.
Ludo is a very successful, rich businessman. He has tragedy in his past and uses his work to hide from it and the feelings that thoughts of the tragedy bring. He has been avoiding returning to his home land of Greece, and bringing Natalie with him gives him some much needed support even if that’s not how he sees it. Natalie gives him the love and acceptance he didn’t even know he’d been craving…she is inherently understanding and compassionate. I loved both Natalie and Ludo and I really found myself hoping they could both open their eyes a bit more and see what they had with each other!
Maggie gives us a little bit of a fairy tale romance in In Petrakis’s Power. Who wouldn’t want to be wisked off to Greece by a handsome, rich Greek?!! Maggie’s descriptions of Greece made me feel like I was there! You will laugh, love, and tear up when you read In Petrakis’s Power.
Book Info
Publication Date: June 18, 2013 | Series: Harlequin Presents (Book 3159)Natalie can see the cracks in Ludo’s unshakable control as the lines between pretense and reality blur. In challenge to his terms, she longs to expose the shadows behind his eyes, and it’s getting harder and harder to resist the smoldering tension between them.…