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“Well, if the Colossus is anything to go by, they’re incredibly luxurious, as well.”
“It is my intention that each guest to sail on the Spiridakou fleet feel pampered and outside of their normal life.”
“I certainly do.”
He grinned. “If I can effect that for a billionaire’s wife, then I consider my goal accomplished.”
She didn’t mention that she’d been living like a smalltown business owner the past two years. The truth was, even Ariston’s lifestyle had no chance of spoiling her like the staff on the cruise ship had.
“Tomorrow, we go to Crete?”
“Yes. We will go on a tour of the island just like the other tourists,” he said with some satisfaction.
She smiled wryly. “Other tourists don’t travel with a security detail.”
He shrugged.
And really, what could be said? Ariston had lived his whole life with bodyguards watching his every movement, and they were only more necessary now that he’d taken the company so much farther than his grandfather.
Walking the streets of Kusadasi, Turkey, their final day in port, Chloe had all but given up on trying to keep her emotional distance from Ariston.
She’d managed to hold back words of love, but that was about it.
Treating her with all the consideration and even open affection of any new husband for his bride, Ariston made it too hard for her to maintain her defenses.
While touring the ruins of ancient Ephesus that morning, they’d been asked by several people if they were newlyweds. Because they behaved like it, not like two people who had agreed with cold calculation to a business deal.
He’d taken pains to read up on the ruins and acted as her personal tour guide through the ancient city. She’d been more than charmed; she’d been bowled over by his consideration and forethought.
This man didn’t have time for stuff like that, yet he’d made it … for her. What did it all mean?
She’d been determined not to speculate on that particular question this time around, but like with most everything else in regard to her husband, Chloe’s intentions had gone flying out the window.
Each day of their honeymoon, she fell more deeply under the spell that was Ariston and couldn’t even make herself worry about how deeply in love she was with her husband.
“Would you like to buy a rug for the foyer in the townhouse?” Ariston asked, interrupting her thoughts.
He’d stopped in front of one of the shops that sold the hand-stitched carpets the Turkish people were so well known for. She knew exactly which patterned rug in the window had caught her husband’s eyes. It was a traditional pattern with dark burgundy the dominant color, and she was almost positive that it was the silk weave, rather than polished cotton.
She learned she was right a few minutes later when they’d been seated and offered the traditional apple tea.
Their salesman, nephew to the man who owned the shop, asked politely after their family and welfare before asking if there was a particular carpet that had caught their eye.
When Ariston told him which he’d like to see, the salesman’s eyes lit up. “Ah, a very fine choice. The weave is very tight—the silk will last three hundred years or more.”
He waved at a younger man he introduced as his younger cousin. “Show these fine people our beautiful carpets, Achim.”
Soon carpets were twirling and landing at their feet on the floor, each angle showing a different intensity to the pattern’s colors. Because a Turkish rug merchant never showed just one carpet—he provided comparisons and options in abundance. She’d learned that on their first trip to Turkey.
Just as enthralled by the display as she’d been the first time she’d seen such a thing on their original honeymoon, Chloe sipped delicately at her hot beverage and soaked in the experience.
When one very similar to the carpet in the window, but in a larger size, landed on the pile in front of them, she knew they’d found the one for their home.
Ariston appeared to agree, asking to see that particular carpet up close. Then the haggling began and at the end of it, Chloe was doing all she could not to smack both her husband and the salesman upside the head.
As they left the shop, she demanded, “Was that really necessary? You two spent more than half the time arguing over a difference of a few dollars. You could have paid full price and not even noticed the blip in your checkbook.”
“I do not keep a checkbook. Everything is electronic or cash nowadays, yineka mou.”
“That’s not the point and you know it.”
Ariston grinned down at her, the happiness in his expression arresting. “Had I taken his initial price, at best he would have been offended. At worst he would have considered me a rube.”
