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How tempting...
But he was continuing, easing his shoulders, reaching for his refilled coffee cup. ‘So what I suggest is this. Don’t rush back to London just yet. Stay tonight, at the very least, in Athens. I’ll book you into a hotel at my expense,’ he emphasised, ‘because it’s only fair that you have enough time to think about your answer.’
He drained his coffee and got to his feet, holding out his hand to her. ‘Come—let’s get some fresh air. A stroll by the sea will do us both good.’ His mouth twisted wryly. ‘It’s been a strenuous two days—and an emotional roller coaster for you.’
She let him draw her up, because it seemed easier to do so, let him fold her hand into the crook of his arm and pat it with brief reassurance. He led her out of the restaurant, pausing only to settle the bill with a flick of a gold-trimmed credit card. Then they were out on the pavement, and he was guiding her across the road to the seafront.
The warm sun was like a blessing on her, and she felt its benedict
ion on her confused, exhausted emotions as they strolled along.
Alexandros Lakaris was pointing out a couple of islands visible out to sea, mentioning how the bay had once, in Athens’s Classical Golden Age, been the scene of the famous battle of Salamis against Persian invaders, telling her about Greece’s struggles so long ago.
Rosalie listened, glad of the diversion from her turbid thoughts and emotions, finding herself interested in what he was saying. She knew so little about Greece, ancient or modern...
But it’s my heritage—just as much as my English heritage! A heritage I’ve been denied. And even if my father is a man to deplore and be ashamed of, that doesn’t mean I have to reject everything about this side of me!
She felt her gaze flick from the seascape to the man at her side, as they strolled along the promenade in the afternoon warmth. Strolling along as if they were already a couple...
But it’s absurd what he’s suggested, isn’t it? Surely it is?
Her thoughts swirled within her, impossible to make sense of. All she knew right now was that somehow, and she did not know how, it seemed to be so very easy, so very relaxed, to be walking along like this, in a leisurely fashion, with his tall figure beside her matching his steps to hers.
He took them to the start of the marina.
‘Do you have a yacht?’ Rosalie heard herself asking, looking at all the boats bobbing on the water.
He shook his head. ‘A dinghy,’ he said. ‘I keep it moored at Kallistris.’
‘Kallistris?’
‘My island.’
Rosalie’s eyes widened. ‘Your island? You have an island? A whole island to yourself?’
He looked amused. ‘It’s a very small island,’ he said. ‘But it is my favourite place on earth.’
His expression changed and she lifted her eyes to his. There had been emotion in his voice—deep emotion.
‘Tell me about it,’ she heard herself say.
They resumed their stroll, walking along the edge of the quay on old cobbles, near the water lapping and slapping against the hulls of the moored yachts.
‘It’s reachable by helicopter and I go there whenever I can,’ Alexandros Lakaris was saying.
His voice warmed with fond affection—she could hear it. ‘There’s very little on it. Goats, mostly! And an old fisherman’s cottage by the beach, done up as a villa now. There’s a smallholding inland, where Panos and Maria live—they look after the place for me. It’s very peaceful.’
‘It sounds lovely,’ Rosalie said wistfully.
A whole island all to yourself, set in this azure sea, beneath this golden sun... A world, a universe away from the squalid back streets of the East End.
‘So, what would you like to do now?’ Alexandros Lakaris was asking her as they reached the far side of the quay. ‘Shall we go for a drive? And then back into Athens?’
She gave a nod. It was easier to let him make the decisions, easier to go with the flow.
Maybe it would be sensible to spend one more night here. To at least think over what he’s thrown at me.
Was it really as absurd as it sounded? When the alternative was so grim... When she’d had a brief, tantalising taste of the kind of luxurious life she could enjoy for months and months if she went with what he’d so extraordinarily suggested.
