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She was smiling because she was returning to Naxos, to the place she felt was home. It had nothing to do with him. It never would.
‘Our drinks are here,’ he said, and walked back inside.
CHAPTER SIX
MILLY STOOD AT the railing, watching as the smudge of grey-green came closer. Naxos. Home. She’d spent the six hours of their journey exploring the superyacht, prowling about its empty, opulent rooms feeling both anxious and dissatisfied. Alex had locked himself in his study as soon as they’d finished their drinks, claiming he had to work. Milly had a feeling he would be doing that a lot, and she told herself it was better that way. Better not to complicate things with anything so arbitrary as emotion.
That was what she’d agreed to. That was what she’d expected.
She breathed in the sultry, salty air, her heart lightening just a little as she imagined being back at the villa, among its familiar, comfortable rooms. Safe. And soon Anna would be too, God willing. Milly hoped Carlos would see reason and let her stepsister visit her on occasion, maybe even every holiday...
The thought of having Anna with her sent a smile spreading across her face and happiness blooming inside her chest. It would all be worth it then. The wedding, the wedding night...
Milly’s heart juddered in her chest at the thought. She could not picture their wedding night beyond some hazy montage, like something out of a film, all soft focus and swelling violins. Of course, it couldn’t exactly be romantic, and she would be a fool to expect or even want that. But would Alex become tender, once they were alone and intimate?
She had so little experience, and he knew that, thanks to the medical report. Would he be patient? Gentle? She hated the thought of being so vulnerable and exposed with a man who viewed that part of marriage in as businesslike a way as any other, and yet she feared that was exactly how it would play out...despite the way her heart somersaulted in her chest when she imagined him touching her. Kissing her...
Her whole body felt heated and she lifted her face to the sea breeze, willing the cool air to fade the telling flush from her cheeks. Never mind the wedding night, what about the wedding? She didn’t even have a wedding dress, or a bouquet, or a veil. She had never been the kind of little girl to daydream of wedding dresses and fairy tales, but there were a few basics she thought she would have liked to have on the day, no matter how it had come about.
Now she told herself not to mind. She wasn’t having that kind of wedding, that kind of marriage. It was still worth it, for Anna’s sake. It had to be.
From behind her she heard the sliding door open and then Alex stepped out; his very presence sent a shiver skittering along her skin, a visceral reaction she could not suppress but hoped he didn’t notice.
‘We’re almost there.’
‘Do you moor the yacht at the villa?’
‘Yes, have you never been down to the dock?’
‘No, I haven’t. I’ve seen it, but I’ve never had any reason to go down there.’ Alex’s island property encompassed over fifty acres. Milly had stayed in the villa and gardens mainly, with a few walks among the scrubby brush and olive groves that surrounded the place, but she hadn’t ventured to the dock, which had been empty while Alex’s yacht was moored in Piraeus.
‘I’ll give you a full tour, later,’ he said, and she turned to him with a surprised smile.
‘Will you?’ She was pleased by the thought, but when she looked at Alex, he looked as if he regretted extending the invitation.
They were drawing closer to the dock, the villa rising above it on its clifftop, the dazzling white walls and blue-shuttered windows silhouetted against a lavender twilit sky, the sun a half-circle of burnt ember sinking behind the hills. Milly narrowed her eyes; someone was waiting on the dock.
‘Who is that?’ she asked, because she was always alone at the villa, save for Yiannis and his wife Marina, who came several times a week to do the gardening and maintenance around the place, and lived in Halki.
Alex didn’t answer, and she glanced at him, wondering what was going on. His expression was suspiciously bland, as if he knew something but wasn’t saying. ‘Alex? Have you...have you hired another housekeeper?’
‘Another housekeeper?’ He looked surprised.
‘I thought you might have...because...well, because...’
‘Because you’re going to be my wife?’ he filled in. ‘As it happens, I haven’t hired someone else, but you can hardly continue in my employment, Milly, when you will be married to me.’
‘I suppose not.’ She saw the sense in it, but she liked her role at the villa.
‘If you like, you can hire a housekeeper, when the time comes. You’ll spend more time here than I will.’
‘I’d rather just do it myself.’
He frowned, but then shrugged. ‘Very well. It will be your choice.’
Which should have been a relief, but it also felt like a rejection. He didn’t care what she did with her own time, in her own place; of course he didn’t. She had to stop expecting something else, something deeper or kinder. She’d known what this was going in and she’d convinced herself she could live with it, even that it was what she wanted. Why was it so hard to accept? Why did some contrary part of her keep looking for more, even as she told herself she didn’t want it?
‘So who is that waiting on the dock?’ she asked, and then her breath caught in her chest as they came close enough f
