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Being both a little frantic to make love again, they never did make it back downstairs for the dessert course and they lay talking lazily in bed until almost dawn. By that stage, they were involved in negotiations with Xan agreeing to take weekends and holidays off and Elvi agreeing not to drop clothes on the floor.
‘I love you so much, agape mou,’ Xan murmured, experiencing contentment for the first time ever, his beautiful eyes locked tenderly to Elvi’s smiling, happy face. ‘I’ll buy you a dog once we’ve got used to being parents.’
Blissfully relaxed, Elvi let her arms tighten round his long, lean body, gentle fingers smoothing over his satin-smooth back. Xan liked to plan everything, cautiously moving from one checkpoint to the next. Yet without any preparation at all, he had plunged into their marriage and the promise of fatherhood with his whole heart, freely accepting those changes and loving her into the bargain.
‘I love you too,’ she whispered, happily convinced she had found a very special man.
* * *
Five years later, Elvi sat on the sand of the cove below the house on Thira and watched her daughter, Molly, patiently build a sandcastle with all the devotion to detail that Xan had already taught her. The little plastic flag had to go in exactly the right place, the moat had to fill with water, the shells that denoted windows had to sit in exact lines, and then disaster came along on two sturdy toddler legs. With a shout of delight, Molly’s little brother, Ajax, flung himself at the castle, for he delighted as much in smashing things down as his sister delighted in building them.
But the split second before Ajax made contact and destroyed his sister’s creation, a pair of arms stretched out and grabbed him back. ‘No,’ Xan told his son firmly.
Ajax wailed and screeched and struggled to escape his father’s hold while Molly plonked herself defensively in front of the castle and told her brother off.
‘When did you get back?’ Elvi asked her husband, battling to be heard over Ajax’s enraged yells.
‘Ten minutes ago. The Athens meeting didn’t last as long as I expected,’ Xan told her with a lazy smile, quite unbothered by his son’s vociferous complaints.
‘Oh, let him wreck it,’ Molly groaned in exasperation as her brother’s sobbing reached an ear-splitting peak. ‘The sea will take it tonight anyway.’
‘Are you sure?’ Elvi asked her daughter.
‘He’s a baby,’ her daughter pointed out pityingly, anchoring herself to her father’s side. ‘I’ll make another one tomorrow.’
Xan lowered Ajax back to the sand. The toddler hovered, tears sprinkling his chubby cheeks, his platinum-pale curls blowing in the breeze. He stretched out a chubby fist to bat at a tower and then overbalanced and fell on top of the castle, getting sand on his face, which he hated.
‘It’s really not his day,’ Elvi pronounced as she rescued the little boy and brushed him free of sand while he watched her with the huge amber-gold eyes he had inherited from his father.
Their children were an endearing mix of their parents. Molly had black hair and blue eyes and a love of order. Ajax was two and he loved to make a mess. He was usually much quieter than Molly, except when he got overtired.
‘He’s ready for bed,’ Elvi pronounced, gathering up the clutter around her and stuffing it into bags while Xan hoisted his son onto his shoulder. Holding Molly’s hand, Xan led the way up the steep steps back to the house.
They’d had two children in five years and life was busy. Elvi had had an easy pregnancy with Molly and terrible morning sickness while carrying Ajax. She reckoned that their family was now complete. Their dog, a terrier mix called Bones, romped along in their wake, his frantic energy keeping his wiry little body fit in spite of a calorie intake that would have powered an elephant.
Their nanny whisked the children away for supper and bedtime and, having spent the entire day with her son and daughter, Elvi was grateful to have time for Xan. Xan might have given up his seven-days-a-week schedule but he was still very much in demand, flying round the world to make speeches and give advice. In the early days of their marriage she had travelled with him, but Molly’s birth had intervened and their home base was now a very comfortable town house in London, convenient for Xan’s office in the City. They spent holidays on Thira, finding the more laid-back lifestyle there perfect for raising their young family. When they wanted alone time as a couple, they flew to the South of France and left the grandparents in charge of their household.
Ariadne was an adoring grandmother but not as regularly available as Dmitri and Sally, who had, after a lengthy and very discreet relationship, married the year before at around the same time as Dmitri had taken early retirement. They now owned a house on the island and were regular visitors, just as Xan’s siblings were. Family parties were regular events on Thira, and Elvi had become accustomed to hosting everything from barbecues to christenings. She loved the fact that their children were growing up with their cousins and enjoyed a wide circle of relatives, unlike herself.
Daniel had graduated in medicine and was now entering hospital training where his working hours would be very much longer. Elvi was grateful that her brother was based at a London hospital where she hoped to see more of him.
‘You do appreciate that I have been away from you for an entire week,’ Xan murmured, cornering her on the landing to extract a very hungry kiss from her willingly parted lips.
Her heart singing, Elvi gave him a sparkling smile.
‘I did have this fantasy where you were waiting on the front step to greet me,’ Xan told her as he walked her down to their bedroom.
‘Like a Victorian servant?’ Elvi asked with intense amusement dancing in her eyes.
‘And then I had to go find you on the beach and you’re covered in sand and windblown and...absolutely gorgeous,’ Xan emphasised huskily, backing her down on the bed. ‘And now you’re going to get sand all over the bed—’
‘Of course, if you’re that fastidious I could go and have a shower first,’ Elvi proffered, knowing he wouldn’t have the patience to wait even three minutes.
Xan was undressing where he stood and nothing got hung up or carefully draped. Indeed, his tie, shoes and socks went flying. Of course, she knew he would tidy it all up afterwards and complain about the unfortunate effect she had on him. Confident that she was entirely the centre of his attention, Elvi shimmied seductively out of her sundress, skimmed off the last garments with panache and knelt on the bed, veiled in the hair he wouldn’t let her cut. And as he studied her, she studied him, her breath catching in her throat as the long, taut muscular lines of his beautiful body emerged.
The hunger never died, she thought dreamily, turning her face up for his kiss, rejoicing in the fact that the whole world stopped for her when Xan was with her. It was the kind of happiness she had never hoped to find and he had given it to her, he had made her feel secure and adored and more precious than the diamonds he was continually gifting her.
‘I love you,’ she said softly. ‘You never know your luck—I might wait on the front step for you the next time—’
