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‘And I would love to meet your wife, Dacia said. ‘Drakon clearly thinks the world of her. I got the impression that she was instrumental in his decision to sell the island.’
‘Yes, Drakon’s always been very taken with Kerry. I believe she reminds him of his late wife, back when he first met her,’ Theo replied without missing a beat—but inside he felt an unexpected jolt.
He’d always known that Kerry would play a part in the old man’s willingness to do business with him—which was why he’d followed Drakon’s request and brought her out to the island to meet him. But suddenly he was thinking about what she’d said the night before—that he was a control freak. That he always judged her negatively, never believing her involvement could be well motivated.
‘The refreshments are ready.’ Drakon’s assistant spoke politely, interrupting his thoughts.
‘How lovely,’ Dacia said. ‘Thank you.’
Theo turned to escort his aunt out to the paved area overlooking the Adriatic. Despite everything he had said the night before, he did acknowledge that Dacia was here now, with the minimum of persuasion, because of Kerry and Drakon’s involvement. And he knew that if he’d done things his own way it might have been a much longer, more painful process.
‘I’ve kept on all of Drakon’s staff,’ Theo said. ‘It should make the transition of ownership easier. But of course you will be free to make your own decisions about staffing in due course.’
‘You’ve turned my world upside down,’ Dacia said, reaching out and squeezing Theo’s hand. ‘You can’t even begin to imagine what this means to me. Thank you—thank you so much for doing such a marvellous thing.’
Theo smiled. He was about to say that it was nothing when suddenly he realised that might diminish how much it meant to Dacia to return to her island home. ‘I can’t take all the credit,’ he found himself saying.
‘I can’t wait to meet your wife,’ Dacia said. ‘She must be a wonderful person to have in your life.’
‘She is.’ Theo smiled at his aunt politely, thinking about Kerry again.
Back when they’d first been together, he’d used to think of her as the perfect antidote to his fast-paced, pressurised lifestyle. She had been exactly what he was looking for in a lover—calm, beautiful and receptive to his wishes. Like an oasis of serenity amidst the cut and thrust of his life.
But Kerry had changed. She’d once been his perfect lover—but she was very far from being his perfect wife. She’d gone against his wishes. And she’d stood up to him, calling him a control freak.
His life had been so well ordered and organised, with everything under his control and nothing unexpected. That was how he liked it.
Did that make him a control freak? Suddenly he wasn’t sure.
All he knew was that Kerry and Lucas had exploded into his world and nothing was the same. Nothing was predictable.
He was used to demanding immediate obedience from everyone in his life—but Kerry wasn’t an employee. She was his wife. Did he really want the kind of biddable, spineless creature she had described?
Ever since he’d found out about Lucas he’d only ever done what was best for his son—he hadn’t thought about what might be best for Kerry or for himself.
He remembered the look in her eyes when she’d said she knew he would never be finished with her. The thought of spending her future with him had obviously filled her with despair—and for some reason that made him feel cold inside.
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE sound of thunder rumbled through the city, and Kerry realised with a sinking feeling that a storm was coming. The air was heavy and humid, and it seemed to press down on her as she trudged along the pedestrianway beneath the Acropolis. She was tired and, despite the atmosphere between herself and Theo, she wanted to get Lucas back to the hotel as soon as possible. But what seemed like a reasonable walk on an ordinary day suddenly seemed like a marathon.
The first raindrops fell as she turned out of the small backstreets onto the busy main road that lead to Syntagma Square. She’d always thought of it as a horrible wide thoroughfare, with what seemed like all the traffic in Athens speeding along it—but it was the most direct route to the hotel, and the place where she thought she stood the best chance of flagging down a taxi.
Then suddenly, with a monstrously loud crack of thunder and a flash of lightning right above her, the skies opened and the rain poured down.
Lucas howled as she hauled his rain cover over him. He was keeping dry—but he wasn’t used to being enclosed by the plastic cover, or to the horrendous noise of the rain pelting down onto it. Kerry was drenched to the skin in a second, but she kept on pushing the buggy towards home.
The rain was so heavy that the huge towering columns of the Olympian Temple of Zeus were almost invisible, even though they were only across the road from her. And within minutes wide torrents of rainwater were surging along the gutters—turbid and brown from a whole summer’s dirt being washed off the streets in one go.
Lucas was howling so loudly that she could hear him even over the sound of the storm. It was impossible to flag down a taxi because she was too scared to get the buggy close to the gushing deluge of run-off water along the roadside. So she bowed her head into the rain and kept pushing towards home.
Theo was already back at the hotel when the storm hit the city. It was just a summer thunderstorm—but when he discovered Kerry and Lucas were out in it he felt a sharp kick of concern. He paced up and down his study, looking out at the torrential rain, wondering where they were.
Suddenly the sound of his mobile phone made him jump—it was Kerry.
‘Where are you?’ he barked.
‘The National Gardens…Lucas is upset…I broke the rain cover and he won’t stay under it…’ It was impossible to hear her clearly over the crackling connection and the sound of the storm, but he just about managed to make out the location she described. ‘I can’t get Lucas home. Please…will you help me?’
