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CHAPTER SEVEN
THEIRPROGRESSTHROUGH the private airport was swift. Once they were on the plane one of the male attendants drew Nik apart as Chloe and Eugenie were seated.
Their conversation in rapid Greek lasted a few moments.
‘I’m travelling up front,’ he said to Chloe as he moved past her.
‘Can I come too?’ Eugenie cried in the act of unclipping her belt.
‘You’re grounded, or I’m assuming you will be, so no...behaving badly doesn’t get rewarded, kiddo.’ He flicked her nose affectionately with his finger and walked on, vanishing through the cockpit door.
‘I’m going to get my pilot’s licence as soon as I’m old enough. Uncle Nik got his when he was seventeen.’
Did that mean he was flying the plane now? Chloe wondered, tensing a little as the plane started taxiing; she was fine with flying but the take-off and landing always tied her stomach in knots.
Once they were in the air, Chloe accepted the offer of tea but refused anything to eat. Eugenie, who seemed to have recovered from her brush with the law, tucked into some hot beef sandwiches.
She finished and sighed in pleasure. Chloe pointed to her chin and the teen wiped away the spot of relish there.
‘So how long does it take to get to Spetses airport?’
The girl looked surprised by the question. ‘Oh, there isn’t an airport on the island. We land at the small private airport just on the mainland opposite and then we’ll fly over on the helicopter.’
Questioning her decision not to simply hand Eugenie over to her uncle when she’d had the chance, Chloe took a sip of her tea. The return flight might not be as simple to organise as she had imagined.
* * *
On the helicopter trip over from the mainland Chloe sat next to Eugenie, who went into tour-guide mode the minute they took off. By the time they landed Chloe felt pretty well informed about the island of Spetses and its aristocratic heritage; she could have written a paper about the colourful mansions, the history of blockade running, its significance in the Napoleonic wars, and its long association with the master sailors.
While Chloe was being educated, Nik sat next to the pilot in the cockpit. The two men obviously knew one another pretty well and, with his sleeves rolled up and his dark hair tousled, Nik looked relaxed and very different from the man she remembered from that night in the bar.
Or for that matter from any time since.
It would be very easy, she mused, to let her defences down with this Nik. Just as well she was only here to chaperone Eugenie.
She turned her head at the sound of a phone ringing, struggling to make itself heard against the noise of the helicopter.
‘It’s Mum, for you,’ Eugenie said, holding her own phone out for Chloe.
Chloe pressed the phone close against her ear, raising her voice above the background noise. ‘Hello.’
‘How can I ever thank you, Chloe?’
‘No thanks required. I’m glad I could help.’
‘How is she?’
‘Fine.’ She gave the worried-looking teenager a thumbs-up signal. ‘I know a great deal about Spetses now. Did you know that Spetsiots were heroes of the War of Independence?’ Chloe was pleased to hear the older woman laugh, then listened to her friend launch into another fulsome apology for imposing on her. ‘Eugenie was no problem,’ she said honestly, adding when Tatiana made sceptical noises, ‘It was good practice for when I have my own children...’ She lifted the phone away and waited for the static crackle to subside before shouting, ‘I said it was good practice for when I have my own children!’
It was only when she realised the signal had cut out and she lowered the phone that she realised Nik was standing right beside her, so there was zero chance he’d not heard every word she’d said. But if she’d had any doubts his first comment dispelled them.
‘Thinking of starting any time soon?’
Working on the assumption that if she ignored her blush he might not notice, she managed a small laugh. ‘My body clock is not ticking too loudly just yet.’
‘Just wanted to say, another five minutes and we’ll be landing.’ He turned away and moved back to the cockpit.
Once he’d gone, Chloe closed her eyes and pushed her fist against her mouth to stifle her loud groan. The other hand was pressed to her chest, where her heart was performing all sorts of life-threatening gymnastics.
