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CHAPTER NINE
‘DOYOULIKEIT?’
‘It’s beautiful,’ Chloe said honestly as she walked around the room that Eugenie had guided her to. ‘What a view,’ she exclaimed, walking over to the open French doors. Three steps away was the infinity pool and beyond that the sea.
‘It used to be a little tiny cottage, and Granny was born here,’ the teenager confided. ‘She was poor. That must be awful, I think. When she married Grandpa he wanted to knock it down but she wouldn’t let him so he built around it. There wasn’t any beach here then, so he brought the sand and made one.’
‘What about the big place on the hill?’ It had looked Venetian and just gorgeous set against a backdrop of pines.
‘Oh, we own that too. Grandpa bought it but Yaya wouldn’t live in it and he preferred modern so...’ She gave a shrug that made Chloe think of her uncle. ‘It’s pretty much falling down now.’
‘That’s sad,’ Chloe said, glancing through the doors of a walk-in closet, realising that she didn’t have even so much as a toothbrush with her.
The girl seemed to read her thoughts. ‘Don’t worry. Mum will organise you some stuff.’
‘No, really—’
‘It’s fine. She has closets full of samples.’ She looked at Chloe with envy. ‘They wouldn’t fit anyone else here. Are you sure you won’t join us for dinner?’
Chloe resisted the pleading tone and gave a firm shake of her head, adding, ‘I’m really whacked.’ She escorted Eugenie to the door and closed it behind her reluctant-to-leave guest.
She released a sigh and leaned back against the wall, willing the images that were flashing through her head to stop or at least slow down because they made her dizzy.
Finally summoning the energy to kick off her shoes, she flopped onto the bed and lay there staring at the fan that was whirring silently above her head.
She had pleaded exhaustion when she had been given the option of a tray in her room, which suggested she looked as bad as she felt. The bone-deep weariness felt as if it were crushing her; even lifting a hand to her head was an effort, as was closing her eyes. But when she’d managed it, opening them again was just not an option.
She suspected her weariness was as much emotional as physical. Lack of sleep was the reason, she decided, unwilling to admit the truth even to herself.
She touched her lips, a silent sigh rippling through her body as she remembered the moment Nik’s eyes had dropped to her mouth and she’d known he was thinking about kissing her... Had he been able to feel how much she wanted him to? Oh, God, why was she even wasting her time thinking about it? It was just a damned kiss; there was nothing deep and meaningful about it!
She sighed, thinking, I’ll get up in a minute and shower the day and the memories away... There was no hurry.
* * *
Fighting her way out of sleep was like fighting her way through layers of gauze, convinced when she finally broke through the veil of sleep that she had heard someone crying out.
She lay there listening but it was silent except for the sounds of the night coming in through the open door.
Night!
She sat up abruptly, looking around the room. It was dark but not inky black, as the sky outside the door was tinged faintly with red. She reached for the lamp switch and found it, illuminating the room and revealing a tray on a table, the food covered by domes.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed and the first thing her glance lighted on was a full-length silk kaftan hanging on a hook of the door to the bathroom. She smiled as she got stiffly to her feet. She picked up her phone and glanced at the time, her eyes widening as she saw it was five-thirty in the morning!
She picked up one of the domes and looked at the food, but she was not hungry enough to be tempted by the sad, cold remains of what had, she had no doubt, been a delicious meal.
There were more clothes neatly folded and stacked on the shelves in the wardrobe and hanging on padded hangers. Tatiana had clearly crept in while she was asleep like a petite Greek Santa. She yawned and stretched, wondering about Greek Christmas traditions.
She spent a long time in the shower and emerged feeling half human. Laying out a towel on the bed, she sat down and began rubbing the oil one of her physiotherapists had recommended into the tight tissues of her scars with light but firm strokes.
Maybe its effects were just a placebo but it smelt good and, while it was no magic cure-all, her skin always felt more supple after she’d applied it. She had got into the habit of carrying it in her handbag.
She waited for it to dry before she put on the kaftan, enjoying the feel of the silk against her skin. She lifted an arm and performed a swishing motion, smiling. Tatiana really was talented. Drawn by the smells and sounds of early morning, she wandered to the open door and pulled aside the mosquito curtain that someone had pulled across while she slept.
Eyes closed, she breathed in deeply before she walked out, the soft scented breeze blowing the kaftan against her body. A tiny lizard disturbed by her tread emerged from a crack in the stone and vanished beneath the glossy, well-trimmed shrubbery.
The swimming pool lit by underwater lights that reflected the mosaic tiles drew her like a magnet; she loved water. She’d learnt to swim at school and if she had been prepared to put in the sort of dedication that involved a relentless early morning training schedule and no social life she might have been able to compete at a high level.
