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"And this made you want to take a cruise?" he asked doubtfully. "You do realize real life is not like television. Especially television from many decades ago."
She shrugged, not bothered he didn't share her vision. She wasn't asking him to come with her. She would find a friend to share a cabin and go on her cruise. Someday.
"Why Mexico?" he asked. "You do realize where we live?"
The look on his face. The general bewilderment in his tone. She had to stifle a giggle. He really did look perplexed.
Lysander Baros was Greek, through and through. The idea of wanting to soak in the sun on any sea but those surrounding his beloved country was beyond his comprehension.
Oh, he was well traveled and sophisticated in his tastes as only a man who had eaten food from the best chefs in most of the world's largest cities could be. But that travel? Those meals? They had mostly been to further his business interests.
Maybe the idea of taking a vacation, of traveling simply for the sake of enjoyment was as baffling to him as where she wanted to go.
Poor, driven tycoon.
She'd thought about a cruise on the Mediterranean, but as much as she loved the beauty and people of her adopted country, she wanted to experience something entirely different. "I have lived in Greece for the past ten years. I want to go somewhere I have never been."
"Your parents never took you to Mexico?"
"No. When we traveled, we came to Europe." Her parents had considered places like Paris, Rome, and London worthy destinations.
And of course Athens, where her father had worked so hard to build business relations with Lysander's father.
"I love the colorfulness of Mexico, the way the Mexican language is different from Spanish in other countries, especially Spain." She had taken Spanish in high school and been taught by a woman from Mexico. Rowan's teacher had been very clear on the differences. "I want to learn more about the country, its culture and its people."
"I’m not sure a cruise is your best way to do that."
Could he sound any more condescending?
"There are shore excursions. I'll get a little taste of lots of places." And she would do tons of reading before her cruise. She loved learning new things.
"More like a taste of the tourist areas."
"That's as valid an experience as anything else," she insisted.
"But hardly the authentic Mexico."
"First of all, Mexico is a whole country, so no one city is authentic to all of it. Second of all, you're probably right, but I still want to do it."
He just looked at her, his dark eyes asking why?
"I'm sure that the days I spend on shore will give me an idea for where I'd like to come when I return to Mexico for a hopefully longer visit." She smiled, thinking about the prospect.
Maybe she would use just a tiny bit of her divorce settlement for travel.
She could still do a lot of good with what was left over.
"The point of the cruise isn't just the shore excursions or getting to visit another country." Rowan was also excited about what she expected life onboard to be like.
It was the experience on the ship. Getting to know the other passengers. Meeting people from all walks of life. Playing shuffleboard. Did they still play shuffleboard on cruises? She'd find out. Some day.
"You're a very unique woman." He didn't sound judgy now. In fact, he was almost admiring.
"I don't think so. Lots of people go on cruises and even more dream about it." Maybe just not people as wealthy and driven as Lysander.
"But few of them have access to a private yacht and the Mediterranean."
"Ihadaccess to a yacht during my marriage. I don't anymore." Her family had never had a yacht. Her parents had borrowed Cyrus's a couple of times every year. She wondered if they had last year, while she'd been fighting the legal battle for her divorce?
