“I don’t think you need to change a thing. It’s clear you like your lifestyle and I live a very different one. I told you.”
He tilted his chair back, resting against the wall. “And if I don’t see them as that different?”
“Trust me, there’s a world of difference between us. You are rich, I’m not. You evidently were neglected as a child. I was not.”
“Not neglect. My parents gave me the best that money could buy.”
“Neglected by them, however. The greatest gift parents can give their children is their attention. My mother and I did so much together. Even when I was a rebellious teenager. She loved me. There was never any question.”
“Some people are not meant for marriage. My parents aren’t the only reason.”
“So what else? Burned at love?”
“You might say so. Now I wonder if I really loved Ariana at all. It was an advantageous match.”
“What are you talking about?”
“My engagement—surely you’ve heard the tale.”
She shook her head. “I thought you didn’t ask Gina Fregulia. So there was another engagement that ended. Were you heartbroken?” she asked sympathetically.
He gave a harsh laugh. “Hardly. Mad as hell. Ariana was beautiful and pleasing and professed to love me. Our relationship was meant to be, she said a hundred times.”
“Uh-oh, I think I’ve heard this tale before,” she murmured.
“Do you want to hear it or not?” he asked.
“Yes.” She closed her mouth tightly and looked at him.
He looked away. “Damn, I don’t want to explain. Sufficient to say my loving, meant-to-be fiancée found our own relationship wasn’t quite enough, so she found other meaningful relationships with as many men as she could.”
“Ouch,” Sara said. “Tacky.”
He looked at her in surprise. “Tacky? Is that all you have to say?”
“Well, you said your heart wasn’t broken. So then it was probably embarrassing to end the engagement if others knew why. But her behavior definitely was tacky. You’re well rid of her.”
He nodded. “Well rid of any suggestions for future alliances as well—unless the rules are clearly defined. In the meantime I’m content with the way my life is going.”
Sara thought about what he said. She felt the tension in his words. Maybe he had been hit harder by the betrayal than he wanted to admit, even to himself. And for a moment her heart softened. No one should be in love and have that love thrown back into their face by such wanton betrayal.
She had a hard time picturing Nikos Konstantinos heartbroken, but he might have been and hidden it from the world. She wanted to reach out and touch him with sympathy but refrained. She didn’t know how that would be received.
She began to relax. Hearing he had problems with life like anyone else made him seem more normal or approachable. Not the mighty millionaire resort owner living in an ivy-covered tower. Did she dare spend time with him? They’d never have to be alone—except when diving. He had never made an untoward comment or move on her. And she’d be leaving soon. Putting distance between them would be the best solution in the end. Despite her love of what she’d seen of Greece so far, her home was in London. Her friends were there. Her memories. Her mother was buried there.
She had a few days. She dared not reveal that being with him rocked her emotions. That kissing him was the most glorious feeling ever. That she longed for more when reality kept slapping her back. They had no future. She should adopt that as her mantra.
She dared not give voice even to herself of what she feared might happen—that she’d fall madly in love with him and end up going home with the world’s biggest heartbreak. He might like to kiss her, but his barriers were well established. She was not some femme fatale that men fell for. He’d already set his course—marriage to Gina, business arrangement. She shivered. It sounded so cold and sterile. She wanted love, heat, passion and loyalty that lasted a lifetime.
Take the time on the island as a gift. One day she could look back on her great adventure in Greece. Were all Greek women destined to heartbreak? Her mother had been betrayed yet had loved the man she gave up her family for. She had never found another to love after he had left. And her pride had kept her from admitting she’d made a mistake and returning home. Sara dearly hoped she would not follow in her footsteps. Pride was well and good in its place. But not to the detriment of love and family.
Nikos shifted his focus to the sky. “I think this storm will last all day. Not the best way to see the island when we arrive. It’s quite beautiful with all the flowers in the garden.”
“So are the gardens at the resort,” she said, feeling oddly adrift now that her goal was drawing closer. She had not thought beyond handing her grandmother the letter. What next?
“I took the advice of grandmother Eleani for the gardens. She loves flowers and worked with a landscape architect to design the gardens at the resort.”
“That’s what you call your grandmother,” she asked.
“My real grandmother died when I was a teenager. About ten or eleven years ago my grandfather married a widow—Eleani. She is a delightful person, warm and friendly and openly adores my grandfather. I can’t help but love her because of that. As you may have gathered, my family is not very demonstrative. Except for Eleani.”
Sara was hungry for any information about Eleani. But would it appear odd if she questioned Nikos? She was wary of getting to know too much about him. Wouldn’t that lead to expectations that she couldn’t fulfill? Once he knew he’d been the reason for her presence, as a key to the island, he would be furious.
Again she bemoaned that she’d met him only as a means to an end, and then had become attracted to him. Why couldn’t life be easy for once?
“So tell me why you know as much about running this boat as the captain,” she said, deliberately changing the topic.
“I love the sea. When I was younger I was always after the captain to show me how, so he convinced my grandfather to let him give me a crash course of several weeks. We loaded up on supplies and set off. It was one of the best summers of my life. I learned about charting, learned how to read the weather, how to sound for depth. How to dive. We were gone eight weeks and it flew by like the wind. By the end of the summer, I could pilot the boat as well as the captain. I had grown proficient in diving and received a good overview of the Aegean, to boot.”
Nikos told her of the villages and cities they’d visited. How he had crashed into more than one dock and had been the despair of the captain whenever he turned the yacht into a port. Sara laughed more than once, as she knew he wanted. He was a natural storyteller and she listened avidly to every word, relishing the deep tone of his voice and the fluttering inside that occurred whenever she was near him. She was growing used to being in constant turmoil around him.
When he wound down, he asked her about her favorite summer. She told him about the trek through Scotland she and her mother had made—despite
