face and throat. “The desire we feel for each other is real. Don’t tell me it isn’t.”
“I won’t,” she whispered, incapable of saying anything else.
Again he swept her away in another kiss that went on and on. His mouth was doing miraculous things to her. She couldn’t bear the thought of this moment ending, but Takis had more control than she did and finally lifted his mouth from hers. His breathing had grown shallow too. “Much as I’m enjoying this, we’re going to be late if we don’t leave now.”
She couldn’t think, let alone talk, and was embarrassed for him to witness the state of her intoxication. Needing to do something concrete, she pulled out of his arms and reached for the vase of flowers. After grabbing her purse, she headed for the living room.
He opened the front door and helped her out to his car. She hid her flushed face from him as much as she could for the short drive to the Manolis hotel. To her surprise he drove down an alley behind the buildings, parked by his parents’ truck and came around to help her out.
“Are you ready?” he murmured.
She clung to the vase. What a question when her legs were wobbling! His kiss had changed her concept of what went on between a man and a woman now that she was so deeply in love with this fantastic man.
Of course she’d been kissed before and had enjoyed it, but she’d never gone to bed with the men she’d dated. During Nassos’s talks with her about men and marriage, she’d learned that he expected her to wait until her wedding night. Maybe if she’d fallen in love with one of those men, she might not have been able to resist. But it hadn’t happened and now she knew why after Takis had aroused her passion.
Suddenly the back door opened. Lys recognized his mother, who’d passed on her reddish dark-blond hair to Lukios. She cried Takis’s name and reached out to hug him. But it was his same startling hazel eyes that fastened on Lys.
“Mama? This is my fiancée, Lys Theron. She’s the light of my life.” The words came out smooth as silk and sounded so truthful, it shook her to the foundations.
Lys looked for signs that she was upset or disappointed, but instead she let go of Takis to hug her, flowers and all. They were both the same medium height. “This is a great day. Welcome to the family.”
The unexpected warmth brought tears to Lys’s eyes. “Thank you, Hestia. Takis has talked about his angel mama so much, I feel I know you already.” In that moment Lys shared an unexpected glance with Takis. From the intense look in his eyes, she’d said the right thing to his mother.
“She’s brought you flowers. Shall we go inside and unwrap them?”
Hestia wiped her eyes. “Come on. Your father is in the living room waiting for you.”
Nikanor Manolis. The man for whom this charade was all about.
Takis grasped her hand and took her through the kitchen to the living room.
Lys saw immediately that he took after his father in height and features. The older man with salt-and-pepper hair stood in front of the fireplace dressed in dark pants and a white shirt.
“Baba? I would like you to meet the woman I’m going to marry.” Hearing those words almost gave her a heart attack. “Lys Theron, this is my father, Nikanor.”
She shook his hand. “How do you do, Kyrie Manolis. It’s an honor.”
He gave her a speculative glance. “Lukios tells us you two met in Italy.”
“Yes. I was on a short vacation.”
“You love my son?”
After everything Takis had told her about his father, she guessed she wasn’t surprised he would ask a blunt question like that. But Lys could hardly think for the blood pounding in her ears. “From the first moment I met him, I couldn’t help it.” She didn’t dare look at Takis right then. To her surprise his father kissed her on both cheeks, putting his stamp of approval on the news.
“Look what she brought us!” Hestia came in the room carrying the vase of pink roses and lavender daisies, breaking the tension. “They are so beautiful!” She set them on the coffee table.
“I’m glad you like them. Those colors are perfect together.”
“I think so too. Sit down. I’ve made tea.”
Takis led her over to the couch and squeezed her hand, revealing his emotions. In a minute his mother came back with a tray of tea and kourambiedes to serve everyone.
“What are your plans?” his father asked.
“We’ve set the date for June fourth, provided that’s a convenient time for you and Mama. It’s not a holiday. The engagement announcement is ready to be given to the newspaper.”
His father looked at Lys. His brows lifted the same way Takis’s sometimes did. “Tell us about your family.”
She’d been ready for that question. “My mother was an American, born on Long Island, who died when I was little. My father was working in New York, but he was from Kasos Island here in Crete. In his will he specified that he wanted his best friend to be my guardian should he die before I turned eighteen. That best friend was Nassos Rodino, who died very recently.
“He and his wife, Danae, raised me from the age of seventeen after my father was killed in a plane accident. She’s the only person I have left and still lives on Kasos. Contrary to what the media reported after his death, we love each other as mother and daughter and will always mourn Nassos’s passing. He was like a father to me.”
“We’re sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. Danae met Takis for the first time the other night. When she learned he planned to live here for good and work at his family’s hotel, she gave us her blessing. To be truthful, she never liked the men I dated. I’m pretty sure it’s because they weren’t from Crete.”
Takis shot her a look of surprise.
“All along both she and Nassos insisted that one day I marry a Cretan who honors his family,” Lys added on a burst of inspiration. It was only the truth.
The older man’s gray eyes lit up before he turned to Takis. “That’s what you want to do, my son? Work here at the hotel now that you’re home for good?”
Lys’s eyes closed tightly, waiting for the answer that would change Takis’s world.
“It’s what I want, Baba.”
“Then so be it.”
She knew those words had to be the sweetest Takis had ever heard.
“Hestia? They want to be married June fourth.”
“I heard.”
“In the Agios Titos church,” Takis supplied.
“Ah. That’s where we were married.” Her face beamed. “How soon will it go in the paper?”
“We’ll submit it tomorrow. It will probably
