heaving himself out of the water onto the jetty.
‘Is your mother safe?’ Eleanor demanded hoarsely, and then wrenched herself away from Stefan to cough up more of the Aegean as Talia pushed him aside to get to her.
‘Tell me exactly what happened, Mother!’ ordered Alexei, thrusting wet hair back from his face.
While Eleanor coughed up more water, Talia explained breathlessly up to the point where the attacker dropped her. ‘Then this brave, brave girl knocked him down with her bag and beat him up.’
‘But not hard enough. The swine kicked me into the water,’ croaked Eleanor hoarsely through chattering teeth. ‘Did he get away?’
Alexei’s smile turned her blood even colder. ‘No, he did not.’
‘Where is he?’
‘On his way to the Kastro, in company with a pair of angry jailers.’
‘Excellent! We should go inside, too,’ said Talia firmly. ‘You two need to get dry.’
Alexei turned as Yannis came hurrying to say that someone else was asking for the kyria. ‘What the devil now?’ he demanded irritably, turning on Eleanor.
‘It must be the real boatman—the one who brought me here earlier,’ she said through chattering teeth.
‘So, how did the other man contact you?’
‘Yannis told us a man was waiting at the jetty,’ explained Talia.
Alexei spoke to the boy sharply and, after listening to his explanation, gave him instructions which sent him running off into the Kastro to fetch his mother. ‘Apparently our prisoner said he was here for the lady. Yannis knew you were about to leave, Miss Markham, so assumed it was you.’
‘Then I’m to blame. I’m so sorry,’ croaked Eleanor in remorse, but Talia shook her head fiercely.
‘Nonsense, it was not your fault!’
By this time Eleanor was so desperate to get back to the taverna and a hot shower she was past caring whose fault it was. ‘Now my real ferryman has arrived, I’ll take myself off—’
‘Absolutely not, Eleanor,’ Talia said flatly, and beckoned to the woman hurrying towards them with towels. ‘This is Sofia, the housekeeper here. I’ll explain to her and then we’ll soon have you in a hot bath and into bed.’
‘But I can’t do that! I need to pay the boatman and get back to the taverna,’ protested Eleanor hoarsely, turning away to cough.
‘Stefan will see to that—also, send a message to Takis,’ said Alexei. ‘You must stay here until I interrogate the kidnapper. In the meantime, go indoors with my mother—please,’ he added.
‘My bag!’ said Eleanor in sudden alarm.
‘The assault weapon?’ His lips twitched as he handed it over. ‘Stefan rescued it, but I can’t answer for the contents.’
‘I hope your camera is undamaged!’ exclaimed Talia.
‘If not, I shall replace it,’ said Alexei, shrugging.
‘That won’t be necessary, thank you.’ Eleanor breathed more easily as she investigated. ‘My phone took a direct hit, and the glass on a picture I bought for my mother is cracked. But the camera seems all right.’ She was horribly conscious of her bedraggled appearance as Talia bundled her up in a towel. So much for looking sexy! ‘The memory card will have survived, anyway. I won’t lose any of the pictures.’
‘Excellent. Now we must go inside and get something hot into both of you.’ Talia spoke to Sofia, who nodded vigorously and hurried off.
To Eleanor’s surprise the musicians were still playing and singing on the terrace, people were talking at the tops of their voices at the tables and a large crowd was still milling around on the beach, where youngsters were shouting as they took turns in leaping over the traditional St John’s bonfires. ‘Didn’t they hear all the commotion?’
‘Too much noise, and I got there so quickly I doubt that anyone noticed,’ said Alexei, rubbing his hair. ‘I followed when I saw you leave the table with my mother and hurried after you in time to hear her scream for me. But I regret that I arrived too late to stop the intruder kicking you into the water. Stefan and a couple of my security men were behind me as I caught him, and they took charge of him while I went in after you.’
‘I wish I’d known all that when I was trying not to drown,’ said Eleanor wryly.
‘Alex dived in after you almost at once,’ Talia assured her.
My hero, thought Eleanor, and won herself a sharp look from her dripping rescuer as he escorted them into the cavernous hall of the Kastro and into the anachronism of a modern lift. After a swift, quiet ascent it opened onto the hall of an apartment that could have been part of a modern building. Impressed by the contrast to the ancient Kastro which housed it, Eleanor wrapped her towels around her more tightly to avoid wetting the beautiful floor as Talia led her to a surprisingly feminine bedroom.
‘You must get into my shower, as hot as you can bear it. You’ve lost your lovely glow.’
‘You look pale yourself,’ said Eleanor anxiously. ‘You had a horrible shock, too.’
‘But I wasn’t kicked into the sea, my dear! Use any of my bath stuff you want.’
‘Thank you.’ Eleanor’s teeth began chattering again.
Talia wagged a finger. ‘Be quick; you need something hot to drink. Wrap yourself in the bathrobe behind the door.’
Eleanor bundled her sodden clothes up in the damp towel and put them in the slipper-shaped bath. To her relief her waterproof watch had survived undamaged and, even more miraculously, the crystal bull-charm was still intact on her chain bracelet. Feeling limp as a rag doll as her adrenaline drained away, she turned on hot water in the shower and used some of Talia’s shampoo. After a few warming minutes under the spray to rinse her hair she dried off, wincing as she encountered various aches and pains, the most painful a large welt on her ribcage, courtesy of a male shoe. Swathed in towels, she slumped down suddenly on the edge of the elegant bath. What a day! She brightened suddenly as she rubbed at her hair. Now she’d helped save his mother from kidnap, maybe Alexei Drakos would give her an interview by way of thanks. And maybe the moon would turn blue tonight!
Eleanor ran one of his combs through her hair, eyed her reflection without pleasure and reached for the hooded white bathrobe on the door. She replaced her watch and bracelet and opened the door in answer to a quiet knock.
Talia came in, wrapped in a long navy bathrobe, her wet hair tied back from her beautiful face. ‘You feel better now, Eleanor?’ she asked anxiously as she applied moisturiser.
‘Lots better, thank you. How about you?’
Talia grimaced. ‘I stripped off every stitch after contact with that man. I had a quick shower in Alex’s bathroom and borrowed his bathrobe so, now I have washed away eau de kidnapper, I am fine.’
‘Thank God for that,’ said Eleanor fervently.
