Why update it when I can only legally use a fraction of its horsepower anyway?’ His voice broke cuttingly across his thoughts.
‘You let it rip at that racetrack you took me to.’ Again the words were out of her mouth even as the memory formed in her mind.
Herself standing at the trackside, heart in her mouth as she watched him roaring along the straight, then tightening into a curve so punishing she thought he must surely career onto the grass. Her heart filled with an exhilaration she could not contain, an exhilaration that had consumed her completely, when he’d taken her with him on the next lap, her breath punctuated by gasps of terror and excitement, all the time glorying in his skill, his strength, in the way he seemed so effortlessly to control the power of the car. She had thrilled to it all, thrilled to him…
Nikos’s eyes went to hers. For a second, a fraction of a second, they met and held. Then he pulled his gaze away.
‘Let’s take a look at the grounds first.’
He started off down a wide but overgrown pathway. Hesitantly Sophie followed him. The broad lawns were hayfields, stretching either side, and the once elegantly planted herbaceous borders had almost disappeared into the overgrowth.
But there was beauty here, all right.
‘There’s so much work to do!’ Sophie found herself exclaiming.
Nikos glanced back. ‘Too much for you, I think.’ But it was not an admonition—there was a wry smile on his mouth.
It tugged at Sophie, and she glanced away. No—please, not this. Not feeling his power again! Please no!
‘I think it would take half a dozen professional gardeners,’ she made herself respond. She kept her voice light. It seemed the safest thing to do.
‘More like a dozen,’ replied Nikos dryly. He paused as the pathway diverged. ‘I take it you’ve explored already?’ he said. ‘Any suggestions?’
‘There’s a lake of sorts to the left. There’s not much water in it, from what I could see. Irises and bulrushes have taken over.’
‘Let’s take a look,’ said Nikos. He strode off.
Numbly, she followed him. In part of her mind she knew that it was bizarre in the extreme for her to be exploring these neglected gardens with Nikos Kazandros.
Unreal.
And yet the reality of it was vivid. Far, far too vivid—
‘You were right—it’s hardly a lake at all any more.’ Nikos’s voice penetrated her thoughts. ‘This will call for dredging. All the same…’ He paused, scanning around him. ‘It will be spectacular one day.’
His gaze came round to Sophie again.
‘Did I do well, buying this place?’
There was humour in his voice and warmth in his eyes. She felt the breath squeeze in her lungs.
For a moment she did not move—could not. Only let her gaze be held by him, only let herself be warmed by the warmth in his eyes.
Once he looked at me like that all the time…
An ache started in her. She pulled her gaze away.
‘It’s very beautiful,’ she said. There was constraint in her voice now.
Did he feel the same? He must, for abruptly he turned away, checking out a stand of ash saplings that had invaded from the woods beyond the lake.
‘Those will have to go,’ he said. ‘And we’ll need more specimen trees planted.’
We…
The ache in her side intensified. There was no ‘we’. There never could be—never again.
She blinked. Nikos turned back. His eyes flickered over her, but she kept her expression veiled.