‘Mummies and daddies sleep in the same bed,’ he pronounced. ‘Well, so do uncles and aunties sometimes,’ responded Nikos, sitting up, stretching his fantastic physique and looking not a whit abashed at being so discovered.
‘Where are we going today?’ asked Ari, accepting his uncle’s comment without demur.
‘A surprise,’ said Nikos promptly.
He would not be drawn, despite his nephew’s constant plaguing, but after breakfast a car was waiting for them, and it drove them out of Paris.
The surprise was another theme park.
‘You’re a glutton for punishment,’ murmured Ann to Nikos, as they set off round the park for a day of rides and children’s treats.
‘But I have my reward waiting for me,’ he replied, his dark eyes glinting, and Ann felt heat flush through her skin. But even as it did she saw his expression change, become almost thoughtful for a moment, as if something had struck him.
She saw that look again during the day, from time to time, and sometimes, despite Ari’s unbridled glee, Nikos seemed abstracted—his mind elsewhere. Perhaps he was thinking about work? thought Ann. Because surely he must be keen to get back to Athens?
She felt a pang go through her at the thought. Was this their last day together—tonight their last night? And what would come tomorrow? A car to the airport and Nikos and Ari heading back to Greece? Herself on a flight to London? To see Ari again—when?
And Nikos?
It was like a knife blade slipping into her. Silent. Deadly. And as it did so she felt the breath empty her lungs.
I can’t bear to lose him!
She knew with every fibre of her being that there could never be another man like him in her life.
Knew as if a cold hand clutched her that for him she was just one more woman.
Yet it was so easy to forget that—dangerously easy. Not just when she clung to him in passion, or in the aftermath of passion, but during the day, when they were with Ari, together. As if—her heart squeezed—as if they were a family…
But they weren’t—it was temporary, illusory, and that was all.
And yet the following day, when Nikos announced at breakfast that they were going to spend the weekend in Normandy, her spirits soared.
The elegant château hotel Nikos had booked was only a few miles from the coast, and their days were spent with Ari on the wide sandy beaches, and the nights entwined in the four-poster bed—with Ari, fast asleep from his exertions, in the connecting room.
It was over breakfast in their bedroom on the last morning that Nikos spoke to her. Ari was next door, watching cartoons on satellite TV.
‘So, our little holiday is over and we must go home.’
Immediately Ann felt a chill numbness seize her. So this was the moment she had been dreading. The parting of the ways was upon her. She to return to London, Nikos and Ari to Greece. Even though she had known this moment must come, yet now it was here she felt as if a knife were sliding slowly into her.
Worse, far worse, than she had ever imagined it would be.
She felt the blood drumming in her head and fought for composure—outward at least, for inward was impossible. Yet even as she tried to control herself she became aware of what Nikos was saying next.
His eyes were resting on her with a strange expression in them. ‘I want you to come back with us. Make your home on Sospiris.’
She could only stare, wordlessly.
His mouth twisted with wry self-mockery. ‘Yes, you can stare, Ann. After everything I’ve thrown at you about not thinking you can insinuate yourself into our family. But obviously things are different now. Your making your home on Sospiris is the ideal answer. It ticks every box. You will be with Ari, and he with you. You get on excellently with my mother and Eupheme, and they both sing your praises—more than I have done!’ he allowed, with the same wry expression. Then his expression changed. ‘And best of all, Ann—’ he picked up her hand and grazed the tips of her fingers sensuously with his lips ‘—we can still be together.’
His eyes were lambent, clear in their intent.
She waited for the leap in her spirits to come, for relief to flood through her at the blissful knowledge that she was not to be sent away after all, that Nikos still wanted her.
But it didn’t come. Only a cold chill seeped through her skin. She heard herself speak, and hardly believed the words she was saying.
‘I can’t come back to Sospiris.’