Darius stared at her for a long moment, then abruptly started taking off his shoes. “The sea should be warm.”
She lifted her eyebrows. “What are you doing?”
“I’m getting in.” He leaned over to unbuckle her sandals. “And you’re coming with me.”
Barefoot, they went splashing out into the sea. Letty delighted in the feel of the water caressing her feet, then her calves and finally knees. She was tempted to go deeper into the water, to float her pregnant body in the seductive waves that would make her feel light as air. She took a few more steps, until the sea lapped the hem of her white sundress.
Splashing behind her, Darius suddenly pulled her into his arms.
As the waves swirled around them, he kissed her, and there was no one to see but the birds soaring across the sky. For hours, or maybe just minutes, they kissed in the hidden cove, between the bright blue sea and sky, beneath the hot Greek sun. He ran his hands over her bare shoulders, over her thin cotton sundress, as the salty sea spray clung to their skin and hair.
Waves swirled around them, sucking the sand beneath their toes, as the tide started to come in. The waves crashed higher, moving up against their thighs.
Finally pulling away, Darius looked down at her intently. She felt his dark gaze sear her body. Sear her heart.
“Letty, the house we grew up in might be gone,” he whispered. “But we still have each other.”
The lowering afternoon sun shone around the edges of his dark hair, making Darius shimmer like the dream he was to her.
And it was then Letty knew the worst had happened. The doom and disaster. And it had happened more swiftly than she’d ever expected.
She loved him.
All of him.
The man he’d been.
The man he was.
The man he could be.
Since the February night they’d conceived their child, Letty had tried to convince herself that he’d changed irrevocably. That she hated him. That he’d lost her love forever.
It had all been a lie.
Even in her greatest pain, she’d never stopped loving him. How could she? He was the love of her life.
Glancing back at the lowering sun, Darius sighed. “Can’t be late for our own party. We’d better get back to the villa.” He glanced down at his shorts, now splattered with sand and seawater. “We might have to clean up a little.”
“Yes,” she said in a small voice.
“We’ll finish this later,” he said huskily, kissing her bare shoulder. He whispered, “I can hardly wait to make love to you, Mrs. Kyrillos.”
As they splashed their way to the beach, and made their way up the shore, Letty stumbled.
He caught her, then frowned, looking at her closely. “Did you hurt yourself?”
“No,” she said, hiding the ache in her throat, struggling to hold back tears. It wasn’t totally a lie. She wasn’t hurt.
But she knew she soon would be.
One day married, and her heart was already lost.
CHAPTER NINE
DARIUS NEARLY GASPED when he first saw Letty at the party that night. When she came out onto the terrace, she looked so beautiful she seemed to float through the twilight.
She wore a simple white maxi dress, which fit perfectly over her full breasts and baby bump. The soft fabric showed off the creamy blush of her skin and bright hazel of her eyes. Bright pink flowers hung in her long dark hair.