Determined to be as dignified as possible, she walked onto the beach and stopped.
In front of her was a semi-circle of chairs, and in front of the chairs someone with flair and imagination had created an arch of flowers, a riot of colour that clung to the invisible wire-frame and created a door facing the sea.
It looked like a movie set for a very romantic wedding.
Which didn’t make sense at all.
‘Kelly?’ Vivien’s voice came from across the sand and then her friend was running towards her, her hair flying, her long dress tangling around her slim legs.
Laughing and crying at the same time, Kelly hugged her. ‘I’ve been phoning you and phoning you—what on earth are you wearing?’ She stood back from her friend and stared down at the dress in amazement. ‘You look fantastic. Very glamorous. But—?’
‘I’m your bridesmaid,’ Vivien squeaked. ‘He said it had to be a surprise so I switched my phone off, because you know I’m utterly useless at keeping secrets, and I knew if I spoke to you I’d give it away. Are you pleased?’
Kelly was confused. ‘I—you look lovely, Vivien, but I—I don’t need a bridesmaid. I’m not getting married.’
‘What? Of course you are! Alekos flew me over here especially for your wedding. I had the whole private-jet experience.’ Vivien grinned. ‘I won’t tell you how many mojitos I drank, but my head is killing me. Can we just get on with this?’
‘You spoke your lines too early,’ Alekos drawled from behind them. ‘I was supposed to go first. She doesn’t know anything about this.’
‘What?’ Vivien gaped at him. ‘When you said it was a surprise, I assumed you meant that me being a bridesmaid was a surprise—not the whole wedding.’
‘Things don’t always go according to plan, and that is especially true of my relationship with Kelly.’ Unusually hesitant, Alekos took Kelly’s hand in his. ‘Last night, in Venice, I was going to ask you to marry me. That’s why I took you there.’
Vivien gave a whimper and pressed her hand against her chest. ‘Oh my.’
‘Vivien.’ Alekos was still looking at Kelly. ‘If you open your mouth again before I give you permission, you will never travel on my private jet again.’
‘Mmm.’ Vivien made the sound through sealed lips, but Kelly was staring at Alekos.
‘Y-you were going to ask me to marry you?’ She shook her head. ‘No! You were tense and edgy about the whole dress thing, and then when Constantine asked if you were a father you said no—you can’t talk your way out of this one, Alekos.’
‘I was tense and edgy because I was going to ask you to marry me and I was afraid you would turn me down,’ he said huskily. ‘After the last time, why would you trust me? I was gearing up to it for days. I took you to what I thought was one of the most romantic places on earth.’
‘But—’
‘All evening I was planning how to ask you, where would be best.’
‘But Constantine?’
‘Asked me if I was a father. I said no, because to me being a father is so much more than just creating a child. That’s what your dad did, but he wasn’t a father, was he?’ His voice hoarse, he stroked his hands over her cheeks and cupped her face. ‘Being a father is about loving your child more than you love yourself, putting their welfare before your own, protecting them from a very hard world and making sure that they know that, whatever happens, you’re there for them. And I can tell you that I’ll do all those things, but it would mean more if I showed you. And that’s going to take time.’
Kelly couldn’t breathe. ‘Time?’
‘Let’s start with fifty years or so.’ His eyes scanned her face. ‘We’ll have to have quite a few children so that I get plenty of practice—at least four. And you can tell me how I’m doing. Maybe after fifty years and four children if someone asks if I’m a father I’ll feel able to say yes.’
Kelly swallowed. ‘I thought the whole idea scared you.’
‘I didn’t say I wasn’t scared. I am. But I’m still standing here,’ Alekos said softly. ‘And I’m still holding your hand. And talking of hands…’ He slid the ring off Kelly’s hand and transferred it to the other hand.
Kelly felt her eyes mist. ‘Alekos…’
‘I love you, agape mou. I love you because you are generous, kind, funny and the sexiest woman I know. I love the fact you have to hold my arm because you can’t walk in high heels; I love the fact you hate bits in your lemonade; I even love the fact that you drop your belongings everywhere.’ He smoothed her hair away from her face. ‘And I love the fact you would walk away from this relationship if it meant protecting our baby. But you don’t have to do that, Kelly. We’ll protect him—or her—together.’
Terrified to believe what was happening, Kelly stared down at the ring on her finger. ‘You love me?’
‘There is no question about that,’ he said shakily. ‘The only question is whether you can believe me, because if you’re always going to doubt me then this will never work. I’d like to think I’ll never say the wrong thing to you, but I’m a man, so there’s a fairly strong chance that at some point I’m going to get it wrong—like last night in Venice.’ He spread his hands in a gesture of mute apology. ‘I can see why you interpreted what I said that way, but—’
‘You hadn’t said you loved me,’ Kelly muttered. ‘You hadn’t told me that. I was dying for you to tell me to move the ring back to my other hand, but you never did.’