‘Saskia...?’
Guiltily Saskia realised that Andreas was still waiting for an answer to his question.
‘Oh, I’d much prefer to see something of the city,’ she answered.
‘Well, you won’t have a lot of time,’ Andreas warned her. ‘Our pilot will already have filed his flight plan.’
Saskia already knew that they would be flying out to the island in a small plane privately owned by Andreas’s grandfather, and what had impressed her far more than Andreas’s casual reference to the plane had been his mention of the fact that he himself was qualified to fly.
‘Unfortunately I had to give it up. I can’t spare the amount of hours now that I believe are needed to keep myself up to speed and in practice, and besides, my insurance company were extremely wary about insuring me,’ he’d added ruefully.
‘It’s this way,’ he told her now, placing his hand on her shoulder as he turned her in the right direction.
Out of the corner of her eye Saskia caught a glimpse of their reflections in a mirrored column and immediately tensed. What was she doing leaning against Andreas like that? As though...as though she liked being there...as though she was enjoying playing the helpless fragile female to his strong muscular male.
Immediately she pulled away from him and squared her shoulders.
‘Athena would have loved to have seen you do that,’ he told her sharply, the disapproval clear in his voice.
‘We’re supposed to be in love, Saskia...remember?’
‘Athena isn’t here,’ she responded quickly.
‘No, thank God,’ he agreed. ‘But we don’t know who might accidentally observe us. We’re a couple—very much in love—newly engaged...and you’re about to fly to my home to meet my family. Don’t you think it’s natural that—?’
‘That I should feel nervous and intimidated...worried about whether or not they’ll think I’m good enough for you.’ Saskia interrupted him angrily, her pride stung by what he was suggesting. ‘And what am I supposed to do? Cling desperately and despairingly to you...afraid of their rejection...afraid of losing you...just because—’
She stopped as she saw the blank impatient look Andreas was giving her.
‘What I was about to say,’ he told her grimly, ‘was don’t you think it’s only natural that I should want to hold you close to me and equally that you should want that same intimacy? That as lovers we should want always to be physically in touch with one another?’ He paused. ‘And as for what you have just said, I’m a man of thirty-five, long past the age of needing anyone’s approval of what I do or who I love.’
‘But you don’t...’ Saskia began, and then stopped as she realised what she had been about to say. Andreas hardly needed her to tell him that he didn’t love her.
‘I don’t what?’ he prompted her, but she shook her head, refusing to answer him.
* * *
‘SO YOU WANT TO SEE the Acropolis first?’ Andreas checked with Saskia before getting out of the limousine, having first given the driver some instructions in Greek.
‘Yes,’ Saskia confirmed.
‘I have told Spiros to make sure you are at the airport in time for our flight. He will take care of you. I am sorry to have to leave you to your own devices,’ Andreas apologised formally, suddenly making Saskia sharply aware of his mixed cultural heritage.
She recognised how at home he looked here, and yet, at the same time, how much he stood out from the other men she could see. He was taller, for one thing, and his skin, whilst tanned, was not as dark, and of course his eyes would always give away his Northern European blood.
* * *
SASKIA GAVE A small emotional sigh as she finally turned her back on the Acropolis and started to walk away. She had managed to persuade the driver that she would be perfectly safe on her own, but only after a good deal of insistence, and she had enjoyed her solitude as she had absorbed the aura of the ancient building in awed appreciation.
Now, though, it was time for her to go. She could see the limousine waiting where she had expected, but to her consternation there was no sign of its driver.
There was a man standing close to the vehicle, though, white-haired and elderly. Saskia frowned as she recognised that he seemed to be in some distress, one hand pressed against his side as though he was in pain. A brief examination of the street confirmed that it was empty, apart from the old man and herself. Saskia automatically hurried towards him, anxious for his well-being.