vious.
Damen appeared then, placing some delicious-looking meals before them—fried cheese, rice wrapped in vine leaves, lamb croquettes and some pitta bread with dips. The smell made Amelia’s stomach growl—she hadn’t realised how hungry she was.
‘I saw these women almost broken by my father—their hurt and pain.’ He shook his head in condemnation. ‘I have no difficulty understanding his short attention span. I think in this way he and I are similar.’ She ignored the sharp barb in her side. ‘But he could simply have dated them and moved on when the interest faded. Marriage is so inherently filled with hope and promise—to offer himself to these women, only to bore of them within months.’ Santos shook his head again, irritated. ‘He is a living example of what I do not want to become.’
‘And so you also view women as disposable, but you make sure they know that in advance,’ she pointed out archly, only to encounter a heated look from him.
‘Disposable is not the right word.’ He frowned as he re-evaluated that. ‘Or, if I were to describe a woman as disposable, I would expect her to say the same of me. I’m very careful on this score, Amelia. I don’t enjoy the idea of hurting anyone.’
‘You’re afraid of hurting someone,’ she corrected subtly. ‘Your father has made you that way.’
His expression changed to one of shock. ‘I don’t think I’m afraid of anything.’
She laughed then, a soft sound. ‘You’re too tough for fear, right?’
He grinned in response, and the seriousness that his confession brought shifted, leaving an air of relaxed intimacy between them. ‘Absolutely, agapitós.’
CHAPTER TEN
‘DID YOU KNOW it took just a little over fifty years to build?’ she asked, pointing up to the Acropolis. He resisted an impulse to tell her he knew pretty much everything about the world-famous landmark. Pride in his heritage had made him a scholar of the local history.
‘And it is taking almost that long to repair it,’ he joked, casually slinging an arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer to his body. It was a balmy summer’s night and, though the sun had set, the air was still warm and humid. She was wearing a simple dress, but no less distracting for its simplicity. All night he’d been pulled between two desires—firstly to enjoy her company and conversation, and secondly to push at the flimsy spaghetti straps until the silk dropped low enough to reveal her neat, round breasts.
‘I’d love to see what it looked like back then. The damage it’s sustained is such a tragedy.’
‘It’s part of it, though,’ he murmured in response, his eyes taking in the pocked pillars, the crumbling ruins that had been central to so many wars since its creation. ‘Each mark tells a story and speaks to the building’s defensive capabilities. It might look better without the damage but it would have a less rich history; it would have played a less vital part in Athenian society.’
‘And that would make it less emblematic,’ she agreed, looking up at him, her dark eyes intriguing and speculative.
‘You said you’ve been to Athens. Was it to study?’
‘I worked at the observatory for a few months.’
‘You enjoy physics?’
‘Yes, very much so.’ She smiled again.
‘You don’t regret leaving it to become a teacher?’
‘I didn’t leave it. I made a conscious decision to continue my work, but I wanted to have another focus. I enjoy the challenge of physics, the possibilities and—it’s strange to say it—the cathartic relief that comes from taking vast numerical sequences and wrangling them into some kind of order. It’s a truly sublime process—up until a month ago, I would have said better than sex.’ She winked at him and he laughed, pulling her closer, her body fitting perfectly against the ridges of his.
‘And this wasn’t enough for your parents?’
He felt her stiffen a little at his side.
‘They didn’t let me stick around long enough to explain that I wasn’t abandoning my science work altogether.’
‘Would it have made a difference?’ A motorbike zipped past, loud and distracting. She waited until the sound had ebbed completely.
‘I don’t know. I think not—my desire for anonymity was at odds with their plans.’
‘They enjoyed the fame that came with your success?’
She made a guttural noise of agreement.
‘How come I haven’t heard of you?’
‘Well, outside of England I wasn’t exactly famous,’ she said with a self-deprecating laugh. ‘It’s not as though I’m the only person in the world with above-average intelligence.’