Moon of Aphrodite (25 page)

he guessed what she had been up to.

'As you wish,' he fel into step beside her. 'Michaelis wil be grieved that you wish to go

so soon.'

'It isn't real y that soon,' she protested. 'I was only ever coming for a month. And I'l he

back to see him again.'

'When?'

She thought, 'When you're away and gone, and I can be sure I won't have to meet you

and your new wife.'

She shrugged. 'Some time. I—I'l write to him, of course.'

There was a silence. They had reached the edge of the sanctuary, not moving fast,

when Damon said, 'Would it make any difference to your decision to leave if I told you

his lawyers were coming to Phoros next week ?'

'No, it wouldn't!' The exclamation was almost a cry of pain. 'I don't want to know about

that. I'm content with what I have, to be what I am. I don't need a chain of hotels, or

to be an heiress. I don't want it. It's spoiled everything.'

She had
stopped, and Damon turned her to face him, his hands gripping her arms. He

said, 'Michaelis only wants you to be happy. That is al he ever wanted. He thought that

I
could make you so; he stil thinks it. That is why he has agreed to sel the Korialis

chain to the Leandros corporation. If the deal goes through—-if it is truly what you

want, then you wil no longer be an heiress, Eleni mou. I thought then that I would ask

you again to marry me.'

Helen swal owed. She was stil asleep. She was dreaming; she must be.

He said huskily, 'Look at me, Eleni, matia mou, my eyes, my precious one. Speak to me.

Don't torture me like this,'

She said on the merest breath of a whisper, 'But the hotels—the money ...'

'I don't need them, agapi mou. I need you, as I need breath in my body.' He pul ed her

forward into his arms, and his mouth found hers for an endless reeling moment.

At last he lifted his head and looked down at her. He said, 'From the first moment I saw

you in your father's gal ery, that's how it has been with me. How could you not know?'

Helen shook her head, hardly daring to believe what she was hearing, to let the

delirious joy wel ing up inside her to overwhelm her.

'But it was al arranged. Grandfather wanted us to marry because ...'

'Because of your mother and Iorgos? No, my heart, I swear he never thought of it until

I asked him for you. The negotiations over the hotel chain had been going on for

months before, but they were held up because of his il ness. Then, when he knew I

wanted you for my wife, he decided to make the hotels and everything else that he had

your dowry.' His smile was rueful. 'He thought it would please you, that it would suit

your English independence to know that you would not be coming to me empty-

handed.'

'You never told me you loved me,' she said slowly.

'Not in words, perhaps, but then I had only just begun my wooing, and you were so

determined not to let me near you—except that afternoon when I brought you here.'

He gave an unsteady laugh. 'I knew then that I could not trust myself to be alone with

you, and that we must be married as soon as possible. What I did not know was that

Michaelis intended to tel you' that he was making you his heiress, so that any proposal

from me would have sounded completely mercenary and calculated. Your grandfather

and I came nearer to a quarrel over that than at any time in our lives. He is of a

different generation, agapi mou. To him a woman is property like a house or a piece of

land. He thinks we arc both mad. And of course, there was the other alternative.'

'What alternative?' She slid her arms round his neck, smiling into his eyes, deliberately

provocative, loving the way his arms tightened in response, the pressure of his hard

body against hers.

He smiled. 'That you didn't want me, in spite of everything your body was tel ing me,

and that you were using your accusations simply to get rid of me. Or even that you

wanted the money more. There was always that possibility too. After al , you stil have

not told me you love me. M'agapas?'

She said shakily, 'I can't say it in Greek, Damon, my lessons haven't quite got that far.

But I love you with al my heart.'

He said softly, 'We won't embarrass Madame Stavros by asking her to teach you love

words. I prefer to tutor you myself.' He lifted a strand of her hair and brushed it across

his lips. 'Se thelo poll, Eleni mou. I want you very much,'

'And I want you,' she whispered, lifting her mouth to his, her body melting against
his.

When she could think again, she asked, 'Were you jealous of Craig?'

'I am jealous of everyone you speak to and smile at,' he said. 'Kostas was anxious. He

said you talked much together, and that you smiled a great deal.'

'I noticed him disapproving,' she said wryly. 'But Craig never stood a chance, even if fie

was the island Romeo. I think I must have been in love with you then, although I didn't

realise it. But I'd told myself so often that I hated you because of the way you'd treated

me, and made a fool of me, that I had to believe it.' She paused. 'And then of course,

there was Soula. You were with her that day in Athens.'

'I have been with her on many days in Athens, usual y bearing messages from Kyria

Irini. Your great-aunt was endlessly inventive in devising little errands that would bring

us together. Inviting the girl here was an act of desperation,' I think. She knew how

angry your grandfather would be.' He smiled reminiscently. 'I was intended to see how

altogether more suitable Soula would be as a bride.'

'Is that real y al there was in it? There was nothing more between you than that?'

'Nothing, agapi mou. I was content to flirt with her, if by doing so I could obtain some

reaction from you.' His eyes glinted wickedly down at her as she made a muffled sound

of protest. 'But Soula's heart is stil untouched, although her vanity may be a little

dented when we announce our betrothal. She wil make a suitable marriage. You need

not worry about her.'

'Is she an heiress?'

'Yes. Almost as rich an heiress as you, my precious one. And she would not relinquish

one drach of it for any man walking the earth.'

'Money is such
a responsibility,' said Helen. 'And don't laugh at me, Damon, you're used

to it. It's al very wel for you. Wil Grandfather be very hurt, do you suppose, because I

don't want this inheritance?'

'I think he wil recover,' he said sardonical y. 'He intends to discuss with his lawyers the

possibility of setting up a trust fund of some kind for our children-He is as stubborn as

you are, agapi mou
.'
He took off his coat and wrapped it round her. 'Now we wil go

back to the vil a, Eleni, and in the morning we wil tel him that we are going to be

married, but not, I think, about tonight's escapade. It would only worry him.'

'It would convince him we were mad.' She smiled. 'Perhaps I was a little crazy. I didn't

come here to say goodbye; I came to ask Aphrodite for you, even though I didn't have

anything to leave as an offering.'

'No offering was needed,' he said gently. 'I was yours already. Since time began, and

until it ends.' It was like a marriage vow.

She said, 'Since time began, and until it ends, Damon mou,' and lifted her mouth for his

kiss.