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‘But he didn’t expect to fall in love with the boss,’ Nikos suggested. ‘It happens often enough, you know, even in the best regulated businesses and the hotel trade is no exception. On the contrary, it would appear to lend itself to that sort of thing, if you ask me.’ When she didn't answer him he added with slow deliberation, ‘I suspected something of the kind from the very beginning, especially when he was so attentive where Martha was concerned. It’s a sure road to a woman’s heart, and you can see the child means a great deal to her. Martha is probably the only one.’

‘That must make her doubly precious to Lara and her husband,’ Anna pointed out, not wanting to prolong the conjecture about the occupants of the Mercedes which had now disappeared along the mountain road in a rising cloud of dust. Nikos, however, seemed obsessed by Andreas’ reaction to what he considered a complicated situation all round.

‘Do you think there might be a divorce in the offing?’ he queried. ‘All three of them just waiting for the law to take its course?’

Anna’s heart seemed to miss a beat. ‘We have no right to go on guessing,’ she said. ‘If Andreas and Lara are fond of each other our curiosity won’t help at all. It’s a dreadful situation to know that you are in love and everything has gone wrong for you.’

They had reached Pedhoulas where a carpet of fallen petals lined the narrow streets and the scent of cherry blossom hung in the windless air. In less than a month the cherries would be ripe in the orchards and on the garden trees of the lovely villas dotting the hillsides as far as the eye could see. It would be summer in its fullest grandeur with nature offering all she had to give.

‘Do you want to go on to Moutoullas?’ Nikos asked. ‘There’s plenty of time and I dare say Lara has found her ideal villa near there.’

Anna shook her head. ‘I’d like to go straight home,’ she said. ‘It’s almost five o’clock.’

The road continued to climb through the pine forests and finally they reached Podhromos, overflowing with early visitors and offering a splendid panorama over the slopes of the Troodos with the craggy summit of Olympus already casting its shadow on the valley below. All along the road to Troodos itself the hillsides were dotted with luxurious villas and little homesteads basking in the sunshine, and it was here that Anna imagined Lara had bought her new home. Within thirty miles of Limassol where her main interests lay, it would prove the ideal retreat during the heat of the summer months, affording her easy access in winter, too, when the high mountain passes were covered in snow.

By the time they reached Limassol the sun was already sinking towards the western horizon and the sky had darkened in the east, showing a first sprinkling of stars.

'You’ll stay for a meal?’ she asked Nikos automatically. ‘I’ll put it on early for you.’

She had no idea that Andreas would be at the villa and when she saw him she felt the colour rising in her cheeks. ‘Don’t tell me there’s been a crisis.’ she said jokingly. ‘I’ve been away for all of eight hours.’

‘Not unless you call Mrs Pope a crisis,’ he smiled. ‘She wanted to know where you were so that she could pay you for some extras that should have been on her bill, but I told her she could contact you first thing in the morning if she considered it urgent.’ He looked beyond her to where Nikos was talking to Paris. ‘Had a good day in the mountains?’ he asked.

‘Splendid,’ she assured him. ‘It makes you feel refreshed and Mama is nicely settled in. Kirie Masistas is wonderful company and they have known each other for a very long time.’

‘And Kiria Masistas?’ he enquired.

‘She’ll be kind, too,’ Anna predicted. ‘For a while, anyway, but the good news is that they have offered us the use of a cottage on the estate with someone to cook and clean for us whenever we decide to go.’

‘And will you?’

‘I think so—eventually. It will make us feel more independent.’

‘Is that important in the circumstances?’

‘I think it is.’ She took off her linen jacket, preparing to go into the office. ‘Andreas,’ she added carefully, ‘we met Lara on the Pedhoulas road just before we came to the junction. She was with Martha and Susan and, I think, her husband.’

He did not seem to be surprised. ‘They would be going to Panayia, to the monastery. Philip was there for a spell three years ago and fell in love with the mountains then. I think the solitude helped him to look at the future in a different light.’ His eyes seemed to darken at a memory. ‘They may stay there for a day or two, although what Susan will think of monastic life remains to be seen. Did Lara send any message?’ he asked abruptly. ‘About the Crescent Beach,’ he added as Nikos came across the hall to join them.

‘We didn’t stop.’ Anna stood looking back at him from the doorway. ‘Martha and Susan were engrossed in a book and Lara had to concentrate on her driving. The sun was in her eyes.’

‘Perhaps we should have stopped,’ Nikos mused, ‘just to say “hullo”, but I suppose we will meet them again quite soon.’

‘Yes,’ Andreas agreed abstractedly, ‘I suppose you will.’

He walked away in the direction of the terraces towards the wall which separated the two hotels, his hands thrust deep in the pockets of his trousers, the dark and brooding look still in his eyes.

‘A man with a load of trouble on his mind,’ Nikos said in a speculative tone. ‘It must be Lara. Who else could it be?’

‘I’m not his confidante,’ Anna said harshly. ‘The days for that are long past. Andreas has grown away from us. Six years is a long time.’

He put his arm about her waist. ‘Too long,’ he said, ‘if you ask me.’

Several
days passed before they saw Andreas again, busy days because the swimming-pool excavations had become a focal point of local interest and several finds were made, suggesting that the Villa Severus had indeed been built on the site of an older villa long since buried in the sand which edged the Mediterranean Sea. The coins which Andreas had picked up on that first day could have been a cache of some sort, but later other coins had been discovered, together with a floor mosaic of Ganymede being carried off by the eagle of Zeus which was in almost perfect condition, proving that a second villa had stood beside the sea in the vicinity of Candy’s Place.

All those years ago, Anna thought, people had lived and loved and died here, all with their various problems, as they were living now. Lovers had come and gone, empires had risen and passed away and Cyprus had been conquered and overthrown many times by Roman legions from the west and Turkish and Muslim invaders from the east.

When she had a moment to spare she walked along the edge of the excavations, aware that Candy’s Place was now the main focus of attention. Inroads had already been made on the orchard area where Candy had kept his fishing gear. Whatever plans Andreas had made for the old man’s tumbledown dwelling would now be suspended till the official decisions were taken, and she wondered if he was now regretting his eagerness to purchase it.

Turning back towards her own home she saw him coming towards her. ‘Found anything?’ he asked lightly.

‘No. Why?’

‘Everyone else has.’ He stood contemplating the latest dig. ‘I’m amazed at the amount of unimportant artefacts that have been lying right under Candy’s nose for half a century without him realising the fact or even caring about who had been there before he decided to squat at this end of the bay. The other day I came across some “lead weights” he had been using on his fishing nets and they were all bronze follis of Heraclius which ought to have been in a museum long ago.’

‘This is going to make a tremendous difference to Candy’s Place,’ she said with genuine sympathy. ‘You won’t be able to build on it as you like. It looks as if you have inherited all my problems in that respect.’

He sat down on the stone wall Candy had built to make an untidy little harbour before his property.

‘My shoulders are broad enough,’ he said philosophically. ‘I don’t suppose you will believe this, but I had no intention of making a killing over my deal with Candy. Of course,’ he added drily, ‘I had ideas for the future, but these may have to be curtailed now.’ He glanced at her sideways. ‘It may not be far off the mark to say that some of my plans will have to go by the board, but I am resilient in that respect, as you may have guessed. I’ve come to the conclusion that an ancient site is almost as good a proposition as a modern hotel in terms of the tourist trade. What could be more attractive than an active dig right on our doorstep, I ask you?’

She hadn’t considered that.

‘It would be on your property,’ she reminded him. ‘And partly on yours. You may have lost a swimming-pool, but you could have gained much more.’

‘The two properties are quite separate.’

‘Not any more. The excavations, however small and unimportant, will inevitably draw them together. One couldn’t stand up without the other. It was a continuous garden, Anna, and, besides, I think I may have a tomb on my premises.’ His tone was deliberately light. ‘They dug out a section of it yesterday, so if we haven’t exactly got a basilica on our hands at least we might have something of interest to show the public. The tomb was empty, by the way, so it was probably pillaged by some ancient relative of Candy who stumbled on it unaware.’

‘You’re making it sound very trivial,’ she admonished, ‘when it could be quite important.’

‘I don’t think so,’ he said. ‘The authorities don’t seem impressed, but it could be important to you and me.’

She looked round at him in surprise. ‘What do you mean?’ she asked.

‘We could develop Candy’s Place together.’

She drew back from the suggestion. ‘How could we?’ she asked, ‘Lara is already your partner.’

He shrugged. ‘Lara would understand, She knew what I wanted to do at Candy’s Place and this could be a bonus.’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Think about it,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to involve Lara, or Philip, for that matter, because I’m not in their class, but I’ve learned a lot from them about how to go about this sort of thing. Philip is one of the most powerful property dealers in the West and I value his advice, but I could never compete with him.’

Except for Lara’s affection, Anna thought painfully. Oh, Andreas, if it hadn’t been for that I might have been glad to share Candy’s Place with you, to develop it into something which would do credit to us both!

‘I've told you that I want to see the villa as it is now—as it has always been,’ he said, ‘for your mother’s sake, but perhaps there’s a selfish motive behind that too. All the time I’ve been away, all these years while I’ve been learning how to fend for myself, I’ve thought about it steeped in sunshine most of the time, like it has been since it was first built. Candy’s Place came afterwards, remember, but that never seemed to matter very much because we all accepted Candy and we lived together in harmony. It was an ideal situation to grow up in.’ He drew in a deep breath of the keen, fresh air. ‘I used to think of it in London and New York when my horizon was bounded by skyscrapers, and I always promised myself that I would return. I know I could have persisted and written more often, but I was always too proud, or too foolish, to do that. I’ve explained all this to your mother,’ he added abruptly, ‘and now I’m telling you in case you can bring yourself to believe me.’

She held her breath, her strong white teeth fastening on her lower lip for a moment before she said, ‘I do believe you, although it can’t make a lot of difference now. We’ve—grown away from each other, Andreas.’ With an effort she kept her voice quite steady. ‘It’s no longer the same for either of us.’

He thought about her statement for a moment or two, frowning. ‘You’ve changed a lot,’ he admitted. ‘Could it be the process of growing up, do you think?’

‘We all change.’ Her voice was steadier now. ‘It’s almost inevitable.’

‘But not quite.’ He looked at her fully, his eyes suddenly compelling. ‘Are we partners as far as Candy’s Place is concerned?’

‘We may have no choice if they decide to extend the dig, she said’. ‘In that case I couldn’t very well argue.’

‘Which isn’t what I would call a convincing answer,’ he said, ‘but it will have to do for the present. When did you last visit your mother?’

‘I’ve phoned every day, but I haven’t been able to get up to Stroumbi again.’ They turned away from the new excavations towards the beach. ‘She seems to have settled down very well and the Masistas’ are kindness itself, apparently.’

‘I’m sure.’ He strode across the sand beside her. ‘I’m going up there—to Pedhoulas. Would you like to come?’

‘It would be out of your way to take me to the Masistas’.’

‘Not too far out of my way,’ he decided. ‘Twenty miles or so. Think about it and let me know.’

Before he could turn away she had made up her mind. It would be a journey into the past for both of them, but she had already gone down that road many times since his return. Once more could make little difference and her mother must want to see her.’

‘I’d like to go, Andreas,’ she said. ‘Only I’d have to know that everything was running smoothly here before I took a whole day off.’

His eyes gleamed with amusement. ‘When are you going to realise that an hotel—even a small hotel—can run quite smoothly on its own for twenty-four hours or more if you have an efficient staff?’ he demanded. ‘Paris and Elli are quite competent and Francis runs his kitchens admirably without your supervision, I’m sure. We’ll make it Friday, when your mid-week arrivals should have settled in and the Saturday rush hasn’t begun.’

‘If that will suit you.’

He shrugged. ‘The Crescent Beach runs by itself. I’m only a cog.’

She laughed. ‘A very important cog. You’re managing the place.’

‘That’s what I’m trying to say. You manage by delegating. You can’t be breathing down their necks all the time or they would never gain the experience they need.’ He turned when they came to the wall. ‘I have some papers for Lara to sign so I'll phone her in the morning.’ he said. ‘She has asked me to bring you several times.’

‘Oh, but ’

Her protest was lost as he vaulted over the low wall. ‘See you Friday,’ he said. ‘About ten o’clock.’