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‘And we would be nicely sandwiched between two high-rise hotels with very little land to call our own.’ Anna rose to her feet. ‘No, thank you, Andreas. We don’t need to sell our land, and if we did ’

‘It wouldn’t be to me?’ His dark eyebrows shot up. ‘Maybe I deserved that, but I really do mean what I say. In any case, the money for your land would not be mine. It would come from the syndicate who already own the Crescent Beach and I can guarantee that all they want to do is to enlarge their small harbour area and build terrace gardens down to the sea.’

Dorothy said, ‘It wouldn’t be like building on to the Crescent Beach,’ as if she was pleading his cause.

‘That could be the next step,’ Anna pointed out. ‘Mama! we don’t need the money, whatever argument Andreas has to put forward.’

‘It would pay for your swimming-pool and keep us out of debt to the bank,’ her mother suggested.

‘We have already arranged all that.’ Anna’s cheeks were flushed, her eyes defiant. ‘It’s all we want for the present and the bank overdraft won’t be a problem. I’ve thought it all out very carefully, Mama, and we don’t need further advice.’

‘Oh, dear!’ Dorothy looked distressed. ‘I wish we didn’t have so many problems, especially when I am such a burden to you, not pulling my weight.’

‘When you become a burden I’ll let you know,’ Anna said, deliberately avoiding Andreas' eyes. ‘In the meantime we’re managing nicely without any outside help and that’s the way I like it.’ She moved towards the door. ‘Nikos will be here early, I expect.’

Andreas followed her into the hall. ‘Nikos Masistas,’ he remembered. ‘Is he still as persistent as ever?’

‘He’s still the same person I’ve always known,’ Anna said. ‘He hasn’t changed at all. He did his obligatory service in the army and then came back to work for his father.’

‘A well-planned future, I must admit. I met a cousin of his on Samnos, but that was a long time ago. He hasn’t married?’

‘No.’

Andreas smiled. ‘That surprises me. He has nothing to wait for.’

“Except the right girl to marry!’

He turned back towards the sitting-room. ‘I think he always knew who that was,’ he said. ‘Why haven’t you married him, Anna? It can’t be because he hasn’t asked you.’

The distressing colour of confusion rose in her cheeks again. ‘I’m not ready to marry anyone,’ she said sharply. ‘Not yet.’

‘The day will come,’ he predicted maddeningly. ‘Dare I say that I hope I’ll be here to see it?’

‘You can say anything you like,’ she answered, ‘but just don’t go back in there and upset my mother. She won’t sell anything to you against my better judgment, Andreas. You can take my word for that.’

‘I wouldn’t dream of distressing her,’ he said more seriously. ‘I respect her too much for that.’

‘All this talk of selling the villa upsets her. You ought to know how fond she always was of her home,' she said.

‘I didn’t ask her to sell the villa,’ he pointed out reasonably enough. ‘All I mentioned was a small strip of land on either side of you which isn’t so very important to you, anyway.’

‘It gives us privacy!' She turned to face him. ‘If we sold it to your syndicate they could build right up to our terrace wall. It may be scrub land, but it keeps the villa the way it has always been—a private place a little bit apart. Some people want that sort of holiday, you know.' He looked down into her angry eyes. ‘One day you may change your mind,’ he said. ‘When you do I hope you will come and tell me. I mean to develop Candy’s Place,’ he added thoughtfully, ‘but not in the way you imagine. I’ll clean it up a bit and alter the frontage, but I don’t think you need fear another high-rise hotel on that side. I’ll keep the eucalyptus trees and a strong wooden fence between us.’

‘You would have to honour the right-of-way from the road to the beach,’ she informed him.

'I've gone into all that with Candy. He feels we have struck a good bargain and it was more money than he had expected.’ He paused at the terrace door. 'I've half a notion he was ready to go, anyway. The fishing isn’t so good these days.’

‘I can’t imagine Candy’s place without him.’ Her tone was unconsciously wistful. ‘He was always there. I remember how he taught us to fish from that awful boat of his and what fun we had when he found the old outboard that wouldn't start till he kicked it.'

‘I thought you might have forgotten all that,’ he said, ‘but I’m glad you haven’t.’

She drew back instinctively. ‘I have other memories, too,’ she said, ‘and they aren’t all so hilarious as Candy s outboard. I’m glad you’re not going to spoil his place, Andreas, but that’s all I can say. I don’t suppose you 11 be staying there permanently, anyway, when you have found a flat in Paphos more to your liking.’

‘Candy’s will run itself with a good manager in,’ he said. ‘It’s just something I wanted to do. Call it a whim, if you like, but I’ve always liked the sound of Candy’s Place and I think the bay needs a bit of atmosphere. There are enough four-star hotels as it is. I won’t go in to see your mother again,’ he added. ‘There will be plenty of time for that later.’

He left her with a brief smile and after a minute or two she saw him going down through the gardens to the beach, making his plans for the future, no doubt.

Nikos Masistas,
neatly dressed and scrubbed clean, arrived at the villa at exactly a quarter to nine, crossing to the reception desk where Anna was handing over to Elli. He looked at his watch, comparing it with the wall clock above her head.

‘Dead on time!’ he remarked. ‘You can’t still be working?’

‘I’m almost ready. Elli will take over till midnight.’ Anna closed the register she had been studying. ‘My mother is in the sitting-room,’ she added.

‘I came to see you.’ He was determined to wait until she was ready to go with him. ‘We haven’t talked for ages.’

‘Almost three hours!’ she teased. ‘It isn’t exactly a lifetime.’

‘I meant seriously,’ he insisted. ‘I know we talk all the time—about nothing—but honestly I think we should get down to discussing the future.’ The telephone rang in the office and Elli went to answer it. ‘Anna, it’s time we made a bargain. Even if you won’t marry me right now at least we could be engaged.'

Anna glanced across the hall. ‘What a place to make a proposal!' she said.

There you are! I said you wouldn’t talk seriously and you have proved me right,’ he grumbled.

‘Nikos,’ she said gently, ‘I don't want to talk about that now. When I promise to marry you I want to be quite sure.’

‘We’ve known each other long enough,’ he pointed out. ‘We've always got along well. Why are you so reluctant to see things my way?’

‘Because—marriage can be such a lottery,' she told him solemnly. ‘So many things can go wrong.'

‘Not if you are in love.’

‘Even then. Besides, I've got so much else to consider,’ she decided.

‘Your mother and the villa,’ he suggested. ‘But I’ve already promised your mother would be taken care of at Stroumbi and you could sell this place for quite a profit.’ She shook her head, the possibility stabbing at something in her heart. ‘I could never sell her home over her head while she wanted it.’

‘But it is already an hotel!’ he protested. ‘It's already changed, Anna. You can't get away from the fact.’

‘Perhaps not, but she can still sit out in her beloved garden in a certain amount of privacy and she can still look at the sea,’ She drew in a deep breath. 'That's the way I would like to keep it.’

‘She could visit the coast whenever she liked,' he insisted. ‘We’re not a stone's throw from Polis or even Paphos, for that matter. She could even have her own flat there.'

‘It wouldn't be the same, and I can't imagine my mother in a flat. She is too fond of her garden and a window-box just wouldn't do.’ Anna moved round the end of the desk. ‘Can we talk about this some other time, Nikos? Already she will be wondering where we are.’

‘I'm going to keep talking about it till you agree,' he informed her stubbornly. ‘I want to marry you and something may happen to make you change your mind.’ There was a sense of urgency in his pleasant voice which had never been there before. ‘I’ve waited a long time, Anna, and you could never have been in doubt about my faithfulness.’

‘No,’ she said gently, ‘I never have. You haven’t changed at all, Nikos, and I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you, but—but I just can’t promise you anything now. So much has happened in the past few days ’

‘Such as?’

‘I—we’ve made a lot of decisions about the villa and the immediate future,’ she pointed out. ‘I—couldn’t burden you with our debt.’

‘Is that all?’ He guided her towards the bar. ‘I wish I could think there was nothing else to worry about but what you owe the bank to pay for your new swimming- pool. It would be the easiest thing in the world for me to wipe the slate clean.’

‘I know,’ she agreed, ‘but I can’t accept that sort of gesture, Nikos. It would be the reverse of a dowry, wouldn’t it, taking something instead of bringing something to the marriage, as I should?’

‘Dowries are things of the past now.’ Scornfully he swept her argument aside. ‘It’s a worn out idea these days and my family has no need for one. I have quite enough for us both, and even if you didn’t want to live at Stroumbi I could make a home for you elsewhere.’ They had reached the open doorway to the bar and suddenly she saw Andreas sitting there at a table overlooking the loggia. He was not alone. Sitting beside him in the flattering light from one of the overhead lanterns was his companion of the morning, the ‘Aphrodite Woman’ as she had named her lightly when Mrs Walsh had called Andreas the Apollo Man. They were looking around them, as if appraising the quiet atmosphere of the Villa Severus, and no doubt Andreas was wondering why she had refused to sell her surplus land when such a generous offer had been made for it.

Anna drew in a sharp breath. Her mother was nowhere to be seen and already Andreas was on his feet, making way for them at the loggia table.

‘We came over for a coffee and a drink,’ he explained. ‘Lara likes a walk beside the sea before bedtime.’

Lara Warrender smiled up at them from the sofa she was occupying. ‘You have great peace here,’ she said, ‘and I appreciate that. Are you able to join us?’ She moved a little way along the sofa, making room for Anna to sit beside her. ‘We dined early because of Martha who exhausts herself during the day swimming and playing tennis.’

‘Martha is Lara’s daughter,’ Andreas explained. ‘So far, we haven’t been able to convince her that archaeology is quite interesting on site. Hence her reason for staying behind at the hotel when we went to Paphos this morning.’

Stunned by the knowledge that his fascinating companion had a daughter old enough to play tennis on her own initiative, Anna turned to introduce Nikos, but the two men had already acknowledged each other.

‘You two haven’t met,' Andreas said to Lara. ‘This is Nikos Masistas, a loyal Cypriot who never left the island after he did his National Service. Nikos, meet Lara Warrender, a very good friend of mine.’

The two shook hands while Anna looked round for her mother.

‘We’re going in to dinner at nine o’clock,’ she explained. ‘Perhaps Mother is checking on our table.’

‘I saw her going up in the lift ten minutes ago,’ Andreas offered. ‘Will you sit down?’

‘Let me buy you a drink,’ Nikos suggested, settling himself opposite Lara as if he was liable to stay there for the rest of the evening. ‘What will you have?’

‘Nothing more, thank you,’ she declined. ‘We only came in for a short rest before going back along the beach. I find an evening walk beside the ocean the very best thing for sending me to sleep immediately when I go to bed.’ She turned to Anna. ‘I was absolutely fascinated by your descriptions at Kolossi,’ she said. ‘You must love your island almost as much as Andreas does. He never tires of talking about it and I think he is glad to be home, at last.’ She looked at Andreas quite tenderly. ‘However far you travel there is always one place calling you back,’ she added, ‘and for Andreas it is Cyprus. There can be no mistake about that. When we decided to come here he was delighted.’

She knew so much about Andreas in her quiet way, Anna thought, speaking as if she had known him for a very long time. How long, she wondered, and how well?

‘You’ve been around a bit, I suppose,’ Nikos was saying to his old schoolfriend, adding with typical Cypriot candour, ‘it looks as if you have found success in your life.’

‘Reasonably so.’ Andreas appeared to be amused.

‘You left very suddenly,’ Nikos reminded him.

‘That’s true.’ Andreas glanced across the table at Anna. ‘We won’t discuss it now, Nikos, if you please.’

‘Why not,’ Nikos demanded almost truculently, ‘if you have nothing to hide? Nothing you’re ashamed of.’

Anna waited, aghast, for Andreas’ reply.

‘We are often ashamed of what we do in the heat of the moment or after an argument,’ he said evenly, ‘but it’s foolish to let it colour our lives for ever if we can’t do anything about it afterwards. When we’ve said we’re sorry that should be enough.’

‘Not always,’ Nikos argued, suspicious of the way the conversation was going. ‘Some things might be beyond forgiveness.’

‘We can always hope not.’ Andreas rose to his feet, holding out his hand to Lara. ‘Time to go, I think. It’s a fair way back along the beach and you haven’t a coat.’

He was taking great care of her, Anna thought, wrapping her in a warm blanket of concern which spoke of love.

‘I’d like to have met your mother,’ Lara said. ‘Andreas has spoken so frequently about her, but you will want to go in to dinner as soon as she arrives. Perhaps we could meet, though, some other time?’ The blue eyes with their half-sad expression lingered on Andreas’ face. ‘At the Crescent Beach, perhaps,’ she suggested. ‘We will be there for another two weeks till Andreas gets his flat.’

A wave of ice-cold water seemed to wash over Anna before she could reply. ‘I think my mother would like that,’ she agreed truthfully. ‘She is quite pleased to have company when I am so busy here.’

‘Then, it is settled!’ Lara smiled at her. ‘Whenever it is suitable for your mother to come you will phone me?’ She took Andreas’ proffered arm. ‘Good night, Anna,’ she said deliberately. ‘I know you will allow me to call you that.’