Aristo shrugged. ‘My mother’s more of a hostess than a cook.’
He studied her face calmly. Last night she had not only acknowledged and accepted the irresistible sexual pull between them, but she had also shared her past with him, and he’d been hoping that if he could get her to drop her defences again then maybe, finally, she might consider sharing the future with him.
Only, judging by Teddie’s cool demeanour this morning, she was still not ready to trust him completely. For a moment he considered giving her some space, but he had a responsibility to make this work, to make her see why it had to work.
‘What are your plans for later?’ he asked abruptly.
She glanced up at him, her eyes wide and clear. ‘Nothing. The pool, probably—why?’
‘Because I thought you and I might spend the afternoon together.’ His dark gaze roamed her face. ‘Just the two of us. There’s something I want you to see...’
* * *
‘You’re sure that Melina is okay about this?’
Turning towards Teddie, Aristo picked up the hand that was clenched between her knees and squeezed it. It had taken some persuasion to convince her to leave their son back at the villa. Now that she was here, though, he was determined to let nothing interfere with his plans.
‘I’m one hundred per cent sure,’ he said firmly. ‘You are allowed to have child-free time. Besides, Melina adores George, and he loves spending time with her—and if there’s any problem we can be back in ten minutes. That’s why we’re taking the boat.’
Grinning, he gestured towards the front of the speedboat, where Dinos sat with one hand resting lightly on the wheel.
‘And Dinos gets to go fishing without Melina getting on his case, so everyone’s happy.’
Teddie shook her head, smiling back. ‘I’ve never really understood fishing—it seems so boring.’
‘It’s not boring—it’s shopping, but with a rod.’
His eyes gleamed and she punched him lightly on the arm. ‘Clearly you’ve never been shopping.’
‘Clearly you’ve never been fishing,’ he countered.
Her eyes widened. ‘And you have, I suppose?’
She felt a rush of heat as his gaze swept over her.
‘Only once.’
He lowered his head, brushing his mouth against her cheek, his warm breath sending a flutter of sensation across her skin so that she felt a bite of hunger low down.
‘But I was careless and I let her get away,’ he whispered.
His head dipped and he kissed her mouth softly, his hands tangling in her hair, pulling her closer as the boat’s engine slowed and then stopped.
Lifting his mouth, he glanced past her. ‘We’re here.’ Turning towards her, he held out his hand. ‘Come on—let’s go see the rest of my island!’
* * *
It was more rugged at this end, Teddie decided as Aristo led her away from the beach and an extremely happy Dinos. Instead of being sandy, the beach was pebbled and the sea was a deep nautical blue.
The light was soft through the olive trees, but as the path climbed upwards she soon started to feel breathless.
‘Sorry!’ Slowing his pace, he glanced down at her, his expression contrite.
Frowning, she stared at the olive grove. ‘It didn’t seem like a hill from down there.’
He grinned. ‘It’s not far now.’
She could hardly believe it was the first time she had left the villa since arriving. But it was hard to keep track of time on the island, and the days had blurred in a haze of eating, swimming and sleeping.
Although neither of them had slept much last night.
The thought popped into her head and this time the heat on her face had nothing to do with the sun.
‘This is it.’
Aristo had stopped beside her and, turning with relief to where he was looking, she felt her heartbeat skip backwards as she stared down at the ruins of some kind of monument.
She breathed out softly.
‘It’s actually why I bought the island.’
He spoke quietly but she could hear the emotion in his voice.
‘It’s incredible.’
She shook her head, hardly able to take in what she was seeing. Juxtaposed against an impossibly turquoise sky, the pale stone columns looked fantastical, so that she half expected a centaur to step out from behind one.
‘Can we get any closer?’
Nodding, he drew her against him, his hand sliding up her back as his mouth covered hers.
Heat flooded her and she could feel herself melting, her body softening against the hard breadth of his chest.
Breathing out unsteadily, he lifted his mouth, and stared down at her, his dark eyes gleaming. ‘Is that close enough?’
Heart thudding, she gave him what she hoped was a casual smile and lightened her voice. ‘I was talking about the ruins.’
‘Come on, then.’
He caught her hand in his and they followed the sage-scented track down the hillside, past clumps of almost violently pink cistus.
Up close, the ruins were breathtaking. Standing in the shadow of the columns, it was impossible for her not to be impressed by their size—and the fact that they were still standing. But it wasn’t just about size or age, she thought, gazing at them in silence. It was about the human cost of building it. How had they got the stone there? And how long had it taken for them to carve it with such precision?
His hand closed around hers and, turning to him, she smiled. ‘Is it a temple?’
He nodded. ‘To Ananke,’ he said softly. ‘Goddess of destiny and necessity. She’s very important because she directed the fate of gods and mortals.’
He was kissing her as he spoke, feather-light but feverish kisses against her mouth and throat. She was losing concentration, losing herself in the feel of his lips on her skin.
Drawing back slightly, she frowned. ‘I’ve never heard of her.’
‘Shh!’ He held up his finger to his lips, but he was smiling. ‘I need to keep in her good books until after I’ve floated the business.’
Teddie glanced at him uncertainly. Why was he bringing up work now—here? It seemed almost sacrilegious, not to say out of place, but the hazy sunshine was touching his dark eyes with gold and she felt dizzy with a longing that was almost like vertigo.
‘I thought it was hard work and a go-getting attitude that built your empire,’ she said teasingly.
His mouth curled upwards and he took a step closer, so that suddenly she was breathless with his nearness.
To hide the tangle of desire and excitement twisting inside her, she slipped free of his grip, stepping sideways and behind a pillar, darting out of reach as he followed her.
‘You’re not telling me you really believe in all that stuff about destiny?’ she said, as he caught her wrist and spun her against him. Her pulse butterflied forward as she felt his muscles tighten.
‘I used to not,’ he said slowly.
She swallowed. There was a tension in the air, a stillness and a silence, as if a storm was about to break, and she had to count the beats of her heart to steady herself.
‘So what changed your mind?’
He lifted his head, and their gazes locked. ‘You did. When you decided to meet Edward Claiborne in my hotel.’
She looked startled—and confused, Aristo thought as her green eyes widened.
‘I don’t understand.’
‘That’s okay. I didn’t either. Not until we got here.’
He stared past her at the ruined temple, his pulse oscillating inside his head, wanting, needing to find the words that would make her change her mind—
‘That first evening, when you and George went to bed, I was so tense I couldn’t sleep. So I went out for a walk and I ended up here.’ He frowned, remembering how he’d fe
lt suddenly calm and resolute as he’d wandered between the columns. ‘I couldn’t stop thinking about everything that’s happened. You being at the Kildare. Me going to your apartment. All of it so nearly didn’t happen—and yet it did.’
Her hand tightened in his. ‘I wasn’t even supposed to be there. Elliot was. But he’d double-booked himself so I had to go instead,’ she said quietly.
‘That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Don’t you see, Teddie? You and me meeting again—it’s fate. Every single thing that’s happened could have gone a thousand different ways, but each time fate’s pushed us closer. We’re meant to be together...we belong to each other.’
Teddie blinked. She wanted to believe him, and he made it sound so compelling, so plausible, so certain. It was why she’d fallen in love with him.
Remembering those long late-night phone calls, she felt her pulse jump in her throat. But then Aristo had always been able been a good storyteller. Only, she already knew how their story would end.
Something of her thoughts must have shown on her face. Dropping her hand, he took a step closer and captured both her arms, tightening his hands around her shoulders.
‘Are you happy?’
She looked up at him in confusion. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Are you happy? Here? With me?’
His words sent her stomach plunging, but even as she considered lying, she was nodding slowly. ‘Yes, but—’
‘But what?’
She frowned. ‘But it’s not that simple.’
‘It could be,’ he said fiercely. ‘And I want it to be. I just need you to give our relationship a second chance. To give me a second chance so I can be the husband you deserve and the father George needs. I want you to marry me.’
She couldn’t speak. She was too scared that she would agree to what he was asking—just as she’d done four years ago.
Her heart gave a thump.
She was scared too, of what would happen if she said yes. Their marriage might have lasted six months on paper, but even before their honeymoon had ended she had taken second place to his work. And now his empire was even bigger, his workload more demanding. How was he going to find the time for a wife and a child?
Wyatt had certainly never managed it, and she and her mother had just learned how to live with his absences. But she didn’t want that for George. To know what he was missing but be powerless to change it.
Only, what would happen if they split up? How would George react? Having only just bonded with his father, he might choose to stay with Aristo. Would she lose her son as well this time?
The thought made her legs start to shake.
‘George needs me.’
‘Of course he does.’ He sounded genuinely shocked. ‘I would never take him away from you. You’ve done an incredible job, caring for him on your own for three years, but I don’t want you do have to do it on your own any more. I want to be there for you—for both of you.’
‘I can’t marry you.’ She pressed her hands against his chest until she felt him release his grip, and then he took a step backwards, giving her space. ‘I’m sorry, Aristo, but I can’t—I know it feels like things can work out between us, because I feel it too. But this isn’t real life, and once we leave the island it won’t be the same—you know that.’
Her throat felt as if it was lined with sandpaper.
‘You and I—’ she looked up at him, her eyes blurry with tears ‘—we are impossible.’
‘Any more impossible than Elliot choosing to meet Claiborne at my hotel? Or you stepping in for him at the last moment?’ His dark gaze was burning into her face. ‘The impossible happens all the time, Teddie.’
She shook her head. ‘You hurt me.’
The tremble in her voice seemed to belong to a completely different person. She hadn’t meant to say it so bluntly, let alone out loud and to Aristo, and the shock of her admission silenced her.
‘We hurt each other,’ Aristo said after a pause. ‘But we’re not those people any more, so let’s forget them and what happened then. Marry me and we can start again.’
Teddie stared at him in silence. It would be so easy to say yes. So much between them was good, and she knew how happy it would make George, and how miserable he was going to be if they returned home without Aristo. But how much worse would it be if his father was a full-time presence in his life?
She gave a small shake of her head. ‘That’s not going to happen, Aristo.’
Her voice was calm. Everything was so beautiful—the sunlight, the temple, the shimmering blue sea stretching away to the horizon, their new mood of intimacy and of course Aristo himself—and she didn’t want to make it ugly with a stupid, pointless argument.
Nothing moved in his face. He held her gaze. ‘We could make it happen.’
‘But we don’t need to.’ She tried again to lighten the atmosphere between them. ‘You asked me if I’m happy, and I am. We both are. So why add unnecessary complications?’
She could almost see him examining her words, deliberating and weighing up his response. Her heartbeat accelerated. His expression was one she recognised, for she’d seen it often, when he had been on the phone or at his laptop at their home, and it hurt that he was treating his ex-wife and child like some glitch at work.
Aristo frowned. He could sense her retreating from him—could feel their mood of easy intimacy starting to shift into something more strained—and even though he’d been the one to introduce the topic of marriage he felt irrationally angry with her.
‘For someone claiming to want honesty and openness you’re being a little disingenuous. Surely marriage would simplify matters between us. It will certainly simplify matters for George.’
Teddie stared at him in silence for a moment. ‘How? By moving him away from the only home he’s ever had to live in some uptown mausoleum? I told you before—he has friends, a routine, a life.’
‘And now he has a father. Or am I less important than some random three-year-old he sits next to at lunch?’ He shook his head dismissively. ‘Kids change friends all the time at that age, Teddie.’
‘I know that,’ she said sharply. ‘And, no, I don’t think you’re less important—just deluded. Listen to yourself! We bumped into one another in a hotel less than a week ago and now you want us to remarry. I mean, who does that, Aristo?’
He kept his gaze hard and expressionless. ‘We did. Four years ago. Okay, it was seven weeks, not one.’
‘And look how that turned out!’ She stared at him in disbelief. ‘It was hardly a marriage made in heaven.’
Aristo steadied himself against the pillar. The script he’d prepared inside his head was unravelling—and faster than he could have imagined. Focus, he told himself. Remember why you brought her here.
‘This time will be different. In six weeks I’m floating my business on the stock exchange. Leonidas Holdings will soon be a household name. I can give you and George everything you need, everything you’ve ever wanted.’ Some of the tension left his muscles and he exhaled slowly. ‘You could both come to the ceremony. They might even let George ring the bell.’
Teddie felt as though her legs were going to give way. She felt dizzy, misery and fury tangling with her breath. She’d thought they were talking about getting married, and yet somehow they’d ended up talking about his business. Even now, when he was proposing, she was somehow relegated to second place.
‘So that’s what this is about? Some photo op for the Leonidas empire.’
‘No, of course not.’
‘Why “of course not”?’ she said shakily. ‘Everything you do is ultimately about business.’
Uncoupling her eyes from his, she took a step backwards, her shoulders tensing, her slim arms held up in front of her chest like a boxer. Only, somehow the gesture made her look more vulnerable.
‘We should never
have married. Whatever happened in your bed last night doesn’t change that, and it certainly doesn’t mean we should marry again.’
‘Teddie, please...’
‘Can’t you see? I don’t have a choice.’ She could feel the tears, and knew she couldn’t stop them. ‘There’s no point in talking about this any more. I’m going to go back to the boat now.’
As she darted past him she heard him swear softly in Greek, but it was too late—she was already halfway up the path, and running.
CHAPTER EIGHT
SLAMMING HER BOOK SHUT, Teddie tossed it to the end of her bed.
It was a romantic novel, with a heroine she really liked and a hero she currently hated. She’d been trying to read for the last half-hour, but she couldn’t seem to concentrate on the words. Other more vivid, more significant words kept ping-ponging from one side of her head to the other.
She could practically hear Aristo’s voice, feel the intense, frustrated focus of his dark gaze, smell the scent he wore on her own skin—even though she’d showered, his phantom presence was still flooding her senses. Her heart was suddenly beating too fast.
The walk back to the boat had seemed never-ending. She had half expected him to follow her, if only to have the last word. Then she’d been scared that he’d wait and make his own way back, leaving her to somehow explain his absence to Dinos.
But she needn’t have worried on either count. He had turned up perhaps five minutes after her and seamlessly picked up where he’d left off earlier in the day, engaging Dinos in conversation about his day’s catch.
Back at the villa, their son’s innocent chatter had been a welcome distraction, but the whole time she’d been dreading the moment when they would be alone again.
Only, again she needn’t have worried, for Aristo had politely excused himself after kissing George goodnight.
And she should have been pleased—grateful, even—that he had finally got the message. Instead, though, she had felt oddly disappointed and, lying here now, she still couldn’t shift the sense of loss that had been threatening to overwhelm her since she’d turned and walked away from him at the temple.
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