The Millionaire's Marriage Proposal

by Joanne Walsh

  Reaching for his coffee, he took a mouthful. It’d gone cold, its aftertaste souring sharply on his tongue because things hadn’t changed. He was still stuck between that rock of longing and the hard place where she wasn’t his. He slammed down his mug. Damn it, there was still a connection between him and Sally, and last night it’d sparked back to life. Not to mention, he knew a whole lot more now. That his so-called friend Manos had been a liar and a cheat, and Sally had never loved him…

  He needed to talk to her. And apologize for leaving her the way he had.

  Fifteen minutes later, he was pulling up on the forecourt in front of the Angelis residence. Alison was leaning against the open doorway of the building that housed KATs, sipping at a mug of something. “Kalimera,” he called as he got out of the car.

  “Good morning,” she returned, raising her mug in acknowledgement, “you haven’t brought a litter of kittens with you, by any chance?”

  “No kittens,” he replied, shaking his head as he walked towards her, hearing the distant sound of barking coming from inside the shelter.

  “That’s a relief,” she said, “we’ve already had three lots delivered to us since breakfast.” She gave a jerk of her head towards the inside of the building. “I’m just taking a break while Ben checks them over.”

  “The stray cats of Agia Kalamaros have been busy?”

  “Just the usual spring pregnancies come to term. But, like buses, they’re all arriving at once today.” She paused. “Are you hoping to see Sally?”

  “If she is around.”

  “Last time I looked she was sitting on the patio at the back of the house. She seems very upset after last night.” Alison gave him a narrow-eyed look. “You came looking for her, didn’t you? Ben told us you’d checked here. Out of interest, did you find her?”

  “She was at the store.”

  Alison surveyed him with inquisitive brown eyes. “I see. I don’t suppose you got to the bottom of what’s bothering her. It would be good to know.”

  He shook his head. Alison was understandably concerned but she could be nosy too. If Sally hadn’t confided in her friend, then he didn’t want to reveal too much. “Not entirely. I was hoping to talk with her some more now.”

  Alison gave a reluctant nod. “Alright. Well, like I said, she was out the back. Just go around the house.”

  “Efcharisto. Thank you.”

  He was walking away when Alison called after him. “Dimitri?”

  He halted and turned around. “Yes.”

  “I hope whatever it is that’s come between you two, you can figure it out. You’re good together.”

  “But, Alison, we aren’t. Together, that is.”

  “Well, you need to be. After all she’s been through, Sally needs to find a decent, honest, loyal man. You know, for a long time, I thought that she should quit pining after you. Fifteen years of wishing she’s still with you has been way too long. But lately, I’ve changed my mind. She won’t do better than you.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  ‘Pining after you…wishing she’s still with you.’ For seconds, there was ringing in his ears as if he’d just been KO’d in a boxing match. Taking a couple of unsteady paces back, he managed to wave his thanks to the bossy, sometimes interfering, but wonderful woman who’d just changed everything.

  “Get it sorted!” Alison’s voice floated after him as he headed for the back of the house. When he was out of sight, he stopped and took a breath. There was a chance for them! But his joy quickly deflated. He still had no idea why Sally had left him in the first place, why she chose Manos even though she’d never loved him. Until he had answers, it wasn’t a done deal.

  His fists curling with determination, he started on his way again and, rounding the corner of the house, found her sitting on a long, cushioned seat on the patio. McTavish was asleep to one side of her, resting his head on her lap, a tabby cat on the other drowsing in the vine-dappled sunshine. She appeared lost in another world, her hair falling loose about her shoulders. He instantly recalled how silky those coppery spirals had felt between his fingers last night.

  “Hey,” he said softly when he got close.

  Startled, she peered up at him. Her face was milk-pale, her eyes huge in her face, with purplish smudges beneath them. She looked fragile. But her response wasn’t. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “I’ve come to talk to you. The way things ended between us last night… I am regretting it—”

  “So you damn well should. You dumped me at the beach, and I had to ask the staff at Artemis TZ to call a cab for me. I have nothing to say to you.”

  “I’m sorry.” She was understandably mad, but after Alison’s revelation, he had to stick with this. “I wanted to know you got home okay.”

  She turned her head away.

  “I also have some things to say to you. Will you hear me out?”

  She swung back to face him, two bright pink spots appearing in the centre of her cheeks. “To hear what? You didn’t mean to kiss me, and it was a huge mistake. I’m well aware of that already, thank you.”

  He gazed at her lovely, flushed face, realizing he needed to kiss her again—badly. He reached to grab hold of her hand before tugging it. She stared at him then allowed herself to be pulled up into his arms, rousing the slumbering animals beside her. His palms went to frame her face then, and resting his forehead against hers, he whispered, “This is what I want to tell you first: eisai omorfi. You are beautiful.”

  He heard her sharp intake of breath, but he silenced any comeback by placing his mouth on hers, kissing her gently at first and then more insistently. To his relief, she responded, moulding her lips and body to his, and soon their tongues were tangling with urgent need and she was arching into him, murmuring her pleasure beneath his mouth.

  When at last they came up for air, he wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace, feeling hopeful. “Can we talk?”

  She lifted her head. “I guess. But whatever else you’ve got to say, it’d better be good.”

  “It is.” Taking her hands, he guided her back onto the seat. She nudged McTavish to settle beside her and picked up the cat, placing the still-sleepy tabby on her lap so Dimitri could sit too.

  She gave him a sideways glance. “So, why did you walk away?”

  “Honestly? Because I’m so confused. These past few weeks, we’ve become close again and I’ve felt something intense sparking between us. When we were on the beach, I wanted nothing else but to kiss you, and I sensed you wanted the same.”

  She stared into the distance without replying.

  “But before that. For over fifteen years—” he hesitated, searching her delicate profile, “we barely communicated. You’d chosen Manos—”

  “You’re making it sound as if it was all my fault.” Gazing down, she brushed her fingers through the cat’s fur. “Well, it wasn’t. There was much more to it—” She trailed off, her chin suddenly visibly trembling. “Why do you think I married Manos?” Eyes glistening, she took in a shuddering breath and he reached into his jeans pocket, pulling out his handkerchief and offering it to her. She took it and dabbed at her lids.

  “Sally, I have no idea. All I know is you gave up on me with no warning, and if I’m honest, it shattered me.”

  She appeared shocked, a cleft appearing between her brows and her fingers worrying at the handkerchief. “I-I don’t understand. I mean…you…I…”

  “Without a word, you started going with Manos, and I never got to know why you ghosted me so cruelly. And then, within weeks, you agreed to marry him, even though now I know you did not love him.”

  “Cruel? But you started going with Selene Koutsopoulos first!”

  Her assertion took him by total surprise, but he didn’t get the chance to respond because, at that moment, accompanied by the noise of rattling crockery, Alison appeared by their side with a tray of tea things. “It’s okay, I’m not staying,” she said briskly, placing the tray on a small nearby table and
pulling it towards them. “I thought you might need refreshments.”

  Dimitri sighed inwardly. A few minutes ago, he could have hugged Alison, but now she couldn’t have chosen a worse moment to reappear. “Thanks, that’s very thoughtful,” he replied woodenly, tilting his head at the older woman by way of silent dismissal. Alison hovered for a moment, gave him a pointed look that said don’t you dare mess up, then speedily quit the scene. Leaning forward and picking up a teaspoon, he opened the lid of the teapot to stir the tea, while he gathered his scattered thoughts. What on earth had Sally meant by saying he’d gotten involved with Selene? “Sally,” he began carefully, “you know, I’m very puzzled by what you’re saying about Selene. She and I didn’t have that kind of relationship by that time.” He laid the teaspoon down on the tray. “Maybe you aren’t aware of my history with her. She and I dated for about three months way back when we were at high school together, before she went off to university to study business, and that was the end of it. After graduating, when she returned to Kathos, she joined her father’s firm. He was my late father, Ian’s, accountant, and naturally, my brothers and I were happy to use her services. She and I, we agreed to stay friends and business associates, but that’s all.”

  “But I saw you kissing her in the olive store!”

  “You did?” His features creased with confusion. “When exactly was this?”

  “That August when we…split,” she replied slowly. “I saw you, Dimitri. You and she…you were locked together in an embrace.”

  “August,” he echoed, desperately rummaging through the file in his mind marked ‘Selene’. “That summer she got her degree and returned to the island. Okay, I think I know what you saw. She came up to the estate to tell me she’d graduated with first-class honours and would start work for her father the following fall. I was pleased for her and gave her a hug.”

  “It didn’t look like that to me!”

  “Are you certain about that? Sally, did you actually see me kiss Selene?”

  She flinched slightly. “Well, no,” she said, her tone tinged with uncertainty now, “you had your back to me. But you were all over each other. You still are.”

  “Opa! Sally! For goodness’ sake. It’s just a close working relationship, nothing more. Sure, Selene has a flirtatious manner, but that’s just her way. Maybe you need to know that, last night at the party, she couldn’t wait to share her good news with me that she has a new boyfriend, Diakos, some very rich guy based in Paragolis.”

  “Oh.”

  “You must have seen us together talking about that very thing. Is that the reason why you charged out of the place?”

  Her chin raising, she gave a shrug. “Like I told you, I was upset by Nik and Hannah speculating.”

  He smiled ruefully, then reached to put his arm around her. “Agapimenos, are you telling me that you and I were forced apart for fifteen years because you thought I was two-timing you with Selene? Why didn’t you come talk to me about what you saw?”

  She inclined her head away, shifting her body as well, which disturbed the tabby. The cat leapt off her lap and stalked off. “Because you didn’t come talk to me,” she shot back.

  He let his arm drop from her. “But you’d started seeing Manos with no explanation, and before I knew it, you were engaged to him!”

  “And you made no effort to stop either of those things happening,” she ground out, her eyes blazing. “Dimitri, why would I talk to you about anything when you didn’t bother to fight for me at all!”

  Chapter Fourteen

  For seconds he stared as her words hit home. His shoulders slumping, he realized she was right; he hadn’t fought for her. Instead, he’d allowed his pain to freeze him, and he’d adopted the pretence she and Manos weren’t that big a deal.

  “I was desperate for you to do something to show you cared,” she said, clearly struggling to keep her voice even, “but you did nothing except keep on being Manos’s big buddy. When Manos started pursuing me, he was hard to resist. I was in bits and he offered me a shoulder to cry on. He paid me a load of attention and I-I got sucked in. When he asked me to marry him, it seemed like he really wanted me when you didn’t. I needed to stop hurting.”

  Dimitri raised his head. “And did you? Stop hurting?”

  “For a while. I let myself be caught up in the fuss of the wedding and I just slept-walked through it all. But once we were married, well, you know the story. I hoped our feelings might grow, but I never fell in love with Manos, and I found out he didn’t love me. Then I hurt even more.” Her voice cracked. “You didn’t really want me, and neither did he.”

  “What happened to that hurt?” he asked gently. “Did it ever go away?”

  “No.”

  “I see.” Now it all made sense. He rose and walked a few paces to lean a fist against one of the pergola’s supporting posts. He wanted to punch something, his vision blurring as moisture pooled, obscuring his view of the garden. “Christos!” he exclaimed, thumping the post angrily, making the vine shake, before swinging around to face her. “If I hadn’t listened to those who said I should forget you. If I hadn’t buried my emotions, pretended I was fine about you going with Manos, realized you weren’t in love with him. If only I’d reached out to you, told you what I really wanted, I wouldn’t have lost you.”

  Her gaze widening, she sat very still. Then she got up and quickly crossed the space between them, stopping in front of him, hugging her arms around herself. McTavish followed her and settled himself down nearby, his head on his paws, watching them with big, mournful-looking eyes. “I had no idea you felt like this,” she said quietly.

  “So much pain caused by one stupid misunderstanding that snowballed and threw both our lives off course for years. You would not have had to go through all you did with Manos’s gambling.” He made to turn away so she wouldn’t see the bitter tears welling up now, but she put out a hand to stop him. “Can you ever forgive me?” he choked.

  “Hey.” She offered his handkerchief back to him. “It looks like I messed up too,” she admitted slowly, her expression filling with regret. “If only I’d just asked you a simple question about what I saw in the olive store.”

  He took the damp square from her. “I didn’t mean to get emotional,” he muttered. “It just makes me mad to think of what might have been, how much time we’ve wasted.” He wiped his eyes. “Okay, maybe the best explanation is, we both screwed up.”

  Smiling wanly, she shrugged. “I guess. For so long, I was convinced you didn’t care—”

  Taking her hands, he cradled them between his own. “I thought you didn’t care about me either. But I’ve never stopped wanting you.” He squeezed her hands tightly. “Do you think it’s possible for us to start over?”

  Her head jerked back. “Start over?”

  “What if we could find a way to rewind to what we had before things got complicated?”

  “You mean, when we were together? Before I got with Manos?”

  “That’s exactly what I mean. If we could rediscover how we were back then, right at the beginning, when all that mattered was that we wanted one another—”

  “I’m not sure. We’re different people now; time has changed us. It’s certainly changed me.” She grimaced. “I’m a thirty-three-year-old widow who got stuck in a bad marriage and then nearly lost everything. But I’m not very much else. Am I what you really want now—?”

  “None of that matters to me, Sally. It’s what we still feel for one another deep down. Do you think that has really changed?” He pulled her to him. “It’s not changed for me. The way you kissed me last night…” He inclined his head to where he’d walked around the house. “When I came around that corner earlier, all I wanted to do was kiss you again. Words were not necessary. Which is exactly how I felt that first summer. I couldn’t get enough of you then, and I can’t get enough of you now.”

  Her reply was to blush a deep pink and smile shyly.

  “When I see how prettily you colour
up and your smile, they remind me of the girl you once were, making me want to kiss you again and again. We may be older, and if time has its toll, I’d like to think it has at least made us wiser. Wise enough to recapture the best parts of the past and leave the bad things behind.” He inhaled. “Is it possible for us to be together again, see where things take us? Sally, what I’m asking is, can you find what it was you once felt for me deep down in your heart and say there is another chance for us?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  He was waiting for her answer, but somehow, she couldn’t speak. Hadn’t she pictured this moment in her mind a thousand times when he told her he still wanted her? Laying her palms flat against his chest, she stared at him. Fantasies were one thing, but after all these long years of waiting in a wilderness where it’d felt like nobody cared, it was hard to take in that, actually, this man did.

  “Something is bothering you.” he pressed softly. “What is it that I need to do for you to say yes, Sally? Tell me.”

  “It’s not you,” she mumbled, trying to sort through her conflicting emotions, “it’s me.”

  “Hey, it’s okay, I get it. Married and out of the game, then widowed and focused on problems. You need time to adjust.”

  His simple, sweet summary touched her heart and got her voice working again. “It has been ages since I did anything like this, you know, get close to someone,” she confessed. “Manos and I… I guess I felt pretty alone most of the time—”

  He laid a finger against her lips then trailed it along their softness, halting her faltering explanation. “Forget him. It’s you and me now, and we’ll take it easy.”

  “Easy?” she repeated.

  He smiled. “Nice and slow. If we are picking up where we left off, I think that means proper dates. Dinner for two, walks on the beach, evenings at Skalos on the terrace drinking wine and watching the stars. Taking time to talk and share, get to know one another again. How does that sound?”