‘That’s nice. For her, I mean.’
‘It is.’ He looked grim. ‘You understand now?’
‘That you’re still beating yourself up for the mistakes of your youth? For things that might have happened anyway? Yes, I see that.’
He’d made allowances for that woman—she’d been young and under pressure—and yet he didn’t give himself the same leeway.
‘He wouldn’t have been on that road—’ he began, his hands automatically holding her close.
‘But he might have had a crash at some other time. You can’t blame yourself. Fate just works how it works.’
‘You’re wrong.’
‘I see people every day who’ve suffered accidents. Who’ve lost limbs and lost the lives they used to lead. At some point we all have to accept that life is what it is. Things happen.’ She leaned closer. ‘Shit happens. But we move on. We accept it and we move on.’
‘We can only truly move on,’ he answered, ‘if we alter our actions—ensure that we don’t make the same mistakes.’
‘But sometimes things are beyond our control.’
‘Much is within our control,’ he argued. ‘We’re defined by the choices we make. It is my duty to uphold the values and the vision of my father.’
This was why he’d changed nothing within the palace. Why he’d become so over-protective of Eleni. Why he’d changed nothing—preserving all tradition. And he’d shut himself down too—not taking any risks. Because he was punishing himself—walking a tightrope all the time, trying to be perfect. Which ultimately—inevitably—was impossible.
‘I’m glad she’s been able to move on with her life...’ Kassie began carefully.
‘But you don’t think I have?’
‘I think you do an amazing job.’
His laughter was not joyous—it was edged in bitterness and mockery. ‘Me? The bully? The over-protective tyrant who kept his young sister locked up in the palace has apparently done “an amazing job”? Don’t let pity blur your vision now, Kassie. Don’t think me something I’m not.’
‘I know you’re loving and loyal, and that you’d do anything for your sister. I didn’t understand everything when I first met you.’
‘But you were right. I’m selfish and greedy and I like to think I can control everything.’ He laughed again. ‘Don’t worry—I’m not destroyed by the truth.’
‘What are you?’
He stared at her, considering. Finally he spoke. ‘Determined,’ he said. ‘Determined to take advantage of the freedom that’s now between us. You and me, Kassie. This is what it is. And it is only this. Only for now.’
He suddenly moved, pulling her beneath him.
‘Let’s not waste time dissecting things that can’t be altered. My past is past. My future is set. There is only this moment to enjoy.’ He growled. ‘And I’m tired. I’m taking a holiday.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
THREE DAYS. HE’D cancelled all meetings and appearances, citing personal reasons. At the same time he’d released a small statement, informing the media that Ms Kassiani Marron had left the country to seek privacy in Paris for a few days. Their ‘alibis’ were in place and he was a liar again—a selfish man choosing private pleasure over public duty.
But he couldn’t resist. Just this once.
Three days—that wasn’t much to ask in return for a lifetime of service was it?
That first morning they’d slept in. He hadn’t realised how tired he was, or how incredible it would feel to laze and let time escape as if he had all eternity to spend. They’d floated for hours in the pool, making out, enjoying the warmth and the quiet. Then he’d taken her back to bed.
For the first time in a decade he’d not done his morning training. She’d been sweetly sassy when she’d offered to help him out with another kind of work-out. He’d encouraged her to explore him. To take the lead and do anything and everything she wanted. She’d made the most of figuring out the limits of his strength and stamina. His satisfaction had thrummed as he’d watched her hidden passion blossom. She had a delightful appetite for teasing him.
That pleasure dampened the doubts. Maybe he shouldn’t have told her the truth, but he couldn’t regret taking the risk. Rather it was a relief, in an odd way, for someone else to know what had really happened back then. It felt like for ever ago. In fact, in this moment, it felt like someone else’s life. He finally felt free—as if he’d escaped who he was. Who he had to be. Just by being with her. Just for now. And he wanted it.
So he ignored the caution that licked at his spine every so often. And, as another day slid by, far too quickly, he knew he didn’t want to waste any of these moments. There was more to explore with her than sensual gratification. He had other secrets—places to share. And he wanted her to have more from him than just those delicious hours in the bedroom.
She deserved so much more. She was generous and sweet and smart, and he had the pressing need to give her more than that, even if it was only for these few days. After what she’d told him of her parents’ relationship, he knew it had been imbalanced. He couldn’t offer her a ‘normal’ dating experience, but he could give her all his time right now—not just in bed. And he wanted hers.
‘Why do I need walking shoes?’ She raised an eyebrow early on their third morning together.
‘So you can walk.’
‘Walk where?’
‘It’s a surprise.’
The small helicopter was ready on the helipad, as he’d requested.
He held the door for her to climb into the front. ‘Trust me?’
‘Just this once,’ she teased, but promptly hopped in.
He took the pilot’s seat and looked at her as she strapped up her safety belt. He drew in a steadying breath. ‘You really suit that colour.’
‘Because I’m a scarlet woman?’ she teased as she glanced down at the ruby-red tee that hugged her glorious curves.
‘No, you just suit that colour. It brings out the depth of your hair and your eyes—and you’re not scarlet. You’re passionate and vibrant and the sexiest woman I’ve ever met.’
‘Um... Wow.’ Her mouth shut and she swallowed. ‘I don’t normally wear it—for obvious reasons,’ she confessed with a sudden smile. ‘But it’s my favourite.’
‘You should always wear it—but I am not looking at you again for the next half-hour.’ He huffed out a sigh and focused, beginning his flight checks. ‘I won’t get distracted. I’ve had a lot of training.’
He wanted to reassure her that he wasn’t an occasional pilot whose rustiness might put them at risk.
‘I’m sure you have.’
Her tone made him glance across at her, despite his vow not to. Her smile was a little sad. ‘What?’
‘I know how dedicated you are to all that you do,’ she replied. ‘You never give less than your absolute best, no matter what the situation.’
He didn’t reply. He couldn’t take that small compliment.
It was only a thirty-minute flight to a mountainous region in the north, where forest-covered peaks rose to touch the sky. He navigated the foothills, steering them through a narrow valley, where he landed on a small flat clearing about halfway up a large mountain that was otherwise inaccessible. Hidden here was a barely visible track, leading up beyond the tree line to the sun-kissed, craggy summit.
‘What’s the point of the helicopter if we’re not going to use it to get all the way to the top?’ she asked with a laugh as he pulled on the daypack he’d prepared.
‘It’s the challenge, Ms Marron.’
‘Oh, of course.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘You do like a challenge.’
‘As do you.’
He saw her smile in acknowledgement and felt a kick of contentment. He liked reading her, pleasing her. He liked her wit and her teasing. And—red-blooded man that he was—he liked the vie
w as she scrambled up the narrow overgrown track ahead of him.
It staggered him that no other man had taken the time to push past her immediate beauty to the stunning soul beneath. Why had she built those defences so strongly when it was evident—as he’d found as he’d got to know her—that she craved contact and thrived on companionship?
None had been the right companion.
‘Why did you really want to go to the hospital ball?’ he asked, tension pulling inside him. ‘It obviously wasn’t because you wanted to meet a man.’
‘Actually, I did want to meet a man. I had a target.’
‘I’m jealous,’ he muttered with grim honesty. ‘What did he have that made him so special?’
‘A research facility.’ That teasing note rang in her voice as she answered. ‘One of the guests was a researcher. A couple of investors were there as well.’
He remembered she’d told him that now, back on the first night. And to his shame he’d not believed her.
‘What research? What did you want to talk to him about?’
‘Robotics. They’re working on a new prosthetics prototype and I had an idea...’ She tailed off.
‘And you wanted to share it?’
She nodded.
‘Did he like it?’
She turned back to face him, her smile radiant. ‘He did. They’ve been in touch to talk about it more, and they’ve asked if I want to be involved at the testing phase, with one of my patients.’
‘That’s wonderful.’ But then he frowned. ‘Why couldn’t you talk to him before?’
‘I’ve never had the chance to meet him at the hospital.’
‘Why not? You’ve worked there for years—you’re highly regarded.’
‘As a physiotherapist, yes. Not as a doctor. And this guy was only on Palisades for a few days. So Damon got me in to the ball to introduce me.’
‘That was why Damon went to the ball?’
She nodded. ‘He usually avoids those things.’
Giorgos suppressed a grim laugh—Damon wouldn’t be able to avoid all those palace balls now he’d married a princess. ‘And he had the invitation and the contacts because of his technology companies?’
‘He offered to fund me, but I...’ She glanced up at the steep track and puffed out a breath. ‘I didn’t want that.’
‘Why not?’
‘I don’t want his money. Or anyone else’s. I don’t have the qualifications to work in that area at that level—I just want to share my ideas with the people who are working on it in case it might be useful.’
So she had the ideas, but not the paperwork. And she was too proud to accept assistance. Irritation prickled the base of his spine.
‘I saw a picture of you at that ball,’ he confessed. ‘If I’d been that man I wouldn’t have been able to focus on a word you said because you looked so damned sexy.’
‘Well, he was polite and he did listen,’ she said archly. ‘And I borrowed that dress from one of the nurses.’
So what she’d said must have been good. ‘You should be in on that project.’
She laughed. ‘It’s not my place.’
‘But it’s your thinking.’
‘Other people are thinking the same. They’re the ones who can drive it.’
‘While your intellect is wasted and you don’t get the credit and challenge you deserve?’
‘Not wasted. I do good work with my patients,’ she said, defensive pride rippling from her as she straightened to her full height.
‘I know. That’s clear. But if you have more to offer, then can’t you do both? Couldn’t you work part-time on the research and part-time as a practitioner? Have you asked if you could?’
‘You make it sound so easy.’ She shook her head.
‘It should be. You ought to be able to maximise all your skills. You should tell the hospital that.’
‘It’s obvious you’re used to making decisions.’
‘It’s my job.’ He paused on the track beside her. ‘You initially wanted to study medicine rather than physiotherapy?’
She wasn’t as quick with her reply this time. ‘Yes, but the training was long and expensive and my mother had got sick. I could complete the physiotherapy course sooner and be a help to her. As it was I studied part-time in my final two years, so it took me longer to finish.’
Part-time because of her mother’s terminal illness. She’d been her sole carer. He knew that from the information his team had found. She put her patients—and her mother first. She was determined and proud. But he was determined too, and somehow he’d help her.
That tightness in his chest eased. ‘We’re nearly there.’ He took her hand and led her up the last few steps of the narrow, rocky track until it opened out onto the small summit.
The wind grazed his skin. He liked the hit of oxygen—he was always able to think clearly up here.
‘This is beautiful.’ Radiant, she gazed across the view.
‘Worth the effort?’
‘Beautiful moments are always worth the effort.’
Something settled inside him in that moment. Peace. She understood. That was what she did—helped create beautiful moments. With him. Probably with her patients too. She looked like a goddess, with her eyes sparkling and her skin luminescent.
Touched, he turned and looked to the horizon, but he kept her hand clasped his. From here they could see right down over the island. The kingdom he’d give his life for.
‘I haven’t been up here in so long.’
‘Why not?’
‘Busy.’ He gazed across the beautiful landscape and nodded in the direction of the capital. ‘Being there.’
‘It means everything to you,’ she said softly.
‘It’s what I am.’
‘It’s part of what you are,’ she replied. ‘But not all that you are.’
She was wrong, but he no longer had the desire to argue. He turned and kissed her, reverently drawing from her the response that revitalised his own cold system. Another moment. But that was all.
He made himself move. ‘I want to show you something.’
‘More than this?’
With a smile he led her to a tussock at the farthest edge of the summit and showed her a small stone cairn that had withstood the wind and now gleamed in the sun.
‘Oh...’ She crouched down, her smile blossoming. ‘You built this?’
He held out a water bottle to her. She took it and sipped while he took a stone he’d brought with him from his pack. With a permanent marker, he drew the date and his initial as she studied the stones already stacked into the mound.
‘They all have your initial on them,’ she said. ‘Doesn’t anyone come here aside from you?’
He shook his head. Not now.
‘Is it forbidden to the public?’
‘No!’ He laughed. ‘I just don’t think many people know about it. It’s hard to get to unless you have a helicopter and are confident about flying low through the mountain range...’ He glanced at the cairn. ‘My parents brought me here.’
Kassie knelt to examine the cairn more closely. ‘You always bring a stone? Only one each trip?’
He nodded.
‘That’s a lot of trips.’
It was. ‘Right from when I was small.’ He should have come more. It always revitalised him. Or maybe it was the woman alongside him who was injecting the energy into his veins.
‘A man of tradition.’ She smiled up at him, a teasing light in her eyes.
‘Is that such a bad thing?’
‘Not at all. Not if the traditions don’t stand in the way of progress.’
‘Most traditions don’t. I think they’re symbols—connecting us to both past and future.’
He watched as she turned back to study the oldest stones on the bottom of the ca
irn. Coarse grass had grown, obscuring some, but a couple were large foundation stones. The initials could still be read.
She traced an ‘A’. ‘Your mother?’
‘Antonia,’ he confirmed quietly. ‘It was her idea.’
‘She came here often?’
‘It was her favourite place.’
Kassie looked back at the stone. ‘Was she lovely?’
‘Yes.’ Giorgos hunched down beside her. ‘My father built the Summer House for her and she decorated it. It was her escape. She’d spend her holidays walking in these hills.’ He tossed the stone in his hand and caught it again.
‘Her escape?’
Kassie was looking at him with those deep brown eyes. Soft, bottomless, havens of emotion, revealing the caring nature that would be too easy to take advantage of.
‘Because she didn’t like the palace?’
‘No, she did like it, but there isn’t much privacy in public life.’
Her gaze skittered from his. ‘So your father built the holiday home for her?’
‘She spent a lot of time here when I was very young and he was working.’
‘It was an arranged marriage?’
‘Of course. But it worked well.’ His chest hurt. ‘They seemed happy to me.’
But his memories were few. He’d only been ten when she’d died.
‘You must miss her,’ Kassie said. ‘It must have been such a shock. No wonder you worry about Eleni’s pregnancy.’
He shook his head jerkily. ‘With my mother the complications were unforeseeable and unpreventable,’ he said roughly. ‘Just unlucky. It’s not a hereditary condition. Eleni should be as healthy as any other pregnant woman. She should deliver her child just fine.’
He’d already checked with the doctor.
‘That’s good.’
It was, but he didn’t want to talk about his mother any more—or his father, or his sister, or any of them. He wanted to suspend time and savour this moment with Kassie.
He rubbed his fingers on the rough stone in his hand. ‘You should place one to mark your visit,’ he said huskily.
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