He could have sworn he felt her heart leap with a jolt of excitement.
“Yes?” she said.
“There are hundreds of us trying to get to the root of the Roma problem but it takes time, a long time. And while we’re doing all these reports, having all these meetings and lobbying governments, there are Roma children who are reaching adulthood unable to read. They lack the basic skills that will help them to integrate and be accepted, so I’m trying to tackle this at the same time.”
“Unable to read?”
Andreas nodded gravely. “The settlement here on the island is well-established and runs itself. It was an experiment Orfeas helped me with and it’s been an incredible success, so I’m using land I bought up a few years ago to roll the scheme out in Rhodes. We’ve got the basics up, the sanitation’s in, and the staff are ready to start as soon as they can, so how do you feel about supervising the construction of the school kitchen?”
“Me?”
“Yes, why not?”
“Well, I’ve never done anything like—”
“Kizzy, you ran a kitchen single-handedly at Timi’s, didn’t you? I’m not asking you to physically install the stuff, but there’s no reason you can’t project-manage it. You’ve catered for large numbers, you know what equipment will be required, you have all the basic hygiene knowledge—you’ll be perfect!” He pulled her in closer so he could admire the jewels of her eyes. “I’d been intending to oversee it myself but the foreman speaks good English and can deal with all the municipal forms and regulations.”
He was also in his sixties, devoutly religious, devoted to his family, and would keep the younger builders in check around Kizzy.
“I’ll do it!” Kizzy blurted with joy. “I can’t wait; it sounds amazing. I won’t let you down, I promise.”
“I already knew that, pethi mou,” he laughed, and slipped the strap of her bikini off one shoulder. “So you’re happy now?” He reached around, tugged at the string bow tied around her back, and smiled with satisfaction as the white fabric floated away.
She nodded, content.
“Good, in that case you can relax and enjoy being here without worrying about a thing. Including getting dressed in the mornings.”
Chapter Eleven
She could never say the words but she would always be wildly happy when she was with him.
Kizzy breathed in the jasmine-scented air of another golden morning in Villa Madeline. It had been wrenching to leave their blissful existence on the island six weeks earlier, but the prospect of her new role had sugared that particular pill. Not only had Andreas given her a good job here, it was a fulfilling one—a position with a purpose, not just a means of survival.
And she loved him for it.
She loved him in spite of it too.
And the trigger for this realization? It had to be the moment when she’d stepped into the villa on their return and discovered that all her possessions from England were already there. Every last cotton bud and paperclip had been packed into crates and brought thousands of miles for her.
By his order.
She didn’t understand it—couldn’t—but the effect had been devastating, and then he had asked her to stay. To stay with him and live in his beautiful home. It defied belief now that she had ever considered him a cruel and ruthless corporate monster; all her preconceptions and impressions about him had been proven wrong. The beggar boy in Rhodes—Andreas had guided that child to a new start. His mother’s dying wishes had been fulfilled, and the Antonides family had a life they could only have dreamed of before.
Andreas was beautiful, kind, compassionate, proud, and almost unbearably protective at times. Yet she should be irritated by the way he insisted she wear a hat and stayed out of the midday sun. She should be put off by the way he glared at any man under fifty who came near her. She should feel the urge to run when he rubbed her shoulders at dusk and whispered that Greece could offer her all the things she had ever dreamed of.
Except him, of course.
Kizzy felt his possessive cloak of affection constantly around her shoulders, but in many ways he was still a stranger—just a few steps back from the intimacy that would make her life complete. She had realized too late that she should have guarded her heart more closely, because now it ached and longed for him, tearing her to pieces with the impossibility of it all.
They had spelled it out from the word go: no strings, no love, just sex.
Whichever way she jiggled their conversations over the last couple of weeks, nothing had changed on that front, and she couldn’t even be sure that she wanted it to, either. The longing for freedom, the wind in her hair, a rootless life without responsibility—that was what she had always dreamed about in that council flat in Portsmouth.
This wonderful new existence in Lindos would come to an end soon enough, so she had to savor every moment. She would enjoy every dusk and dawn. She would cherish every kiss and store them in her memory, because there would never be another man to match him. None of this could last, and Kizzy knew it.
“Up early? Is anything wrong?”
“No.” Kizzy managed a smile as Andreas appeared behind her. “You were dead to the world, so I thought I’d let you sleep, and it’s so beautiful here when the sun comes up. The gorgeous colors of the sky and sea, everything was tinged with pink today. I never tire of it.”
“And I hope you never will, pethi mou. No one leaves Lindos for good unless they have to. This place has magical powers.” He flicked her a teasing look before sliding on to the wicker sofa and draping a long arm over her shoulder. “Or at least that’s what Dorinda says.”
“Then it must be true,” she replied and tucked her legs up as she snuggled into the comfort of his embrace, secretly wishing that it could be true for her.
“Talk of the devil,” Andreas murmured and quickly tightened the belt of his robe. “She must have been waiting for us to emerge.”
“Kalimera!” Dorinda waved at them from the top of the terrace steps, balancing a tray in the other hand. “Food for hungry lovers!”
“Oh dear,” Kizzy gasped and felt heat tingle through her cheeks. “It looks like we’ve been caught.”
Andreas’s chest trembled with suppressed amusement. “She’s known since the first night, Kizzy. Dorinda’s no fool. And she does keep asking me if we’d like breakfast in bed for a change.”
“Really? I assumed you would want to keep all this discreet.”