LITMIR.BIZ

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out for what I want.”

      “Until then, we could have fun.”

      “Sure. What happens if I fall in love with you?”

      He stepped back involuntarily. “I told you I’m not looking for love.”

      “Just a suitable marriage, allying two business families.”

      “There is something wrong with that?” he asked stiffly.

      “Not if that’s what you want. But what about love? Don’t you think that would make a marriage so much better? Look at your grandparents—they obviously adore each other.”

      “My parents made a suitable marriage.”

      “Oh, and from what you’ve said, that’s been a success for the two of them—but not the kind of family I want.”

      “It works.”

      “Don’t you want more for yourself and your children if you have any?”

      He hesitated a moment.

      Her comment bothered him—especially in light of his thoughts from yesterday about who he had to leave his life’s work to, who was there to share the cove with. Who could he teach to dance the traditional dances?

      What would it be like to have children with Sara? She’d spoil them to death. But she’d love them to pieces. And her husband—would she also love him to pieces?

      “You have to be the world’s biggest idiot,” Sara told her reflection after her shower ten minutes later. She still had wet hair, was wrapped in a clean towel and had wiped off the small mirror in the minuscule bathroom adjacent to her cabin. “Looking the way you do, he asked you to have an affair, and you go all high-and-mighty and say no.”

      She sighed and turned. She could never have taken Nikos up on his suggestion knowing he would find out soon enough who she really was and her reasons for wanting to visit his island. She couldn’t add further betrayal to that by becoming intimate with him if she wasn’t being totally honest.

      She knew he wasn’t in love with her, but obviously the attraction she felt was met by his own desire. How fabulous it would be to make love with Nikos. They could find seclusion at the cove, enjoy each other’s bodies, then go swimming. She loved to swim, and her newly acquired basic skill in diving. Would she ever get another chance?

      Taking a determined breath, she donned her clothes. Not likely after today. She was going to find Eleani and give her the letter. After that, the entire Konstantinos family would likely expect her to swim to the next island to get off this one as soon as possible.

      It couldn’t be helped. Long before she met Nikos she’d made her mother a promise. She was honor-bound to keep it, no matter what it did to her tentative relationship with Nikos Konstantinos.

      Sara prepared a light breakfast. Her nerves were growing taut with the concern about meeting Eleani. Sipping hot tea, she remembered all her mother had told her about her life before running away to marry Sara’s father. Nothing could hurt her mother now. Sara could fulfill her last wish and move on.

      At ten o’clock, Sara left the yacht and walked up to the gardens surrounding the house. She felt much the way she thought a condemned prisoner must feel. It was fate, nothing more, but she wished she could predict the outcome.

      Stepping onto one of the flagstone pathways, she wandered around the gardens. Normally their beauty and tranquillity would prove soothing. Today she only saw opulent luxury that had been denied her mother. The pots of flowers they had sometimes been able to afford for their windowsill had been all her mother had. She’d talked often of the lovely gardens at her childhood home. She would have loved the gardens here on the island.

      Turning a corner, she stopped. Eleani Konstantinos sat on a wooden bench in a clearing, gazing at a basket of cut flowers. She looked up and smiled.

      “Sara. What a pleasant surprise. Come sit by me. Where is Nikos?”

      “Working.” She stepped closer, her eyes never leaving Eleani’s.

      “He works too hard. He gets that from his grandfather and father, I expect. Will you two be going diving later?” She patted the bench beside her in invitation. Slowly Sara walked over and sat on the edge.

      “No, I don’t believe we’ll go diving again,” she said slowly. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the letter and handed it to the older woman.

      “What’s this?” Eleani asked, reading her name on the envelope.

      “A letter I was asked to deliver,” Sara said, watching, noting the faint lines around her grandmother’s eyes, the soft tones of her skin, the silver in her hair.

      Eleani studied the handwriting for a long moment, then slid her finger beneath the flap and tore open the envelope. She withdrew the two pages. Catching her breath, she began to read.

      Sara watched her. She felt the hot sun beating down on her head, but didn’t seek shade. The play of emotions across Eleani’s face had her wondering exactly what her mother had written. All she’d told Sara was that she had a letter for her mother, for Sara to promise she’d get it to her.

      She’d fulfilled her mother’s last wish. Sara rose and turned away. She could go home now.

      “Wait!” Eleani said. “Sit back down.”

      Sara turned and looked at her. “I’ve done what I came to do.”

      Tears spilled from Eleani’s eyes. “My daughter is dead,” she said brokenly.

      Sara nodded. “She died more than a year ago.”

      Eleani shook her head, crushing the letter against her breasts. “My baby, my poor, poor baby. How could she die? She was too young to die. Ah, my beautiful Damaris. My precious baby girl,” she said, leaning over and sobbing.

      Sara was totally taken aback. This was not the reaction she had expected.

      Sara looked away. “I’m sorry this is unexpected news.”

      “Unexpected? I never thought to hear from her again. But at least I had the consolation of knowing she was happy in England. I have missed her every day since she left.”

      Sara whipped around and stared at her. “She was not happy. My father deserted us weeks after I was born. Mum had no skills for work, she’d been raised as a pampered daughter of a wealthy family. Do you know she scrubbed floors because that was a skill she could quickly acquire? We had the help of friends, handouts, Mum used to call them. They seared her soul. She hated that.” But not as much as she hated the thought of returning to her parents’ home and admitting she’d been wrong.

      “I didn’t know,” Eleani whispered, “The one time we tried to contact her, she refused. Her father said to leave her to her life. We did the best we could. Now she’s gone. I’ll never see her again.”

      Eleani covered her face and cried.

      Sara frowned. This was not going the way she thought it would. It distressed her to see anyone so distraught. Awkwardly she patted her shoulder, wishing now that she’d just left the letter on a table to be discovered.

      She didn’t know how long she sat there, staring across the garden toward the sea, seeing in her mind the small, old apartment she and her mother had shared until Sara had begun earning enough money to help pay for a better place. She saw her mother’s looks fade as poor nutrition and the stress of her life wore away her youth and health.

      She glanced around the beautifully landscaped setting. The money used for just one season of gardening would have changed her mother’s life drastically. She felt numb. She missed her mother. She wasn’t sure bringing the letter had been wise, now that the deed was done.

      What had her mother written? To take care of Sara? She had said she wanted to make sure her daughter was taken care of.

      Sara was a grown woman with an excellent career ahead

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