LITMIR.BIZ

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said.

      “I’ll tell Dimitri you said so.” Her smile was wobbly. “Good night, Sara. Perhaps you’d like to have breakfast with me in the morning—just the two of us on my balcony.”

      Sara was surprised at the invitation. “Thank you. What time should I be here?”

      “Around eight,” Eleani said, her smile growing warmer.

      Once Sara and Nikos left the house, she said, “I’m surprised you didn’t have me shipped off already. Why wait until Monday?”

      “It’s only a couple of days. Time for you to get to know Eleani.”

      “Your idea or your grandfather’s?”

      “It was his idea but I agree with him. You may think I’m without feelings, but Eleani has always been very kind toward me. I think she deserves a chance.”

      Sara mulled that over.

      “And I think you do, too,” he said after a moment.

      “A chance for what?”

      “To build family ties.”

      “Oh.” Sara tried to see his expression, but it was too dark.

      “So we call a temporary truce?” she asked.

      “We are not at war,” he replied.

      “You’re angry.”

      He walked along for a few seconds, then said slowly, “Would you expect me not to be?”

      CHAPTER TEN

      OVER the next two days Sara spent more time with Eleani than alone. She saw Nikos only at dinner. Breakfasts were spent with her grandmother on her private balcony. Lunches were often shared with Spiros and Eleani. She answered endless questions and asked many herself about her mother as a young child and then as a teenager. It was a bittersweet time. The easy acceptance that Eleani showed should have been for her mother. And the awkwardness she felt now around Nikos tore at her heart. They’d meshed so well once upon a time.

      She knew she never should have had secret thoughts about them developing some kind of relationship, but she had. Stupidly, she’d fallen in love with the man. Now he ignored her. He used work as an excuse, but she knew he had time enough to spend hours with his grandfather. Doing right should bring a reward, not sever something special. Though she was fooling herself if she thought Nikos would ever consider her as more than an employee who liked learning to dive. Still, her heart ached when she saw him.

      On Sunday afternoon she sat with her grandmother on the large upper terrace, enjoying the serenity of the gardens and the view of the Aegean. Clouds built on the horizon, but seemed too distant to take seriously. The breeze from the sea was pleasant and fragrant after skimming across the blossoms.

      “Sara,” Eleani said after a quiet lull in conversation. “Spiros and I want you to move here with us.”

      Sara turned to look at her in surprise. “I can’t do that,” she said.

      “Please. Think about it at least. I missed so much of Damaris’s life. I can never make up for that. But you can have a different life than you’ve known. Stanos left a small fortune. I have more money than I can ever spend, so you would never be a burden. Please. It would mean so much to me to have you here.”

      Sara shook her head slowly. “Thank you. I appreciate the gesture. But my home is in London. My friends are there.” Her mother was there as well. Somehow Sara had never thought of leaving London permanently.

      “Don’t say no right away. Think about it,” Eleani urged.

      “I’ll think about it but don’t believe I’ll change my mind. Perhaps I could come to visit from time to time. We hardly have had time to catch up on everything.” Maybe a holiday, a few months away would give time for Nikos to get over his initial anger. Maybe they’d be able to be friends of a kind again.

      She pushed away the thought that by the next time she came to visit, he might be married to Gina. How would she deal with that?

      “Of course you must spend holidays here. But think about living here—if only for a year or so. We know lots of people, have visitors frequently. You can go to Thessalonika, Athens, I could show you where Damaris grew up. There is so much to see in Greece. It’s your heritage, after all.”

      “I know. I’ll think about it.” Sara was starting to feel pressured. This was not something she wanted. Especially with Nikos already angry at her. He would think she’d planned it all along. Ariana had wanted money; he’d think she did as well.

      It was family Sara wanted. Could she turn down Eleani’s offer? She was growing fond of the older woman. Instant love had not sprung forth. But the more she knew about her, the more Sara could see her as a victim of circumstances and her upbringing. Maybe she could not have done things differently regarding her daughter. Sara would never know.

      And as Nikos had suggested, she was giving Eleani a chance.

      After lunch, at which Spiros also had extended an invitation for Sara to stay, she decided she needed some time to herself. She said she wanted to swim before the clouds developed into rain, and went back to the yacht.

      She donned her swimsuit and gathered her things and a book to read on the beach, then went to find the captain to see if she could use the runabout again. He was on the bridge reviewing charts.

      Nikos was with him, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. She stopped short at the doorway, thrilled as always to see him. The T-shirt hugged his muscles lovingly. She swallowed, wishing things were the way they once had been.

      “Do you want something?” he asked, catching sight of her.

      “I wanted to use the runabout if that’s okay. I wanted to go swimming once more before leaving tomorrow.”

      He raised an eyebrow. “I thought you’d be staying.”

      She frowned and slowly shook her head. “I’m not staying.”

      Nikos glanced at the captain and then moved around the high table. “I’ll take you to the cove. You shouldn’t swim alone.”

      “I was planning to stay close to the shore.”

      “I’ll take you,” he repeated.

      The ride in the runabout was in silence. Sara didn’t have anything to say and Nikos was obviously still angry.

      Anchoring on the beach, Nikos shut down the engine and looked at her.

      “My grandfather said you were invited to remain here with them.”

      She pulled her top over her head and shimmied out of her shorts. “Eleani invited me. I said no.”

      That surprised Nikos, she could see.

      “Why? Isn’t that the entire goal? Get to know your grandmother, spin her a sad tale and end up living the life of luxury? The island has to be several steps up from the flat you shared with your mother in London.”

      She wanted to knock him overboard. “That’s your style of thinking, not mine. My goal as you call it was to deliver the letter my mother wrote just before she died. I thought you’d kick me off the island that same day. I have no plans to stay here.”

      He looked skeptical. She gave a sound of disgust and stepped over the side of the boat. How dare he think she was looking for an easy berth. She realized then and there he had not really learned anything about her in the days they’d spent together. How could she even think herself in love with such a man? Unfortunately, the heart had its own reasons.

      Nikos watched Sara swim away from the boat as if being pursued. Was she spinning another tale, or had she really refused to stay? Was it temporary until she could make arrangements at home or was she seriously not planning to move to the island?

      It made sense that his grandfather’s wife would want

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