was honest and open, brave, and heartbreakingly generous. Her love for him shone in her eyes
and he felt it wash over him and cleanse him until he felt weak with relief and empowered by the
strength of his love for her .
‘I love you, Kitty.’ He drew her into his arms— tentatively, as if she were made of finest
porcelain and he was afraid she would break—and held her against his chest, feeling their hearts
beat in unison. ‘I think I probably fell in love with you when I mistook you for a waitress at the#p#分页标题#e#
palace ball—and, certainly, after I had made love to you in the cave and you then disappeared. I
tried everything to find you and if I had I would have hoped to have had a relationship with you.’
‘You mean you were going to ask Rina to be your mistress?’ Kitty queried, her eyes widening at
his tender smile.
‘It was all I could have offered, then,’ he said, his voice low and aching with regret for the time
he had wasted. ‘I had vowed never to marry again, and certainly never to fall in love. But then I
learned that there was a baby…and within weeks I had broken my first vow, and was fast on my
way to breaking the second.’
‘Oh, Nikos.’ The expression in his eyes told her louder than any words that it was true—
unbelievably, miraculously, he loved her. And because she understood how hard it must have
been for him to admit his feelings to himself, let alone to her—and allow himself to be
vulnerable and open to hurt—she loved him even more. Suddenly words were not enough, and
she reached up to cup his face with her hands and brushed her mouth over his, emotion flooding
through her when he responded instantly and kissed her with such sweet passion, such love , that tears slipped silently down her cheeks.
‘Don’t cry,’ he pleaded as he lifted her and carried her down the hall. ‘I never want to make you
cry, Kitty mou .’ But his eyes were wet too when he reached their bedroom and stood her by the bed while he drew down the zip of her gold dress and gently tugged the material until it fell in a
shimmering pool at her feet.
‘You are so beautiful, so soft and perfectly formed,’ he whispered against her mouth as he
removed the rest of her clothes, his, and drew her down onto the bed, covering her body with his
own. ‘After what happened with Greta and the baby I felt frozen inside,’ he admitted rawly.
‘And to be honest I was glad that nothing ever touched my emotions. I didn’t want to care for
anyone ever again, and I told myself I was happy dating dozens of women who meant nothing to
me.
‘I didn’t want to marry you, and I certainly didn’t expect to fall in love with you, but bit by bit
you crept under my guard. You were so generous and giving, and although you had enjoyed a
privileged upbringing you cared so much for others who have nothing. Sometimes I think you
want to change the world,’ he said softly, smiling down at her. ‘You changed me, Kitty. You
made me feel again, and you made me see that I was being a coward by denying how I felt about
you, even though I was sure you could not love me when I had forced you to leave the home you
loved, and your family. We will move back to Aristo if you want,’ he offered. ‘I want you to be
happy, Kitty, and I realised during the week I was in the States that I don’t care where I live as
long as I am with you.’
She shook her head firmly. ‘You belong in Athens, Nikos, and I belong with you. But I agree; it
doesn’t really matter where we are, as long as we’re together—you, me, and soon the baby.’ She
traced her fingers over his jaw and the sensual curve of his mouth, and felt desire flood through
her when his body stirred against hers. ‘But, Nikos, do you think we could stop talking now?’
she whispered against his mouth. ‘So that I can show you how much I love you.’
And she did with such passion and generosity and the love that she no longer had to hide from
him that Nikos’s heart overflowed with the emotions he had denied for so long. And when he
moved over her and joined them as one, it seemed to him that their souls as well as their bodies
had fused, and he knew that the love they shared would last a lifetime.
CHANTELLE SHAW
lives on the Kent coast, five minutes from the sea, and does much of her thinking about the
characters in her books while walking on the beach. She’s been an avid reader from an early age.
Her schoolfriends used to hide their books when she visited – but Chantelle would retreat into
her own world, and still writes stories in her head all the time. Chantelle has been blissfully