It had her tumbling back ten years, preening shyly under his masculine admiration. She had to remind herself that the situation was very different. She was different.
‘I suppose one private island in the Aegean is quite like another,’ he said with a little laugh.
‘I wouldn’t know.’
His smiling glance morphed into a frown of surprise. ‘You’ve been on Callos’s island, haven’t you?’
‘No. It was for business only. Entertaining clients, that sort of thing. It used to belong to my father, and he gave it to Lukas before he died. But it was never meant to be a family home.’
Alekos’s frown deepened. ‘But it was in your family for generations.’
‘You seem to know a great deal about my family,’ Iolanthe returned, her voice coming out a little more sharply than she’d intended.
‘Not as much as I thought.’ Alekos’s gaze rested on her thoughtfully, and Iolanthe’s mouth twisted wryly.
‘You thought I was a spoiled princess.’ She sighed as she stared out at the shimmering sea. ‘I suppose in some ways I was. My father was strict but growing up in the country I had plenty of freedom and luxury, lonely as it was. But since marrying Lukas...’ She pressed her lips together, not wanting to mention her marriage. The unhappiness that had burrowed deeper and deeper, a canker that by the end had poisoned everything.
‘You weren’t happy in your marriage,’ Alekos stated quietly, and wordlessly Iolanthe shook her head. She didn’t trust herself to say anything more.
Alekos rested his hand over hers on the railing, the contact jolting her right down to her toes. ‘This is a new start, Iolanthe. It can be. For all of us.’
She looked up at him, achingly conscious of the feel of his skin on hers. ‘Do you need a new start?’
‘I want to have one with you and Niko.’
Too unsettled by his surprising honesty to reply, Iolanthe slid her hand out from under his. ‘I should go check on Niko.’
Alekos glanced back at Niko, who was still immersed in his laptop. ‘He’s fine—’
Iolanthe didn’t answer, just hurried towards her son. What did Alekos mean, a new start for all of them? What was he envisioning? When he’d first proposed marriage, Iolanthe had envisioned a loveless union created for expediency’s sake. Just as her marriage to Lukas had been.
But for a moment, with Alekos’s hand on hers, she’d felt as if he’d been suggesting something else. Something more, something that harked back to that first magical night. And some desperate part of her soul longed for that.
‘How’s the app?’ Iolanthe asked as she slid on the bench across from Niko. ‘Still tracking zombies?’
Niko gave a little shake of his head. ‘I finished that one.’
‘What do you do with your apps, Niko?’ Iolanthe didn’t really understand the world her son inhabited, of online gaming and mobile apps and the rest of it. She barely used her mobile phone; she had few friends to call. Caring for Niko and being married to Lukas had completely limited her social interactions.
Niko shrugged. ‘Nothing much. Show them to some people online.’
‘Maybe you could market them,’ Iolanthe suggested. ‘Sell them through Petra Innovation.’
Niko hunched his shoulders, shooting her a dark look before looking away. ‘Father wasn’t interested in them.’
A lump rose in her throat, which she swallowed down. ‘I’m interested in them, Niko.’ Except she might not have a Petra Innovation to help develop her son’s interests and ambitions. ‘Alekos might be interested in them,’ she added. ‘Why don’t you show them to him?’
Niko shot one look at Alekos, still standing at the rail, and shook his head. ‘No.’
Iolanthe decided not to press. She knew that Niko was afraid of rejection, just as she was. Alekos might be whisking them away to his private island, but Iolanthe still didn’t trust what he wanted from them in the long term. What if, after a few days, he grew tired of them? Impatient with Niko’s quirks and bored of her? He’d certainly bored of her quickly the last time they’d spent any time together.
Trying to ignore the nerves now churning in her stomach, Iolanthe smiled at Niko and left him to his laptop. She’d brought a book but she didn’t feel as if she could concentrate to read. She closed her eyes instead, trying to enjoy the sun on her face and simply be.
She must have dozed off without realising because the next thing she knew Alekos was standing in front of her, blocking the sun, a hand on her shoulder. ‘You’ll get sunburned.’
Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at him dazedly. With the sun behind him he looked dark and tall, forbidding and sexy. She pressed one hand to her cheek, shaking her head to try to clear the cobwebs. ‘I’m under the awning.’
‘The sun’s moved.’ Alekos cocked his head. ‘You’re going to have a red stripe down your face if you’re not careful.’
‘I put sun cream on,’ Iolanthe said as she moved farther under the awning. She didn’t relish the thought of sporting a ridiculous-looking sunburn.
‘Lunch will be ready in a few minutes,’ Alekos said as he slid onto the bench next to hers. His thigh nudged hers and Iolanthe felt her senses see-saw crazily from just that brief contact. She froze, unsure whether to inch away from him or act as if she hadn’t noticed.
‘When will we arrive at the island?’
‘Another hour or so.’ He turned a smiling glance on his son. ‘Still surfing the Internet, Niko?’ He spoke lightly but Iolanthe could see the worry in his eyes, feel it in the taut length of muscle next to her leg. He wanted to bond with Niko.
‘Yeah.’ Niko ducked his head, not looking at Alekos, and Iolanthe knew he didn’t want to tell Alekos about the apps because he didn’t want to risk scorn or derision. Lukas’s silent rejection of her child ran deep.
The member of Alekos’s staff who had been discreetly seeing to their needs on the yacht now called them to the aft deck where a table and chairs had been brought out, set for what looked like a lavish lunch.
‘This is amazing,’ Iolanthe murmured as Alekos pulled out her chair. She surveyed the spread of different pitas and dips, several fresh salads and a tray of roasted meat with appreciation.
‘Dig in,’ Alekos said lightly as he popped the cork on a bottle of sparkling wine and poured Iolanthe a very full glass.
She gave an uncertain laugh. ‘It’s the middle of the afternoon...’
‘We’re celebrating.’ Alekos’s eyes met hers, and she saw both heat and expectation in their tawny depths. The knowledge that he still desired her, that something might actually happen between them again, sent alarm bells jangling in her head and heat pooling low in her belly.
‘Why not?’ she murmured, and took the glass of bubbly from him.
Alekos sat opposite and served everyone from the different dishes, asking Niko what he preferred, keeping the conversation light and easy. Iolanthe watched out of the corner of her eye as the tension that had kept her son’s slight body rigid slowly eased. He didn’t talk much and he only picked at his food, but it was progress.
After they’d eaten Niko went to sit farther on the aft deck, facing the sea, watching the water churn and foam as the yacht cut smoothly through the water.
Iolanthe watched him with wry pleasure. ‘You’ve managed to pry him off his laptop.’
‘I think it’s most likely the surroundings rather than me,’ Alekos answered, topping up both of their glasses and leaning back in his chair.
Iolanthe already felt pleasantly relaxed