I felt anger because of the many times I’d begged him to let me try even part-time work. We were both so hardheaded.”
“I’m so sorry, Danae.” As they stared at each other, Lys reached for the letter she put back in her purse. “I hope you’ll listen to me now because there’s something else I’ve wanted to tell you since your separation from him.” Her throat swelled with emotion.
“I love you. You were kind and loving and helped me so much. The two of you had a beautiful marriage in so many ways. For what it’s worth, you would have made a wonderful mother. Maybe there’s a man out there who could fulfill that dream for you. Many women have babies at your age. It’s not too late if you decide to get married again. You’re a very beautiful woman.”
A long silence ensued before Danae jumped up from the chair and hugged her hard. “Thank you for saying that to me. I love you too, Lys. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”
With those words, Lys’s pain was lifted. “I feel the same.” She finally let go of Danae, and wiped her eyes. “Tell me something else. Would you have liked to inherit the hotel and run it?”
Danae shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what I would have liked. He wanted a stay-at-home wife and didn’t want me working at the hotel after we were married. Now I’m not interested.”
“But you could read between the lines in his letter to me. He admitted he was wrong about divorcing you, and he was wrong not to have let you work alongside him after you were married.”
She grasped Lys’s hands. “You’re very sweet, but it’s too late for that.”
“Are you sure? You could talk to Xander and fight for it. I’d step aside in an instant if I knew it was what you wanted.”
“It isn’t. Truly. But I’ll take your advice and get movers in here to ship everything back to the villa.”
“I’m glad about that!” Lys hugged her again, then headed for the foyer.
Danae followed. “Where are you going?”
“Back to my room. I need to return Anita’s call. You remember my mother’s friend? She came to Nassos’s funeral.”
“Of course. It was wonderful of her to come.”
“I know. I couldn’t believe she’d fly all this way from New York.” Lys pressed the button that opened the elevator doors, then turned to Danae. “If you need anything, just phone me.”
“I want you to come to the villa as soon as you can. It’s so empty now.”
“I promise to visit you all the time.”
“You mean it?”
“Of course I do. I love you, Danae. Yassou.”
Lys rode the private elevator six floors to the lobby, then took the main elevator back to the third floor. She needed to make a phone call to Anita on Long Island. They’d stayed in close touch over the years.
Anita had invited Lys to stay with her and her husband, Bob, for a time. Maybe a little vacation would be a good thing. Maybe not. She just didn’t know.
* * *
The limo pulled up to the Rodino Hotel in Heraklion. For the moment he had business to take care of here. Lys Theron had no idea he’d flown to Heraklion two days ago to stay with his family. Now he was ready to talk to her, but he wanted the element of surprise on his side.
Before he’d left for New York, Takis had done every job there was to do there at the hotel for that year. He’d often escorted VIPs to the penthouse Nassos used for business. No doubt Lys Theron lived there now.
There was a private elevator down the right hall that went straight to the top. If Nassos hadn’t changed his six-digit birthday code on the keypad, Takis would be able to go on up. Otherwise he’d have to phone her from downstairs. His pulse raced at the thought of seeing her again.
The code hadn’t changed. After the doors opened, he stepped inside for the short ride and entered the outer hallway when it stopped. But he needed to alert her he was here. Even if it was presumptuous, when he explained how he’d gained access to the elevator, he hoped she’d understand.
Takis had just pressed the digits of the phone number written on the envelope she’d given him when the door to the penthouse opened. He received a surprise because instead of Lys Theron standing there, the stylish black-haired woman he’d seen at the older man’s funeral emerged without her veil.
She glared at him. “No one is permitted up here. Who are you?”
“I’m sorry to have alarmed you,” he murmured. “I was just calling Kyria Theron to let her know I was out here.”
The attractive woman scrutinized him. “This isn’t her apartment.”
What?
“How did you get up here?”
Takis would have to proceed carefully. “I’m the new co-owner of the hotel.” After many talks with his partners in the last week, that’s what he was saying right now, but it was subject to change depending on many things.
“What’s your name?” she murmured.
“Takis Manolis.”
Her eyes widened. “Lys told me.”
He nodded. “I saw you at the church on the day of Nassos’s funeral.” This had to be the widow. “You must be Kyria Rodino.”
“Yes. I was married to Nassos for twenty-four years and heard your name mentioned with fondness for the last twelve of them.”
The revelation stunned him. “He was instrumental in changing my life. I’ll never forget him.”
Her eyes glistened over. “Neither will I.”
Takis had a hard time taking it all in. “I’m very sorry for your loss. Please forgive me. I thought Kyria Theron lived here. Do you know where I can find her?”
“She has her own suite at the hotel. I have to leave and will ride down in the elevator with you.”
Takis had made a big mistake coming up here.
Once they reached the hotel foyer, he thanked her for her help and the two of them parted company. He walked into the main lounge where he could be private and rang her number.
Before long he heard, “Kyrie Manolis?” She sounded surprised. “I wondered when I might hear from you.”
“I just arrived at the hotel and am in the lounge. We have to talk.” Before any more time passed he needed to explain that he’d trespassed earlier and had alarmed Nassos’s former wife. “When will it be convenient for you?”
“I’ll be right down.”
“Efharisto.”
Within two minutes the dark-blonde woman he’d come to see walked toward him dressed in a storm-gray crewneck sweater with long sleeves and a matching skirt. Some Cretan women in mourning wore darker clothes, if not black, for a long time.
Yet even garbed in somber colors, the feminine curves of her figure and the long legs he admired couldn’t be hidden. She not only ignited his senses, but those of every male within her radius.
Takis had the additional advantage of being able to stare into those violet eyes at close range. When he’d been inside the church, he’d thought no eyes could be that color. At the time he’d assumed the sun shining through the stained glass had to have been responsible.
But the hotel lounge was no church. If anything, their color bordered on purple and mesmerized him almost as much as the enticing curve of her mouth. He wondered how many men had known its taste and had run their hands through hair as luscious as swirling caramel cream.
“It’s nice to see you again, Kyrie Manolis.”