darted Takis a glance, but she pretended not to notice. “Do you want a Pepsi? It’s the only soda I could find.”
“Thank you.”
She turned to Takis. “What about you?”
“I’ll drink one later. Why don’t you sit and I’ll wait on you?”
Their gazes met. “I’d love it.”
After she finished eating, Lukios got up from his chair and put his empty plate on the table. “Thank you for the lunch. It was very nice to meet you, Kyria Theron.”
“I’m thrilled I got to be introduced to you at last.”
“It was my pleasure. Now I’m afraid I have to get Baba’s truck back to the hotel. Work is waiting.”
Takis put down his soda. “I’ll see you out, Lukios.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Don’t go away,” he whispered. “I’ll be right back.”
He walked out of the kitchen, leaving her trembling. She was a fool to be this happy when it wasn’t a real engagement, but she couldn’t help it. There was no one like Takis.
* * *
A few minutes later Takis came back in the kitchen and found Lys cleaning up. “You’re a sight I never expected to see in here after leaving you in front of the hotel last evening.”
She looked up at him. “I’m sure you didn’t. But I couldn’t sleep during the night because of worry over your secret getting out. I remembered back to that day in your office in Italy. When you saw the deed, the shock on your face stunned me.”
He stared at her. It wasn’t just the deed, Lys Theron.
“Later, after your return to Heraklion, we talked about what Nassos had done by giving you co-ownership of the hotel. That’s when I realized why you worried it could be damaging to your relationship with your father if he knew.”
“I shouldn’t have said anything to you about that.”
“I’m glad you did. I—I want you to be able to preserve that precious bond with your father,” she stammered from emotion. “I loved mine so much.”
He leaned against the doorjamb with his strong arms folded. “So you’ve decided to be the sacrificial lamb.”
“I don’t think of my decision that way and hope you don’t either.”
“Be honest. You’d do anything for Nassos and Danae.”
She threw her head back. “I guess I would.”
And now she was willing to help preserve his father’s love by entering into an engagement of convenience. If Lys knew the depth of Takis’s feelings for her, would she admit she couldn’t live without him either and toss the pretense away? He cocked his head. “You realize my brother swallowed your act so completely, he gave me a hug for luck before getting in the truck.”
Luck? Her heart leaped. “He isn’t the hugging type?” she teased.
“After what I told you about him, you know he isn’t. The last time it happened, my girlfriend had just died.”
“Oh, Takis—how awful that must have been. Is it still too hard to talk about?”
“No. I remember there was pain, but I don’t feel it anymore.”
“What happened to her?”
“I was working at the hotel in Heraklion the day Gaia took a bus trip with her friends. It was the high school’s year-end retreat. They went to the Samaria Gorge.”
“I’ve heard of it but have never been there,” Lys murmured.
“It’s a place in the White Mountains where it’s possible to hike down along the gorge floor past streams, wild goats, deserted settlements and steep cliffs. The plan was for them to reach the village of Agia Roumeli and take a boat back to the bus for the return trip to Tylissos.
“The tragedy occurred when a tourist drifted across the road and hit the bus, causing it to roll over and down the side of the gorge. There were thirty students on the bus. Three of them died. One of them was Gaia.”
She buried her face in her hands. “I’m so sorry.”
“Her death prompted me to accept Nassos’s offer to leave for the States and go to work for the man whom I now know was your father. After her funeral, the move to New York helped me get over it.”
Lys nodded and wiped her eyes. “Had you been close for a long time?”
“From the age of fifteen.”
“How terrible.” She shook her head. “Does her family still live here?”
“Yes.”
“Do you visit them?”
“Only once, the first time I came back to be with my parents. They didn’t need to see me as a reminder. One look at the framed picture of her on the end table was enough to prevent me from dropping in on them again.”
“What about the latest woman in your life now? Will news of your engagement hurt her?”
He strolled toward her. “I’ve had several short-lived relationships, none of them earthshaking, as the Americans have a way of saying. For the last three years I’ve been consumed with earning a living and haven’t allowed any serious entanglements to get in the way.”
Her purple gaze fused with his. “And there you were, minding your own business at the castello when destiny dropped in to change your life yet again.”
Obeying a strong impulse, he put his hands on her shoulders. Takis could feel her heartbeat through her soft cashmere sweater.
“I watched you walk out of the church at the funeral and thought you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my life. If I hadn’t had to catch a plane for Athens right then, I would have gone to the cemetery in order to meet you and learn your name.”
“I had no idea,” she murmured.
“You’ll never know my wonder when I entered my office and discovered the daughter of Kristos Theron standing in front of Nassos’s photograph with tears in her eyes. That was my first shock, followed by another one in the form of the deed that bound you and me together in an almost mystical way. Today I received a third shock to find you here waiting for me.”
“I shouldn’t have come in, but you left the door unlocked. I hope you didn’t mind.”
“Mind?” His hands slid to her upper arms and squeezed them. “To convince Lukios is half the battle. You did something for me in front of my brother I couldn’t have done for myself. After my years abroad, he’s in shock I’ve found my soul mate in Crete, when he didn’t think it was possible.”
Takis hadn’t thought it could ever happen either.
“Had you mentioned me to him before today?”
“Never.”
“What about your sister?”
“She’s always on my side. Just so you know, when I walked him out to the truck, he brought up nothing about you. If he recognized you from the newspaper, he didn’t mention it. That should tell you a lot.”
Her eyes glistened with moisture. “Then I’m glad.”
“Glad enough to come with me and get your engagement ring? When I introduce you to my parents, I want it on your finger.”
He could see her throat working. “I thought you were going to paint today.”
“I’m getting things ready, but will have to wait until tomorrow morning. The water and electricity won’t be turned on until then. Since we’ve eaten, let’s drive into Heraklion.”
Without