have learned some Greek,’ Angelos remarked as they took their seats at one of the tables outside.
‘Ava has been teaching me. I did ask Maria to ask you—’
‘Yes, I remember. I said yes. And I am pleased you have made the effort.’ He smiled, his eyes crinkling up at the corners, and Talia just about melted into a pool of slushy sentimentality.
She’d known she’d be a sucker for Angelos’s smile.
In fact, as they ordered their meals and enjoyed the sunshine, chatting in a mixture of English and Greek, she started daydreaming that they were actually a family. That Angelos actually loved her.
The realisation of what she was fantasising about had her jolting upright, nearly spilling her drink.
Angelos’s smile disappeared as he took in her pale face and slack jaw. ‘Are you all right?’ he asked in a low voice. ‘This isn’t too much for you?’
‘It’s fine,’ Talia assured him with a shaky smile. And actually it was fine. She, who avoided crowds and cities, was actually enjoying sitting in a restaurant like a normal person.
It was Sofia she had been concerned about, until her fantasies about Angelos had derailed her whole thought process. Did she really want him to love her?
Did she love him?
‘Talia?’ Angelos’s voice was tight with tension as he frowned at her, clearly concerned.
‘It’s okay.’ She rested her hand on his, and then snatched it back when just the slide of skin across skin sent sensation skittering through her nerve endings. ‘I’m fine. Really.’
Yet thoughts continued to zing through her mind as they ate lunch and then wandered through the town’s street market. Love was such a huge concept, and one she didn’t have a lot of experience with. Not romantic love anyway.
And you can’t be in love with Angelos. You barely know him. A week together, a single night of comfort...
Mindlessly she studied some fabric piled on a market stall, green silk shot through with gold thread. Angelos joined her, standing so close she could feel the heat of his body, inhaled the scent of his aftershave, and had to close her eyes against the wave of desire that crashed over her.
‘You would look lovely in that,’ he said, gesturing to the silk.
Talia’s heart lurched alarmingly. ‘Oh, I don’t know...’ she demurred. She had a crazy and near irresistible urge to lean against him, to have him wrap one strong arm around her.
What was happening to her?
‘Why don’t I buy some for a dress?’ He spoke to the shopkeeper in Greek, who was more than happy to accommodate him.
‘I don’t need a dress...’
‘You are wearing the only one you brought,’ Angelos reminded her. ‘And perhaps you will go somewhere special. Perhaps we all will.’ He pointed to another fabric, this one bright pink. ‘And that for Sofia,’ he said, and addressed the shopkeeper again in Greek.
Impulsively Talia put a hand on his arm. ‘Thank you,’ she said softly, and Angelos turned to her, his mouth turning down in self-deprecation.
‘It is only a bit of silk.’
‘I don’t mean that. I mean the way you are with Sofia.’ She nodded towards the girl, who was inspecting some cloth dolls hanging from pegs on the other side of the stall. ‘She is so pleased to have this time with you. I know it means a lot to her.’
Angelos shrugged, his gaze sliding away. ‘It is very little.’
‘Even so...’
‘It is you I should thank, for making me realise she wants to spend time with me.’
‘Why would you think she wouldn’t?’
Angelos turned back to her, his gaze dark, his frown deepening. ‘Because I disappointed her terribly. I have not been the father she wants or needs.’
‘But you are, Angelos, because you are her father. No mattered what happened before—’
He shook his head, the movement abrupt, as he handed some euros to the shopkeeper and took the cut fabric, now wrapped in paper. ‘We will not talk about this.’
Talia watched as he strode towards Sofia, and then showed her the fabric he bought. Her shy, answering smile lit up her whole face and made Talia ache. Why did Angelos think he wasn’t a good father? Why had he virtually ignored his daughter for so long? She wanted to know the answers, but she doubted she’d get them from him.
By early evening they were all feeling pleasantly drowsy. As they walked back towards the boat, Angelos tapped his finger against Talia’s nose.
‘You’re a bit burned.’
‘Which means more freckles,’ she answered with a playful grimace.
‘I like your freckles,’ Angelos replied, and while Talia gaped at him he turned back to say something to Sofia.
He liked her freckles? Was she crazy, thinking that Angelos might like her? She had no experience with flirting or romance or love. She had no idea how to gauge Angelos’s feelings, or even her own. And yet his simple statement had sent bubbles of excitement racing through her, as if she’d just imbibed a bottle of champagne.
‘Will you be all right on the journey back?’ he asked in a low voice as he helped Sofia scramble into the sailboat.
‘I think so.’ She smiled at him, trying not to let her gaze rove helplessly over his rugged features as those bubbles fizzed and popped. He’d had a bit of sun too, and his skin was even more bronzed and beautiful, the sharp planes of his cheekbones and the golden brown of his eyes making her breathless. ‘Actually, I’m amazed at how easy this whole day has been,’ she confessed. ‘I haven’t wandered around a town like this, in the crowds, for years.’
‘Since...?’ Angelos asked, his eyes darkening, and she nodded.
‘I couldn’t stand crowds. But I didn’t mind them today.’ Because I was with you. Because you made me feel safe and protected. She swallowed down the words and smiled instead. ‘Thank you.’
‘I didn’t have anything to do with it—’
‘You did,’ she asserted, and then, throwing caution to the winds, she explained, ‘When you held me that night...it was the first time I’d felt truly safe, really protected, in seven years. It gave me a confidence, Angelos, that I never thought I’d have again. So you see, you did have something to do with it. And I thank you for that.’
She didn’t dare look at him, afraid she’d revealed too much, and so she scrambled into the boat by herself and sat next to Sofia, her face hot.
The moon rose over the Aegean as the boat skimmed the placid, dark waters and the breeze cooled their sunburned skin. Talia put her arm around Sofia while the girl dozed against her and Angelos sat down, one hand resting on the tiller. He nodded towards Sofia.
‘It’s been a big day for her.’
‘A big day for all of us.’
‘Yes.’ He paused, and in the gathering twilight she couldn’t see his face. ‘I’m proud of you, Talia. For facing your fears. Not everyone has the courage to do so.’
‘I said before, you’re the one who helped me.’ She was glad for the darkness that hid her blush. ‘The truth is I didn’t plan on facing them. It’s being here and seeing how Sofia...’ She paused, afraid this might be too sensitive a subject for Angelos.
‘What about Sofia?’ he asked.
‘She reminds me of me,’ Talia said softly. ‘How I’ve been inside for so long. Hiding myself. Ashamed of who I am.’
She felt Angelos stiffen even though he was several