Mediterranean Mavericks: Greeks. Кейт Хьюит
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу Mediterranean Mavericks: Greeks - Кейт Хьюит страница 84
Название: Mediterranean Mavericks: Greeks
Автор: Кейт Хьюит
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Короткие любовные романы
Серия: Mills & Boon e-Book Collections
isbn: 9780008906313
isbn:
Nothing but living…
When he looked at her with such glittering desire in his tawny eyes, when he looked at her as if she could unlock something inside him…it was so easy to believe that he saw her as an equal.
Which was the stupidest thing ever given that he was with his lover in Athens attending a charity event right now… He was probably back in her bed too, she thought nastily and gasped as she pricked her finger with the needle.
The good thing was how much work she had gotten done and the time she had spent with Giannis.
After an excruciating couple of days, Giannis had finally taken pity on her and asked her to show him a dress from her collection. He had pronounced her dress beautiful and her, an extremely talented designer who would take the fashion industry by storm. Making dresses was in their blood, he had said with pride. While his praise had been extravagantly effusive, it had still filled her with warmth.
So every day, she took breakfast and lunch with him, then accompanied him on a short walk around the house. Sometimes, they played a board game that he taught her, and sometimes, they discussed her designs. They carefully kept away from talking about Stavros and the state of her marriage.
After being afraid for so long, after training herself to not get attached to him, forming such a strong emotional bond should have been hard to do in just a few days. But spending one of those yawningly long Greek afternoons chatting with Giannis, or just sitting together in comfortable silence, or the times he would nap and she would sit with her sketchpad on the back terrace, had become incredibly precious to her.
Her grandfather was irreverent, naughty, and kind.
As the sweltering days gave way to cooler nights, her fears melted away and like the leaves slowly changing color, an incredible sense of joy pervaded her. It was so alien that she had taken to staring at herself in the mirror, wondering if it made her look different.
As her cell phone chirped, she realized it was time for lunch with Giannis.
The time that Stavros had stipulated she spend with Giannis was rapidly coming to an end, and suddenly, saying goodbye to her grandfather, even temporarily, was the last thing Leah wanted to do.
Stavros was avoiding her, she knew as surely as her heart thumped when he called every evening and asked about Giannis.
Something had changed between them that night, whether for good or bad, she didn’t know.
Her footsteps clicking on the outer courtyard, Leah sighed. She could hate him all she wanted for forcing her to this, but she wouldn’t have had this wonderful week with Giannis if not for him.
Leah joined Giannis at the table laid out on the back patio that offered an unending view of the shoreline. The raised porch provided shade from the Greek sun. Reaching Giannis, she kissed his papery cheek and sat down.
The small table groaned under the weight of a colorful and mouthwatering array of dishes. “I didn’t know that we were having a feast today,” she said, spreading her napkin on her lap. “I would have skipped breakfast and run a few more miles.”
“Eat,” Giannis said. “No man likes his woman so thin that it could hurt him if he embraces her.”
Popping a piece of a juicy, thick-crusted pie into her mouth, Leah shook her head. “Since no man is actually intent on embracing or otherwise expressing love for your granddaughter,” she continued in that same irreverent tone, “no worries there.”
It had become a bit of a game this past week between them, about who could say the most outrageous thing. The smile disappeared from Giannis’s face. “He is your husband, child. Are you denying him rights?”
Leah coughed, choking on the flaky piece of pastry. Recovering, she took a sip of frosty lemonade. “I don’t want to ruin the afternoon by talking about it.”
“Your mother is gone. Calista is gone. I learn from Stavros that you keep to yourself. Maybe talking to an old man will help, ne?”
His overtly sweet tone made her smile. “I do not want to talk about his rights, or how subservient I have to be because I’m his wife, grandfather.”
“You want a modern marriage. I understand. But I have concern for you. You are very lonely. I see it in your eyes.”
She was lonely, she had been for so many years now. That’s why she had capitulated so easily to Stavros’s touch.
She could almost fool herself into believing that.
“Leah?”
Leah didn’t have the heart to push his concern away. It was so strange that she couldn’t be angry with Giannis when he was the one who gave Stavros all the power over her, yet she could hold a grudge against Stavros himself.
Somewhere along the line, it had become a shield, she realized. A shield that was slowly beginning to get holes. That’s what had changed.
Her grandfather clutched her fingers and she returned the pressure, feeling a sudden thickness in her throat.
“What Stavros and I have…it’s too complicated. How can I think of him as my husband or anything else respectful for that matter if he continues to treat me like a child?”
“It is his nature to protect the people he considers close.”
I’m not close to him, the juvenile taunt rose to her lips.
She didn’t care that she wasn’t, she decided resolutely.
“I have a feeling that’s all he knows how to do. He…I have never seen him laugh, never need anyone. Never seen him vulnerable.” And yet, he had looked so different that night they kissed, almost vulnerable…to her touch, to her words even. “He was probably born fully formed with a set of rules about how life should be lived, in his hand.”
Something flickered in Giannis’s gaze and Leah swallowed the rest of her words. “Stavros does not ask, or take anything for himself. Only gives.”
There was such truth in her grandfather’s words that Leah stilled. She had never seen him ask, or demand anything for himself. It had only ever been about her, or Calista or Giannis, or even Dmitri sometimes. But never about himself.
Still grappling with that, she made her voice casual and gripey again. “For all I know, he does not need anything like normal people do. He will probably order the cook to not serve me if he learned I eat my dessert first.”
A twinkle appeared in Giannis’s eyes. “You speak like this to him?”
When she nodded, he laughed, the flimsy sound bursting out of him. It shook his frail frame, and alarm crashed through her. Sensing her anxiety, he sobered. “Laughing with you is good for me. I still believe in the rightness of your marriage. You are precisely what Stavros needs in his life. And you—” something too close to the truth lingered in his eyes “—him. I wish you would give it a real try. You will find him to be an honorable man.”
Beneath СКАЧАТЬ