My Sexy Greek Summer. Marie Donovan

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СКАЧАТЬ Demetria’s cheerful expression had turned grim.

      “Yes. We’re coming,” she called. “Mother has been anxious to see you.” She ushered them into a sitting room where Athena lay on a couch, swathed in blankets.

      Cara bit back a gasp. Her old friend looked terrible, pale and shadowed. “Oh, Athena, how are you?” She reached for Athena’s hand, and Athena grasped hers with surprising strength.

      “Better, now that you are here.”

      Cara looked over her shoulder at Demetria for confirmation. Demetria nodded. “It’s a miracle how much better she is.”

      Athena let out a little moan and Cara spun back to her. “I’m glad to see you again,” she said soothingly. “And Aphrodisias is even more beautiful than you described.”

      Athena nodded. “My birthplace, the place I knew I would return to in my old age. The place to fulfill my dream of a museum of Greek island weaving and other women’s arts.”

      “When you feel better, you can work on your project.”

      Athena’s black eyes went wide. “I was just about to purchase the perfect property when I fell and broke my hip. I was at the market and stepped on an olive. An olive, I tell you! I have been walking on my own two feet for over sixty-five years and a miserable olive trips me.” She lapsed into Greek and muttered several imprecations against that hapless squished fruit.

      Emma looked blankly at Cara and Cara shrugged. Those weren’t words Emma needed to practice for polite conversation. “Emma, come meet my friend Athena.”

      Cara made the introductions and Emma shook Athena’s hand gently. “Thank you for inviting me to come with Cara. I have nothing but the highest respect for the Greek land and its wonderful history of mathematics.”

      Athena nodded regally, accepting all honors to Euclid, Pythagorus & Co. as her due. “Would you like to see Demetria’s lovely garden? The flowers are beautiful, thanks to a wet spring.”

      Emma agreed and followed Demetria toward the end of the house, leaving Cara and Athena together.

      Athena continued in Greek. “Karoleena, your friend speaks Greek?”

      “Oxi.” Cara shook her head.

      “Good. How does she think you and I know each other?”

      “I told her I was working on a cruise ship through the islands and let her assume we met that way.”

      “And that is all she knows?” Gone was the sick old lady, and in her place was the woman spearheading a new museum.

      “Yes, Athena.” Cara checked Emma’s whereabouts, her voice faded as she went into the courtyard garden.

      “Fine. I will keep your privacy, if that is what you wish.”

      “Efkhareestó, Athena.”

      “You’re welcome, chriso mou.” Athena smiled up at her with such sweetness that Cara bent down and hugged her gently. Chriso mou—my golden one. It had been so long since she’d heard those words. Athena patted her on the back.

      “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

      Athena heaved a sigh. “Yet not well enough to continue my project, which is why I need you.”

      Cara sat up on the edge of the couch. “Me? What do I know about building a museum?”

      Her friend waved a negligent hand. “You will be my eyes and ears. Just some minor details to finish, and if the men do not know you understand Greek, so much the better.”

      “Athena…” Cara stood. “I only came to Aphrodisias because you were so sick and I wanted to make sure you were getting better. I wasn’t planning to stay.”

      “Do you have a job in America you need to return to?” Athena raised an eyebrow.

      Cara paced across the room. Stay in Greece? “No, but I’m taking classes at the university.”

      “During the summer?”

      “Well, kind of.” Athena gave her one of those baleful black stares older Greek women had perfected. “Well, they start in September, which is technically summer, at least until the twenty-first.” Cara never could lie to Athena.

      “September? Pfft. It’s only June. And your friend Emma can stay, as well, unless she has a job.”

      “No, she can work on her studies from here.” Cara looked out the window facing the courtyard. Emma was having a ball, sniffing the flowers and laughing at whatever Demetria was telling her. “Summer in Greece?” she murmured.

      “It will do you good. Put some color in your cheeks and take that frown off your face.”

      Cara made an effort to smile. Poor her. A summer on an idyllic Greek island with nothing to do but help an old, ailing friend. Boo hoo.

      “Ah, that’s better.” Athena struggled to her elbows and smiled up at her. “Now come here for a kiss and have Demetria make us some coffee.”

      Cara kissed Athena on both cheeks as she was bid and then sneezed. Something dusty was tickling her nose.

      “Yia sou,” Athena blessed her.

      “Thanks.” Cara sniffled and sought out Emma and Demetria in the garden.

      Emma predictably squealed in glee at the idea of a Greek summer but then got a worried look on her face. “Be sure to tell me how much I owe you for rent and groceries, that kind of thing.”

      Cara exchanged glances with Demetria. “Don’t worry about the money. We’ll get a deal since it’s a long-term rental.”

      “Great!” Emma hugged her and pulled away. “Cara, you have some white stuff in your hair.” Emma brushed it out.

      “Probably some dust or sand. So you girls are staying for the summer!” Demetria hugged them and pinched their cheeks again.

      “Anything to help Athena.”

      Demetria led them into the kitchen and began measuring cold water into the small metal coffeepot. “With you here, I think my mother-in-law will recover faster than you expect.”

      2

      “IS THAT TRUE, CARA, what Athena said about Aphrodisias?”

      Cara blinked as Emma’s voice penetrated the late-afternoon haze as they stretched out on beach towels on the warm, sun-drenched sand. “Hmmm?” She took off her floppy sun hat and raised her head from where she’d been cradling it on her forearms.

      Emma had been lying on her back in a tiny lavender-purple bikini but she’d propped herself up on her elbows. “You know, about the island being a magnet for lovers?”

      Cara gestured to the surrounding beach. “It’s a popular vacation spot. People either bring their lovers or find a new one here.” She and Emma СКАЧАТЬ