Page 58 of Greek's Temporary Cinderella

She took a breath and he felt, with a start, the lightest and briefest of touches on his wrist.

‘Leandros, I’m sorry that you’ve found out about all of this. And I’m sorry I just walked out on you as I did in Paris. But I just didn’t want you to get...well, involved, I guess. Sucked in.’

She got to her feet, looked down at him.

‘I’d better get Miki home—Ya-Ya will have his tea ready. Don’t...don’t come with me. There’s no point—truly.’

There was a sadness in her face that tugged at him.

‘I’ve made my life, Leandros—and it is what it is. But...’

She took a breath, and something changed in her eyes that tugged at him even more.

‘But I will always, always remember our time in Paris! I will treasure it dearly. I didn’t think I would—I thought, originally, it was simply something I owed you, because of how I’d treated you when I broke our engagement and became the faithless fiancée you’ve always—justifiably—considered me. I knew the depth of your bitterness...your contempt for me...and how could I disagree with it, after treating you as I had? But then... Well, all that changed, didn’t it? I don’t really know why—and I don’t deserve that it did. That you should have been so kind to me, like I said out on the balcony that evening. But I’m grateful...truly I am. So grateful for those wonderful days we had—’

She broke off, her face working suddenly, and then, as if with an immense effort of will, she cleared it. She bent down, in a sudden, swift gesture, and he felt her lips graze his cheek, as lightly as a feather.

Then she turned, headed towards Miki, crouched down beside him. He watched her speak to him, and saw the little boy nod, and let her pick up the bucket and spade. She took his hand, led him over to the buggy and settled him into it, and then wheeled it off towards the park’s exit.

She did not look back.

Eliana made it through the evening, but it was hard. Agonisingly hard. With all her heart she wished Leandros had not found her as he had. What could it achieve? Nothing—only the agony of seeing him again, having him physically so close to her again for that short space of time.

But he was gone again—as he must be. As he must stay.

Six years ago their lives had diverged, at her instigation. In Paris they had briefly—fleetingly—come together again. She felt her heart turn over. Just enough for her to know the truth about her own feelings. Just enough for her to taste, for that brief time, the happiness that might have been hers had she not made the choices she had six years ago.

But now that time in Paris—that oasis of what might have been—had gone as well. Their lives had diverged again—for ever. And, yet again, she must live with the consequences of her choices.

When Miki was in bed, and Agnetha had settled in her chair to watch her TV programmes, Eliana slipped from the apartment, saying she would get some fresh air, be back within the hour. Agnetha had made no remark about the visitor who had arrived on their doorstep, but Eliana had seen apprehension in her face. So she had given the woman the reassurance she knew she needed to.

‘Yes, Leandros is the man I went on holiday with,’ she said. That was how she’d explained it—nothing more. ‘We had a lovely time, but I won’t be seeing him again. My place is here, with you and Miki. You have my word.’

She heard what she had promised echoing again in her head as she caught a bus to take her to the seafront. She wanted to go there—to walk along the promenade as she had walked that evening with Leandros, after he had walked back into her life.

How much had changed.

And how little.

She stood, leaning on the balustrade, looking out over the dark sea at the lights from the city playing over its waters, hearing the noise of traffic behind, the buzz of the city. So old a city...stretching way back into classical times...changing hands so often over the course of the centuries. So many lives lived here—and hers was just one more of them.

For a long while she stood, gazing out to sea. Leandros might still be here in the city, in whatever hotel he’d booked into, or he might have taken an evening shuttle to Athens. That was more likely. Flying away, out of her life. This time for ever.

A line from a film came to her. An old Hollywood film, like the one she and Leandros had watched in Paris together...

‘We’ll always have Paris.’

But Paris, for her, was all that she would have...

All she would have of Leandros.

Through the long empty years ahead.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

LEANDROS WAS BUSY. Punishingly busy. He had a lot to get done. He had lawyers on speed dial, estate agents on speed dial, and a firm of specialist financial investigators on speed dial. He needed to get things done—and fast.

Impatience drove him. And urgency.

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