Page 33 of Greek Doctor Cinderella Bride

‘It’s no different for me. This is the way I choose to help people now.’

‘But you have a gift. You said just the right things to Danielle today. You’re wasted in the lab.’

She looked into his earnest gaze. ‘I’m a woman, Alex. I have female intuition. That’s all it was.’

Yes, she was a woman. And a very original woman at that. With a body she hid in baggy clothes and a face she camouflaged behind truly hideous glasses. Why on earth did he want her so much?

‘Have dinner with me tonight.’

Isobella was tempted. The man looked utterly devastating, and his gravelly invitation was laced with a sinful edge. The female inside that she’d tamed and caged, strait-jacketed in an asexual shell, wanted to indulge and to hell with the consequences. But her mental scars, and the memory of Anthony’s face filled with revulsion, held her back.

She turned away looking to the activity on the terrace, desperate for the noise and buzz to cover her confusion in place of the tranquility of the waves.

And Sonya was there, striding towards them in a little black dress, red heels and a flower in her lush long hair. She had a wide smile on her scarlet lips and a look of possession that gave Isobella the perfect retreat.

‘I think your dance card’s full,’ she murmured, pushing away from the railing.

Alex watched as Isobella departed, brushing past Sonya and nodding a slight greeting.

She didn’t look back.

CHAPTER SIX

ISOBELLAwas pleased to be on terra firma, even if the sand was being eroded from beneath her feet with each lap of the waves. Alex had been right. Piccolo Island had been worth the rigours of the trip—they’d landed in Eden.

A two-hour small plane trip from Cairns to Temora Island and then another hour’s boat ride had not been good for her equilibrium. Seeing Alex in boardies that clung to his bottom and showed off a fair portion of exquisitely sculpted dark-haired calf and thigh muscle hadn’t been great for it either. But his casual T-shirt, exposing the bronzed column of his neck and the corded strength of his arms, had thankfully been enough to keep her mind off the endless ocean.

She looked around. Even at nine in the morning the bone-white sand was warm beneath her toes on the sun-drenched beach as they walked towards the main buildings visible through some foliage. The sun caressed her skin and danced beams on the crystal blue water in a dazzling kaleidoscope of light, causing Isobella’s pupils to constrict in protest. She donned her owlish prescription sunglasses and was grateful for the broad brim of her hat.

A wiry-looking man with a woolly beard, an unbuttoned shirt flapping in the breeze and a toddler on his hip strode purposefully towards them. ‘Dr Zaphirides, great to have you here again.’

‘Mike,’ Alex said warmly, extending his hand to Dr Mike Caldwell who ran the Piccolo Research Station with his wife, Dr Theresa Crane. They were both marine biologists, conducting a range of experiments within the Great Barrier Reef marine park and beyond. ‘Knock it off with the Dr Zaphirides.’

Mike laughed. ‘Sure thing, Alex. And who do we have here?’

Alex introduced Isobella, explaining about Reg’s last-minute withdrawal, and then turned his attention to Mike’s two-year-old, giving the boy’s hair a ruffle. ‘I can’t believe how much Sam’s grown. He was just a baby when I was here last.’

Sam reached his arms out to Alex, and Alex plucked the toddler out of his father’s arms and grinned down at him.

‘Well, he’s into everything now. A right little monkey—aren’t you, mate?’

Isobella was grateful for the tinted glasses as she watched Alex beam indulgently at the angelic-looking child with the wild gleam in his eyes. He looked as comfortable holding Sam as he had on the boat and as he had at the symposium. Nothing seemed to throw him. He held the child confidently, chatting with Mike while still paying attention to Sam.

‘Where’s Theresa?’

‘She’s gone out with Ruth, one of the students, to check on some of the stinger traps.’

Isobella felt her heartbeat accelerate, excited and terrified in equal measure to see what Theresa brought back with her. She wondered how far out they had to go to set the traps, as box jellyfish didn’t inhabit the waters around the reefs.

‘They’ll be back some time in the afternoon,’ Mike continued. ‘I’m on Sam duty today.’

‘Sam,’ Sam said.

Alex chuckled. ‘Is that you?’

‘Sam,’ the child repeated, obviously proud of himself.

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