Page 4 of Greek Island Fling to Forever

He was obviously wary, clearly unwilling to spring anything on her, but now Arianna wondered if her instincts had been right.

‘You were on the ferry? The one that sank just outside the harbour?’ Her heart was pounding in her chest, as if her life depended on his answer.

‘Yes. You were there too, wearing a white dress.’

‘Broderie anglaise?’ The detail seemed suddenly important.

‘I think so. It had little embroidered holes—is that what they call it?’

‘Yes. You dived in when I fell overboard.’

He smiled suddenly. ‘Dived makes it sound a lot more expert than it actually was. I saw you sliding across the deck and when you fell into the water I jumped in after you.’

‘I was drowning...’ The memory made her catch her breath. ‘You pulled me up.’

‘I don’t know how I found you. Somehow I did.’ He took a step forward, holding out his hand to shake hers. Arianna took it, winding her fingers tightly around his.

Once she did, she couldn’t let go. Arianna willed her fingers to loosen around his but they wouldn’t respond. She was clinging to him as tightly as she had that day in the water.

Then, she’d been blinded by tears and panic, and the men in the boat had been forced to prise her arms from around his neck. Things were different now. Ben was no longer a skinny youth, and Arianna was old enough to recognise that he now had that indefinable something that rendered a man attractive rather than just handsome.

‘You still have a tight grip.’ He smiled suddenly.

‘Uh...sorry.’ Still she couldn’t let him go.

‘Don’t be. I needed you to hold on while I swam.’

‘Is that what you said to me?’ One last detail clicked into place.

‘Yes. You didn’t understand?’

‘No. I didn’t speak English then...’

If twenty-five years of longing to see him had taught Arianna anything, it had taught her restraint. She finally released his hand, feeling a chill of regret as she did so.

‘We can’t talk here. Can

I take you for coffee somewhere?’

He shook his head. ‘I should come back tomorrow. You have things to do here.’

The thought of him walking away now, of having to wait for a whole day before she could talk to him was impossible.

‘It’s all right. I start work early and I should be finishing around now anyway. Andreas covers at the clinic in the afternoons and early evenings, so he’ll be here with Helen for a few hours and he’ll give me a call if he needs me. If she’s not well enough to go back to her hotel tonight, we have a three-bed ward here and I can come back and stay the night...’

She was babbling. It would have been enough to say that she had a few hours free and plenty of time for coffee. Maybe throw in a few words about what a pleasure it was to see him after all this time...

‘How about this? The last ferry is at nine, and if Helen’s well enough then I can go with her and Claire and make sure that they get back to their hotel. In the meantime, I’d like it very much if we could go for coffee.’

‘That would be... Do you mind?’

‘As long as you’re willing to discharge Helen medically, so that I’m just a concerned member of the public travelling with her.’ He grinned.

‘Of course. I’ll go and get my bag.’ Arianna flew out of the waiting room, grudging every moment that it took for her to check carefully on Helen and tell Andreas that she’d be down at the harbour if he needed her. It seemed as if she’d been waiting for this meeting all her life, and she didn’t want to waste a second of it.

* * *

It felt like a dream. Finally Ben had found the girl who’d changed his life, and it felt as if he’d spent every day with her since their first meeting. In some ways he had. He’d got on with his life, but there hadn’t been many days when a brief thought of her hadn’t flashed through his mind.

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