From wanting to complete the plans as quickly as she could, she now wanted to draw it out for ever. She’d stressed the plans laid out before him were in draft form and that much more work was still needed.
This was only a partial truth.
If he approved these, the proper plans could be finished in days.
Once Theo signed them off...
Neither of them spoke of what would happen then.
The future was terrifyingly opaque.
‘Can we go to the island tonight?’ she asked impulsively.
He looked at her speculatively. A quirk curved the left side of his mouth. ‘You want to party?’
Only with you.
She gave a dreamy sigh. ‘Yes. I want to party.’ Other than those two nights of bliss on Agon there had been none of the wild partying of old. Not since their night at the palace had they spent time with any of his social circle. Weekends had been enjoyed on Theo’s yacht. They’d sailed to other islands, dined in quaint local tavernas, snorkelled, ridden on Theo’s jet ski and made love so many times she was surprised she could still walk. Those weekends had been heaven.
His eyes gleamed with appreciation but there was something else underlying it, a something that, just for a moment, sent a needle of unease up her spine. Then he grinned and her unease vanished.
‘You’re an animal,’ he said.
Only for you...
They stayed on Sidiro until the sun went down on Sunday night.
For two blissful days they did nothing but make love, sunbathe, make love, drink, make love, eat delicious food, make love and dance. There were many people Helena remembered from their time on the island before and they welcomed her back like an old friend. The new people, she was sure, would one day feel like friends too.
All the worries left her shoulders just as they had three years ago. No wonder she had agreed to marry Theo and have lots of children with him here on Sidiro. They’d been cocooned in a bubble of happiness. The outside world had seemed too far away to be real.
Theo rowed them back to the peninsula, his muscular arms working the oars as adeptly as he did everything else.
Helena stretched out with her feet on his lap. If they interfered with his oar-stroking, he didn’t complain.
‘Can we go back next weekend?’ She held her breath while she awaited his answer. Theo had not given her his thoughts on the draft plans. If he hated them she would go back to the drawing board. If he liked them...
It could all be over by the end of the week.
Only the emerging stars gave the sea any illumination, but without the moon their radiance was not powerful enough for her to see the expression in Theo’s eyes. His pause before answering made her wary. It was a feeling she was becoming all too familiar with. For all the bliss that weekend, there had been a few occasions when she’d caught something in his eye, gone before she could really be sure she’d seen it, but powerful enough to send flutters of alarm off in her belly.
‘I thought you were keen to get home,’ he answered.
Home?
For someone who’d arrived wishing time would pass at the speed of light, she now wished she could bottle it and hold it in stasis.
Scared at how nauseous the thought of returning to England without him made her feel, she settled on, ‘It all feels very far away.’
‘What will be the first thing you do when you get back?’ Theo’s chest was tight. It had been tight the whole weekend. It had been tight since his return from Milan a week ago but had taken on unbearable proportions when Helena had asked if they could spend the weekend on the island.
He had been about to open his mouth and approve the draft plans.
If he had spoken first, they would already be over.
Call him selfish—Helena had called him that more times than he could count—but the thought of one more weekend with her had been irresistible.
She was silent for a long moment before answering. ‘I’ll visit my mum and see if I can convince her to leave my father.’
‘You’ve tried that before.’
‘It might be different this time.’
Theo felt her eyes on him and sensed she was talking about more than her mother.
He knew he’d changed a great deal from the man Helena had jilted but he also knew the possessive control freak still lurked beneath his skin. It itched to be set free. That man was the last thing she wanted. That man frightened her.
Steadily, he said, ‘I wish you luck.’
They’d reached the peninsula. Theo jumped out of the boat, helped Helena to climb out too, then hauled it up the beach out of harm from the tide’s reach.
Their footprints left indentations in the sand. Come the morning, they would be gone. There was a metaphor in that somewhere but right then he couldn’t think what it could be.
It was time to let Helena go. He’d known it since he’d pored over the draft blueprints in her office and felt a fissure rend his heart.
He should have let her go three years ago.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE SCOOTER WAS where they’d left it. Theo climbed on. Helena followed suit behind him and immediately wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek into the small of his back. He closed his eyes and savoured the warmth of her body against his. It would be for the last time.
When they reached the lodge he headed straight to the terrace. Elli had left a bottle of ouzo, a jug of iced water, two short glasses and two tall glasses on the table for him, as he’d instructed.
‘Drink?’
‘Just water for
