He read her mind and his gaze darkened. ‘I won’t let him hurt you.’
‘You were the reason he hurt me last time. If you come here, you’ll attract attention. I don’t want you here again.’
He reached out, those long, strong fingers trapping hers. ‘I repeat—he won’t hurt you.’
‘And how do you plan to stop him? I’d rather rely on myself, thank you.’
‘The police questioned him and then released him. You haven’t been out of our sight for the past three weeks.’
The shock was physical. She snatched her hand away from his. ‘Our sight?’
‘I had to ensure your safety. As you pointed out when we last met, my actions put you in danger. The least I could do was fix that. He won’t touch you again.’
‘You’ve had me followed?’
‘For your safety.’
The thought made her grow cold. He’d had her followed and she hadn’t noti
ced. She’d been alert, on the look-out, but she hadn’t noticed. How could that have happened?
She looked around but no one stood out. There were tourists. A group of Americans. An English couple. A bunch of local men. Two giggling teenage girls. ‘How? Who has been watching me?’
‘You wouldn’t have seen them so stop beating yourself up for being unobservant.’
‘I’ve been looking.’
‘Takis only employs the best in his team. If you’d spotted them they would have been out of a job.’
Takis. Selene remembered how kind he’d been to her mother that day. How kind he’d been to her. ‘He’s...’ She sighed. ‘I liked him.’
‘I only employ the best, too. As I said—you don’t need to be afraid.’
‘I’m not afraid. And I don’t appreciate you interfering.’
‘You accused me of putting you in danger. You have to allow me to put that right.’ His tone was conversational. Casual. No one watching them would have guessed they were talking about anything more significant than the menu.
‘If you don’t want to put me in danger the best thing you can do is stay away.’
‘We’ll talk about it over dinner, Selene.’
‘No way.’
‘Last time we spent an evening together we had fun.’ He hesitated. ‘I want to see you again.’
The air left her lungs in a rush and she was so shocked she simply stared at him. Terrified that someone might have overheard, she didn’t dare look at anyone. ‘The last time we spent an evening together you ruined my life. And my name is Lena. I’ll fetch your coffee.’ She backed away from him, knocking into the table behind her.
The last time we spent an evening together we had fun.
Those words sent images rushing back into her head. Images she’d been trying to delete for the past three weeks.
She walked briskly back inside the taverna, shaking so badly she was convinced everyone would notice.
Fortunately they all seemed too overawed by the identity of their illustrious visitor to pay any attention to her pale face.
‘Everything OK?’ Mariana walked up to her, her cheeks pink from the heat. ‘It’s a hot one today, that’s for sure.’
A rowdy group of young men took a table near to them and Selene took a step towards them, but Mariana stepped in front of her in a smooth move.