The Greek's Penniless Cinderella

He went on speaking, changing the subject, and she was glad.

‘Maria’s just serving some refreshments. You must be thirsty, I’m sure.’

She followed him up the beach into the welcome cool under a huge cantilevered parasol that shaded a table and chairs in front of the villa, where Maria was setting down a tray laden with coffee, fruit juice, water and a plate of syrupy nut-strewn pastries.

‘Eat,’ she instructed, and bustled off.

Rosalie gratefully poured herself a glass of juice, cut it with iced water, and knocked it back appreciatively.

‘Are you going to mortally offend Maria and not eat one of her pastries?’

Xandros’s laconic question interrupted her train of thought.

‘They look delicious, but I’ve been eating like a pig since...well, since I was let loose on gourmet food!’ Rosalie answered lightly. ‘I’ll be as fat as one too if I keep going the same way!’

Dark eyes washed over her assessingly. ‘I think that unlikely.’

Xandros’s voice was dry, and there was something about it that made her own mouth suddenly dry. She wished he hadn’t looked at her the way he had.

He doesn’t understand the impact he has—even just saying things like that.

The trouble was, it didn’t help her that he didn’t...

I have to make myself not react! I have to! Or I’ll never survive this honeymoon, never mind six months of being married to him...

In her head she heard yet again the brief, stark words he’d said to her last night before he’d walked away.

‘This was a mistake.’

Those were the words she had to remember.

The only words.

CHAPTER NINE

‘SO, DO YOU fancy a swim?’ Xandros pushed his empty coffee cup aside, drained his iced water and looked across at Rosalie. His breath caught silently. In formal daywear and nightwear she looked breathtaking, but in casual gear she looked every bit as stunning...

He got to his feet. A swim would be good for more than just cooling off and freshening up. It would take his mind off what he would like to do right now. Sweep her off her feet and into his bedroom—his bed.

But she wasn’t ready for that yet, and he was no clumsy teen, wanting to rush his fences. Their wedding night would come—but not now.

‘How about it?’ he asked, looking down at her.

She smiled and stood up. ‘Sounds wonderful,’ she said. ‘I’ll go and get changed.’

He did likewise, and five minutes later was at the water’s edge. He watched her come out of the villa, in a one-piece swimsuit covered in a beach wrap, her hair pinned up on top of her head. His breath caught again—she looked so lovely...

She also looked self-conscious, and with a gallantry he hadn’t known he possessed he gave her a half-wave, then waded into the water, executing a duck dive and surfacing into a powerful freestyle, heading out to sea.

Far enough out, he turned, treading water. She’d discarded her wrap and was knee-high in the water. ‘Come on in! It’s not cold!’ he called to her.

‘It’s gorgeous!’ she called back, and went on wading in, to chest height.

Then, lifting her arms, she plunged into a breaststroke and headed out towards him. When she was near she halted, rolling on to her back, slowly extending her legs and arms to keep herself afloat, closing her eyes against the brightness of the sun.

Xandros watched her offering her fabulous body to the sun, with nothing but the material of the turquoise one-piece between it and her nakedness...

Something quickened inside him and moved—something he had not felt before—as she floated, so still...so achingly beautiful.