From Dirt to Diamonds

She clung to his mouth, her hands winding up around his neck, holding him to her.

‘It’s a wonderful name,’ she said. ‘The best I could ever have!’

He pulled back from her a fraction, love blazing from him. For a moment they only gazed at each other. Then words were no longer necessary.

EPILOGUE

MRS ANGELOS PETRAKOS stood at the rail of the deck and glanced up at her husband. Love turned over in her heart. Angelos smiled down at her. The sea breeze ruffled his hair, and the rays of the setting sun bronzed his skin. Before them, the azure hues of the Aegean were turning molten, and the lights in the harbour on the distant shore were gleaming in the growing dusk. Warmth enveloped her—and not just the warmth of the Greek summer.

The soft chug of the yacht’s engine sent a low vibration through the hull as the boat made its slow way along the coastline.

‘Are you sure you want such a remote honeymoon?’ Angelos asked her. ‘We could easily put into port, if you prefer.’

Thea smiled. ‘I think your private island sounds idyllic,’ she told him.

‘I hope you like it,’ he said, that note of uncertainty still in his voice.

‘I like anywhere that you are,’ she said, and leant against him, feeling the lean strength of his body supporting her.

She lifted her glass of champagne to her lips, and Angelos did likewise.

‘Drink it slowly,’ he advised her. ‘It’s heady stuff.’

She laughed. ‘I will. I’m still very, very cautious about alcohol. But I do think—’ her eyes gleamed ‘—that on my wedding day I should risk a glass of champagne.’

He bent to kiss her. ‘And perhaps for breakfast tomorrow?’

Thea shook her head. ‘Orange juice,’ she said firmly.

He smiled fondly. ‘Then orange juice it shall be. Everything in the world that you want that is in my power, shall be.’

Her eyes lit with emotion. ‘Oh, my darling Angelos—I have very simple needs. I need only one thing in my life, now and for ever.’ She paused, fighting the sudden tightening of her throat. So much anger and bitterness and hatred and tears had gone by, and now all that dark past was over—truly over. Her life was beginning again—anew, afresh—and at her side was all she wanted. All she wo

uld ever want.

‘I only need you …’ she said.

He raised his glass to her. ‘You have me for ever,’ he promised her. ‘And my love for all eternity.’

‘And you have mine,’ she vowed.

She touched his glass with hers, and they drank a toast to each other, to their love together. A long, deep sigh escaped her, rich with happiness. Angelos’s arm wrapped around her shoulder and they stood, side by side, gazing out across the sea towards their future together.

* * * * *