Husband By Request

She nodded. “Andreas told me I could have whatever I wanted, be it money or one of his properties. So until further notice I’ll be staying at the villa on Zakynthos.”

Andreas would be furious. Hopefully he would follow her there, where they could talk in private.

“If you’ll arrange for the helicopter to pick me up, I’m ready to go now.”

“It’s waiting for you.”

Naturally. Andreas had said he wanted her gone this morning.

Paul got to his feet. “You don’t want breakfast first?”

“No. I’ll worry about eating later.”

She reached for her things and walked out the door. Paul followed closely behind.

All was quiet as they climbed to the top deck. It was only seven-thirty a.m.—the beginning of another beautiful day. She made her way to the port side, where she could see the launch bobbing up and down in the cobalt blue water.

As she reached the bottom step Paul took her bags while Myron greeted her and assisted her into the tender. After handing her a life preserver he started the motor, and they headed for the shore in the near distance.

When they arrived at the pier Paul was kind enough to take her bags and walk to the helicopter with her.

Dominique refused to look back. From now on her motto was to forge ahead without entertaining negative thoughts, no matter if it killed her. She’d learned a lot in her battle with cancer.

There had been a time when she hadn’t thought she’d even be alive today. But by some miracle she’d survived those months of chemo—months she wanted to forget, because her body had been so drained and weak she hadn’t been able to lift her head off the pillow.

Now she was strong and healthy again, ready to fight another kind of battle that would test her emotional mettle.

As she turned to thank Paul, he surprised her by climbing inside after her.

“I’ll be fine from here. Andre

as will be waiting for you.”

He strapped himself in the seat behind the pilot. “I’ll accompany you to make certain there’s no problem.”

For some reason he was going out of his way to help her. She didn’t understand it, but she was grateful for it and had no right to question his agenda.

“Thank you very much.”

She proceeded to take her place in the co-pilot’s seat. Once she’d buckled up, the rotors whirred and she felt the helicopter rise into the balmy air.

Soon the yacht was only a tiny speck in the ocean of blue. She experienced a sharp pain at realizing she was flying away from Andreas once more. But this time it wasn’t out of his life. Not yet. Hopefully never.

With a feeling of déjà vu she found herself gazing out over the familiar scenery below on their flight south to Zakynthos, one of the largest islands in the Ionian. Before long it came into view.

Andreas had once told her that the Venetians, who’d ruled it for three hundred years, called it the flower of the orient. She could see why—especially from the air.

The eastern side was lushly vegetated, with many fertile groves of olive and citrus trees spreading to incredibly sandy beaches. The mountains on the western side, with their high-walled white cliffs, swooped down to the sea.

Andreas’s modern white villa lay hidden in the sparsely populated region to the north, where the steepest cliffs gave out on a breathtaking vista of Shipwreck Beach, with its crystal blue waters.

Soon she could make out the estate and the oval swimming pool. Dominique marveled at the pilot’s ability to set them down on the landing pad with the precision of an eagle coming to rest on a mountain crag.

She turned to Paul, who’d jumped down behind her to give her the bags. “I’m aware you’ve gone against Andreas’s wishes by helping me. Thank you for being my friend, even though it goes against your instincts.”

There was a moment where she sensed he wanted to say something, then thought better of it. She would have urged Paul to speak his mind, but she couldn’t with the pilot there.

In the distance she could see Eleni, the family retainer in charge of Andreas’s staff at the villa. She’d emerged from the east entrance of the house, spry as ever despite her advanced years.