The Greek's Penniless Cinderella

Immediately, with an oath, he brought his arms around her—arms that held her, drew her towards him, rocked her in his embrace, cradling her like a child.

His voice was no longer shocked, but concerned—comforting. Cherishing. He spoke to her in Greek, soft and mellifluous, and she couldn’t understand a word, nor hear it properly either, through the muffled sobs she stifled on his chest as her face pressed against it, her shoulders convulsing with her tears, her body shaking.

How long she wept, she didn’t know, but she felt the tears easing from her, felt a kind of washed-out, exhausted calm overcoming her. And still he talked to her, softly and gently, his hand smoothing her back, comforting and reassuring her, holding her close and closer still against him as her body cea

sed its shaking, started to slacken in his arms.

Exhaustion washed over her, thickening the air, her breath. Her tear-filled eyes were stinging, her eyelids drooping. Her eyes were heavy, so very heavy...her breathing was slowing, easing...

And then sleep—sweet, sweet sleep—folded over her.

* * *

Xandros stood by the sea’s edge, where the morning sun was bright on the water, his thoughts on the woman he had left sleeping in his bed—and not just any woman, not just one of his amours.

My wife. My bride. My virgin bride...

He felt his breath catch, felt the contours of his life changing, reshaping themselves. It felt strange. And strangely wonderful...

Footsteps crunching on the pebbled beach behind him made him turn. His face lit with a warm smile.

‘Kalimera,’ he said softly.

But his new wife—his bride—did not return his smile. Instead she paused in her hesitant approach towards him. He went to her, took her hands in his. She had put on a pair of turquoise shorts, a pink tee. Her hair was loose, she wore not a scrap of make-up—and she looked the most beautiful he had ever seen her...

He felt something turn over inside him.

But her expression was troubled.

He pressed her hands with his, compunction filling him. ‘How are you?’ he asked, with concern in his voice. ‘I am so, so sorry if I... If I hurt you last night. But...’ he took a rueful breath ‘...I simply didn’t realise...’

He saw colour fill her cheeks, flushing them, watched her gaze drop. Compunction smote him again. He drew her closer to him, dropped a kiss as light as a feather upon her forehead. Her eyes flew up to his again. Their expression was still troubled.

‘It’s me who should be apologising!’ The words broke from her. ‘For...for disappointing you!’

Xandros could only stare at her. Could she really mean that? He kissed her again, on the mouth this time, swiftly, but without passion—only with reassurance.

‘Never think that,’ he said firmly. His eyes held hers, intent with meaning. ‘Never. From now on we will take things at the pace you set. And when the time is right—when you are ready—then everything will be all right.’ He smiled down at her, his expression warm, his voice husky as he spoke. ‘I promise you, my beautiful virgin bride, that when you cry out in my arms again it will only be from ecstasy...’

For a moment that was timeless, endless, his eyes held hers, infusing that promise deep into her. Then, knowing he had said enough for now—knowing, too, that if he held her this close any longer he would not be able to resist kissing her with passion—he gave her hands one last squeeze and let them go. He knew with every male instinct in him that a passionate kiss was not, alas, something she could cope with right now.

In quite a different voice, light and cheerful, he said, ‘Time for breakfast. And today,’ he added, ‘we will simply—enjoy!’

* * *

Rosalie sat herself down at the table set at the front of the little villa. Maria bustled out with a tray piled high with breakfast.

‘As ever, enough for half a dozen,’ Xandros murmured good-humouredly as Maria disappeared again.

Rosalie gave a flickering smile. Xandros was being so nice—as cheerful and easy-going as he had been yesterday. Gratefully, she went with it. A sense of emotional exhaustion over anything else had taken her over, as if she just couldn’t cope with anything else right now.

Besides, the scent of new-baked bread and the rich aroma of freshly brewed coffee plucked at her senses.

‘Tuck in,’ Xandros urged with a wide smile, passing her the butter and a pot of golden honey.

She felt her anxious thoughts ease a fraction. He was showing her a way to cope with them, to cope with the tumult of feelings inside her. And she would follow the lead he was setting for her, would find her own way, her own path. Take her time. She would feel only the ease of being here, in this beautiful place, and enjoy all it brought.

She would enjoy her breakfast, enjoy the loveliness of this beautiful island, and enjoy the sheer pleasure of eating al fresco like this, with the sun sparkling on the azure sea.