Page 39 of Forgotten Greek Proposal
Theirs was the kind of relationship she longed for with Thanasis, a future she could feel them inching towards…
‘Are you still working for her?’ Kate asked, pulling Lucie back to the present.
‘No, I had to resign… Not that I remember resigning,’ she joked, even as her heart panged again at having had to walk away from the job she’d loved so much. Of all the expected guests at their wedding, Kelly was the one she was most looking forward to seeing. ‘But Kelly’s in London and I’m in Greece. It’s just not feasible for me to stay, and interior design is not a job that lends itself to home working.’ She glanced at Thanasis and, remembering his comment about no business talk at the wedding, gave a mischievous wink and said, ‘I might just ask Kelly at the wedding if she’ll consider expanding into Greece.’
He grinned, that gorgeous, gorgeous grin, and idly traced a finger around the rim of his glass. ‘You don’t need Kelly. You can set up on your own.’
‘With what? I’ve got no money.’ At the three identically shocked expressions, she laughed. ‘I’ve supported myself since I was eighteen. I earned decent money but living in London is hugely expensive. I think I’ve managed to save about two hundred quid in the last six years.’
‘I’ll be your backer.’
She blinked, completely taken aback. It would never have occurred to her to ask Thanasis, just as she would never have thought of asking either of her parents or any of her ultra-wealthy stepfamily. ‘I couldn’t ask that of you, but thank you.’
‘You’re not asking, I’m offering.’
‘And it’s a lovely offer but I’ve always had an aversion to being in debt—I borrowed a hundred euros off Athena once and she harangued me until every last cent had been repaid, and then wouldn’t let me forget how kind and generous she’d been to me.’ Those one hundred euros had been to cover Lucie’s share of the bill on a night out for her own birthday at an expensive club where Athena had insisted on taking her to celebrate it.
His smile and accompanying laughter didn’t quite meet the serious hue in his eyes. ‘We can discuss it after the wedding, but what I will point out now is that once we’re married, everything I have is yours, so you can never be indebted to me.’
‘No more boring work talk or I will get the baby photos out,’ Leander interrupted with a grin. ‘Now, who wants to try a Coquito?’
* * *
Was she drunk? Lucie wondered as she embraced Kate and Leander and thanked them again for a wonderful evening. She felt drunk, but notdrunkdrunk. Not like she had that night with Athena when she’d been fifteen. This was a different kind of drunkenness, one oiled a little by cocktails but fuelled by the joy of being alive.
In less than two days she would be married to this gorgeous man holding her with such secure rigidity to him as their tender sped them back to the harbour. He would be her husband and she would be his wife and the whole future would be theirs for the taking.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THANASIS’S CHEST HADnever felt so tight.
Far from their evening with Leander and Kate giving him space to breathe whilst enjoying Lucie’s company, all it had done was bind him closer to her. Bind him closer to the truth of her, which was that Lucie was the fiercest, funniest, most unique person in the entire world.
It was a truth that had been peeling away in slow increments since Lucie had screeched away from his house in utter distress, but he’d been too blind to see her anger for what it had really been. He’d seen what he’d wanted to see. Seen what he’d needed to see.
Too blind to accept the truth.
He’d been in love with her from the start.
He suspected she’d been in love with him from the start too.
They rode in silence back to the villa he already knew he could not imagine living in without her.
He needed to think and work out what the hell he was going to do. God damn it, they were marrying in two days.
Inside, she reached for his hand.
‘Thanasis…’
The emotions spilled over. Clasping her cheeks, he kissed her deeply, pouring into it all his passion and desire for her and selfishly helping himself to a taste of her passion and desire for him.
He broke away and gazed intently into the stunned black eyes. ‘I love you, Lucie. Now get some sleep and we will talk in the morning.’
He took the stairs two at a time, her dazed stare following his every step.
* * *
Lucie pressed her back to the nearest wall and her hand to her heart.
