Dreaming Of... Greece: The Millionaire's True Worth / A Wedding for the Greek Tycoon / Her Greek Doctor's Proposal

Socus smiled at her. “What are your plans for today?”

Her gaze switched to Akis who sat across from her. “I’m going to leave the decision up to my tour director.”

His eyes gleamed over the rim of his coffee cup. “In that case you’ll need to pack a bag because we’ll be gone for a while. For the first couple of days we’ll lounge by the water to give your ankle a good rest. After that we’ll do more ambitious things.”

“That’s good for you to be careful,” Nora commented.

“I’ll make sure of it.” Akis finished his meal. “When you’re ready, we’ll leave in the helicopter.”

Raina took a certain pride in knowing she’d helped on the project that had tested it before it was ready for the market. Who would have dreamed she’d end up with Akis taking her for a tour in one he’d recently purchased for his business?

After eating some yogurt and fruit, she stood up. “I’ll just go put some things in a bag.”

Akis came around and handed her the crutches. In a few minutes they made their way out of the house to the helicopter pad. It was like déjà vu, except that this time Raina knew she and Akis were functioning on a level playing field where all that mattered was their mutual enjoyment of each other.

He helped her on board and propped her leg. Soon the blades were rotating and they were off. Raina hadn’t asked where they were going. The thrill of being taken care of by a good man was enough for her to trust in his decision making.

After a minute he turned to her. “We’re headed back to Anti Paxos.”

“That island must have great significance for you.”

“It’s home to me when I’m not working. En route we’ll fly over Corinth and Patras, old Biblical sites.”

“I get gooseflesh just hearing those names. My grandparents took me to Jerusalem years ago. We didn’t have time in Greece to see the religious sites. They promised we’d come back, but because of my grandmother’s ill health, that promise wasn’t realized.”

“Then I’m glad you can see some of the ancient Biblical cities from the air.”

For the next hour, the sights she saw including the islands of Cephalonia and Lefkada filled her with wonder.

“Do you recognize your birthplace?” he spoke over the mic.

She chuckled. “I thought I was born in Carmel, California.”

“Then you’ve been misled. The goddess Aphrodite was reputed to be born on Lefkada.” With his sunglasses on, she couldn’t see his eyes, but she imagined they were smiling.

“That put her in easy reach of Poseidon.”

“Exactly.”

Before long they circled Paxos and still lower over Anti Paxos before the pilot set them down on a stone slab nestled on a hillside of olive trees and vineyards. Through the foliage she could make out a small quaint villa.

Enchanted by the surroundings, she accepted Akis’s help as he lifted her to the ground and handed her the crutches. The pilot gave him her suitcase and purse to carry. They both waved to him before Akis led her along a pathway of mosaic and stone lined by a profusion of flowers to the side of the villa.

“What’s that wonderful smell?”

“Thyme. It grows wild on the hillside.”

The rustic charm and simplicity in this heavenly setting delighted her.

Once inside, she saw that the living room had been carved out of rock. A fireplace dominated that side of the cottage. The vaulted ceiling and beams of the house with its stone walls and arches defied description. Here and there were small framed photos of his family and splashes of color from the odd cushion and ceramics. She felt like she’d arrived in a place where time had stood still.

He opened French doors to the terrace with a table and chairs that looked out over a small, kidney-shaped swimming pool. A cluster of flowers grew at one end. Beyond it shimmered the blue waters of the Ionian in the distance. You couldn’t see where the sky met the sea.

She walked to the edge of the grill-work railing. “If I lived here, I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else. What a perfect hideaway.”

He stood behind her, but he didn’t touch her. He’d promised he wouldn’t, but the heat from his body created yearnings within her. “I like living in a cottage. It suits my needs.”

Unlike the penthouse, this place reflected his personality.

“How old is the original house?”

“Two hundred years more or less. If you want to use the bathroom, I’ll take your bags to the guest room.”

“Thank you.”

In a few minutes she’d seen the layout of the house. The kitchen and bathroom had been modernized, but everything else remained intact like dwellings from the nineteenth century. She adored the little drop-leaf table and chairs meant for two, built into a wall in the kitchen. On the opposite wall was a door that opened onto steps leading down to the terrace.

A room for the washer and dryer had been built in the middle of the hallway between the two bedrooms. He had everything at his fingertips. She sat in one of the easy chairs and put her crutches down beside her. Akis brought a stool over to rest her leg, then he went to the kitchen and started getting things out of the fridge.

“I’m going to fix our dinner.”

“If you’ll give me a job, I’ll help.”

“Don’t worry about it today.”

“Akis? I don’t know if you’ve heard the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but this cottage reminds me of their adorable house in the forest.”

“We Greeks have our own fairy tales. My favorite was the one our father taught me and Vasso about Demetros who lived with his mother in a hut much like this one was once. When I come here to be alone, I’m reminded of it. He fell in love with a golden-haired fairy, but she wasn’t happy with him and went away.

“Vasso and I must have heard that story so many times we memorized the words. Demetros would cry for the rest of his life, ‘Come back, come back, my fairy wife. Come back, my fairy child. Seeking and searching I spend my life; I wander lone and wild.’”

Strangely touched by the story she asked, “He never found her again?”

“No. She belonged to a fairy kingdom where he couldn’t go.”

“That’s a sad fairy tale.”

“Our father was a realist. I believe he wanted us to learn that you shouldn’t try to hold on to something that isn’t truly yours or you’ll end up like Demetros.”

That’s what Raina had tried to do when she first felt like she was losing Byron, who’d married her for money. It wasn’t until the divorce she’d learned he’d been unfaithful even while they were dating.

No wonder their marriage hadn’t worked. He thought he could have a wife, plus her money and another life on the side. Byron had belonged to his own secret world and could never be hers. Her choice in men before she’d come to Greece had been flawed.

As she glanced at Theo’s best man, she realized she was looking at the best man alive. The knowledge shook her to the foundations. “Your father sounds like a wise man,” she murmured. “Tell me about him.”

“He came from a very poor family on Paxos.” Ah, she was beginning to understand why these islands drew him. “My grandparents and their children, with the exception of my father, were victims of the malaria epidemic that hit thousands of Greek villages at the time. By the early nineteen-sixties it was eradicated, but too late for them.”

“But your father didn’t contract the disease?”