Kitabı oxu: «Greek Doctor Claims His Bride»

CHAPTER ONE

TANYA hurled the mop with the spider still clinging to it straight out of the window. It was a trick she’d learned from her grandmother when she had been very small and absolutely petrified of the giant spiders that had scurried along the floor of her bedroom.

“Just pick up a mop, dangle it over the spider and it will cling on, thinking it’s found a friend,” Grandmother Katerina had told her all those years ago, and it was still a good solution.

“Ouch!”

The sound of a deep masculine voice muttering a few choice Greek expletives rose up from the courtyard below her window. Tanya leaned out so that she could see the swarthy man beneath her and for a brief moment she thought she might be dreaming. It couldn’t be…no, the low evening sunshine was playing tricks with her eyes…Manolis Stangos was in London, not here on the island…wasn’t he?

“Tanya?”

“Manolis?”

“For a moment I thought you were Grandmother Katerina moving back into her old house.”

He was speaking rapidly in Greek as if to a stranger, none of the smooth, silky tones he’d used when they had been together all those years ago. Tanya ran a hand over her long auburn hair. She was sure her afternoon cleaning session had done nothing to help her jet-lagged appearance. A cobweb was still clinging to her hand but thankfully the large scary spider was now scuttling away across the courtyard.

“Thanks very much! I know it’s a long time since you saw me but I can’t have aged all that much. Anyway…” Tanya swallowed hard as she rubbed a dusty hand over her moist eyes “…Grandmother—Katerina—died a few months ago…”

“I’m sorry. It’s just that you were the last person I expected to see here.”

His voice was softer now. Tanya took a deep breath as she tried to remain calm. This unexpected encounter was playing havoc with her emotions.

“Considering it’s now my house, I feel I’ve every right to be here.”

“I’m getting a crick in my neck looking up at you. Aren’t you going to come down and check if you’ve fractured my skull with that mop, Dr Tanya?”

He smiled, and she could see the flash of his strong white teeth in his dark, rugged face.

“News filtered through to me in London that you’d qualified. I always knew you would in spite of…in spite of everything that might have stopped you.”

She looked down at Manolis and found herself relaxing.

“I’ll come down and check you out, although you could surely do that yourself, Dr Manolis,” she said as she turned away from the window, taking her time to negotiate the narrow wooden staircase.

By the time she’d reached the tiny, low-beamed kitchen, Manolis had come in through the open door. Nobody ever closed their doors on this idyllic island of Ceres where she’d been born. Doors were closed when you went out. That was to make sure a stray goat or donkey didn’t wander in and help itself to the food in the larder, but the key to the house was always left in the lock on the outside so that friends and neighbours would be able to get in if they needed to.

Meeting up with Manolis again after six long years had almost taken her breath away. She’d forgotten how handsome he was. Eight years older than her, he must be…what? Quick mathematical moment…thirty-six, because she was twenty-eight.

She remembered them celebrating her twenty-second birthday together. She’d just told him she was pregnant. She remembered how shocked he’d looked, how confused she’d felt.

“OK, are you going to check whether you’ve cracked my skull?”

“Sit down, Manolis. You’re too tall for me to check it when you’re towering above me, and you make me nervous.”

“Nervous?” Manolis laughed. “When were you ever nervous of me?”

He pulled a chair out from under the check-clothed table and sank down, spreading his long legs out in front of him. She remembered that as a child when the impossibly tall Manolis had come into her grandmother’s tiny kitchen he’d seemed to fill the whole room. She’d tried so hard to get his attention in those far-off days but he’d barely seemed to notice her.

“Keep still, will you?”

Her fingers were actually trembling as she smoothed back the thick black hair that framed his dark, rugged face. How many times had she run her fingers through his hair? And yet her reaction had always been the same. That sexy frisson she got from simply touching him. It travelled all the way down through her body and before she knew it her legs were turning into jelly, and as for her insides—well, that was almost impossible to cope with at such close quarters.

She sat down quickly on a chair. Her eyes were almost level with his.

“I can’t see anything wrong with your forehead. Not a mark on it. You’re just making a fuss about nothing.”

If she continued using her bantering tone she could cover up the fact that she was so deeply moved she wanted to give in to her impossible desire. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. She wished she could turn the clock back to the time when they’d been so deliriously happy, so madly in love.

Manolis stirred on the small hard chair, unable to believe that he was so close to Tanya again. He had to clench his hands to stop himself reaching out and pulling her into his arms. Desire was rising up inside him, that familiar stirring in his loins that wouldn’t cease until they’d made love again. But that would never happen. He’d known when she’d turned down his proposal of marriage for the second time that he would never try again. She was lost to him for ever and they couldn’t go back.

“I think you’ll live,” Tanya said as she resisted the temptation to place her lips on his forehead in the pretence that she was kissing it better.

For a moment she wondered how he would react if she gave in to temptation. She could try…but he had a hard look on his face now. The moment had passed.

“I’ve got to go,” he said evenly.

“Does your mother still live on the end of the street? Are you visiting her?”

He hesitated. “She still lives there. But actually I bought the house next to yours when I came back to Ceres a couple of years ago.”

“Next door? In Villa Agapi?” She drew in her breath. Agapi was the Greek word for love. She had just come to live in Villa Irini, which meant peace. Love and peace next door to each other.

“Manolis, are you here on holiday?”

“I work here on the island again. I wanted to return and it was better for…”

He broke off as the sound of a child’s voice came from the street.

“Papa, Papa? Where are you?”

Manolis hurried through the courtyard and stood by the open door that led to the street.

“Papa!” The little girl flung herself at him. He lifted her high into the air. She was laughing and screaming with delight as he lowered her into his arms.

Tanya remained absolutely still as she watched the joyous reunion of a little girl with her father. Her hands were clenching the side of the table to steady herself as she listened to the rapid non-stop Greek words that flowed from the child as she told her father she’d had the most exciting day. It emerged that she’d brought her papa a picture she’d painted at school but she’d put it down on a stone at the side of the path as she’d bent to take her shoes off because she hated wearing shoes when it was hot and the wind had blown it away and she wanted to paint another one now as soon as they got home because…

The story came out in one long breath. As she listened to the chatter, Tanya felt tears prickling behind her eyelids. This child, this beautiful little girl, couldn’t be much younger than the child she’d lost. Their child. She and Manolis should have had a child like this one but…

“Chrysanthe, agapi mou,” Manolis said, setting his excited daughter down on the cobbles of the courtyard. “Come inside and meet an old friend of mine. Tanya, this is Chrysanthe.”

The little girl hurried across the small courtyard and through the open door of the kitchen, smiling, friendly, totally trusting.

Tanya tried to swallow the lump in her throat. This wasn’t what she’d thought would happen today. It was all too poignant. Her confused emotions were draining her strength away. She reached out a hand towards the child.

Chrysanthe smiled as she placed her hand in Tanya’s. A pretty little dimple had appeared in the adorable child’s cheek. Who did she get that from? Must have been from her mother. The unknown woman who’d obviously taken Tanya’s place so soon after they’d split up. How could he have met up with someone and conceived a child so quickly?

“Do you live here, Tanya?” Such a lovely lilt to the lisping childish tone.

Tanya cleared her throat. “Yes. I’ve just moved in today.”

“I like your hair.” The little girl took her hand out of Tanya’s and reached up to stroke her auburn hair. She looked up at her father. “Daddy, why couldn’t my hair have been this colour?”

Oh, no, please don’t say things like that!

Tanya heard Manolis’s swift intake of breath.

“It’s very…unusual,” he said quickly. “You can’t…er…choose which colour your hair will be when you’re born. Sometimes the colour comes from your daddy and sometimes from your mummy.”

“My mummy’s got blonde hair but she says it’s out of a bottle. Could I get some of this colour out of a bottle, Tanya?”

“You probably could, but I prefer your hair the colour it is.”

“Like Daddy’s?”

Tanya swallowed hard. “Yes, like Daddy’s.” Her eyes met Manolis’s and she turned away to avoid the poignancy of this discussion.

“Did you have a good journey, Tanya?” Manolis said quickly, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

“I’m always relieved when I get here because it seems to take for ever.”

“Where did you come from?” Chrysanthe asked.

“Australia.”

“Australia? My daddy used to live there, didn’t you, Daddy?” The little girl had started to speak English now. “He told me all about it. It’s a long way from here, isn’t it? It’s got lots of croccy…What are they called, Daddy?”

“Crocodiles.”

Tanya noticed his voice was husky. He was reaching down and hoisting his daughter onto his shoulder.

“Your English is very good, Chrysanthe.”

“My mummy’s English. Are you English or Greek, Tanya?” The little girl looked down at Tanya from Manolis’s shoulders.

“I’m both—like you. English mummy, Greek daddy. But I was born here on Ceres.”

“I was born in England but I like living here best. Daddy used to bring me out to stay with Grandma Anna and all my cousins. I love being in my grandma’s house. It’s such fun playing with my cousins. Look, I can touch the ceiling! Daddy, I can touch the ceiling!”

“Tanya, I’ll take Chrysanthe away and we’ll leave you in peace. I’m sure you’ve got lots to do still.”

Peace! How did he ever think she could be at peace when there were so many questions to be answered? She’d come back here to escape her stressful life in Australia but had never imagined she would have to face the turmoil of the past. Yes, she’d come to find peace but that wouldn’t happen now, not while she was living next door to Manolis.

Manolis cleared his throat. “I know you’ve had a long journey, Tanya, but would you consider coming out for supper with me this evening?”

She’d never heard him sound so nervous. As if he was expecting her to squash the idea as impossible. Well, she had turned him down just before they’d split, only to bitterly regret it when it had been too late to change things.

“That would be after I’ve settled Chrysanthe with Mother. She stays with her when I’m on call. My mother has a huge bedroom—with plenty of room for her grandchildren—and they all love to stay there. We’re a very close family, as you know, and…”

His voice trailed away. He was looking down at her, his eyes betraying how much he wanted to see her again that evening.

“Yes, I’d like that. There are so many questions I want to ask.”

“Me too. So, I’ll call in about eight. We could go to Giorgio’s.”

“How is he?”

“His health isn’t too good but he sits in the corner and watches the rest of his family do all the work.” He turned away, one hand still holding onto the child on his shoulders. “Bend your head, my darling, as we go through the door.”

“Goodbye Chrysanthe. Come again to see me.” She meant it wholeheartedly.

“Ooh yes, I will. Daddy, I’m still taller than you. When I’m grown up I might really be taller than you. When you’re an old man I’ll put you on my shoulder and…”

The voices became indistinguishable as father and daughter made their way down the street. Chrysanthe was a beautiful little girl, but Tanya had never imagined that Manolis could have moved on so quickly after they had split up.

He’d moved on. She mustn’t dwell on it. She would remember only the happy times. She found herself wishing that little Chrysanthe was her child but stopped herself as soon as the thought occurred. No regrets. She had to move on with her life and not spend time wishing for the impossible.

Upstairs again, she ran hot water into the half-size hip bath in her tiny bathroom. As a child she’d loved to be bathed by her Grandmother Katerina when she’d been staying with her. She’d never dreamed that her grandmother would leave this house to her. Katerina must have realised how much Tanya loved it.

Tanya stripped off and stepped into the warm water. Mmm, it was bliss to lie back with the bath foam she’d bought in the airport shop in Sydney only yesterday. It hadn’t occurred to her that today she would be preparing to go out for supper with Manolis. Once more she had to remind herself that nothing had changed between them. And now that Manolis was a married man, the gap between them must remain wide.

She closed her eyes and smoothed some more foam over her skin as she leaned her head against the back of her bath…

* * *

Tanya woke with a start and her arms flapped around in the cold water as she heard someone calling her from downstairs. Above the bath she could see moonlight shining through the tiny little window.

Manolis stood downstairs with his hand resting on the wooden banister. “Tanya, are you OK up there?”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine.” She hauled herself out of the bath, spilling water onto the tiles. “I must have fallen asleep.”

Manolis heard the splashing water and had a sudden mental image of Tanya’s slim, lithe figure emerging from the tiny bath where Grandmother Katerina had often bathed him when he had been a small child and his mother had been too busy to cope as she’d fed the latest baby. He was sorely tempted to ask if he could join her upstairs but he knew what the answer would be. Still, a man could dream, couldn’t he?

He put on his sternest voice so that Tanya would have no idea how much she’d already affected him. “That’s a dangerous thing to do—fall asleep in the bath. You should never do that!”

Tanya was already climbing the narrow wooden steps up to her bedroom, clutching the towel around her. If it slipped and Manolis looked up through the rungs of the wooden stairs that connected the kitchen with the top floor…She glanced down as she stepped off the stairs into her bedroom but couldn’t see him below her.

“I know it’s dangerous but the bath’s so small my knees were up to my chin so it’s unlikely I could have slipped under the water,” she called breathlessly, as she searched for something to put on. Not the smelly travel clothes…how about these trousers? She pulled them out of her case along with new, lacy black knickers. They were to make her feel good, nothing to do with the fact that she was going out with the sexiest man on the island—in the world.

It took her barely five minutes to emerge from her room fully clothed in three-quarter cut-off denims, white T-shirt and flip-flops. She’d spent a lot of time swimming and running at the beach near the hospital just outside Sydney and rarely used make-up for a casual night out. She would blend in with the tourists in Giorgio’s taverna. And she knew for a fact that Manolis preferred a natural-looking face—not that it was any concern of hers!

He turned as she came down the stairs and in spite of his resolutions he whistled. “Mmm, you scrub up well, Tanya!” he said in English.

She laughed. “You haven’t lost the Australian accent you picked up, Doctor. Are you trying to make me feel at home?”

“Something like that.” He moved to the bottom of the stairs, placing his hands, which seemed to have a mind of their own, on her shoulders. For a brief moment he hesitated before pulling her gently against him and kissing her on both cheeks.

“Welcome home,” he said in the sexiest, most unplatonic tone. He hadn’t meant to inject all that warmth and innuendo into his words but spending five minutes waiting for Tanya, knowing that she was first naked, then semi-naked then…well, it had played havoc with his intentions.

She tried to move backwards to escape his arms but she was pinned against the end of the banister.

She took a deep breath as she prepared to ask the big question. “Manolis, is your wife with you here on the island?”

“We’re divorced. My ex-wife is in London,” he said evenly.

She pushed her hands against his chest, making it quite clear that she wanted to escape this potentially dangerous embrace. There were too many questions that needed answers before she could begin to relax with him. But the fact that he was a free man made the situation a little easier…no, it didn’t! Her emotions were already in turmoil.

“Let’s go,” she said quietly. “I’m looking forward to being back in Giorgio’s.”

She stepped out into the narrow cobbled street, terribly aware of Manolis’s huge frame close behind her. She wasn’t small by any means—her legs were long but she was quite short—so she’d always felt that Manolis towered above her. Glancing up at him as they walked together over the uneven cobbles, she missed her footing. He put out a hand to prevent her falling as she stumbled.

“Careful!” He took hold of her hand. The touch of his fingers unnerved her completely. “This part of the street is so dark,” Manolis said as he waved his other hand upwards towards the light at the bend in the street. “There! That’s better.”

White light flooded down over them. “I know every stone along this street. You’ll soon get used to it. How long do you intend to stay, Tanya?”

She gave a nervous attempt at a laugh. “Good question. The shortest answer is I don’t know. It all depends…”

“On what?”

“On how I feel after I’ve had some time here.”

There was a comfortable silence before Manolis spoke again. “The only thing is, if you didn’t have any plans to return to Australia in a hurry, I was going to put a proposition to you.”

She took her hand out of his. No! He wouldn’t propose to her again, would he? The clock could never be turned back.

As if reading her mind, Manolis said, “That was perhaps an unfortunate phrase to use. This is a professional proposition. You see, I’m medical director of the hospital here and we need another doctor because it’s the beginning of the tourist season.”

He paused and took a deep breath before continuing. “There is a hospital board of governors who have the final say when a doctor is appointed but I’m the one who assesses the medical credentials of a candidate.”

She was still listening, even appearing slightly interested. Well, he could but ask. “Would you like me to put your name forward?”

Tanya remained silent as she reviewed all the implications. Manolis walked on beside her, making absolutely sure that he didn’t touch her. He wanted to tell her that he would never propose marriage to her again. Two proposals, two rejections from the love of his life was more than any man could suffer. But they did need a good doctor at the island hospital and he did want to have her near him as much as possible while she was here. He had no plans beyond that.