Modern Romance February Books 5-8. Heidi Rice

she breathed. She knew his mother had abandoned him at birth. He’d never talked much about her, not even when they were young. “No one lives there anymore?”

      “My mother left the island right after I was born, her parents soon after. It seems they couldn’t stand the shame of my existence,” he added lightly.

      She flinched, her heart aching. “Oh, Darius.”

      “My mother moved to Paris. She died in a car crash when I was around four.” He shrugged. “I heard her parents died a few years ago. I can’t remember where or how.”

      “I’m so sorry.”

      “Why? I didn’t love them. I don’t mourn them.”

      “But your mother. Your grandparents...”

      “Calla Halkias died in a limousine, married to an aristocrat.” His voice was cold as he looked back to the ghostly ruin on the hill. “Just as I’m sure she would have wanted. The prestigious life her parents expected for her.”

      A lump rose in her throat as she thought of Darius as a child on this island, looking up at the imposing villa of the people who’d tossed him out like garbage. She didn’t know what to say, so she held his hand tightly. “Did you ever forgive them?”

      “For what?”

      “They were your family, and they abandoned you.”

      His lips pressed down. “My mother gave birth to me. I’m glad about that. But I wouldn’t call them family. From everything I’ve heard, they were a total disaster. Like...” He hesitated. But she knew.

      “Like my family?” she said quietly.

      He paused. “Your mother was a great lady. She was always kind. To everyone.”

      “Yes,” she said over the lump in her throat.

      “My yiayiá raised me. Our house didn’t have electricity or plumbing, but I always knew she loved me. When I finally made my fortune, I had the old shack razed and built a villa in its place. The biggest villa this island has ever seen.” Looking up at the ruin, he gave a grim smile. “When I was young, the Halkias family was the most powerful here. Now I am.”

      She noticed he’d never said if he forgave them. She bit her lip. “But, Darius...”

      “It’s in the past. I want to live in the present. And shape the future.” Taking both her hands in his own, Darius looked down at her seriously on the dusty road beneath the hot Greek sun. “Promise me, Letty. You’ll always do what’s best for our family.”

      “I promise,” she said, meaning it with all her heart.

      Lowering his head, he whispered, “And I promise the same.”

      He softly kissed her, as if sealing the vow. Drawing back, he searched her gaze. Then he pulled her back into his arms and kissed her in another way entirely.

      Feeling the heat of his lips against hers, the rough scrape of the bristles on his chin, she clung to him, lost in her own desire. He was her husband now. Her husband.

      He finally pulled away. “Come with me.”

      He led her to the end of the dusty road, through the winding cobblestones of the small village of whitewashed houses. On the other side, they went through a scrub brush thicket of olive trees. She held his hand tightly as the branches scraped her arms, and they went down a sharp rocky hill. Then suddenly, they were in a hidden cove on a deserted white sand beach.

      Letty’s eyes went wide in amazement. The popular beaches of the Hamptons and even around Fairholme would have been packed on a gloriously warm September day. But this beach was empty. “Where is everyone?”

      “I told you. They’re at the villa, getting ready for the party.”

      “But—” she gestured helplessly “—there must be tourists, at least?”

      He shook his head. “We don’t have a hotel. The tourists are at the resorts up in Corfu. So we all know each other here. Everyone is a friend or relative, or at least a friend of a relative. It’s a community. One big family.”

      No wonder this island felt like a world out of time. She felt her heart twist. Turning away, she looked around at the hidden cove with the white sand beach against the blue Ionian Sea and tried to smile. “It’s wonderful.”

      “You’re missing Fairholme,” he said quietly.

      She looked down at the white sand. “It’s been ten years. It’s stupid. Any psychiatrist would tell me it’s time to let it go.”

      “I miss it, too.” He grinned. “Do you remember the beach at Fairholme? Nothing but rocks.”

      “Yes, and the flower meadow where you taught me to dance.”

      “What about the pond where I tried to catch frogs and you always wanted to give them names and take them home—?”

      Suddenly their words were tumbling over each other.

      “The brilliant color of the trees in autumn—”

      “Roller-skating down the hallways—”

      “The secret passageway behind the library where you’d always hide when you were upset—”

      “Your mother’s rose garden,” Darius said with a sudden laugh, “where she caught me that time I tried a cigarette. My first and last time—”

      “And how Mrs. Pollifax scolded us whenever we tracked mud into her freshly cleaned kitchen.” Letty grinned. “But she always gave us milk and cookies after we’d made it right. Though it took a while. You weren’t very good at mopping.”

      “We always turned it into a game.”

      The two of them smiled at each other on the deserted beach.

      Letty’s smile slipped away. “But we’ll never see Fairholme again.”

      Darius stared at her for a long moment, then abruptly started taking off his shoes. “The sea should be warm.”

      She lifted her eyebrows. “What are you doing?”

      “I’m getting in.” He leaned over to unbuckle her sandals. “And you’re coming with me.”

      Barefoot, they went splashing out into the sea. Letty delighted in the feel of the water caressing her feet, then her calves and finally knees. She was tempted to go deeper into the water, to float her pregnant body in the seductive waves that would make her feel light as air. She took a few more steps, until the sea lapped the hem of her white sundress.

      Splashing behind her, Darius suddenly pulled her into his arms.

      As the waves swirled around them, he kissed her, and there was no one to see but the birds soaring across the sky. For hours, or maybe just minutes, they kissed in the hidden cove, between the bright blue sea and sky, beneath the hot Greek sun. He ran his hands over her bare shoulders, over her thin cotton sundress, as the salty sea spray clung to their skin and hair.

      Waves swirled around them, sucking the sand beneath their toes, as the tide started to come in. The waves crashed higher, moving up against their thighs.

      Finally pulling away, Darius looked down at her intently. She felt his dark gaze sear her body. Sear her heart.

      “Letty, the house we grew up in might be gone,” he whispered. “But we still have each other.”

      The lowering afternoon sun shone around the edges of his dark hair, making Darius shimmer like the dream he was to her.

      And it was then Letty knew the worst had happened. The doom and disaster. And it had happened more swiftly than she’d ever expected.

      She loved him.

      All of him.

      The man he’d