engines running when I take time off,’ he assured her, and drank some wine. ‘Even Air Chyros, my new baby, has a specialist department to look after it and can therefore function without me for short periods. So,’ he added, ‘should you have a problem, just ring me and I can arrange for whatever help you need. But if you feel ill in any way tell Spiro to contact Dr Riga immediately.’
‘I’m sure I’ll be fine from now on. But I appreciate the thought.’
‘You value your independence very highly,’ said Luke indulgently. ‘Is there no man at all in your life, Isobel?’
Her eyes shadowed. ‘No.’
He shook his head. ‘Amazing. Why not?’
Isobel shrugged. ‘Because I haven’t met anyone remotely suitable lately.’
Luke’s eyebrows shot into his hair. ‘A cold attitude! A lover must be more than just suitable. Have you never met a man who makes your heart beat faster?’
Yes, but for entirely the wrong reasons. ‘I was in a relationship quite recently,’ she admitted.
He waited, but when Isobel merely drank her wine he stared at her in frustration. ‘So what happened?’
‘We broke up due to irreconcilable differences.’ She shrugged. ‘I wanted his friendship. He was fixated on my appearance. He just couldn’t see past it to the personality—and hopefully brain—behind the hair and eyes.’
Luke frowned. ‘But surely a man can be attracted by both your looks and your brain?’
‘Very few, unfortunately.’
Luke offered her a plate of olives. ‘You must eat well tonight to gain your strength. You are too thin, Isobel.’
‘I’m sure you were glad of that when you were forced to carry me around so much!’
‘Very true. Most ladies of my acquaintance are more generously built,’ he admitted, and smiled into her eyes. ‘In Athens I will think of you when you are eating alone here.’
Isobel shook her head. ‘You’ll be too busy.’
‘Not too busy to think of you, Isobel,’ he assured her, a gleam under the heavy, lazy lids she was getting to know. And suspect.
‘Amazing!’ she said, shaking her head in wonder.
‘What is amazing?’
‘How you’ve changed from the man who was so furious at finding me on his beach.’ She eyed him curiously. ‘If I had been just a sunbathing trespasser, instead of injured and unconscious, what would you have done?’
‘My usual treatment is a harsh lecture, after which I give the trespasser a swift passage back to the harbour.’ He eyed her thoughtfully. ‘I think I would have done the same for you, but that is very hard to imagine. Now.’
‘I’m sure you’d have sent me packing, just like the rest.’
He smiled indulgently. ‘I doubt it.’
Isobel took refuge in her wine. Unless she was mistaken, Luke really was showing signs of fancying her as one of his ‘pillow friends’. And because he’d rescued her from his beach and taken her into his home, he probably thought he had the right to expect it. Which would make for a very difficult situation when she refused. As she would.
‘You’re very quiet,’ he commented.
‘Anticipation of dinner. And here comes Eleni with it right now,’ she added, relieved.
‘Which I trust you will eat. Otherwise, you will be too weak to get back to your cottage before you fly home. Right, Eleni?’
The woman nodded vigorously. ‘Much better stay here.’ She patted Isobel’s shoulder as she left.
‘Eleni’s very sweet,’ said Isobel.
‘I shall tell her you said so. She will be pleased—she has taken a great fancy to you.’ He shrugged. ‘I have never brought a woman here. She is enjoying the experience.’
To Isobel’s irritation, this information pleased her. How silly was that? His social life was nothing to do with her. ‘You keep that side of your life for Athens, I suppose?’
‘That side of my life?’
‘The pillow friends and so on.’
‘By that particular term I mean those ladies who are happy to wine and dine and stay the night occasionally. I make my intentions clear from the start,’ he added deliberately, ‘so that no one is misled—or hurt.’
She seriously doubted that. Probably they all hoped that wining and dining—and a sleepover—would just be the opening bout for the main event of something permanent with a man like Lukas Andreadis, who possessed physical appeal, success and wealth as the triple layer of icing on the cake. A combination far too overpowering for Isobel.
After the meal Luke suggested she might like to sit in one of the reclining chairs beside the pool.
‘I would, indeed—’
Before the words were out of her mouth, Luke picked her up and carried her along the terrace to lay her carefully