on the Karras family estate up north.’
‘Did the women order the kidnapper to kill me once they got the ransom?’ asked Isobel as he lifted her out of the jeep.
Luke held her tightly for a moment, kissed her fiercely, then set her on her feet. ‘If they did, they chose the wrong man to commit murder for them. Which is why he told me where to find you. Not that it mattered, because I had found you first.’
‘Thank God,’ said Isobel, and buried her face against his chest. ‘I confess that I was bit frightened, Luke.’
‘Enough to give you nightmares,’ he agreed as they went into the house. ‘I think I should guard you from them again tonight, ne?’
‘Yes, please,’ she said fervently as Luke bent to pick her up.
‘I can walk now.’
He slid an arm round her waist. ‘Like this, then.’
Isobel leaned against him happily. ‘Like this,’ she agreed with a sigh. ‘I had such a good time tonight, Luke.’
‘So did I, hriso mou. Are you tired?’
‘Just pleasantly so.’
‘Where would you like to go tomorrow?’
‘I’d like to explore Chyros properly,’ she said eagerly. ‘Since I’ve been here at the villa I’ve seen only quick glimpses of it. And the day you rescued me I travelled back to the villa rolled up in a rug like Cleopatra.’
Luke closed her bedroom door behind them and took her in his arms. ‘You shall do whatever you want tomorrow, Isobel, I promise. But tonight we do what I want. Tell me you want it, too, kardia mou.’
‘You know I do,’ she said honestly, her eyes falling before the blaze in his as he picked her up to put her on the bed.
Later, when Isobel was quiet at last in Luke’s arms, he lay with his face buried in her hair for a long time before he raised his head to look into her heavy eyes.
‘It was never like this for me with others,’ he said in a tone which melted her bones.
She heaved in a long unsteady breath, wanting passionately to believe him. ‘Nor for me, either.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘Though there have been fewer others by far in my life, Lukas Andreadis.’
‘I can tell,’ he said with satisfaction.
‘How?’
‘Because you are so plainly—and enchantingly—surprised by the joy we find together, ne?’
Surprised seemed hardly the word. Luke’s caresses had been revelations, not only in themselves, but in her wildly uninhibited response to them. ‘I said it was different with you,’ she reminded him.
‘Because I am a good lover?’
‘You want marks for your performance?’ she demanded, laughing, and he smiled smugly.
‘No. Your response was accolade enough, agapi mou.’
Isobel laughed again, and Luke rolled over, hugging her to him.
‘Now we sleep. Tomorrow we explore my island.’
And soon after that she would be leaving. Secure in Luke’s arms, Isobel firmly shut all thought of the future away and concentrated on the blissful present.
The programme Luke had mapped out was everything that Isobel could have wished for except that it made the time go by far too quickly. He took her on a tour of Chyros the next day, as promised, and drove up beyond the villa, following a road which wound up through olive groves and stands of pines. They passed a monastery, with a white dome glimmering like a pearl in its crown of cypress, and soon afterwards Luke halted on a promontory of rock near the highest point of the island, with a view of such beauty spread out below Isobel wished she had brushes and paint to capture it.
‘You can make a painting from here next time you come,’ said Luke, reading her mind.
Her face fell. ‘I won’t be coming back.’
He shook his head, the sun catching glints of gold in the bronze curls. ‘You will return for Alyssa’s wedding, ne?’
‘No, Luke. I can’t expect my boss to let me take more time off. And I need the job.’
He gave her a long introspective look, then started the car without further argument. Which left Isobel more forlorn than ever. A touch more coaxing would have been nice.
Over dinner Luke gave Isobel details of the conversation he’d had with Andres while she was reading on the veranda earlier. ‘I am sorry it took the entire afternoon, but there was much to catch up on with the airline, also with my freighters. And,’ he added dramatically, ‘Andres had more news of the Karras sisters. Loss of the ransom money, added to claustrophobia at being locked up separately, tipped them over the edge into insanity. They