water, surely, not the memory of him looking down into her eyes and cupping her face between his hands, telling her that there was nothing wrong with her, that she was a great many wonderful things. And that she was needed.
He wasn’t detached, no matter what he said. And he didn’t believe what his father had taught him, not deep down, she was sure of it. Why else would he hold her so gently? And give her such reassurance?
Why else would he be worrying so much about his brother, even now?
‘Everything Xerxes went through would have been for nothing...’
He carried guilt for his brother’s torture at their father’s hands; she’d seen it in his eyes. Guilt for his mother’s death, too, and no doubt guilt for his own treatment of his daughter as well. No wonder he clung to his father’s lies and detached himself so completely from his own emotions. They must have caused him such agony.
Anna blinked the moisture from her eyes, a ghost of that agony echoing inside herself.
Knowing all of this didn’t change anything, though. She’d wanted him to know that he wasn’t alone, and that was still true.
But what you feel for him...
She knew what she felt for him. She’d known it for days. Perhaps she’d even known it for weeks, ever since the night he’d made love to her in his office.
The decision she’d made the first morning here had taken hold: she’d fallen for him completely and utterly, and with no hope of return.
Not that falling for him changed anything either. No, it only made her even more certain that what she was doing was the right thing.
He was a lonely man with deep wounds and he needed healing, but they hadn’t talked about his father again, and the only connection with her he’d allowed was in bed, in that room overlooking the sea.
It was a start. She only hoped it would be enough of one.
Anna’s throat felt sore as the little boat turned towards the jetty, the waves glittering in the afternoon sun, and began to make its way back to shore.
Ten minutes later the boat was tied up, and Ione had leapt off, chattering at Anna about how she was going to be a pirate queen when she grew up and make people walk the plank. Adonis, leaping off after her, laughed and in a completely natural movement reached down to swing her up onto his shoulders, telling her that she would make a superb pirate, though he wasn’t sure about the plank-walking.
The pain in Anna’s throat worsened at the show of spontaneous physical affection, and not only that, but there was also laughter in his voice and in his eyes, his beautiful mouth turning up into a smile that took her breath away.
This was the man he should be. A man who looked as though he knew happiness. Who was relaxed and smiling, warmth radiating from him as he reached out his hand to her, and they all walked up the path to the house above the sea.
Not the hard, granite-faced king, but this charming, charismatic man. The man he would never allow himself to be.
It won’t happen. He won’t let it.
No, it had to happen. And if she loved him enough, he might...
They spent another couple of magical days on the island, Anna shoving aside her growing trepidation at returning to the mainland, trying to remain optimistic that the happiness they’d discovered as a small family would remain even after they’d returned to the palace.
Yet when the day came that they had to leave, and they were all in the helicopter flying back to Itheus, the trip was a silent one; even Ione was quiet. And the closer they got to the palace, the more Anna felt Adonis withdrawing. His features hardened, his powerful body tensing, those blue eyes becoming sharper, cutting. The smile vanished and his mouth became hard and unyielding.
The man he’d been on the island disappeared so completely it was as if he’d never existed.
She had no time to speak with him when they landed. The instant he got out of the helicopter he was surrounded by people, and he didn’t look at her or Ione once as they exited behind him. He didn’t glance around to see if they were coming; he simply strode along the path to the palace, deep in conversation with his aides.
Anna had hoped some sign of the man would remain, but it hadn’t.
The man was gone. All that was left