Читать книгу The Greek Wants a Wife: A Bride for the Island Prince / Georgie's Big Greek Wedding? / Greek Doctor Claims His Bride - Margaret Barker, Emily Forbes - Страница 14

“HI, MARK!”

“Hi!”

He got out of his father’s limo and hurried along the dock to get in the cruiser. Zoe’s brown eyes lit up when she saw him. The two fathers spoke for a minute longer before Alex joined them and made sure everyone put on a life preserver.

The prince piloted the boat himself and they took off. Excitement suffused Dottie, crowding out any misgivings for the moment. She found the day was too wonderful. It seemed the children did, too. Both wore a perpetual smile on their animated faces. Zoe pointed out more fish and birds as they drew closer to their destination. While they were communicating, Alex darted Dottie an amused glance.

She wondered if he was thinking what she’d been thinking. What if his daughter and Mark were to share a friendship that took them through childhood to the teenage years? What if … But she forced her mind to turn off and think only happy thoughts. The island of Aurum was coming up fast. She’d concentrate on it.

Somehow she’d assumed it shared many of the characteristics of Hellenica, but the mountains were higher and woodier. As they pulled up to the royal dock, Dottie had to admit her adrenaline had been surging in anticipation of seeing where they lived. When Alex talked about Aurum, she noticed his voice dropped to a deeper level because he loved it here.

He’d explained that the mountainous part of the island where the palace was located had been walled off from the public. This had been his private residence from the age of eighteen and would continue to be for as long as he retained the title of Duke of Aurum. She’d learned it had its own game preserve, a wildlife sanctuary, a bird refuge and a stable.

Somehow she’d expected this palace to resemble the white Cycladic style of that on Hellenica. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Through the heavy foliage she glimpsed a small gem of Moorish architecture in the form of a square, all on one level.

“Oh!” she cried out in instant delight the second she saw it from the open limo window.

Alex heard her. “This area of the Aegean has known many civilizations. If you’ll notice, the other palace leaves the stairs and patios open. Everything tumbles to the sea. You’ll see the reverse is true here. The Moors liked their treasures hidden within the walls.”

“Whoa!” Mark exclaimed. His eyes widened in amazement. He’d stopped talking to Zoe. Whoa was the perfect word, all right.

Dottie marveled over the exterior, a weathered yellow and pale orange combination of seamless blocks delineated by stylized horizontal stripes, exquisite in detail. The limo passed a woman who looked about fifty standing at the arched entry into a courtyard laid out in ancient tiles surrounding a pool and an exquisite garden. At its center stood a latticed gazebo. This was the garden Alex had referred to last week.

As he helped them from the car, a peacock peered from behind some fronds and unexpectedly opened its plumage. The whirring sound startled Dottie and Mark, but Zoe only laughed. It walked slowly, displaying its glorious fan.

“Whoa,” their guest said again, incredulous over what he was seeing. It was hard to believe.

Dottie eyed Alex. “We’re definitely going to have to work on the P sound.”

One corner of his mouth curved upward. He ran a hand over his chest covered by a cream-colored polo shirt. “Don’t look now,” he said quietly, “but there’s a partridge in the peach tree behind you.”

Slowly she turned around, thinking he was teasing her while he made the P sounds. But he’d told the truth!

Transfixed, she shook her head, examining everything in sight. A profusion of pink and orange flowers grew against the gazebo. She walked through the scrolling pathway toward it. Inside she discovered a lacy looking set of chairs and a table inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Dottie felt as if she’d just walked inside the pages of a rare first-edition history book of the Ottoman empire. This couldn’t possibly be real.

Alex must have understood what she was feeling because he flashed her a white smile. But this one was different because it was carefree. For a brief moment she’d been given a glimpse of what he might have looked like years ago, before he’d had a true understanding that he was Prince Alexius Constantinides with obligations and serious responsibilities he would have to shoulder for the rest of his life.

There was a sweetness in his expression, the same sweetness she saw in Zoe when she was really happy about something, like right now. But the moment was bittersweet for Dottie when she thought of the pain waiting for him back on Hellenica. A myriad of emotions tightened her chest because her pain was mixed up in there, too.

“Do you want to see my room?” Zoe asked Mark.

“I want to follow the peacock first.”

“Okay.” She tagged along with her new friend, still managing to carry Baby Betty in her hands.

Alex spread his strong arms. “Guys and girls. Human nature doesn’t change.” Dottie laughed gently, sharing this electric moment with him.

Porticos with bougainvillea and passion flowers joined one section of the palace to the other. The al-coved rooms were hidden behind. Zoe’s was a dream of Moorish tiles and unique pieces of furniture with gold leaf carved years ago by a master palace craftsman of that earlier civilization.

A silky, pale pink fabric formed the canopy and covering of her bed. Near a tall hutch filled with her treasures stood an exquisite pink rose tree. When Dottie looked all the way up, she gasped at the sheer beauty of the carved ceiling with hand-painted roses and birds.

Alex had been watching her reaction. “Your room is next door. Would you like to see it?”

Speechless, she nodded and followed him through an alcove to another masterpiece of design similar to Zoe’s except for the color scheme. “Whoever painted the cornflowers in this room must have had your eyes in mind, Dottie. They grow wild on the hillsides. You’ll see them when you and Zoe go hiking or horseback riding.”

She was spellbound. Her eyes fell to the bed canopied with blue silk. “Was this the room you and your wife used? It’s breathtaking.”

In a flash his facial muscles tensed up. “Teresa never lived here with me. Like my grandmother, she preferred the palace on Hellenica. She thought this place too exotic and isolated, the mountains too savage. This room was used during my mother’s time for guests. Since Teresa’s death, Zoe’s string of nannies have lived in here.”

Dottie couldn’t help but speculate on how much time he and his wife must have spent apart—that is, when they didn’t have to perform certain civic duties together. Separation went on in unhappy marriages all over the planet, but this was different. He’d been born into a family where duty dictated his choice of bride. Even cocooned in this kind of luxury only a few people would ever know, the onlooker could expect such an arrangement to fail.

As Dottie’s aunt had often told her, “You’re a romantic, Dottie. For that reason you can be hurt the worst. Why set yourself up, honey?” Good question. Dottie’s heart ached for Alex and Stasio, for Teresa and Beatriz, for Genevieve, for every royal who had a role and couldn’t deviate from it.

“My apartment is through the next alcove. The last section houses two more guest rooms plus the kitchen and dining room. There’s a den where I do my work. It has television and a computer. All of it is at your disposal for the time you’re here.”

“I’ve never seen anything so unusual and beautiful.”

“Those are my sentiments, too. You saw Inez when we drove in. She and her husband, Ari, head the staff here. There’s the gamekeeper, of course, and Thomas who runs the stable. All you have to do is pick up the phone and Inez will direct one of the maids to help you.”

“Thank you. I didn’t expect to find paradise when I came to Hellenica. I don’t think your brother believed me when I told him it really does exists here.”

“Paradise implies marital bliss. You’ll have to forgive him for being cynical over your naïveté.”

Alex’s comment bordered on mockery, revealing emotions too raw for him to hide. She shuddered and turned away, not wanting to see the bleakness she often saw in his eyes when he didn’t know she was looking.

“I’d better go check on Zoe.” She hurried through to the other bedroom, but there was still no sign of her.

Alex came up behind Dottie, close enough for her to feel the warmth of his breath on her neck. “I’ll give you one guess where she’s gone.”

“Well, Mark is pretty cute. She doesn’t know she’s playing with fire yet.” The words came out too fast for her to stop them.

“That’s true,” Alex said in a gravelly voice before she was spun around and crushed against him. “But I do, and right now I don’t give a damn. I want you so badly I’m shaking.” He put her hand on his chest. “Feel that thundering? It’s my heart. That’s what you do to me. I know I promised not to touch you, but I’m not strong enough to keep it. You’re going to have to give me help.”

The moment had caught her unaware. He had a slumberous look in his eyes. His mouth was too close. She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. Dottie tried to remove her hand, but found her limbs had grown weak with longings that had taken over.

“Alex—” She half groaned his name before taking the initiative to kiss him. When she realized she’d been the one to make it happen, it was too late to change her mind. Their mouths met in mutual hunger. She wrapped her arms around his neck, wanting to merge with him.

With one hand cupping the back of her head, his other wandered over her spine and hips, drawing her closer. The kiss she’d started went on and on. She desired him too terribly to do anything that would cut off the divine experience of giving and taking pleasure like this.

In the background she heard the children’s muffled laughter. She didn’t know if they’d peeked in this room and had seen them or not, but the sound was too close for comfort. Much as she never wanted to leave Alex’s arms, she slid her hands back down his chest and tried to ease away from him so he would relinquish her mouth.

“I heard them,” he whispered before she could say anything. Alex had the uncanny ability to read her mind.

“I hope Zoe didn’t see us.”

He sucked in his breath and cupped her face in his hands. “I hate to break this to you, but she woke at the last minute on the yacht.”

Guilt swept through her, making her whole body go white-hot.

“Every little four-year-old girl has seen the movie of Snow White. My Zoe knows that when Prince Charming kissed the princess awake, it was true love that worked the charm.”

What he was telling her now caused Dottie’s body to shake with fright. “You don’t think she really sees us that way—”

His handsome features hardened. “Who’s to say? In her eyes you’re her mommy. Zoe has never seen me kiss another woman. I have brought you to my castle. The way you and I were devouring each other just now has probably set the seal in her mind.”

Aghast, Dottie propelled herself away from him. “Then you have to unset it, Alex.”

“I’m afraid it’s too late. You might as well know the rest.”

She folded her arms to her waist to stay calm. “What more is there?”

“Sofia had a private word with me this morning before I left the palace. Just as Hector spies for my grandmother, Sofia is my eyes and ears where Zoe is concerned. It seems my daughter told her grandmother that you and I were leaving for Aurum today. But she told her not to cry. When we have the baby, we’ll bring it to see Yiayia