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‘You just walked away too,’ he reh I thought of looking you up when I was over in London at least fifty times’
‘There’s never been anyone else for h I didn’t realise that until recently’
‘I fell in love with you on our first date You got drenched with sea spray and you laughed Every other girl I kneould have thrown a fit’
‘I’ the ease hich he could look back through those years and recall one tiny incident, incomment about the church on Lykos The idea that he loved her was beco second She s
‘I’ve sown my wild oats, but I didn’t enjoy api mou,’ Aristandros confided with blunt sincerity ‘I wanted a second chance with you I wanted to hear you say you’dstepfather I got a step closer to understanding why you were so unwilling to trust me When you threw that jealous scene after the Ferrand party, I was overjoyed, because that proved that you still had feelings for me just as I did for you’
‘So, what do you want now?’ Ella enquired tightly
‘All I really want now is more of e already have I’m very happy with you To be frank, I was disappointed that you weren’t pregnant I want to have a baby with you’
Ella released a happy sigh at the prospect and bea?’
Aristandros laughed with rich appreciation ‘Would tonight be too soon?’
Ella regarded hiht sky above ‘No; I’m available without appointment whenever you want’
‘I should warn you that I want you prettydown to press hisher slowly and skilfully until the blood druh her veins in a passionate response ‘It’s an effort to go away on business when I’ve got you in my bed’
‘I don’t want you going anywhere right now,’ Ella confessed, her hands curling into the lapels of his suit jacket at the o away froet married on the island?’
‘Yes And soon,’ he urged ‘Speaking as a guy as once engaged for about five ements’
‘Neither do I,’ Ella agreed fervently, while she busily thought about wedding dresses and Callie as a little flower girl, not to mention the provision of a baby to keep Callie cohts that her heart felt as though it was overflowing
Fourteen months later, Ella watched Kasma tuck Ari’s son and heir, Nikolos, into his cot
At threeXenakis traits of character He was very impatient, and screamed the place down if he wasn’t fed iry He truly adored an audience of female admirers and basked in their attention He was advanced for his age in size and developh he was likely to be as tall as his father, and he had definitely inherited his father’s heartbreakingly charismatic smile
These days Drakon Xenakis spent randson’s perfectly ordinary family life with Ella, Callie and the new baby It hat he hied to achieve with his own late wife and children, and he appreciated the commitment it took for such a busy couple to make it work
The house had been virtually rebuilt during the extensive renovations Ella had organised and was now a much more comfortable family-orientated home It had not been easy to live in the house while all the work had still been going on, particularly while Ella was pregnant, but with her ed
Jane had got divorced Theo was still in prison serving time for that final assault on his ex-wife, while Jane lived in a city apartment and enjoyed a healthy circle of friends hom she shared interests At least once a hter and, if both Ella and Aristandros were abroad together, she cae of the household
But actually Aristandros was travelling a great deal less than he once had and workedin part-ti an interest in the charitable endeavours of the Xenakis Foundation Just as Aristandros had gone to a good deal of trouble to ensure that business rarely parted them, Ella had been equally careful to ensure that her job didn’t steal too big a slice of her tiot the balance exactly right Plentiful help on the home front had been invaluable, and Callie currently attended a play group in town severalto the Athens villa to enable Ella to undertake a paediatrics course at the hospital