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Still wordless, she nodded There was a breathlessness in her—a headiness that had nothing to do with the consu to do with Nikos holding her hand, leading her away

They went back out on to the wide marble terrace and down to the far end where, Diana realised, there was a flight of steps that would take them upwards to the roof

As they gained the flat surface she gave an audible gasp Only a very dim torch, lon, lit the top of the steps Beyond there was velvet darkness A darkness that was pierced only above their heads by a forest of stars, the incandescence of theh the floor of heaven

She lifted her hand ‘It’s as if I could reach up and pluck one down, they seem so close!’ she said in wonder

Nikos tucked her hand into the crook of his arh heels, into the centre of the wide flat rooftop, which was carpeted like a roofless open-air room Roofed by stars

The sky was like a bowl, inset with stars down to the horizon, or so it seees of the dunes, the jagged outlines of rocks and outcrops She gazed about her, lips parted, awestruck, tilting back her head

She di colu upwards too, his gaze sweeping in wide arcs to take it all in He started to name the constellations that were visible at these latitudes, at this season, raising his aruide her

‘It’s the hed, still breathless with awe

‘Do you want the telescope set up?’ he asked her, but she shook her head

‘No, for tonight this is enough—I can’t take it all in as it is’ She turned to face hiht!’

‘It is indeed,’ he said ‘And we can see them better still if we lie down’

He gestured to so that had not at first been visible to Diana, but noith her darkness-adjusted eyes, she saw that—incongruous as it -sized divan in the centre of the rooftop, presu down to see the stars Already her neck was aching with tilting her head upwards, and her feet in their high heels were scarcely prepared for long standing

Gratefully she let Nikos guide her, help her to ease down, to take off her shoes—not needed now—and then lie back on the myriad cushions piled on the silk-covered divan

‘Oh, that’s better,’ she said gratefully, able now to gaze straight up at the night sky

She felt the divan dip slightly as Nikos’s heavy form came down on the other side With half her h her— virtually side by side like this, all alone under the desert night sky, was not the wisest thing Then she brushed it aside This was an experience to beelse