Christmas Eve Marriage
Lowering the cup, she smiled at Rhys, a wide, warm smile that lit up her face and left him looking oddly startled for a moment. ‘I’ve been fantasising about this all morning!’
He raised a brow. ‘Nice to meet a woman whose fantasies are so easily satisfied!’ he said dryly.
His eyes were an unusual greenish-grey colour, their paleness striking in his brown face. Thea was surprised that she hadn’t noticed them before, and, distracted, it took her a moment to register what he had said.
A faint flush stained her cheeks when she did, and she made herself look away. ‘Some of them, anyway.’
There was a pause while Thea drank her coffee and gazed studiously at the view, wishing she could think of something to say.
The sudden silence was interrupted, much to her relief, by Sophie and Clara, bearing breakfast. Bread and jam were laid carefully on the table, along with some ripe peaches, a pot of Greek yoghurt and some honey.
‘This looks wonderful, Sophie,’ said Thea, although she was fairly sure that her practical niece had taken a leading role in procuring the lavish spread. Sophie had that pale, thin look of a child with no interest in food. ‘Thank you so much.’
Sophie hunched a shoulder in acknowledgment and resumed her slumped posture on the chair, but Thea noticed that, beneath her fringe, her eyes were alert as she watched them tucking into breakfast with relish.
Rhys watched them too, with quiet amusement. ‘It’s a pleasure to see girls with such healthy appetites,’ he said as Thea poured honey over a bowlful of yoghurt, handing it to Clara before preparing one of her own.
‘We’re very hungry,’ she said a little defensively. ‘We haven’t eaten since the meal on the plane, have we, Clara?’
Clara shook her head, her mouth full. ‘This is so good,’ she said when she could. ‘Can we have yoghurt and honey for breakfast every day?’
‘Sure,’ said Thea. ‘We’ll get some when we replace everything we’ve eaten now.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ said Rhys, resigned. ‘I bought most of it for Sophie, anyway. I thought it would be good to have a real Greek breakfast, but she won’t touch it, will you?’ he added to his daughter.
Sophie’s lower lip stuck out. ‘Mum doesn’t eat dairy products, so why should I have to?’
‘No dairy products?’ Thea stared at her, appalled. ‘No cheese? No milk? No butter?’
‘Or red meat or potatoes or bread or salt…’ Rhys said, sounding tired.
That was Thea’s entire diet out of the window then. ‘Chocolate? Biscuits?’ She didn’t even think it was worth mentioning alcohol.
His smile twisted. ‘You’re kidding, aren’t you? Lynda’s permanently on some faddy diet or another. She’s obsessive about every mouthful.’
No wonder Sophie had looked so surprised when she saw them guzzling breakfast. Imagine having that kind of self-control.
‘She must have a lovely figure,’ said Thea, wishing she hadn’t had quite such a large bowl of yoghurt.
Sophie nodded. ‘She does.’
‘I think she’s too thin,’ said Rhys.
Thea tried to imagine anyone saying that about her. The thing about Thea is she’s just too thin. No, it just didn’t sound right. Totally unconvincing, in fact. A bit like saying, The thing about George Clooney is he’s just too ugly.
On the other hand, it sounded as if Rhys might actually prefer his women to have a few more curves than a stick insect. That was good.
Whoops, where had that thought come from? Thea caught herself up guiltily. She wasn’t the slightest bit interested in how he liked his women.
‘I wish I had that kind of self-discipline,’ she said with a sigh. ‘I’m always trying to diet, but I’m lucky if I make it to lunch without devouring a packet of Hob Nobs to make up for just a grapefruit for breakfast.’
‘You don’t need to diet,’ Clara leapt in loyally. ‘Mum says you’re silly to worry about your weight. She says you’ve got a sexy figure and men much prefer that to thin girls.’
‘Clara!’ Mortified, Thea tried to kick her under the table.
‘Well, she does,’ insisted Clara, and then made things a million times worse by turning to Rhys. ‘It’s true, isn’t it?’
‘Clara…’
Unperturbed by the directness of the question, Rhys had turned and was studying Thea. ‘I think your mother’s right,’ he said, straight-faced, and Clara sat back, satisfied.
‘See?’ she said to Thea, who was blushing furiously.
‘If you’ve finished your breakfast, maybe you’d like to go and have a swim?’ she suggested through her teeth.
‘Cool!’ Clara leapt to her feet. ‘Come on, Sophie.’
Sophie looked warily at her father. ‘Can I go?’
‘Of course,’ he said, and she slid off her chair and ran after Clara.
Thea buried her burning face in her coffee cup, but when she risked a glance at him saw that the disconcerting eyes were green and light with amusement.
‘Is she always that direct?’
‘If I didn’t love her so much, I could kill her sometimes!’ Thea gave in and laughed. ‘She can be disastrously honest, and if she likes you she’ll stop at nothing to get you what you want—or what she thinks you need!’
She shook her head ruefully. ‘Clara’s like her mother that way. They’re both so determined, it’s often easiest just to give in and do as they say!’
A smile twitched at the corner of Rhys’s mouth. ‘What if they don’t like you? Does it work the other way?’
‘Unfortunately, yes.’ Thea’s own smile faded as she remembered how much Nell and Clara had disliked Harry. She had never been able to understand that. Harry was so good-looking and charming. How could anyone not like him?
‘I’d keep on her good side if I were you,’ she said to Rhys, and the intriguing dent at the corner of his mouth deepened in amusement.
‘I’ll remember that. Now, how about some fresh coffee?’ He picked up the cafetière and waved it tantalisingly.
‘Well…’ She didn’t want to seem too greedy.
‘Go on, fulfil those fantasies! You know you want it,’ he tempted her, and smiled at her, a swift and totally unexpected smile that illuminated his face and left Thea with the peculiar sensation of having missed a step as her breath stumbled.
She swallowed. ‘That would be lovely.’
The coffee smelt just as good as before when he came back, but this time Thea was less easily distracted by it. She found herself studying him under her lashes instead as he sat back in his chair, hands curled around his cup, watching the girls in the pool.
He wasn’t that attractive, not really. He was compactly-built and obviously fit, and he had that air of toughness and confidence she associated with men who spent most of their life outdoors. He had mentioned working in the desert, and Thea could imagine him in a wild setting like that, unfazed by the heat and the emptiness of the elements as he narrowed his eyes at the far horizon.
Of course, it might just be the tan that made her think that.
Her gaze dropped to his hands, and the memory of how his palm had felt touching hers was enough to send a tiny shiver down her spine. Yes, nice hands, nice eyes.
Nice mouth, too, now she came to think of it. Cool and firm looking, with just a hint of sensuousness about the bottom lip. It was a shame it seemed normally set in such a stern line, but the effect when he smiled was literally breathtaking.
Hmm.
Thea was uneasily aware that her hormones, long fixated on Harry, were definitely stirring and taking an interest. Odd. She frowned slightly. Rhys wasn’t her type at all. He couldn’t have been more different from Harry.
She shifted in her chair, trying to shake the feeling off. Maybe it was the sleepless night catching up on her, she thought hopefully, although she was definitely feeling better after that breakfast.
‘Listen!’ Rhys sat forward suddenly, startling Thea out of her thoughts.
‘What?’
‘Sophie’s laughing.’
CHAPTER TWO
THERE was such an odd note in his voice that Thea looked to where the two little girls were running around the pool and dive-bombing with much shrieking and giggling.
‘They’ll be inseparable now,’ she said. ‘I’m afraid you won’t see nearly so much of her.’
‘I don’t mind as long as she’s happy.’
Something about his expression made Thea’s heart twist. Underneath that tough exterior, he was clearly vulnerable about his daughter. He struck her as the kind of man who would dismiss emotions as ‘touchy feely’, but it was easy to see that he loved Sophie desperately and was bothered more than he cared to admit by his inability to bond with her.
And Sophie obviously wasn’t making it easy for him. Remembering that sullen expression and the stubborn set to that little chin, Thea couldn’t help feeling that he had a long way to go. She felt sorry for him.
Which was much better than feeling disturbed by him.
Draining her coffee, she pushed back her chair. ‘Thank you so much for breakfast,’ she said gratefully. ‘I feel as if I can face that awful drive now that I’ve got some caffeine inside me. I was dreading getting back in the car again.’
‘If it’s any help, I’m going down myself in a bit,’ he said casually, getting to his feet at the same time. ‘We need to stock up as well, so I could give you a lift if you really don’t like the idea of driving.’
She really didn’t, but Thea hesitated. ‘That would be wonderful,’ she said, trying not to sound too eager. ‘I feel as if I’d be exploiting you, though. So far you’ve provided breakfast and coffee, and all I’ve done is wake you up in the middle of the night and crash into your car. It’s rather a one-sided relationship, isn’t it?’ she joked a little uneasily.
For answer, Rhys cocked his ear in the direction of the pool where the girls could be heard giggling together. ‘That’s the first time Sophie has laughed in a week,’ he said simply. ‘She actually sounds as if she’s enjoying herself. A pot of yoghurt, a cup of coffee and a lift into town when I was going anyway doesn’t seem much compared to that.’
‘Well, if you’re sure…’ Thea let herself be persuaded. Pride had never been her strong point anyway, and there was no point in both of them driving down that road again, was there?
‘That’s settled then,’ said Rhys briskly. ‘If I can persuade the girls out of the pool, will you be ready to leave in half an hour?’
‘Half an hour’s fine,’ she said, calculating that would give her plenty of time to change. She wasn’t sitting next to Rhys in these shorts, that was for sure.
Oh, to have lovely long, slender thighs that you could flaunt without worrying about how they would look splayed out over the passenger seat. The only alternative was to sit with her feet braced to keep the weight off her thighs, and that drive was stressful enough as it was. The last thing she needed was the added anxiety of keeping cellulite under control.
Not that there was any reason to suppose that Rhys would even notice what her thighs were doing.
Or for her to care whether he did or not.
It was just habit, Thea told herself, frantically dragging clothes out of her case. She had been in no state to unpack when they arrived in the early hours, and now everything was disastrously crumpled. She was used to constantly fretting about her appearance with Harry, who was supercritical and forever remembering how beautifully groomed Isabelle was.
The thought of Harry and Isabelle made her wince, but it wasn’t that awful lacerating pain it had once been. The realisation made Thea pause. Perhaps Nell had been right when she said a change of scenery was what Thea needed.
‘There’s no point in moping around while you wait for Harry to make up his mind,’ her sister had said. ‘Go somewhere different. Think about something different.’
Like the smile in Rhys’s eyes and the feel of his hand touching hers.
Thea went back to pulling clothes out of her case, but more slowly. Yes, maybe Nell had a point. Coming out to Crete in Nell’s place had forced her out of her rut. It had been so long since she had been anywhere new, met anyone new, thought about anything other than Harry that her reactions were all over the place.
That would explain her peculiar physical reaction to Rhys, wouldn’t it? She wasn’t attracted to him. No, she was simply adjusting to the unfamiliar, and obviously lack of sleep—not to mention acute caffeine deprivation—hadn’t helped her behave normally.
Still, that was no reason not to look her best. She would feel more herself when she was properly dressed. But in what?
‘Dress or skirt and top?’ Thea held the alternative outfits up for Clara’s inspection when her niece appeared, still dripping from the pool.
Clara considered. ‘The dress is pretty, but it’s all creased.’
‘Linen’s supposed to look a bit creased,’ said Thea, relieved to have had the decision made for her. Clara had her mother’s taste and even as a very little girl her opinion had been worth having.
Tossing aside the skirt and top, she rummaged around in her case for a pair of strappy sandals. ‘It’s part of its charm.’
‘Are we going out?’
‘Didn’t Rhys tell you? He’s giving us a lift to the supermarket in that town we passed.’
Clara eyed her aunt suspiciously. ‘Why are you getting dressed up to go shopping?’
‘I’m only putting on a dress!’ Thea protested.
‘And you’ve got lipstick on.’
Trust Clara to notice that. ‘I often wear lipstick. It doesn’t mean anything.’
‘Rhys is nice, isn’t he?’
It was Thea’s turn to look suspicious at the airy change of subject. ‘He seems nice, yes.’
‘Do you think he’s good-looking?’
‘He’s OK,’ said Thea. Nothing like Harry, of course, but yes, definitely OK.
She didn’t want Clara matchmaking, though. Her niece didn’t like Harry and was tireless in suggesting alternative boyfriends—encouraged by her mother, Thea thought darkly. If Clara got it into her head that Rhys would do for her aunt, she would be shameless in promoting their relationship, and Thea could foresee huge potential for embarrassment.
‘Sophie says he’s really cross the whole time,’ Clara was continuing artlessly, ‘but he didn’t seem cross to me. He’s got lovely smiley eyes.’
Thea didn’t feel like admitting that she had noticed his eyes herself. ‘Really?’ she said discouragingly instead.
‘Maybe he could be your boyfriend?’ Clara suggested, evidently deciding to go for the direct approach after all. ‘Sophie says he hasn’t got a girlfriend.’
Thea filed that little piece of information away to consider when her niece’s gimlet eyes weren’t fixed upon her.
‘I’m not looking for a boyfriend,’ she said firmly. ‘You know I’m still in love with Harry. You don’t get over somebody just like that.’
Clara set her chin stubbornly. ‘Rhys would be much better for you than Harry,’ she said, sounding so like her mother that Thea was quite taken aback.
‘Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m afraid he’s not really my type,’ she said, wishing that Clara would go so that she could check her make-up.
Just because Rhys wasn’t her type didn’t mean she should let standards slip.
‘I think you should give him a try. I’m sure he’d be nicer to you than Harry.’
‘Clara, we’re going shopping not embarking on a new relationship, all right? And if you dare say anything like that to Rhys or Sophie, I’ll…I’ll be very cross,’ she finished in a threatening voice that had absolutely no effect on her niece, who grinned and skipped out of the room to change out of her wet swimming costume.
Without making any promises at all, Thea noticed.
Rhys had hired a sturdy 4x4 which dwarfed the tinny little model Thea had driven up the road in the small hours. She eyed its gleaming exterior nervously. It looked like an expensive car to repair.
‘Did I do any damage last night?’
‘Barely a scratch, in spite of all that noise,’ said Rhys, giving the bonnet an affectionate slap, much as he might pat a horse. ‘She’s solid as anything. It might be worth checking your own bumpers, though.’
‘I’ll do that when we get back,’ said Thea vaguely, with no intention of doing anything of the kind. She would worry about any damage when she returned the car. For now, she would be quite happy if she didn’t have to go anywhere near it for the next two weeks.
Thea enjoyed the drive much more than she had expected to. It was wonderful not having to worry about the lack of safety barriers or the precipitous drops, or being responsible for getting the car round each of the tortuous bends. She could sit back, relax and enjoy the view.
Or she would have been able to if only she could stop her eyes drifting over to Rhys. He was an incredibly calm and reassuring driver. Unlike her, he didn’t get his gears muddled up. He didn’t shout at the car or swear or panic about which side of the road he was supposed to be driving on. He just sat there, hands sure and steady on the steering wheel, and Thea felt utterly safe in a way she never had with Harry, who drove a flash model and couldn’t bear to have another car on the road in front of him.
Rhys was the kind of person you wanted to be sitting next to on a plane when both pilots went down with some mysterious disease and all the passengers were left to panic. Thea had seen a late-night movie like that once. Everyone flapped around and in the end the heroine had to get the plane down, but if Rhys had been there things would have been different. He would have taken over the controls and calmly landed the plane.
Of course, it wouldn’t have made for such an exciting movie.
On the other hand, if the director added in fizzing sexual tension between Rhys and the heroine, who probably bore an uncanny resemblance to Thea herself, it might work. The two of them could end up shut in a room together—quarantine, Thea decided, blithely disposing of all the other passengers—and someone would have made a mistake so there was just a double bed and neither of them would have any pyjamas with them, naturally, and Rhys would say, Well, no point in wasting it, is there? At which point she…
Good grief, what was she thinking about? Thea jerked herself back from the brink of fantasy just in time. For a moment there she had felt quite…hot.
This getting-out-of-a-rut business was doing very odd things to those hormones of hers. From having their interest piqued earlier over breakfast, they were now standing up, putting on their lipstick and patting their hair into place, ready for action.
Down, girls, Thea told them sternly. Concentrate on the view instead.
Fortunately, Clara was chatting away with her usual disarming friendliness in the back seat. Thea herself felt too shaky to carry on a conversation. It was all she could do to stare unseeingly out of the window and will her hormones to relapse into lethargy once more.
‘Don’t worry, we’ll be there soon.’ Rhys’s voice made her start.
‘What?’
He smiled. ‘You’re looking a bit nervous. The worst of the road is over now.’
‘Oh. Right. Yes.’ Thea cleared her throat. ‘I suppose I was a bit nervous.’
That was true enough, but it wasn’t about the lack of safety barriers.
Once at the supermarket, they split up. Sophie trailed listlessly behind her father, responding to his suggestions about what she would like to eat with her usual hunched shoulder.
‘Whatever,’ was all she would say, while Clara and Thea puzzled over the Greek alphabet.
‘We’ll just have to go by the pictures,’ said Thea, tossing what she hoped was a tin of tuna into the trolley. It was either that or pilchards.
‘I think Rhys really likes you,’ whispered Clara in a stage whisper. ‘I saw the way he was smiling at you in the car.’
‘Shh!’ Thea glared at her, pointing frantically to indicate that Rhys and Sophie might be in the next aisle.
‘We should invite them to dinner,’ Clara pursued in the same stage whisper, ignoring her.
Thea closed her eyes briefly. ‘Clara, I really don’t think—’
‘To thank them for breakfast and giving us a lift,’ Clara added innocently. ‘I’m sure Mum would say we should.’
She would, too. ‘We’re on holiday. We don’t want to spend a lot of time cooking,’ said Thea, conscious that she was fighting a losing battle.
‘I’ll help you. We just need to make something simple. Sophie says her dad’s always going on about how he likes home cooking, but he can only do about three things himself. He’d probably really like it if you cooked something for him.’
In the end, Thea gave in to shut Clara up. She knew quite well that her niece had visions of whisking Sophie away so that she and Rhys would be left sharing a romantic dinner for two on the terrace in the dark, with just the stars for company.
Put like that, it didn’t sound too bad, did it? Thea’s hormones rustled with something dangerously like excitement at the thought. They were completely out of order today.
Besides, Clara was right. A meal in return for all Rhys’s help was the least she could offer. She would make the invitation very casual. If he didn’t want to come, she would have done her duty and she could tell Clara that Rhys wasn’t really interested.
But when she mentioned it, as casually as she could, Rhys didn’t even put up a token show of reluctance. ‘That sounds great,’ he said. ‘We’d like that, wouldn’t we, Sophie?’
‘Better than eating with stupid Damian and Hugo,’ she muttered.
Thea raised her brows at Rhys, who was looking uncomfortable at his daughter’s lack of manners. ‘Damian and Hugo?’
‘The two boys in the other villa,’ he explained. ‘The Paines are here for three weeks as well. They’ve been very hospitable all week, a little too hospitable as far as Sophie’s concerned. They’re always asking us over for meals.’
‘You don’t like them either,’ said Sophie sullenly.
‘That’s not true,’ he protested, although not very convincingly, Thea thought.
They were sitting at a taverna in the village square, under the shade of an enormous plane tree. The shopping had been safely stashed in the car, and Thea was starving again. When Rhys had suggested lunch she had agreed with alacrity and had ordered souvlaki and chips with an enormous Greek salad, reasoning that it was too late to start pretending that a lettuce leaf was all she usually had for lunch, with perhaps a low fat yoghurt if she was indulging herself.
‘Well, Clara and I are very honoured that you’d rather eat with us than Hugo and Damian, Sophie,’ she said lightly, and Sophie hung her head.
‘Yes, I would. Thanks,’ she mumbled from behind her hair.
‘It’ll be great,’ said Clara. ‘Can Sophie and I go shopping?’
‘Shopping?’ Thea stared at her niece. ‘Where?’
‘They had some postcards at the supermarket.’
Thea strongly suspected that Clara was concocting an excuse to leave her alone with Rhys, but she could hardly accuse her of that now. She contented herself with a meaningful look.
‘All right, but don’t be too long, and stay together.’
‘OK. Come on, Sophie.’
She bore Sophie off on a wave of enthusiasm that poor Sophie was powerless to resist, and Thea and Rhys were left alone.
There was a slightly awkward silence. For some reason Thea’s nerve endings were on alert, only amber so far, perhaps, but with those treacherous hormones egging them on Thea couldn’t discount the alarming possibility that they would suddenly switch to red alert and start shrieking like an intruder alarm at a high security facility.
Desperately, she gazed around the village square but, stare as hard as she might at the whitewashed walls and the dusty geraniums straggling out of painted oil barrels and the gnarled old men sitting morosely in the shade, her attention was fixated on Rhys.
He was sitting next to her at the small square table, resting his forearms tantalisingly close to hers on the checked plastic tablecloth. Thea was acutely aware of the soft, dark hairs by his broad wrist, of the unpretentious watch, and the square, capable hands, and her fingers tingled with speculation about how it would feel to lay her own over them.