The lights in the theater swelled, bringing Trish back to reality. She stood, still seeing the last act in her head. “Those tap combinations were fantastic.”
“Are you a dancer?” he asked, rising to his feet.
“I wish,” Trish said with a wry smile. “I always wanted to take lessons, but there wasn’t money when I was growing up.”
He was about to make a comment but Trish spoke before he had a chance. “It probably would have been a waste anyway.”
“Because?”
“Two left feet.” Trish spoke matter-of-factly, hoping to forestall any expressions of sympathy. She’d had a great childhood. Her parents had given each of their five children as many opportunities as they could afford.
“You move like a dancer,” Theo said. “So light on your feet.”
“Puh-leeze.” Trish rolled her eyes. “Have you forgotten the excursion to Kefalonia?”
“You stumbled, not fell.” When she started walking, he captured her hand and tucked it firmly into the bend of his arm. “Extra support. Just in case you stumble.”
The devilish twinkle in his eyes made her laugh. She was still smiling when they reached the tables and chairs grouped outside La Belle Epoque, a champagne bar and nightclub.
Theo’s steps slowed. “Can I interest you in some coffee and dessert?”
Trish hesitated. She’d had Bananas Foster at dinner, but where was it written that a girl couldn’t have two desserts in one day? “Cheesecake sounds good.”
They’d barely gotten seated when the server took their order. He returned moments later with steaming cups of coffee and thick wedges of cheesecake covered with fresh strawberries.
Trish expelled a happy sigh. Her perfect day just kept getting better.
“Tell me.” Theo wrapped his fingers around the coffee cup. “When you’re in Miami, what do you do for fun?”
Trish forked a piece of the creamy confection and thought for a second. “Cassidy is the goalie on a soccer team. I love to watch her play.”
Theo offered an encouraging smile.
“I also help out at Cassidy’s school,” Trish explained. “Organize parties for different holidays, stuff like that.”
“Anything else?”
“I belong to a mother’s reading group. We meet quarterly to discuss books on child rearing.”
Theo took a sip of coffee. “What do you do for yourself? When you’re not busy being a mother?”
Trish thought for a moment. “I used to play tennis. But time got tight and I had to quit.”
“When I was a boy, my grandmother used to say it was good for me to see her making time for herself and doing something she enjoyed,” Theo said in an offhand tone. “She called it ‘refilling her well.’”
“And what did she do to refill this well of hers?” Trish asked.
“Genealogy research.” Theo took another sip of coffee. “I can say with the utmost confidence that there isn’t a relative of ours currently alive anywhere on this earth Yiayia hasn’t tracked down.”
Trish wondered if he knew that his eyes lit up when he spoke of his grandparents. Or how lucky he was to have grown up surrounded by such love?
“If you could do something for yourself, what would you do?” he asked.
Trish looked up to the heavens and sighed. What was it with Theo? On this topic, he was like a dog with a bone.
“I know you’re busy,” Theo said. “But you could plan the activity on those nights or weekends when Cassidy is with her father.”
“Why does this matter to you?” Trish asked.
“I care about you.” His eyes were dark with worry. “I want you to be happy…when I’m not with you.”
She finally understood. This was his way of telling her he cared…the night before he said goodbye.
T
HEO STARED UP
at the stars, one arm crooked behind his head, the other holding Trish close. This was their last night on the ship and he’d wanted the evening to be special.
After they’d returned to the suite, he’d spread a blanket across the wooden deck floor and they’d made slow, sweet love. The moon bathed her body in a golden glow and each kiss, each caress, had taken on extra significance.
For the past few minutes, he’d simply lain next to Trish, gazing up at the stars, letting the strains of a Mozart concerto wash over him. In the quiet of the moment, Theo accepted what he’d been trying to deny…he’d fallen in love with Trish.
His heart tightened with a combination of fear and excitement.
Why
had he let this happen?
How
had he let this happen?
He tightened his arm around her and she slanted a sideways glance beneath heavy-lidded eyes. Then with comfortable familiarity she planted a soft kiss on his chest, her fingers toying with the hair on his belly.
Though it had only been a few minutes since they’d last made love, he grew instantly hard.
Her lips curved up in a smug smile. She brushed her hand over the tip and his shaft sprang forward.
“Someone is in the mood to play again,” she said in a low husky voice that made his blood boil.
“Someone is always ready when you’re around,” Theo said, planting a kiss against her hair. It was true. Since he’d been fifteen, women had been coming on to him but never had one stirred his senses like Trish.
“You know tonight is it.” Though her tone was nonchalant, he could hear a note of sadness creep into her voice. “Tomorrow we’ll dock in Barcelona. I’ll head back to Florida. You’ll return to Corfu.”
She opened her mouth as if to say more but shut it without another word.
“It’s strange, isn’t it?” Theo said softly.
“What?”
“Us meeting the way we did,” he said. “You could almost say my father brought us together.”
Trish’s lips curved up in a slight smile and Theo knew she’d caught the irony in the statement.
“Where was he ten years ago?” Trish asked. “That’s what I want to know.”
“We were different people back then.” Theo turned toward her, propping himself up on one elbow so he could see her beautiful body.
Mine
, he thought with a surge of possessiveness. He knew her body as well as he knew his own…every freckle, every mole. There wasn’t a single inch of her that he hadn’t explored…that he hadn’t kissed…or touched.
The realization was bittersweet. Soon it wouldn’t matter because she’d be gone and all he’d have were memories.
No
. The word resounded in his head and his heart constricted.
I can’t let her go
.
“Marry me,” he said. “Move to Corfu.”
His tone had taken on a certain desperation, but Theo didn’t care. Right now he was desperate, panicked at losing what he’d finally found.
A look of stunned disbelief crossed Trish’s face. “I never thought,” she began, searching his eyes. “I never let myself hope…”
Theo expelled the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding at her response. “You’ll go back to Florida and get your things.” His mind raced as he mentally checked off everything that needed to be settled before they left the ship. “My house has plenty of room. We can put in a home office if you don’t want to get one in town. There shouldn’t be any reason you can’t run your business from Corfu. I’ll”
“What about Cassidy?” Trish interrupted, pushing up to rest on both elbows.
Theo paused. “She’d come with you, of course.”
“Oh, Theo.” Trish leaned over and brushed a strand of hair back from her face. “I don’t know what to say.”
Unease crept up his spine at the look in her eyes. “A simple yes will do.”
“If only it were that easy.” Regret laced her voice and his blood turned cold.
“What’s the problem?” Though an arctic chill had invaded his body, Theo did his best to keep a smile on his lips and his tone light.
“Steven won’t let Cassidy leave the States,” she said. “And I won’t leave without her.”
“Ask him.”
“I don’t need to ask. I already know what he’ll say.”
She sounded so sure, but how could she know if she hadn’t even talked to the guy? “He might surprise you.”
“Maybe,” she said, her fingers lightly stroking his arm, “you could relocate to Florida. The weather is a lot like Corfu and there’s…”
“I can’t.” He shook his head, dismissing the option. “My grandparents are old. Other than my mother, I’m their closest relative in Corfu.”
A look of such dismay crossed her face that he wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and tell her his grandparents didn’t matter and he’d move to Florida as soon as he could get his affairs sorted out. But his grandparents had been there for him since the beginning and he loved them. He would not abandon them. “Why don’t you want to ask Steven?”
“I already know the answer.” Trish sat up and raked her fingers through her hair, her brows pulling together as she thought. “We’ll figure something out. Cassidy and I can come to Corfu at Thanksgiving”
“Holidays are fine but that won’t solve the problem. You can’t live in Corfu. I can’t live in Florida.” The realization was like a knife to his heart. “For a marriage to work we have to at least live on the same continent.”
Trish’s eyes, usually brimming with laughter, turned bleak. “We’re at an impasse.”
Theo clenched his jaw and nodded.
Her bottom lip began to tremble and a single tear slipped down her cheek.
Theo tightened his hands into fists at his sides to keep from reaching out to her.
“This is it then,” she said in a surprisingly steady voice. “Tonight is all we have.”
Theo couldn’t help himself. He took both her hands in his and brought them to his lips, all the while fighting the emotion welling up inside him.
“I’m going to make tonight so good, you’ll never forget me,” he said with a fierceness born of pain and anguish.
“I could never forget you, Theo.” Fresh tears filled Trish’s eyes. “Not even if I tried.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“I
SENT YOU TO
C
ORFU
with a directive, Mrs. Melrose.” Elias Stamos’s accented voice cut like a knife. “Are you telling me you failed to accomplish the one task that you were given?”
“I approached Theo with your offer,” Trish said. She’d waited until she was back in her office in Miami before calling the head of Argosy Cruises. “I encouraged him to sign. He wasn’t ready.”
“I understand that you and Mr. Catomeris became good friends during the cruise.” Stamos paused. “I’m surprised he wouldn’t do it to help you out.”
“He had no idea of the possible consequences to me,” Trish said.
“Why didn’t you tell him?”
“When I met my first husband he wasn’t ready to get married, to make that commitment,” Trish said, deciding she might as well be upfront. “But I gave him an ultimatum. He didn’t want to lose me so he proposed. I realize now that I pushed for something to happen before the time was right…with disastrous results.”
“I assume there’s a point to the story.”
“The reason I didn’t push Theo to sign was because I thought forcing the issue might turn him against you.”
“Those horses are important to him,” Stamos said. “You should have used them for leverage.”
Trish bit back her frustration. Hadn’t the man heard a word she’d said?
“The wild horses of Kefalonia could really benefit from your philanthropy.” Showing remarkable restraint, she kept her tone even. “And if you’d choose to give a donation with no strings attached, I’d hope that Theo would accept it on behalf of the foundation. But if it’s conditional, if you push, if you try to manipulate, you stand a chance of never having a good relationship with your son.”
“I don’t recall ever saying I wanted a relationship with Theo Catomeris,” Stamos said. “Or that this was about anything other than business.”
Trish could feel the chill in the words all the way from Greece. She took a deep breath and let it out.
“Have you considered the impact that losing our account will have on your bottom line?”
“Of course,” Trish said. “Have you considered what
you’ll
be losing? I run a good, tight operation. We’ve got the best tour operators signed up all over the world and we provide excellent service. If you don’t want us, there are other cruise lines that do. But I hope you’ll consider keeping us on.”
By the time Trish hung up the phone she wasn’t sure whether she’d lost the account or not. Stamos hadn’t specifically said he was terminating her contract. Then again, he hadn’t said he was keeping her around, either.
Though he’d kept his responses brief and succinct, a couple of times she’d felt as if he really
had
been listening.
For his sake and for Theo’s she hoped he had…
Theo
.
She still thought about him every day. Nights were the worst. She’d awaken convinced she could feel his hands on her body, his lips against hers.