Page 86 of Lord of Ruin

“My beloved,” she repeated. “You do care about me, don’t you?”

“Very much so.”

“Something happened to you before, a heartache of some kind.”

As the plane was rolled to a stop, I took a deep breath. “It was a long time ago. It no longer matters.”

“Yes, I think it does. My mother told me when I thought that I was in love with the first boy who’d kissed me, which of course the asshole turned out to be a cheating toad, that I’d know the right one by the way my heart fluttered. As if I was going to have a heart attack.” She laughed although I could tell by doing so it brought another ache or two. “Imagine how romantic I thought that was as a sixteen-year-old girl.”

“I think your mother was brilliant, just like you are.”

“Ha. You’re just buttering me up.”

“Maybe. Tell me. What is your heart doing right now?”

The smile on her face could light up an entire country. “For me to know and you to find out.”

“Proséxte na deleázete éna thirío.”

“And what did you just say to me?”

“For me to know and you to find out.” When she popped me in the stomach, I winced for fun first until the look on her face shifted into full blown concern. I had to laugh. “I said be careful tempting a beast.”

“You are a beast, but I do plan on tempting you.” As the door to the plane was opened, the sound of stairs being moved closer, I glanced out the window again at the number of cars pulling through the gated entrance. Phoenix had obviously made certain the family here in Santorini knew exactly what was going on.

“And I look forward to it over copious amounts of Greek wine,” I told her.

“I’d enjoy that. By the way. Where are we staying, some quaint hotel?”

“A much better location. My parents’ house, which has a perfect view of the crystalline sea.”

She shrugged as if uncertain how to act or what to say.

As I unfastened my seatbelt, I realized that I’d never felt so close to anyone as I had to her. While the woman I’d lost had seemed special, I’d been little more than a kid who hadn’t known any better. I’d allowed my emotions and my dick to do the thinking when in truth, I hadn’t seen how toxic our relationship had been.

But seeing the way she’d been when I’d given her the bracelet, the way she continued fondling the charms was a reminder that since the moment I’d saved her life, my goddamn heart had been fluttering.

I rubbed my jaw as she unfastened her seatbelt. Love wasn’t necessarily a many splendored thing in my world, but it was a driving force to protect someone I cared about.

It had been years since I’d been here. Long enough that I wasn’t certain I’d be remembered. My parents were on an extended cruise for the next month, which had allowed my brothers and me to feel confident in their safety. They’d left behind several of their soldiers and the man holding down the fort, my uncle, often using Santorini as a spot for family gatherings and celebrations. My father and uncle had been born in Santorini, living there until they both were eighteen.

I hadn’t seen my uncle in years, so when we stepped off the jet, I wasn’t certain what I would find. The man was five years older than my father, a gruff guy but the kind that had a heart of gold. My father had once told me that I was exactly like Dimitrios, although I’d never paid that much attention as a kid. The two of them had suffered after the murder of their youngest brother, taking the horrible tragedy hard. Maybe that was one reason the family had remained so close.

While I hadn’t initially wanted Christos to join us given his injury, I was glad both he and Atlas had made the trip. Plus, Christos wouldn’t have listened to me, determined to be on the hunt right by my side. Atlas would be my point person with the others, his limited ability to speak Greek just enough to be able to converse with my uncle’s soldiers. That would allow Christos to spend some time with his family.

Until the shit hit the fan. Whenever that might be.

While he was Greek through and through, he’d learned English if for no other reason than my father had insisted on it when he’d moved to the States. I honestly had to wonder if Dimitrios had been concerned about losing his son to the Byrne family. In turn, at least some of the soldiers had learned the language as well, including another cousin, Christos’ brother Leander.

The flight had been long and arduous, almost twenty-four hours passing from the time we’d gotten to the airport to touching down, even with owning a private jet. I hadn’t slept the entire time, but my lovely enchantress had dozed on and off.

Now, as she walked out onto the steps beside me, she gasped not from pain this time but from the joy of seeing the Aegean Sea.

“It’s exactly like the pictures I’ve seen. Oh, my God. Blue roofs. Look at all the buildings on the side of the mountain.”

“That’s not a real mountain, baby. Just a tight hill like almost every other building on Santorini.”

“Crape myrtles and flowers everywhere. This is gorgeous.”