Grace really had had enough of this conversation. All in all, it had been a surprising but draining twenty-four hours, and she’d been awake for nearly all of it. The walk and the coffee had sobered her up in super-quick time. She sipped the dregs of her cappuccino. It was time to go.
‘Are you feeling better?’
Will’s face was the picture of innocence.
‘I feel fine. Thank you again for the coffee. I can make my own way from here. It’s a two-minute walk.’
‘Nonsense, I insist on taking you right to your door.’
Grace sighed but knew enough about the man now to know that he was serious.
‘How come you’re out at this ungodly hour anyway?’
‘I’m a terrible sleeper. Can’t help waking with the dawn. And then I like to walk. You see lots of interesting sights at that time of the morning.’
He was irritating her again. Everything he said seemed to have an edge to it.
‘And how do you know Thanassis?’
‘He’s married to Maria, our housekeeper at the villa. Lovely woman.’
Grace’s neck got even hotter. He couldn’t prove she’d thought about sleeping with Thanassis, but it was like he’d read her mind.
‘As you’ll know, after only being here a few weeks, island life is different. Everyone knows everyone or is related in some way. It can be a bit much sometimes.’
Grace did know. What had she been thinking, contemplating sleeping with someone she worked with?
‘Do you think their marriage has a chance?’
Will smiled.
‘Those two are always on-off, on-off. They fight like cat and dog, and he’s a terrible flirt…’
Will met her eye.
‘But she always takes him back.’
Great, so she’d almost gone for it with a known womaniser. She really needed to get out of there.
Lightheaded, but surefooted, Grace made her way back to the language school with her escort in silence. She made sure her key was in the door as quickly as possible and kept her goodbye to a minimum. An extravagant bow from Will only irked her further. She’d had quite enough of him for one day, several weeks in fact.
Once in her room, Grace lay face down on the bed. Something tickled her nose, and a burst of lemon went up her nostrils. Damn, she still had his jumper on. Now he’d think she’d done it on purpose.
ChapterEleven
Mortified wasn’t the word. Horrifically embarrassed, totally ashamed and completely furious with herself were nearer the mark. Grace turned over in bed and attempted to open her eyes. Even the sliver of light coming in through the shutters was too much. She closed her eyes again and lay on her back. Her stomach was doing somersaults and her head pounded. The events of the previous evening came back to her in glorious Technicolor.
She’d virtually thrown herself at a colleague, been rescued by a smirking Will and, to top it all, informed him he was gay, when he clearly wasn’t. Things couldn’t get much worse. Her mind snagged on the words. It was a silly expression because she knew from personal experience that they could. Way worse. No one had died. She had to stop feeling sorry for herself.
That ouzo had a lot to answer for. Even the thought of it turned her stomach, and she was sure if she as much as smelt it again, she’d be sick on the spot. She’d had a similar experience as a teenager with Pernod, and after snogging a neighbour’s son, she’d passed out in their garage, been escorted home by her unsmiling father and vowed never to touch the stuff again. The aniseed thing was obviously a theme.
But there was a big difference between being a naïve teenager and being a sixty-one-year-old woman who’d drunk herself stupid.
A long glass of water and a couple of painkillers helped her feel slightly more human. Sunday was her longed-for day off, and her mother’s voice told her that she couldn’t waste it lying around in bed. It was already gone two.
The town beach was still too risky, so she’d head back to the cove for an afternoon of relaxing on the beach and plenty of rehydration. The man’s jumper lying crumpled on the bed took her aback for a moment. Where had that come from? Had she been a whole lot drunker than she realised? She remembered with a sigh of relief that Will had given it to her at the port. She’d taken it off sometime after dawn because it was far too hot.
She’d head for the cove. Surely Will wouldn’t be there again? It was one tiny spot among thousands. At the last moment, Grace shoved the jumper into the bottom of her bag in case she saw him on her travels. She wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible.
