Falling For Dr Dimitriou

This time Katherine’s laugh was wholehearted. ‘Exactly. I’m old. No fun. Should you be here? Your family might be worried about you.’

The child’s eyes widened. ‘Why?’

‘Well, because you’re very small still and most of the time parents like to know where their children are and what they’re up to.’ She winced inwardly, aware of the irony of what she’d said.

‘But they do know where I am, silly. I’m in the village! Hello, Hercules.’ The girl knelt and stroked the cat. Suddenly pandemonium broke out. It seemed her spaniel had come to look for her. He ran into the room and spotting the cat made a beeline for it. With a furious yowl Hercules leapt up and onto Katherine’s desk, scattering her papers, pens and pencils onto the floor. She grabbed and held on to the struggling cat as the dog jumped up against her legs, barking excitedly.

‘Kato! Galen! Kato!’ A stern male voice cut through the chaos. It was the child’s father—the boat man. God, how many other people and animals were going to appear uninvited in her living room?

The spaniel obediently ran over to the man and lay down at his feet, tail wagging and panting happily. Now the father’s censorious gaze rested on his little girl. After speaking a few words in Greek, he turned to Katherine. ‘I apologise for my daughter’s intrusion. She knows she shouldn’t wander off without letting me know first. I didn’t notice she’d gone until I saw her footprints headed this way.’ His English was impeccable with only a trace of an attractive accent. ‘Please, let us help you gather your papers.’

Close up he was overwhelmingly good-looking, with thick-lashed sepia eyes, a straight nose, curving sensual mouth and sharp cheekbones. Katherine felt another stab of envy for the blonde-haired woman. She lowered the still protesting Hercules to the floor. With a final malevolent glance at the spaniel, he disappeared outside.

‘Please, there’s no need...’

But he was already picking up some of the strewn papers. ‘It’s the least we can do.’

Katherine darted forward and placed a hand on his arm. To her dismay, her fingertips tingled where they touched his warm skin and she quickly snatched it away. ‘I’d rather you didn’t—they might get even more muddled up.’

He straightened and studied her for a moment from beneath dark brows. He was so close she could smell his soap and almost feel waves of energy pulsating from him. Every nerve cell in her body seemed to be on alert, each small hair on her body standing to attention. Dear God, that she should be reacting like this to a married man! What the hell was wrong with her? She needed to get a grip. ‘Accidents happen, there is no need for you to do anything, thank you,’ she said. Thankfully her voice sounded normal.

‘Yes, Baba! Accidents happen!’ the little girl piped up in English.

His response to his daughter, although spoken softly in Greek, had her lowering her head again, but when he turned back to Katherine a smile lighted his eyes and played around the corners of his mouth. He raked a hand through his hair. ‘Again I must apologise for my daughter. I’m afraid Crystal is too used to going in and out of all the villagers’ homes here and doesn’t quite understand that some people prefer to offer invitations.’

Crystal looked so woebegone that Katherine found herself smiling back at them. ‘It’s fine—I needed a break. So now I’m having one—a little earlier than planned, but that’s okay.’

‘In which case we’ll leave you to enjoy it in peace.’ He glanced at her ringless fingers. ‘Miss...?’

‘Burns. Katherine Burns.’

‘Katherine.’ The way he rolled her name around his mouth made it sound exotic. ‘And I am Alexander Dimitriou. I’ve noticed you watching from your balcony.’

‘Excuse me! I wasn’t watching you! I was working on my laptop and you just happened to be directly in my line of sight whenever I lifted my head.’ The arrogance of the man! To take it for granted that she’d been watching him—even if she had.

When he grinned she realised she’d let him know that she had noticed him. The way he was looking at her was disturbing. It was simply not right for a married man to look at a woman who wasn’t his wife that way.

‘Perhaps,’ he continued, ‘you’ll consider joining my family one day for lunch, to make up for disrupting your day?’

She wasn’t here to hang around divine-looking Greek men—particularly married ones! ‘Thank you,’ she responded tersely. ‘I did say to Crystal that she could come and visit me again some time,’ she added as she walked father and daughter outside, ‘but perhaps you should remind her to let you know before she does?’

She stood on the balcony, watching as they ambled hand in hand across the beach towards the village square, Crystal chattering and swinging on her father’s arm. Even from this distance she could hear his laughter. With a sigh she turned around and went back inside.

* * *

Later that evening, after Crystal was in bed, Alexander’s thoughts returned to Katherine, as they had over the last few days—ever since the morning he’d seen her come out of the water. It was just his luck that the villa she was staying in overlooked the bay where he was working on his boat.

He couldn’t help glancing her way as she sat on her balcony, her head bent over her laptop as she typed, pausing only to push stray locks from her eyes—and to watch him.

And she had been watching him. He’d looked up more than once to catch her looking in his direction. She’d caused quite a stir in the village, arriving here by herself. The villagers, his grandmother and cousin Helen included, continued to be fascinated by this woman who’d landed in their midst and who kept herself to herself, seldom venturing from her temporary home unless it was to have a quick dip in the sea or shop for groceries at the village store. They couldn’t understand anyone coming on holiday by themselves and had speculated wildly about her.

To their disappointment she hadn’t stopped for a coffee or a glass of wine in the village square or to try some of Maria’s—the owner of only taverna in the village—home-cooked food so there had been no opportunity to find out more about her. Helen especially would have loved to know more about her—his cousin was always on at him to start dating again.

But, despite the fact Katherine was undeniably gorgeous, he wasn’t interested in long-term relationships and he had the distinct impression that Miss Burns didn’t do short-term ones.

However, there was something about this particular woman that drew him. Perhaps, he thought, because he recognised the same sadness in her that was in him. All the more reason, then, for him to keep his distance.

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_5feb5512-ef45-5b43-85c8-854cb6d54ade)

THE NEXT MORNING, having decided to work inside and out of sight, Katherine only managed to resist for a couple of hours before finding herself drawn like a magnet to the balcony.

Gazing down at the beach, she saw that Alexander, stripped to the waist, his golden skin glistening with a sheen of perspiration, was back working on his boat again. Dragging her gaze away from him, she closed her eyes for a moment and listened to the sound of the waves licking the shore. The sweet smell of oranges from a nearby orchard wafted on the breeze. Being here in Greece was like a balm for her soul.

A sharp curse brought her attention back to the bay.

Alexander had dropped his paint-scraper. He studied his hand for a moment and shook his head. He looked around as if searching for a bandage, but apparently finding only his T-shirt, bent to pick it up, and wound it around his palm.

She could hardly leave him bleeding—especially when, prepared as always, she’d brought a small first-aid kit with her and it was unlikely there would be a doctor available on a Sunday in such a small village.

The blood had pretty much soaked through his temporary bandage by the time she reached him but, undaunted, he had carried on working, keeping his left hand—the damaged one—elevated in some kind of optimistic hope of stemming the bleeding.

‘Kalíméra!’ Katherine called out, not wanting to surprise him. When he looked up, she pointed to his hand and lifted the first-aid kit she carried. ‘Can I help?’

‘It’s okay, I’ll manage,’ he replied. When he smiled, her heart gave a queer little flutter. ‘But thank you.’

‘At least let me look at it. Judging by the amount of blood, you’ve cut it pretty badly.’

His smile grew wider. ‘If you insist,’ he said, holding out his injured hand.

She drew closer to him and began unwrapping his makeshift bandage. As she gently tugged the remaining bit of cloth aside and her fingers encountered the warmth of his work-roughened palm, she felt the same frisson of electricity course through her body as she had the day before. Bloody typical; the first time she could remember meeting someone whom she found instantly attractive he had to be married—and a father to boot.

‘It’s deep,’ she said, examining the wound, ‘and needs stitches. Is there a surgery open today?’

‘Most of them are open for emergencies only on a Sunday. I’m not sure this constitutes one.’

‘I think it does.’ Katherine said, aware that her tone sounded schoolmistress prim. ‘I’m a doctor, so I do know what I’m talking about.’

His eyebrows shot up. ‘Are you really? The villagers had you down as a writer. A GP, I take it?’

Katherine shook her head. ‘No. Epidemiology. Research. I’m in public health.’

‘But not on holiday? You seemed pretty immersed in paperwork yesterday.’

‘My thesis. For my PhD.’

‘Brains too.’ He grinned. ‘So can’t you stitch my hand?’

‘Unfortunately, no. I could if I had a suturing kit with me but I don’t. Anyway, you’ll likely need a tetanus shot unless you’ve had one recently. Have you?’