Free The Giannakis Bride by Catherine Spencer

perched on swings, some skating on mirrored surfaces, others riding on painted carousel horses or Ferris wheels, and all mounted on sturdy metal bases. “These are very popular. They’re actually battery-operated music boxes with colored lights that rotate as the figures move. They can be kept out of reach of the patient, but still be enjoyed. I also have a wide selection of pretty mobiles—butterflies, humming birds, swans and such—which also sell very well.”
    Given a choice, Brianna would have left with enough packages to fill the trunk of the Mercedes, but when Spiros came to collect her, she’d managed to confine herself to one bright-red Ferris wheel music box, and a mobile of iridescent butterflies. “Although I’ll probably be back again before long,” she warned the saleswoman as she left the shop.
    It was after five by then, and the traffic exiting the city was horrendous. What had been only about a thirty-five-minute drive that morning took almost twice as long in late afternoon, making it close to half past six before she finally arrived on Dimitrios’s doorstep a second time.
    Erika answered the door. “We were beginning to think you were lost,” she said, her glance suggesting she’d have been just as glad if that had been the case. “ Dimitrios has been waiting well over an hour for you to show up.”
    “What for? You told me yesterday that he always spends the evening with Poppy at the hospital.”
    “As a rule, I do,” he said rather curtly, emerging from what appeared to be some sort of library to the right of the front door, “but I thought you might like to come with me tonight, seeing that your visit was cut short this morning. Since you’ve been out all afternoon, though, you’re probably too tired and would rather not bother.”
    “I’m not in the least bit tired. As for seeing her again, I’d love to, because I went shopping and bought her a gift.”
    “That’s thoughtful of you, Brianna,” he said, his tone softening slightly, “but we’re pretty restricted on what we can take in.”
    “I know,” she said. “Noelle explained all about that, but look, this will be acceptable, don’t you think?” Carefully, she unwrapped the music box and held it up for his inspection. “See, it even has a glass dome covering it that can easily be cleaned, and if it was put someplace where Poppy could see it but not touch it…? Then there’s this mobile. I thought it might hang near the window where it would catch the sunlight. What do you think?”
    “They might work,” he allowed, “and there’s no question but that she’d get a kick out of them. You obviously went to a great deal of trouble to find something she’d really enjoy.”
    “Which is a lot more than the other one would have done,” Erika muttered grudgingly. “Will you be back for dinner, Dimitrios ?”
    “Yes.” He glanced at Brianna again. “How hungry are you? Can you hold off until about nine, or would you like a snack before we leave?”
    “I can wait.”
    “Then let’s get going, or Poppy’ll be asleep before we arrive.”
    He hustled her outside, not to the Mercedes, as she’d expected—it, along with Spiros , had disappeared again—but to a low-slung black sports car built for comfort and speed. Erika watched them leave, her expression stony with disapproval.
    “That woman doesn’t like me,” Brianna observed, as both housekeeper and villa disappeared from view.
    Zooming past the gates that marked the boundary of his estate, Dimitrios made a sharp turn to the road and shifted into high gear. “You can’t blame her. You remind her of Cecily.”
    “Well, if she had an ounce of brains…!” Annoyed with herself, because this was an irritation she’d lived with all her life and she ought to be over it by now, Brianna abruptly halted in midsentence.
    “Please don’t stop now,” he urged, not taking his eyes off the road. “Get it off your chest, whatever it is.”
    “All right. Cecily