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sure.’
    ‘We’ve known each other long enough,’ he pointed out. ‘We've always got along well. Why are you so reluctant to see things my way?’
    ‘Because—marriage can be such a lottery,' she told him solemnly. ‘So many things can go wrong.'
    ‘Not if you are in love.’
    ‘Even then. Besides, I've got so much else to consider,’ she decided.
    ‘Your mother and the villa,’ he suggested. ‘But I’ve already promised your mother would be taken care of at Stroumbi and you could sell this place for quite a profit.’ She shook her head, the possibility stabbing at something in her heart. ‘I could never sell her home over her head while she wanted it.’
    ‘But it is already an hotel!’ he protested. ‘It's already changed, Anna. You can't get away from the fact.’
    ‘Perhaps not, but she can still sit out in her beloved garden in a certain amount of privacy and she can still look at the sea,’ She drew in a deep breath. 'That's the way I would like to keep it.’
    ‘She could visit the coast whenever she liked,' he insisted. ‘We’re not a stone's throw from Polis or even Paphos, for that matter. She could even have her own flat there.'
    ‘It wouldn't be the same, and I can't imagine my mother in a flat. She is too fond of her garden and a window-box just wouldn't do.’ Anna moved round the end of the desk. ‘Can we talk about this some other time, Nikos? Already she will be wondering where we are.’
    ‘I'm going to keep talking about it till you agree,' he informed her stubbornly. ‘I want to marry you and something may happen to make you change your mind.’ There was a sense of urgency in his pleasant voice which had never been there before. ‘I’ve waited a long time, Anna, and you could never have been in doubt about my faithfulness.’
    ‘No,’ she said gently, ‘I never have. You haven’t changed at all, Nikos, and I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you, but—but I just can’t promise you anything now. So much has happened in the past few days ’
    ‘Such as?’
    ‘I—we’ve made a lot of decisions about the villa and the immediate future,’ she pointed out. ‘I—couldn’t burden you with our debt.’
    ‘Is that all?’ He guided her towards the bar. ‘I wish I could think there was nothing else to worry about but what you owe the bank to pay for your new swimming- pool. It would be the easiest thing in the world for me to wipe the slate clean.’
    ‘I know,’ she agreed, ‘but I can’t accept that sort of gesture, Nikos. It would be the reverse of a dowry, wouldn’t it, taking something instead of bringing something to the marriage, as I should?’
    ‘Dowries are things of the past now.’ Scornfully he swept her argument aside. ‘It’s a worn out idea these days and my family has no need for one. I have quite enough for us both, and even if you didn’t want to live at Stroumbi I could make a home for you elsewhere.’ They had reached the open doorway to the bar and suddenly she saw Andreas sitting there at a table overlooking the loggia. He was not alone. Sitting beside him in the flattering light from one of the overhead lanterns was his companion of the morning, the ‘Aphrodite Woman’ as she had named her lightly when Mrs Walsh had called Andreas the Apollo Man. They were looking around them, as if appraising the quiet atmosphere of the Villa Severus, and no doubt Andreas was wondering why she had refused to sell her surplus land when such a generous offer had been made for it.
    Anna drew in a sharp breath. Her mother was nowhere to be seen and already Andreas was on his feet, making way for them at the loggia table.
    ‘We came over for a coffee and a drink,’ he explained. ‘Lara likes a walk beside the sea before bedtime.’
    Lara Warrender smiled up at them from the sofa she was occupying. ‘You have great peace here,’ she said, ‘and I appreciate that. Are you able to join us?’ She moved a little way along the sofa, making room for Anna to sit