“Miss O'Neal, could you come with me?"
Maura glanced up to see Freda standing at the foot of the stairs, her face stiff with what seemed to be reluctant respect
“What is it?” Maura got to her feet, brushing at her cream-colored knit suit, taking up her shoulder bag, straightening the collar of her soft green blouse.
“The captain would like to see you in the purser's office.” The assistant cruise director did not wait for further questions, but led Maura back across the lobby, making way with great efficiency through the chattering, growling throng. She turned down a corridor behind the purser's desk. Tapping on a door, she pushed it open, then stepped aside for Maura to enter.
“Ah,” Captain Spiridion said, turning to greet her. “Here is the young woman for whose sake six hundred angry passengers, both on board and ashore, have been kept waiting, to say nothing of several hundred crewmen, dock workers, and United States Customs officials. However, I think, my friend, that as great as is your folly, she is well worth the cost!"
The man beside him gave a short nod, his dark gaze fastened on Maura. “So do I,” he said, his voice deep.
“Nikolaos,” Maura breathed.
“If you will excuse me, I have work to do,” the captain told them. With a small shrug and a smile tugging at his lips, he went out, closing the door behind him, leaving them alone.
“What did he mean?” Maura asked in a low voice, her green eyes clouded with confusion.
Nikolaos ran his fingers through his hair, then clasped the back of his neck in a gesture of weariness. “He meant that it was by my order that this ship is three hours later than necessary getting into port."
“But—what has that to do with me!"
“Everything.” He let his hand fall to his side. “You are the only person on the Athena I wanted that badly to see."
“You ordered the ship stalled three hours, to see me?"
“Three hours on top of the six it was already behind schedule. I left Athens to return here at the earliest possible moment, knowing all the while that my plane could not reach New Orleans before you docked, but meaning to find you somehow. When I learned the Athena was fog-bound, still on the river, it seemed an omen. I radioed Petros to keep you on board until I arrived, no matter what it might take."
“Surely—that was unnecessary,” she said, catching at straws, unable to allow herself to believe what he was saying.
“Was it? Your cabin was booked under the name of your great-aunt, with the address given no more than a post-office box number; no phone, no permanent address. I wasn't sure that you lived with her, or that if I wrote you would receive the letter. Moreover, it would be nearly impossible for me to say on paper what I must, and if I could not make you understand, I might never have an answer. No, the risk was too great. You had to stay where I could find you, talk to you."
He looked tired, his eyes red-rimmed and his face drawn with fatigue. It was not to be wondered at certainly, if he had flown to Houston with his grandmother, then after the hospital vigil taken his plane to Athens to attend to affairs there, then crossed the Atlantic once again, an in the space of less than seventy-two hours.
“But why, Nikolaos?” she said in distress.
“We didn't have the chance to say good-bye."
“It was—just as well, don't you think?” Maura looked past him, her green eyes unseeing.
With swift strides, he crossed the room. He caught her shoulders in a hard grip. “No, I don't! You drive me wild, Maura. I have thought of nothing but you for days, of how beautiful you are, and of you alone on the Athena surrounded by men, my countrymen! I have thought over and over of what I would say to you when I saw you, and now all that is in my mind is this!"
He pulled her close, his lips coming down on hers with a warm demand that was as tender as it was thorough. A tremor ran over Maura's nerves, and she would not stop trembling.
“Please, Nikolaos,” she said when she could, “don't do this. I can't be what you want."
“Darling Maura, hear me out before you answer,” he said against her hair. “I could cut out my tongue for the insult I gave you; I knew it was wrong the instant it was said, but until I saw your face, I did not know how badly I would hurt you, and hurting you, injure myself. I thought to test you, not considering beyond it to what I would say if you refused to come with me without marriage, to how I could redeem myself in your eyes. How could I ask you to be my wife then, if you must think the words were spoken only because I could have you no other way?"
She tried to speak, but he would not permit it.
“I was enraged at my own stupid bungling, and confused at the depth of what I felt for you. With my own stupid arrogance, I had closed off my own way to you, while driving you into the arms of Alexandros. Then, with my temper, I made you fear me. What hope did I nave of convincing you of my love?"
Maura drew back, her fearful gaze searching his face. “You can't mean it."
“How many times must I say it? What must I do? I love you. I would have told you so and made my amends a hundred times over if I could have stayed with you, I would never have left you without setting things straight between us if it had not meant my grandmother's life."
“No, no, you had to go,” Maura said incoherently.
“After leaving you in such a way, I might not have dared face you again, except for my grandmother, who when she could speak, called me a fool for not keeping you beside me, for not seeing that you loved me. Was she right, my Maura? Do you care?"
“Oh, Nikolaos,” she whispered, and pressed close, the better to show him, speaking the words against the chiseled warmth of his lips.
It was some time later when they drew apart once more. “What of your grandmother?” Maura asked. “Can I see her?"
“My plane is waiting now to take us to Houston. She wants very much to have you visit her, if you will come as my affianced wife. But if you are not to be of the Vassos family, she would rather you did not come, for the disappointment would be too great for her to bear the sight of you. Will you come?"
“I will,” she said, then her face clouded. “But first I must see Aunt Maggie."
“That is as it should be. I will come with you and explain everything to her so she will understand and let you go. And when we are married, she must come to Greece and make it her home."
“She will like that,” Maura said simply, and found it necessary to express her gratitude for his generous understanding by raising her lips to his.
The door opened behind them. Captain Spiridion spoke. “I am sorry to disturb you two like this, but this ship must sail again soon, and now the customs officials are ready to expedite your Maura's departure, as you requested, Nikolaos."
“Yes, thank you, Petros,” Nikolaos said over his shoulder. “We will be there in a minute."
“There is also the matter of Alexandros to be decided."
“Later, Petros—or better yet, do with him what you will. I no longer care, now that Maura will not be on the ship."
“The custom officials, representatives of the American government, Nikolaos. They are waiting."
“We will be there shortly!"
“Are you positive?” the captain asked, skepticism plain in his voice.
His dark eyes warm as they held Maura's emerald gaze, Nikolaos said, “Close the door, my friend."
* * *
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Love at Sea Page 18