Linn Halton - A Greek Affair

A division of HarperCollins Publishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Harper Impulse

an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by Harper Impulse 2018

Copyright © Linn B. Halton 2018

Cover illustrations © Shutterstock.com

Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2018

Linn B. Halton asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008324476

Ebook Edition © December 2018 ISBN: 9780008324469

Version: 2018-11-30

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page A division of HarperCollins Publishers www.harpercollins.co.uk

Copyright Harper Impulse an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by Harper Impulse 2018 Copyright © Linn B. Halton 2018 Cover illustrations © Shutterstock.com Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2018 Linn B. Halton asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library. This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780008324476 Ebook Edition © December 2018 ISBN: 9780008324469 Version: 2018-11-30

Dedication For Billy, Lily, Joe and Maddie – twinkle, twinkle little stars! You inspire every single moment of every single day. Love you always and forever x

Prologue

Wake Me Up, I Must Be Dreaming

Back to Reality

A New Routine

I’m in the News

The Word is Spreading

All Aboard

A Floating Mirage

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

The Morning After the Night Before

A Night of Stars

It’s Time to Head Home

Hitting the Ground Running

No Pain, No Gain

A Magical Setting

Going Greek

The Promise of a Beautiful Day

A Day Trip to Paradise

A Surprising Turn of Events

The Main Attraction

The Magic of Athens

A Mortal Hero Amongst the Greek Gods

As Night Descends

Just Two Lonely People

On the Tourist Trail

One Blink and They’re Gone

Home Alone

The Visit

The Aftermath

Life is a Rollercoaster

The Action Plan

Working All Hours

Filled with Both Dread and Excitement in Equal Measure

A Goodnight Kiss

Retracing Our Steps

One Enchanted Evening

How Do You End Such a Perfect Night?

Some Goodbyes Are Harder Than Others

Picking Up the Pieces

I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar

I’m Nobody’s Fool

Only a Fool Would Get in my Way

The Heart Instinctively Knows When You’ve Found The One – Doesn’t It?

The Letter

Facing Facts

A New Day and the Sky is Blue, Not a Cloud in Sight

Epilogue

Also by Linn B. Halton

Acknowledgements

About the Author

About HarperImpulse

About the Publisher

For Billy, Lily, Joe and Maddie – twinkle, twinkle little stars!

You inspire every single moment of every single day.

Love you always and forever x

‘Antonio, we’re back,’ I call out, kicking the door shut with the heel of my boot.

Juggling Rosie on one side and groceries on the other, I drop the carrier bags down with a soft clunk on the worktop, then deposit the little one on the floor. I hope that sound of glass on tin doesn’t mean there’s an imminent chance of a wine puddle. Yanking the bottle out to check, I see that it’s still intact. Phew! I could have fallen at the first hurdle as wine is a key component in my little plan.

Tonight, I’m planning on having a romantic evening with my husband. I’m going to insist that we watch a film together and relax a little, once Rosie is asleep. Assuming she settles before I come back down to find him snoring on the sofa, like so many nights recently. But then he’s out as much as he’s in these days due to work pressures . I worry that he’s running himself into the ground and I hate that he steadfastly refuses to talk to me about it.

I look down at little Rosie, levering herself up on the vegetable rack so she can grab hold of a carrot.

‘Yum, Rosie. Carrots are good for you.’ I make an encouraging face and she stuffs the end into her mouth, then grimaces. It’s hard not to laugh.

I sweep her up into my arms, settling her back on my hip and head off to see what Antonio is doing. He said he was working from home today but he’s very quiet.

‘Let’s go find Daddy, shall we?’ Rosie looks up at me and grins.

‘Dada,’ she replies, waving her carrot. If only I could get her to actually eat one, I’d be delighted.

Walking into the upstairs office something doesn’t look quite right and I stop to gaze around. Why has Antonio been tidying up when he said he was going to be busy? He gave me a grateful hug when I said I’d take Rosie off to do the shopping to give him some peace and quiet.

His laptop isn’t on the desk and his work diary isn’t there, either. Nor his briefcase. Ah, I expect he’s been called into work. I just assumed he was still here and that his car was in the garage.

‘Daddy’s gone to work, Rosie.’ Little eyes look up at me and she frowns. But as I continue to scan the room a cold feeling starts to wrap itself around my core.

Rosie wobbles but I clasp her to me as I rush into the bedroom, pulling open the wardrobe door adjacent to the bed. I gasp and stand back, unable to comprehend the hangers now stripped bare, some lying in a tangled heap at the bottom.

I snuggle my arm around Rosie’s shoulders, giving her a reassuring squeeze as my feet carry us back into the office. Placing her down on the floor I slam the door shut and begin frantically pulling out the drawers of Antonio’s desk.