CHAPTER 23

Nikos shrugged. "Better that than I be a lazy layabout, no?" His speech pattern always took on a more decidedly Greek bent when he was around his mother.

Zoe pursed her lips and appealed to Ash with her eyes. "I cannot imagine this one lazy. Can you?"

Ash shook her head solemnly, though a smile flirted at the edges of her mouth. "No. I really can't."

"There, you see?" Zoe said as if making a point.

Though Ash had to wonder if Nikos knew what it was supposed to be because she wasn't sure she did. She smiled regardless.

"And what am I supposed to see, Mama?" Nikos asked.

"That to work all the time is its own cage," the older woman said, as if it should be obvious.

"Better that cage than many others I could name."

"Perhaps, but it would be better not to be caged at all. Do you not agree, Ashlyn?"

"Yes. Freedom is a beautiful thing and something we often have to sacrifice other things to attain."

"Ah, this one, she is smart. You hold on to her, son." Zoe patted Ash's arm.

Nikos smiled. "I intend to, believe me."

Zoe nodded. "Good."

Thankfully that was all she and Nikos said on the subject and Ash had to be grateful that he had not told his mother he had asked Ash to marry him. She had a feeling Zoe wouldn't be above trying to convince Ash she should say yes.

So, why hadn't Nikos pulled his mother in to argue his case? It seemed like a tactic he would use.

On the other hand, she'd asked for time to think and apparently Nikos intended to respect that. Which was a pretty darn effective argument in his favor, if he but knew it.

Since she wasn't pressuring Ash to accept her beloved son's proposal, having Zoe there as a buffer made the evening more relaxing. But nothing could mitigate the fact that Ash's mind insisted on playing the events of the night before over and over in her head. Being slammed at work had helped to keep her thoughts under control, but being in his company made it impossible to keep the memories at bay.

She would catch Nikos looking at her like a shark ready to gobble her up and she would stammer and blush and in general react without her usual aplomb. His mother would take him to task for embarrassing her and Nikos would just grin, pleading innocence if not ignorance.

An important call came in during dessert and Nikos excused himself to take it in his study.

Zoe shook her head after he left. "He puts too much importance on business, that one. I thought bringing him to America would give him a better life. It is not so easy to be a child without a father in a small village like the one we came from, but now I wonder if I made the right choice. Had we stayed there, he would not be so driven by business maybe."

"I don't believe Nikos is the kind of man to be defined by his surroundings. He is who he is and would be that man, no matter where he'd spent the last years of his childhood. It wouldn't have mattered if he started in a small town in Greece instead of Boston, your son would have climbed his way to the top no matter what. I think if you'd stayed there, though, that it would have taken longer and been harder for him. He might not be where he is right now, but never doubt he would have achieved what he set out to achieve."

"Thank you, Ashlyn. You are a kind and very perceptive young woman."

The praise filled Ash with a sense of well-being, of belonging. She grinned. "And just think, if he had to work harder to get where he is, he would have taken longer to begin considering matters besides business."

She wasn't about to spill the beans about his proposal, but she figured Zoe was savvy enough to realize her son's thoughts had turned to domestic matters.

The older woman's expression turned-horror struck. "You think he might have made me wait even longer to get grandbabies?"

Ash laughed. She knew the other woman was intuitive where her son was concerned. "I'm afraid so."

Zoe shook her head again. "I still worry about him. He never stops achieving. When is it enough?"