Читать книгу Ultimate Romance Collection - Rebecca Winters, Amalie Berlin - Страница 98
ОглавлениеTHE WOMAN HE wanted to marry?
After the intensity of that kiss, Lys was dying to believe him. Deep in her heart she wanted marriage to Takis with every atom in her body, but she was too confused to think.
Astounded by the strength of her feelings, she said, “It’s getting dark... I need to get back to the hotel.”
Ignoring him, she put everything in the bag except the bottle of liqueur, which she left on the counter. They walked out of the house and Lys hurried to his car. As she put the bag in the backseat, Takis caught up with her and slid behind the wheel.
“On the way home I’ll drive you past the Manolis Hotel. It looks like something Cassia would build with her blocks. Two for the bottom floor and one for the top.”
Several turns brought them to the main street where the buildings sprang from the cement and had grown side by side. Because of his description, she picked it out immediately, painted in yellow with dark-brown-framed windows and matching tiles on the roof. A sign hung over the bottom right entrance.
He stopped in front, not pressing her to talk about anything. During the last eleven years, she assumed nothing here had changed in all that time. She thought about the eighteen-year-old boy who’d wanted to help expand his father’s hotel business. Instead, he’d ended up in New York thanks to Nassos and her father. Now he’d come full circle and was back for good.
“What are you thinking?”
She took a deep breath. “That you’ve accomplished miracles in your life.”
His features took on a grim cast. “I’ll take the one that hasn’t happened yet.”
She presumed he was talking about his relationship with his father. Her heart ached for what he was going through.
He started driving again and they headed for Heraklion. “Since you know where I’ll be living and how I’m spending my time, I’ll leave it up to you to decide when you want to get together to talk business.”
Nassos couldn’t have known his will would put them in such a difficult position. In Italy Takis had told Cesare he didn’t want the hotel, let alone the complication of it being tied to Lys.
“Takis? Are you worried that if we don’t get engaged, somehow word will reach your father that there’s another reason you’re tied to the hotel when we’re seen together?”
“Anything’s possible, but I’ll deal with it by Skyping with you on the computer when you feel the need for a meeting.”
“I still wouldn’t do that in the office where Giorgos or one of the staff could walk in.”
“Then we’ll do it from your hotel room.”
By the time he’d driven up in front of the hotel, she was in torment. He got out and came around to open her door. “I’ll be working on my house for the next week. If anything comes up, give me a call. Kalinikta, Lys.”
“Good night,” she whispered. “Thank you for the delicious food.”
“You’re welcome,” he whispered against her lips before kissing her. Lys’s attraction to him was overpowering. Obeying a blind need, she kissed him back again and again, relishing the slight rasp that sent tingles of desire through her body. After that, she found the strength to dash inside the hotel entrance to the elevators.
With pounding heart she reached her room, filled with unassuaged longings. After a minute when she had caught her breath, she called the front desk to find out if there were any messages for her. Thankful when she learned there was nothing pressing, she hung up and took a shower.
Lys had hoped to fall asleep watching TV, but she couldn’t concentrate. Throughout the night she tossed and turned. Her fear that Takis’s father would learn about Nassos’s willed gift wouldn’t leave her alone. Her mind relived what Danae had told her, that she approved of Takis and felt he’d make the right husband for her. Lys was so in love, she wanted him for her husband.
Takis hadn’t asked for Nassos’s gift. Who would have dreamed he would pass away this early in life? Nassos hadn’t known the degree of fragility between Takis and his father, otherwise he wouldn’t have put Takis in this situation. Nassos would have found another way to show his admiration.
When morning came, she felt like she hadn’t slept at all and knew she had to see Takis again. He’d become her whole life! After eating breakfast in her room, she dressed in dark brown pleated pants with a matching-colored long-sleeved sweater.
Once she’d run a brush through her hair and had applied an apricot frost lipstick, she went down to the office to return phone calls and talk to some vendors. She texted Danae that she’d call her later in the day. Lys wasn’t prepared to talk to her yet.
Around noon she told Giorgos she was leaving without giving him a reason and headed for the parking garage before he could detain her. Giorgos couldn’t hide his frustration that she’d been avoiding him. Takis had planted a seed. Clearly it had taken root.
Once out on the road, she made several stops to buy souvlaki, fruit and soda. All the way to Takis’s house she hoped she’d see his car parked outside. To her relief she did find the car there and parked behind it. Anxious to talk to him, she grabbed the sack of food and hurried to the front door. After knocking twice with no response, she tried the handle. To her surprise it opened.
“Takis?” she called out. “Are you here?” No answer. She crossed through to the kitchen and saw a couple of old wooden chairs and a card table. On the counter he’d left a coffee thermos. He must have gone somewhere. Maybe he’d gotten hungry and had walked to the hotel that was only a few blocks away.
She put the food on the table knowing he’d be back or he wouldn’t have left the door unlocked. While she waited for him, she went up the small staircase to the second floor. Both tiny bedrooms were separated by a bathroom that needed work. And before she could prevent the thought from forming, she decided that one of the bedrooms would make a perfect nursery.
Each had a door that opened onto the terrace. You would need a railing if you brought children over here. In her mind’s eye she could picture a lovely table with a colorful umbrella surrounded by chairs and pots of flowers.
Beyond the village the view looked out on the ancient Minoan site with its archaeological ruins, reminding her of the statue of King Minos on Takis’s desk in Italy.
While she stood there near the edge, deep in thought, she saw a pickup truck turn the corner and pull up behind her car. All kinds of equipment filled the bed. Her pulse raced as she saw two men get out. The taller of the two, an Adonis dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt, looked up and waved to her.
“Yassou, Lys! I’ll be in as soon as I unload the truck!”
“Let me help!”
Excited he’d come, she hurried downstairs and opened the front door. His brother—it couldn’t be anyone else with those features—had red tinges in his dark blond hair. He brought in a ladder and some paint cans. Takis followed, carrying other paint equipment and drop cloths.
His eyes, that marvelous hazel green, played over her. “I’m glad you’re here.” His deep velvety voice wound its way through her body, igniting her senses. He put everything down in the living room. “Lukios? I’d like you to meet Lys Theron. Lys? This is Lukios Manolis.”
Takis had told her that Lukios hadn’t been friendly the other day. Lys had hoped for his sake that his brother would warm up. It appeared they were getting along better now and that knowledge made her happy.
“You’re the wonderful brother he’s told me about. It’s so nice to meet you. I’ve been anxious to meet Takis’s family.” She smiled and put out her hand.
The other man shook it. “How do you do,” he said in a subdued voice. His eyes swerved back and forth at the two of them, trying to figure things out. She had no doubt he’d seen her in the news.
“I thought Takis might be hungry while he worked, so I brought lunch. It’s in the kitchen. He has such a big appetite, I bought enough for half a dozen people. Please feel welcome to eat with us if you’d like.”
He looked taken back. “Thank you. Have you known each other long?”
Without giving Takis a chance to answer, she said, “Quite a while. We met in Italy while I was on vacation. Those were your children in the photos I saw on his desk at work? Both yours and your sister, Kori’s. They are adorable. Your parents must be crazy about their grandchildren.”
“They are,” he murmured.
“In case you didn’t know yet, Takis asked me to marry him yesterday and brought me here to see where we’re going to live.”
Lukios blinked. “I had no idea.”
“He surprised me too.” She smiled at him. “Since he told me I could decorate it any way I want, I decided to start with a housewarming present by offering my services to help with the painting.”
“How come I’m so lucky?” Takis interjected, as if they had no audience. His eyes gleamed.
She knew what her response had meant to him and heat swept through her body. By throwing herself into his suggestion for an engagement, she had no choice but to be a hundred percent committed and go all the way.
“This is such a cozy house, I’m anxious to see how we can bring it to life.”
Takis moved closer. “All I brought with me today is the primer for the walls. After we’ve put it on, we’ll go to the paint store and decide on the best color for the rooms.”
Lys had really done it now! She’d taken him by complete surprise, but it hadn’t thrown him. Nothing did. Takis was always several steps ahead no matter the situation. His responses since coming in the house had to have convinced his brother that their relationship was all but sealed.
“Come in the kitchen, Lukios. Let me serve you while you tell me about your family. What is your wife’s name? I’m sure Takis told me, but I can’t remember.”
“It’s Doris.”
“That’s it. I had a friend in school named Doris too! I understand your two children are older than Cassia.”
He blinked, as if he were surprised she knew so much. “Paulos and Ava. They’re four and five.”
“What a blessing. I always wanted siblings, but my mother died when I was little. My father never remarried, so it was just me.”
“That must have been hard.”
“Yes, but I had a father I adored.”
While she served him on a paper plate, Takis helped himself and stayed in the background of the conversation. She took it that he didn’t mind that she’d more or less taken over and was chatting away.
“Is Doris a stay-at-home mother?”
“No. She works with me at the hotel.”
“How terrific for both of you.” She handed him some tangerines.
He peeled one and ate the whole thing at once, reminding her of Takis’s eating habits. “You think that’s a good idea?”
Ah. He was coming to life. “If I loved my husband, I’d want to be with him as much as possible. She’s a lucky woman.” Poor Danae would have loved to work with Nassos like that...
Lukios darted Takis a glance, but she pretended not to notice. “Do you want a Pepsi? It’s the only soda I could find.”
“Thank you.”
She turned to Takis. “What about you?”
“I’ll drink one later. Why don’t you sit and I’ll wait on you?”
Their gazes met. “I’d love it.”
After she finished eating, Lukios got up from his chair and put his empty plate on the table. “Thank you for the lunch. It was very nice to meet you, Kyria Theron.”
“I’m thrilled I got to be introduced to you at last.”
“It was my pleasure. Now I’m afraid I have to get Baba’s truck back to the hotel. Work is waiting.”
Takis put down his soda. “I’ll see you out, Lukios.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Don’t go away,” he whispered. “I’ll be right back.”
He walked out of the kitchen, leaving her trembling. She was a fool to be this happy when it wasn’t a real engagement, but she couldn’t help it. There was no one like Takis.
* * *
A few minutes later Takis came back in the kitchen and found Lys cleaning up. “You’re a sight I never expected to see in here after leaving you in front of the hotel last evening.”
She looked up at him. “I’m sure you didn’t. But I couldn’t sleep during the night because of worry over your secret getting out. I remembered back to that day in your office in Italy. When you saw the deed, the shock on your face stunned me.”
He stared at her. It wasn’t just the deed, Lys Theron.
“Later, after your return to Heraklion, we talked about what Nassos had done by giving you co-ownership of the hotel. That’s when I realized why you worried it could be damaging to your relationship with your father if he knew.”
“I shouldn’t have said anything to you about that.”
“I’m glad you did. I—I want you to be able to preserve that precious bond with your father,” she stammered from emotion. “I loved mine so much.”
He leaned against the doorjamb with his strong arms folded. “So you’ve decided to be the sacrificial lamb.”
“I don’t think of my decision that way and hope you don’t either.”
“Be honest. You’d do anything for Nassos and Danae.”
She threw her head back. “I guess I would.”
And now she was willing to help preserve his father’s love by entering into an engagement of convenience. If Lys knew the depth of Takis’s feelings for her, would she admit she couldn’t live without him either and toss the pretense away? He cocked his head. “You realize my brother swallowed your act so completely, he gave me a hug for luck before getting in the truck.”
Luck? Her heart leaped. “He isn’t the hugging type?” she teased.
“After what I told you about him, you know he isn’t. The last time it happened, my girlfriend had just died.”
“Oh, Takis—how awful that must have been. Is it still too hard to talk about?”
“No. I remember there was pain, but I don’t feel it anymore.”
“What happened to her?”
“I was working at the hotel in Heraklion the day Gaia took a bus trip with her friends. It was the high school’s year-end retreat. They went to the Samaria Gorge.”
“I’ve heard of it but have never been there,” Lys murmured.
“It’s a place in the White Mountains where it’s possible to hike down along the gorge floor past streams, wild goats, deserted settlements and steep cliffs. The plan was for them to reach the village of Agia Roumeli and take a boat back to the bus for the return trip to Tylissos.
“The tragedy occurred when a tourist drifted across the road and hit the bus, causing it to roll over and down the side of the gorge. There were thirty students on the bus. Three of them died. One of them was Gaia.”
She buried her face in her hands. “I’m so sorry.”
“Her death prompted me to accept Nassos’s offer to leave for the States and go to work for the man whom I now know was your father. After her funeral, the move to New York helped me get over it.”
Lys nodded and wiped her eyes. “Had you been close for a long time?”
“From the age of fifteen.”
“How terrible.” She shook her head. “Does her family still live here?”
“Yes.”
“Do you visit them?”
“Only once, the first time I came back to be with my parents. They didn’t need to see me as a reminder. One look at the framed picture of her on the end table was enough to prevent me from dropping in on them again.”
“What about the latest woman in your life now? Will news of your engagement hurt her?”
He strolled toward her. “I’ve had several short-lived relationships, none of them earthshaking, as the Americans have a way of saying. For the last three years I’ve been consumed with earning a living and haven’t allowed any serious entanglements to get in the way.”
Her purple gaze fused with his. “And there you were, minding your own business at the castello when destiny dropped in to change your life yet again.”
Obeying a strong impulse, he put his hands on her shoulders. Takis could feel her heartbeat through her soft cashmere sweater.
“I watched you walk out of the church at the funeral and thought you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my life. If I hadn’t had to catch a plane for Athens right then, I would have gone to the cemetery in order to meet you and learn your name.”
“I had no idea,” she murmured.
“You’ll never know my wonder when I entered my office and discovered the daughter of Kristos Theron standing in front of Nassos’s photograph with tears in her eyes. That was my first shock, followed by another one in the form of the deed that bound you and me together in an almost mystical way. Today I received a third shock to find you here waiting for me.”
“I shouldn’t have come in, but you left the door unlocked. I hope you didn’t mind.”
“Mind?” His hands slid to her upper arms and squeezed them. “To convince Lukios is half the battle. You did something for me in front of my brother I couldn’t have done for myself. After my years abroad, he’s in shock I’ve found my soul mate in Crete, when he didn’t think it was possible.”
Takis hadn’t thought it could ever happen either.
“Had you mentioned me to him before today?”
“Never.”
“What about your sister?”
“She’s always on my side. Just so you know, when I walked him out to the truck, he brought up nothing about you. If he recognized you from the newspaper, he didn’t mention it. That should tell you a lot.”
Her eyes glistened with moisture. “Then I’m glad.”
“Glad enough to come with me and get your engagement ring? When I introduce you to my parents, I want it on your finger.”
He could see her throat working. “I thought you were going to paint today.”
“I’m getting things ready, but will have to wait until tomorrow morning. The water and electricity won’t be turned on until then. Since we’ve eaten, let’s drive into Heraklion.”
Without her saying anything, she walked with him to his car. After they headed for the city she turned to him. “You mustn’t buy me anything that stands out.”
“I’ve already bought it.”
A slight gasp escaped her throat.
He smiled. “The ring does have unique significance, but don’t worry. It’s not a ten-carat blue-white diamond from Tiffany’s worth three million dollars.”
“When did you get it?”
“The day I suggested the engagement. Once I visualize an idea, I act on it. I’m afraid it’s the way I’m made.”
“You’re one amazing man.”
“Amazing as in crazy, insane, exasperating? What?”
“All three and more.”
He chuckled. “I don’t want to hear the rest. Admit you like me a little.”
She looked away.
“Why don’t you pull out your phone and we’ll compose an engagement announcement for the newspaper. The sooner it gets in, the better.”
“Danae will want to check it over first.” She pressed the note app. He watched her get started. “I think it should begin with something like Kyria Danae Rodino is pleased to announce the engagement of Lys Theron to Takis Manolis, son of Nikanor and—” She paused and turned to him. “What’s your mother’s name?”
“Hestia.”
“Goddess of the hearth. What a lovely name.” She typed it in and finished with, “Son of Nikanor and Hestia Manolis of Tylissos, Crete.”
His hands gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “You need to add Lys Theron, daughter of Kristos and Anna Theron.”
A small cry escaped. “I didn’t know you knew my mother’s name.”
“Someone at the hotel told me after I started working there. As for the rest of the announcement, we can figure out the June date after you talk to Danae. Then end it with saying that the wedding will take place in the Greek Orthodox church in Heraklion.”
“Which one were your parents married in?”
“Agios Titos. That’s where we’ll take our vows.”
He was living for it.
