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The Greek's Long-Lost Son
Rebecca Winters
The Greek’s
Long-Lost Son
Rebecca Winters
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Table of Contents
Cover Page (#u7e3dd732-1819-5fad-86ef-db1ed48ee0ce)
Title Page (#u5cad6754-6174-5bd1-9902-57069c64bbda)
Dear Reader (#u5bddebc5-62d2-598b-b63e-17040dcadff4)
Dedication (#u214e5060-5b8f-52ff-a9f0-977444177953)
Chapter One (#u1e982115-4eb2-5903-a8c5-ea6f2e3b0eb0)
Chapter Two (#u58bab422-b4c7-567b-9920-f1ef100c881c)
Chapter Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Dear Reader
Jilted at the altar!
An old phrase that still puts a dagger in our hearts—because we know that when it happens someone is suffering the most agonising pain.
In THE GREEK’S LONG-LOST SON, Stella Athas undergoes this life-changing experience. Then, just as she gets her life together and things are going well, the man who shattered her heart and her dreams makes a sudden dramatic appearance, informing her he’s never going away again.
Her first instinct is to run from him—but where? It isn’t that easy when neither of them wants to hurt the adorable six-year-old son they made together. How would you, the reader, have handled this situation? Find out what our heroine did.
Enjoy!
Rebecca Winters
Rebecca loves to hear from her readers. If you wish to e-mail her, please visit her website at: www.cleanromances.com
A very loyal fan who read one of my Greek romances,
IF HE COULD SEE ME NOW, urged me to write
Stella’s story. Stella was a member of the powerful
Athas Greek shipping family and a secondary character
in the book. How lucky am I to have readers who get
hooked on a novel and want to know more?
Stella’s story, THE GREEK’s LONG-LOST SON
is for you, BUFFER, with my gratitude!
CHAPTER ONE
AFTER a hard day’s work negotiating prices with their overseas clients, Stella Athas left her office at the Athens headquarters a little after three o’clock in her new white Jaguar XK convertible, the first car she’d ever owned. Until she’d bought it with her own money two months ago, she’d used the old clunker estate car to get around.
Along with her new purchase, it seemed a different hairdo was necessary too. She’d always worn her dark hair long and straight, but all that had changed with the convertible, because the whole point of having the top down was to feel the sun and the breeze. It had only taken one day of whizzing around in it looking like the head of a mop for Stella to go to a beauty salon and get her hair cut in a trendy jaw-length style.
Everyone seemed to approve of her new look. Her colleagues said it emphasized the high cheekbones of her oval face. Her friends insisted it brought out the velvety texture of her midnight-brown eyes.
Her oldest brother, Stasio, teased her that she’d better watch out; she was a great beauty like their deceased mother. All the men, eligible or otherwise, had their eye on her now that she’d been seen around Athens in her flashy new sports car. When was she going to get serious over Keiko and take him for a ride in it? Didn’t she know she was breaking his heart?
Stella knew that her brother was hoping she and Keiko Pappas would get together, but she’d been too burned by an experience in her past to get into an intimate relationship with another man. She preferred to remain friends with Keiko or any other guy hoping to get close to her for that matter.
As for today, she didn’t want to think about anything but having fun because this marked the beginning of her three-week vacation from work. It was also the end of the school year for her six-year-old son, Ari.
Although she liked the family’s town villa in Athens well enough—after all, it had been home to the Athas clan for three generations—she was a beach girl at heart and always looked forward to their holidays on Andros with Stasio and his wife, Rachel.
When Stella had attended college in New York, she’d met an American girl named Rachel Maynard. They had become best friends at a time when Stella had been recovering from what she could only look back on now as a nervous breakdown. When Theo Pantheras had deserted her and their unborn child, she’d allowed it to almost destroy her. Of course, that had been six years ago. She’d long since recovered, but the experience had caused her to lose her faith in men.
Still, with a vacation looming, none of that mattered now. She was eager to join Rachel, who’d married Stasio and who now had two little daughters, Cassie and Zoe, who adored Ari and he them. Everyone was looking forward to being together at the family villa on Andros and at some point her brother Nikos would be arriving from Switzerland with his wife Renate to vacation with them, too.
Nikos’s arrival was always a worry for Stella, because he had a nasty temper and could make life difficult when he wanted to. Hopefully, this time he’d be on his best behavior, but she didn’t know if it was possible.
Rather than be flown in Stasio’s helicopter, Stella planned to drive her and Ari this visit. She wanted the new car at her disposal as she sped around the island and enjoyed the glorious summer. Tomorrow morning they’d leave early and take the ferry from Rafina. Ari loved ships of all kinds and adored being on the water. So did she and couldn’t wait to get away from the city. It was starting to get overcrowded with tourists.
Once she’d pulled around the back of the house, she parked away from the trees and birds and hurried through the screened-in back porch where deliveries were left. When she entered the big kitchen, she saw the elderly housekeeper watering a plant at the sink.
“Yiasas, Iola. How was your day?”
She turned her gray head to look at Stella. “Busy.”
“Cheer up. Ari and I will be leaving in the morning. With Stasio’s family out of here, too, you’ll have three weeks to take it easy and enjoy yourself.” Stella gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’m going upstairs to get packed.”
“Everything has been washed and dried. You want me to bring up the luggage?”
“Thank you, but my suitcase is already in my closet. We don’t need to take that much to the beach. Mine will hold both our things.”
Grabbing an apple from the basket, she took a big bite and headed for the staircase at the front of the house. When they weren’t on Andros, Stasio and Rachel lived at the villa on the third floor with the girls, she and Ari on the second. Nikos’s suite was on the first floor next to the pool, but he was rarely here.
Once she entered her suite adjoining Ari’s, she got to work. Ari had gone to spend the day with his school friend Dax, and Stella planned to pick him up at his friend’s house around four-thirty. That gave her an hour.
While she started gathering tops, shorts and swimsuits for both of them, the house phone rang once. She picked up the receiver at her bedside table. “What is it, Iola?”
“You need to come downstairs. The postman has a registered letter for you that only you can sign.”
Stella frowned. “Anything legal goes to Stasio’s office, but you already know that.”
“I told him, but he said this one is for you. He insists he has to deliver it into your hands, no one else’s.”
The postman could have done that while Stella had still been at the office. “I’ll be right down.”
What on earth was going on? Stella hung up the phone, eager to straighten out what was obviously a mistake so she could finish her packing. She hurried downstairs to the foyer and entered the front room.
“Yiasou.”
The postman nodded. “You are Despinis Estrella Athas?”
“Yes.” But no one ever addressed her by her birth name.
He thrust a clipboard at her. “Please sign the card on the bottom line to prove this was delivered to you personally.”
“May I ask who sent it?”
“I have no idea.”
Despite her irritation, Stella smiled while she wrote down her signature. “Don’t shoot the messenger, right?” But her comment was wasted on the postman, who remained stoic.
He took the clipboard and handed her the letter. “I’ll see myself out.”
Iola followed him to the front door and shut it behind him. Stella wandered into the foyer, more bemused than anything else by the interruption. “Perhaps I got caught speeding in my new car by one of those traffic cameras. You think?” Stella quipped.
“Aren’t you going to open it and find out?”
Stella had waited too long for her vacation to be bothered by anything now. “Maybe after I get back from our trip. After all, if this had been brought to the door tomorrow, I wouldn’t have been here.”
“But you signed for it today!”
“True. Why don’t you open it and tell me what it says while I finish packing.” She handed it to Iola before starting up the stairs to make inroads on her packing.
Stella fully expected the housekeeper to come rushing after her with the news, yet no such thing happened. In fact it was eerily quiet. After a few minutes Stella stepped out in the hall and walked to the head of the stairs.
“Iola?”
Total silence.
“Iola?” Stella called in a louder voice.
When nothing was forthcoming she raced down the stairs. No sign of her in the salon. “Iola?” She ran through the house to the kitchen, where she found her sitting on one of the kitchen chairs, her head in her hands. The letter lay open on the table.
As she started to reach for it, Iola grabbed it from her and pressed it to her ample bosom. “No! This is not for your eyes.”
The loyal housekeeper had been with their family since Stella had been in elementary school. She knew everything that went on under their roof. Stella had no doubt Iola would defend her to the death if the situation warranted it.
“What’s so terrible you don’t want me to see it?” Her question was met with quiet sobs. Stella sat down on the chair next to her and put a loving arm around her heaving shoulders. “Iola? Please. Let me see it.”
A minute passed before she handed Stella the one-page letter. Her eyes fell on the missive. It was handwritten in bold, decisive strokes that looked faintly familiar. Stella’s heart skipped a beat.
Dear Stella:
It’s been a long time since the last time we were together. After the letters I sent you came back unopened and I’d exhausted every possibility of finding you, I left for New York to work, but now I’m back in Athens for good.
I saw you walking near your villa with a boy who has Pantheras written all over him. He’s my flesh and blood, too.
You and I need to meet.
I can be reached at the phone number on my office letterhead. I’ve also written my cell phone number here. I’ll expect your call tomorrow before the day is out. Don’t make me petition the court to secure my right to be with my son. That’s the last thing I would want to do to either of you.
Theo.
Stella’s cry reverberated against the walls of the kitchen.
As she read the letter again, Theo’s name swam before her eyes. She started to get up from the chair, but her body began to feel icy. Nausea rendered her too weak to stand. There was a ringing in her ears. In the distance she heard Iola cry before she felt herself slump against the housekeeper.
When next she had any cognizance of her surroundings, she discovered she was lying on the kitchen floor. Iola was leaning over her whispering prayers while she patted Stella’s cheeks with a cold, wet cloth. As the housekeeper fussed over her, a memory of the letter filled her mind.
After six years Theo Pantheras had reappeared in her life, as if from the dead, wanting to talk to her? The very idea was so staggering Stella could hardly fathom it.
She’d known moments of anger in her life, but no amount of pain compared to the violence of her emotions against Ari’s father, the man who’d come close to destroying her.
For him to think for one second she would pick up the phone and call him was too ludicrous to comprehend. The night she’d told him she was pregnant, he’d acted thrilled and told her he would find a way to take care of her and their baby. They would get married immediately despite their families being against it.
They had arranged to meet at the church, and once Theo arrived they would get married in secret, but Theo never came and Stella never saw him again. It was as if he’d simply disappeared off the face of the earth. The pain and the shame of waiting for him pretty well shattered her. Without Stasio’s love and support, and of course the love she had for her gorgeous Ari, she probably would have died.
“I’m all right, Iola,” she assured her. Sheer negative adrenaline flowed through her body, driving her to get to her feet. She clung to the chair back while she waited for her head to stop reeling.
“Drink this.” Iola handed her a glass of water.
It tasted good and she drank the whole thing. “Thank you.”
“Theo Pantheras has obviously been stalking you. That is not good. You must call Stasio at once.”
“No,” she countered in a quiet voice. “That’s the one thing I won’t do. I have Ari to think about. This is something I intend to handle myself.”
Since her parents’ deaths, Stella had relied on her brother for everything. It had almost ruined his life in the process, but she wasn’t a helpless teenager anymore. She’d grown into a twenty-four-year-old woman with a responsible position in the company, who’d been raising her son for the last six years.
Stasio had done more for her and her son than any human could expect of another. Her love for her brother bordered on worship. The only way to repay him in some small way was to leave him out of this. He had a wife and children he doted on, and Rachel was expecting for a third time. Stella wasn’t about to impose her problems on him or his family. Never again.
She stared at Iola. “Not one word of this to anyone, especially not Nikos or Stasio. It will be our secret. You understand?”
The older woman nodded, but she said another prayer under her breath.
With no time to lose, Stella went upstairs for her purse. While there she phoned Dax’s mother and told her she was coming to collect Ari. After telling Iola where she was going, she put the letter in her purse, then left the villa and drove to Dax’s house.
As soon as Ari saw her, he ran down the steps of the front porch carrying his backpack and got into the car. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “How was your last day of school?”
“Okay. We had to bring all our pictures and stuff home. Can we fly to Palaiopolis tonight?” It was the village on Andros where Stasio lived.
“No, honey. I’m planning to drive us tomorrow morning. I’d like my own car while we’re on vacation.”
“Hooray! I love our new car.”
She chuckled. “So do I.”
“Stasi says I’ll be able to drive a car like this one day.”
“Not for years yet, honey.”
Whatever Stasio said, that was it. Long ago, when Stasio had told Stella he’d help her raise Ari, Nikos had warned Stella that Ari would always look to Stasio as his father. No other man could hope to compete. Nikos had told Stella that she should put her son up for adoption so he could have a normal life with a mother and father, but Stella wouldn’t hear of it. Ari was her life! Since Theo had opted out of all responsibility, a boy could pray to have a surrogate father like Stasio.
While they waited for an old man to cross the street in front of them she glanced at her son. For six years she’d purposely concentrated on his Athas traits, but since receiving the letter from Theo, she was forced to take a second look at him.
Like Stasio, Ari was tall for his age with brown-black hair. He had Nikos’s beautiful olive skin and her smile. But if she were honest with herself, his jet-black eyes, the musculature of his lean body, the shape of his hairline with its widow’s peak belonged to Theo.
Pain stabbed her heart. Ari was the most adorable six-year-old in the entire world. Theo had no idea what he’d given up when he’d turned his back on the two of them. Why in heaven’s name would he be interested in his child now? It didn’t make sense.
She moved on. The breeze played with Ari’s overly long hair. It had a tendency to curl at the tips, like Theo’s…. Sometimes he held his head at an angle while he was looking at something with intensity, and again he reminded her of the man she’d once loved so completely she’d thought she couldn’t live without him.
But that man who’d shown her so much love and had made her feel immortal had disappeared from her life. After realizing he was never coming back, she’d thought she was in the middle of a nightmare and would wake up. To her horror, she discovered she’d been awake the whole time. Welcome to the new reality of her life.
Remembered pain still had the power to shake her. She glanced at Ari. “Are you hungry?”
“No. Dax’s mom fed us. Do you think Dax could come to Andros for part of our vacation?”
Any other time she would have said yes without thinking about it, but her entire world had been turned upside down this afternoon. She dreaded broaching the subject of his father with Ari, but if she put it off she would become more frantic than she already was. Then he’d know something was terribly wrong.
Ari had a very intuitive nature. Since she’d always been honest with him, she couldn’t be any different now. When they pulled around the back of the villa, she didn’t immediately get out of the car.
“Ari—before we go inside, there’s something I have to tell you.”
He looked upset. “Is it about Dax? You don’t like him, huh.”
She blinked. “Where did you ever get that idea? He’s my favorite friend of yours.”
“Because you wouldn’t let him come with us to Andros last year, either.”
Stella let out an anxious sigh. “That wasn’t the reason. Dax’s parents had other plans for him, remember? They took him to Disneyland. It was a surprise. That’s why he couldn’t come with us.”
“Then how come you haven’t said he can come with us this time?” He continued to look at her with those penetrating black eyes while he waited for an answer. Sometimes he could be very adult for his age. It always caught her off guard, probably because he reminded her of the Theo she had once known.
At sixteen Stella had been so shy and unsure of herself, yet he’d been tender and patient with her and he’d slowly built her confidence. When Nikos had been mean to her and made fun of her and her friends, Stella had turned to Theo, whose love and acceptance had made all the hurts go away.
Where had that man gone? After he’d disappeared from her life, she’d wanted to die.
Clearing her throat she turned to Ari and said, “Do you remember when you asked me if I knew where your father lived and I said no?”
All of a sudden she felt Ari go quiet. He nodded.
“It was the truth. I didn’t know anything about him. When I asked why you wanted to know, you said there was no reason, but I knew that wasn’t true.”
He didn’t move a muscle.
“I…I’m afraid I haven’t made it easy for you to talk about your father,” she stammered.
“Stasi said he hurt you so much you got sick.”
“He was right. You see, my mommy died before you were born. Then your father went away and I never saw him again. I was so sad I fell apart for a while.”
To make the pain even more unbearable, Nikos had been cruel and impossible to live with back then, always siding with their father that Theo came from the wrong kind of people with no background or class and no money. A marriage between them was unthinkable. She should be thankful he was out of her life.
Sensing how traumatic the situation was, how fragile her feelings were, Stasio had taken Stella to New York to have her baby. Six months later their father had suffered a fatal heart attack. After his funeral she and Ari had stayed in New York for the next four years. With Stasio there doing business half of every month, it had worked out well for all of them, and Stella had been able to get her college degree.
Thankfully at the time, Nikos went back and forth from Athens to the family’s condo in Chamonix where he skied. She rarely saw him. That was a plus.
“Because of your uncle Stasio’s love and kindness, I got better. The point is, that was a long time ago and a lot has changed since then.” She moistened her lips nervously. “I found out this afternoon that your father has been living in New York.”
His eyes rounded. “Just like we did?”
“Yes.” That had come as another shock. For four years they’d both lived in the same city and hadn’t even known it. Incredible. “However, he’s back in Athens now to stay. He…wants to see you.”
A long silence ensued. She could see him digesting what she’d just told him, but before he could ask another question, she needed to tell him the rest.
“Because it’s been six years and he’s never come near us until now, I need to know how you feel about seeing him. You don’t have to answer right now. Just think about it. If you decide you’d like to meet him, then we’ll call him up, but if you don’t feel comfortable, Ari, you just have to say so—okay?”
If he didn’t want to meet his father, then Stella would phone him when Ari wasn’t aware of it. How she would love to hear Theo’s reason for wanting to be with his child after all this time!
She couldn’t imagine what Theo could say that would absolve him of what he’d done to her—to them! Stella couldn’t comprehend a man walking away like that with no conscience, but it happened to other women all the time.
There were a lot of amoral men in the world, but she didn’t want this one to be anywhere near her son. To her horror, Theo had brought up the possibility of getting the court involved if she didn’t cooperate. She couldn’t bear the thought of it, so she didn’t dare ignore his letter.
Ari lowered his head. “I don’t want to go and live with my father. I want to stay home with you. But I’d like to see him.” He reached for her.
Waves of intense love for her son swept over her. “If that’s your decision, then we’ll tell him together.”
He squinted up at her. “Can he make me go with him? Alex always has to go with his father to his new house and he doesn’t like it.”
Alex was one of Ari’s friends. The situation in their home was very sad since his parents had divorced.
Her heart pounded with sickening intensity. The court could order visitation, but in the letter Theo had said he didn’t want to go that route. Right now she was praying he meant it. “Let’s not worry about that today.”
In an abrupt motion Ari broke away from her and got out of the car with his backpack. “I’m going to call Stasi.”
“No, Ari!”
That brought her son to a halt. He turned around, not quite believing her firmness. “Why can’t I?”
“Because he’s been forced to worry about us for too long as it is.”
“But—”
“I said no.” She cut him off before getting out of the car herself. “This isn’t his business and doesn’t involve anyone but you and me. Do you understand? After we go into the house we’ll phone Dax’s parents. Maybe they’ll let him come to Andros with us for a few days. But whatever happens, when we get to the island, I don’t want you to say a word about your father to anyone.
“Except for Iola, no one else knows he’s back in Greece. You’re not to tell the girls or Rachel or Stasio or Nikos. Can you promise me you’ll keep quiet about it?”
“Yes.” She’d thought the mention of Dax joining them might take the edge off this new worry in his life, but she was a fool to think that. After hearing his father wanted to see him, what little boy could think about anything else?
At this point Ari was horribly confused. So was she, and heartsick for him. His dark eyes filled with tears before he trudged toward the porch, leaving her devastated.
The resort Theo had built on St. Thomas in the Saronic Islands brought an influx of the elite from the major continents. The manager Theo hired said they were fast becoming the preferred vacation destination in all Greece and had the statistics to back it up.
That was always good news, but after leaving Athens to spend the night here, he’d had other things on his mind. He’d give Stella another hour to respond to his letter before phoning her. There was no telling where she was right now. Probably with her brothers while they planned a way to stop Theo cold. It would do them no good.
There was a reason for that and it lay in front of him. The velvety green of the golf course extending in two directions from the sprawling white hotel represented many lucrative investments that now ensured Theo’s wealth. It took this kind of money to be on a par with the Athas dynasty.
Theo had never been a mercenary man. He still wasn’t. That was why the medium-size villa he’d had built on Salamis was comfortable without overwhelming Theo’s own parents and siblings with a lifestyle foreign to them.
Needing an outlet for his energy, he walked around the resort to the marina. Most of the motorboats and small sailboats were out enjoying the beautiful late afternoon. One morning soon he’d take his boy out on the calm water.
He didn’t doubt his son had been exposed to every water sport imaginable, but he’d only been taught by the Athas family. There was a whole side to him he didn’t know about yet that only Theo could show him because he was his father.
After chatting with a few of the employees, he entered the hotel and headed for the manager’s office. The other man had arranged for Theo to meet the new head chef and go over the various menus for Theo’s approval.
Once their business was concluded, he had the office to himself. Boris, his bodyguard, stood outside the room while Theo walked over to the window that looked out on the blue sea. He pressed the digit for Stella’s cell phone he’d programmed into his. Nestor Georgeles, his attorney, had his methods of obtaining information. Theo flicked on the device that blocked his caller ID.
When Stella picked up after four rings, she was still talking to someone else. He could hear another voice in the background.
“Hello?”
It was her voice. Yet it was different. It was the voice of a woman.
“Kalispera, Stella.”
He heard her sudden intake of breath. “Theo—h-how did you—” She paused. “Never mind. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“I have to admit that when I drove past your villa for old-time’s sake, I was surprised to discover you hadn’t aborted our baby after all.”
“Aborted?” she cried.
Just then Stella had sounded too aghast at his comment to have faked it. He clutched his phone tighter. Among Nikos Athas’s many sins, he’d coldbloodedly lied to Theo about Stella getting rid of the baby.
Sickened by the possibility that she’d really gone through with it and couldn’t face him with the truth, Theo had left for NewYork determined to start a new life and make the kind of money so his family would never know poverty again.
However, now that he was back home and had discovered he had a son, no power was going to keep Theo from him. If Nikos interfered again and tried to do his worst, it wouldn’t get him or her brother Stasio anywhere. Theo was more than prepared to fight fire with fire because he intended to be a full-time father to his child.
All these years he’d accused her in his heart of doing the worst thing a mother could do. He should have known she wouldn’t have done away with their child. It wasn’t in her nature. But for her to keep all knowledge of their son from him wounded him so deeply, he could hardly talk. His eyes smarted.
“What did you name him?”
There was a period of silence before she said, “I…I’m surprised you didn’t find that out since you seem to know everything else.” After another pause while he waited, she added, “He was christened Ari.”
He sucked in his breath. “Is that an Athas family name?”
“No. I just liked it,” she murmured.
Now that he knew that, he liked it, too. Very much, in fact. For the moment she was sounding like the old Stella.
In the past they’d been forced to speak quietly over the phone so her family wouldn’t know she was making plans with him. She hadn’t been allowed to start dating until she was eighteen, but she’d caught his eye before her seventeenth birthday. The thrill of falling in love had made both of them careless.
They’d slipped out at different times to be together. Theo had paid an old fisherman on a regular basis for the use of his wooden rowboat. There had been a protected cove on Salamis and he had always taken her there. They’d swim and then lie on a quilt spread on the sand. Theo knew he shouldn’t touch her, but he couldn’t help it, not when she begged him to make love to her.
She had been so giving, so utterly sweet and passionate while at the same time being so innocent, he had told her that if they waited until she turned eighteen, they’d get married and have a real church wedding. Though they’d tried to wait, there came a day when neither of them could stand it any longer. Once they’d made love, there was no going back.
He cleared his throat, intent on learning everything about his son. There were six years to catch up on. “If you could tell me the most important thing about him, what would it be?”
“I couldn’t pick just one thing.” Her voice shook. “He’s sweet, loving. I think he’s the smartest, kindest little boy in the world.”
That described the woman he’d once loved. She’d spoken like a mother who adored her son. Ari sounded the antithesis of his uncle Nikos who years before had caught up to Theo with his first volley of threats. “Stay away from my sister or you’ll live to regret it.”
Nikos had been watching them at church, following them while they went for walks. When his threats didn’t work, he had tried to bribe Theo with money. Theo had thrown it back in his face.
A week later there had been a small fire at his parents’ taverna. The police had said it was arson, but they never found the perpetrator. Someone working for Nikos had phoned with more threats, and Theo had been warned there was more to come if he didn’t leave Stella alone.
When Theo’s brother Spiro had been injured on his motor scooter by a luxury car driving way too fast for that time of night, Theo realized Nikos was in dead earnest.
The last time he ever saw Stella, she had told him she was pregnant. The news had overjoyed him and suddenly everything made sense. She’d been impregnated by a Pantheras. It was no wonder Nikos had behaved like a madman—Theo had violated his sister and there’d be hell to pay.
That night Theo had told her he wanted to marry her as soon as possible. They would go away and he’d get a good job to support her and the baby. They’d planned everything out and had decided to meet at the church in secret. But on the night in question, Nikos had been waiting for him in the church parking lot. He had told Theo that Stella wouldn’t be coming now or ever, that she had aborted their baby and wanted to forget all about Theo.
In shock Theo had lunged for him, but he had been beaten up by hired thugs and left for dead on the island of Salamis. After he had recovered from his injuries he’d looked everywhere for Stella, but no one had seen her. She didn’t answer his calls or letters. She’d simply vanished.
Eventually he came to the conclusion that she really didn’t want to see him again. It was evident her family had talked her into getting rid of the baby. His baby.
He shifted his weight. “I’ve been waiting all day for your call so we could discuss Ari. When I didn’t hear from you, I decided to phone you. Where and how would you like my first meeting with him to take place?”
“I’d rather it never happened in this lifetime or the next.”
A nerve throbbed at the corner of his mouth. “Then you’re saying you want this handled through the court?’
“No,” she blurted in agony. For a moment she reminded him of the vulnerable girl he had once known. “I have to know what you plan to do. Ari keeps a lot of things to himself. Naturally he’s frightened about things.”
“So am I,” his voice grated. “Do you have a sense of how he truly feels?”
A groan escaped her throat. “I wish I could tell you he despises the idea of you and would prefer you didn’t exist, but the truth is, I have no idea how he feels deep inside.”
In other words, Ari knew his mother hated Theo.
“Today he was probably reacting the way he did to please me. He always tries to please,” she explained. “Maybe more than is healthy at times.”
He had little doubt that Ari hated the man who’d fathered him and then had promptly rejected him even before he was born. A six-year-old could hate just as vehemently as a fiftyor an eighty year-old. Theo was under no illusion that this would be easy. In this case the hatred would be worse because Ari would have been indoctrinated by his uncles who’d wished Theo dead long ago.
He realized he needed to be prepared for hostility from Ari that might last a lifetime. A lot of factors would enter in, beginning with the atmosphere in which Ari had been raised, the amount of hate built up against Theo on the part of Stella’s family. Her parents had been against him from the beginning.
Taking into account that the Athas brothers considered Theo the underbelly of Greek society and had done everything short of killing him to keep him away from Stella, Theo was starting off with an enormous minus handicap.
“Thank you for that much honesty, Stella.” He hadn’t expected it. “Since I already love him more than life itself and know you do, too, let’s meet somewhere this evening to discuss him. A public place or not, whatever you prefer. Can you arrange for someone to watch him while we’re together?”
“Of course, but it’s not possible. I’m on Andros right now.”
In other words, she assumed he was in Athens and that any plans he had for tonight were out of the question. He had news for her. “I can be there in an hour. Just tell me where you’ll be exactly.”
He counted a full minute while she was forced to realize he had a helicopter at his disposal. That put him in the same league with the way her family moved around. “There’s a paddleboat concession on the beach in Batsi. I’ll wait for you there in the parking lot at seven-thirty.”
She clicked off before he could say thank you, but it didn’t matter. Progress had been made. The gods had been with him today.
He checked his watch. It was six-thirty. After phoning the pilot to give him their next destination, he rang the manager to say goodbye, then headed for the helipad with Boris.
Theo had never been to Andros, but Stella had told him so much about it, he felt like he knew its special places by heart. Certainly his son, young as he was, could probably show Theo around and know what he was talking about.
Andros was the home of the legendary Stasio Athas, where some of the most elite Greek families lived. To the people in Theo’s family it represented lala land. A smile broke one corner of his mouth. This Pantheras member was about to trespass on ground not meant for untouchables.
Stella’s elite family viewed other families like Theo’s, who lived close to the poverty line, at the bottom of the food chain. When Theo had refused the money Nikos had thrust at him to stay away from Stella, Nikos had snarled words like scum and untouchable among the many insults hurled at him. Nice people, Stella’s family.
He looked out the window. Summer had come to the Cyclades. As Andros came into view, his breath caught at the lush green island dotted with flowers. No wonder Stella loved it here. St. Thomas was idyllic, but it didn’t compare in the same way.
After the helicopter had dropped down over the little port of Batsi, his gaze swerved to a white convertible sports car driving along the road at a clip toward the water. The sight intrigued him. Once the chopper touched ground, he jumped down and started across the wooded area to the car park where it had just pulled to a stop.
To his surprise he saw a well-endowed brunette woman climb out and walk around the area with confidence, as if she were searching for someone. Closer now, he noticed she bore a superficial resemblance to the lovely longhaired teen of Theo’s youth.
Stella.
CHAPTER TWO
THE years had turned the only Athas daughter into a gorgeous female, whose classic white dress was cinched with a wide belt, highlighting curves above and below her slender waist. She’d always been beautiful to Theo, but having the baby had caused her to blossom.
Her high cheekbones, combined with the lovely contours of her face and glossy hair made her so striking, he couldn’t look anywhere else.
He’d wondered how much she might have changed. What he hadn’t expected was to feel his senses ignite by simply looking at her again. That wasn’t supposed to happen, not when she’d kept all knowledge of their child from him.
Another step and their eyes met. Those velvety brown eyes he remembered so well stared at him with a mixture of shock and anxiety. After what she’d done, she ought to be terrified of him. She seemed to weave for a minute before she wandered back to her car and held on to the frame as if needing support.
He strolled up to the other side of the car. Deciding they were too much of a target for any observers, he climbed in the passenger side and shut the door. She hesitated before following suit.
The second she sat behind the wheel, her fragrance reached out to him. Again he was stunned because it was the scent he would always associate with her. It took him back to the last time they were together. Everywhere he’d kissed her, she’d tasted delightful, like fresh flowers on a warm spring morning.
Right now it was the last thing he wanted to be reminded of, but trying to blot out certain intimate thoughts was like attempting to hold back a tidal wave.
He turned to her, sliding his arm across part of the seat. She’d averted her eyes. If he wasn’t mistaken, she was trembling. On some level it pleased him she wasn’t in total control.
“Thank you for meeting me, Stella.”
“You didn’t leave me a choice.” Her words came out jerkily.
“Actually, I did.”
“You’re talking about court. I can’t imagine anything more terrifying for Ari,” she cried, sounding desperate.
“Believe it or not, it frightens me even more. Too much time has been lost as it is.” It surprised him how much he wanted to reach out and touch her, to see if she was real. “You were always lovely before, but you’ve turned into a startlingly beautiful woman.”
If anything, her features hardened at the compliment.
His gaze drifted beyond her face. “Strange how this little secluded stretch of beach reminds me of—”
“Don’t.” Her profile looked chiseled. Apparently she’d had the same impression and didn’t want to travel down that road of remembered ecstasy. “I agreed to meet you so we could talk about the best way to help Ari deal with this situation.”
A situation that had been put in play six years ago and was never of his choosing, but he didn’t voice his thoughts. For the moment Theo was walking on eggshells. “Do you think he’d be more comfortable meeting in Athens than here?”
She kneaded her hands, drawing his attention to her beautifully manicured nails. He grimaced to realize every part of her body looked quite perfect to him. It was impossible to eye her dispassionately. “Ari won’t be comfortable anywhere with you, but since we’re staying on Andros for a while, it should probably take place here.”
“What have you told him about me?”
She sucked in her breath. “Very little.”
“Even so, could you spell that out for me?”
Suddenly she jerked her head in his direction. Those gorgeous brown eyes pierced his with laserlike intensity. “You mean the way you spelled it out for me?” she cried. Her hands had gripped the steering wheel with enough force he imagined she could bend it. “I told him the truth, that you didn’t love me after all, so we never saw each other again. That was all I knew to tell him. It’s all he knows.”
Theo studied her features. “Yet you left out half the story. It’s time he heard that you stopped loving me. I’m sure he has no idea that you never intended to come to the church and go away with me so we could be married and have our baby in peace.”
The blood seemed to drain out of her face. “I was there, waiting inside the back of the nave. I waited for hours,” her voice throbbed.
Theo was incredulous. “That’s an interesting fairy tale. I was attacked before I could make it inside and was told that you got rid of our baby because you didn’t want anything to do with me.” For now he didn’t want to mention Nikos’s name and give her something else to fight him about.
“You’re lying!” she lashed out. “No one would believe such a monstrous story.”
“In the beginning I didn’t, either, not until you never, ever tried to make contact with me again. Obviously, this is a case of your word against mine, except I have the scars to prove it.”
“What scars?”
“The ones you’re looking at. While we’ve been talking, I’ve felt your eyes on me. They’re traveling over the small cuts, noticing the dents where my face got smashed in and my nose had to be rebuilt. These are nothing compared to what my X-rays show below the neck.”
Stella quickly concealed her glance, but not before he glimpsed confusion in those dark brown depths. That was something, at least.
“Whatever happened to you,” she finally said in a less-than-assured voice, “don’t you think it’s stretching it just a little to take six years before showing up?”
“Under ordinary circumstances, yes, but after you were nowhere to be found and all my mail to you came back unopened, I realized I would have to return to Greece and hire a PI to locate you. Unfortunately, I didn’t have that luxury at the time, not when I was building a business I couldn’t leave.”
Her head whipped around. “I don’t know what mail you’re talking about.”
Theo reached in his trouser pocket for the first letter he’d sent to her after he’d gotten out of the hospital. He’d addressed it to Stella at the Athens villa. It had the canceled stamp and date. Across the bottom the words “Addressee Unknown” had been scrawled.
“Take a look.” He handed it to her. “If you’re ever curious enough to read what’s on the inside of the envelope, then you’ll know my state of mind at the time. In the meantime, I’m here to claim what’s mine—Ari.”
She glanced at the front of it before tossing the letter back at him. “Ari’s not yours,” she said in an icy voice he didn’t recognize.
He put the letter back in his pocket. “Let me phrase that a better way. He’s both of ours.”
She threw her head back, causing those glistening dark strands to splay across her jaw. Combined with her golden skin, she was a miracle of womanhood. “You gave him life, but that’s all you did.”
“That was all I was allowed to do,” he countered. “Since you clearly don’t believe me, let’s not talk about the past. It’s over and done with. I much prefer to discuss Ari’s future. Perhaps you could bring him here tomorrow so we can get acquainted. We’ll let him choose what he’d like, or not like, to do. How does that sound?”
Her body stirred in agitation. “You can’t expect too much, if anything, Theo.”
As if he didn’t know. “I’m aware of that. What time shall I meet you both?”
She started the car. “Tomorrow’s Sunday. We have plans.” She was stalling, but he had to be patient if he hoped to get anywhere with her. “The day after would be best. One o’clock.”
“I’ll be here. Stella, I swear I’ll treat him with the greatest consideration possible. I’m not unaware he wouldn’t be the marvelous boy he is if you weren’t his mother. You were meant to be a mother, Stella. Every child should be so lucky.”
Though they weren’t touching, he could feel her trembling. “Y-you can have two hours with him if he’s willing,” she stammered.
“That’s more than I’d hoped for. The Stella I once knew was a giver. Remember that little heart I gave you?” It had been a cheap trinket he’d bought her in the Plaka because it had been all he could afford, but the sentiment had described her. “Love the giver.”
She revved the engine, obviously not liking being reminded of anything to do with their past. “Please get out of the car. Ari’s waiting for me.”
There was a time when she would have begged him not to leave. Of course, back then he wouldn’t have gone anywhere because he’d needed one more kiss, one more embrace before wrenching his mouth from hers. Damn if he didn’t need her mouth so badly right now he was ready to explode.
Forcing himself to act, he got out of the front seat. “I love your car by the way. With its classic lines, it looks like you. In case you didn’t know, that white dress was made for you.”
For an answer she backed out and drove off.
Stella only made it two kilometers before she had to stop the car for a minute. She buried her face in her hands. How was it possible Theo could get under her skin like this after the pain she’d undergone at his hands?
Inside of half an hour he’d pushed every button until she’d wanted to scream. But what truly haunted her was the change in his facial features.
As far as the gradation of male beauty was concerned, Theo had been a beautiful man before. If she were honest with herself, he still was. However, one scar pulled at the corner of his mouth a little. His right eyelid didn’t open as wide as the other. At some angles it gave him a slightly sinister look. His nose was still noble, but there were several bumps.
Theo hadn’t lied about the damage done to him. As he got out of the car, she’d seen the scar below his left earlobe. A thin white line ran down his bronzed neck into the collar of his dark blue shirt.
The rest of his tall body covered by his elegant clothes revealed he’d grown into a powerfully built man. She didn’t want to think about the damage beneath the surface he’d referred to, the kind an X-ray could detect.
He had an aura about him that hadn’t been obvious six years ago, but that was because he’d needed time to mature. Other men would be intimidated by him now. She bit her lip because she recognized that women would be irresistibly drawn to him.
While deep in torturous thought, she heard his helicopter pass overhead. Embarrassed that he might think she’d had to pull over because of her reaction to him, she started driving through the cobblestone streets of Batsi toward Stasio’s villa in Palaiopolis.
En route she picked up some toiletries in the village, proof of the reason she’d had to go out for a little while. She’d left the boys swimming in the pool with Rachel and the girls.
Unless Ari had let something slip to the family by mistake, she felt relatively confident they could keep Theo’s presence a secret so they could get through this holiday without anyone being the wiser. On Monday she would tell the family she was going to drive the boys around the island as Dax hadn’t been to Andros before.
Stasio worked so hard. Now that he’d taken three weeks off work to enjoy his wife and children, she didn’t want her problems to mar their families’ precious time together. Hopefully when Nikos arrived, he wouldn’t cause trouble.
He’d been wildly against her keeping Ari. In his opinion it wasn’t fair to their parents’ wishes, nor to Stella, who didn’t have a husband and who couldn’t give Ari what adoptive parents could. He’d been furious at Stasio for helping her, telling him he should have kept out of things.
She knew Nikos didn’t like Ari. Her son knew it, too, thus the reason he clung to Stasio who openly adored him. That Nikos couldn’t show Ari affection caused Stella perpetual sadness and made it hard for her to be around him. A long time ago she had decided he didn’t have the capacity to be happy, especially after their parents died.
Perhaps it was wicked of her, but a part of her hoped he might decide not to come this holiday. With the advent of Theo in their lives, Ari had enough going on without worrying about Nikos. But maybe she was getting way ahead of herself. It all had to do with Theo, who was well and truly back in Athens, demanding to spend time with her son.
His son, too, her conscience nagged.
No matter what terrible things had happened to Theo, surely it was too late for him to start up a relationship with Ari that should have begun at his birth?
Hot tears rolled down her cheeks. The agony of his rejection and the desolate years that followed could send her over the brink if she allowed herself to dwell on that nightmare. No more.
All she wanted was to be able to provide a wonderful life for Ari. She wasn’t about to let Theo suddenly show up and turn their lives into chaos. Did he really think she would believe that the letter he’d shown her was authentic? She wiped the moisture from her cheeks before entering the gate that led up the drive to Stasio’s villa.
Apparently she’d arrived in time to join everyone for a motorboat ride followed by dinner further up the coast. It was probably Stasio’s idea because he knew Ari liked to steer part of the time, with Stasio’s guidance of course. Undoubtedly Dax would get a turn, too. An evening out on the water sounded heavenly to her.
Stasio helped her into the boat with a hug. Her handsome brother looked so happy, she knew her secret was safe for the moment.
Theo flew to Andros on Monday at noon. He’d brought a backpack filled with treats and a few other essential items. Not sure what Ari would like to do, Theo had opted to wear casual trousers with a navy T-shirt and hiking boots. Today he would let Ari make all the decisions.
After grabbing a sandwich and a drink at a nearby taverna with Boris, he strolled over to the concession area to watch for Stella’s car. It hardly seemed possible this day had come. He’d been dreaming of it for too long. This morning he’d awakened wired, unable to concentrate on his work.
The beach had filled up with tourists. He would have preferred not to be around a lot of people, but he had to follow Stella’s lead if he wanted to gain a modicum of trust. While he tried to imagine his son’s thoughts, his heart picked up speed as he spied Stella’s car.
Riding with her were two boys of the same age sharing the passenger seat. One dark, the other blond, they pulled into the parking area. Stella had sprung a surprise on him. If she felt there was strength in numbers, that was all right with him. He’d deal with it.
Adjusting his pack to his shoulders, he approached the car. “Hello, Ari,” he said, smiling at his son, who had on khaki shorts and a soccer jersey. He was on the lean side with blackbrown hair; the kind of handsome child every man dreamed of fathering. The sight of him and his mother caused Theo’s breath to catch in his throat.
He studied his son. The only thing that was going to guarantee any success at all was the purity of Ari’s spirit and Theo’s unqualified love for the child who was part him, part Stella. If their boy had inherited her sweetness, her loving nature, then maybe Theo had a prayer of getting through to him. But he knew it would have to be on Ari’s timetable.
“Hi,” he responded without enthusiasm, refusing to look at him.
“Who’s your friend?”
“Dax.”
“Hi, Dax. I’m glad you came. I want to get to know Ari’s friends. I think there’s a character on the Star Trek television series with your name? He has special powers.”
Dax blinked. “I already know that. How did you know?”
“I love science fiction. Especially UFO stories.”
“Me, too. My dad thinks they’re stupid though.”
“Well, I don’t.”
“Rachel knows some real ones,” Ari said, drawn into their conversation in spite of himself.
“Who’s Rachel?”
“My aunt. Her daddy was a pilot in the air force.”
Theo’s eyes took in Dax, who wore jeans and a tank top. Stella had put on trousers and a white blouse that her figure did wonders for. Considering everyone’s attire to be appropriate, he made a decision.
“Your mother told me we would only have two hours today, Ari, but I think it’s long enough to go for a hike. What do you say we all go?”
“That sounds cool,” Dax responded enthusiastically.
Ari stared at Theo in surprise.
“You mean Mom, too?”
“She and I spent all our time outdoors. We must have walked all over Salamis Island. There’s no one I’d rather trudge up a mountain with. In fact, I’d like to see if she can still keep up with me.”
Theo moved around the other side of the car and opened the door for Stella, who looked at a total loss for words.
“I…I didn’t plan to come with you.” Her voice faltered.
“Please, Mom?” Apparently this idea pleased their son. With his mother along, he wouldn’t be so afraid. Theo couldn’t ask for more than that. She would have trouble refusing.
“I second the motion,” Theo murmured. “You know all the secret places around here. I remember you telling me about the deserted lookout on the mountain behind us where you once found an eagle’s nest.”
Again Ari looked surprised. He stared at Stella. “I’ve never seen it.”
“That’s because I’ve never taken you hiking up there, honey.”
Good. This would be a new experience for the four of them. “Let’s find out if it’s still there, shall we? I’ve brought enough goodies for all of us.”
Everyone was looking at her. She could hardly say no. Stella would walk through fire to protect their son. “Well, all right.”
While the boys got out, Theo assisted her. The sight of those long, elegant legs covered in khaki raised his blood pressure. When their arms brushed by accident, it sent a rush of desire through his body so intense he was staggered. To his chagrin, everything about her appealed to him more than ever.
“Ari? I bet you know how to put the top up on the car for your mother.” The boy nodded, but Theo could tell Ari hadn’t thought of it until it was mentioned. “That’s good. We want it to be safe while we’re gone. This car’s a beauty,” he said, eyeing Stella. She looked away.
“Will you let me do it, Mom?”
“I’ll help,” Dax volunteered.
“Yes. Of course.” She’d been outvoted and outmaneuvered. Nothing could have pleased Theo more. He helped the boys and made easy work of it.
Once she’d locked the car with her remote, Theo opened his pack. “Give me your purse.” Though he sensed she was fighting him every step of the way, she had to be careful in front of Ari. After she’d handed it to him, he zipped the compartment and eased it onto his shoulders a second time.
“If everyone’s ready, there’s a footpath beyond that copse of trees running up the side of the valley. Last one to the lookout is a girlie man.”
Both boys laughed. Dax asked, “What’s that?”
“A phrase I picked up while I was living in New York. It means wimp!”
Ari’s smile faded. He stared hard at him as they walked. “Mom and I used to live in New York.”
That was where she’d gone? Where she’d been for so long?
It was an astounding piece of news, despite the fact that he knew Stasio did business there on a regular basis. To think Ari had been living in the same city where Theo had worked…So close? It slayed him. “Did you like it?”
“Yes, but I like Greece better.”
“So do I.”
“Come on, everyone,” Stella urged. “At this pace we’ll never get there.” Theo wondered what had made her so nervous that she’d been a little short with Ari just now. A tight band constricted his breathing. By the end of their hike he intended to find out.
“I’ve never been to New York,” Dax muttered.
“It’s an exciting city.”
“I thought you lived in Greece.”
“I did until my twenties, Dax, then I moved to New York to earn my living. Now I have an office in Athens and am back to stay.” Stella walked ahead of him with Ari, but he suspected she was listening to make sure the conversation didn’t touch on things she wanted kept quiet.
“What do you do?”
“I deal in stocks and investments. Some real estate. What does your father do?”
“He owns a bank.”
Of course. Dax belonged to the approved sector of Greek society. “Does your mother have a job, too?”
“No. She stays home with my brother and sister and me.”
“You’re very lucky. Do you know my mother still helps my father run their taverna on Salamis? I can’t ever remember when they weren’t working. Sometimes I wished my mother could stay home with me and my brothers, but we were too poor. She had to work.”
“Is she a cook?”
Theo smiled. “She’s a lot of things. The other day I told her she and papa didn’t have to work anymore because I planned to take care of them from now on. Do you know what she said?”
Dax looked up at him. “What?”
“�I’ve worked all my life, Theo Pantheras. If I didn’t have work, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.’”
Ari slowed down and turned around. “Do they know about me?” Stella looked back. The pain in her eyes as she reached for their son tore him apart.
“They know all about you and hope the day will come when you might like to meet them.”
To ease the moment, Theo pulled off his pack and opened a compartment. “Let’s see. I’ve got water, oranges, peanuts, hard candy. Who wants what before we race the rest of the way?” The relief on Stella’s face needed no explanation.
Once they’d refreshed themselves, Theo stood next to a pine tree. “I’m going to count to twenty while you two guys head up the trail first. Take my binoculars, Ari. If you see something exciting, shout.”
The second he started counting in a loud voice, they took off on a run. It was steeper in this section and the trail zigzagged up through the forest. “Twenty!” he called out at last, then eyed Stella. “Are you ready to try catching up to them?”
“Just a minute, Theo.”
“What’s the matter? Are you about to tell me I’ve done everything wrong?”
Her chest heaved with the strength of her emotions. “Don’t pretend you don’t know you’ve done everything right,” her voice shook. “Inviting Dax along made Ari feel comfortable.”
“I thought that was why you brought him with Ari.”
“No. I was going to take Dax on a little tour of the island while we waited for you, but your idea was much better.” She wouldn’t make eye contact with him.
“Then you’re angry because I got you involved in the hike. When I saw Ari’s face stripped of animation, I made an impulsive decision hoping it would help our son.”
She wiped the palms of her hands against her womanly hips in a gesture of nervousness he’d seen many times years ago. He would always be touched by her vulnerability.
“Your instincts were dead on,” she admitted. “I didn’t expect him to have a good time today. Instead I…I have the feeling he won’t be averse to seeing you again,” she stammered. “That’s what I need to talk to you about.”
He chewed on some more peanuts. “Go on.”
She cleared her throat. “We’re here on vacation for two and a half more weeks.” After a pause she leveled a guarded brown gaze with its hint of pleading on him. “Before you ask to see him again, would you wait until we’re back in Athens?”
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