The Greek Tycoon's Secret Heir (8 page)

She playfully punched him in the arm. “You’re in a good mood today.”

“Am I not usually?” he asked, not wanting to assign too much significance to the fact that he was happy just to spend time with Theo and Ava. That wasn’t like him. He didn’t like to depend too heavily on someone else for his happiness. That was a road that led straight to disaster.

“Sometimes you are. You look very tense when you get home.”

He turned into the parking lot at the marina and saw that Captain Platakis had his yacht ready to go. “Transition periods are always difficult in a business situation.”

“In a personal one, too,” Ava added.

“Indeed. Too bad that I can’t map out a plan for our relationship the way I can for Theakis Shipping.”

“Am I complicating your life?”

“In ways you can’t even fathom.”

“Oh, I think I can.”

“What does
fathom
mean?” Theo asked from the back seat, reminding Christos that the boy was listening in on their conversation.

“Understand,” Ava said.

“Oh. Why can’t you understand?” Theo asked.

Christos reached around and ruffled the boy’s hair. He was way too young to have to learn that women had secrets a man could never unravel. “It’s a man-woman thing.”

“A love thing?”

Ava flushed. “Probably, sweetie. Are you ready to go out on the boat?”

“Wait a minute,” Christos said, putting his hand on Ava’s thigh to keep her from opening her door. He turned to Theo. “What’s a love thing?”

“You know,
Baba,
when a man and a woman start to love each other.”

Theo undid his seatbelt and climbed into the front seat, sitting on Ava’s lap. She stroked her son’s hair. “He asked a lot of questions about why you and I weren’t together.”

Christos wasn’t sure what that meant. Did she think she had loved him?

He opened his door and climbed out of the car, needing distance. The happiness he’d felt earlier dimmed a little. What exactly was happening between him and Ava? Lust he could handle. Love…he didn’t believe it existed. Sure, he cared for his father and Theo and couldn’t even think of what he’d felt for Stavros. But love? Romantic love? He’d never experienced anything that made him believe it was real.

Not even with Ava.

“Christos?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you okay?”

“Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re glaring at the car.”

“The sun’s in my eyes,” he said. “Theo, please run down to Captain Platakis and tell him we’ll be ready in five minutes.”

The boy hesitated and glanced at Ava. She stepped in front of him and turned toward Christos.

“He’s afraid of water.”

“What?”

She gave him a look that said she wasn’t repeating it. He’d forgotten she’d mentioned that the boy didn’t like water. “Theo, come here. Ava, will you go tell the captain we’re here?”

She hesitated. And he gave her a hard look. He was to be Theo’s father by marriage if not biologically, and that meant he had rights where the boy was concerned. Meant there were times when Ava was going to have to let go.

She sighed and he wondered a little more about the love thing she’d talked to Theo about. He was glad to have this very real problem to solve for his son. Fear of water he could help the boy get over. Understanding women…not so much.

Not even two days ago, when they’d returned from the boat trip to find that Christos’s friends had arrived. Tristan and Guillermo had started bonding with her son, doing male things that had excluded her. But seeing Theo bloom under the male attention had soothed any jealousy she felt. Now she was in here, being fitted for a wedding dress worthy of a Theakis bride, while Theo was out near the pool with Tristan and Gui.

Christos was at the office, unable to take another day off even with his friends here. Her relationship with him had grown a little closer over the last few days, since their boat outing, but it was more the bond of parenting. Christos had backed her up against Ari when he had tried to have a nanny and private tutor brought in for Theo. He’d worked with Theo on basic Greek, and Theo had soaked up enough that he was now attending a day school in the village with other local children. Ava had volunteered to work in the classroom during the day. Her own rusty Greek was improving rapidly.

But their intimate relationship was at a standstill. She knew she was responsible for that by saying they shouldn’t have sex until they were married. Or maybe Christos had just lost interest in her. He was busy at work and stayed out late at night with his friends. Perhaps she was assigning too much importance to herself and the impact she wished she had on him.

“Ms. Monroe, please hold your arms out.”

Ava did as she was asked. The designer’s assistant put the tape measure around her chest and then her waist and hips. She glanced down at her body dispassionately. She’d lost all the weight she’d put on when she’d been pregnant with Theo, but her body would never be the same.

Even the designer seemed to notice this as she patted that little bit of a belly Ava hadn’t been able to get rid of.

“We can cover this with a full skirt,” Dorothea said.

“I don’t really want a full skirt,” Ava said.

“I’ll see what I can do. Will you be wearing a support garment underneath?” Dorothea asked.

“If I have to. Did you see the picture I cut out?” she asked.

“Yes. But that dress is too…common. I have some ideas that Mr. Theakis has approved.”

“Christos shouldn’t see the dress.”

“Mr. Ari Theakis,” Dorothea said turning back to Maria.

“Dorothea.”

The woman glanced back at her. “Yes?”

“I’m not wearing anything that Ari suggested. If you don’t think the dress I want is acceptable, I’m open to suggestions, but I will be making the final decision on the dress.”

She bit her lower lip. “Of course, Ms. Monroe. Let me go get my design book. I’ll be right back.”

“Don’t go to Ari,” Ava said.

But Dorothea ignored her as she walked out of the room. Ava glanced at Maria, who refused to look over at her. She knew that the other woman wasn’t going to side with her; she had her paycheck to think of. Dorthea’s assistant busied herself with papers, perhaps writing down Ava’s measurements.

Ava put on her robe and walked out of the second-floor sitting room where they were having the fitting. She wasn’t sure what to do. Was she really going to let Ari intimidate her into wearing a dress she didn’t want?

Someone cleared their throat behind her and she turned around. Guillermo. Gui. He was tall with a leonine mane of thick brown hair. His features weren’t classically handsome but his face wasn’t one you’d forget. He was tan with sunlines around his eyes and was a bit taller than Christos.

“Yes?”

“We’re ready to have lunch and Theo wondered if you’d have time to join us.”

She nodded. “Of course. Let me change and then I’ll join you—on the terrace?”

“Yes,” Gui said, but didn’t leave. “Is everything okay?”

She shrugged, not wanting to lie to the man; she’d made a promise to Christos and to herself to stop pretending about things that made her uncomfortable.

“Do you want to talk about it? I have three sisters and two sisters-in-law…”

She laughed a little at the way he said it. One of his sisters-in-law was the Infanta of Spain—the royal princess and heir to the Spanish throne. “So you’re used to listening to women’s secrets?”

“Yes, I am. And if my sisters are to be believed I’m very good at helping with problems.”

She was tempted. For the longest time she’d been on her own, handling her problems by herself. But she had no idea how to handle Ari. Standing up to him just made him more belligerent. Backing down made him gloat.

“Thanks for the offer, but this is something I think I should handle on my own.”

Gui nodded. “If you change your mind, the offer is open.”

“Thank you. I hope that Christos knows what a good friend you are.”

“I remind him of it often,” he said in that teasing way of his, but she was sure that he didn’t have to.

The bond between the three men was closer than one between blood brothers. “How long have you known Christos?”

“Since we were ten.”

“That long?”

“Yes. We met at school.”

“Boarding school, right?”

Gui nodded. She took a deep breath, aware that she wasn’t fooling him by talking about the past. She sat down on the loveseat under the window that looked over the sparkling blue water of the Aegean. “I don’t know how to make Ari accept me.”

Gui sat down next to her, putting his arm along the back of the loveseat. “Why would you want to?”

She looked into his diamond-hard eyes and tried to find the words to tell him how out of place she felt here on Mykonos and with Christos. But this strong, confident man would never be able to comprehend that, and she felt even less worthy of being a Theakis bride.

Christos wasn’t having the best day. Two of the ships that they used to import goods from Asia were in quarantine and he couldn’t find one official who would take a call from him to tell him what was going on. Hector, the man who was supposed to be in charge of these types of crises, was at the hospital with his wife, who was giving birth to their first child.

A text message from Theo had come in via Tristan’s phone just minutes after he was told that he wouldn’t be able to get an answer on the quarantine for another hour. So lunch with Theo and his friends was about the only thing he could do.

He pulled the Ferrari into the circle drive in front of the main house and got out. Antonio was waiting for him in the foyer with a drink and a look that said there was trouble brewing.

“Do I even want to know what’s going on?”

“Probably not,” Antonio said. “Your father is in conference with the designer he hired to make Ava’s wedding dress. From what Maria told me, Ava wants a dress that is nothing like what your father ordered.”

“Tell the designer to give Ava what she asked for.”

“Your father is refusing to pay for it.”

“I’ll take care of it. In fact, let’s get the old man out of the planning process. Please tell Ava that she is in charge of the wedding.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where is she?”

“Upstairs. Master Theo is on the terrace with Tristan.”

“Good. Tell them I’ll join them in a few minutes.”

“Yes, sir.”

Antonio walked away and Christos went upstairs to find Ava. The sitting room was empty so he went to her suite and knocked on the door. He heard the rumble of Gui’s voice.

He wasn’t going to jump to any conclusions. Yeah, right. What the hell was Gui doing in Ava’s rooms?

Christos opened the door to the room and walked in as if he owned the place. Ava and Gui both stood up as he entered. He spared a hard glare for his friend and wrapped his arm around Ava’s waist, pulling her into his body.

He took her mouth in a kiss that wasn’t meant to be sweet or romantic. It was meant to stake a claim. But holding Ava in his arms always led him to one reaction.

God, he wanted her. He softened the kiss, sliding his hands down her back to her hips and wrapping one arm around her waist to anchor her to him.

The thin fabric of her robe wasn’t much of a barrier.

“I’ll be going now.”

Christos took his time lifting his head, keeping one arm wrapped around Ava’s waist. “What were you two discussing?”

“Your father,” Gui said. “Women like to tell me their troubles.”

“You always were a sucker for a damsel in distress.”

“I’m not in distress. Thanks for listening,” Ava said.

She pulled out of Christos’s arms. “Are you home for lunch?”

“Yes. Theo invited me. Tristan put him up to it.”

“I’ll see you all downstairs in a few minutes,” she said, walking out of the room.

They both watched her leave.

“I’ve never seen you so possessive before,” Gui said.

Christos rubbed the back of his neck. He couldn’t explain it to anyone, wasn’t even going to try. He only knew that Ava was his and it was important that Gui and the rest of the world know it.

“What upset her?” he asked his friend.

“She’s worried that you’ll be embarrassed in front of society if the wedding isn’t perfect.”

Christos cursed under his breath. “I don’t give a crap about that.”

“I told her. But she’s still concerned. Your father has her convinced that the Theakis set the style, not follow it.”

“Ari couldn’t care less about fashion,” Christos said more to himself than Gui.

“He’s making things difficult for Ava.”

“Why?”

Gui shrugged. “Perhaps to make sure she’ll stay. She did run away before.”

“The paparazzi were all over her.”

“I saw the coverage. That can be a lot to handle for a young woman.”

“Yes,” Christos said, not enlightening his friend that Ava had been driven away by more than the tabloids—Theakis Nanny Snags Both Brothers, one headline had screamed. His anger hadn’t helped.

Gui walked toward the stairs. “Aren’t you coming?”

“In a minute. I want to talk to Ava alone.”

There had been nothing untoward between Gui and Ava when he’d walked in. Ava was reserved around his friends, and he was coming to realize that that was her way around most men.

This time he wasn’t as caught up in the white-hot passion that blazed between them. It was still there, but he had more breathing room to make sensible decisions. Like branding her with his kiss? Yeah, well, he was still possessive where she was concerned.

Gui left and Christos looked around the sitting room while he waited for her. It wasn’t sophisticated and cool the way his rooms were. She’d left her mark on the place. Pictures of Theo were mounted on the wall, along with little sayings that she was fond of. Nestled in one corner were the big story-time pillows and against the wall a rolling laptop caddy, which he knew she’d had brought in for Theo.

Ava was adjusting to living in his home just as she’d hoped she would.

When she exited her bedroom, Ava was surprised to find Christos waiting for her. He sat in the nest of pillows where she usually read Theo his bedtime story.

“Come here,” he said.

She walked over and sat down next to him on the pillows. He drew her into his arms, gently rubbing his thumb over her lower lip.

Her mouth was a little swollen from the powerful kiss he’d given her. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

“You didn’t,” she said. “It made me think I’d made a mistake asking you to wait until we were married….”

She didn’t want to tell him how she’d stood in front of Maria and Dorothea and that snooty assistant and felt like the dirty little girl from the trailer park, someone who’d never be able to win his attention, much less keep it. That feeling harkened back to something that Stavros had said to her when he’d made a pass at her years ago:
Christos will never see you as anything more than some cheap American tail.

Certainly Christos hadn’t come after her when she’d left Mykonos and Greece to return to the States. But she’d always hoped that it had been anger and not a lack of caring that had made him let her go.

“Nothing was happening between Gui and myself. We were just talking.”

“What about?”

“He was giving me advice about dealing with your father.”

“Really? What did he suggest?”

She nibbled her lower lip. “Telling him to go to hell. But somehow I don’t think I can do that.”

Christos smiled at that. “I can’t see you doing that either. I’ve left word with Antonio that you are in charge of our wedding. Don’t let anyone bully you into anything.”

“That’s harder than it sounds. I’m not at all sure I can make the right choices.”

“I’m sure you can. You’re not the same young woman you were five years ago. Don’t forget that.”

“Does that mean you believe I’ve changed? That kiss you gave me when you came in…” Bringing it up might not be the wisest idea but nothing ventured, nothing gained. “It was a real claim-staking kind of kiss.”