The Kyriakos Virgin Bride (18 page)

“It's not your fault. You didn't cause his accident.” Pandora slid her hands out of his hold and placed them around his shoulders, comforting him. “You didn't get him drunk or force him to drive like a delinquent. Jeez, you even ordered him a cab.”

He turned into her arms and rested his head against her hair. “Thank you.”

“You're too hard on yourself.”

He took a deep breath. “I wanted you to be mine. Only mine.”

“Zac—”

“I
am
a barbarian, you see. I'm not the perfect man you think I am—that I've always striven to be.” His voice was full of torment.

“Zac, listen to me. I am yours. Only yours. And you're utterly perfect for me.” Her arms crept around his neck and she held him tight. “You're not alone, you know.”

“What do you mean?” Zac raised his head and stared at her.

“You weren't the only one who wished Stavros away—I told you he was dead. I think I hoped he was. It was far easier that way.” Pandora gave him a shaky ghost of a smile.

Guilt. She felt guilty about sleeping with Stavros years ago. Zac looked at her carefully, saw the wariness in her eyes, the fine lines of strain around her mouth. No, he didn't want her experiencing guilt. Hell, she hadn't known him back then—hadn't known he even existed.

“I owe you an apology.” He lifted his hand to cup her cheek. “I've never considered myself a possessive man, yet where you are concerned I find I am. I disliked the idea of you sleeping with Stavros—” he paused, searching for words, couldn't find any way to say it except for the truth “—because I was jealous.”

“Jealous?” She stared at him. “But, for heaven's sake, Zac, why would you be jealous of Stavros? He isn't a patch of the man you are. You are so much more than Stavros could ever be.”

So much more than Stavros could ever be.
And just like that, the corrosive bitterness inside him evaporated.

He gave her cheek a last stroke and couldn't help marvelling at how fortunate he was to have Pandora. A few minutes later, when Katy came back looking a little more composed, he was doubly relieved to have Pandora at his side while he broke the news about Stavros to his sister.

Zac drew her into the circle. “You know, whatever happens, we'll be there for you and the baby.”

Katy nodded. “That's what's keeping me strong.”

It was six hours later before they heard that Stavros had survived the surgery and the internal bleeding had been stanched. He'd been moved to intensive care and would be monitored through the night. But the chances of permanent brain damage were looking increasingly likely.

Katy cried a little more, and Pandora and Zac did their best to support her as she started to come to terms with the shock.

“We're here for you,” Zac said. “Whatever you want to do, we will support you.”

Katy flung her arms around him. “You're the best brother in the world. What would I ever do without you?” She wanted to call Dimitri and Stacy with an update. Zac called his cousins, Tariq and Angelo, and informed them of the situation. Both insisted on speaking to Katy. Both men wanted to fly out immediately. Zac dissuaded them.

Stacy arrived and insisted on taking Katy back to her apartment. There was nothing left but for Zac and Pandora to go home.

Forty minutes later, Zac followed Pandora into the town house and bolted the front door.

Pandora yawned. “I'm tired. I'm going to bed.”

“Oh, no, you're not. We have a discussion to finish.” Zac caught her arm. She stiffened in his grasp, but he took heart from the fact that she didn't pull away.

“It's been a hell of a day.” Then, after a beat, he added very quietly, “I need you.”

“Why?”

He closed his eyes. He was going to have to lay himself bare.

“I love you.” He made the mistake of opening his eyes. Pandora was shaking her head from side to side.

Zeus, had he made a huge, irrevocable mistake? Had she been joking earlier? Trying to teach him a lesson by pretending to love him? No. He dismissed his wild panic. Pandora would not do that. Not even to him.

“You love me?” she said slowly, disbelievingly, and came closer until she was standing in front of him, looking up at him.

“Yes.” He waited, frozen, for her next move.

“
Yes.
That's all you can say?” Her voice rose and she jabbed him in the chest with her finger.

A huge wave of relief washed through him. She cared. “I thought
yes
was the most valued word in this kind of exchange.”

Her silver eyes flashed. “Since when did you decide you loved me?”

“Pandora…” he said gently, putting his arms around her shoulders and leading her to the sitting room. He pulled her down on the sofa beside him and turned to face her. “I'm going to be honest with you. I struggled to find a bride. There were many candidates. But none of them were right.”

“Why not?”

He shrugged. “I don't know how to explain it. But I kept putting marriage off. And then suddenly one day I realized that the years were passing and it was starting to look like I would never find a suitable wife. I grew desperate. I met your father and he told me about you. You sounded perfect. Sweet and sheltered.”

She made a growling sound.

He laughed, pulled her close and kissed her on the top of her head before setting her away from him. “Then I met you. You blew all my preconceptions away. You were so young. So beautiful with your pale hair and ethereal silver eyes. You looked like everything the Kyriakos virgin should be. But it wasn't just your looks. You were smart. Funny. And I wanted you.”

“That's not love. That's lust at first sight.”

“Maybe.” Zac looked sheepish. “But you had my full attention. I left, but I couldn't stop thinking about you. I kept sneaking back to see you. I couldn't wait to have you. But you were a virgin—or so I believed, and I had no reason to doubt it—so I had to marry you first.

“When you came to Athens…that week was the week from hell. I couldn't touch you because I was terrified once I did, I wouldn't be able to stop. Our wedding night was my every fantasy come true.”

“But the next morning…”

“I was furious that you wanted to leave me. I knew I couldn't let that happen. I had to convince you to stay.”

“So you kidnapped me!”

“I'm sorry.” Remorse darkened his eyes. “Then everything spun out of control. When I discovered you weren't a virgin…I still couldn't let you go. I was prepared to keep that our secret, anything to keep you. But even then I didn't realize what was happening. I thought it was just—” He broke off.

“Just sex?” A small smile played around her mouth.

He nodded. “That day in the sea, when you told me that you no longer wanted to leave…and what followed…I thought I was losing my mind. It was so good. But Katy and Stavros barged in and suddenly it looked like I was going to lose you anyway. I couldn't think straight. I'd never felt such fear. I still hadn't realized I loved you. All I knew was that something had changed. My head told me that the marriage couldn't survive, but my heart knew I couldn't bear to let you go. I didn't care what it would mean. I had to keep you by my side, but I needed you to
want
to stay. I needed you to love me.”

“And you thought I hated you.”

He sighed. “I could live with the fact that you weren't a virgin. I realised I was a man in my own right. It didn't matter who my ancestors were. It didn't matter why my grandfather's expectations were. What I couldn't live with was the fact that you hated me. That, I considered a failure.”

“I'm sorry. That was not your failure. It was my own frustration and self-preservation. I loved you. I was torn apart when I discovered you'd only married me because you thought I was a virgin. And when you took me to Kiranos, I wanted to hurt you, make you pay. I acted like a brat.” She peered at him from behind her hair. “Forgive me?”

He took her into his arms. “Will you forgive me for forcing you to come with me to Kiranos, for forcing you onto the helicopter? I felt terrible when I learned about your mother.”

“I forgive you.” She leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss against his mouth.

“It was after the story about you and Stavros broke in the papers and I saw your anguish at what was being said that I realized I loved you.” His eyes held a glow. “I wanted to protect you, keep you safe from the scandal. When you came to me that night, I knew I loved you. It was a hell of a thing for me to come to terms with.”

“What a lot of time we've wasted.”

Could he expect Pandora to put up with the pressures of his world, the hunger of the press? They'd caused her so much harm already, made her so unhappy. He looked into her clear, silvery eyes, at the firm chin, and he knew that he had to give her a chance. It was her choice to make…not his.

“You have to be sure you can live with me.”

“I am sure.”

“You've seen what my life is like. How scary my family can be—even when they mean best. You've seen how obsessive the paparazzi can be. None of that is ever going to go away. Can you live with that?”

“You know, the first thing I ever noticed about you was how sexy your mouth is.” Pandora touched his mouth with her fingertip. “Made for sin, I thought.”

“Be serious.” But Zac felt the heat uncoiling inside him.

“I am serious. Very serious.” She drew a line across his lip. “You know what? I don't care about the family or the media. Nothing matters as long as I have you.” But when she glanced at him, her eyes clouded. “But what are you going to do every time the papers run a story about my relationship with Stavros? Can you survive it?”

“In future I'll follow my own advice not to read the papers—except for the business pages.” He licked at her tantalising finger, tasting the perfume of her skin. “And I'll have you. That makes up for whatever the media cares to throw at me. Which reminds me…I meant to tell you, the share price is up. It looks like everyone loves the idea of the Kyriakos heir finding true love.”

“That's fantastic news.” Pandora looked radiant. “Enough to make me consider forgiving the media for what I went through.” She paused. “You did say you were going to buy a property in New Zealand, near High Ridge Station? We can always disappear down there. And when things get really bad, there's always Kiranos. I can cope with the helicopter ride as long as you are there to hold my hand. We can hide out there. No one will find us. I mean, there's not even cell-phone contact.”

Zac started to smile. “You didn't try your cell phone on Kiranos, did you?”

“No. Why?”

“Because you would've found that it worked.” Zac couldn't help laughing at her expression of outrage. “My wife says I've been wasting time.” Hoisting her into his arms, he rose to his feet. “So I daren't waste a single moment more.”

Pandora gave an unladylike snort. “Is this about getting me into bed?”

He kissed her nose. “Yes. But it's not only about making love, it's about holding you close to my side all through the night.”

“Okay.”

Zac's head reared back in disbelief. “
Okay?
No arguments? You accept the fact that I'm going to carry you away to my bed just like that?”

“Our bed,” she corrected. “And there are conditions….”

“What?” Zac gazed at the woman he loved with a good dose of wariness. She was no pushover, and he suspected she knew she had the upper hand, whatever she wanted. “What do you want?”

“When we get back to Greece, I want you to take me to meet that Pano guy who runs Kyriakos Cruises—I have some great ideas for the South Pacific route. And after that, you can show me that little church next door to your house that your ancestor built, and I want to renew our vows. On my birthday in ten days' time. Just you and me. This time I want to be sure that our love for each other is out in the open. No more secrets between us.”

He tightened his arms and made for the door, heading for the stairs. “Anything. Anything you want,
agapi.
” And there was no hint of mockery in his voice as he added, “You are my bride, my true and only love, for all my life.”

 

Stop Press

Kyriakos Heir Finds True Love

 

Zac Kyriakos announced today that both his marriage and the Kyriakos Shipping Corporation are stronger than ever. “The secret is true love,” he told reporters, holding his new bride close. “I love my wife. The prophecy that the Kyriakos heir requires a virgin bride to find true love has been proved false. This marriage will last forever.”