The Redemption of Darius Sterne (18 page)

‘Like you do.'

‘Yes, like I do.' He smiled slightly. ‘You know, I thought Xander and I were close, but I had no idea of the torment going on inside his head all these years. This fear that he might one day turn into a monster like our father.' He gave a pained grimace.

‘He needs someone to believe in him. Not just you and your mother; that's a given, because you both already love him unconditionally.' She smiled. ‘Xander needs someone outside your family, a woman maybe, to love and believe in him.'

Darius eyed her curiously. ‘How did you get to be so wise?'

Andy wasn't wise at all; she was talking from personal experience!

Her sister Kim and brother-in-law Colin had been nothing but supportive of her over the past four years, but it was because of Darius, because of his expressed belief in her, that she had found the courage to dare to dance in public again. She would never be as good a dancer as she had once been, and it was going to take the next few weeks of serious training before the gala for her to achieve even an acceptable level for her to appear on a public stage again. But she would never have found the courage to do even that without Darius's belief in her.

A small glimmer of hope had begun to burn inside Andy as Darius talked to her of his parents' marriage, his father's violence, his traumatic childhood, the reason for the emotional breach between himself and his mother all these years and his brother's emotional turmoil now.

A glimmer of hope that Darius, a man she knew never shared his emotions with anyone,
had
to have told her those things, shared those things with her, for a reason...

CHAPTER TEN

‘Y
OU
MUST
BE
wondering why the hell I'm bothering to burden you with all of this unpleasant family history,' Darius said.

Andy was more than wondering—deep inside, where her hopes and dreams had long been buried, a rainbow of possibilities, which had begun to blossom with her decision to dance again, was now bursting into an array of colours!

‘Actually, I was a little concerned initially that you might be going to confess that those rumours about your exotic tastes for whips and paddles in the bedroom were true after all.'

‘What?' Darius eyed her incredulously.

She eyed him innocently. ‘You mean they aren't true?'

‘Of course they aren't tr— You're messing with me, right?' he realised as she grinned at him. ‘You do know that it isn't true, but just a load of rubbish printed by the gutter press?'

She nodded, relieved that some of the tension seemed to have left his expression. ‘What I was actually wondering—' she held Darius's gaze steadily with hers as she slowly stood up ‘—is if you're now interested in going back downstairs and bringing your fantasy of making love to me in my dance studio to life.'

‘What?' Darius's second gasp was a cross between surprise and laughter.

Miranda's eyes glowed warmly as she slowly crossed the room, hips swaying gently, until she stood just in front of him. ‘I did say that it sounds intriguing,' she reminded throatily.

‘So you did.' Darius found himself constantly amazed by this woman.

He had just told Miranda all of his awful family history, and instead of being horrified by it, or running as fast as she could in the opposite direction, as she very well might have done, she was instead reminding him of his fantasy with more than a glint of interest in those amazing green eyes.

He closed his own eyes briefly before opening them again. ‘Have I told you yet how wonderful I think you are?'

A delicate blush warmed her cheeks as she answered him huskily. ‘Not yet, no.'

Darius's arms moved about the slenderness of her waist as he pulled her gently into him. ‘Possibly because wonderful doesn't even begin to cover what I think or feel for you. It's because of how I feel about you that I've been able to face the demons of the past. That I'm sure I'll eventually be able to completely heal this breach with my mother. And that's because I—' He broke off, the words proving more difficult to say than he had even imagined they would be.

Except Miranda
deserved
to hear the words. As heartfelt and as often as she would allow him to say them.

He drew in a ragged breath. ‘I know we haven't known each other for very long. That it's far too soon for you. That I definitely need to stop being so emotionally closed off, before I can even begin to hope that you'll ever feel the same way about me. That...'

‘Darius, will you stop waffling and get to the point?' She groaned her frustration.

He nodded abruptly. ‘The
point
is that I've fallen in love with you. Deeply. Completely. For always,' he added with certainty. ‘I may be new to this, but what I feel for you is all encompassing. To the point that you now
own
me. And you know what? I don't mind.' He sounded surprised by the admission himself. ‘For the first time in my life I actually feel complete. I know exactly what I want and who I want to be with. For the rest of my life. But...'

‘Darius?'

‘I knew I had to tell you about my family before I said any of this—my father in particular. Because I never want you to think that I've held anything back from you. I want to share all of myself with you, Miranda.'

‘Darius...'

‘Even the bad bits.'

‘Darius, please.'

‘Because I do truly love you—more than I ever believed it was possible to love anyone. More than I believed it was possible for
me
to love anyone. And—'

‘Darius...!'
Andy's exasperation at not being listened to came out as a cross between a protest and a choked laugh. Of happiness. Pure, unadulterated happiness.

Darius loved her.

He genuinely
loved
her!

And she had no doubts that when Darius loved he loved wholeheartedly, with every part of him.

Andy had begun to hope these past few minutes as he talked to her of his family—her heart had more than hoped!—but to hear Darius actually say that he loved her was beyond anything she might ever have imagined.

‘I love you too, Darius!' she exclaimed joyfully. ‘And if you think your family is a little crazy, then you need to spend some time with my sister and Colin. For starters, they collect antique mirrors, they have a house full of them, and they spend most weekends going to markets and car-boot sales looking for more. My sister is the worst cook in the world. And Colin—'

‘You love me?' Darius looked down at her with glowing, hesitant eyes.

It was a hesitancy, an uncertainty that Andy couldn't bear to see in this innately strong and wonderful man whom she loved with every fibre of her being.

‘I love you so much, Darius. So, so much,' she repeated huskily even as she placed her hands on his shoulders before moving up onto tiptoe to kiss him.

It started as a slow and wondrous kiss, but quickly developed into so much more as the passion instantly flared between the two of them, and they lost themselves in the pleasure of each other's arms and love.

‘Marry me, Miranda,' Darius murmured a long time later as the two of them lay in each other's arms on the sofa together.

Andy looked up at him with wide eyes. ‘You want to marry me?'

He gave a happy laugh. ‘Where did you
think
this conversation was going, Miranda?' He pretended some of his old sternness.

‘I— Well, I—'

‘I trust you didn't think I was going to let you take me down to your studio and ravish my body, and then just let you walk away when you'd used me all up?'

‘Ah.' Andy felt the warmth of a blush enter her cheeks. ‘Regarding that ravishment...'

Darius saw the uncertainty in the green eyes that couldn't quite meet his gaze, along with that telling blush to her cheeks. ‘Miranda, are you—? Is it possible that you're—?'

‘Still a virgin? Yes.' She buried her embarrassed face against his chest. ‘I was going to tell you, of course.'

‘Well, I should hope so!'

‘It's just not the sort of thing you blurt out to a man who you think just wants—well, who just wants...'

‘I get the picture, Miranda,' he drawled ruefully, totally thrown—enchanted—by the thought of his virgin bride. Except she hadn't said yes to his marriage proposal yet...

Darius sat up to move down onto his knees on the carpet beside the sofa before taking both of her hands in his.

‘Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife, Miranda?' he prompted seriously. ‘Will you marry me, and be with me, live with me for the rest of our lives, be the mother of our children?'

It was more, so much more, than Andy had ever dreamed of. That Darius loved her was miracle enough, that he wanted her to be his wife, to be with and live with him always, to have his children, was happiness beyond measure.

‘Oh, yes, Darius, of course I'll marry you.' Her eyes were blurred with tears of happiness as she launched herself into his arms, overbalancing him so that they both fell onto the carpet, followed by complete silence apart from their happy sighs and the wondrous murmurings of their love for each other.

EPILOGUE

‘I
T
'
S
ALL
GOING
to be fine, Darius.' Kim reached out to firmly grasp his hands in hers as he peered tensely from the theatre box down onto the stage as they waited for Miranda to make her appearance as Odette. ‘I haven't said this to you before, but your love and belief in Andy are what has made tonight possible,' her sister added huskily. ‘And I will be forever grateful to you because of it.'

Darius and Kim had developed a friendship over the past three weeks, mainly because of the deep love they both felt for Miranda. The same deep love that had made Kim distrust him that first night at the restaurant, but which now gave the two of them, and Colin, a deep family bond.

It had been the happiest three weeks of Darius's life, his love, and admiration and pride for Miranda growing stronger every day.

His love because somewhere in amongst the chaos the two of them had managed to organise a wedding for next month, and in just two weeks' time he would finally claim his virgin bride.

Admiration because Miranda had found the courage to go with him to the police about Tia Bellamy. The other woman had vehemently denied Miranda's accusation at first, but broken down and confessed when informed that several other people had come forward—with a little helpful nudge from Darius, after he had made his own investigation into the other woman's behaviour—with reports of the other woman's vindictiveness, to a degree that the ballet company had now suspended Tia's contract while the investigation continued.

Miranda, as he had known she would, had remained strong throughout that ordeal.

And he was so proud of her for the way in which she had battled to overcome and conquer the years of not dancing, by pushing herself to the limit and beyond with hours and hours of punishing rehearsal in preparation for tonight's performance.

Not just for herself, she had told him, but also for him. Because he had believed in her when she hadn't.

Was it any wonder, knowing that
he
was the reason Miranda had found the courage and will to dance in public again, that he now felt so nervous he thought he might actually be physically ill?

‘Courage, mon brave.'
Xander placed a reassuring hand on Darius's shoulder, nowhere near physically recovered, but having managed to hobble to the box in the theatre with the help of his crutches. ‘Andy is going to be amazing,' he added with certainty.

All of Darius's family, and Miranda's, were sitting together in the family box: Xander, Kim and Colin, and his mother and Charles. Because they
were
a family now. All of them. Brought together by the deep love he and Miranda felt for each other.

If anything Darius was even more in love with her now than he had been three weeks ago.

‘Here we go,' Xander murmured as the lights dimmed and the curtain began to rise.

* * *

Andy's heart was beating wildly in her chest as the curtains lifted in front of where she stood poised in the centre of the stage, the opening bars of the music beginning to play softly, the audience falling expectantly silent.

Andy froze as she looked out at that sea of faces, her heart now pounding loudly, a buzzing in her ears, her stomach churning as she wondered if she was going to be able to do this, after all.

And then she looked up into the box, where she knew Darius was sitting with their families, a calm falling over her as she saw his love for her glowing in his face.

Love and pride.

The same love and pride Darius could see shining for him in Miranda's expression before her shoulders straightened and she began to dance. For him. Only for him. She was a delicate white swan, flying nimble and free across the stage, every movement graceful and perfect.

His Miranda...

* * * * *

Read on for an extract from PLAYING BY THE GREEK'S RULES by Sarah Morgan.

CHAPTER ONE

L
ILY
PULLED
HER
HAT
down to shade her eyes from the burn of the hot Greek sun and took a large gulp from her water bottle. ‘Never again.' She sat down on the parched, sunbaked earth and watched as her friend carefully brushed away dirt and soil from a small, carefully marked section of the trench. ‘If I ever,
ever
mention the word “love” to you, I want you to bury me somewhere in this archaeological site and never dig me up again.'

‘There is an underground burial chamber. I could dump you in there if you like.'

‘Great idea. Stick a sign in the ground.
“Here lies Lily, who wasted years of her life studying the origin, evolution and behaviour of humans and still couldn't understand men”
.' She gazed across the ruins of the ancient city of Aptera to the sea beyond. They were high on a plateau. Behind them, the jagged beauty of the White Mountains shimmered in the heat and in front lay the sparkling blue of the Sea of Crete. The beauty of it usually lifted her mood, but not today.

Brittany sat up and wiped her brow with her forearm. ‘Stop beating yourself up. The guy is a lying, cheating rat bastard.' Reaching for her backpack, she glanced across the site to the group of men who were deep in conversation. ‘Fortunately for all of us he's flying back to London tomorrow to his wife. And all I can say to that is, God help the woman.'

Lily covered her face with her hands. ‘Don't say the word “wife”. I am a terrible person.'

‘Hey!' Brittany's voice was sharp. ‘He told you he was single. He
lied.
The responsibility is all his. After tomorrow you won't have to see him again and I won't have to struggle not to kill him.'

‘What if she finds out and ends their marriage?'

‘Then she might have the chance of a decent life with someone who respects her. Forget him, Lily.'

How could she forget when she couldn't stop going over and over it in her head?

Had there been signs she'd missed?

Had she asked the wrong questions?

Was she so desperate to find someone special that she'd ignored obvious signs?

‘I was planning our future. We were going to spend August touring the Greek Islands. That was before he pulled out a family photo from his wallet instead of his credit card. Three little kids wrapped around their dad like bindweed. He should have been taking them on holiday, not me! I can't bear it. How could I have made such an appalling error of judgement? That is a line I
never
cross. Family is sacrosanct to me. If you asked me to pick between family and money, I'd pick family every time.' It crossed her mind that right now she had neither. No money. No family. ‘I don't know which is worse—the fact that he clearly didn't know me
at all
, or the fact that when I checked him against my list he was perfect.'

‘You have a list?'

Lily felt herself grow pink. ‘It's my attempt to be objective. I have a really strong desire for permanent roots. Family.' She thought about the emotional wasteland of her past and felt a sense of failure. Was the future going to look the same way? ‘When you want something badly it can distort your decision-making process, so I've put in some layers of protection for myself. I know the basic qualities I need in a man to be happy. I never date anyone who doesn't score highly on my three points.'

Brittany looked intrigued. ‘Big wallet, big shoulders and big—'

‘No! And you are appalling.' Despite her misery, Lily laughed. ‘First, he has to be affectionate. I'm not interested in a man who can't show his feelings. Second, he has to be honest, but short of getting him to take a lie detector test I don't know how to check that one. I thought Professor Ashurst was honest. I'm never calling him David again, by the way.' She allowed herself one glance at the visiting archaeologist who had dazzled her during their short, ill-fated relationship. ‘You're right. He's a rat pig.'

‘I didn't call him a rat pig. I called him a rat b—'

‘I know what you called him. I never use that word.'

‘You should. It's surprisingly therapeutic. But we shouldn't be wasting this much time talking about him. Professor Asshat is history, like this stuff we're digging up.'

‘I can't believe you called him that.'

‘You should be calling him far worse. What's the third thing on your list?'

‘I want a man with strong family values. He has to want a family. But not several different families at the same time. Now I know why he gave off all those signals about being a family man. Because he already
was
a family man.' Lily descended into gloom. ‘My checklist is seriously flawed.'

‘Not necessarily. You need a more reliable test for honesty and you should maybe add “single” to your list, that's all. You need to chill. Stop looking for a relationship and have some fun. Keep it casual.'

‘You're talking about sex? That doesn't work for me.' Lily took another sip of water. ‘I have to be in love with a guy to sleep with him. The two are welded together for me. How about you?'

‘No. Sex is sex. Love is love. One is fun and the other is to be avoided at all costs.'

‘I don't think like that. There is something wrong with me.'

‘There's nothing wrong with you. It's not a crime to want a relationship. It just means you get your heart broken more than the average person.' Brittany pushed her hat back from her face. ‘I can't believe how hot it is. It's not even ten o'clock and already I'm boiling like a lobster.'

‘And you know all about lobsters, coming from Maine. It's summer and this is Crete. What did you expect?'

‘Right now I'd give anything for a few hours back home. I'm not used to summers that fry your skin from your body. I keep wanting to remove another layer of clothing.'

‘You've spent summers at digs all over the Mediterranean.'

‘And I moaned at each and every one.' Brittany stretched out her legs and Lily felt a flash of envy.

‘You look like Lara Croft in those shorts. You have amazing legs.'

‘Too much time hiking in inhospitable lands searching for ancient relics. I want your gorgeous blonde hair.' Brittany's hair, the colour of polished oak, was gathered up from her neck in a ponytail. Despite the hat, her neck was already showing signs of the sun. ‘Listen, don't waste another thought or tear on that man. Come out with us tonight. We're going to the official opening of the new wing at the archaeological museum and afterwards we're going to try out that new bar on the waterfront. My spies tell me that Professor Asshat won't be there, so it's going to be a great evening.'

‘I can't. The agency rang this morning and offered me an emergency cleaning job.'

‘Lily, you have a masters in archaeology. You shouldn't be taking these random jobs.'

‘My research grant doesn't pay off my college loans and I want to be debt free. And anyway, I love cleaning. It relaxes me.'

‘You love cleaning? You're like a creature from another planet.'

‘There's nothing more rewarding than turning someone's messy house into a shiny home, but I do wish the job wasn't tonight. The opening would have been fun. A great excuse to wash the mud off my knees and dress up, not to mention seeing all those artefacts in one place. Never mind. I'll focus on the money. They're paying me an emergency rate for tonight.'

‘Cleaning is an emergency?'

Lily thought about the state of some of the houses she cleaned. ‘Sometimes, but in this case it's more that the owner decided to arrive without notice. He spends most of his time in the US.' She dug in her bag for more sunscreen. ‘Can you imagine being so rich you can't quite decide which of your many properties you are going to sleep in?'

‘What's his name?'

‘No idea. The company is very secretive. We have to arrive at a certain time and then his security team will let us in. Four hours later I add a gratifyingly large sum of money to my bank account and that's the end of it.'

‘Four hours? It's going to take five of you four hours to clean one house?' Brittany paused with the water halfway to her mouth. ‘What is this place? A Minoan palace?'

‘A villa. It's big. She said I'd be given a floor plan when I arrive, which I have to return when I leave and I'm not allowed to make copies.'

‘A
floor plan
?' Brittany choked on her water. ‘Now I'm intrigued. Can I come with you?'

‘Sure—' Lily threw her a look ‘—because scrubbing out someone's shower is so much more exciting than having cocktails on the terrace of the archaeological museum while the sun sets over the Aegean.'

‘It's the Sea of Crete.'

‘Technically it's still the Aegean, and either way I'm missing a great party to scrub a floor. I feel like Cinderella. So what about you? Are you going to meet someone tonight and do something about your dormant love life?'

‘I don't have a love life, I have a sex life, which is not at all dormant fortunately.'

Lily felt a twinge of envy. ‘Maybe you're right. I need to lighten up and use men for sex instead of treating every relationship as if it's going to end in confetti. You were an only child, weren't you? Did you ever wish you had brothers or sisters?'

‘No, but I grew up on a small island. The whole place felt like a massive extended family. Everyone knew everything, from the age you first walked, to whether you had all A's on your report card.'

‘Sounds blissful.' Lily heard the wistful note in her own voice. ‘Because I was such a sickly kid and hard work to look after, no one took me for long. My eczema was terrible when I was little and I was always covered in creams and bandages and other yucky stuff. I wasn't exactly your poster baby. No one wanted a kid who got sick. I was about as welcome as a stray puppy with fleas.'

‘Crap, Lily, you're making me tear up and I'm not even a sentimental person.'

‘Forget it. Tell me about your family instead.' She loved hearing about other people's families, about the complications, the love, the experiences woven into a shared history. To her, family seemed like a multicoloured sweater, with all the different coloured strands of wool knitted into something whole and wonderful that gave warmth and protection from the cold winds of life.

She picked absently at a thread hanging from the hem of her shorts. It felt symbolic of her life. She was a single fibre, loose, bound to nothing.

Brittany took another mouthful of water and adjusted the angle of her hat. ‘We're a normal American family, I guess. Whatever that is. My parents were divorced when I was ten. My mom hated living on an island. Eventually she remarried and moved to Florida. My dad was an engineer and he spent all his time working on oil rigs around the world. I lived with my grandmother on Puffin Island.'

‘Even the name is adorable.' Lily tried to imagine growing up on a place called Puffin Island. ‘Were you close to your grandmother?'

‘Very. She died a few years ago, but she left me her cottage on the beach so I'd always have a home. I take several calls a week from people wanting to buy the place but I'm never going to sell.' Brittany poked her trowel into the ground. ‘My grandmother called it Castaway Cottage. When I was little I asked her if a castaway ever lived there and she said it was for people lost in life, not at sea. She believed it had healing properties.'

Lily didn't laugh. ‘I might need to spend a month there. I need to heal.'

‘You'd be welcome. A friend of mine is staying at the moment. We use it as a refuge. It's the best place on earth and I always feel close to my grandmother when I'm there. You can use it any time, Lil.'

‘Maybe I will. I still need to decide what I'm going to do in August.'

‘You know what you need? Rebound sex. Sex for the fun of it, without all the emotional crap that goes with relationships.'

‘I've never had rebound sex. I'd fall in love.'

‘So pick someone you couldn't possibly fall in love with in a million years. Someone with exceptional bedroom skills, but nothing else to commend him. Then you can't possibly be at risk.' She broke off as Spyros, one of the Greek archaeologists from the local university, strolled across to them. ‘Go away, Spy, this is girl talk.'

‘Why do you think I'm joining you? It's got to be more interesting than the conversation I just left.' He handed Lily a can of chilled Diet Coke. ‘He's a waste of space,
theé mou
.' His voice was gentle and she coloured, touched by his kindness.

‘I know, I know.' She lifted the weight of her hair from her neck, wishing she'd worn it up. ‘I'll get over it.'

Spy dropped to his haunches next to her. ‘Want me to help you get over him? I heard something about rebound sex. I'm here for you.'

‘No thanks. You're a terrible flirt. I don't trust you.'

‘Hey, this is about sex. You don't need to trust me.' He winked at her. ‘What you need is a real man. A Greek man who knows how to make you feel like a woman.'

‘Yeah, yeah, I know the joke. You're going to hand me your laundry and tell me to wash it. This is why you're not going to be my rebound guy. I am not washing your socks.' But Lily was laughing as she snapped the top of the can. Maybe she didn't have a family, but she had good friends. ‘You're forgetting that when I'm not cleaning the villas of the rich or hanging out here contributing nothing to my college fund, I work for the ultimate in Greek manhood.'

‘Ah yes.' Spyros smiled. ‘Nik Zervakis. Head of the mighty ZervaCo. Man of men. Every woman's fantasy.'

‘Not mine. He doesn't tick a single box on my list.'

Spy raised his eyebrows and Brittany shook her head. ‘You don't want to know. Go on, Lily, dish the dirt on Zervakis. I want to know everything from his bank balance to how he got that incredible six pack I saw in those sneaky photos of him taken in that actress's swimming pool.'