ask Alannis to marry you.”
“I couldn’t do it,” Theron said with a sigh. “I arranged the night, had a party, the
ring, the confetti—”
“Confetti? Who the hell has confetti for a marriage proposal?” Chrysander
demanded, a thread of amusement in his voice.
“It added to the festive mood,” Theron defended. “Everything was there. The
moment was there…and I couldn’t do it. I had my hand on the ring, the woman staring up
at me, and then I let go of the box, and asked her to dance instead. We spent the evening
celebrating her visit to New York instead of our impending nuptials.”
“So how did this lead to you taking Isabella’s virginity? Without protection,” he
added dryly.
“I’ve admitted my stupidity. There’s no reason to keep beating me over the head
with it,” Theron said irritably. “It happened after I hauled her out of the strip club.”
“You what?” Chrysander broke into laughter. “Theron, this is sounding more
absurd all the time. Do I even want to know why someone you were supposed to be
watching over was in a strip club?”
Generated by Foxit PDF Creator © Foxit Software
http://www.foxitsoftware.com For evaluation only.
THE TYCOON’S REBEL BRIDE
72
MAYA BANKS
SILHOUETTE DESIRE 1944
THE ANETAKIS TYCOONS
“It’s not important. What’s important is that afterward, I seduced Isabella. We
slept together. Without protection. She was a virgin. That covers it.”
“Yes, I’d say it does,” Chrysander said.
There was another long silence and then Chrysander spoke again. “She was under
our care. Our father agreed that the Anetakis family would always care for her should
something happen to her father. You’re going to have to marry her, Theron.”
Adrenaline surged in Theron’s veins. “I don’t have to marry her, Chrysander. I’m
going to marry her.”
Fifteen
I sabella shoved aside the heavy curtains draped over the large window facing the
street. Her apartment was on the top floor, larger by half than the apartments on the lower
levels, and it had a wonderful view of a small park across the street.
There was no shortage of joggers, people out walking dogs, and children
supervised by their nannies or mothers. It was a small mecca in the middle of a crowded
city where someone could go and enjoy a short escape.
Could she live here knowing the man she loved was close by, married to someone
else? On the surface it sounded absurd. In a city this size, she could go an entire lifetime
without running into Theron. Except…except he controlled her inheritance and contact
would be inevitable.
She sighed. She really did like the apartment, but she wasn’t sure she could
remain here.
The sound of her door opening didn’t alarm her. Reynolds had been left waiting
when she’d only said she’d be a minute. He probably lost patience and was coming to
collect her.
Footsteps sounded behind her, and yet she still couldn’t tear her gaze away from
the scene below. Maybe it was the normalcy of it all—the promise of an ordered
existence where agonizing emotions such as love and jealousy or despair didn’t dictate
her every breath.
Firm hands took hold of her shoulders, skimming upward, eliciting a small gasp
from her.
“Bella, pethi mou, are you all right? What are you doing here?”
She spun around in surprise and stared up at Theron’s worried eyes.
“I went back to your suite and you were gone. I’m beginning to wonder if my life
is going to be a study in never finding you where you’re supposed to be.”
There was a hint of amusement in his voice, but she was puzzled by his words.
They made no sense.
“When I called Reynolds and he said you were here, I came right over. But Bella,
there is no need of your apartment any longer,” he said calmly.
She held up a hand to his chest, almost afraid to touch him. Her head was
spinning a mile a minute, but she needed to understand what he was saying, or what he
wasn’t saying.
“I came to see if it was ready for me to move in,” she said simply.
He captured her hand in his and held it in place over his heart. “You won’t be
needing this apartment, pethi mou.”
With his other hand, he dipped into his pocket and drew out a small square box.
She stared suspiciously at it as he flipped the lid off and let it fall to the floor.
Generated by Foxit PDF Creator © Foxit Software
http://www.foxitsoftware.com For evaluation only.
THE TYCOON’S REBEL BRIDE
73
MAYA BANKS
SILHOUETTE DESIRE 1944
THE ANETAKIS TYCOONS
Maneuvering still with the one hand, he turned it over and shook out the velvet jeweler’s