The Millionaire's True Worth(8)

“When I asked her to dance, she didn’t understand because she said she didn’t speak Greek. But she couldn’t dance anyway because she was on crutches. I helped her out to the limo and took her to her hotel.”

“Just like that you spent the night with her? You’ve never done anything like that before. Wasn’t that awfully fast?”

“I didn’t stay with her and you don’t know all that happened. When I couldn’t find her at the hotel today and learned she’d checked out, I checked with Theo’s family. They hadn’t heard of her so I decided to go over to Chloe’s for help. When I went walked in, to my shock I found her relaxing at the side of the pool.”

“She was at Chloe’s?”

“Yes. It seems Chloe spent a school year with her back in high school on one of those exchange programs to learn English.”

“How come you’ve never heard of her?”

“I once remember Theo telling me that Chloe had an American friend she lived with in high school, but I never made the connection.”

“What’s her name?”

“Raina Maywood. But when she fell and sprained her ankle in our number four store, she gave Galen a different name before going to the ER. I had a devil of a time tracking her down.”

“Wait, wait—start over again. You’re not making sense.”

“Nothing has made sense since we first saw each other.”

“Akis? Are you still with me?”

“Yes.”

“What’s your gut telling you?”

“I don’t know,” he confessed.

“Maybe she wanted to meet you. It wouldn’t be hard to connect the dots. After all, she knows the circles Chloe’s family runs in. Maybe when Chloe invited her to come to the wedding, she told her about Theo’s best man and promised to introduce you.”

“There’s a flaw in that thinking, Vasso, because it didn’t happen that way. By sheer chance I asked her to dance. Otherwise we would never have met. After I took her to her hotel, she made it close to impossible for me to find her.”

“But she did end up at Chloe’s, so it’s my guess she hoped you’d show up there at some point. Even if that part of the evening wasn’t planned, what if all along her agenda has been to come to the wedding and use Chloe’s parents to meet you? Is that what you’re afraid of? That she’s after your money?”

“Hell if I know.”

“It stands to reason Chloe would have told her all about Theo’s best man. There’s no sin in it, but the way things are moving so fast, don’t you think you need to take a step back until more time passes? Then you can see what’s real and what isn’t. Think about it.”

Akis was thinking. His big brother had touched on one of Akis’s deepest fears. The possibility that somehow she’d engineered their meeting like other women in the past had done tore him up inside. He wanted to believe that everything about their meeting and the unfolding of events had been entirely spontaneous.

But if Chloe had discussed him with Raina, then her comment about his background made a lot of sense. He and Vasso were the brothers who’d climbed out of poverty to make their way in the world. They lacked the essentials that other well-bred people took for granted—like monetary help from family, school scholarships, exposure to the world.

They’d been marked from birth as the brothers who’d come out of that class of poor people who would be lucky to survive. Whatever he and Vasso had achieved had come through sheer hard work.

Akis could hold his own, but he was aware of certain inadequacies that would never change.

If in the past the situation had warranted it, he and Vasso had always given each other good advice. But this one time he didn’t want to hear it even though he was the one who’d called his brother.

Akis didn’t want to think Raina might be like Althea who was looking for a husband who could keep her in the style of Chloe’s parents.

“Isn’t that why you phoned me, because you’re worried?” his brother prodded. “She’s seen the kind of wealth Chloe comes from. You remember how crazy Sofia and I were over each other when we lived on the island without a drachma to our name?”

“How could I forget?”

“But she turned down my wedding proposal because she said she could do better. It wasn’t until our business started to flourish that she started chasing me again and wouldn’t leave me alone. At that point I wasn’t interested in her anymore.”

“I remember everything,” Akis’s voice grated. Both he and Vasso had been through the painful experience of being used. It had made them wary of stronger attachments. A few years ago when they’d set up two charities to honor their parents, one of the women they’d hired as a secretary to deal with the paperwork had made a play for Vasso. But it turned out she wanted marriage rather than the job.

Akis had run into a similar situation with an attractive woman they’d hired to run one of their stores. She’d called Akis one evening claiming there was an emergency. When he showed up at the store, it turned out the emergency was a ploy to get him alone.

Most women they met were introduced to them by mutual friends. After a few dates it was clear they had marriage and money on their minds. But the essential bonding of two minds and hearts of the kind he saw in Theo and Chloe’s relationship always seemed to be missing.

“Sorry to be such a downer, but Chloe’s friend did lie about her name, which I find strange. When are you going to see her again?”

“I told her I’d be over tomorrow.”

“Did she tell you not to come?”

He grimaced. “No.” But earlier she’d told him he’d be better off to find a woman of his own kind and background because she was leaving Greece. She’d been keeping up that mantra to hide what was really wrong.

“Okay. As I see it, maybe she’s taking advantage of her friendship with Chloe. Then again, maybe there is no agenda here. All I can say is, slow down.”

Akis took a deep breath, more confused than ever over her mixed signals. Why would she have flown all the way to Greece, yet she hadn’t attended the wedding of her good friend at the church? Bombarded by a series of conflicting emotions, he felt a negative burst of adrenaline, not knowing what to believe.

“I don’t want to think about it anymore tonight. Thanks for listening. I’ll see you in the morning.” He clicked off.

Without that kiss he might have decided it wasn’t worth it to pursue her further, except that he didn’t really believe that. It had taken all his willpower not to chase around the corner after her with some excuse to detain her. But this evening he hadn’t been thinking clearly. The need to feel her in his arms outweighed every other thought. It still did...

“Kyrie?” his driver called to him. “We’ve arrived.”

So they had. Akis thanked him and climbed out of the limo. On his way up to the penthouse, he went over the conversation with his brother. Vasso had given him one piece of advice he would follow from here on out.

Slow down.





CHAPTER THREE

BY THE TIME Raina had unwrapped her ankle to shower on Monday morning, she had to admit it felt a lot better. Resting it had really helped because there was little swelling now. It didn’t need to be rewrapped as long as she walked with crutches and was careful.

After dressing in a blouse and jeans, she brushed her hair and put on her pink lipstick. Every time she thought about Akis Giannopoulos, she got a fluttery feeling in her chest, the kind there was no remedy for.

Her lips still throbbed from the passion his mouth had aroused. For a little while she’d been swept away to a place she’d never been before. After having no personal life for so long, she supposed something like this had been inevitable. Maybe it was good this hormone rush had happened here in Greece. Before long she’d be leaving, so whatever it was she felt for this man, their relationship would be short-lived.

Since she couldn’t do any sightseeing this trip, her only option was to stay at Chloe’s. Such inactivity for a man like Akis would wear thin. When he found himself bored, he’d find a plausible reason to leave.

Breakfast came and went. She lounged by the pool and read a book she’d brought. Every time Nora or a maid came out to see if she wanted anything, she expected Akis to follow. By lunchtime she decided he wasn’t coming.

After kissing her as payback for the way she’d treated him last night, he’d left the house. It wouldn’t surprise her if he’d had no intention of coming back today. Raina ought to be relieved. Once she’d eaten lunch with Nora, there was still no sign of him.

Hating to admit to herself she was disappointed he hadn’t come, she went to her bedroom to do some business on the phone with her staff running the estate in California. No sooner had she gotten off the phone than the maid knocked on her door. “Kyrie Giannopoulos is waiting for you on the patio.”

At the news her heart jumped, a terrible sign that he mattered to her much more than she wanted him to. “I’ll be right there.” She refreshed her lipstick before using her crutches to make it out to the pool area where Akis was waiting for her.

His intense black gaze swept over her while he stood beneath the awning in an open-necked tan sport shirt and jeans. His clothes covered a well-defined chest and rock-hard legs. Whether he wore a tux, a bathing suit or casual clothes, her legs turned to mush just looking at him.