Xenakis's Convenient Bride(13)

Minutes later, Stavros kissed his wife with a thrill of triumph.  Strangely, the prize he most anticipated claiming was not the  corporation. He was suddenly annoyed with himself that he had only  booked a few short days-and nights-in Paris before he took Calli to New  York.

It was an odd shift in priorities that he put down to sexual  frustration, but these few days of making arrangements had been  interminable. The last thing he had patience for was a drawn-out goodbye  between Calli and her employer, especially when it put tears in her  eyes.

"Thank you," she choked as she hugged Takis. "I'm sorry."

"For what? You silly girl." Takis rubbed her upper arms. "I'm the one  who is sorry. I know I let you down. If I hadn't, you wouldn't be doing  this."

"No! You gave me so much. Now I'm leaving like I don't appreciate it, but I do. I swear I do."

"All I ever gave you was a chance. You earned everything else. I wish  you luck." His face grew grave and concerned. "Call me. Any time, for  any reason. Understand?"

She nodded.

"I mean it."

"I know," she murmured and turned to his daughter. Ophelia sobbed openly  and they hugged a long time, Calli murmuring reassuring noises to the  teenager. "You call me anytime," she said as they finally broke apart.  "For any reason."

"I love you, Calli."

"I love you, too. Stay out of trouble, paidi mou." There was such  conflict, such an agony of torn loyalty in Calli's expression, Stavros  felt guilty taking her hand and drawing her away, like he was wrenching  her from her family.

If she felt so close to them, why was she marrying him?

He wanted to believe the answer was obvious. Money, of course, but she  had seemed rather ambivalent about the settlement they had negotiated,  saying only, "Wow. You really want this marriage. I'll try to live up to  that."

She hadn't tried to negotiate the value higher so he had wound up  increasing the ceiling amount himself. He hadn't lied to Takis when he  had said she would be well taken care of, even if she didn't know how to  do that herself.

He was still thinking about that, wondering about her reasons for  wanting this marriage, when they were settled aboard his private jet. He  watched her turn his rings round and round on her finger as though  having second thoughts.

"What else did Takis give you besides a job?" he asked.

Her brows came together in dismay as she turned her head to look at him.  After a surprised pause, she settled her hands in her lap and said, "I  thought we agreed to keep this just business."

"We have to talk about something for the next six months. You didn't  like the idea of my investigating you. Tell me yourself what you want me  to know."

Her chin set and she rearranged the fall of her skirt. She was still in  her wedding dress, but it didn't seem out of place. It seemed rather  apropos, given the virginal nerves emanating off her.

In the back of his mind, he kept thinking of that overheard  conversation, when Takis had said, What happened to waiting until you're  married? She wasn't a virgin, was she? In this day and age?

"He gave me a home. Trust. Respect." He heard poignancy in her tone, like she feared she had lost those things all over again.

Stavros trusted her. To a point. He respected her as much as he  respected any form of life. Maybe a little more, since she had the  capacity for kindness and humor. Nevertheless, he was fairly sure his  money was not her goal. She had other motives he had yet to determine.  That produced a natural caution in him.

"He said he asked you to marry him because people were gossiping about your arrangement."

"They were. But I had already put up with it for two years. I didn't see  the point in trying to change it just because I had turned nineteen.  Frankly, they still would have talked. The age difference was that wide.  And I didn't think of him that way."

He hadn't realized how young she was until he had filed for the marriage  license. She didn't look more than the twenty-three she was, but there  was a maturity in her demeanor that suggested she was a lot older.

"You were seventeen when you went to live with him?" Maybe she was a virgin. "Where were your parents?"

"They live on the island." Something in her tone warned him he was treading dangerous ground.         

     



 

He had asked if her parents would be coming to Athens for the wedding. Her flat no had half convinced him they were dead.

"Did they disapprove of your living with Takis?"

"They disapproved of a lot of things."

He suspected that was a colossal understatement, given the marble-like  smoothness of her profile. "Is that why you moved in with Takis? Did you  run away?"

"They kicked me out." Her hands clenched into fists, crushing the  delicate silk of her dress. "I was sleeping on the beach. It's a small  island. Everyone knew my business. I thought it would be better to get  to the mainland, but I didn't have ferry fare. Takis was the richest man  on the island. I knew he was widowed. When I saw him waiting in his car  for the ferry..."

Her mouth pursed. Bright red flags of shame rose in her cheeks as she  turned her head to look at him, but she met his gaze without quailing.  Defiant almost, while the shadows of anguish in her eyes made the honey  gold of her irises hard as amber.

A spike of nausea went into his gut, anticipating what was coming, even  though he somehow wanted to travel back in time and prevent the exchange  she was about to admit to.

"I made him an offer he kindly refused." She tried to smooth the creases  from her skirt as she realized how badly she had wrinkled it. "He knew  there are plenty of men in this world who wouldn't hesitate to take  advantage of a desperate teenager, though. He was on his way to pick up  Ophelia from her grandparents and hire a new nanny. She was running  through them like penny candy. He said he would give me a shot, but made  it clear he wouldn't tolerate drugs or stealing or anything else like  that. He's not a bleeding heart."

"Is that why your parents threw you out? Drugs? Stealing?"

"No." It took her a minute to continue. Her hands twined together so  tightly her nail beds turned white. "I, um, messed around with a  tourist. My father said I shamed him."

Ah. Not a virgin. He was disappointed, but not for possessive reasons.  He sensed that experience had colored her view of men and sex.

"Is that why you wanted to wait until marriage to sleep with me? Because you had premarital sex and got thrown out for it?"

She hitched a shoulder. She was back to offering only her profile, and  blinked rapidly. "I just didn't want to be used again. At least this  time it's mutual." Her mouth quirked with distaste. "I won't be left  with nothing."

That mercenary streak of hers shouldn't have chafed. He ought to find it  comforting, he supposed, since it made her motives seem really  straightforward, but he found himself saying, "I wondered why you were  leaving him when you're obviously very attached. Money does make the  girl turn round, doesn't it?"

She swiveled just her head, eyes wide with hurt and something else.  Bitter astonishment. "Are you pointing out that I haven't risen very far  from offering myself to Takis for ferry fare? I'm aware. But you  married for money, too. If you find my behavior distasteful, it's  because you're looking in a mirror."



Calli had already been reeling over what she'd done before Stavros had pushed a stiletto of an insult between her ribs.

She judged herself harshly enough, thanks. She'd married a stranger so  he would take her to America. She was going to sleep with him and pose  as his wife so she could search for her son.

Takis had nearly come apart at the seams when she had told him what she  had agreed to. Ophelia's mother had been the love of Takis's life, but  he cared for Calli. Under his blunt exterior, he had always been  protective of her, which was sweet, but as time wore on, it had also  begun to abrade. Ophelia had said her father smothered and controlled.  It was his way of trying to prevent the people he cared about from being  hurt, but even with the search for Calli's son, Takis had always been  too quick to take the lead and make a call and act as go-between.

She had felt held back, but she had let him shield her for a number of  reasons, not least of which was her belief, deep down, that she was to  blame for what had happened. She feared she wasn't good enough to be a  part of her son's life. Brandon's family hadn't thought so. Her own  parents had berated her for going through with the pregnancy then  orchestrated Dorian's removal from her custody. She had failed to hang  on to him, had failed to even find out where he was.

She had failed as a mother.

So what right did she have to search for Dorian now? Would he even want  anything to do with her? He was so young. Six. Was he in school? He  might not even know he was adopted.