Secrets of a Billionaire
On the sun-kissed beaches of Thessaloniki, two glamorous couples, once separated by circumstances beyond their control, are finally reunited. But will the secrets of their past prevent them from finding their happy-ever-after?
When billionaire Nico is reunited with Alexa in The Greek’s Secret Heir, his life is turned upside down. She’s been keeping a secret...with explosive consequences!
Giannina can’t believe Alexandros, the man who left her heartbroken in London, is back. He needs her help. But dare she trust a man with so many secrets?
Escape to Greece with...
The Greek’s Secret Heir
Available now!
Alexandros and Giannina’s story
Coming soon!
Dear Reader,
I always love reading the Greek myths. They fascinate me. Recently I came across several that gave me ideas for my new duet, Secrets of a Billionaire. The following myth formed the theme for book one, The Greek’s Secret Heir. When you read it, you’ll understand how a story came immediately to mind, one I had to write.
Hera almost caught Zeus with a mistress named Io, a fate avoided by Zeus. Being very clever, he turned Io into a beautiful white heifer. However, Hera was clever, too. Not completely fooled, she demanded that Zeus give her the heifer as a gift. Once Io was presented to Hera, who was driven by jealousy, she had her tied up and guarded by the hundred-eyed dog Argus. This action conveniently kept Io separated from Zeus.
Enjoy!
Rebecca Winters
The Greek’s Secret Heir
Rebecca Winters
Rebecca Winters lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. With canyons and high alpine meadows full of wildflowers, she never runs out of places to explore. These, plus her favorite vacation spots in Europe, often end up as backgrounds for her romance novels—because writing is her passion, along with her family and church. Rebecca loves to hear from readers. If you wish to email her, please visit her website at rebeccawinters.net.
Books by Rebecca Winters
Harlequin Romance
Escape to Provence
Falling for Her French Tycoon
Falling for His Unlikely Cinderella
The Princess Brides
The Princess’s New Year Wedding
The Prince’s Forbidden Bride
How to Propose to a Princess
Holiday with a Billionaire
Captivated by the Brooding Billionaire
Falling for the Venetian Billionaire
Wedding the Greek Billionaire
The Magnate’s Holiday Proposal
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
To my darling children. They’re so supportive, I’m the luckiest mom in the world!
Praise for
Rebecca Winters
“This is the first book that I have read by this author but definitely not the last as it is an amazing story. I definitely recommend this book as it is so well written and definitely worth reading.”
—Goodreads on How to Propose to a Princess
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue
Excerpt from A Midnight Kiss to Seal the Deal by Sophie Pembroke
PROLOGUE
“MONIKA? I’M SO HOT I’m going for a quick swim before I’m burned to a crisp.”
Her sandy-haired friend didn’t open her eyes. “I’ll join you in a few minutes.”
Alexa Remis, almost eighteen, got up from one of the rental loungers set out along the semicrowded Perea Beach outside Salonica, otherwise called Thessaloniki, Greece. The August temperature had climbed to the high eighties, perfect for her three-week vacation before school started again on Cyprus, nearly a thousand miles away. This was only her second day of freedom from books and tests, but it would go too fast and she wanted to make the most of it.
After wading into a surreal world of turquoise water, she kept going until she could immerse herself in the deepening cobalt blue beyond. Talk about paradise! On impulse she did a series of somersaults and ended up colliding with a hard, male body who gripped her arms to steady her.
“I’m sorry!” she cried after lifting her head. Once he let go, Alexa had to tread water to stay afloat.
“It was my fault, despinis.” The sincere apology, spoken in Greek, came from the gorgeous guy staring straight into her eyes. In the afternoon sun she couldn’t tell if his eyes were black or brown between those black lashes. “I’m Nico Angelis.”
“I’m... Mara Titos.” She’d almost made her first mistake by telling him her real name. Her grandfather was the Greek ambassador in Nicosia in Cyprus. For security reasons he and her grandmother had made her promise never to reveal who she really was to anyone while on vacation. With so much political unrest there, they didn’t want Alexa to be a target for enemies.
Meeting this Adonis out swimming had thrown her off-balance. “Where did you come from, Nico?”
He pointed to a sleek white cruiser in the distance, revealing his well-defined chest. “My friends and I have been racing each other.”
“And I ruined it for you by being in your way.”
His gaze wandered over her, making her feel a voluptuous warmth that was completely different from the effect of the sun. “I didn’t watch where I was going, but believe me, I’m not complaining about running into a beautiful mermaid. I didn’t know they came with long chestnut hair and sea-green eyes.” She smiled as he asked, “Do you live here?”
“No.” Remember what you’re supposed to tell people, Alexa. “I live in France with my mom, but am on vacation until school starts.”
“You’re a long way from home. I’ve just turned nineteen and must join the Greek navy in three weeks to do my military service.”
They swam around each other. “Are you looking forward to it?”
“Not particularly. I’d much rather stay right here.”
The comment sounded so personal her heart picked up speed. “How long will you have to be gone?”
“Two years.” He studied her features, lingering on her lips. “At the moment a year sounds like a lifetime.”
“One more year in a strict French schoolroom before college sounds like a lifetime to me too.” After he chuckled, she heard voices in the distance coming from the cruiser. “I think your friends are calling to you.” But Alexa didn’t want their conversation to end.
“That’s okay. They can wait. I have more pressing matters here.” His compelling mouth broke out into a smile, turning her body to liquid. “What about you?”
Remember for security reasons that Monika has a different name too. “My cousin Leia is sunbathing. I’m staying with her and the Vasilakis family during my vacation.”
“How long are you here for?”
“Three weeks.”
“That’s perfect. It gives us time to make some plans.”
He had a masterful way about him that made her breathless. There was no guy in Europe or anywhere else who acted or looked like Nico. The dark hair plastered to his head reminded her of a copy of a statue of a young Emperor Augustus in the Archaeological Museum of Salonica she’d seen yesterday.
Monika’s p
arents, the Gatakis, who’d only recently begun working at the embassy with Alexa’s grandfather, kept a house here. They’d insisted the girls have one day of intellectual pursuits before hitting the beach for the rest of their holiday.
As far as Alexa was concerned, Nico, with his chiseled features and firm jaw, could have been a model and was so handsome, she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
“What did you have in mind?” She knew she was being picked up. Other guys had tried. Before now she’d never been tempted to break her grandparents’ rules, but this guy was different. She decided to go with it and see what happened.
“Tell your cousin you’re swimming to the cruiser with me. I know a place along the coast where we can buy food and eat on deck while we get to know each other better. I’ll bring you back before it gets too late. Wherever I’m stationed in the military, I’d like a happy memory to take with me.”
That worked both ways. “What about your friends?”
“I’ll drop them at the pier.”
So it was Nico’s boat. Alexa made a snap decision. “I’ll swim to shore and let her know.”
His smile faded. “If you don’t come back, I’ll know this meeting wasn’t meant to be after all and you really are a mermaid who’ll disappear on me.”
Alexa took off for the beach, haunted by what he’d just said. She reached the lounger dripping wet and told Monika what had happened. “He’s going to take me for a boat ride.”
Her friend jumped to her feet. “Are you crazy? Don’t you know who that is?” She sounded almost angry.
“Should I?”
“Nico Angelis is the only son of the billionaire Estefen Angelis, the famous Angelis Shipping Lines owner in Salonica. I’ve told you about him before.”
Alexa didn’t remember.
“Over the last year he’s been in the news—he gets around.” At least Monika knew of him. Alexa’s grandparents couldn’t object to that. “There’ve been times when he’s played volleyball here on the beach with some of his highbrow friends, picking up girls. He’s the last guy on earth you should ever get mixed up with.”
Whoa. How could Alexa have known something like that while she’d been living in Cyprus for so many years with her grandparents? “He’s still out there waiting for me.”
Monika laughed. “You really think so with a line like the one he just fed you? A mermaid? How naive can you get.”
Alexa felt foolish. “Maybe I am. But all the same, I’m swimming back out.” She hurried into the water once more, wondering, fearing that he’d disappeared. Somehow the idea of never seeing him again disturbed her.
“Mara?”
He was still there. Alexa had almost forgotten that was the name she’d given him. She had her answer and knew she was going to spend the next few hours with him no matter what Monika said.
“Nico!”
CHAPTER ONE
Nineteen years later
ON A WARM Saturday evening in June, thirty-eight-year-old Nico Angelis drove up to the front of the Papadakis mansion in Salonica. Nico was still trying to get over the pain of losing Tio Papadakis six months ago.
They’d met in the military and became best friends. Later, they’d each served as the other’s best man at their weddings. But a dinner out last December had ended in tragedy for his friend.
Tio had been driving the car that had killed him and had put his wife Irena in a wheelchair with a bruised spine. It had taken her a month to be able to walk again without help and she still used her wheelchair sometimes. Until then she’d had a health caregiver who looked after her and provided the therapy she needed.
Since the accident Nico had tried to look in on Irena and her two sons once a week. He’d lost his wife years earlier and knew the pain Irena had to be in. Nico suffered survivor’s guilt over the part he’d played in his own wife’s death that couldn’t be erased. He didn’t think it would ever go away. To be able to help Irena by talking to her about Tio made him feel like he was doing something worthwhile.
Eleven years earlier his wife Raisa and their unborn child had been killed in a plane crash. Like Tio, Nico had been at the controls when the accident occurred. For an inexplicable reason, Nico and his copilot had escaped death.
Since then, Nico had plunged into his work to deal with his pain and put away thoughts that he didn’t have a child to cherish. He’d wanted their baby more than anything in this world and had been so excited for its impending birth. A son or daughter to love would have meant everything to him, but it hadn’t happened.
At least Irena had her boys. Nico envied Irena that blessing and had learned to love her sons like his own. Raisa’s death was something no one could fix, but he could give Irena and her boys his love and support.
Two months ago Nico’s father had stepped down as head of the Angelis Shipping Lines, owing to heart trouble. Nico, one of three vice presidents at the time, had been voted in as CEO of the corporation.
Their headquarters maintained the largest cargo shipping company in the Balkan hinterland and Southeastern Europe. The Angelis conglomerate also owned several manufacturing companies and the Halkidiki News, a newspaper servicing Northern Greece.
It had been managed by his uncle—the brother-in-law of Nico’s mother—for over a decade. But he’d caused a scandal in the family and their father had promoted Nico’s thirty-six-year-old sister Giannina to executive status at the newspaper to keep him under control.
Their uncle, who’d been born a Hellenian before becoming a Greek citizen, resented a woman having that kind of power and hadn’t been making it easy for her. Nico was proud of how Giannina handled their uncle as she worked her way up in administration at the newspaper.
It pleased him that their father saw her potential to be a tour de force. Now, with the responsibility of the Angelis Shipping Lines falling on his shoulders, Nico had little time for anything else besides looking after his parents and of course Irena and her boys.
These days Nico commuted to headquarters in Salonica by helicopter from his villa in Sarti eighty-seven miles away. Tonight he was running late. The housekeeper Melia let him in and told him he’d find Irena and Kristos in the salon. Apparently her younger son Yanni was over at a friend’s house.
“Nico, at last!” Irena cried and held out her arms to him. He hugged her. She’d been a redheaded beauty who’d claimed Tio’s heart in his teens.
Kristos got up from the couch to give him a hug. “I was afraid you might not come, Uncle Nico.” Her boys had called him that for years. They’d never know how much they meant to him.
“Sorry I’m late. Already I’m learning why I rarely saw my father growing up.”
“He’s paid a price for it,” Irena interjected. “Don’t let hard work cut your life short, Nico.” She stopped there, unlike Giannina who would have said she feared he didn’t have any other life now. His sister worried that he hadn’t found another woman and she wouldn’t let it go. Nico had been involved with several women from time to time, but he’d had it with love and commitment.
“I’m not planning on it,” he muttered, looking at Irena with concern. “Have you been brooding again?”
“Yes. I miss Tio more than usual tonight.”
Nico could relate. “Why is that?”
“Because of me,” Kristos broke in. The handsome nineteen-year-old had grown tall like his father. Nico would have given anything for a son like him, but fate had stepped in once again the way it had done when he himself was nineteen, robbing him of any happiness for a long, long time.
“Isn’t college going well for you?”
“That’s not it. Mama’s upset because I’ve met a girl and want to get engaged now. We’re thinking a wedding at the end of August. By then the apartment we’ve settled on near the university will be free.”
She shook her head. “It’s way too soon for you to be so involved
. Your life is only beginning, darling. I’m sure her mother would say the same thing. You need to wait several years at least. Your father would be in total agreement with me.”
“That’s not true, Mama. I’ve done my military service and have an important job in the family business. I can support us, and both our college classes are going along fine. It’s not too soon. We’re in love and don’t want to wait.”
Irena’s eyes met Nico’s, pleading with him to do something about this. He knew Tio’s stubborn father was behind Irena’s hesitation. The older man hadn’t approved of Tio’s marriage and was now interfering in his grandson’s love life.
“What’s her name, Kristos?”
“Dimitra Remis.”
“Tell me about her.”
His warm gray eyes lit up. “She’s eighteen, smart and gorgeous.”
Nico grinned. “Of course she is.”
“She’s barely eighteen,” a troubled Irena informed him.
“Dimitra goes to the University of Salonica too, Uncle Nico. I can’t begin to describe how wonderful she is.”
Kristos was definitely smitten. “Tell me about her mother and father.”
“Her parents are Greek. They fell in love. However, through unavoidable circumstances, they lost touch with each other and he disappeared from her mother’s life before she ever knew she was pregnant.”
“That’s very sad.” Nico thought about the unborn child he’d lost when Raisa had died. “It’s tragic the man never knew he had a daughter.”
“Dimitra always wanted to know him. That ache will never go away for her.”
“Of course not,” Nico murmured. Certain aches always remained, as Nico knew so well. His yearning to have a family of his own would always be there, but it hadn’t been meant to be.
“I’m thankful I had nineteen years with Papa,” Kristos broke in on Nico’s thoughts. “But Dimitra has still had a wonderful life. Until last August she and her mother lived with her great-grandparents in Canada. He was the Greek ambassador in Ottawa before his retirement. Since coming back to Greece, they have a home here and her mother teaches on the faculty at the University of Salonica in the language department.”
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