Reunited by the Greek's Vows

by Andie Brock

‘Here.’ Nikos passed her a blue velvet box. ‘I hope you like it. Kate helped me choose.’

  Kate chewed her lip nervously. When she and Nikos had visited the exclusive jewellers before lunch, the gold charm bracelet had seemed like a most suitable gift. Now she had met Sofia she could see it was all wrong.

  Sofia opened the hinged box with a squeak and Kate’s brow furrowed with unease.

  ‘I love it!’ Sofia was on her feet in a moment, flinging her arms around Nikos first and then Kate. ‘Thank you so much.’

  Kate gave her a hug. It was a great performance. What a lovely girl she was.

  She waited until Nikos had gone to find them a cab before taking Sofia to one side. ‘You can always swap that bracelet for something else. Like a few hundred nose rings.’

  Sofia laughed, linking arms with Kate as they stepped out onto the busy sidewalk. ‘I would never do that. True, it’s not the sort of thing that I would normally wear, but Nikos bought it for me, and for that reason alone I will treasure it.’

  Kate could see she was telling the truth. She could see how much Nikos meant to her, how fond she was of him. And for some reason that made her feel even worse.

  * * *

  It was Sofia’s idea to go to a pub. With several hours before she had to re-join her classmates, back at the hotel, Nikos had suggested some touristy things that they might do: The Tower of London, the London Eye, the British Museum... But Sofia had politely declined, saying that what she really wanted was to find a traditional old English pub—like the ones in the rom com movies she and her friends watched when they should be doing their homework.

  It had seemed an innocent enough request, and after emphasising that she would only be allowed soft drinks Nikos had led them to a little pub called The Nag’s Head.

  Sofia immediately lit up with excitement. It was dingy inside, and smelled of stale ale, but Kate had to admit the place had a certain charm. With dark red walls and a wooden floor, it had small cast iron tables and a curved bar, with pewter tankards hanging above it like the ghostly relics of drinkers past.

  Insisting that she wanted to sit at the bar, so she could see what was going on, Sofia was thrilled to discover she could legally have a glass of shandy, and watched with rapt attention as the barman picked up a dimpled half pint mug, filled it half-full with beer from a polished brass beer pump, and topped it up with lemonade.

  Raising it to her lips, Sofia declared it ‘delicious’, but she was still nursing the same glass an hour later. By which time Nikos was getting twitchy.

  ‘We should be thinking about going.’

  ‘Aw, not yet.’ Sofia tugged her phone out of her jean’s pocket to check the time. ‘I don’t need to be back for another hour at least.’

  ‘I’m afraid I have some business to attend to before trading closes in New York.’ Nikos was already shrugging on his jacket.

  ‘Well, Kate will stay with me—won’t you, Kate? She’ll make sure I get back to the hotel safely.’

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  Kate agreed willingly. She had been secretly hoping to spend some time alone with Sofia, so she could try to explain to her why she had agreed to this fake marriage. Tell her how she intended to pay the money back—every cent—when Kandy Kate was thriving again.

  Nikos hesitated, looking from one of them to the other doubtfully. But Sofia had a way of winning him round, and after issuing strict instructions about not being late and taking taxi cabs and sticking together at all times, he finally left.

  Everything started well enough. Broaching the subject of her arrangement with Nikos, Kate was surprised to find that Sofia, far from criticising her for being a mercenary tramp, was actually grateful to her, thanking her profusely for marrying Nikos and so upping the chances of Nikos becoming her guardian.

  It occurred to Kate that, despite what Nikos had told her, Sofia didn’t know about the money. She thought Kate was doing it out of the kindness of her heart. But there was nothing to be gained by explaining the situation fully, so Kate dropped the subject, her guilt soothed slightly by the fact that Nikos must have cared enough to want to protect her image.

  Instead they talked about Philippos. Full of pride, Sofia related what a genius he’d been, how much he’d valued his friendship with Nikos, how he had been the best brother in the world. Her large eyes filled with tears as she talked about his tragic death, all but breaking Kate’s heart. Pulling her into a hug, Kate held her tight, wishing she could do more.

  But Sofia quickly recovered. Giving a couple of sniffs, she tipped up her chin and offered her a watery smile. ‘But, hey, this is my birthday. So I refuse to be sad.’

  The pub was starting to get much busier, and the clientele now were a different, noisier crowd. The old men playing dominoes in the corner had gone, to be replaced by smart City types, all striped shirts and red braces, flashing their platinum credit cards.

  And Sofia was loving it. When a group of persistent young men found out it was her birthday they insisted on buying her and Kate a drink, and Sofia accepted before Kate could stop her, swapping her shandy for a mocktail and ordering a mojito for Kate.

  Kate had no interest in these flashy City guys, with their fat wallets and their narrow, unchallenged views, vying to impress these two foreigners. But Sofia was having such a good time. And with all the sorrow she had had in her life Kate thought she deserved a bit of light-hearted fun. So, not wanting to play the meanie, she sipped her drink and stayed quiet as the banter continued.

  She only left her charge for five minutes, giving Sofia strict instructions to stay exactly where she was. But, to Kate’s utter horror, when she returned from the bathroom Sofia had gone.

  In a state of blind panic Kate rushed out into the street, scanning in every direction, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of that multi-coloured hair. There was no sign of her. Running back into the pub, she dashed through to the beer garden, with the image of Nikos’s livid face emblazoned on her brain.

  He would never forgive her if anything had happened to Sofia. And she would never forgive herself.

  And then she saw her, backed up against the garden trellis, with one of the City guys pressing himself close against her. Way too close.

  Without thinking, Kate stormed towards them, wrenching the man’s arm from where his hand was hooked in the trellis just above Sofia’s head and forcibly pushing him away. There was the sound of splintered wood, an indignant yell from the man, and a sort of yelp of surprise from Sofia as the trellis came away from the wall and a tangle of plants and wood fell around them.

  ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ The man stepped away, stumbling over the debris and glaring at Kate.

  ‘Are you okay, Sofia?’ Kate put a protective arm around her shoulders.

  Sofia nodded. ‘Yeah, of course. I can take care of myself, you know.’ But Kate could see her cheeks were flushed, her eyes wide.

  ‘And you...’ Kate rounded on the man, who was picking bits of leaf off his suit. ‘You should know better. You keep your dirty hands off my...my...’ Stepdaughter? Friend? Kate was at a loss to know how to describe her. The truth was far too complicated. ‘Off Sofia.’

  ‘Chill, lady...’ The guy moved closer. ‘There’s no need to get so worked up. To be honest, you’re far more my type anyway.’

  ‘Get lost.’

  Kate went to brush past him, but he took a step to the side, blocking her path.

  ‘Aw, don’t be like that...’

  ‘Get out of my way.’

  ‘Make me.’

  She didn’t need telling twice.

  Putting her palms flat against his chest, Kate pushed hard—but the guy grabbed hold of her wrists. Sofia leapt to her rescue, rushing at him from the side and sending a swift, hard kick to his shins. The man swore violently as his legs buckled beneath him and he fell to the ground, taking Kate with him
.

  They ended up in a jumble of limbs, the man flat on his back with Kate sprawled on top of him. As a small crowd formed around them, jeering and laughing, Kate hurriedly got to her feet. With as much dignity as she could muster, she pushed her way through. Reaching for Sofia’s hand, she marched the two of them out of the beer garden, through the pub and onto the pavement outside.

  As they stood waiting for a black cab, Kate’s breath still rasping in her chest, she turned to address the birthday girl. ‘Sofia, I think it’s probably best if we don’t mention what just happened there to Nikos.’

  Sofia laughed, removing a bit of greenery from Kate’s hair and letting it drop to the ground. ‘You’re not kidding! He would go ballistic!’

  ‘So it’s our secret, then, yes?’ Sofia’s colourful assessment of Nikos’s likely reaction did nothing to make Kate feel better.

  ‘Definitely our secret.’ Sofia linked her arm through hers, her eyes shining. ‘And thanks, Kate.’ She gave her a kiss on the cheek. ‘This has been the best birthday ever!’

  CHAPTER TEN

  NIKOS STOOD WITH his hands on his hips, staring at the panoramic view of London. From up here, in this office on the seventy-second floor of the Shard, it was certainly an impressive vista, with the famous London landmarks all there, and the snaking brown water of the River Thames far below.

  Impatient, he checked his watch again. He was early, but he wanted to get this meeting over with.

  Returning to his seat, he took another sip of his coffee, putting down the cup with his lip curled in distaste. Suddenly he wanted to be back in Crete, in his own immaculate white villa, enjoying a cup of proper Greek coffee, with nothing to worry about except where he was going to take his boat out that day and how many fish he might catch.

  Who was he kidding? When was the last time he’d been fishing? He couldn’t even remember. That life was long gone, together with the happy-go-lucky guy Nikos had once been.

  Breaking up with Kate had been the catalyst—completely changing the course of his life. Before then he had skimmed through life like a pebble across the water, never bothering to ask himself if he was happy. Never going that deep. Because he hadn’t been sure he’d like what he found.

  He’d had his wits, his looks and his charm—and he had believed that had been more than enough to ease his passage through life and provide him with an endless supply of beautiful women to grace his arm and his bed. He had done his stint in the army, proud to serve his country, and he had travelled the world with little more than a battered rucksack and a handful of the local currency. Money, he had convinced himself, was of little importance.

  Returning to Agia Loukia on the orders of his father had not been part of his plan—not that he’d ever had much of a plan—but in some ways it had been good to be home. He’d almost forgotten the perfect blue of the Cretan sky, the beauty of the sunset over the water. His father had been as difficult as ever, but Nikos had learnt how to handle him—and anyway, it was only to be a temporary arrangement.

  At the start of that summer he’d had no inkling that his life was about to change so irrevocably—first by going into business with Philippos and then by falling in love with Kate O’Connor.

  Even to this day Nikos still wasn’t sure how the latter had happened. With his parents’ doomed relationship as his only role model, he had vowed he was never going to let himself get involved. Never going to trust a woman.

  Somewhere buried deep in his subconscious he had been dimly aware that being rejected by his mother at such a young age had coloured his whole view of the female race. Not for him the rosy-pink glow of romance—more a sort of no-nonsense beige. He’d always taken great pleasure in the company of women, but that was as far as it went.

  Until Kate. Meeting Kate had blown all his cast-iron resolutions out of the water. Before he’d known it he, the hardened bachelor, the die-hard sceptic, had found himself down on one knee, slipping a handmade silver ring onto Kate’s finger, declaring his undying love.

  He remembered that day with such vivid clarity. The two of them so happy...sitting on the beach side by side, watching the sun set. Then going back to his little white cottage with the blue shutters and the baby lizards running across the walls. Making love all night long. They had been different people then. Living in a different world.

  Afterwards work had been both his salvation and his nemesis. Using it to block out the pain, he had worked all hours, pushing himself to the limits of endurance and beyond. Marketing and then selling Philippos’s brilliant idea had earned them both a fortune. But what good had it done them? Nikos had become a bigshot businessman, his only aim in life to make more and more money—money he didn’t need or even want. Money had turned him into a man he didn’t recognise. Or even like. And Philippos was dead... Something that Nikos would hold himself responsible for as long as he lived.

  But recently, at least, he had been putting his money to good use. This morning he had received an update from his lawyers, telling him that his guardianship application was progressing favourably. Securing himself a wife—effectively buying Kate O’Connor—had been an excellent idea. As far as the lawyers were concerned anyway.

  From his point of view it was more complicated.

  A lot more complicated.

  His conflicting feelings towards Kate had kept him awake last night. Somehow the acrimony he had felt towards her just a couple of weeks ago had gone, to be insidiously replaced by respect, admiration, affection. They worried him, these feelings—the way they could creep over him at any given moment, triggered by nothing more dramatic than a glance in her direction when she stopped to stroke a stray cat or smile at a toddler. They gave Kate a hold over him. And that was something Nikos needed to avoid at all costs.

  He leant back into the sofa, telling himself to relax. Spending time with Sofia yesterday had been good. It had given him cause for hope. Seeing what a confident young woman she was growing into had thawed a little of the guilt he felt so deeply. Maybe the change in him these past three years hadn’t been all bad. He realised he was ready for responsibility now, actively looking forward to taking on the challenge of a teenage girl. And he suspected Sofia would be quite a challenge!

  She and Kate, of course, had hit it off like a house on fire. Watching them interact, listening to their conversation, he had felt a strange sense of pleasure creeping over him. He didn’t know where it had come from, or why it had been there, but where Kate was concerned he never knew what to feel.

  All he did know was that being around her rocked his very foundations. Desires that he’d buried deep within him, never to be revisited, had surfaced in a flood of craving and lust and desperate hunger that he now knew would never be sated.

  The past few days bore testament to that. What had happened in Venice—finally taking Kate to his bed—had been meant to be a one-off. Nikos had been sure that sex with Kate would serve a purpose, settle an old score, and allow him to move on. Slake his thirst.

  Except this particular thirst refused to be slaked. Instead he had found his craving increasing day on day, hour upon hour, until the ‘one-off’ had become two, three, four times. Until spending every night with her seemed perfectly natural. Inevitable. Imperative.

  Up until last night, that was.

  Having been immersed in work for a couple of hours, Nikos hadn’t noticed the time to start with. But it hadn’t been long before he’d found himself clock-watching, wondering when Kate would be back. Looking forward to seeing her again.

  He’d told himself that he just wanted to make sure that Sofia had been safely returned to her school party, but in reality he’d known it wasn’t that. Kate had got to him. No matter how much he fought against it, somehow she had insidiously wound her way around his heart. And that was deeply troubling.

  When Kate had finally swept into their hotel suite Nikos had known immediately that something was wrong. H
is enquiry about whether they’d had a good time had been answered curtly, and Kate’s reassurance that Sofia had been delivered back to her hotel had been uncharacteristically brusque.

  There had been no mistaking her change of mood—especially when Kate had announced that she was very tired and taken herself off to her own room without even meeting his eye. Nikos had been left staring at her closed bedroom door, with the thrum of blood in his ears, wondering what on earth that had all been about. And, more importantly, why he cared? How the hell did she manage to have such an effect on him?

  Much to his irritation, he’d found himself still mulling over the events of last night the next morning. Logic told him that a cooling in relations between them was a good thing. If Kate was making a tactical withdrawal he should be doing the same thing. This was the reality check he needed.

  Their enforced honeymoon was almost at an end. It had served its purpose. Nikos had made sure they’d been seen together pretty much wherever they went, and posed photos of ‘the happy couple’ were gracing the gossip columns both here in Europe and in the US. It was all good PR for him, and Kandy Kate was benefitting too. Kate’s marriage to a billionaire Greek tycoon had already seen the company’s share price shoot up.

  But logic refused to explain why Kate’s rejection stuck like a fishhook in his skin. Why the more he tried to ignore it, the more it dug into him. If he didn’t know better, he would say he was becoming infatuated with Kate O’Connor Nikoladis. And that was something he needed to avoid at all costs.

  Nikos stood up again, pacing up and down in front of the wall of windows. He needed to put some space between them, that was all. There was no reason why they shouldn’t be able to go their separate ways for a while now—they both had businesses to run, after all. The Greek courts couldn’t expect them to be together all the time. At a later date, he would fly Kate out to Crete and then, with her by his side, he would make an appointment to see the clerk of the court and find out how his guardianship application was progressing.