by Jane Porter
“On what?”
“You. If you are at the helm, it should remain Dukas Shipping, shouldn’t it?”
“At the helm? Damen, I don’t know anything about the business yet.”
“You can learn it. You’re a fast study. You figured me out in less than a week.”
She exhaled softly, her eyes stinging. “Do you mean this?”
“I do.”
“What if it doesn’t work out?”
“The business relationship, or the personal? Because they’re separate, Kass. You can have one without the other. You can choose any option and not be with me.”
A lump filled her throat. He was saying all the right things and giving her all the reassurance she needed, but it made her feel worse. It made her feel impossibly guilty. She had to tell him about the pregnancy. It was time, more than time, but it also might change everything because she was sure he’d be upset that she’d kept the secret so long. Telling him the truth might ruin everything now.
Blinking back tears, she blurted, “I’m pregnant, Damen. I’m twenty-two weeks along.”
He didn’t immediately reply. The silence was deafening. Her heart pounded so hard she thought she might get sick.
“Damen?” she whispered after a long minute. “Please say something.”
“Open the door, kitten. I’m still here. Outside.”
She raced to the door and flung it open, wiping away tears as he stepped into her foyer.
“Why are you crying?” he asked, drawing her into his arms.
“Please don’t be mad—” she choked.
“Not mad.” He kissed the top of her head. “Is the baby healthy? Are you okay?”
“We’re both good. It’s been an easy pregnancy. The only hard part is knowing you were so far away.”
He released her, his hands on her shoulders. “I haven’t been far away. I’ve been here in San Francisco the entire time.”
“What?”
“I didn’t want to be far in case you needed me.”
“Damen.”
“How could I be sure you were safe if I was on the other side of the world?”
“But you never came to see me! And my father let me think you were coming and going—”
“That was him being dramatic, that was not from me. I never went anywhere. I have a suite at the Palace Hotel and it’s where I go every night after I leave Dukas Shipping.”
“Did you ever come by the house? Did you ever try to see me?”
“I drove past every day. I sometimes parked across the street just to watch your lights come on and off.”
She drew back, feeling worse, not better. “Did you know I was pregnant?”
“I suspected, but wasn’t sure.” He grimaced. “My mother thought you might be.”
“What? How?”
He shrugged. “She’s always had a sixth sense about things like this.”
Kassiani blinked. “So why give me those options if you knew I was pregnant?”
“Because you have always wanted to be part of the business, and there is no reason this pregnancy or future pregnancies should keep you from being part of the business. The only reason you shouldn’t work is because you don’t want to.”
“I thought traditional Greek wives stayed home.”
“I don’t want a traditional Greek wife. I want you.”
“What if I choose Option 1, to remain in San Francisco and live independent of you?”
“Then I’d buy a house here so I could be part of our child’s life.”
“You love Greece.”
“I love you and our child more.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything right now. Think about it. Take time. In fact, take a lot of time. Just allow me to woo you and court you, and spoil you. Let me show you that I can be a good husband. Let me prove to you that I can be trusted.”
Her heart ached. “It’s been a bumpy four months.”
“Very bumpy. And it’s my fault—”
“No. It’s mine. You were promised the best daughter—”
“And I married the best daughter,” he said fiercely. “You were the best and only option for me. You and your strength and your courage helped me confront a past that has kept me from living, and loving, and I wouldn’t be here, who I am now, if it wasn’t for you being you. I love you, Kassiani, and I will love you for as long as we both shall live.”
* * *
He did woo her properly, too, taking her out to dinners and the theater, and even to an American football game, which neither of them enjoyed very much, but Damen had reserved a whole luxury box and they ended up sitting at the back, kissing and talking, and it was there that Kassiani asked him about Iris, and his parents.
“I don’t understand why you blame your parents for what happened to you when you were a boy,” she said softly, uncertainly, “unless it’s because they couldn’t protect you—”
“I don’t blame them, at all.”
“But you don’t...like...your mother?”
“Dislike my mother? No! Whatever gave you that idea?”
“Because you don’t see her and she said you’ve changed, and become hard—”
“Not toward her, kitten. But, yes, I changed. And it isn’t easy seeing her, knowing that she refuses to let me buy her a nice house, or make her more comfortable, and a son is supposed to provide for his mother, but she’s stubborn and insists on living as she always has.”
“So you’re not punishing her?”
“Is that what you thought?”
Her shoulders lifted and fell. “I thought because of Iris, you maybe...blamed them...”
“No. I don’t blame them in any way for what happened. They were victims, too. And I would give anything to have my mother come to Athens, and be part of my life there. But so far, she’s stubborn and has refused my invitations.”
“And you struggle with going to Adras.”
He nodded. “Our stalemate, yes.”
She processed this for a moment. “And Iris? You’ve blamed yourself for her death, too, haven’t you?”
He nodded again, his strong jaw flexing.
“Do you know why she took her life? Did you two have a fight?”
“No. But I’ve had plenty of time to think about that as well, and the only thing I can come up with is that she felt betrayed by me after I left Adras.”
“Why? Was she pregnant?”
“No! But we’d always talked about our future and how we were going to marry and then I left, and I never looked back.”
“A year after I left, she died.”
Kassiani squeezed his hand. “You do know that you weren’t responsible—”
“She’d reached out to me, a number of times, writing letters, long letters. I never answered them. I never—” He broke off. “I did fail her. I know I did. But I thought I was doing her a favor. I thought she’d be happier without me. I was so damaged at that point. I was not the boy she’d loved.”
“And you blamed yourself all these years.”
Kassiani reached up, her hand lightly cupping his jaw with just a hint of rasp from his beard. “No more guilt, no more blame,” she whispered, kissing him. “No more looking back.”
“I love you.”
“And I love you, my husband.”
* * *
After a month and a half of dating her husband, Kassiani chose Option 3, and they were now back in Greece, in time for her third trimester. And while Greece wasn’t yet home, she felt comfortable there because Damen made everything feel right. Wherever he was, she wanted to be.
She went into the corporate office with him each day, and he kissed her goodbye at the elevator and she went to her office while he went to his. She worked closely with one of his managers, learning the ropes a
nd everything she could about the shipping industry. Some of the men she worked with were crusty and unhelpful, while others were delighted that a member of the Dukas shipping family had joined Aegean’s team.
The weeks leading up to the new year were passing so quickly now. In a little over a month the baby would be born.
After work one evening, Damen drove her to a north Athens suburb to show her a house that had recently been built.
“It literally just came on the market today,” he said, as the huge gates swung open and he headed up the long private drive. “It was a custom build and the owner is deeply in debt and is desperate to offload it. I know you prefer older architecture, but the house is on three acres, in a great location and has fantastic views. The only thing we would need to do is buy furniture and prepare the nursery.”
He rounded the corner and the coastline came into view, along with the dazzling blue sea.
“How many acres did you say?” she asked.
“Three.”
“Perfect. Yes. Buy it.”
“You haven’t even seen the house yet. You might hate it.”
“We can fix it.”
He parked and turned to look at her. “I don’t want you having to worry about anything. I just want you to relax.”
“I’m relaxed.”
“And happy.”
It felt as if she’d swallowed the sun. Everything within her glowed warm and bright. “I’m unbearably happy, Damen.”
He smiled and leaned toward her, kissing her. “Marry me, Kassiani.”
She kissed him back. “We’re already married, my love.”
“But let’s do it again. Because this time it’s a love marriage. I need you to know—”
“I know.”
“I need the world to know.”
“Who cares what the world thinks?”
His smile was crooked. “Maybe I just want to show you off. Maybe I just feel like celebrating because I have the most beautiful, brilliant wife, and we’re going to have a baby soon.”
She couldn’t help smiling back. How could she not when the ball of happiness inside her shone bigger and brighter? “You are sleeping with me every night.”
“All night. Now that I have you back in my bed, I’m not going anywhere.”
She laughed, because yes, that was true. He did stay all night with her now. He’d stopped leaving her room—their room—after lovemaking. Damen slept touching her, a hand always near the small of her back.
She liked it.
She loved him.
Desperately.
EPILOGUE
THE VOW RENEWAL took place on New Year’s Eve.
She wore a Grecian-style wedding dress, a simple one-shoulder gown in a gorgeous creamy white. Her long dark hair was loosely pinned up with a delicate antique wreath of gold leaves on top of the gleaming dark curls.
Kassiani was just four weeks from giving birth and she felt huge, but also blissfully happy. Damen came to check on her just before the ceremony began. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
“I’m good.”
“You look so beautiful.”
She ran a hand over her huge belly bump. “There is so much of me.”
“I have always loved every bit of you, even when I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“The past is the past, my love. It’s time to let it go and focus on the future.”
“Maybe I can, after tonight. I have made so many mistakes in my life.”
“No one is keeping score.”
“I have. You deserved a proper wedding and a proper wedding day. I just want the world to know how much I love you.”
“I don’t really care about the world, and what they know or think. I care about what you think.”
“Which is why we’re doing this tonight. We’re going to have a party with a few close friends and family, and we’ll dance and take pictures and put those pictures in an album, and other pictures in frames, so our children will know how much their father loved their mother, and we can be an example to them that true love is worth fighting for.”
Her eyes burned and a lump filled her throat. “I had no idea I’d married such a romantic.”
“I adore you, my wife, my heart, my life. I adore you and am grateful for every day with you.”
The ceremony went off without a hitch, as did the elegant, intimate reception at the Dionysus Restaurant. The restaurant overlooked the sacred rock of the Acropolis and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, and both were illuminated at night.
Kass thought there was something profoundly spiritual about dining and dancing with the Acropolis in the background, and the evening was made perfect by having a few of their respective families there. Her father had flown into Athens, and Mrs. Alexopoulos had traveled by ship. Mrs. Alexopoulos had made Kassiani’s bouquet, adding bits of olive branches from the groves on Adras, the olive branches for peace. And love. It was perfect. Kassiani had found her home.
And when Kassiani went into labor two weeks later, Damen was there at her side. Her father sent flowers but Mrs. Alexopoulos returned, anxious to provide help.
Damen had been worried that Kassiani wouldn’t want his mother in the house, but Mrs. Alexopoulos wasn’t one of those critical, interfering mothers-in-law, but an unending source of wisdom and encouragement.
Kassiani felt grateful to have a husband who loved her so much that he was willing to fight for her, and them, and a doting grandmother for her baby boy. Their baby boy, their son Alesandro, a symbol of their love, and a commitment to the future.
As winter shifted to spring, Kassiani looked forward to returning to the company office on a part-time basis. She enjoyed the work, but adored her son, and was thankful she didn’t have to choose between them.
The past year hadn’t been easy. Both she and Damen had fought hard for their marriage and fought hard for their love. But wasn’t that the true definition of family?
Families fought for each other, not against each other.
Love healed, and love hoped, and love endured.
She hadn’t always made the right choices, and yet she’d never given up on him. And just when she didn’t think she could fight anymore for them, Damen had shocked her by coming through, by choosing to fight for her, for them, for the happiness they all desperately needed.
Dreams really did come true.
* * *
If you enjoyed His Shock Marriage in Greece by Jane Porter, you’re sure to enjoy the other stories in our Passion in Paradise collection!
Wedding Night Reunion in Greece
by Annie West
A Scandalous Midnight in Madrid
by Susan Stephens
And why not explore these other Jane Porter stories?
His Merciless Marriage Bargain
Kidnapped for His Royal Duty
The Prince’s Scandalous Wedding Vow
Available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from An Innocent to Tame the Italian by Tara Pammi.
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An Innocent to Tame the Italian
by Tara Pammi
CHAPTER ONE
“DID YOU FIGURE out why the security breaches keep happening? And how?”
Massimo Brunetti looked up from the three monitors on his desk in the lab that was the hub of his cyber security business. It was a high-security center with thumbprint access only.
A measure he’d taken at the age of sixteen when his father, Silvio, had still been living with them, a matter of self-preservation for Massimo to keep him out. Now, this was his tech center where his servers were stored and where he designed software worth billions.
Only his older half brother, Leonardo, who was currently scrutinizing everything, and their grandmother Greta’s stepdaughter, Alessandra, had access. On the condition that they disturb him only at the threat of the building burning down or an equivalent emergency.
Greta wasn’t allowed. Her emergency the last time had been an epic tantrum on his thirtieth birthday three months ago. The cause was that Leo and he were going to die childless, leaving the dynastic legacy of the Brunettis to perish with them.
She should know Massimo didn’t give a damn about family legacies, especially theirs.
“We have a meeting scheduled for an update in a half hour, Leo,” he said, without raising his head. “You know I do not like it when you barge in here.”
“You’ve been locked up in here for the better part of a week.” Leo’s mouth pinched. “I can’t hide it from the board any longer, Massimo. If it gets to the press that BCS had clients’ financials open for any little Dark Net hacker to find... Merda!”
