“Would you like a cold glass of juice before we go for our walk?” He asked when she rejoined him on the veranda.
“No, thank you. I’m still full from lunch.” She rubbed her tummy, giving him a saucy grin. Today she was alive. Really alive. She had made the decision to marry Theron. She was willing to sign the prenuptial papers he’d mentioned. She couldn’t let all those people suffer if the deal didn’t go through. Cassidy pushed down the little voice that kept telling her she was going to get hurt if she married a man who didn’t have any feelings for her. A man who only wanted to use her to complete a business deal.
Stop that right now, she scolded herself. You’ve made your decision. You will not change your mind now!
“The breeze feels wonderful. Shall we go out and enjoy it?” Cassidy smiled at him.
Cassiopeia tossed her head and he gulped as her blazing hair danced through the air. He really had to get her into bed. Soon or he would never make it. Theron had not felt this randy since Angeliki, the tavern owner’s daughter, had taught him the ins and outs of sex. Since then celibacy had never been his strong point.
Theron reached his hand out to her and she placed her small hand into his. Cassiopeia gave him a warm smile which he knew had grown on the inside and glowed through her eyes. He shook the lascivious thoughts from his head and wove their fingers together. He led her hand in hand to the gate at the other end of the veranda leading into the open space of the Meteora.
He could not wait to see her face when he presented her with his world. Even if she did not care for him how could she refuse such a wonderful eyrie in which to raise her son?
Cassidy knew she had a silly grin from ear to ear, but such an innocent thing, Theron holding her hand, made her giddy all over. Yes, she had definitely made the right decision. She would be kicking herself from now until eternity if she didn’t follow through on these feelings. Emotions. She had a chance to build a future with this man. After all, if he planned on having children with her, then he had a plan for a future for the two of them and Rico. That’s the way it worked when you planned on having children. You planned a long future together. They could have a good life together. They would have a good life together.
Her breath stopped halfway up her windpipe. Her heart started to race. Something was wrong here. She had been looking back at the magnificent red roofed mansion, which Theron had just said stood where a former monastery had been. She had turned her head to admire the view he was extolling, only there was no view. There was the ground beyond immediately in front of her with high rock edging the area. A couple of small buildings, and a few trees were on her level.
Were those stone walls like they had in New England? But, but, but there was nothing beyond those walls. No sweeping panorama of houses, grass, or woods. Nothing but open sky Emp-empt-empty open sky!
Not really empty sky; there were birds swooping around the walls and dipping below the other side, and then swooping back up.
Her hands trembled. Her spine dissolved. Her legs shook. Her knees collapsed under her. Her hand remained in Theron’s. Her only solid connection while the world swirled around her.
He looked at her in bewilderment. “Cassiopeia, what is wrong?”
She couldn’t answer. She was too busy trying to breathe through a throat that was too tight.
He knelt down in front of her. That’s when she realized she had dropped to her knees. “What is wrong? Have you been stung by a bee?”
Cassidy stared past him. Her eyes were unfocused. There was nothing but sky.
Theron was speaking to her, but she couldn’t hear anything over the pounding of blood trying to get to her brain.
He scooped her into his arms and hurried back onto the enclosed veranda. He held her close. She struggled for words. “I will marry you if you get me safely back to earth,” she finally gasped through blue lips.
Chapter 21
Cassidy’s head hurt. Why was everything all white? Ohmigod! She had been on top of a freakin’ mountain! Oh! My! God! She must have fallen off the freakin’ mountain!
“Ah, so our patient is finally awake.
Cassidy turned toward the pleasantly accented baritone.
“Did the mountain collapse?” She croaked.
“No, nothing so drastic. Neither did you fall out of the ‘flying tuna can’,” the man in the white coat chuckled.
Ah. The international uniform of a doctor.
“Do you know what happened to you?” He asked as his warm hand adjusted the blood pressure cuff on her arm.
“There was no earth.”
“Of course there is an earth,” he replied. “Kiria Vega, not all the toxicology reports are back yet. You must be honest with me so that I can prescribe the proper treatment. What drugs are you on?”
“No. No, drugs. I don’t do that stuff.” Tears seeped from the corners of her eyes. “We were so high up. Falling from the sky. No earth, no trees, no other buildings. Nothing but sky and whispy clouds. We were going to fall off.”
The doctor patted her hand “You are afraid of heights?”
Cassidy gave an unladylike snort. “I’m not afraid of heights. I’m terrified of heights. I can’t even go near a second floor window. If I have an appointment on the third floor I can’t keep it. If the ride includes going up a hill without tree coverage there is no way I will go.”
“Have you always had this extreme fear?” the doctor asked. “Do you know what causes it? Perhaps I can refer you to a specialist.”
“It’s something that just came over me when I was fourteen,” Cassidy sighed. “I don’t need a therapist to find out the cause. I know what the cause is and nothing has been able to fix it or me.”
Theron sat quietly in the corner while the doctor conversed with Cassiopeia. Fourteen. The age when Jenkins took an unnatural interest in her. He looked at her pale face. He would not push for answers now, but if he found out Jenkins had anything to do with the terror that had shut down her breathing, her reasoning, he would make sure Jenkins suffered all the levels of hell. Right here on earth.
“Where is my son?” Her hands clutched the sheet. “Did the mountain collapse on him?”
“He is well cared for.” The doctor lifted her eyelid to gauge her reactions.
“I need to get to my son!”
Cassiopeia’s heightening agitation could not be good for her. Theron went to her side and gathered her hands into his own. “Enzio is safe with my mother, agape mou. You must rest. As soon as the doctor says you are ready, I will take you to my home.”
Her lips trembled. Theron wanted to kiss and soothe them. Turn the cause of the trembling from fear to desire. “I’m not going back to that awful place!”
Theron’s heart sank. The Meteora was his home. His pride and his joy. The special eyrie he went to escape the world. This woman he hoped to marry refused to return to his home.
“I will take you to my mother’s home in the city. It is not on a hill.” His thumb rubbed Cassiopeia’s wrists. It gave him a great deal of satisfaction to feel the blood flowing through her veins a little faster due to his physical contact.
Soon. Soon he would have the blood thrumming throughout her entire body. After all, she had promised to marry him if he took her off the mountain. He intended to hold her to that promise.
Chapter 22
A huge chocolate diamond sparkled where Rico’s plain gold band used to reside. Theron had been serious about his proposal, although not a word of love had passed his lips, either in English or Greek. A soul deep sigh rattled through Cassidy. This was to be her second loveless marriage. It wasn’t that she and Rico didn’t love each other; they did. The love of a brother for a sister and vice versa. But that was not the kind of love that can sustain a woman’s soul.
Especially not when Cassidy knew she already loved Theron beyond reason. As soon as she had looked into his midnight eyes in the Cathedral she should have run the other way and let the Jenkinses pull whatever scam they wanted.
&
nbsp; Since she had been released from the hospital after her big scare on the mountain, she had been staying at an Athens’ hotel which gave her a perfect view of the Acropolis from her windows. Rena Christofides had been staying at the hotel with her, helping her with Zio and shopping for wedding clothes.
It was unbelievable. Nine months ago, on October nineteenth she had married a man she had known all her life and was widowed the same day. Now she was about to become a June bride to a man she barely knew. She still wasn’t sure how it had all happened so suddenly.
Another look in the mirror assured her the makeup she had applied five minutes previously was still on her face. A knock on the door stopped her musings. She answered the door to find an attractive man she had never seen before smiling at her.
“Ciao, bella. I am Massimo DeLuca, a friend of Theron’s.” The tall man enclosed her in a strong embrace. “I have come to escort you to your wedding.”
“I don’t understand, Mr. DeLuca. My friends are supposed to meet me here and we are going together,” Cassidy fretted with the doorknob. Lynda and Moose had flown over with the legal papers which put aside the injunction she had obtained to stop Theron’s previous wedding. They had brought along her favorite boots. She had asked them to ride to the wedding with her. She didn’t want to arrive to her wedding without any friends or family to support her.
Massimo flashed a smile at her. “I’m afraid that since your friends had shown some animosity towards Theron, he did not care to give them an opportunity to change your mind on the way to the church. That is why he sent me.” His megawatt smile grew even brighter. “However, he may yet regret his decision. I had forgotten how truly beautiful you are and I feel it is my duty to persuade you to run off with me, carisima.”
Cassidy was torn between laughter and kicking something. “How could you forget, we’ve never met.”
“Si,this is true. We have not met, but I have an indelible memory of you as you walked down the aisle to Theron once before.”
Cassidy wanted to sink into the floor. Massimo had been at Theron’s aborted wedding to Julia. She did not need a fresh reminder of that incident.
“Mi scusi. I did not mean to cause you embarrassment. It is a story we will tell at our children’s wedding and cause much merriment. No?”
“Our children’s wedding?” Cassidy decided to humor the man.
“Si. It is decided. You and Theron shall make beautiful babies and I will make beautiful babies. They will grow up and fall madly in love. We shall be connected through our grandchildren,” his smile was full of charm.
“How many children do you have?”
“None yet. I have not yet married, but when I do there will be beautiful bambino. Si?”
“Si.” Cassidy giggled.
“Now, off to the church,” Massimo made a sweeping gesture towards the corridor. “My friend will worry if we delay too long.”
“Okay, Mr. DeLuca.”
“Please, we are going to be very good friends. You must call me Sim.”
~*~
Cassidy stepped out of the limo onto the sidewalk of Mitropoleos. When she first saw where the car was heading, she had feared that Theron had arranged for their wedding to take place in the same cathedral where they had first seen each other. The same place he had been about to marry her cousin.
Instead the car stopped in front of an ugly modern building. Across the street Rena Christofides, Theron’s mother, stood in front of the minuscule chapel, Church of Agios Eleftherios, also called the Little Mitropoli. She had a huge smile on her face as she held Enzio, who looked adorable in a little white suit waving at his mommy. Lynda and Moose stood near them. Cassidy could tell they were worried about her and this quicky wedding, but they were doing their best to hide it from her.
The chauffeur closed the door in back of Cassidy as she smoothed a few wrinkles out of the white beaded sheath she wore. It was a concession to Theron’s demand that his bride be suitable attired. “You are a bride I expect you to look like a bride,” he had said quite emphatically.
It didn’t take long before she and Rena found the perfect dress. It was deceptively simple looking, about as far from the huge monstrosity Julia had worn as she could get. Cassidy didn’t want a veil, instead she had chosen to weave creamy white roses into her hair, which she fixed into small braids at her temples and drew back into a rhinestone butterfly clip in the back while the rest of her hair tumbled in silky soft waves past her shoulders and down to her waist. She hadn’t bothered with a bouquet; she had thought that might be too presumptuous. Wasn’t this wedding the equivalent of a civil ceremony back home? And it was just another business transaction for Theron.
She heard the collective gasp of the crowd of tourists around her and looked up to see what had created the commotion. Standing in the door of the chapel, looking more handsome and hunky then she had ever seen any man look, stood Theron. He stepped forward with a swoon-worthy smile that was directed at her and her alone. He picked up her hand and placed a warm kiss on her sensitive palm. “These are for you, sizighos mou.”
She was stunned as he placed a magnificent bouquet of roses and lilies in her hand. “I-I’m sorry. I d-didn’t underst-stand what you said,” she stammered.
“Sizighos mou, my wife. Today you will be my wife in name, tonight you will be my wife in body,” he said with a lecherous grin that shook her all the way to her soul. Or was that soles? Her toes were curling inside her boots.
“But for now I must hand you over to your large friend Moose.”
“Why?”
“He wishes to act in place of your father and give you to me as my bride.”
That was the best thing he could have said to her. She wasn’t alone. She did have family.
The ceremony went by in a blur. Cassidy found herself wondering irreverently if it would be that blurry if the proceedings were held in English, or if she was so enraptured with her husband that she would have been out of it anyway.
After the ceremony Ajax and Sim insisted they all must go back to the hotel. They had set up a small private reception for the newlyweds. Ajax, with a twinkle in his eyes, had said that they could not let Theron go without a proper sendoff.
After a light luncheon and several toasts the newlyweds were ushered out to their limousine. While the driver negotiated the streets of Athens Cassidy and Theron rode in the back seat. It was the first time they had been alone since he had placed the engagement ring on her finger.
“What is this? A tear?” Theron asked throatily. He gently lifted the tear off Cassidy’s cheek. “Do you already regret our marriage?”
A blush flooded Cassidy’s face. She really hated it when she blushed. The red of her face and the orange of her hair clashing would turn Theron off faster then Dorothy’s house took out the Wicked Witch of the east.
“No. No, nothing like that. It was just so hard kissing Z goodbye.”
“He will be well cared for at my mother’s house. Your friends Lynda and Moose are also staying there, watching out for your son. Did you expect to keep him with us on our wedding night?” Theron’s dark eyes watched her carefully.
What was he thinking when he looked at her like that? Did he want to put off their wedding night? She gave him a weak smile. “No. Of course not. It’s just that I’ve spent so much time away from him lately.”
They were standing in front of a door. A large marble entryway loomed in front of them. With just his fingertips he gave her cheek a feather caress. A chill ran down her spine. She closed her eyes to hide how much she wanted this man.
He leaned his hands against the door, effectively boxing her in, but not touching her in any way. “My mother will phone once they arrive at her house.” He whispered close to her ear.
Cassidy’s eyes snapped open. She hadn’t realized he had moved in so close. “Sh-she will?” Why did her voice suddenly sound so wispy? “Why?” She squeaked. Oh, God. He was nuzzling her neck.
“I requested that she do so. I though
t it would ease your mind. You have made her very happy. She is now a yia yia.” His mouth covered hers. His tongue, so warm, so thick, entered her mouth. Her knees melted. His hands left the door and his fingers slid into her hair, massaging her scalp, stimulating every nerve ending in her entire body with just that simple touch. Vaguely pushing through the fog that had infiltrated her mind she thought, How on earth does he turn me to jelly and electrify me all at the same time? If he does this to me with just a kiss what on earth is going to happen later.
Her hands had been hanging by her side, but now they tentatively touched his chest. She felt his heart beating under her palm. A shiver of excitement worked its way up her spine. Her fingers flexed. She wanted to touch his hair. Run the silken strands through her fingers. She had to know if it was as soft as it looked. Ummm.
His mouth was delicious.
His lips started to lift away. Her fingers pulled his head closer, kept his scrumptious lips on hers. His tongue swept out as he ran it along her lower lip. His only contact with her was through their lips and his hands in her hair. Nothing touched her. His body arched away from hers. Why wasn’t he touching her? Had she been mistaken? She wanted him, no doubt about it, but didn’t he want her?
Her body started cooling off as quickly as if an ice cold keg of beer had been dumped on her. Was this marriage just about the stupid business deal after all? It was suddenly obvious he didn’t find her attractive.
She felt the tears building. The thought was too embarrassing to entertain.
He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead. “My mobile is vibrating. I must answer it.”
He had to answer the phone. On their wedding night? “Oh.”
With a small grin and a lifted eyebrow he reached into his pocket and dropped the jiggling phone into her hand. “I believe it is Enzio calling to say kalispera to his mama.” After placing another light kiss on her forehead, he moved away to give her privacy while she spoke to her son.
The Counterfeit Bride Page 13
