Those playboys who’d passed in and out of her life couldn’t touch this extraordinary man, who’d earned the highest praise from her father and Nassos. The intense way he was looking at her, the emotions he’d aroused, had caused her bones to melt.
CHAPTER THREE
TAKIS KNEW HE HADN’T dreamed up this meeting with the woman Nassos had helped raise. When she left his office, her flowery fragrance lingered, providing proof she’d been in here.
He’d seen tears in her eyes when she’d heard him enter the room. She’d just been looking at Nassos’s picture. The exquisite woman who’d walked down the aisle at the funeral had been his ward at one time. Shame on Takis for wondering if she could have been the mistress talked about in the news.
How old was Lys Theron? Twenty-five, twenty-six? And now she was half owner of the hotel, with Takis owning the other half.
Several emotions bombarded him, not the least of which was the attraction to her he’d felt at the funeral. He looked at the envelope his hand had squeezed without his being aware of it. According to her, this was Nassos’s gift to him.
Utterly incredulous, he opened it and pulled out a letter and a deed. To his shock it was official all right, signed with Nassos’s distinctive signature, stamped and dated. There it was in bold letters.
Takis Manolis, half owner of the Rodino Hotel in Heraklion.
The letter indicated he should get in touch with the attorney Xander as soon as possible. Once Takis returned to Heraklion, he could sign the deed in front of witnesses so it could be recorded and filed for the court.
He read more. Neither owner would be free to do what they wanted with the hotel until six months had passed.
Aghast, he shook his head. What on earth had possessed Nassos to do such a thing?
Once Takis’s hotels in New York had started making money, he’d paid the older hotelier for the help he’d given him. No amount could really be enough. How did you assign goodness a monetary value? He’d tried, but to his chagrin Nassos was now gone and there’d be no last time to thank him for everything.
This unimaginable development had thrown him.
For Nassos to turn around and simply give him half the hotel in Heraklion made no sense whatsoever. Takis didn’t want the hotel! He’d paid him back generously.
What in the hell was Nassos thinking? Now that he’d passed away, there was no way to confront him about this. The inconceivable gesture made him feel as if he’d always be the boy who’d come from near poverty. The thought hurt him in a way that went soul deep.
To add to the hurt, this deed had been delivered by special messenger in the form of Nassos’s beautiful former ward. Why would he force Takis’s hand by making him a co-owner with her?
She was too damn beautiful. The kind of woman he never imagined to meet. Didn’t want to meet. Only one other woman had touched his heart and she’d died. He didn’t want to experience those kinds of feelings again. Yet a few minutes with this woman and a fire had been lit.
How did she feel about being half owner with a stranger, even if she knew a lot about him from Nassos and her father?
His thoughts centered on what she’d told him about the way the press had labeled her in the cruelest of ways. With her kind of unforgettable looks, she was an easy target. Was Nassos’s divorce the result of his taking on Kristos’s lovely teenage daughter to raise?
What business is it of yours to care, Manolis?
Unfortunately it was his business until he could fly to Crete and clear up this whole mess with the attorney of record.
Adrenaline surged through his veins. He wished to hell none of this had happened. He still couldn’t believe Nassos was gone. Worse, he didn’t want to know anything about her. Takis wished he’d never laid eyes on her. He didn’t want this kind of a complication in his life. Loving a woman made you vulnerable.
A violent epithet flew from his lips. In his rage he tossed the deed across the room. It hit Cesare in the chest as he walked inside Takis’s office.
With great calm his friend picked it up and put it on the desk. He shot Takis a questioning glance. “I take it this had something to do with the drop-dead-gorgeous woman I saw leaving the hotel a minute ago. Where on earth did she come from?”
Takis had trouble getting his emotions under control. “You don’t want to know.”
“Yes I do. You’ve been with several women over the years, but I’ve never seen you turned inside out by one before.”
“It’s not just the woman. It’s everything!” His voice shook. “I feel like my world has been blown to smithereens and I don’t know where I am anymore.”
Takis should never have left his parents’ home. He should have stayed on Crete and worked alongside his brother. He’d been so certain he’d had all the answers to help his family. But in the end he’d accepted the help of a wealthy man.
The thought of the deeded gift sickened him. That kind of gift might be given to a son, but Takis hadn’t been Nassos’s son. He was the son of Nikanor, who after all these years still didn’t want his money. Neither did his brother. Worse, one of his parents was probably ill and Takis didn’t have a clue because he’d been living out of the country for years. He was the ingrate of all time.
“What’s the point of anything, Cesare?”
Worry lines darkened the features of his Italian friend. “Hold on, Takis. Come with me. We’re going for a ride. My car is parked in the rear lot of the castello.”
“You don’t want to be with me.”
“Well, I refuse to leave you here alone. It wouldn’t do for Sofia to find you in this condition.” Cesare was right about that. He didn’t want his assistant privy to his personal life. “Whatever trouble you’re in, we’re going to talk about it. Let’s go.”
Takis grabbed the papers and stuffed them inside his suit jacket. They walked swiftly through the corridors past some of the guests to the outside. Cesare started up his sports car. He followed the road around from the back of the castello and they drove down the hill to the little village of Sopri. Before long he parked in front of a sports bar on the outskirts that didn’t look crowded this time of day.
They went inside and found a quiet spot in a corner. Cesare ordered appetizers and their favorite Peroni, a pale lager from the brewery that had been founded in Lombardi. Once they’d been served rolls along with a hot plate of grigliata mista di carne, he eyed Takis.
“You didn’t eat breakfast, which might explain the state you were in. You need lunch, amico, and you’ve got me for an audience. Now start talking and don’t stop.”
Cesare knew Takis’s weakness for their grilled sausage, lamb and steak mix. Combined with the lager, it did taste good and he could feel his strength returning.
He pulled the deed out of his pocket and pushed it toward Cesare. “As you know, I attended Nassos Rodino’s funeral while I was in Crete. Would you believe in his will he gave half the Hotel Rodino in Heraklion to me as a gift? The other half was given to that woman you saw. She was the courier who delivered it.”
His friend studied it. “Who is she?”
“Lys Theron, the daughter of Kristos Theron, the hotel owner in New York who gave me my first job after I reached the States. You remember me talking about him. When he died, his best friend, Nassos, Rodino became her guardian and brought her back to Crete to raise.”
A low whistle came out of Cesare. But Takis didn’t want to talk about the beautiful woman who’d robbed him of breath the moment he’d laid eyes on her. She was another problem altogether.
“I thought the money I sent to Nassos for his help had changed his image of me as the poverty-stricken teen from Tylissos.” He swallowed part of his lager. “But I was wrong. In his mind’s eye I would always be the poor son of poor Nikanor Manolis, humbly scraping out a living day after day.
“I never wanted anything from Nassos. His kindness gave me a new life, but I paid him back. To be handed a deed to part ownership of a property that isn’t mine, that I never earned, is worse than a stiletto to the gut.”
Cesare shot forward in his seat. “You couldn’t be more wrong. It’s his tribute to your raving success.”
“You think?”
“Of course.”
Takis shook his head. “Maybe the problem lies inside me. Maybe I’ve been too proud wanting to make a success of my life. Nassos’s gift of the hotel takes me back to the time when I was eighteen. He approached me about furthering my education, not the other way around, Cesare.
“The hotel manager I worked for arranged for me to meet Nassos. I never asked for his help. When I finally accepted it and left for New York, I started paying him back as soon as I could. But being given half ownership of his hotel now doesn’t feel right and has made me feel...guilty all over again.”
“What’s gotten into you, Takis? Guilty for what? Help me understand.”
“That I’ve failed my family.”
“In what way?”
“I left them to do something purely selfish. I accepted a rich man’s help. My father couldn’t give me that kind of help or encourage me. If I’d been any kind of a man, I would have stayed home and helped him.”
“That’s crazy talk, Takis. I left home too in order to pursue a dream and accepted a lot of help along the way.”
“This is different, Cesare. You’re not a Cretan.”
“So what? I’m a Sicilian. What’s the difference? My pride is no less fierce than yours.”
Takis had no answer for that. “You don’t understand. My brother stayed behind to work with my father. He never failed him. But that wasn’t the case with his second-born son. What did I do? I took off. When I think about it now, I cringe to realize how deeply I must have disgraced him.”
“Disgraced?” Cesare sounded angry. “You don’t know any such thing. He must be bursting with pride over you. When was the last time you had a real heart-to-heart talk with him?”
“Before I left for New York, we talked. I went to him with ideas for what we could do with the hotel. He looked me in the eye and told me my plans for the family hotel didn’t fit his vision, and that one day when I was a man, I’d understand. That was it! End of conversation. It shut me down. After eleven years I’m afraid I still don’t understand.”
“Then you need to force another conversation with him and find out what he meant.”
“My father isn’t easy to talk to.”
“Then it’s time you faced him so you won’t stay in that hellhole you’re digging for yourself. Let me ask you a question. Do you think me selfish? Or Vincenzo?”
Takis didn’t have to voice the easy no that came to his mind.
“Come on and finish your food. Then we’re going back to the castello to talk to Vincenzo before he leaves for Lake Como with Gemma. You’re not the only one who has known the pain of separation from family. Don’t forget that he ran from his father as fast as he could and hid out in New York under a different name for over ten years.”
Takis had forgotten nothing. The three of them would never have met if they hadn’t left their homes and their countries and gone to New York. He couldn’t imagine what his life would have been like if he hadn’t met Cesare and Vincenzo. The friendship they’d forged in college had changed his entire world.
All because Nassos made it possible for you, Manolis, said a voice in his head, sending him into worse turmoil.
Cesare paid the bill and got to his feet. “Are you ready?”
* * *
Once Lys had received the return phone call from Danae at noon, she walked out the door of the penthouse foyer to the elevator off the small hallway to await her arrival. The penthouse in Crete had been Nassos’s domain, and a decision had to be made about the furnishings.
After being back a week from Milan, Lys still hadn’t heard a word from Takis Manolis. But she’d daydreamed about him and what it would be like to go out with him. Since meeting him, she couldn’t imagine ever being attracted to another man. She’d hoped to know his plans before telling Danae the latest state of affairs, but no such luck.
The doors of the elevator opened. Lys greeted the dark-haired beauty and walked back in the penthouse with her. Dressed in mourning clothes, she looked particularly elegant in a Kasper color-blocked black Jacquard jacket and skirt. Danae had always been a fashion plate and was the true love of Nassos’s life.
No matter what he’d told Lys in his letter to her, she feared Danae might still blame her for their divorce. The pain of that would never leave her. No olive branch offered could ever change the past.
If Lys had known what would happen after Nassos had insisted she leave New York and come to live with him and Danae, she would have run away rather than have stepped foot on Crete. Hindsight was a wonderful thing, but it came far too late.
“Thank you for coming, Danae. I’m sure you hoped we’d seen the last of each other at the funeral, but I’m carrying out one last thing Nassos would have wanted done, even if it wasn’t in the will. Come in the living room and sit down—I’d like to explain a few things.”
The older woman followed her and found a seat on one of the upholstered chairs. Danae’s natural olive complexion had paled. “I can’t imagine what would have been so important you had to see me in person.”
“Maybe you’ll think it isn’t important when I tell you, but I have to do it. As you know, Nassos left me half the hotel and nothing else. That means everything in this penthouse is yours. He lived up here after he left the villa. I happen to know you are the one who designed it and put it all together years ago. You’re a real artist in many ways. All this furniture you picked out, the paintings... You know he would have wanted you to have everything.”
She jumped to her feet, visibly disturbed. “I don’t want anything,” she bit out too fast, revealing her pain.
Lys could understand that and her heart went out to her. “If you don’t want any of it, then you need to make arrangements for it to be sold or given away, or whatever you think is best. Otherwise I’ll ask the co-owner of the hotel to do with it as he or she wishes.”
“Who is it?”
“Would it surprise you to know its Takis Manolis?”
Danae’s head reared. “Actually it doesn’t. Nassos liked him very much.”
Lys was glad she’d told her the truth. “I don’t know if he wants it. But until he signs and files the official document with the court, it’s still up in the air. On Xander’s instructions I flew to Italy, handed him the documents and left.”
“So you met him.”
“Yes.”
“What’s he like?”
She took a deep breath. “Very attractive, but I haven’t heard from him. Maybe he’s trying to find a way to get out of it and possibly designate a person from his New York chain. That could be the reason there’s been no word yet.
“Xander will have to be the one to keep us informed. I just thought you might like to have the movers come before anything else happens.”
No sound came out of Danae. Lys could tell she was in a bad way and she wanted to comfort her.
“Nassos’s death came as a painful shock to both of us.” The anguished look on Danae’s face prompted Lys to reveal something she’d held back since the divorce. “I’d like to talk frankly with you. When my father died, I was afraid to come to Crete, where I didn’t know anyone. But I was underage and as you know, Nassos made a promise to my father to take care of me in case he died. I realize that my arrival was probably your worst nightmare, but it was something I had no control over.”
Danae lowered her eyes.
“You were so wonderful to me, I got over a lot of my pain and started to be happy with yo
u. In time I learned to adore you. But you must know that you were the great passion of Nassos’s life.”
The other woman started to tremble.
“I have something to show you.” Lys pulled the letter from Nassos out of her purse and handed it to her. Nassos hadn’t meant anyone else to read it, but Lys couldn’t keep it from Danae, who deserved to know the truth.
“So you won’t think I’m holding anything back, I want you to read this. Xander gave it to me after reading the contents of the will to you.”
She watched as the older woman took in the contents. Soon her shoulders shook.
“As you’ve read, Nassos wanted children and I happened to fill a hole in his heart for a while as the daughter you two never had.”
Danae looked crushed and put a hand to her throat. “I—I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to love a child that wasn’t mine. That’s why I didn’t want to adopt.”
“I can understand that. I’m sure a lot of childless parents worry about the same thing when they adopt. But you showed me so much love, perhaps it was just that Nassos had more faith in your parenting abilities than you did. When he moved to the penthouse after your divorce, he was a ruined man.”
“Why didn’t he tell me all these things?” she cried in agony.
“His pride. What about yours? Would you have listened?”
She shook her dark head. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I harbored a lot of resentment over the years because he didn’t want me to work. When he begged me to consider adoption, I felt anger because of the many times I’d begged him to let me try even part-time work. We were both so hardheaded.”
“I’m so sorry, Danae.” As they stared at each other, Lys reached for the letter she put back in her purse. “I hope you’ll listen to me now because there’s something else I’ve wanted to tell you since your separation from him.” Her throat swelled with emotion.
“I love you. You were kind and loving and helped me so much. The two of you had a beautiful marriage in so many ways. For what it’s worth, you would have made a wonderful mother. Maybe there’s a man out there who could fulfill that dream for you. Many women have babies at your age. It’s not too late if you decide to get married again. You’re a very beautiful woman.”
Bound to Her Greek Billionaire Page 4
