Husband By Request

by Rebecca Winters

  Still in the grip of shock, she put her things on one of the loveseats before tiptoeing over to the little bed.

  Pressed up against the bars on his back, sound asleep, lay a dark-haired little boy in a stretchy blue suit.

  Andreas’s son?

  She was too late.

  A giant hand squeezed her heart. She couldn’t stifle her moan in time. The sound woke up the baby. He took one look at the strange face peering down at him and burst into tears.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s okay.”

  The more she tried to assure him, the louder he wailed. His arms and legs moved wildly in the air.

  Latent motherly instincts had her reaching for him. He screamed harder and held himself stiff in her arms. She gathered one of the blankets off the bed and rocked him while she paced back and forth. He refused to be comforted.

  Suddenly she heard a woman’s voice call out. “I’m coming, Ari. I’m coming.” The door flew open. Olympia, a dark, voluptuous brunette who was lovelier than ever, rushed inside with a bottle in hand.

  But when she saw who was holding her baby she let out a small cry and came to a standstill. Dominique watched the color leave the other woman’s face. Evidently she was the last person in the world Olympia had expected to find on board.

  If looks could banish, Dominique would be consigned to the other end of the universe right now.

  She quickly handed over the baby, who buried his face in his mommy’s neck and hugged her with all his might.

  “I’m sorry I startled him. When I came down to get settled in I had no idea there was a baby in here. I tried to comfort him, but all I did was alarm him.”

  Olympia kissed his cheek. Already he was settling down. “Obviously you’re looking for Andreas,” she murmured, while her unsmiling gaze swept over Dominique. “He’s still in Athens, but we’re expecting him to join us shortly—aren’t we, Ari?”

  Us.

  No mention of Olympia’s husband, Theo. Had he given her a divorce? If so, when?

  It appeared Olympia and Andreas had been a family for quite some time. Under the circumstances, why had he waited so long before agreeing to divorce Dominique?

  After all the months that she’d been in purgatory for not believing in her husband, it was entirely possible he hadn’t been trustworthy from the beginning and she’d been right to leave him.

  Her body quaked in pain and confusion, especially since Olympia didn’t appear upset or intimidated. Now that the shock had worn off she displayed a certain unmistakable smugness. Even more telling, she didn’t try to engage Dominique in conversation.

  Anyone watching them would never guess they’d once been friends. At least Dominique had always tried to be friends with her, for Andreas’s sake.

  Paul had known exactly what he was doing when he’d let Dominique have her way and come aboard the Cygnus. He’d known what she’d find when she burst into the master bedroom.

  No doubt Paul had imagined that once Dominique saw the baby she would sign the divorce papers and hightail it back to Sarajevo. He was probably rubbing his hands with glee.

  But that was the old Dominique, full of self-doubt.

  The new Dominique had come to Greece because she wanted to prove to Andreas that she was a confident woman in her own right—a wife who was his equal in living and loving.

  So she would wait until Andreas arrived and they would talk privately. She would listen to what he had to tell her. Once she’d weighed his words, then she would choose to sign the papers or fight for him.

  Squaring her shoulders, she said, “Forgive me for intruding, Olympia.”

  The other woman had seated herself on the bed to hold Ari while he drank from his bottle noisily. “No problem. It was time for him to wake up from his nap anyway. Normally this is the time Andreas plays with him.”

  Her self-satisfied preoccupation with the baby effectively shut Dominique out. Since it was apparent the other woman had no intention of enlightening her about anything except her closeness to Andreas, Dominique gathered her purse and shopping bags from the loveseat and left the room.

  There were guest cabins at the end of the hall closest to the stairs. Dominique entered the one on the right. She deposited her things on the chair.

  Instead of succumbing to the urge to curl up in a ball and sob her heart out, she went up on deck to sunbathe until Andreas arrived. Surely before dark the helicopter from his office building would fly him to Kefalonia? She planted her sunbed so it would be in his direct line of vision when he came aboard.

  Paul had kept his promise to the extent that he hadn’t alerted Olympia there would be an unexpected visitor coming aboard. But that was before he’d delivered Dominique to the Cygnus.

  Now that she was ensconced, she imagined he would have phoned her husband almost immediately.

  However, if by some fluke Paul had decided to keep the knowledge from Andreas, then the helicopter pilot had probably gossiped to someone who would make sure the news reached the ears of her husband.

  But even if Andreas knew she was on board, and was prepared for the physical changes in her, she still wanted to see his expression when they met for the first time after such a painful separation.

  She removed her beach cover-up and stretched out. The temperature was in the low eighties. No clouds in the sky. She applied sunscreen to every exposed part of her before lying back.

  A few minutes later Leon brought her a sandwich and drink without having asked her if she was hungry. She thanked him for his kindness and proceeded to devour everything.

  The seconds passed like seasons while she waited for Andreas. Though the sun finally dropped into the ocean she stayed where she was, not wanting to miss his arrival.

  Leon brought her a lemonade and some magazines. He knew her preferences and couldn’t have been nicer. Again she thanked him, then turned over on her stomach to read while there was still enough light. But it was fading fast.

  Severely disappointed that Andreas hadn’t come yet, she finally got up from the sunbed and went downstairs to shower. On the way she felt drowsy, whether from jet lag or heightened emotions or both, so she lay down on the bed for just a minute to get back her energy.

  The next thing she knew, she heard a door close. Then a light went on. Slowly she rolled over to get her bearings.

  There was Andreas, standing at the side of the queen-sized bed in a light blue linen business suit. He stared down at her from piercing black eyes set beneath brows as black as raven’s wings.

  The breath left her body at seeing him in the flesh after all these months.

  His dark, handsome face looked leaner, hungrier. She glimpsed shadows in the hollows of his hard-planed cheeks. The cleft in his chin was more pronounced because of his five o’clock shadow, but his sensual mouth was still the same. She thought he’d lost a little weight, but if anything that just made him look more attractive.

  Andreas.

  She’d missed his arrival—that precious moment she’d been waiting for.

  Instead of her catching him off guard on deck, he’d found her crashed on the bed sound asleep, still wearing her bikini. It was embarrassing. She felt foolish.

  Her hair was disheveled, and her cheek and legs probably had wrinkles from the quilted comforter. She smelled of sunscreen. Her white skin had picked up too much sun. It felt warm and sticky.

  “If you wanted to surprise me, you’ve succeeded,” his deep voice grated, with just a trace of accent.

  Dominique slid off the bed and stood up. “No one told you I was here?”

  His eyes wandered over her body, but she didn’t see so much as a flicker in them to tell her what he was thinking.

  “Not until Olympia told me you were down the hall.”

  Olympia. He’d gone to her first, of course.

  Wherever Andreas was, the other woman was never far behind. It had always been thus.

  “Where’s Paul?”

  “Probably in his cabin asleep. It’s close to
midnight.”

  “I had no idea it was so late.”

  “Obviously not.” His veiled gaze took in her hair and face. He put his hands on his hips. “Why did you bother to come, Dominique? You’re a free woman now. I would have thought you’d never want to step on Greek soil again.”

  She eyed him frankly. “I didn’t sign the papers.”

  He cocked his dark head. “You want more money? Paul was authorized to give you any sum you requested.”

  Dominique rubbed her damp palms against her legs. “Money isn’t what I’m after.”

  His body stilled. “What, then? The penthouse in Athens? My villa at Zakynthos? Or do you have an eye on some property I don’t know about? Perhaps the Cygnus? Name it, and it’s yours.”

  Hearing those words twisted her insides, bringing on excruciating pain. “You know me better than that,” she said in a tortured whisper.

  There was a chilling twist to his lips. “I thought I did.”

  “Look, Andreas—” She spread her hands unconsciously. “I can imagine how angry you must have been when I walked out on you—”

  She heard his sharp intake of breath. “No. You can’t,” he responded with quiet savagery. “For a very long time I was so enraged I frightened myself. I wasn’t fit company for anyone. But that period is behind me, thank God. If you wanted to impress on me that you’re now a whole woman, capable of attracting the attention of every male in sight, the gesture wasn’t necessary. To be honest, I preferred the vulnerable young beauty whose violet eyes once looked into mine as if I were her heart and soul. That woman is gone, but I salute the new Ms. Ainsley.

  “Whatever you want, tell Paul. I’ll send him to you in the morning so you can sign the papers. I hope I’ve made it clear that I have no desire to see you again. Yeasas, Dominique.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  WITH his adrenalin surging, Andreas needed someplace to go to deal with the force of his chaotic emotions. But the last thing he wanted was members of his crew speculating on the situation Dominique had created by appearing like some bewitching ghost from the past.

  Though he’d damned her to hell every day and night for the last twelve nightmarish months, there was no denying he was happy for her continuing triumph over a disease that could have killed her.

  There’d been times during their separation when he’d feared her cancer might have come back, and that was the reason she hadn’t tried to contact him.

  When Olympia had informed him she was on board he’d been incredulous.

  After flinging open the guest cabin door, he had still been disbelieving, seeing the lamplight reveal the gossamer gleam of her hair splayed around her like a princess in a fairy tale.

  His heart had skipped a dozen beats as he took in the sight of her beautiful filled-out body lying unconscious on the bed, without her wedding ring, wearing the kind of bathing suit she wouldn’t have been caught dead in once upon a time.

  After being roused from sleep, the picture she’d made, with those dark-lashed eyes of amethyst fastened on him, was indelibly impressed in his mind.

  Damn you, Paul.

  Anger drove him down the hall to the other man’s cabin. He rapped on the door.

  “Come in. I’ve been expecting you.”

  Paul was seated at a table, doing some work on his laptop. He removed his glasses and looked across the room at Andreas, who shut the door before leaning against it.

  He understood Paul well enough to know the other man hadn’t approved of his marriage to Dominique, though he’d never said the words aloud. Paul didn’t have to. They read each other easily—or so Andreas had thought.

  “How come she’s on board, Paul?”

  “She’s still your wife and she asked for my loyalty.”

  Struggling for breath, Andreas advanced toward him. “What made you give it?”

  “After you ignored her wishes for a divorce, it seemed a small thing to grant.”

  Andreas’s mouth tightened. “There were consequences. Olympia found her holding Ari.”

  Paul shut the laptop. “Since you’re divorcing Dominique, what difference does it make?”

  Damn you again.

  “First thing in the morning I want the papers signed and her escorted off the yacht. When she’s gone, bring them to me. Is that too much to ask?”

  His friend eyed him critically before he said, “No.”

  Long after Andreas had disappeared, Dominique could still feel the cabin sizzle with the white-hot heat of his fury.

  She ran to the shower and turned it on full blast. Hopefully no one would be able to hear her initial paroxysm of tears. They’d blend with the stream of water.

  Once she’d washed her hair, she toweled off and slipped on the robe she’d purchased. Wide awake and restless, she found herself at the porthole, staring blindly at the water.

  Andreas had found no pleasure in looking at her tonight. His mind’s eye had been searching for the old Dominique he’d rescued after a freak accident in front of his villa on Zakynthos.

  Twenty-six months ago she’d just finished her junior year at New York University, and had gone into the clinic for a routine checkup and mammogram. It had revealed she had cancer. Immediately she’d undergone surgery, followed by chemo and radiation therapy.

  When she’d been well enough to travel, she and her mom had joined her father in Sarajevo, where he worked for the US state department.

  It was there she’d begun a vigorous program of physical exercise to get strong. She’d built up until she could run organized marathons in Bosnia and Greece.

  When she’d heard about the annual 15k marathon on Zakynthos Island, in the Ionian Sea, she had decided to enter it. But it had been against her parents’ wishes. She was five feet five and then only ninety-five pounds. The doctor had told her she needed to put on weight so she wouldn’t endanger her ability to have children one day.

  Her parents had worried about her so much, she’d promised that after the race was over she’d cut down on her running and concentrate on gaining weight.

  She’d flown to Zakynthos with a couple of her runner friends and they’d begun the race. Halfway through, the route had run past a walled private area of the island. As Dominique had rounded a bend in the road, a truck had come out of nowhere and side-swiped her, knocking her unconscious.

  Andreas had witnessed the accident. He was the one who’d carried her into his villa and had called for the doctor. In order to stop more bleeding, his hands had removed the torn and bloodied T-shirt and sports bra with its prosthesis.

  When she’d come to, her eyes had beheld the most handsome Greek man she’d ever seen in her life. His black gaze had been so incredibly tender as he’d smiled down into her eyes and assured her she was safe. It hadn’t dawned on her he’d seen the scar of her mastectomy. Not until after the doctor’s examination had she learned from Andreas that he was the one who’d rescued her.

  She couldn’t understand how he’d been able to look at her as if she brought him pleasure when she’d lost the headscarf which covered her pathetic two-inch growth of hair. Since her last chemo treatment it had taken a long time for it to start coming back in.

  He was a big, powerful man, at least two hundred pounds of rock-hard muscle. She was a slip of girl, half his weight. And she’d been bloody and scruffy and she’d wanted to disappear because she was so embarrassed by his relentless attention to her every need.

  Before she knew how it had happened, he’d invited her parents to be his guests for the next few days, until she’d recovered from her concussion and was well enough to go back to Sarajevo. Even then he’d insisted they fly on his private jet to Athens before transferring to his helicopter.

  No sooner had she returned to her parents’ house, than Andreas had flown to Sarajevo—that evening. Her mom had invited him to stay over. What should have been one night turned into a week. Her parents had been enchanted by him.

  Dominique had worshipped him in her heart. He was bigger than li
fe. His business interests had made his name famous all over Greece. Ten years older than she was, experienced, sophisticated—he’d been as out of reach to her as the nearest planet.

  Despite her protestations that her cancer could come back at any time, he’d told her it didn’t matter. A few months later they were married, in his family’s church in Athens. At the altar he’d whispered that they would live all the years God gave them, and rejoice.

  Though his parents had come to the wedding, Dominique had received a cool reception from them. Andreas had explained they were still grieving for their daughter Maris, who’d been killed in a tragic car accident two years earlier. The shock had almost been too much for them.

  He’d told Dominique not to be concerned. When they’d passed through the worst of their mourning period they would embrace her into the family. She had accepted his explanation, but inside she couldn’t help blaming herself. Dominique thought it was she they didn’t like. She’d been hurt by their lack of enthusiasm over the wedding festivities.

  Immediately after, Dominique and Andreas had spent the months of May and June on the Cygnus enjoying a lengthy honeymoon. Nights of lovemaking she could never have imagined.

  Andreas was a tender lover who could be a great tease. After a night of rapture he would tempt her with calorie-laden foods. He wanted a baby, so it was necessary to fatten her up.

  Sometimes he invited Olympia and Theo Panos, recently married, to join them. Andreas’s friendship with Olympia went back a long way because she’d been best friends with Maris from childhood, and Andreas felt a loyalty to his late sister’s best friend.

  Since Andreas seemed to find pleasure being around Olympia, because of her connection to his only sister, Dominique had encouraged him to invite the couple for the occasional weekend. Theo, a contemporary of Andreas, ran a successful textile company and was always a very entertaining guest. Dominique liked him a lot.

  Olympia was friendly enough to Dominique in front of their husbands, but she never exuded the kind of warmth that would have turned them into friends on their own.