by Jennie Lucas
How had everything changed so much since then?
“What else don’t I remember?” she whispered. “What if it’s all bad? What if it’s worse?”
He set his jaw. “What could be worse?”
“What happened to my father?”
He frowned, staring at her warily with lowered eyebrows.
“I don’t know what happened to your father,” he said finally. “We never talked about your family.”
She stared at him in shock. “Never? In all the time we were together?”
He shook his head.
“How is that possible?”
“We didn’t talk about the past,” he said shortly.
“Never?”
“No.”
“Then…what did we talk about?”
“We didn’t talk. We just made love.”
A cold trickle went down her back.
They’d never spoken about their pasts?
Their relationship had only been about sex?
The car stopped. Silently, Talos got out of the car and opened her door. Looking up, she saw a very elegant French restaurant in a glossy new building with coldly modern architecture. “This is your idea of a quick breakfast place?”
Talos gave her a smile that didn’t meet his eyes. “It was your favorite restaurant in Athens.”
Once inside, they were escorted to the best table, which overlooked the crowded street below. The fancy restaurant was elegant and chilly with sterile airconditioning. There were many waiters but no other diners.
“It’s not very popular in here on a Sunday morning,” she ventured.
“I reserved the whole place,” he said, sounding bored as he opened the menu.
“Why?”
“I wanted you to be comfortable.” He closed the menu. “What would you like?”
With a sigh, she opened her menu. It was written in English and French. This place was entirely too coldly elegant, she thought. Looking out the window with longing, Eve saw locals and tourists thronging a colorful street market.
Outside in the hot Greek sun, she saw people smiling at each other, eating at outdoor cafés, bartering goodnaturedly in the flea market.
The waiter came and took their order, speaking flawless English with a slightly British accent. After he departed, a different waiter brought them drinks. She took a sip of orange juice, then leaned forward with her elbows on the table.
“All right, Talos,” she said quietly. “Tell me why we’re really here.”
His eyes were dark as they fixed on her. “This past summer, I almost lost my business,” he said in a low voice. “A document was stolen from my penthouse which suggested I might be cheating my stockholders of a great deal of money. Of course, I wasn’t. But it cast the company’s finances in a sordid light.”
She stared up at him, shocked. “That’s terrible! Did you find out who did it?”
He looked at her, his eyes glittering. “Yes.”
“I hope you put them in jail!”
He took a sip of black coffee. “That’s not my style.”
“But what does that have to do with me—and this restaurant?”
“This is the last place I ever saw you, Eve. Before your accident.”
She frowned, shaking her head. “Right before I left for my stepfather’s funeral?”
“You left me long before that. Almost three months ago.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Do you recognize this table?”
She looked down at it. “No. Should I?”
“The last time I saw you, you were sitting here with Jake Skinner. Having breakfast with him, just hours after I’d made love to you.”
“What?” she gasped.
His hands clenched on the white linen tablecloth. “Kefalas was following you—”
“Following me?” she gasped.
“Protecting you,” he corrected. “During the one day I had an unbreakable appointment. He phoned me and I dropped everything. I rushed here like a fool to demand an explanation. You tried to laugh it off as nothing.”
She thought of the American tycoon whom she’d met at the party. “So that’s why you wanted me to dance with him,” she said quietly. “To trick me?”
“I wanted to make you remember betraying me.”
She shook his head. “I don’t!”
“You disappeared from the city. The next morning, I woke to discover my company’s name splashed across the newspapers, and my phone ringing incessantly with calls from press and angry stockholders. Skinner gave the document to the press. But the one who first stole it from my house—” he leaned forward, his eyes black and hard “—was you.”
She drew back in shock. “Me!”
“And so I’ve been waiting for you to remember. Every place I’ve taken you, every memory I’ve hoped to reignite, was so you could tell me why.”
Suddenly, she understood everything.
“Not just that,” she whispered. “You wanted to punish me. It’s what you’ve wanted since the day you found me in London. You wanted revenge—”
“Justice,” he corrected coldly.
“But when you found out I was pregnant, that changed everything, didn’t it?” She gave a choked laugh, then covered her mouth with an intake of breath. “You felt you had to marry me because I was pregnant with your baby. You never loved me. All you wanted—was to hurt me.”
“I spent months trying to find you before you resurfaced at your stepfather’s funeral. You’re a wealthy woman, Eve, so you couldn’t have betrayed me for money. So you must have done it for love. You’re in love with Jake Skinner. It’s the only explanation.”
She thought of the playboy with his bleached-white smile and shook her head. “I could never love him.”
“Then why? Why would you do it? What did I ever do to you?”
She took a deep breath as tears filled her eyes.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
“Was it out of spite? Did I offend one of your friends? Did I ignore you or hurt someone you cared about? Why? Why would you give me your virginity—then betray me?”
“I don’t know.” She took a deep breath. “But…I’m sorry.”
He stared at her, his handsome face the picture of shock.
“Just like that?” he whispered. “You admit your guilt?”
“I don’t remember this restaurant. I don’t remember betraying you. I can’t even imagine doing something so horrible.” Her eyes filled with tears and she blinked rapidly. “But I knew you had some reason to hate me. If you say I betrayed you, then I believe you. I must have done it.” She shook her head. “I don’t know why and can’t offer any excuse. Except to tell you that I’m sorry, desperately sorry.”
Talos just stared at her, wide-eyed, not moving.
No wonder he’d been so cold and distant after their marriage. No wonder he’d wanted to punish her. He’d hated her, but he’d felt he had no choice but to marry her because of the baby.
How would she feel in his place, forced to marry the lover who’d once betrayed her? Her heart ached just to think of it.
“You must hate me,” she said softly.
His jaw tightened.
“No,” he said in a low voice. “You’re not the one I hate.”
“Then—who?”
He turned away. “I thought you would remember Skinner if you saw him. I was sure you’d remember loving him.”
“Him? No!” She shook her head fiercely. “If you say I betrayed you, then I believe you. But not for that man, no. Never!”
She saw the surprise in his face, the dawn of insecurity. “How can you be so sure?”
“He’s dreadful!”
“Perhaps you didn’t always think so. You’ve changed since the accident, Eve.”
She bit her lip, looking down at her pink cotton tank top and simple beige skirt. She suggested in a small voice, “I was more attractive to you before?”
Unexpectedly, he reached his hand over the
table, placing it over hers.
“No,” he said in a low voice. “You were selfish and cold then, only focused on yourself. Now…” He took a deep breath. “You’re different. You care about other people. You’re loving and kind and sexy as hell. I’ve tried not to want you, Eve. Tried not to care. I’ve tried. And failed.”
Her heart was in her throat as she looked up at him, tears in her eyes. She took a deep breath.
“I love you, Talos,” she whispered. “Whatever I felt for you last summer—I’m in love with you now.”
His hand trembled over hers. He started to pull his hand away, but she stopped him, pressing his hand to her cheek.
“And I’m sorry,” she whispered into his skin, pressing her lips against the back of his hand. “Forgive me.”
She felt his hand shake, but instead of pulling away, he suddenly took one of her hands in both his own. Looking up, she was startled to see the weight of emotion shimmering in his eyes.
Clearing his throat, he glanced around at the elegant, empty restaurant. “Let’s go have breakfast somewhere else.”
Looking into his face, she felt her heart leap in her chest. Suddenly, she knew everything was going to be all right.
She now knew the reason he’d treated her so badly—but now he’d finally told her the truth, it could be healed. He could forgive her. She wouldn’t stop trying until he did—and until she remembered why she’d done it. And they could be a family.
Wiping tears from her eyes, she nodded.
Still holding her hand, he threw a large wad of bills on the table, then took her out into the bright sunshine.
The Greek sun was already starting to burn white. But as they crossed the busy street, the morning was fresh and new to Eve. Joy was everywhere.
Talos held her hand tightly as he led her through the traffic, protecting her body with his own. They hurried past ancient white stone buildings packed between new trinket shops. She saw young mothers playing with their children on balconies draped with clothes hanging out in the sun to dry, wizened grandfathers smoking as they played chess in the sun.
Palm trees waved above them, providing respite from the early heat as they crossed into the Plateía Avissynías, an outdoor bazaar rich with music, the sizzle and smell of souvlaki and loud, boisterous haggling in the market stalls over everything from jewelry to Turkish carpets.
And Eve suddenly knew happiness was waiting for them around every corner.
“I’m sorry I wiped out your fortune,” she said once they reached the square. Talos stared at her in surprise.
Then he pulled her into his arms with a sudden boyish grin. It made him so handsome it took her breath away.
“You tried to ruin me,” he pointed out. “But in the end, the press attention only revealed our integrity. My company is worth more now than ever.”
“So really,” she teased, “you should thank me.”
On the sidewalk, he pulled her closer, his body hard against her own. Suddenly all the traffic and other people faded away.
His eyes were dark. Hungry. He pulled her close, stroking her face upward. “Thank you.”
And as he lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her so deeply and purely, she knew she would love him—forever.
Nothing had changed.
And yet everything had changed.
As Talos looked down at her beautiful face in the busy outdoor market, her eyes were still closed. Her lips were swollen and bruised from his kiss.
As he lowered his head to kiss her again, he dimly heard his cell phone ringing from his pocket. He retrieved it and glanced down at it, cursing softly when he saw it was his assistant, no doubt calling about the Sydney deal. “Excuse me,” he said with real regret. “I have to take this call.”
Her beautiful eyes smiled up at him. Accepting him, flaws and all. Asking only that he accept her, as well.
She’d taken blame.
She loved him. How was it possible?
“That’s all right,” she breathed. “I’ll just—um—look around the market until you’re done.”
“Stay where Kefalas can see you.”
She bit her pink, bruised lip, and he could tell she didn’t like the intrusion of a bodyguard, even from a distance. For a moment Talos was tempted to ignore his assistant’s phone call, forget the billion-dollar deal and offer to be her own private bodyguard. Then she sighed. “All right.”
Talos watched as she wandered toward the market. Even in the loose cotton skirt, he admired her backside. He admired her dark glossy hair, her perfect natural beauty. Her sweetly innocent love for him.
I love you, Talos. Whatever I felt for you last summer—I’m in love with you now.
The phone’s incessant ringing finally penetrated his consciousness, forcing him to answer. “Xenakis.”
“The Sydney deal is as good as done,” his first assistant crowed happily. “Their board just voted in favor of the sale.”
“Good,” he said, but he wasn’t really paying attention. He was watching his beautiful wife walk across the market, looking so happy, so interested in the world around her. He was about to hang up.
Then he suddenly paused. “Have Mick Barr investigate Eve.”
His assistant’s voice was too well-trained to register surprise. “Investigate Mrs. Xenakis?”
“Have him find out how her father died. See if there’s any reason it might be tied to me.”
As Talos hung up the phone, his gaze lingered on Eve, so beautiful and natural in the pink tank top and short cotton skirt. Instead of stiletto heels, she was exploring this city—exploring her life—in sandals that were clearly made for walking. Her bright, happy face, once so pale, was starting to tan in the sun.
He’d once thought to use her amnesia against her. He’d never imagined that her innocence and warmth would affect him like this. He felt knocked off-kilter by her tenderness, by her love.
I’m sorry. Forgive me.
He was blown away by her openness and vulnerability. She’d accepted blame for a betrayal she could not even remember. She’d chosen to believe him. To trust him, when all he’d done was lie to her, trick her, punish her. It was enough to bring any man to his knees.
Talos started to walk toward her, but he’d gone only a few steps before the phone in his hand rang. He saw his lead investigator’s number and answered. “That was fast.”
“I can tell you about your wife’s father right now, Mr. Xenakis.” Barr paused. “Does the name Dalton Hunter mean anything to you?”
Talos’s entire body went hot, then turned to ice.
He was only dimly aware of the ebb and flow of people around him as his hand clenched around the phone.
“Dalton Hunter?” he repeated in a strangled voice.
“He died in a car accident when she was fourteen. A few months later, her mother remarried—to a wealthy British aristocrat. He adopted her. She took his name.”
Talos’s heart pounded in his throat. He saw black birds soaring in the blue sky above the city and for a moment he thought he was going mad.
Dalton Hunter—Eve’s father?
“How was I never informed of this?” he bit out.
“We’ve known about this for months, boss, but you said you didn’t want to hear anything about Eve. You just wanted us to find her.”
Clenching his jaw, Talos stared at Eve across the market.
“The mother didn’t live long, either. She died a few months after she moved the kid to England. Something about heart trouble.”
Heart trouble, he thought. Dalton’s wife.
And he knew just when Bonnie Hunter’s heart trouble had started.
“Right,” he said. “Thanks for the information.”
He closed the phone.
He stared down at his hands, which had tightened into fists. All these months, he’d thought Eve had pursued him out of a mercenary desire for money—or out of love for Jake Skinner. He’d thought she was shallow and cold.
He’d been wrong.
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Eve must have planned this since she was a fourteenyear-old girl. Talos thought suddenly of those books he’d seen in her teenaged bedroom in a newly chilling light. How to Get Your Man.
Her whole life since her father’s death—the whole meaning of her life—had been to get revenge on the man she thought had destroyed her father, ruined her family.
She must have studied the models and actresses Talos had dated. She’d emulated them. It had all been a carefully constructed facade. She’d done it perfectly, down to the last detail. Except for one thing—unlike his other women, she’d always remained emotionally detached.
Now he knew why.
How she must have hated him.
Now, he looked at her across the crowd, watching the brilliance of her smile as she sifted through a selection of hand-knitted baby booties at a stall.
Dalton would have told his daughter that he was innocent. He would have insisted he was the injured party, told her Talos had turned on him for his own gain. Dalton was charming and manipulative. It was how he’d swindled his own shareholders of nearly ten million dollars before an inside source had alerted Talos to the theft.
Would Eve believe him if he told her the truth?
Yes, surely she would forgive him.
He started to walk toward her. Then he stopped.
He would have to tell her the truth about parents she idolized, two people who were both dead. It would break her heart.
And would it even matter? If she ever regained her memory, she would still hate him. It wouldn’t matter if he told her the truth. After a lifetime of loving her father, no explanation Talos could give would ever compete with that. And fairly or unfairly, she would hate him for destroying her most cherished memories and beliefs.
If she ever regained her memory, he would lose her.
Completely.
Forever.
It was simple as that.
Talos closed his eyes. The last time he’d seen Dalton Hunter, the man had been drunk when they’d run into each other in a New York hotel. “You’ve ruined me, you bastard,” Dalton had cried out, staggering on his feet. “I taught you everything, saved you from the gutter and this is how you repay me.”
“You were stealing from your stockholders,” Talos had replied coldly. He’d left the man without guilt, knowing he’d done the right thing. The man had broken the law and now he was getting what he deserved. He hadn’t felt guilty. Not even after Dalton had driven his Mercedes into the Hudson River. He’d cheated—and not just his stockholders.
