by Tessa Radley
Really, I’m not.
My world has just crashed down around my ears.
But she couldn’t say that—she had a facade to maintain. A position as Zac Kyriakos’s virgin bride. “I’m sorry…I’ve intruded,” she said instead, and grimaced.
The brunette flapped a hand. “Don’t worry about it. I’m Katerina—but most people call me Katy.”
Katerina…Katy.
Pandora stared into familiar green eyes, warmer for sure but still the same hue. “You’re Zac’s sister.”
“Yes. And you’re Zac’s wife.” The bright smile was back. “You’re beautiful. My brother has fabulous taste. And I know he’s never going to forgive me for missing the wedding—” Katy’s smile wavered “—but I hope you will. I’ve been dying to meet you. I only arrived in Athens this morning.”
“Of course I’ll forgive you.” Pandora noticed the faint dimple beside the woman’s mouth—just like Zac’s. “And I’m sure Zac will, too.”
“Maybe.” The dimple deepened. “You’re lucky, Pandora. I tell you, he’s the best brother in the entire world. I hope we’ll be friends.”
Pandora instantly liked this warm woman. “Of course we’ll be friends.”
“Great!” Katy extracted a tube of lipstick from a small sequined bag, popped off the lid and ran it over her lips. “That’s better.” She eyed her reflection in the mirror. “My husband never understands why us women always want to look perfect all the time.” She threw Pandora a wicked, laughing look. “He insists on kissing it all off.”
“Is he here?” Pandora glanced around but saw nothing to evidence masculine occupation. Zac had said that Katy’s husband was a difficult man to be married to. Had he not wanted Katy to attend Zac’s wedding? Greek families were so close that would certainly add tension.
“I wish he was.” Katy sounded wistful.
Was the problem between Katy and her husband? Or did the real source of tension lie between her brother and her husband? Pandora couldn’t help wondering if Katy was caught between two dominant Greek men—the juicy bone between two alpha dogs. Katy clearly adored her brother and it was obvious she missed her absent husband.
Katy was fortunate. She was loved. For a moment Pandora felt envy blossom inside her, green and ugly. She thrust the unwelcome emotion away and ruthlessly suppressed a pang of self-pity.
“I’ll call you in a week or so, we can meet for lunch,” Katy was saying.
Pandora nodded. Her heart lifted. The lost feeling started to recede. “That will be lovely.”
Katy patted her hand. “You looked so unhappy when you came in—don’t let anyone spoil what you and my brother have.”
Instantly reality came crashing back. What did they have? At worst, a sham of a marriage based on a pack of lies. At best, it was an illusion built on her naive assumption that Zac loved her.
What good would running do? She needed to find Zac. To get to the bottom of what she’d heard. To find out whether he’d married her because he loved her or because he needed a convenient virgin bride.
“No,” Pandora said slowly. “I won’t let anyone spoil what we have.” But she couldn’t help thinking it had been spoiled…ruined…already. By Zac’s Academy Award-deserving deception.
The study was empty. Pandora found Zac in the elegant sitting room, reclining in the leather armchair positioned under the Chagall painting she’d admired when she’d first seen this room. With one knee crossed over the other, Zac perused the morning paper. Her heart started to thump.
“I need to talk to you.”
He glanced up and a lazy, intimate smile softened his strong features. “Good morning, wife.”
“Is it? A good morning?” She raised her brows and gave him a pointed little smile.
His mouth curved wider until white teeth flashed irresistibly against his tanned olive skin. Masculine satisfaction gleamed in his eyes. “You tell me.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“You’re not sure? Come here, I’ll show you. Last night…” His voice trailed away as he leaned over and caught her behind the knees and swept her onto his lap. “Last night didn’t convince you? I’ll have to do something about that.”
In his arms, Pandora turned to marshmallow. The sexy, suggestive timbre of his voice in her ear, the hard-muscled chest pressing against her side were almost enough to convince her to abandon the answers she sought. Almost.
“You are so beautiful.” He pressed a kiss against her cheek and hugged her closer. “A good-morning kiss will have to do for now. We don’t have enough time to make it to the bedroom, not with my family due to arrive any minute for lunch. Come closer, let me adore you with my lips, let me—”
“Stop it, Zac!” She turned her head away just before his lips landed on her mouth. “There’s no need for such reverence.”
He stilled. “What do you mean?”
She sat straight, no easy feat given that she sprawled across his lap, her colourful sundress bunched around his legs. “I know, Zac.”
His eyes suddenly wary, he asked. “What do you know?”
Gauging his response, she peered at him from behind her fringe. “I know everything.”
“Everything?”
“I know about the prophecy, about your need to marry a virgin bride.”
“And?” He prompted, his astute eyes suddenly hooded. “What else do you know? Surely that can’t be all.”
She took a deep breath. “I know you don’t love me.”
He flicked her a quick upward glance. “And why do you think that?”
“Because you never told me. And I never realized…”
“But I—”
“Let me finish.” She brushed her bangs back and glared at him. “You did such a great job of it that I never even realized you’d never told me you loved me. Jeez, I’ve been stupid.”
“I told you—”
“Yes, let’s revisit exactly what you told me. You’re so beautiful, Pandora. I love your hair. The pale gold reminds me of—”
“Sea sand.” Zac stretched out a hand and brushed the strands away from her face. “It does. It’s so soft, so pale.”
Pandora pushed his caressing hand away and stood. “Then what about I love your energy—like quicksilver, huh?”
“You never stop moving, it’s intriguing. Your hands are so small, so fine-boned, yet they move so swiftly, even when you talk. Even now when you’re mad.”
She clenched her fists and put them behind her back. “And you love my laughter, too, huh?”
He nodded slowly, his eyes watchful. “A sense of humour is important in a marriage.”
“And then there was I love the way you make me feel.”
“Definitely.”
“But you know what? You never said I love you, Pandora. And given all these things you told me, I never thought anything of it.” Until now. “It never crossed my mind that it was a clever way of getting out of—”
“Hey, wait a moment…” Zac straightened and pushed his hands through his hair. She’d never seen him look anything but coolly and good-humouredly in control. Now his hair stood up in all directions and a frown snaked across his forehead as he perched on the edge of the armchair.
“So say it, Zac.”
He looked at her in disbelief. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“I’m not kidding. I’m waiting, Zac.”
He gave a short, unamused laugh and shrugged. “This is about three little words?”
“I overheard you talking. I heard that you need to marry a virgin. Right now I need those three little words.”
“What the hell do they matter?” He stood, towering over her. “We’re married. We’re compatible. On every level. Do you know how rare that is? You understand my world—something that’s very important to me. We share interests, a sense of humour. And as for sex…well—” he blew out “—that’s better than I ever hoped for.”
“Lucky you! Because I feel like I’ve been cheated.” At her angry words,
his head went back and his eyes flashed. “So when were you planning to tell me, Zac?”
His gaze dropped away.
“You weren’t, were you? You were planning to let me live in the clouds, to think this was the love match of the century.” She turned away, not wanting him to see what the realisation had cost her.
“Wait—”
“Wait?” She gave an angry laugh and spun to face him. “Why? For you to make a fool of me all over again?”
Zac stared into her furious countenance. Underneath the tight-lipped anger he thought he caught a glimpse of hurt in her stunning pale eyes. Those eyes that had held him entranced since the first moment he’d seen her.
She wanted him to say that he loved her.
He gulped in air. God, what was he to do?
“My family will be here soon. Let’s discuss this later.” And saw instantly it had been the wrong thing to say. Her fury grew until her eyes glimmered an angry incandescent silver.
“Your family? What do I care about your family? I’ve hardly even met them! For almost a week I’ve been trying to get you to introduce me to them. Every time you put me off. Stupid me, I was flattered. Thought it meant you wanted to spend all your free time alone with me. But I was deluding myself, wasn’t I? You just didn’t want me to meet them in case someone let slip that you needed to marry a virgin.”
“It wasn’t like that,” he replied lamely.
“So what was it like? Explain to me, Zac. In little one-syllable words that even a fool like me can understand. Or are you incapable of using those one-syllable words like I love you?”
Zac blinked at the unexpected attack. “You’re not a fool—”
“Oh, please! Don’t give me that. You’ve played me like a master. Convinced me you loved me. Jeez, I can’t believe how naive I’ve been. Why would you fall for me, a—”
“Because you’re young, beautiful and—”
“And a stupid, pretty little virgin?” She gave him a tight smile. When he failed to respond, she added, “So what if I’m young and beautiful. What do appearances matter anyway? It doesn’t say anything about the person I am inside. Good. Terrible. Or didn’t you care as long as I was a pretty stupid little virgin?”
The urge to laugh in appreciation at the clever way she’d twisted her own words rose in him, but one glance at her face convinced him that she would not appreciate it. “Pandora.” He took her hand. “I wasn’t—”
The door swung open. “Zac, people are starting to arrive,” Katy said anxiously, then put her hand over her mouth as she took in their obviously confrontational stances. “I’m out of here. But, brother, you need to get to the crowd downstairs.”
“Katy, I want to introduce you to—”
But Katy was already gone.
“Don’t worry, I introduced myself to your sister all by myself. Tell me, does she also know I’m a virgin?”
Zac took a deep breath and forced himself to ignore the inflammatory remark. “My family is here. I don’t want them embarrassed. Humour me. I need you to pretend everything is fine between us. Please?”
“Pretend? You mean, like you pretended you loved me?”
Zac winced as her bitter words hit home. “My family mean a lot to me. I don’t want them to see this discord between us—not when we only exchanged vows yesterday. We can talk it all out later, I promise you.”
“Later?” She gave him a searing look of suspicion. “When?”
“As soon as my family are gone. Act out the charade for two hours, that’s all I ask.”
“Two hours?” Zac held his breath as she gave him a killing look. “Fine! I’ll pretend for two hours and then we talk.”
He let out a silent sigh of relief. “Thank you. You won’t regret it.”
“I hope not.” There was a fevered glitter in Pandora’s eyes that stirred remorse in him. Hurt sparkled in the clear depths—or were those tears? Hell, he’d never intended for her to find out.
Lunch was finally over. Pandora glared at the five-tier wedding cake, her fingers clenched around a large silver knife. Zac’s hand, large and warm, rested over hers.
“Your hands are cold,” he murmured in her ear.
Her hands? What about her heart? It thudded painfully, cold and bleak in her tight chest. Just thinking about Zac’s betrayal made her poor heart splinter into tiny, painful little pieces. Zac didn’t love her—had never loved her—had only married her because he thought her a perfect little virgin.
Perfect.
God, how she hated that word. How—
“Make a wish,” Zac whispered, his breath curling into her ear. The familiar frisson of desire ran down her spine. His hand tightened around hers and pressed down.
Please, God, let this mess sort itself out, she prayed, and the knife sank through the pristine white wedding cake.
“Later I’ll tell you what I wished for,” Zac’s voice was warm and husky against her ear.
Later? Jeez, but he was arrogant! He sounded so sincere, so loving. And there would be no later for them. Not anymore.
Pandora half wished she could go back to that blissful state of ignorance, before she’d learned the truth. Instead of this emptiness that filled her now. But what use would that be? She’d only be kidding herself. Pretend, Zac had said, and that’s exactly what she was doing.
“Smile,” his voice crept into her thoughts, and a second later a burst of silver-white light exploded in her face.
She looked wildly around at the throng, the people.
Katy grinned at her from behind an oversize camera. Pandora struggled to smile back.
No, this was not her life. This public pretence. The glimpse of what her life married to Zac would be like was devastatingly sad. Nothing more than a series of hollow pretences for public show from one day to the next—if she stayed. But she didn’t have to stay trapped in a marriage to a man who wanted her only because she was a virgin.
Pretend?
Never. Zac was about to discover the extent of the error he’d made.
“Good, you are packed.”
Pandora glanced to where Zac loomed in the doorway, immaculate in a lightweight suit over a white T-shirt worn with fashionable European aplomb. “I’m leaving, Zac. The fairy tale is over.” She hefted a suitcase off the bed. “I think it would be best for all concerned if this marriage was annulled.
“Annulled?” Zac stared at her. “Annulled? This marriage can never be annulled. It’s already been consummated.”
Pandora raised her chin a notch. “Then I want a divorce. I’m not staying in a marriage with a man who doesn’t love me.”
A shadow moved across his face. “Pandora—”
She took a step toward the door…toward him. “No, I gave you the two hours of pretend you wanted. You’re not going to sweet-talk me out of this—”
“There can be no divorce.”
Stopping short of the threshold, she looked up at him. “What do you mean there can be no divorce? You’re not the man I married. That man would never have pretended to love me. I want a divorce.”
His face hardened. But instead of taking issue with her challenge, he spoke to the man behind him. “Take the bags, Aki.”
“Hey, wait a minute. Those are my bags and my—”
“You said you were going. Aki will take your bags downstairs for you.”
Was that all he was going to say? Pandora stared into his inscrutable face. Hard. Distant. A world apart from the man she’d married. Her mouth moved, but no words came out. She swallowed.
Was it over so easily?
She’d expected some resistance. A challenge. A huge wave of disappointment rocked her. Aki hoisted up her bags and headed down the stairs. Turning away from Zac, she moved back into the room and crossed to the dressing table to pick up the rainbow-hued silk scarf and designer handbag she’d so nearly left behind with all the turmoil stewing inside her. A quick check inside the bag revealed her wallet, her cell phone and her passport.
She trie
d not to let her shoulders sag. There was a thick knot at the back of her throat, but she wasn’t going to let Zac see her cry.
The last thing she wanted was for him to know how much she cared—how much she’d loved him. How much his silent surrender to her demand for a divorce had devastated her. Fiercely she said, “I need to call the airport to book a seat.”
There was a pause. Then Zac said, “Everything is being taken care of.”
“Already?” She spun around to find him right behind her.
“I’ll take you to the airport if that’s what you want.” His hand touched her elbow. “But first we talk. Alone, without interruption.”
“We can talk on the way to the airport.” She shrugged his hand off and glanced around the immense bedroom—the room where he’d made such devastating love to her and taught her about the power of being a woman. Stuff she’d never known.
Last night…no, she wasn’t thinking about last night. About the tender passionate lover whom she’d stupidly believed loved her with all his heart.
With a jerky movement Pandora swung on her heel and made for the door. She charged through the sitting room in a blur of tears. Furiously she blinked them back.
Downstairs there was nobody to be seen. A sense of desolation overtook her. No one in the huge mansion cared that she was going, no one cared enough to say goodbye. She thought of asking to see Katy, then shook the thought away. What did it matter? She’d never see Zac’s sister again.
Outside, the paved sweep of drive was empty. No one strolled in the parklike grounds, Mount Pendeli rising up in a solid mass of green beyond.
The only person to be seen was Aki crossing the driveway as he made his way to a circle of concrete set on the edge of the grassy park, where he deposited her bags.
“Where’s the taxi?” She glared accusingly at Zac.
“Christos. Do you really think I’d see my wife off by taxi—like some common…” He paused, but she got the message. And then he reached out and grabbed her hand. “Come.”
Almost running to keep up with his long, brisk stride, she crossed the drive and then she was back on the grass. The sun blazed in the halcyon sky overhead. Pandora’s heels sank into the perfectly manicured lawn. Aki had disappeared. Ahead lay the flat circle of concrete. A row of cypress trees lined the drive that led to the large electronic gates in the distance. Why had she not noticed how much those gates resembled prison bars before?
