She clicked off before he could say thank you, but it didn’t matter. Progress had been made. The gods had been with him today.
He checked his watch. It was six-thirty. After phoning the pilot to give him their next destination, he rang the manager to say goodbye, then headed for the helipad with Boris.
Theo had never been to Andros, but Stella had told him so much about it, he felt like he knew its special places by heart. Certainly his son, young as he was, could probably show Theo around and know what he was talking about.
Andros was the home of the legendary Stasio Athas, where some of the most elite Greek families lived. To the people in Theo’s family it represented lala land. A smile broke one corner of his mouth. This Pantheras member was about to trespass on ground not meant for untouchables.
Stella’s elite family viewed other families like Theo’s, who lived close to the poverty line, at the bottom of the food chain. When Theo had refused the money Nikos had thrust at him to stay away from Stella, Nikos had snarled words like scum and untouchable among the many insults hurled at him. Nice people, Stella’s family.
He looked out the window. Summer had come to the Cyclades. As Andros came into view, his breath caught at the lush green island dotted with flowers. No wonder Stella loved it here. St. Thomas was idyllic, but it didn’t compare in the same way.
After the helicopter had dropped down over the little port of Batsi, his gaze swerved to a white convertible sports car driving along the road at a clip toward the water. The sight intrigued him. Once the chopper touched ground, he jumped down and started across the wooded area to the car park where it had just pulled to a stop.
To his surprise he saw a well-endowed brunette woman climb out and walk around the area with confidence, as if she were searching for someone. Closer now, he noticed she bore a superficial resemblance to the lovely long-haired teen of Theo’s youth.
Stella.
CHAPTER TWO
THE years had turned the only Athas daughter into a gorgeous female, whose classic white dress was cinched with a wide belt, highlighting curves above and below her slender waist. She’d always been beautiful to Theo, but having the baby had caused her to blossom.
Her high cheekbones, combined with the lovely contours of her face and glossy hair made her so striking, he couldn’t look anywhere else.
He’d wondered how much she might have changed. What he hadn’t expected was to feel his senses ignite by simply looking at her again. That wasn’t supposed to happen, not when she’d kept all knowledge of their child from him.
Another step and their eyes met. Those velvety brown eyes he remembered so well stared at him with a mixture of shock and anxiety. After what she’d done, she ought to be terrified of him. She seemed to weave for a minute before she wandered back to her car and held on to the frame as if needing support.
He strolled up to the other side of the car. Deciding they were too much of a target for any observers, he climbed in the passenger side and shut the door. She hesitated before following suit.
The second she sat behind the wheel, her fragrance reached out to him. Again he was stunned because it was the scent he would always associate with her. It took him back to the last time they were together. Everywhere he’d kissed her, she’d tasted delightful, like fresh flowers on a warm spring morning.
Right now it was the last thing he wanted to be reminded of, but trying to blot out certain intimate thoughts was like attempting to hold back a tidal wave.
He turned to her, sliding his arm across part of the seat. She’d averted her eyes. If he wasn’t mistaken, she was trembling. On some level it pleased him she wasn’t in total control.
“Thank you for meeting me, Stella.”
“You didn’t leave me a choice.” Her words came out jerkily.
“Actually, I did.”
“You’re talking about court. I can’t imagine anything more terrifying for Ari,” she cried, sounding desperate.
“Believe it or not, it frightens me even more. Too much time has been lost as it is.” It surprised him how much he wanted to reach out and touch her, to see if she was real. “You were always lovely before, but you’ve turned into a startlingly beautiful woman.”
If anything, her features hardened at the compliment.
His gaze drifted beyond her face. “Strange how this little secluded stretch of beach reminds me of—”
“Don’t.” Her profile looked chiseled. Apparently she’d had the same impression and didn’t want to travel down that road of remembered ecstasy. “I agreed to meet you so we could talk about the best way to help Ari deal with this situation.”
A situation that had been put in play six years ago and was never of his choosing, but he didn’t voice his thoughts. For the moment Theo was walking on eggshells. “Do you think he’d be more comfortable meeting in Athens than here?”
She kneaded her hands, drawing his attention to her beautifully manicured nails. He grimaced to realize every part of her body looked quite perfect to him. It was impossible to eye her dispassionately. “Ari won’t be comfortable anywhere with you, but since we’re staying on Andros for a while, it should probably take place here.”
“What have you told him about me?”
She sucked in her breath. “Very little.”
“Even so, could you spell that out for me?”
Suddenly she jerked her head in his direction. Those gorgeous brown eyes pierced his with laserlike intensity. “You mean the way you spelled it out for me?” she cried. Her hands had gripped the steering wheel with enough force he imagined she could bend it. “I told him the truth, that you didn’t love me after all, so we never saw each other again. That was all I knew to tell him. It’s all he knows.”
Theo studied her features. “Yet you left out half the story. It’s time he heard that you stopped loving me. I’m sure he has no idea that you never intended to come to the church and go away with me so we could be married and have our baby in peace.”
The blood seemed to drain out of her face. “I was there, waiting inside the back of the nave. I waited for hours,” her voice throbbed.
Theo was incredulous. “That’s an interesting fairy tale. I was attacked before I could make it inside and was told that you got rid of our baby because you didn’t want anything to do with me.” For now he didn’t want to mention Nikos’s name and give her something else to fight him about.
“You’re lying!” she lashed out. “No one would believe such a monstrous story.”
“In the beginning I didn’t, either, not until you never, ever tried to make contact with me again. Obviously, this is a case of your word against mine, except I have the scars to prove it.”
“What scars?”
“The ones you’re looking at. While we’ve been talking, I’ve felt your eyes on me. They’re traveling over the small cuts, noticing the dents where my face got smashed in and my nose had to be rebuilt. These are nothing compared to what my X-rays show below the neck.”
Stella quickly concealed her glance, but not before he glimpsed confusion in those dark brown depths. That was something, at least.
“Whatever happened to you,” she finally said in a less-than-assured voice, “don’t you think it’s stretching it just a little to take six years before showing up?”
“Under ordinary circumstances, yes, but after you were nowhere to be found and all my mail to you came back unopened, I realized I would have to return to Greece and hire a PI to locate you. Unfortunately, I didn’t have that luxury at the time, not when I was building a business I couldn’t leave.”
Her head whipped around. “I don’t know what mail you’re talking about.”
Theo reached in his trouser pocket for the first letter he’d sent to her after he’d gotten out of the hospital. He’d addressed it to Stella at the Athens villa. It had the canceled stamp and date. Across the bottom the words “Addressee Unknown” had been scrawled.
“Take a look.” He handed it to her. “If you
’re ever curious enough to read what’s on the inside of the envelope, then you’ll know my state of mind at the time. In the meantime, I’m here to claim what’s mine—Ari.”
She glanced at the front of it before tossing the letter back at him. “Ari’s not yours,” she said in an icy voice he didn’t recognize.
He put the letter back in his pocket. “Let me phrase that a better way. He’s both of ours.”
She threw her head back, causing those glistening dark strands to splay across her jaw. Combined with her golden skin, she was a miracle of womanhood. “You gave him life, but that’s all you did.”
“That was all I was allowed to do,” he countered. “Since you clearly don’t believe me, let’s not talk about the past. It’s over and done with. I much prefer to discuss Ari’s future. Perhaps you could bring him here tomorrow so we can get acquainted. We’ll let him choose what he’d like, or not like, to do. How does that sound?”
Her body stirred in agitation. “You can’t expect too much, if anything, Theo.”
As if he didn’t know. “I’m aware of that. What time shall I meet you both?”
She started the car. “Tomorrow’s Sunday. We have plans.” She was stalling, but he had to be patient if he hoped to get anywhere with her. “The day after would be best. One o’clock.”
“I’ll be here. Stella, I swear I’ll treat him with the greatest consideration possible. I’m not unaware he wouldn’t be the marvelous boy he is if you weren’t his mother. You were meant to be a mother, Stella. Every child should be so lucky.”
Though they weren’t touching, he could feel her trembling. “Y-you can have two hours with him if he’s willing,” she stammered.
“That’s more than I’d hoped for. The Stella I once knew was a giver. Remember that little heart I gave you?” It had been a cheap trinket he’d bought her in the Plaka because it had been all he could afford, but the sentiment had described her. “Love the giver.”
She revved the engine, obviously not liking being reminded of anything to do with their past. “Please get out of the car. Ari’s waiting for me.”
There was a time when she would have begged him not to leave. Of course, back then he wouldn’t have gone anywhere because he’d needed one more kiss, one more embrace before wrenching his mouth from hers. Damn if he didn’t need her mouth so badly right now he was ready to explode.
Forcing himself to act, he got out of the front seat. “I love your car by the way. With its classic lines, it looks like you. In case you didn’t know, that white dress was made for you.”
For an answer she backed out and drove off.
Stella only made it two kilometers before she had to stop the car for a minute. She buried her face in her hands. How was it possible Theo could get under her skin like this after the pain she’d undergone at his hands?
Inside of half an hour he’d pushed every button until she’d wanted to scream. But what truly haunted her was the change in his facial features.
As far as the gradation of male beauty was concerned, Theo had been a beautiful man before. If she were honest with herself, he still was. However, one scar pulled at the corner of his mouth a little. His right eyelid didn’t open as wide as the other. At some angles it gave him a slightly sinister look. His nose was still noble, but there were several bumps.
Theo hadn’t lied about the damage done to him. As he got out of the car, she’d seen the scar below his left earlobe. A thin white line ran down his bronzed neck into the collar of his dark blue shirt.
The rest of his tall body covered by his elegant clothes revealed he’d grown into a powerfully built man. She didn’t want to think about the damage beneath the surface he’d referred to, the kind an X-ray could detect.
He had an aura about him that hadn’t been obvious six years ago, but that was because he’d needed time to mature. Other men would be intimidated by him now. She bit her lip because she recognized that women would be irresistibly drawn to him.
While deep in torturous thought, she heard his helicopter pass overhead. Embarrassed that he might think she’d had to pull over because of her reaction to him, she started driving through the cobblestone streets of Batsi toward Stasio’s villa in Palaiopolis.
En route she picked up some toiletries in the village, proof of the reason she’d had to go out for a little while. She’d left the boys swimming in the pool with Rachel and the girls.
Unless Ari had let something slip to the family by mistake, she felt relatively confident they could keep Theo’s presence a secret so they could get through this holiday without anyone being the wiser. On Monday she would tell the family she was going to drive the boys around the island as Dax hadn’t been to Andros before.
Stasio worked so hard. Now that he’d taken three weeks off work to enjoy his wife and children, she didn’t want her problems to mar their families’ precious time together. Hopefully when Nikos arrived, he wouldn’t cause trouble.
He’d been wildly against her keeping Ari. In his opinion it wasn’t fair to their parents’ wishes, nor to Stella, who didn’t have a husband and who couldn’t give Ari what adoptive parents could. He’d been furious at Stasio for helping her, telling him he should have kept out of things.
She knew Nikos didn’t like Ari. Her son knew it, too, thus the reason he clung to Stasio who openly adored him. That Nikos couldn’t show Ari affection caused Stella perpetual sadness and made it hard for her to be around him. A long time ago she had decided he didn’t have the capacity to be happy, especially after their parents died.
Perhaps it was wicked of her, but a part of her hoped he might decide not to come this holiday. With the advent of Theo in their lives, Ari had enough going on without worrying about Nikos. But maybe she was getting way ahead of herself. It all had to do with Theo, who was well and truly back in Athens, demanding to spend time with her son.
His son, too, her conscience nagged.
No matter what terrible things had happened to Theo, surely it was too late for him to start up a relationship with Ari that should have begun at his birth?
Hot tears rolled down her cheeks. The agony of his rejection and the desolate years that followed could send her over the brink if she allowed herself to dwell on that nightmare. No more.
All she wanted was to be able to provide a wonderful life for Ari. She wasn’t about to let Theo suddenly show up and turn their lives into chaos. Did he really think she would believe that the letter he’d shown her was authentic? She wiped the moisture from her cheeks before entering the gate that led up the drive to Stasio’s villa.
Apparently she’d arrived in time to join everyone for a motorboat ride followed by dinner further up the coast. It was probably Stasio’s idea because he knew Ari liked to steer part of the time, with Stasio’s guidance of course. Undoubtedly Dax would get a turn, too. An evening out on the water sounded heavenly to her.
Stasio helped her into the boat with a hug. Her handsome brother looked so happy, she knew her secret was safe for the moment.
Theo flew to Andros on Monday at noon. He’d brought a backpack filled with treats and a few other essential items. Not sure what Ari would like to do, Theo had opted to wear casual trousers with a navy T-shirt and hiking boots. Today he would let Ari make all the decisions.
After grabbing a sandwich and a drink at a nearby taverna with Boris, he strolled over to the concession area to watch for Stella’s car. It hardly seemed possible this day had come. He’d been dreaming of it for too long. This morning he’d awakened wired, unable to concentrate on his work.
The beach had filled up with tourists. He would have preferred not to be around a lot of people, but he had to follow Stella’s lead if he wanted to gain a modicum of trust. While he tried to imagine his son’s thoughts, his heart picked up speed as he spied Stella’s car.
Riding with her were two boys of the same age sharing the passenger seat. One dark, the other blond, they pulled into the parking area. Stella had sprung a surprise on him. If she fe
lt there was strength in numbers, that was all right with him. He’d deal with it.
Adjusting his pack to his shoulders, he approached the car. “Hello, Ari,” he said, smiling at his son, who had on khaki shorts and a soccer jersey. He was on the lean side with black-brown hair; the kind of handsome child every man dreamed of fathering. The sight of him and his mother caused Theo’s breath to catch in his throat.
He studied his son. The only thing that was going to guarantee any success at all was the purity of Ari’s spirit and Theo’s unqualified love for the child who was part him, part Stella. If their boy had inherited her sweetness, her loving nature, then maybe Theo had a prayer of getting through to him. But he knew it would have to be on Ari’s timetable.
“Hi,” he responded without enthusiasm, refusing to look at him.
“Who’s your friend?”
“Dax.”
“Hi, Dax. I’m glad you came. I want to get to know Ari’s friends. I think there’s a character on the Star Trek television series with your name? He has special powers.”
Dax blinked. “I already know that. How did you know?”
“I love science fiction. Especially UFO stories.”
“Me, too. My dad thinks they’re stupid though.”
“Well, I don’t.”
“Rachel knows some real ones,” Ari said, drawn into their conversation in spite of himself.
“Who’s Rachel?”
“My aunt. Her daddy was a pilot in the air force.”
Theo’s eyes took in Dax, who wore jeans and a tank top. Stella had put on trousers and a white blouse that her figure did wonders for. Considering everyone’s attire to be appropriate, he made a decision.
“Your mother told me we would only have two hours today, Ari, but I think it’s long enough to go for a hike. What do you say we all go?”
“That sounds cool,” Dax responded enthusiastically.
The Greek's Long-Lost Son Page 3
