A Consequence Made in Greece

by Annie West

  ‘I...’ Cora shook her head. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

  To his amazement, instead of keeping her distance, she stepped closer, taking his hand in hers, threading their fingers together.

  Strato’s breath snagged in astonishment. He still recalled the weeks after the fire, the number of people who’d watched him with repugnance or fascination, as if he wore the visible taint of his father’s crime. The only exceptions had been the professionals who were paid to be kind, and his aunt.

  Cora squeezed his hand and warmth flooded from his hand up his arm. His skin tingled. He couldn’t tell if it was pain as if frozen muscles thawed or something else.

  He should step away but couldn’t. He looked into her grave eyes and couldn’t tear his attention away.

  ‘I’m so glad you survived. Though I can’t imagine how tough it’s been.’ Her voice resonated with feeling and Strato found himself wanting to reassure her that it was okay. But things weren’t okay and he couldn’t raise her hopes that his story had a happy ending.

  ‘How did you get away? Or don’t you want to talk about it?’

  What did it matter? He’d been haunted by memories since the paternity test results. Besides, she was the first person he’d spoken to about this in over two decades and he wanted her to understand.

  ‘I was sick that day with a stomach upset. I hadn’t been able to keep down food and I was resting in bed. I woke to noise, but I couldn’t make out what it was. Then it all went quiet and my father came to the room, bringing hot milk to help me sleep.’

  Strato had been stunned. His father wasn’t supposed to be there and he’d never before brought a bedtime drink. But Strato knew better than to ask questions of his father so he’d obediently sipped the sweetened milk.

  ‘He’d drugged the milk.’ Strato swallowed hard. ‘But it made me feel sick, so after he went out I tipped it out the window.’ He’d been terrified his father would find out. ‘I waited for my mother to come and say goodnight but she didn’t.’ He felt his jaw clench.

  ‘Strato. You don’t have to tell me. I’m sorry I asked.’ Cora held his hand with both hers now, stroking and comforting.

  He curled his fingers around hers. Her touch, and her understanding, felt so good.

  ‘There’s not much more. Eventually I heard noises and noticed a funny, sharp smell. When I saw smoke coming under the door I tried to get out but it was locked, so I pushed out the screen on my window and got out that way.’ It sounded simple, but every moment had been fraught with fear and confusion. At eight he hadn’t known what was happening or what he should do.

  ‘When I got outside I saw the fire. I tried to get in another window to help Melissa and Alex, and my mother, but couldn’t get it open. So I turned to go next door for help but there was an explosion. The next thing I remember was being in a hospital bed.’ He’d been frantic about his family and for a long time no one would tell him what had happened. That dreadful limbo had felt like an extension of the nightmare.

  ‘That’s where you got the scar.’

  Strato blinked and focused on Cora. ‘Sorry?’

  ‘The scar on your shoulder. It looks like a burn.’

  ‘Yes, it’s a memento of that night.’

  ‘Oh, Strato!’ Cora released his hand and stepped in, wrapping her arms around him. Her hair tickled his chin as she pressed close and more of that delicious warmth seeped into his rigid body. Oh, he could get used to this.

  That was half the problem. He already was.

  Even knowing he did the right thing, deciding to break with Cora, it was a struggle. Part of him wanted to forget about being responsible and grab her close. Grab everything she offered and more. As if this one remarkable woman could turn his life around.

  He closed his eyes and let his arms fold around her, lightly at first, then strongly, hauling her hard against him in a convulsive movement.

  He wanted her. So badly. Wanted the joy and light she’d brought him. The sincerity and honesty.

  Had his father ever felt like this? Had he craved happiness and been unable to resist the allure of that one, special woman? Had he known the damage he’d do, yet been unable to resist?

  Firm hands cupped the back of his head, pushing through his hair and pulling him down. Her lips, soft and intoxicating, whispered against his and the ache in his chest burst into a fiery blast of longing. Of need so deep it channelled through his bones.

  Strato teetered on the brink of giving in. He needed to give in, for the force of his yearning was stronger than any temptation he’d felt in his life.

  His lips opened, brushing hers and he drew in the taste of her, sweet and alluring. Peace beckoned. He bent closer.

  Abruptly realisation slammed into him.

  He was taking. No matter that Cora offered. That was what the men in his family did. They took and took. They demanded. And when they couldn’t have everything exactly the way they wanted...

  His fingers clamped on Cora’s arms. For a second longer he lost himself in the glory of her kiss. Then he stepped back, holding her at arm’s length and looking down into drowned golden-brown eyes full of compassion.

  Strato locked his jaw.

  He didn’t want her compassion.

  He wanted everything.

  Which was why he couldn’t allow himself to have anything.

  ‘Cora. No. I can’t.’

  Her eyes narrowed as if she looked deep into his soul. ‘But you want to.’ She said it as if it were a revelation.

  ‘Of course I want to. I haven’t stopped wanting you for a second! Even when I thought, hoped, you lied about being pregnant, I still craved you.’

  He’d said too much. Strato saw that in the flare of emotion in her expression.

  He released her and stepped back even further, making it clear there’d be no more physical contact. Though he yearned for it with a ferocity that astounded him.

  Proof that he could easily become obsessive about her? He hated to think it. He’d told himself for years that he wasn’t like his old man. Yet he couldn’t take the risk.

  Especially now she carried his child.

  Strato had spent most of his life denying he wanted a family. It was a shock to learn how wrong he’d been. How the new life Cora carried made him think, not only of his monstrous father, but of his beloved mother and his siblings. Of the times the four of them had been happy. Of the bond they’d shared and how he still missed them.

  Why had he escaped when they hadn’t?

  ‘Strato?’ He realised his gaze had dropped to Cora’s abdomen where she cradled his child.

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘I still want you too.’ Her smile was an endearingly crooked line.

  It was more than he’d let himself hope, after the way he’d treated her. ‘I don’t deserve you, Coritsa.’

  The terrible thing was that, even now, he was tempted to do something irresponsible and dangerous, like pretend he was an ordinary guy, and persuade her to stay with him.

  ‘You see now why I can’t be a father. Our child deserves better.’

  So did she.

  ‘You can’t—’

  ‘I can and I will.’ He forced his shoulders back, standing straight and shoving his hands into his pockets. ‘Don’t you see, I can’t afford to take the risk? Not with you or our baby.’

  They meant so much to him. More than he’d dreamed possible. Imagine how possessive of them he’d grow as time progressed. He had to cut these ties before they twisted into something ugly.

  Slowly Cora shook her head. ‘You’re not that sort of man.’

  ‘Aren’t I? How do you know?’

  ‘I know something about you, Strato. It wasn’t just sex we shared, remember?’ A flash of temper warmed her gaze and he felt it as a delicious shiver down his spine. He’d give everything to bask in that freel
y. ‘I know a lot about you. Enough to know you’re not cruel or—’

  ‘Manipulative? Have you forgotten how I coerced you into being my lover? How I used your concern for your father for my own ends?’

  ‘I haven’t forgotten, Strato. But I had a choice. I could have said no. You didn’t force me.’

  His mouth tightened. How had he forgotten her obstinacy?

  ‘It doesn’t concern you that I’m possessive?’

  ‘You are?’ Instead of looking worried Cora’s face brightened.

  Strato frowned. ‘I spent all that evening in Athens fuming whenever another man tried to flirt with you. I hated the way they salivated over you in that red dress. I wanted to shove them all away, or, better yet, take you somewhere private where only I could admire you.’

  ‘I like that you didn’t want to share me with other men.’

  ‘Don’t you see? That’s not a good thing. Jealousy is a curse. It’s a step on the way to obsession.’

  The trait of his father’s he most feared. The man had been a control freak, seeing his wife and children as extensions of himself. They were supposed to do what he said at all times.

  Cora shook her head. ‘Not necessarily. I felt jealous of those women eating you up with their eyes. And I’m not obsessive.’

  ‘What women?’

  She made an impatient sound. ‘The women at the dinner in Athens. I’m sure some of them would have gone with you if you’d invited them.’ She looked away then darted a sideways glance at him. ‘Then there are all those other women you’ve been with. I don’t like them. Any of them.’

  Astonished, Strato rocked back on his heels.

  Cora sounded jealous.

  Where had that come from?

  ‘I think the fact you didn’t like other men looking at me is positive. It means you feel the connection between us too.’ Now she looked him straight in the eye, chin up and hands on her hips. The sight made something in his chest roll over. He liked her feistiness, her determination.

  Liked? There was an understatement. He felt too much for this woman. The temptation to ignore the risk and pursue what sounded like an invitation was too alluring. He had to end this, now.

  ‘I’m sorry, Cora, but it can’t be. Ever. I know where feelings like that could lead me.’ Because his father’s taint loomed like a shadow. Strato’s next breath felt like a blade slicing his lungs. ‘I experienced it. You didn’t. I refuse to take a chance of something like that happening to you or our child.’

  The fire in her eyes dimmed. Her pugnacious attitude softened. ‘Oh, Strato, you—’

  ‘My lawyers will be in touch about a settlement.’ He turned away, knowing he had to go before he reached for her again.

  ‘Wait!’

  He paused, but didn’t turn back.

  ‘Please, give me one more day before you leave. There may be things we need to discuss. Things I’d prefer to talk with you about, not a lawyer.’

  Strato narrowed his eyes against the glitter of sunlight on the sea. But it wasn’t the view he saw, it was Cora. She filled his mind, his soul, even the heart he’d tried to tell himself he no longer possessed.

  ‘Very well. I’ll stay another twenty-four hours.’ But he prayed, with a fervour he hadn’t felt for decades, that Cora would see sense and not drag this out. Better that he leave and never look back.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CORA’S LITTLE BOAT puttered out in the early morning light. As it drew in close it was completely dwarfed by the magnificent lines of Strato’s luxurious yacht. Cora didn’t care. She was well past being intimidated by his wealth.

  Strato was just a man, as flawed as any other, even if he was also magnificent.

  Her heart squeezed as she thought of him yesterday, doing what he believed to be the right thing by their unborn child, looking all the while like a man on the edge. His fortune was no protection against unhappiness or the terrible burden he carried.

  The story of his past had undone her. What must he have suffered? It put his determination to remain unattached in a different light. His voice when he’d mentioned the family he’d lost...

  It was obvious his guilt over surviving when they didn’t was real and raw.

  So here she was, gambling her future on the slim chance Strato felt more than protectiveness for her and the baby. Hoping he felt even a little of what she did.

  For what she’d learned yesterday had made her bruised heart open even further. She’d loved Strato when he was strong and sexy, when she felt cherished and sheltered in his arms. But her feelings were even stronger now, knowing how much he’d suffered, how much he’d missed out on and still did. How he thought not of himself but of her and their baby.

  How could any woman who cared turn her back on him, having heard the truth?

  The odds were against her. He was so fiercely determined to protect her and their child from himself. All she had on her side was his admission that he still wanted her. And the strength of her feelings.

  So she’d taken her time to work out her strategy. It didn’t amount to much, a few arguments she hoped might convince him, and her sexy red dress that had distracted him in Athens.

  Strato was no fool, he’d realise she’d dressed up for a reason, but she’d use whatever tools she had.

  As she neared the yacht Manoli, Strato’s assistant, waved and took the line Cora tossed him, securing it.

  ‘It’s good to see you, Cora.’ He lowered his voice as he held out his hand to help her aboard. ‘I’m worried about him.’

  She nodded. ‘So am I.’ Distress over Strato’s story, and the slim chances of making him see sense, had kept her awake most of the night. He couldn’t go on like that, cutting himself off from everyone, believing he was evil incarnate when he, more than anyone, was a victim. ‘Where is he?’

  ‘In his study, though he seems to be brooding more than working.’

  ‘I’ll see myself in if that’s okay.’

  ‘Great idea. If you don’t improve his mood, nothing will.’ Manoli’s sweeping glance and appreciative smile boosted her confidence.

  Her dress was the sexiest thing she’d ever worn and she’d spent ages washing then brushing her hair till it shone. She’d even put on enough make-up to give her eyes a smoky look and emphasise the shape of her lips. She wore a delicate chain necklace in the shape of a bow with long tails that fell low and drew the eye to her cleavage.

  Yet her stomach was full of butterflies as she pushed open the door to Strato’s study. His back was to her as he stared out to sea. For a second she had leisure to take him in, broad straight shoulders beneath a white shirt and pale trousers pulled tight over his perfect rear by the hands shoved in his front pockets.

  ‘Strato.’

  He spun towards her and for a fleeting moment she read welcome in his expression, before a scowl descended. ‘I’d hoped you’d make this easy for both of us, Cora.’

  She stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her. ‘You promised you’d hear me out if there were things we need to discuss.’

  ‘Well?’ His look, his stance were pure arrogant billionaire. As if she took up too much of his precious time. But Cora wasn’t fooled. This man felt deeply, too deeply, and he cared, even if he tried to give the impression he didn’t.

  ‘I have a proposition, Strato. I want you to live with me, not as a temporary lover, but as my partner.’

  His eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened. ‘Didn’t you hear anything I said yesterday? I can’t live with you, what if I...?’

  ‘And what if you don’t, Strato? You’re denying us all, you, me and our baby, the chance of happiness, because you’re afraid of something that’s not going to happen.’

  He stepped closer then stopped abruptly as if fearing to get too close. ‘You ask me to forget the danger to you both? I can’t do that.’

&n
bsp; Cora folded her arms and saw with a flicker of hope the way his gaze followed the movement, lingering a fraction on her breasts.

  ‘You’re making assumptions, Strato, and any scientist will tell you that’s unwise. You’re acting without proof.’

  He shook his head. ‘The proof being an act of violence? I refuse to risk it.’

  ‘Don’t you see, your thinking is flawed? I understand your fear about learning behaviour patterns from your father and grandfather. But have you stopped to consider that the very fact you refuse to take this chance points to you being different?’

  ‘You haven’t known me long enough to form an opinion, Cora.’ His dismissive tone might have stopped her once. Now she saw it as camouflage for his pain and doubt.

  She paced closer, glad she’d taken time to pull together her information and marshal her arguments.

  ‘I did some research yesterday, Strato. There are plenty of press reports about you but not one mentioning violence or abuse of women.’ He opened his mouth but she kept speaking. ‘I also rang Steph Nicolaides, who spoke to her husband.’

  ‘You did what?’ He looked stunned.

  ‘Don’t worry, I didn’t share your past. I told her how I felt about you and asked if she was aware of anything I should know about you.’

  Not because Cora doubted him for a second. But so Strato could hear what others thought of him. He respected Damen and trusted his acumen. She hoped Damen’s feedback would make Strato stop and think instead of instinctively rejecting what others saw and he couldn’t.

  ‘How do you feel about me?’

  His eyes bored into hers. Cora swallowed and reminded herself this was no time for pride.

  ‘I love you.’

  Strato moved towards her then stopped abruptly.

  ‘You can’t!’

  He was breathless, his voice cracking, and all the feelings she battled to contain surfaced. She wanted to hold him and comfort him. Rock him in her arms, take him into her body and whisper soothing words to erase his pain. She wanted to take those lovely, wide shoulders and shake him!

  ‘I can and I do.’ When he would have spoken, she raised her palm. ‘You can’t control my feelings, Strato. I’ve loved you since well before I learned about our baby. My feelings are true and real and I wouldn’t change them if I could.’