THE GREEK'S TINY MIRACLE Page 6

  Stephanie racked her brain for answers until she knew nothing else. When she next became aware of her surroundings, the yacht was still moving. To her surprise Nikos had thrown a blanket over her. How long had she slept? Her watch said it was 11:00 p.m., Greek time.

  When she rolled over to get up, she realized he’d removed her sandals. At the end of the bed she saw her suitcase. That meant he’d already sailed to Chios, and had no doubt taken care of her hotel bill.

  She started to tremble. No one in the world knew where she was right now. No one would be looking for her yet. Stephanie was being held against her will in the middle of the Aegean Sea by a man she didn’t begin to know.

  After slipping on her sandals, she left the bedroom and walked down the hall to the stairs. No one met her at the top. She walked to the railing and looked all around. Night had descended. In the distance she could see lights twinkling from land far away. Though the sight was beautiful, she shivered to think she’d been so foolish as to climb aboard the boat of a perfect stranger. In Greek waters, no less...

  Didn’t Greek mythology tell of Pandora, the first woman on earth? Zeus had given her a beautiful container with instructions not to open it under any circumstances. But her curiosity had prevailed and she did open it, letting out all the evil held inside. For what she’d done, she’d feared Zeus’s wrath.

  Another shudder rocked Stephanie’s body. Today she’d opened that container, knowing she shouldn’t have. The action had seemed so small at the time. But what she’d done, in order to find the father of her baby, had turned out to have severe and far-reaching consequences for her, inciting Nikos’s wrath.

  “You’re not supposed to be up here.”

  At the sound of Nikos’s deep voice, a cry escaped her lips and she spun around. The warm night breeze flattened the T-shirt against his well-defined chest, ruffling his black wavy hair. Despite his hostility, his male beauty captivated her.

  “I was looking for you.”

  “It’s dangerous to walk around at this time of night. You’re lucky I didn’t set the wireless security system yet, or you would have received the fright of your life by the noise.”

  Her hand clutched the railing. “I’m used to being on boats,” she said defensively.

  His lips tightened into a thin line. “Go back down. Now.”

  Nikos’s mood was too dark and ominous for her to dare defy him. Taking a deep breath, she turned around and walked back to the stairs, which she descended. She felt him following her, all the way to the bedroom.

  After he came inside, she looked at him. “Was the alarm set this afternoon while I was waiting to talk to a crew member?”

  “Yes, even if that part of the marina is Vassalos private property. There are some people who will trespass no matter what.”

  She lifted a hand to her throat. She’d considered going on board, but had held back, thank goodness. “You mean all those other boats belong to your company?”

  “That’s right.” His chiseled features stood out in stark relief. “I must admit I’m surprised you didn’t step on the Diomedes without permission. When we were together on Providenciales, I noticed what an adventurous person you were, unafraid to explore the depths where the others held back. I guess it doesn’t really surprise me you would show such tenacity in trying to find me, regardless of the consequences.”

  Her softly rounded chin lifted. “That’s because I was on a sacred mission.”

  “Sacred?” he queried silkily. “What an interesting choice of words.”

  Salty tears stung her eyelids. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Try me.”

  Stephanie shook her head. “You’ll only mock me, so there’s no point.”

  “You’re trying my patience, what little I have left,” he said, his voice grating. He lounged against the closed door. The stance looked familiar, but she had an idea he needed the support. Stephanie wished she didn’t care about his condition, but the signs of his suffering, both physical and emotional, had gotten to her. “I’m waiting.”

  “When we were in the Caribbean, you asked me about my father. I told you he and my mother never married and she raised me alone. But I never went into the details.”

  “Why was that?”

  She sank down on the side of the bed. “Because it’s such a painful subject for me to talk about, and because I barely knew you. Eventually I would have told you everything, but we ran out of time.” Her voice shook.

  His jaw hardened. “That must have been a shock to your carefully laid plans.”

  “I didn’t have any plans, Nikos. I don’t know why you won’t believe me. You say you want answers, so I’m trying to give them to you. Mom met my father on a winter skiing holiday in Colorado. They spent a glorious week together before he said he had to leave, but would fly to Crystal River to see her.

  “She worked in hospital administration. He could have found her at any time, but he never called or looked her up. Mom had her pride and waited in vain for him to get in touch with her.”

  Nikos eyed Stephanie skeptically. “If she knew where he lived, why didn’t she seek him out?”

  “By the time I was born, she was so ashamed of what she’d done, she made up her mind that I would never know his name or where I could find him. She felt he didn’t deserve to know he was a father. I was put in day care and she raised me with the help of my grandparents until they passed on.”

  Struggling with the rest, Stephanie sprang to her feet. “Since you left me at the resort, I have a crystal-clear understanding of what my mother went through and why she was so shattered. But she forgot one thing. She didn’t realize how important it was for me to know who my father was, if only to see him once and understand my own genes, to gain more of an identity.”

  Stephanie heard Nikos take an extra breath in reaction.

  “Mother robbed me of that. It’s the only thing in our lives that caused pain between us. I loved her. Though she was the best mom in the world, I had a hard time forgiving her for that. However, I finally have. Still, her omission has left scars, because I’m my father’s flesh and blood, too. When she died, her secret died with her, leaving me in agony and always wondering about him.

  “Do I have grandparents who are still alive? A half brother or sister? Does my father like doing the things I like? Do I look like him? Those are questions for which I have no answers. Unfortunately, I’ll never be given them.”

  She clutched her arms to her waist. “Such is the story of the Walsh mother and daughter. We were both open to a good time, until it was over. I can’t believe I’ve repeated my mother’s history, but they say experience is the best teacher.”

  Stephanie threw her head back. “How I’ve learned! I had to believe it when the doctor told me I was pregnant. He said a good condom hardly ever fails, but it can slip. That’s probably what happened with us.”

  By now Niko’s countenance had grown dark and lined.

  “Believe it or not, my very first thought when I learned of my pregnancy wasn’t about you or money, but about the life we’d created. I felt all the joy of being told I was going to be a mother, and I loved my baby instantly.

  “But I have to tell you, I damned myself and you for the weakness that caused us to reach out for pleasure without marriage or commitment of any kind, without really knowing the most basic things about each other. We were both incredibly selfish, Nikos.”

  “You’re right,” he admitted, with what sounded like self-loathing.

  “In hindsight I realize I don’t hate you for what you did, leaving without a personal goodbye. I took a risk with you. We were equal partners in doing what we did. That’s why I did everything I could to find you and let you know you’re going to be a father. To not tell you would be an even more selfish act.

  “I wouldn’t be honest if I didn�
��t admit that I wanted to be with you the moment we met in the Caribbean, and I made no secret about it. That time was beautiful beyond belief and something I will always treasure. It’s the reason I don’t want to make something ugly out of something that was sacred to me at the time, even if it was illicit. I still don’t know if you have a wife or other children.”

  “I don’t,” he whispered in a bleak tone.

  “If that’s the truth, then I’m glad I don’t have to carry that burden, too. You’ve accused me of coming after you because of the great Vassalos fortune. Let me say now that I wouldn’t ask for money or take it under any circumstances. What we had together wasn’t love. It couldn’t have been, since it was based on a lie.”

  At her comment his features hardened.

  “You owe me nothing, Nikos, but you have the right to know we’re going to have a child. When the baby’s born, I plan to give it the last name of Walsh. But I did want to be able to tell our daughter or son your true name—that it wasn’t Dev Harris, and that you come from a fine established family from Egnoussa, Greece, and not New York.

  “That’s why I did everything possible to find you and learn your true identity. I realize I’ve gone where angels fear to tread, even to trying to find out about you from someone working on your yacht. But I’ve done it for our child, who doesn’t deserve such selfish parents.”

  “It’s very noble of you to take on partial blame.” But his mocking tone robbed the sentiment of any meaning.

  “Once you let me off this luxury vessel, I’m going back to Crystal River, knowing I’ve done my best for my baby. One day, when our child asks about you, I’ll tell him or her all I know and learned about you during those ten days we spent together. They were the happiest days of my whole life.

  “It will help satisfy our child’s great need to know about his or her beginnings. Every human born wants to know who they are and where they come from. Were they wanted? I want our child to know he or she was wanted from the second I found out that I was pregnant. Once grown, it will be up to him or her if you meet. I’ll play no part in it.

  “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to use the bathroom again. After I’ve gotten ready for bed, where do you want me to sleep?”

  “Your bedroom is the next one down the hallway, on the left. I’ll show you. You can freshen up in your own bathroom.”

  He picked up her suitcase and took it to the guest bedroom she’d looked in before. “Get a good night’s sleep. It appears you need it,” he muttered. The unflattering observation shook her to the foundations.

  * * *

  Nikos had told Yannis to drop anchor off Oinoussa Island for the night. Afraid to go below and fall asleep, where he might have one of his flashbacks and Stephanie would hear him, he opted for a lounger beneath the stars, and covered himself with a light blanket.

  All was quiet except for the frantic pounding of his heart at every pulse point of his body.

  For the rest of the hours before dawn he lay there in torment, going over their conversation in his mind.

  Even if he’d used her while on vacation, Stephanie had claimed she wanted him to know in person that he was going to be a father. At the heartbreaking story of having all knowledge of her own father kept from her, Nikos had been moved beyond words.

  To go to so much trouble and expense to find Dev Harris—to risk her health in the process—led him to believe she must be telling him the truth. Otherwise she would have sought out the other man she’d been with, if there was another man.

  But if she’d been with another man before Nikos, no one had proof of paternity. Only a blood test after the baby was born would prove it. Any earlier attempt would be a risk to the unborn baby and possibly cause a miscarriage. He didn’t dare insist on it. Much as he wanted to believe he was the father, and that her true reason for coming to Greece was to inform him of the fact, he was still riddled with doubts.

  Nikos closed his eyes tightly. When Kon had been confronted with a similar situation, before they’d gone into the military, he’d believed the nineteen-year-old girl who’d told him she was pregnant. Kon had gotten in over his head with an attractive French girl he’d met on vacation in Corsica, but before returning home, he realized he wasn’t in love, and had ended it with her while they were still together.

  To his chagrin, she’d showed up a month later with a positive result on a home pregnancy test, claiming he was the father. She was terrified of having her parents find out. What should she do?

  Kon was an honorable man and had been willing to take responsibility, so they got married privately at the local church, where Nikos stood as one of the witnesses. His parents accepted her into the family and they’d lived with them until Kon could afford to find a place for them to live on their own.

  But two months later his friend realized she’d lied to him and there was no baby. He got medical proof from the doctor at the hospital. She was forced to admit she’d made up the fabrication because she loved him and didn’t want to lose him. If he thought they were going to have a baby, then they could get married. As it turned out her plan had worked...for a while.

  Betrayed to the point he couldn’t look at her anymore, he divorced her and put the whole ghastly affair behind him. But there’d been a heavy emotional price to pay, and the divorce had cost him a great deal of money, which Nikos insisted on funding from his own savings account. It was the least he could do for his friend.

  After the agony Nikos had seen Kon go through when he’d realized he’d been deceived, the possibility that Stephanie was lying, too, gutted him. He didn’t honestly know what to believe.

  Short of making love to Stephanie to learn if she was truly pregnant, which wasn’t a viable option for too many reasons to consider right now, he could phone her doctor. Yet somehow that idea was repugnant to him.

  The only sure thing to do was wait for physical signs of her pregnancy. In order to do that, he would have to keep her close for the time being.

  When Nikos thought back to their first meeting, he recalled he’d been the aggressor. Unlike her friends, who worked at a local hotel in Crystal River, Stephanie had done nothing to come on to him. While they’d flirted with him, she’d kept her distance and been totally serious about diving.

  It turned out they didn’t have her skills and snorkeled only part of each day. Oftentimes they preferred to laze on the beach and go shopping in town. Not Stephanie. Quite the opposite, in fact, which was why he’d asked her if she’d be willing to be his diving partner for the duration. He’d felt her reluctance when she’d said yes, but it was obvious she loved the sport and couldn’t go diving without a partner.

  Scuba diving wasn’t for everyone, but she was a natural. Together they’d experienced the euphoria of discovering the underwater world. Besides her beauty, there was an instant connection between them as they’d signaled each other to look at the wonders exploding with color and life around each gully and crevice.

  When they’d had to surface, he hadn’t wanted it to end, and had asked her to eat dinner with him. She’d turned down his first invitation, but the second time she’d agreed. That’s when he’d learned she’d grown up along Florida’s Nature Coast. She’d learned to scuba dive early with her mother. After college she’d gone to work for a water tour company that took tourists scalloping and swimming with the manatees. It explained her prowess beneath the waves.

  If he was truly the only man she’d been with, then her news represented a miracle. Nikos was sterile now, the hope of ever having a child from his own body having gone up in flames during the explosion.

  Yet he could feel no joy if she’d set him up—no elation that a deceitful woman would be the mother of his child. If indeed he was the father...

  But what if you are, Vassalos?

  Think about it.

  Your own flesh and blood could be growing insi
de Stephanie. The only son or daughter you’ll ever have.

  More thoughts bombarded him.

  After his last mission he’d hoped to resign his commission and go after her, marry her. What if she truly was innocent of every charge, and he’d totally misread the situation? If that was the case, then one misstep on his part could hurt her emotionally and damage any chance at real happiness, with their baby on the way.

  He got up from the lounger and walked over to the railing, watching the moonlight on the water. His training as a SEAL had taught him that you had to set up your perimeter and have everything in place before you mounted an assault. This time Stephanie was the target. Unfortunately, after leaving her behind, he’d unwittingly planted an almost impenetrable field of land mines and booby traps that would destroy him if he wasn’t careful.

  If his suspicions about her were correct—that she’d calculated every move since meeting him at the resort, in order to trap him—it meant maneuvering through them with surgical precision while he waited to see if she was pregnant, then awaited the DNA results.

  How would he begin making it up to her if he was wrong?

  In retrospect, Nikos realized he’d accused her of duplicity, when he’d been the one who’d committed a multiple number of sins. Not only had he forsaken her on the island without giving her an honest explanation, he hadn’t tried to reach her during his stay in the hospital.

  The moment his father had handed him those snapshots, Nikos had been carried away by his own suspicions that she was after his money and the lifestyle he could provide her. His anger had quickly turned to white-hot pain at the thought she’d been only using him during that time on vacation. In retaliation, he’d treated her abominably.

  Nikos let out a groan. Was he turning into his father? A man who’d believed the worst about the wife who loved him, because of a rumor? Whose doubts and suspicions had turned him into an impossible man to live with, catching Nikos in the crossfire?