THE GREEK'S TINY MIRACLE Page 7

  Stephanie’s words still rang in his ears. What we had together wasn’t love.

  But what if it had been love on her part, and it was only her anger talking now? Otherwise why would she have gone through all she’d done to find him?

  He owed it to both of them to discover the truth. Otherwise he might be dooming himself to repeat his father’s history. Until Nikos had proof, he decided he would believe her story, because his entire happiness could depend on it.

  By the time the sun had risen above the horizon, he’d made his plans. The first thing he’d do was shower, then fix breakfast for the two of them. Or the three...

  * * *

  A knock on her bedroom door brought Stephanie awake. It was ten after eight. She’d slept soundly, likely because of the gentle rocking of the yacht. But it didn’t feel as if they were moving now.

  “Yes?”

  “Your breakfast is waiting for you in the lounge down the hall, whenever you’re ready.”

  She blinked. “Nikos?”

  “Of course.”

  There was no “of course” about it. Last night he’d told her to fix her own food. This morning it seemed he’d decided to be more civil. That was a good sign, since she needed to go home today, and couldn’t without his cooperation.

  “Thank you. I’ll be right there.”

  She took all her pills with a cup of water she’d put by the bed, and then got out from under the covers. Once in the bathroom she showered quickly, then brushed her hair and left it loose. A little blusher and lipstick and she felt ready to face Nikos.

  Stephanie hadn’t packed a lot. She’d brought extra undergarments and a smoky-blue knit top she wore loose over her khaki pants, which were uncomfortable now. She needed to buy some maternity clothes the moment she got back to Florida.

  In spite of the fact that she would have to go through the entire pregnancy alone, she was looking forward to it. Having found the baby’s father, and knowing his real identity, she felt a bit more lighthearted. Soon she’d start getting a nursery ready, and couldn’t wait.

  After putting on her sandals, she left the bedroom and moved across the hall to the lounge, where she found Nikos at the table, waiting for her. He stood up when she walked in. She detected the scent of the soap he’d used in the shower. Her senses responded to it, though she tried to ignore them.

  “It looks like you’ve made a fabulous breakfast.” He’d fixed coffee, too, but so far she hadn’t been able to tolerate it. “We could have eaten in the galley and saved you the extra trouble.”

  “True, but you’re a guest, so I thought this might be more enjoyable.”

  “For a prisoner who has to stay below deck, you mean,” she muttered.

  He ignored her comment. “Let’s hope there’s something here that you can keep down.” He helped her into a chair before he sat opposite her at the rectangular table.

  “Those rolls and fruit look good.” So did he.... This morning he was freshly shaved and wearing a white crew neck shirt with jeans. It was sinful how handsome he was!

  While he ate eggs and a roll, his jet-black eyes played over her several times. “Your hair is a little longer.”

  “So’s yours.” But she refused to tell him how much she liked it.

  He appeared to drink his coffee with pleasure. “What did your doctor tell you about swimming and scuba diving in your condition?”

  The question was totally unexpected. “I can do some limited swimming, but diving during pregnancy increases the risk to the fetus, so I’m not taking any chances. Why do you ask?”

  One black brow lifted. “Your job. Now that you’re pregnant, the kind of work you do swimming with the manatees will have to be curtailed.”

  She munched on a banana. “I realize that and plan to discuss it with my boss when I get back. Which raises the question of when you’re going to take me to Chios so I can get a flight home.”

  “That all depends.” He bit into a juicy plum.

  Stephanie fought to remain cool-headed. “On what?”

  He finished it, then lounged back in the chair, eyeing her for a long moment. “I have a proposition for you.”

  “I’m not interested.”

  “Surely after all the trouble you took to find me, can’t you admit you’re a little curious?”

  “That curiosity died when I didn’t find Dev. You’re the dark side of him, a complete stranger to me with your lies and secrets. I have no desire to listen to anything you have to say, except to hear that you’ll let me go.”

  “Be that as it may, you’ve convinced me you were an innocent tourist on vacation in the Caribbean. I take full responsibility for finding you attractive and pursuing you. Since you’re pregnant, it’s only right that I take care of you and the baby you’re carrying.”

  For him to say that to her now... Pain ripped her apart. “For the last time, I don’t want your money, just my freedom.”

  His eyes narrowed on her features. “You can have it in time if it’s what you want. That’s what divorces are for.”

  Shaken by his words, she sprang from the chair. “What are you talking about?”

  “Our marriage, of course. You came all the way from Florida to let me know I’m going to be a father. But that’s not all I want. I want my name on the birth certificate along with yours. To a Greek male, it means everything.”

  “Since when?” she blurted.

  “Since learning that you’ve known nothing about your own father—not even his name. I can see how devastating that has been for you, which makes it more vital than ever that the baby growing inside you has my name so it can take its rightful place in the world.”

  Stephanie reeled in place, clinging to the back of the chair. “You don’t want to marry me.” Her tremulous words reverberated in the lounge.

  Now Nikos was on his feet. “On the contrary. It’s all I thought about during the night.”

  “Why?” she cried in torment.

  “Because this baby is already precious to me.”

  Her anger flared. “Last night you questioned if it was even yours.”

  “Last night I was in denial that a miracle had happened.”

  She shook her head. “What do you mean?”

  “A lot has occurred since we last saw each other.” He didn’t need to tell her that. Her whole world had been turned upside down. “I was in a boating accident that landed me in the hospital with a spinal injury.”

  Stephanie bit her lip, pained by the news. “I knew something was wrong,” she whispered. “Sometimes you’re a little unsteady. I noticed it wh-when you were holding me.”

  “Nothing gets past you, does it? Your unexpected presence on the Diomedes gave me away. Fortunately, I’m getting stronger every day and use the cane only when I’m tired. But I’m not the man I once was and never will be. Furthermore, the accident had certain repercussions I can’t do anything about.”

  Her mouth went dry. She was almost afraid to hear. “What are they?”

  “For one thing, my injury left me sterile.”

  Sterile?

  A slight gasp escaped her lips, for she knew that kind of news had to be soul wrenching to a man. “Surely it’s only a temporary setback?”

  “No.” His eyes again narrowed to slits. “It’s permanent.” The throb in his voice carried its own haunting tale.

  Stephanie pressed her hand to her mouth to stifle her cry. “I’m so sorry, Nikos. I hardly know what to say.”

  “Perhaps now you understand why your coming here to tell me you’re pregnant, at the very moment I’ve been dealing with my news, made me go out of my head for a little while. After having to give up all hope of having my own child, I suppose I was afraid to believe you were telling me the truth.”

  Stephanie’s lungs tightened
while she tried to absorb the revelation. “What was the other repercussion?” She feared it was going to be horrible, too.

  “My best friend died in the accident.”

  “Kon Gregerov?”

  Nikos nodded gravely.

  “Oh, no...” She couldn’t hold back the tears. They rolled down her cheeks. He’d mentioned his friend several times while they’d been diving. He’d told her they were closer than he was to his own brother. They’d grown up together and would have done anything for each other.

  After such trauma, was it any wonder he’d changed so completely in every way? Other than anger over what life had dealt him, Nikos had to feel dead inside. If their positions were reversed, Stephanie knew her life would look black to her.

  “Now that you’ve heard the truth from me, here’s my proposition. I want to marry you as soon as possible, and we’ll live here. It will mean having to give up your job. You can either sell or rent your condo, and put your car and furnishings in storage for the time being.

  “It’s the only way I can protect you and the baby. But it wouldn’t have been fair to you if I hadn’t told you I can’t give you more children. Millions of other men can. You need to think about that very carefully before you commit yourself legally to me.”

  Stephanie was thinking. It was a shock that she was going to have a baby at all. Right now she couldn’t contemplate having more children. Though she knew Nikos wasn’t in love with her, she had proof he’d been deadly honest with her just now. Knowing the only child he would ever have was on the way might give him a reason to go on living.

  But there was a part of him that didn’t know if he was the father or not. And she had concerns, too, if a marriage between them was going to take place. She knew so little about him.

  “Nikos?” She wiped the moisture off her face. “What is it you do for a living?”

  He put his hands in his back pockets. “I used to work for the family shipping business. Now I’m in the process of starting up something new with Kon’s elder brother. It’s a project we used to talk about a lot.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Tassos. He’s a good friend, too, and married, with a child.”

  “Does it have to do with shipping?”

  “No. We’re planning to drill for natural gas in this part of the Aegean.”

  She knew Nikos was extraordinary, but to consider such an undertaking meant he was a man with vision. It took away her fear that he may have lost interest in everything, including life. To know he was working on something so vital for his own well-being, not to mention his country, thrilled her. Suddenly all those maps and charts she’d seen in the desk made sense.

  “You don’t need to worry that I can’t take care of you,” he said mockingly.

  “Don’t be absurd. The thought never crossed my mind. Nikos? Have you ever been married?”

  A caustic laugh escaped. “No, although my family has had a girl picked out for me for years now.”

  Someone he loved? “You mean a beautiful, well-heeled Greek woman of a good family from your social class. Until I showed up yesterday, were you planning to marry her?”

  “No. Natasa wants children. That’s the one thing I can’t give her.”

  But he’s given one to me, his only one. Stephanie’s heart rejoiced, despite the fact she knew he wasn’t in love with her.

  “When the news gets out that you and I are married, she’ll have to move on,” he muttered.

  Nikos hadn’t answered her question, but it didn’t matter. Having another woman waiting at home, approved of by his family, explained why he’d never made a commitment to Stephanie on the island. She had enough charity in her heart to feel sorry for Natasa. Nikos was a prize who stood out from every male she’d ever met.

  “If I were to agree to marry you, I wouldn’t want a big wedding, Nikos.”

  “That’s one area we fully agree on. We’ll have it take place in private, with only Yannis and the Gregerov family as witnesses.”

  Alarmed, she turned to him. “Not even your parents?”

  “Especially not them.” Stephanie cringed, there was so much heat behind his declaration. “My father and I have been at odds for a long time.”

  “Your mother, too?”

  “Let’s just say she’s loyal to my father and takes his part in most everything, to keep things civil.”

  That’s why Nikos had never spoken of them on vacation. What could have happened to cause such a breach? “I’m sorry.”

  He eyed her soulfully. “No more sorry than I am for you to have lived with the hurt your mother inflicted, even if she did it for what she believed were the right reasons. My father justifies his decisions in the same way, without considering the damage. You and I share a common bond in that regard.”

  A world of hurt laced his words.

  “After we’re married, we’ll drop by the house for a visit and tell them. They’ll come around after the baby’s born. My parents want grandchildren.”

  Stephanie eyed him carefully. “Do they know that the accident made you s-sterile?” she stammered.

  Frown lines marred his face. “No. To them, children are everything. I don’t ever want them to know.”

  She could understand that. If his family pitied him, he’d never be able to handle it. Stephanie was coming to find out what a private person he was. “Have you considered how they’ll feel about me when we’re introduced? I’m afraid they’ll never see a pregnant American woman from a single family, with no father in the picture, as worthy to be your wife.”

  His features hardened. “You’re carrying a Vassalos inside your body. That makes you the worthiest of all.”

  Her baby was a Walsh, too, but Nikos had his pride, and right now she knew he was clinging to that one bright hope. More than ever Stephanie realized he was planning on the baby being his. Otherwise there’d be no visit to his family, and her marriage to Nikos would be dissolved.

  In order to put him out of his pain, she could swear on the Bible that he was the father, so he’d be reassured, but it would do no good. He needed proof.

  Last night he’d told her to go below. She’d thought he was just being mean-spirited, because he was angry. But hearing about the boating accident that had cost his friend his life made her realize Nikos was being protective.

  He’d been that way with her scuba diving, always watching out for her. It was his nature. She’d found that trait in him particularly reassuring and remarkable, but she still had reservations about marrying him.

  “Earlier you mentioned divorce.”

  “That’s because we don’t know what the future will bring after the baby is born.”

  “You mean you might not want to live with me anymore, under the same roof.”

  He cocked his head. “As I recall, you were the one who said that what we had on vacation wasn’t love. I’m just trying to cover every contingency so there won’t be any more surprises. I’d say we’ve both had enough of them since we met in the Caribbean, and need to lay the groundwork if this is going to work.”

  Pragmatic was the operative word. She could hardly breathe. “Where would we live?”

  “Because of my work with Tassos, I prefer the yacht for the time being. We’ll dock at various ports so you can go ashore and explore. A little later on I’ll buy us a villa on Oinoussa Island, near the Gregerov’s, where you can set up a nursery. Tassos’s wife, Elianna, and his younger sister, Ariadne, both had babies recently and speak excellent English. They’re warm and friendly. You’ll like them.”

  “I’m sure they’re very nice.”

  The problem was, Stephanie didn’t speak any Greek. Yesterday she hadn’t known if Dev was even in Egnoussa. Last evening he’d turned into Nikos Vassalos; today he was talking marriage to her. But he wasn’t the man she’d f
allen headlong in love with on vacation. That time with Dev could never be recaptured, and she found herself grieving all over again.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t have the luxury of shedding more tears. For the sake of their child, it was Nikos, not Dev, who’d proposed to her, in order to give their baby a legitimate name and legacy.

  “Any more questions?”

  “I’m sure more will come up, but right now I can’t think of any.” She clutched the chair railing. “Is there anything else important you haven’t confided to me?”

  He rubbed the side of his jaw. “Yes. If you agree to marry me, then I’ll tell you the rest. But if you would prefer that I set you up on Oinoussa as my pillow friend and a kept woman, so I have access to you when the baby comes, then there’s nothing more you need to know.”

  She’d heard the Greek phrase “pillow friend” before. A woman with no claim to the man who provided for her until he tired of her and sent her away. Stephanie couldn’t imagine anything so awful.

  “It’s either one or the other, Stephanie, because under no circumstances will I let you leave Greece now.”

  Nikos meant it with every breath of his body. As he’d told her earlier, this baby was doubly precious to him now.

  How bizarre that she was hesitating, when she’d come to Greece to find her baby’s father and do the right thing for her child. But nothing had gone the way she’d envisioned it. Theirs would be a marriage without love.

  “When do you plan for us to be married?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  So soon! “Isn’t there a waiting period?”

  “Not with my contacts.”

  Naturally, Nikos knew someone in high places who could move mountains. Of course he did! Stephanie didn’t doubt he could make anything happen, if he wanted it enough. “Where will ours take place?”

  “At the small church on Oinoussa, with Father Kerykes, the village priest. He performed Kon’s marriage. The man can keep a confidence and be trusted to honor my wishes.”

  Stephanie moistened her lips nervously. At least they would exchange vows in a holy place.