A Perfect Wife: International Billionaires V: The Greeks (9 page)

At the question, he glanced back at her, his mouth tight. “I’m sure there are nurses who can provide any care needed.”

“Impersonal care?” She kept fighting him, kept struggling to penetrate the impenetrable. “From someone your grandfather doesn’t even know? You honestly believe this is better than having his own family caring for him?”

He started to walk away from her and her questions.

Okay, it couldn’t be helped. A full-on confrontation it would be.

“Stop,” she demanded.

A grunt of contempt was her only answer.

“Stop. Or I’ll tell them the truth about us.”

T
he morning sun
sparkled across the gleaming china and cutlery. It splattered its cheerful rays on the glassware and cream linen tablecloth. Beams of light played over the pile of golden pears and ruby pomegranates. The honeyed yogurt in her bowl shimmered, while her dark, bitter coffee glowed in its blue-and-white cup.

The uniformed attendant behind Natalie whisked away her empty glass and refilled it with more freshly squeezed orange juice.

The private dining room provided three attendants at all times, she’d been told when they were ushered into the suite.
Whatever you want. Whenever you want
, she’d been assured.

How the other half lived.

Smiling faces surrounded her. Laughter and chatter rose and dipped as hands lifted in the air. Then they fell to reach for another piece of
tiropita
, a cheesy Greek bread that melted in a person’s mouth, or grab another serving of the feta-and-tomato salad drenched in olive oil.

His family was not impressed. Not overawed by the surroundings.

Instead, they were simply happy and relieved. The patriarch had lived through the night. Relieved a compromise had been reached.

A compromise she’d forced.

However, the family didn’t realize this, so they were happy.

A gurgle of glee caught her attention and she glanced to her side. The shine of the sun gave a rosy tint to the chubby cheeks of the baby girl next to her. Dark eyes smiled at her while a pudgy hand slapped up and down on the ornate carved highchair the hotel’s staff had eagerly provided.

“Larisa likes you,” Rhea said in English. Everyone had agreed they should attempt to speak English for Natalie’s sake. She’d protested, but the family had shook their collective head and insisted. The teenager winked at her as she popped a grape into her mouth and the sun flashed on her braces like little prisms of starlight.

“Everyone likes Natalie.” Doris patted her baby’s head from the other side of the highchair and smiled brightly.

“What’s not to like?” One of the young male cousins ogled her with exaggerated intent and laughed when an elderly aunt batted him on his skinny arm.

“It was good of you to convince Aetos to get these hotel rooms instead of making us go back home.” Doris swept a fine linen napkin across the baby’s drooling mouth. “This is terrific. We can be comfortable and sleep well at night, but also be near
pappoús
.”

Hotel? She couldn’t imagine describing this place as a mere hotel. A hotel was where you found things like hard beds, small bathrooms, and a tiny closet to hang your hat. A hotel was designed for people like her.

This? This place was designed for the gods. She’d been awestruck at the glass chandeliers and grand columns in the foyer. Amazed at the army of servants who raced to take their luggage, ushered them to their rooms, made sure they had everything they needed.

Even more, she’d been utterly astonished at the bedrooms.

“Aetos is generous to a fault.” One of his heavy-browed aunts nodded her head wisely. “It is good to be mere steps from the hospital, though. It was good of him to send couriers to our homes to collect what we required while staying here.”

There were murmurs of happy agreement.

“This place is pretty cool.” Rhea managed to appear faintly bored, yet her dancing gaze gave her away. “Except the flat-screen TV in my room only had thirty-five channels.”

Why would anyone want to look at TV when they could feast their eyes on their surroundings, Nat wondered. Anyone would surely rather admire the delicate gold filigree edging the antique armoire in her bedroom. Or gaze at the oil paintings of Athens, its glory populating every wall of this gigantic suite. Or savor the plump, plush sofa she’d eased into last night while waiting for the family to settle into their respective bedrooms.

So she could settle into hers.

Alone.

Had it been relief she’d felt when Zenos had growled his intent to stay at the hospital into her ear before striding out the hotel door?

Yes. Right. Relief.

Uncle Orion snorted, his dark mustache bouncing. “As if you had time to watch thirty-five different programs before you fell asleep last night.”

Nat sipped on the bitter coffee to hide her grin as Rhea managed to appear even more disdainful. “I had plenty of time to watch TV this morning.”

They’d all slept in late. She had to admit to falling into her soft bed like a zombie. After enduring a night of no sleep, the overseas flight, and the long wait for news of the surgery, she’d barely kept herself awake long enough to brush her teeth. She wasn’t completely sure her head had hit the pillow before she’d been fast asleep. The sleep had done her a world of good. She almost, almost felt cheerful. Almost, almost felt ready to take on the world and this family.

And him.

She grimaced into the dregs of her coffee.

It had been a sharp, ugly confrontation. A battle she’d won, yet not without being made to understand there would be retribution. His mouth had been like a slicing wound in his white face. His words had been low and cutting, a slash of a stinging talon. His eyes—

Well, best not to think of those burning eyes. Not when she was almost cheerful.

Nat glanced down the long, ornate table to the end.

To him.

The swaths of ornate burgundy-and-blue curtains behind him highlighted and showcased his powerful presence. The gleam of the gold-framed oil paintings on the walls to his side flashed their radiant tones on his hair, making the strands glow in godly beauty. The sun danced on his broad shoulders, his olive skin, his long lashes, burnishing him in an unworldly brilliance.

His laptop was open.

As it had been since the moment he’d arrived from the hospital an hour ago to meet his relatives and give them news of the patriarch’s continually improving condition. She’d watched his grandmother urge him to sit, to eat, to be with the family. Noticed his reluctance as he sat down to the sumptuous feast everyone was sampling. She hadn’t been surprised when he’d pulled his sleek computer out of its case and flipped it open.

Hiding.

He was hiding from his family.

Work consumed him, but not for the money or the power or the fame. At least not here, not now. Rather, it was used as a barrier, a wall of protection.

Protection against what? This loving family?

She stared down the table at him, the family’s chatter dimming while she kept her scrutiny on him. On his barriers and his barricades. His hopeless distance and despair.

She felt it once more. Felt him.

There were shadows under his eyes. A tense set in his shoulders. A tight tic in his jaw. His fingers flew across the keyboard and his focused gaze scanned the documents and words whizzing past. Still, it was fake, a mask.

His entire attention was really on his family. His loving, laughing family.

The family he didn’t fit into.

A yawning well of grief surged inside.

He glanced up as if he’d detected her emotion. His dark eyes flared, then flattened.

The fragile connection she’d sensed for a second was washed away by the flood of his returning anger.

“When are we going to go to the hospital?” Rhea’s cheerful voice broke through. “Aetos said
pappoús
should be awake by now and
giagiá
will want to see him.”

“We’ll all want to see him,” Doris chimed in, lifting her baby out of the highchair and patting the small back with one loving hand.

An older uncle leaned over and spoke to Zenos. The dark gaze left her and she shivered in relief. She didn’t know what kind of retribution there would be, but his look had told her there would be a price to pay for forcing Aetos Zenos to endure his family’s company.

The family eased away from the table, stood, and started sorting the children out, wiping hands and mouths, putting on sweaters for the cool December morning. Gathering purses and babies, knitting and books and backgammon boards. Readying themselves for a long day in the hospital waiting room.

Where she’d happily wait by their side.

If she had a chance.

Looking down the table at him as he managed a slight smile at something his uncle said, she wondered. How much longer would he stand this? When would Aetos Zenos decide to put this to an end and leave with her in tow? How much more of his family could he take before he bolted? Before he walked away again?

He switched his focus away from his relative and stared at his cufflinks while he adjusted them.

Not much longer. She sensed it. Sensed how he was at the very edge of his patience.

The well of grief inside her seeped into her stomach, making her feel slightly ill when it mixed with her breakfast. She didn’t want to leave yet. Not until she was sure the old man would be okay. Not until she was positive everyone would be okay.

She didn’t want to leave this family.

The knowledge slammed into her with punishing force. Running right behind it was the thought she was being utterly nuts.

This wasn’t her family.

To get away from the thoughts burning a hole in her head, she stood and gave a bright smile to Rhea before turning to go into her bedroom. Where she might weep for a moment or two before getting it together.

“A moment,
ómorfi̱ gynaíka mou
.” His voice curled around her, stopping her in her tracks against her will.

“She is lovely, isn’t she?” Doris said with approval. Her baby gurgled her agreement as she bounced in her mama’s arms.

The look he gave Natalie told her he found nothing lovely about her at all.

The family members each smiled and patted her as they left the room. She desperately wanted to be swallowed into the middle of them so she could escape. Instinct told her, though, it was useless. He’d merely track her down and be even angrier because he’d had to exert the effort.

She wasn’t afraid of him. She wasn’t.

She turned back to meet his dark gaze with a disdainful one of her own. “Yes?”

He didn’t respond, still seated, still with the laptop open, until they were alone. As soon as the thump of the door closing came, a sneer of contempt crossed his face.

Nat grabbed the hard wooden scroll at the top of her chair.

And waited for the sword to fall.

“
A
h
,
étsi
. Your aptitude for blackmail and crime comes naturally,” he said.

Her elegant fingers tightened on the chair.

The background check had surprised him. Stunned him, if truth be told.

Aetos swore at himself silently.

Why should he have been surprised? Why did his expert eye for people and their motives, schemes and plans, somehow come to nothing with this female? From the first moment they’d met, she’d been conniving, cunning, and costly. He needed to remember, remind himself of this every moment he spent in her presence.

She’d wheedled her way into his home.

She’d entranced his unsuspecting family with her charm.

She’d angled her way into a sweet spot in this five-star hotel.

Plus, she wasn’t done yet. He’d bet everything this woman, like all women, was scheming for further wins. Further wins over him.

Look what she’d accomplished last night. She’d blackmailed him and he’d caved.

The doctor’s suggestions about what would work best for Leonidas Kourkoulos’s recovery had to be discarded. He’d decided this within minutes of having the conversation. His
giagiá
worried him; she looked like she herself might occupy a hospital bed soon. The rest of the family had lives and jobs and school. There could be no good outcome with swarms of relatives invading the hospital and bothering its most important patient.

It was best for everyone to go home.

It was best for him.

But the witch had other ideas and he’d found himself spending his time arranging for hotels and luggage instead of focusing on making sure his
pappoús
had the finest care money could buy. Because of the witch standing in front of him, he’d had to endure a morning breakfast with his relatives.

Stop. Or I’ll tell them the truth about us.

A wild fury surged in his blood when he remembered the moment. The moment he’d calculated the risk was too great. The possible damage to his family too severe. Last night, he’d handed over power to her without realizing who he’d been dealing with.

A criminal from a long line of criminals.

Natalie Globenko. The daughter of one of the major players in a mob he’d dealt with on several occasions while building a huge construction project in lower Manhattan. The sister of one of the up-and-coming hoodlums until he’d been taken out—Aetos flicked his gaze down at his computer screen—just three months ago.

The fruit didn’t fall far from the tree.

And he’d let this woman, this creature, into the heart of his family. Where she’d managed to attach herself like a barnacle. A parasite sucking on his family’s emotions. On his wealth and power. A leech who now thought it was her right to dictate his actions.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her words were stilted.

Aetos almost laughed. She knew. He could tell by the rigid slant of her chin, the shift in her expression. She knew what he was talking about, knew what this background check would reveal.

She was smart, this female enemy. Another strike against her. Most women he’d found easy to manipulate with dangled diamonds and beautiful baubles. When he looked into their eyes, all he saw was blank denseness or the blindness induced by avarice. This one, though, this one he sensed would not be so easily bought. She wanted more. More than his wealth. More than the perks.

She wanted to rule him. She’d done exactly that last night.

No more. At whatever cost to his family, he could not allow this to continue.

He stood, slapping shut his laptop. Pleasure rolled through him when the sound made her jump. “I have been very foolish, very forgiving.”

She snorted.

“Very naïve.”

“That’s the last word I’d pick to describe you.”

His gaze traveled across her long, lean body. Over the tense set of her elegant shoulders, to the slender slip of her waist. His attention was caught by the slight lift of her delicate breasts as she breathed in and out. Switching his attention to her face, he caught the faint blush on her cheeks. But when he met her eyes, he saw the glint of outrage at his perusal. A hint of defiance at being judged.