The Giannakis Bride (10 page)

Not that it was any of Erika’s business.

She acts as if she’s his mother and I’m some hussy who’s set her sights on him, Brianna thought balefully. What does she think? That I pinned him down in the back seat of the Mercedes and had my way with him when
Spiros
wasn’t looking?

Finally even
Dimitrios
had had enough of his housekeeper’s surveillance. “
Efharisto
, Erika, that’ll be all,” he said, after the main course had been cleared away and coffee served. “We can manage by ourselves now.”

With one last inimical glare at Brianna, the woman departed, leaving behind a silence so fraught with electricity that it was almost worse than her hovering presence. A minute passed. Stretched to two, then three.
Dimitrios
rested his elbow on the upholstered arm of his chair, stretched out his long legs, and continued his leisurely observation.

Schooling herself not to fidget, Brianna scoured her mind for some pithy conversational gambit that might distract him, but “Lovely weather we’re having,” didn’t quite cut it. So, reminding herself of the adage that it was better to keep her mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt, she focused her attention on the dancing candle flames reflected in the table top. And still the silence stretched, taut as a bow string.

At last, when she was about ready to drain her glass of wine in one gulp, then do the same to the bottle, he said, “You’re upset.”

“My goodness,” she retorted acidly, “how did you guess?”

“With me?”

The temptation to lie and say “yes” nagged at her, but there’d been enough untruths in the mess between them, and even if she was willing to deceive him, she refused to deceive herself. “No. With me.”

“Why? Because I kissed you and touched you, and you couldn’t deny it’s exactly what you wanted me to do?”

That, and a whole lot more than she cared to admit. But the real problem was less easily defined because he touched her in other ways that had nothing to do with the physical. “No,” she confessed. “Because I’m in danger of repeating a mistake which cost me dearly the first time around, and that’s something I promised myself I wouldn’t let happen a second time.”

“What mistake is that?”

“That once again, I’m on the point of leaping headfirst into an involvement with you, without considering the risks.”

“What if I were to tell you there are no risks this time? That all I want is to put right what went wrong between us before, and pick up where we left off?”

Desperately trying to shore up her crumbling defenses, she said, “You didn’t give me that impression yesterday. You were openly hostile.”

“Perhaps I was, at first. But then…” He didn’t exactly sigh; he wasn’t that kind of man. Instead he exhaled and gave a shrug that drew her attention to his broad shoulders. “Since we’re talking truth at all costs, I admit I was looking to find flaws in you where once I’d seen only perfection. I hoped you’d changed, that you were beginning to lose your looks and had nothing underneath. No warmth, no heart, no humanity. I hoped that the giving, passionate woman I fell in love with really was nothing more than the cold-blooded tease I had reason to believe she’d become, and that seeing you again would reinforce what I’d been telling myself for years: that I was well rid of you.”

“Well, in a way, you got your wish because the plain fact is, I’m not the same as I was when we first met, and nor are you,” she pointed out. “Life happened,
Dimitrios
, and it’s changed us. We can’t go back to the way we once were, any more than a smashed china plate can be glued back together without showing any cracks. So what’s the point of pretending otherwise?”

“The point,” he said, “is that, despite everything, it’s not too late for us. We’re not china plates, we’re two intelligent, consenting adults with no ties to other partners. To the best of my knowledge, nowhere is it written that as such, we’re not entitled to a second chance.”

This wasn’t part of the plan. In fact, it was in direct contradiction to everything she’d resolved. He was part of her past, and not one overflowing with happy memories. Yet his kiss in the car, and now the way he was looking at her, and the tone of his voice—somehow they were managing to erase all that old, tired grief and revive a joy and anticipation she’d only ever experienced with him.

Schooling herself to caution, she said, “I rather think the only reason you feel that way is that you’re facing a terribly difficult situation, and it would help if you weren’t doing it alone.”

“I’m not alone, Brianna, and if all I need is support, I can find it in my large network of friends, and a household of loyal staff.”

“I didn’t mean…that kind of alone.”

“You think I’ve lived like a monk since Cecily died?” His mouth curved in bitter amusement. “I might be widowed,
koritsi
mou
, but I’ve still got a pulse. If all I want is sex, I don’t have to import it from North America.”

“Then why are you pursuing me? You already know I’ll do whatever I can to help Poppy.”

“You know why, Brianna. Because we belong together and we always have. Do I want to make love to you? Of course I do, badly enough that I’d take you right here on this table, if you were willing. But you’re not so naive as to think a relationship is only about sex. And that’s the point I’m trying to make. I want a relationship. Not just any relationship, but one with you.”

“Would you still be talking this way if I told you I’ve decided against going ahead with the tests? That I’ve changed my mind about becoming a donor for Poppy?”

“But you haven’t,” he said. “And you won’t. You’re not that kind of person, which is another reason I’m falling for you all over again.”

“What if it turns out that I’m not a suitable match?”

“Then we’ll keep looking for someone who is. And if I have my way, we’ll do it together. I can’t keep you here against your will, and if your career matters too much to give it up, I’ll let you go. But I’m warning you now, I won’t make it easy for you. I’ll do my damnedest to make you want to stay.”

One by one he was systematically destroying every barrier she’d erected against him. Beset on all sides, she buried her face in her hands, not knowing which way to turn. Her career wasn’t the issue. She could kiss that goodbye and never miss it if, in its place, she found true love and fulfillment as a wife and a mother.

But desire, passion, yearning? How did she subdue their voracious demands and relegate them to their proper place? How separate them from the more enduring dimensions of a relationship, like friendship and trust and common values? Heaven knew, the temptation to cast caution to the winds and fling herself into an affair with him was strong. But if, once their carnal appetites were satisfied, she found there was nothing of substance left, what then? How would she survive losing him a second time?

She heard his chair scrape back, felt him gently prying her hands away so that he could look her in the eye. “You don’t have to give me an answer now,” he said. “I won’t pretend I’m a patient man because I’m not. When I want something badly enough, I go after it with all I’ve got. And make no mistake about it, Brianna. I want and need you in every way a man can want and need a woman. Four years ago, I recognized you as my soul mate and it’s taken no time at all for me to realize that’s still the case. But until you decide you feel the same way about me, I won’t press you for an answer. All I ask is that you give some unbiased thought to the idea of us as a couple, and know that my feelings for you aren’t going to change, no matter what your final decision might be.”

“And in the meantime?”

“Oh, I’m not going to make it easy for you,” he admitted, beguiling her with his smile. “I never said I’d be content to sit on my hands and not take action. I intend to woo you at every turn. But tonight, I’ll settle for this.”

He drew her to her feet and tilted up her chin with his thumb. His eyes, their irises dark gray ringed with black, their lashes casting a dense inky shadow in the candlelight, tracked her face, feature by feature.

His lips followed, sampling the hollow beneath her cheekbones, the corner of her jaw, the bridge of her nose. His mouth flirted with hers but never quite settled, a feast for her starving soul, cruelly held just beyond reach.

The last of her resistance in tatters, she clutched fistfuls of his shirt front. “
Dimitrios
,” she begged, the persistent throb of frustrated desire tormenting her.

He traced the outline of her mouth with his fingertip. Slid it between her parted lips and out again, a boldly unmistakable promise made more erotic by the urgent thrust of his flesh which neither his slim-fitting trousers nor the silky fabric of her dress could disguise.

Heaven alone knew what she might not have done or said next, had his cell phone not interrupted the moment. “Under any other circumstances,” he muttered, his breathing almost as strangled as hers, “I would ignore this, but with Poppy…”

“I understand.”

“I know you do.” Flipping open the phone, he glanced at the display screen and turned pale beneath his tan. Tonelessly, he said, “It’s Noelle.”

Brianna’s heart missed a beat, and far from escaping when opportunity presented itself, as had been her original intention, she stood rooted to the spot. The hands of a marble wall clock showed seventeen minutes after ten. At that hour, whatever the reason for the doctor’s call, it couldn’t be good.

Dimitrios
paced the length of the room to the glass doors opening onto the terrace, the phone clamped to his ear. “No,” Brianna heard him say. “We’re just finishing dinner. What…? Oh, that! With everything that’s happened lately…no, of course I haven’t forgotten, it just got pushed to the back of my mind…. I haven’t asked her, but either way, I’m still depending on you to be there, Noelle…. Don’t be silly, I’m always available to speak to you, you know that. Absolutely…. Good night.”

He slapped the phone closed and turned back into the room, his face the picture of relief.

“I take it Poppy’s fine?” Brianna ventured.

“Yes.” He shook his head ruefully. “I’m not sure I am, though. First, I forget an important business meeting this morning, one that had been arranged months ago. And now, another couple of important dates have crept up without my realizing. See the effect you have on me?”

“Dates?”

“If you can call them that, yes, though they’re as much a social obligation as anything. I offered my place as the venue for a garden party being held next Sunday to honor the people who’ve supported the
Rosegarth
with private donations throughout the year. The annual fund-raising gala that is open to the general public takes place the following Saturday. I always support both, but this year’s events hold special significance for me, as you can imagine. If it weren’t for the generosity of other people, there’d be no clinic here in Athens and I’d have had to take Poppy to another country for treatment.”

“And you’ll have Noelle for moral support both times. That’s nice.”

She thought she’d done a pretty good job of hiding the unreasonable burst of jealousy welling up within her, but something in her voice must have given her away because he skewered her in a sharp glance. “She agreed to stand in as hostess next weekend, yes, and I offered to be her escort at the gala. I made these plans weeks ago, before I knew you’d be here, but in case you’re wondering, there’s nothing romantic going on between me and Noelle. We’ve known each other for quite some time, but it’s only recently, since her involvement with Poppy, that we’ve become close friends.”

“I see.”

“I hope you do,” he said, an edge of steel in his words, “because I had my share of emotional game playing with Cecily, and I’m not interested in going another round with you. I don’t lie, Brianna, and I don’t expect you to lie, either. For what it’s worth, Noelle was calling to let me off the hook on both occasions, especially the garden party. But as you won’t know many people, I told her to leave things as they stand. I don’t see a problem with that, but if you do, I won’t press you to attend. For my part, though, I’ve made a commitment and I intend to keep it.”

“I’d like to be there,” she said, ashamed. In her own way, she was as much a mass of insecurities as Cecily had been, and for the same reasons. Valued by her mother for her looks and what they earned. The trophy girlfriend, desired by men for her glamour. But until
Dimitrios
, never loved for herself; for the woman inside the body, the brain behind the face.

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. And I’m sorry I responded badly just now. It was a stupid, knee-jerk reaction.”

He caught her hands and pulled her to him. “Old habits die hard, and we’ve both been burned. But sweetheart, dragging all that old baggage with us will kill any chance we have of a successful future together.”

“You’re right, but sometimes that’s easier said than done.” She leaned against him. Felt the strong, unhurried beat of his heart. Everything he said made sense, so why was it, now that they’d cleared up the misunderstandings of the past, that she persisted in looking for flaws? “You know,
Dimitrios
, for all that I’ve defended her to you, I’m still having a hard time getting past what Cecily did. I knew she resented me at some level, but I had no idea she’d take it that far.”

“
Mana
mou
, I don’t say this to hurt you, but Cecily resented anyone she perceived as having more than she did, whether it was to do with money or business or relationships. No matter how much you gave her, how much she already had, it was never enough. She couldn’t stand knowing someone else might have more. That was reason enough for her to try to take it away and keep it for herself.”