The Greek's Long-Lost Son (4 page)

Adjusting his pack to his shoulders, he approached the car. “Hello, Ari,” he said, smiling at his son, who had on khaki shorts and a soccer jersey. He was on the lean side with black-brown hair; the kind of handsome child every man dreamed of fathering. The sight of him and his mother caused Theo’s breath to catch in his throat.

He studied his son. The only thing that was going to guarantee any success at all was the purity of Ari’s spirit and Theo’s unqualified love for the child who was part him, part Stella. If their boy had inherited her sweetness, her loving nature, then maybe Theo had a prayer of getting through to him. But he knew it would have to be on Ari’s timetable.

“Hi,” he responded without enthusiasm, refusing to look at him.

“Who’s your friend?”

“Dax.”

“Hi, Dax. I’m glad you came. I want to get to know Ari’s friends. I think there’s a character on the
Star Trek
television series with your name? He has special powers.”

Dax blinked. “I already know that. How did
you
know?”

“I love science fiction. Especially UFO stories.”

“Me, too. My dad thinks they’re stupid though.”

“Well, I don’t.”

“Rachel knows some real ones,” Ari said, drawn into their conversation in spite of himself.

“Who’s Rachel?”

“My aunt. Her daddy was a pilot in the air force.”

Theo’s eyes took in Dax, who wore jeans and a tank top. Stella had put on trousers and a white blouse that
her figure did wonders for. Considering everyone’s attire to be appropriate, he made a decision.

“Your mother told me we would only have two hours today, Ari, but I think it’s long enough to go for a hike. What do you say we all go?”

“That sounds cool,” Dax responded enthusiastically.

Ari stared at Theo in surprise.

“You mean Mom, too?”

“She and I spent all our time outdoors. We must have walked all over Salamis Island. There’s no one I’d rather trudge up a mountain with. In fact, I’d like to see if she can still keep up with me.”

Theo moved around the other side of the car and opened the door for Stella, who looked at a total loss for words.

“I…I didn’t plan to come with you.” Her voice faltered.

“Please, Mom?” Apparently this idea pleased their son. With his mother along, he wouldn’t be so afraid. Theo couldn’t ask for more than that. She would have trouble refusing.

“I second the motion,” Theo murmured. “You know all the secret places around here. I remember you telling me about the deserted lookout on the mountain behind us where you once found an eagle’s nest.”

Again Ari looked surprised. He stared at Stella. “I’ve never seen it.”

“That’s because I’ve never taken you hiking up there, honey.”

Good. This would be a new experience for the four of them. “Let’s find out if it’s still there, shall we? I’ve brought enough goodies for all of us.”

Everyone was looking at her. She could hardly say no. Stella would walk through fire to protect their son. “Well, all right.”

While the boys got out, Theo assisted her. The sight of those long, elegant legs covered in khaki raised his blood pressure. When their arms brushed by accident, it sent a rush of desire through his body so intense he was staggered. To his chagrin, everything about her appealed to him more than ever.

“Ari? I bet you know how to put the top up on the car for your mother.” The boy nodded, but Theo could tell Ari hadn’t thought of it until it was mentioned. “That’s good. We want it to be safe while we’re gone. This car’s a beauty,” he said, eyeing Stella. She looked away.

“Will you let me do it, Mom?”

“I’ll help,” Dax volunteered.

“Yes. Of course.” She’d been outvoted and outmaneuvered. Nothing could have pleased Theo more. He helped the boys and made easy work of it.

Once she’d locked the car with her remote, Theo opened his pack. “Give me your purse.” Though he sensed she was fighting him every step of the way, she had to be careful in front of Ari. After she’d handed it to him, he zipped the compartment and eased it onto his shoulders a second time.

“If everyone’s ready, there’s a footpath beyond that copse of trees running up the side of the valley. Last one to the lookout is a girlie man.”

Both boys laughed. Dax asked, “What’s that?”

“A phrase I picked up while I was living in New York. It means wimp!”

Ari’s smile faded. He stared hard at him as they walked. “Mom and I used to live in New York.”

That was where she’d gone? Where she’d been for so long?

It was an astounding piece of news, despite the fact
that he knew Stasio did business there on a regular basis. To think Ari had been living in the same city where Theo had worked…So close? It slayed him. “Did you like it?”

“Yes, but I like Greece better.”

“So do I.”

“Come on, everyone,” Stella urged. “At this pace we’ll never get there.” Theo wondered what had made her so nervous that she’d been a little short with Ari just now. A tight band constricted his breathing. By the end of their hike he intended to find out.

“I’ve never been to New York,” Dax muttered.

“It’s an exciting city.”

“I thought you lived in Greece.”

“I did until my twenties, Dax, then I moved to New York to earn my living. Now I have an office in Athens and am back to stay.” Stella walked ahead of him with Ari, but he suspected she was listening to make sure the conversation didn’t touch on things she wanted kept quiet.

“What do you do?”

“I deal in stocks and investments. Some real estate. What does your father do?”

“He owns a bank.”

Of course. Dax belonged to the approved sector of Greek society. “Does your mother have a job, too?”

“No. She stays home with my brother and sister and me.”

“You’re very lucky. Do you know my mother still helps my father run their taverna on Salamis? I can’t ever remember when they weren’t working. Sometimes I wished my mother could stay home with me and my brothers, but we were too poor. She had to work.”

“Is she a cook?”

Theo smiled. “She’s a lot of things. The other day I
told her she and papa didn’t have to work anymore because I planned to take care of them from now on. Do you know what she said?”

Dax looked up at him. “What?”

“‘I’ve worked all my life, Theo Pantheras. If I didn’t have work, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.’”

Ari slowed down and turned around. “Do they know about me?” Stella looked back. The pain in her eyes as she reached for their son tore him apart.

“They know all about you and hope the day will come when you might like to meet them.”

To ease the moment, Theo pulled off his pack and opened a compartment. “Let’s see. I’ve got water, oranges, peanuts, hard candy. Who wants what before we race the rest of the way?” The relief on Stella’s face needed no explanation.

Once they’d refreshed themselves, Theo stood next to a pine tree. “I’m going to count to twenty while you two guys head up the trail first. Take my binoculars, Ari. If you see something exciting, shout.”

The second he started counting in a loud voice, they took off on a run. It was steeper in this section and the trail zigzagged up through the forest. “Twenty!” he called out at last, then eyed Stella. “Are you ready to try catching up to them?”

“Just a minute, Theo.”

“What’s the matter? Are you about to tell me I’ve done everything wrong?”

Her chest heaved with the strength of her emotions. “Don’t pretend you don’t know you’ve done everything right,” her voice shook. “Inviting Dax along made Ari feel comfortable.”

“I thought that was why you brought him with Ari.”

“No. I was going to take Dax on a little tour of the island while we waited for you, but your idea was much better.” She wouldn’t make eye contact with him.

“Then you’re angry because I got you involved in the hike. When I saw Ari’s face stripped of animation, I made an impulsive decision hoping it would help our son.”

She wiped the palms of her hands against her womanly hips in a gesture of nervousness he’d seen many times years ago. He would always be touched by her vulnerability.

““Your instincts were dead on,” she admitted. “I didn’t expect him to have a good time today. Instead I…1 have the feeling he won’t be averse to seeing you again,” she stammered. “That’s what I need to talk to you about.”

He chewed on some more peanuts. “Go on.”

She cleared her throat. “We’re here on vacation for two and a half more weeks.” After a pause she leveled a guarded brown gaze with its hint of pleading on him. “Before you ask to see him again, would you wait until we’re back in Athens?”

Two and half weeks sounded like a lifetime. “Of course I will,” he answered in a husky tone without hesitation, “provided you tell me why you’re so frightened for any more visits to take place here.”

“I’m not frightened.” Yet her whole trembling demeanor told him otherwise.

“Yes, you are.” Without conscious thought he grasped her cold hands. “I take it your family is here and you haven’t told them about me yet.” Stella tried to pull away, but he drew her closer. “They’re going to find out through Ari or Dax. You can’t keep something of this magnitude a secret.”

“Maybe not, but I’m hoping to deal with everything after we’re back home in the city.”

He grimaced. “It’s like déjà vu, the two of us sneaking around to see each other without your family knowing what’s going on. Nothing’s changed has it.”

“Please let me go.” She tried to get away, but he still had questions.

“It wouldn’t be because you’re afraid to see me again, would it?”

“Theo—”

“Do my scars repel you so much?”

“Your scars have nothing to do with anything!” Her anger sounded genuine enough to satisfy him on that score.

“Then stay here with me for a little while.”

“I can’t!”

“That isn’t what you used to say to me.”

“You mean until you left me waiting at the church?”

“We’ve already been over this, Stella. I told you I came for you, but I was accosted. When I was able to search for you, you’d disappeared on
me
.”

A strange cry escaped her throat.

His hands slid up her arms where he could feel the warmth of her skin through the thin material of her blouse, seducing him. He gave her a gentle shake. “Do you honestly believe I wouldn’t have come to the church unless a life-and-death situation had prevented me? You and I talked marriage long before I found out I’d made you pregnant.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t want to talk about it. The boys might see us.”

“They’re at least a kilometer away by now. We
have
to discuss this at some point.” He slowly relinquished his hold on her.

She shook her head, backing away from him as if the contact had been too much for her. “I don’t know what to believe about anything. If you’ll please give me my purse, I’m going back to the car while you join the boys.”

He took several deep breaths to calm down while he got it out for her. The fact that she needed to run away from him meant it was possible his logic was getting through to her. His heart leaped. “Will you be all right going back alone?”

“That’s an odd question to ask when you haven’t been around in years. Please go and catch up to the boys. This is unfamiliar territory to them.”

“I’ll bring them back safely.”

She darted away like a gazelle, leaving him bereft. He watched until he couldn’t see her anymore, then he hurried up the mountain filled with new energy.

The Stella he’d loved to distraction was still there beneath her defenses, breathing life back into his psyche. He’d forgotten he could feel like this. In time he would get answers to why she never tried to get in touch with him again. She wasn’t going anywhere now. Neither was he.

Before long he discovered the boys at the outlook. Dax had the binoculars trained on something. When he saw Theo, he pointed to an area along the ridge, then handed them over. Theo raised them to his eyes.

“You have a sharp eye, Dax. That’s an Elenora falcon having fun with a friend.”

They weren’t thirty meters away. He handed the field glasses back. “Just like you and Ari.”

Dax laughed, but there wasn’t a glimmer of a smile from Ari’s lips. Theo hadn’t expected much positive reaction from his son yet and he wasn’t getting it. To
make progress he was going to have to practice infinite patience if he hoped Ari would let him into his life, let alone show him love.

Stella had received his promise that he wouldn’t try to see Ari again until they were back in Athens. He had to honor it, but he didn’t have to like it.

“I hate to break this up, but your mother is waiting for us.” He opened his pack. “Finish off whatever’s left and we’ll go.”

The boys needed no urging to eat the snacks. Theo packed the binoculars and they took off down the mountain.

Stella had already put the top back down. She looked as composed and untouched as before. Much to his satisfaction Theo could see the little nerve throbbing madly at the base of her throat, giving him irrefutable proof to the contrary.

When they reached the car, he checked his watch. The outing had taken three hours. More time with his son than he’d expected. He studied Stella’s profile while he fastened the boys’ seat belts and shut the door. “You guys were great sports today. I had one of the best times I’ve ever had. Maybe we can do it again some time.”

Dax high-fived him. “It was awesome.”

Ari squinted at him. “Is that your helicopter over there?”

His son didn’t miss much. “Yes.”

“Who’s that man walking around?”

“My bodyguard. His name is Boris.”

A short silence ensued. “Stasi has one, too.” And his own hit men who included Nikos, but Ari wouldn’t know that. “Are you going back to Athens now?”

Theo thought about his question. Ari probably
couldn’t wait to get rid of him. But fool that Theo was, he’d dared hope he detected a forlorn tone in his son’s question. Then again it was possible Ari was just being curious. Hell—Theo didn’t know what to think.