by Lynne Graham
‘When Sofia was dying, she had a letter sent to me in which she confessed her darkest secret. She didn’t have the nerve to tell her husband so she told me instead.’ Kreon drew a crumpled envelope from his pocket and passed it to her. ‘Give it to Jax, let him decide what to do with it now. In it Sofia confesses to having an affair and she admits that Jax’s brother wasn’t fathered by Heracles. I went to see Jax a couple of weeks ago and I threatened to take that letter to the newspapers.’
‘Good grief…why would you threaten to do something so horrible?’ Lucy demanded in total disbelief.
‘I wanted Jax to marry you and take care of you and Bella. I thought he owed you that security and I still believe that he does but coercing him into doing it was wrong and unjust. He was protecting his father from more heartache and I shouldn’t have put him in that position. He is not responsible for his father’s mistakes.’
Lucy had turned very pale and her stomach was curdling as if she had eaten something that disagreed with her. She studied her father in slowly dawning horror and comprehension. ‘Are you telling me that you blackmailed Jax into proposing to me?’
As Kreon gave a guilty nod of silent confirmation, Lucy felt as though the bottom had just dropped out of her world. She stared at the brand-new wedding ring on her finger and felt sick. Jax hadn’t wanted to marry her. No, he had been forced to marry her. It was ghastly. She looked at her father in stricken condemnation. ‘Were you insane? I mean, what on earth could persuade you that that was an acceptable way to behave towards Bella’s father?’
‘I was angry with him. I wanted to punish Jax for seducing and abandoning you. It’s not an excuse but at the time I honestly believed I was doing what was best for you and my granddaughter.’
‘Because Jax is rich and powerful,’ Lucy slotted in sickly. ‘And now you feel bad about it because you’ve realised that rich and powerful people like Heracles Antonakos make mistakes and suffer just like everyone else.’
Kreon sighed. ‘That’s probably it in a nutshell. When I listened to Heracles talking I felt my anger draining away. He was a workaholic who neglected all his wives. But he came to the wedding today even though he didn’t approve of you because he was making an effort to be supportive of Jax as a father should. That was the right kind of effort to make for a child, mine was wrong. What did I do today? I made a sarcastic comment and provoked that punch.’
‘I’m really upset,’ Lucy admitted, breathing in deep and slow to calm herself down. ‘You’d better go back down and join the guests before Iola starts wondering where you are.’
‘I’m sorry, Lucy. I’ve just felt so powerless since you came into my life. You had had such a rough time and I genuinely did want to make your life better,’ Kreon confessed before he walked away.
And she understood exactly where her father was coming from but he had blackmailed Jax. Nausea stirred in Lucy’s tummy. Jax, who would hold a grudge beyond the grave. Jax, who idolised the father who had ignored him for so many years, had been vulnerable. A deep sense of anguish flooded Lucy and an even deeper sense of shame. The father she had so easily come to love had let her down badly and shown her his feet of clay. That hurt as well. Was she always going to be a rotten judge of character?
But what did she do now? Well, the middle of a wedding didn’t seem the ideal venue in which to open a very difficult conversation with Jax. Oh, by the way, my father mentioned that he blackmailed you… Lucy cringed and winced and hurt all over again. She hurt for her father and for Jax and for Bella, for surely the chances of such a marriage working out looked very poor. But most of all, she was discovering that she hurt for herself. Jax’s apparent desire to marry her had filled her with hope and even unleashed a few dreams.
Only now it was obvious that Jax hadn’t actually experienced any desire to put a ring on her finger. Her father had used the nastiest form of persuasion available to get that wedding ring on her hand. Hadn’t it ever occurred to Kreon that it would be his daughter who had to deal with the aftermath of what he had done? Hadn’t he appreciated how angry and aggrieved Jax would feel? Lucy shivered, suddenly feeling very alone and without support. She couldn’t depend on her father and now it was equally obvious that she could not depend on her new husband either.
For the first time she badly wanted to speak to the sisters she had never met. It was crazy but she wanted to reach out and see if she could connect with a sister as she so obviously had failed to connect with Jax or her father. Kreon had lied when he said that she could trust him. And Jax hadn’t meant all those fine things he had said about how they could be a couple creating a secure family in which to raise a child. He had been forced to talk like that to convince Lucy to agree to marry him and she groaned out loud, remembering how unusually understated Jax had been that evening. She had already put her sister’s phone number into her mobile for fear that she might mislay Polly’s letter and she dug her phone out of her small ornamental bag.
She got a bad case of cold feet while the phone was ringing and almost stopped the call before it connected. And then it was answered by this sunny, confidence-inducing female voice and Lucy froze.
‘It’s Lucy…er…your sister…if that’s you, Polly,’ she gabbled in an uneasy rush.
‘Lucy!’ Polly proclaimed warmly. ‘I’m so very happy to hear from you. Do you have any idea how long Ellie and I have been trying to trace you?’
‘Why were you trying?’ Lucy asked in genuine puzzlement.
‘Because you’re our sister and part of our family. Ellie and I always had each other but until recently I know you had no one. Of course, I appreciate that you have your father now—’
‘That hasn’t worked out so well,’ Lucy mumbled in some embarrassment.
‘I’m really sorry to hear that. Are you all right, Lucy?’ Polly prompted anxiously.
Lucy stared stonily at the wall, hot prickly tears stinging the backs of her aching eyes. ‘Well, not so great today…to be brutally honest,’ she framed chokily.
‘You sound upset,’ Polly remarked with care. ‘Naturally I don’t want to pry but—’
‘I’m not upset,’ Lucy insisted chokingly. ‘It’s my wedding day—’
‘My wedding day wasn’t great either,’ Polly told her ruefully. ‘I assume the ceremony has already taken place? Do you love the man you married?’
It was a simple question but it froze Lucy from head to toe. She started to shiver, feeling cold and clammy. ‘No, we’re not in love. We got married because we have a daughter…at least I thought that’s why we got married but seems I was wrong about that too,’ she mumbled shakily.
‘I can’t believe you’re already a mother at only twenty-one,’ Polly exclaimed. ‘Somehow our detective didn’t pick up on that. You sound so unhappy though. Please tell me what’s wrong…’
And Lucy compressed her lips, fighting the tears positively attracted by that soft, understanding sibling voice. ‘I can’t tell you—’
‘You can tell me anything,’ Polly assured her. ‘Ellie and I are here and ready and willing to help you if you need us.’
‘That’s good to know but I still can’t tell you,’ Lucy repeated doggedly.
‘Is your child’s father abusive?’ Polly demanded worriedly. ‘Are you at risk in any way?’
‘No…no!’ Lucy insisted, hastening to shut down that suspicion. ‘Look, I’ve just found out that my father blackmailed my bridegroom into marrying me! That’s why I’m upset.’
‘Right…’ Polly’s momentary hesitation spoke volumes and Lucy winced. ‘But you’re not responsible for what your father does. Lucy, you only have to say the word and, wherever you are and no matter what time of day it is, we’ll have you picked up.’
‘That’s a very generous offer,’ Lucy framed, deeply touched.
‘Please think about coming to stay with us for a while…you’d be very welcome and it would give you a breathing space in which to decide what you want to do next,’ her sister pointed out.
&nb
sp; ‘I’ll certainly think about it but I have to go now. I’m sorry. I’ll phone you again when I have more time to talk.’
Lucy thrust her phone guiltily back into her bag, wondering what had possessed her to say so much to a woman she had never met. Now Polly probably thought she was more than a little weird. She headed down to the powder room on the ground floor to repair her make-up. Her mascara had run and she asked herself why she had been reduced to tears. The shock of Kreon’s confession? The knowledge that Jax had only proposed to protect his cantankerous old father from the humiliation of having it known that his elder son had not been his? Whatever, it was her wedding day and she was on show and she had to get over her emotional reactions and behave normally.
‘Where the hell have you been?’ Jax demanded as he strode out of the function room to intercept her and closed his hands round her arms to hold her still. ‘Is Bella OK?’
‘She’s fine. I was talking to someone,’ Lucy told him, colliding with his stunning black-fringed green eyes and experiencing a jolt not unlike an electric shock.
Jax stared down at her. ‘Have you been crying?’ he asked, noticing the very faint hint of pink round her eyelids, which he was certain hadn’t been visible earlier.
‘No, for goodness’ sake,’ Lucy parried with an uneasy laugh. ‘Why would I have been crying?’
Jax had no idea but he could see that Lucy’s naturally sunny aura had dimmed. Perhaps Bella was playing up, he reasoned. Weddings were stressful and a strange place and a strange nanny could well have upset his daughter. He dropped a hand to Lucy’s spine and guided her back into the function room and towards the top table.
The meal was served. It melted in Lucy’s mouth but she might as well have been eating sawdust for all the pleasure it gave her. Her fatherin-law asked her some very awkward questions about her past life and she answered as best she could, struggling to breeze lightly past her years in care and becoming much more animated when he asked about Bella.
A professional singer entertained them and then the dancing began. Jax had to almost drag Lucy onto the floor because she couldn’t dance very well and was covered in blushes at the thought of having to perform in front of people.
‘I just wish this day was over,’ she confided, pushing her face against his chest, realising that he was so tall that, from one angle at least, she could literally hide herself.
‘You and me both,’ Jax admitted, wondering if his father had said something cutting to make her appear so subdued and feeling surprisingly angry at that suspicion.
Of course, the wedding he had been blackmailed into agreeing to could hardly be a source of pleasure for him, Lucy reckoned wretchedly. And what must he think of her father now? He probably knew Kreon had already spent a couple of years of his youth in a cell and now he would believe that Kreon belonged in prison and would think less of her because of it. People did judge you on your background and relatives. Not that he had ever thought that much of her to begin with, Lucy reminded herself unhappily, recalling how she had been cast off like an old shoe in Spain.
‘In another few hours we’ll be on our way,’ Jax remarked, long brown fingers sliding down her back to gather her closer.
Heat curled between her thighs as she felt the evidence of his arousal. Her mouth ran dry. Evidently blackmail didn’t douse Jax’s libido. He still wanted her. Was that something to celebrate? Or something more to beat herself up about? Was she supposed to settle gratefully for being his sexual outlet? Was that all she was worth? All she deserved? She didn’t know any longer. Her brain in turmoil, she forced herself to relax into the hard, muscular warmth of his hold and allowed him to slow-dance her round the floor. Other people were dancing now as well and she no longer felt like the centre of attention.
‘Where will we be on our way to?’ she asked belatedly.
‘That’s a surprise,’ Jax admitted, still taken aback by what his father had done.
The little island of Tifnos was the Antonakos home but Jax had yet to even spend a night there. As a boy he had been ferried out there but only on day trips to attend several big family social occasions and as an adult he had flown to the island regularly to consult with Heracles about business. But it had never been his home because when he had been young he had been lucky if his father even acknowledged his presence among so many other guests. In truth he had always felt like an intruder and an outsider in his father’s house and the startling concept of making Tifnos his base raised all sorts of conflicting feelings.
‘Oh…’ Lucy framed, drinking in the scent of him with flared nostrils. There was definitely something scientific in the effect of pheromones on attraction, she conceded ruefully. She loved Jax’s smell; that indefinable combination of designer cologne and husky male had called to her from his first kiss.
Her eyes prickled again and she wrinkled her nose to hold the stupid tears back. Her husband, blackmailed into marrying her. Knowing that, she found it a challenge to believe that she could be a true bride and wife. In fact, Kreon’s intervention and use of pressure made a nonsense of the entire day. She felt utterly humiliated. She wondered when she would work up the nerve to discuss what Kreon had done with Jax and how he would react when she did. He could well be furious that she had found out. His ferocious pride would rebel against her knowing that he could be forced into doing anything.
She was heading for the bridal suite to get changed for their departure when she saw Kat Valtinos walking towards her and suppressed a sigh because she wasn’t in the mood to be patronised or bitched at over the head of Jax.
‘Lucy…’ Kat murmured with a bright artificial smile. ‘Your big day’s almost over.’
‘Yes. We’re leaving soon.’ Lucy busied herself fishing out the card to open the door. Kreon and Iola had already taken Bella home for the night and her daughter would be staying with them for the first week Jax and Lucy were away.
‘Well, enjoy it while you can,’ Kat advised with saccharine sweetness. ‘It’s not as if your marriage will last long.’
As Lucy thrust the door open she simply ignored the brunette, refusing to be drawn into an exchange with her. Kat had hated her two years ago in Spain for attracting Jax and, from what she had seen of Jax and Kat in the newspapers, Kat must still have cherished hopes of something more coming from their long friendship.
‘Jax will take the kid and dump you again,’ Kat murmured lethally. ‘Don’t say you weren’t warned.’
Lucy closed the door firmly behind her. Pale and shaky after that nasty little threat of what could be, she concentrated on removing her gown and freshening up. She pulled on a light dress and thrust her sore feet into sandals, touching up her make-up with a light hand. Kat was such a shrew, she reflected ruefully. Jax would never try to take Bella from her. Why would he do such a cruel thing? Or even think about separating a mother from her child? It wasn’t as though she was an unfit mother. All right, she wasn’t perfect. She had been known to snarl a little when Bella tried to get her out of bed at dawn but she loved her daughter. Nothing pleased Lucy more than the ability to give Bella all the little things she had never had herself, the small stuff like bedtime stories, favourite foods and lots of hugs.
Her luggage packed and then collected, Lucy went to meet Jax. A limo ferried them to the airport, where they boarded a helicopter.
‘Are we going on the yacht?’ she asked before the noise of the engine made any conversation impossible.
‘No. Tifnos,’ Jax told her simply.
And Lucy nodded, secretly intimidated by the prospect. She had read about the fabled private island Heracles had bought as a base in the eighties. Her fatherin-law was reputed to live in feudal splendour there in a house that had never been photographed or shown in any publication. But it was supposed to have gardens that could rival the Garden of Eden, a private zoo and literally hundreds of staff.
Lucy felt inadequate. She was far too ordinary for such a backdrop. She had always been ordinary and had once thought that that was w
hat attracted Jax to her. She didn’t put on airs, she didn’t say things she didn’t believe to impress and when she didn’t know something she admitted it. Unexpectedly, Jax closed a large hand over hers and then slowly laced his fingers with her own. His thumb massaged her inner wrist soothingly. It was as if she had hoisted a flag telegraphing panic and he had picked up on it. Or as if he was a little apprehensive too…
An idea she swiftly dismissed, for Tifnos was the Antonakos home and he had to be well accustomed to it.
It was fully dark by the time helicopter landed and Jax scooped her out onto the helipad. Momentarily she was thrilled by the dark heavens filled with thousands of the stars that were never visible in the city. Their luggage was piled into a beach buggy and Zenas took the wheel to drive them up a steep hill road hedged in by a forest of pine trees.
And then at the top the Antonakos house stretched like a giant illuminated cruise ship.
‘It’s big,’ she said abruptly.
‘Yep, for a man who doesn’t like to entertain, Heracles built a very large house,’ Jax conceded wryly.
They stepped into a foyer glossy and glittering with pristine marble and chandeliers. It looked exactly like a plush hotel reception without the desk. A double staircase swanned up to the next floor, each tread wide enough to march an army.
‘Think movie set,’ Jax urged. ‘My mother redesigned the entrance, so there are some very theatrical touches.’
A small middle-aged Greek man approached them with a tray of welcoming drinks. Jax passed her a champagne flute but demurred on his account. ‘I don’t like champagne,’ he admitted.
Lucy drank down hers to be polite while she peered into rooms furnished with the kind of opulence that just screamed old money to her. There were statues and collections and cabinets and elaborate artwork everywhere she looked. Suddenly she understood why there were supposedly hundreds of staff. It would take a fair number to look after so many possessions.
Jax set down her glass for her and closed his hand over hers and told the hovering manservant whom he addressed as Theo that they were going to bed.