CHAPTER THREE
'don't you think you're being excessively attentive? " Kate asked Damon the following afternoon. "This is the second day in a row you've spirited me away, for goodness' sake. What's Sophia going to think?" "Exactly what I want her to think--that I'm mad about you." Kate gave a muffled snort. "Even Sophia isn't that gullible." "Sophia's a romantic, my dear. That's why she ended up with a fool like Stephanos." Kate shook her head. She was a cynic herself as far as love was concerned. Who wouldn't be after having fallen for Bryce? But Damon Alexakis was worse than she was by far. She glanced out the window now, frowning as she noticed that the taxi was heading uptown towards the Tri-borough Bridge rather than into the heart of the city. "Where are we going?" "Reno." "Is that a new restaurant?" "It's a city. In Nevada." Kate's head whipped around and she stared at him. "Reno, Nevada^! You're joking. " "I'm not." "Surely you don't expect us to get married. . today?" Kate couldn't imagine why else they'd be going to Reno, but she hoped she was wrong. She wasn't. "I do." Damon smiled a bit sardonically. "You see. I already know my line." "But I thought you meant weeks from now! I don't want ' " Sophia needs you right away. I want things settled so Stephanos knows right where he stands. " But Kate stopped, her mind spinning as she tried to fathom this sudden push towards matrimony. He hadn't even hinted at it last night when he dropped her off. She looked at him suspiciously. "What happened?" He shifted uncomfortably. "What do you mean? Nothing happened. We already agreed on this. I'm only getting the ball rolling." "You didn't mention a word about it yesterday. So what happened in the meantime? Is Marina on her way?" Damon gritted his teeth. Kate gave him a knowing smile. "I thought so." "They'll be here in a week." "So give me an engagement ring." Damon shook his head. "Won't work. A brief engagement is worse than no engagement at all. My mother will know it's a dodge. An engagement ring won't even slow her down. A wedding-ring will. So we're getting married." "It's insane," Kate muttered. "It's business," Damon said flatly. "And don't you forget it." Kate was hardly likely to. Damon wasn't acting like any of the other prospective grooms standing idly outside the fake New England wedding chapel that night. While the others were holding their fiancee's hand, nibbling their ears, sneaking kisses as they waited their turn, Damon was reading the pre-nuptial agreement his lawyer had sent along, stopping now and then to stick his cellular phone to his ear and check on the wording of certain clauses. Kate sat at the far end of the bench and twiddled her thumbs. So what if everyone was giving them odd looks? she thought. This marriage, farce though it was, had more going for it than her last one had. Finally Damon said, "It'll do the way it is. Don't worry." He cut off the connection, punched out another number, and began another conversation, this one about a crystal shipment that hadn't arrived from Venice before he left New York. Kate sighed and sank lower in her seat. "Mr Alexakis? Miss McKee?" An elderly lady appeared in the doorway to the chapel and looked expectantly at the waiting couples. "It's not going to spoil if it sits there overnight. It's glass, not eggs," Damon said into the phone, not paying the least attention to the summons. Kate wished she hadn't been either. She wished she could blot the whole thing out, go home, and wake up in the morning to find out it was all a bad dream: "Alexakis," the woman said more loudly, consulting her list. "McKee? Are you still here? " "Here," Kate said wearily, getting to her feet and looking at Damon. The woman's gaze followed her own, then she shook her head sadly. "I told you that yesterday, Spiros," Damon said impatiently. "I have to go. Talk to you later." He rang off, bounded to his feet, tucked the phone into the pocket of his suit coat and grabbed Kate's hand. "Let's get this over with." Kate thought that if there was a prize given to the woman who married most un promisingly she would have won both times, hands down. At her first wedding Bryce had been glancing over his shoulder at every second, as if he expected her father to come striding into the Justice of the Peace's office with a shotgun and blow him away. At her second Damon stood like a mannequin, unmoving and unblinking, as if only the shell of the man was present, but the real Damon Alexakis wasn't there at all. Probably, Kate thought grimly, he wasn't. He was probably deep in mental machinations about some business deal that he was in the middle of. Why else would he pause so long when the minister asked him if he took her for his wife, for pity's sake? Was he thinking they should have signed that prenuptial agreement, limiting her access to the Alexakis millions? Was he thinking about the meaning of the vow he was about to make? Was he considering the implications, even at the last moment, of what it meant to take someone for richer and poorer, in sickness and health, promising to love and honour her all the days of his life? Was he coming to his senses at last? Kate shot him a quick look. The minister persisted in his long one, finally clearing his throat. "I do," Damon said suddenly. His voice was clipped, his tone brisk. There was no faltering, no hesitancy. It had all been a product of her overactive imagination, Kate told herself. The minister turned to her. "Do you, Katherine, take Damon- ?" She could say no. She had a choice. She could put an end to the foolishness here and now. She could act like the adult she considered herself most of the time. And she could find herself with a bankrupt company, a chortling father, and a smug Jeffrey Hardesty just waiting for her to say yes. A choice? Who did she think she was kidding? She felt Damon's fingers tighten on hers and was suddenly aware that the minister had stopped speaking, that he and Damon were both looking directly at her. Kate swallowed. "I do," she said. "I hope you weren't expecting a honeymoon," Damon said, pouring her a glass of celebratory champagne as the jet left the runway on its return trip to New York. Kate took the glass when he handed it to her. "Hardly. I wasn't expecting to get married." Damon lifted his glass in toast. "Life is full of surprises." Kate gave him a narrow look. "I bet you aren't as philosophical when they happen to you." "I try to anticipate," Damon agreed. "To us." He clinked his glass against hers. Kate lifted her glass to her lips and sipped in silence. It seemed a farce, a toast to foolishness. She had done it, but she couldn't celebrate it. "Now what?" she said to Damon. He glanced at his watch. "We should be back in the city by dawn. I'll drop you off at Sophia's before I go to the office. I'll call a mover and have your things brought to my place in the afternoon. Then I'll be back to pick you up when I get done at the office." Kate stared. "Wait a minute. What do you mean, call the mover? I never agreed to that! I have my own apartment!" "And you can move back there. After the divorce. For lord's sake, Kate, you can't believe anyone's going to think this is a real marriage if you stay at Sophia's, and keep your things at your apartment." "Who cares what they think as long as you don't have to marry Marina?" Damon's jaw tightened. "My mother, for one. I need her to think this is a real marriage. She'll raise holy hell if she thinks I've done it to thwart her." "And you're afraid of your mother?" "I'm not afraid of anyone. I respect her, though. And I don't want to hurt her?" "You don't think marrying someone other than her choice is going to hurt her?" He rubbed a hand through his hair. "Maybe it will. Hell, I don't know. But there's a line a man has to draw between letting people run his life and making them happy." "And you, of course, never run anyone else's life." He ignored her sarcasm. "I didn't ask you to marry me in order to hurt you." The look on his face was earnest and intent, surprising Kate in its sincerity. "I know," she muttered. "It's just--I'm just--not used to it yet, I guess." She gave him a weak smile and a little shrug. "Sorry. I'm not as good at these machinations as you are." He grimaced. "It's too bad we had to stoop to them. If it wasn't for your father and my mother-' " And Stephanos. And Jeffrey. And Marina. " Damon's mouth twisted. "Right. Well, it won't last forever. A year and it will be a bad memory." "How comforting." "I wasn't trying to be comforting," Damon said flatly. "I was being realistic." "So you were." Kate leaned back in the seat and shut her eyes, suddenly weary. The adrenalin that had kept her going strong throughout the earlier flight, their thirty-minute taxi ride, twenty-minute wedding and subsequent return to the plane slipped away. She didn't want to trade remarks with Damon Alexakis any longer. She didn't want to even thin
k about the man who was--heaven help her--her husband. He seemed to feel the same way. "I'll let you rest," he told her, getting to his feet. "I've got some contracts to read over." Kate didn't think she'd sleep. But she must have, for the first thing she noticed upon opening her eyes was that the city lay sprawled below them, a blanket of twinkling lights, and far out to the east the first rays of sun were beginning to turn the sky a faint pink. She shifted and stretched, turned her head and noticed that Damon had returned and was sitting next to her again. He must have brought back the papers he intended to work on, but they lay untouched in his lap and he, too, had fallen asleep. His face was turned towards hers, his eyes shut, his lips slightly parted. Kate allowed herself the luxury of studying him closely for the first time. According to the forms they'd filled out, he was thirty-four. Her initial impression was that they'd been hard years. For the first time now she actually found herself thinking he looked younger than his age. His mouth looked gentler, his lips fuller. The silky half-moon lashes that touched his cheeks gave him an innocence totally absent when his cool brown eyes were assessing the world at large. He had shed his suit jacket and loosened the knot of his tie. His collar button was undone, affording her the glimpse of a strong throat. As she watched, his eyelids fluttered and he swallowed. Kate looked away quickly, not wanting to be caught staring if he opened his eyes. But he only shifted his position as the plane banked. His head now rested against her shoulder. She didn't move away. "Sell it," he muttered. His jaw tightened. He scowled in his sleep. Kate smiled a bit wryly, wondering if he ever got away from Alexakis Enterprises. It didn't look like it. She certainly didn't know much about this man she'd wed. She wasn't sure she wanted to. He wasn't her type at all. He reminded her altogether too much of her father. She wondered how much luck they would have convincing his family that he'd fallen madly in love with her and she with him. Perhaps they were more gullible than her father had been. Damon had done his best with her father, that was certain. It wasn't his fault that Eugene DeMo may hadn't believed for a minute that Damon was serious. What would the old barracuda, as Damon had called him, say when he found out that she and Damon had actually gone through with it? She stifled a laugh. "Things looking up, are they?" Damon's voice was husky with sleep. He seemed in no hurry to lift his head as he regarded her through bloodshot eyes. Startled at the sound of his voice, Kate turned to look at him. The hint of innocence was gone. The mouth was thin again, the jaw hard. But she couldn't quite forget the other, younger man she'd glimpsed when he was asleep. She shifted so that he had to lift his head. "Just thinking about what our families are going to say. Sophia, Stephanos. Your mother. Your sisters. My father. Jeffrey. " Damon's mouth twisted. "I'm sure it'll be interesting." "Married? To Damon?" Sophia stared, then began to giggle. "Oh, my. Oh, my dear! " "You're married? to K-KateT Stephanos's face went white. He licked his lips nervously and eased his collar away from his neck. "Married? Damon's married^ To who?" One of the sisters stood stock-still and stared. Electra, Kate thought. She wasn't sure. It didn't matter. The three they'd found had said more or less the same thing. "Married? Oh, for heaven's sake, Kate." For once Jeffrey didn't look smug at all. "You never learn, do you, Katherine? Well, it's your bed. Lie in it." Eugene DeMornay shook his head. He walked them to the door of his office, holding Kate back for a moment after Damon had gone ahead. "If Jeffrey's still here when Alexakis divorces you, we can see if he'll have you then." Kate didn't reply. She was too tired. She and Damon had gone straight from the airport to beard them all, one after another, starting with Sophia and Stephanos at breakfast. They'd moved on to whichever of Damon's sisters he could find, then driven straight to the head office of DeMornay Enterprises. Kate hadn't wanted to, protesting that it was already mid-afternoon and surely it could wait. But Damon had insisted. In retrospect, Kate supposed she was glad they'd gone. Now, except for telling Damon's mother on Friday, the hard part was over with. Their families' reactions had hardly been surprising. Still Kate found she was trembling by early evening when Damon took her back to her apartment to get an overnight case. The moment she opened the door she felt her strength desert her. She'cTbnIy been home one night a week since she'd started taking care of the twins, but this was the closest thing to a refuge she had, and now she sank down on the sofa in blessed relief. Damon stood silently right inside the door, staring down at her, his expression brooding. Kate shut her eyes. "Don't go to sleep," Damon said. "Get what you need and let's go." "Can't," Kate mumbled. She wanted nothing more than to crawl into her bed, pull the covers over her head and not surface again until Christmas. Perhaps not even then. "We've been through that. You're coming with me. If they call looking for us and we're not there-' " We could pretend we weren't answering the phone. " "My housekeeper will." "So let's both stay here. I know it's not a penthouse, but it's comfortable, " Kate said quickly. "Besides, don't you think it will be better to let her tell them we're gone? After all, who would be expecting us to spend the first night we're home chaperoned by a housekeeper? Here we have the place all to ourselves. Much more romantic," she added wryly. One of Damon's brows lifted. "And that's what you want?" "Of course not. I want to sleep in my own bed." Kate yawned hugely. "I'm sorry." She gave him a wan smile. "I'm afraid I'm not a very good co conspirator Damon hesitated, pacing around the small living- room, rubbing a hand through his hair. Finally he sighed. "Maybe you're right. OK. One night." Kate smiled, this time with more enthusiasm. She hauled herself to her feet. "I'll make up the sofa for you. It won't take a minute." Damon stared at her. "The sofa?" She stopped and stared at him. "This is a one- bedroom apartment." "I'm supposed to spend my wedding-night on a sofa?" "You spent your wedding-night on a jet," she reminded him with some asperity. "You're the one who wanted to get back as quickly as possible. Besides, this marriage is business, remember?" Heaven help her, he couldn't be thinking of changing the rules now, could he? "Right," Damon muttered. He dropped down on the sofa and grimaced, then began to take off his shoes. Kate went into the bedroom and sank down on to the bed. She felt as if she'd been awake forever. She kicked off her shoes, then stood up again to shed the wrinkled shirt waister she'd been wearing for the last thirty-six hours. Going into the bathroom, she splashed water on her face, ran a brush through her hair, then slipped on a thin cotton nightgown and a pale blue terry cloth robe. Feeling almost human once more, she grabbed clean sheets and a pillow and went back to the living-room. Damon was lying on the sofa, his tie loose, his collar button open. His eyes had been closed, but when he heard her approach he opened them. The clear male admiration in his gaze made Kate suddenly self conscious "I was grubby. I needed a change." "Am I complaining?" She ignored the appreciation in his voice. Damon Alexakis wasn't interested in her--not that way. Not really. He already had her in the only way that mattered to him: on a marriage licence. She wasn't his type. When it came time to choose the real Alexakis Bride, she was sure the woman would be nothing like her. "Get up, and I'll make the bed for you." He stood, scowling now, his gaze never leaving her. Kate had seen pictures of him in the business weeklies where he looked like that--a sort of dangerous modern-day pirate. Not a man to tangle with. She turned her back, trying to pretend he was just another overnight guest, like her college roommate Missy or her prep school friend, Antonia. But when he cleared his throat, it was difficult to pretend he was anything less than he was--a strong, virile adult male. She tried to forget he was also her husband. No matter what he'd said about how businesslike their arrangement was, she couldn't help but recall how married couples often spent the night. "Are you hungry? You can check the fridge if you want, but I doubt if there's much here. I've been eating most of my meals at Sophia's." She knew she was babbling. She couldn't help it. "I'm not hungry." His Voice was flat. Kate ventured a sideways glance in his direction. He was staring at the cleavage where her robe gapped. "Are you th-thirsty?" "I'm fine." His voice was brusque. He stepped around her, careful not to touch her, snatched up one of the pillows and shoved it into the pillowcase. "Let's get on wi
th this." They made up the bed together, not speaking. When they finished, Kate nodded towards the bathroom. "There are fresh towels in the cupboard and new toothbrushes in the medicine cabinet." "You have a lot of sleep-over guests, do you?" "Sometimes I have friends who-' " Spare me the details," he said harshly. "Just remember: there won't be any " sleep-over" guests while you're married to me." Kate stared at him, astonished. How dared he misunderstand her? How dared he assume- ? Damon apparently took her stunned silence for guilt. "I told you: there won't be, any women in my life while I'm married to you. I expect the same courtesy in return." He fixed her with a hard glare. "In fact, I demand it." Kate slapped her hands on her hips. "Demand what you damned well please. I don't have to run my life to suit you, Damon Alexakis!" "Yes, my dear Mrs Alexakis, you do." He reached for her then, taking her chin between his thumb and forefinger, holding her so that she would be looking straight into his eyes unless she panicked and looked away. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. "As long as you're my wife, the only bed you'll be sharing is mine. Got that? " he asked softly. Kate jerked her chin out of his grasp. "I'm not sharing a bed with you. And you can stop jumping to conclusions. I don't sleep around." Her tone was sullen. But she wasn't going to let him think he'd cowed her into behaving according to his dictates. He looked at her long and hard. It was a hungry look, a possessive look. It looked like more than business. "Good. Then we should get along fine." He brushed past her and headed for the bathroom. Get along fine? Sure. Right. Damon was up and gone by the time Kate had awakened the following morning. The sheets and blankets were folded and sitting on the end table when she came into the living-room. On top of them was a note. I'll pick you up at Sophia's for dinner at seven. Have your bags packed. Damon. Simple and to the point. It made Kate grit her teeth, but in a way she was glad. It meant that things were only business after all. She didn't need to worry. She'd been overwrought last night, thinking Damon wanted her. She crossed two days off on her calendar. Only three hundred and sixty-three more. She took her bags with her to Sophia's where she spent the day deflecting all manner of questions from Sophia, the girls and, even Stephanos, who was clearly worried about how much she might have told his brother-in-law about his pursuit of her. By seven that evening she was so tired of trying to play the besotted bride and reply to the countless questions that she was almost ready to' fling herself into Damon's arms in her eagerness to get out of there. Damon went one better. He opened the door, spotted her across the room and, ignoring his sister and brother-in-law completely, he strode right over, hauled her straight into his arms and kissed her. Whatever Kate had been expecting, it wasn't that. Business, her mind screamed. It's only business. But her body didn't believe it for a minute! It reacted at once, moulding itself to Damon's, pressing against him, seeking warmth and comfort and the satisfaction of pent-up desires. It was insane, but Kate felt powerless to stop it. And Damon appeared to want those desires satisfied as well. His lips were hot and hungry. His tongue slipped into her mouth, probing, tasting, inciting urges that made Kate's mind reel and her knees sag. There was a masculine clearing of throat behind them. "Don't start anything you can't finish in the presence of five-year-olds," Stephanos said gruffly. Kate froze. Damon loosened his grip, stepped back and held her out at arm's length, a bemused smile on his face. "I think I'd better take you home," he said to her with a wink. "My bride missed me," he said to Stephanos; Stephanos glared. Kate's face flamed. She couldn't look at Stephanos or Sophia. She wanted to sink through the floor as Damon towed her out and shut the dqor behind them. "Good job," he said. "Sophia was impressed." "The hell with Sophia," Kate muttered, wobbling towards the elevator. "What'd you kiss me like that for?" "Why did you throw yourself into my arms? "I'd spent the day fielding a million stupid questions ^bOut our relationship. I was eager for rescue." "And that's how you ask for rescue? I'll be looking forward to seeing you when you're really glad to see me." He winked at her and ushered her into the lift. "Shut up, Damon." He laughed. "Do you want to go out to dinner or go home?" "What I want," Kate said snappishly, 'is to go to my apartment. " "We'11 go to mine." His housekeeper, Mrs Vincent, was a motherly sort, at odds with the chrome and polished teak surroundings that pervaded Damon's penthouse flat. She was clearly delighted that Damon had tied the knot, and was all too willing to turn all the decisions over to Kate. Kate liked her at once and tried to listen as Mrs Vincent explained how she normally did things; But the tense days and sleepless night were catching up with her and she kept yawning and apologising. "Kept you up all night, I'll bet," Mrs Vincent said with a fond smile in Damon's direction. He was already on the telephone and didn't hear, thank heavens. "Mmm, well," Kate mumbled, embarrassed. "I'm so glad he's married," Mrs Vincent confided. "He needs a wife. And so much better to have one he picked himself. I don't hold to that arranged marriage business his mother was up to. All that nonsense about her finding "the Alexakis Bride" Like she was buying some plaster saint. I tell you, a man like that needs a real woman. A strong woman. " She gave Kate a conspiratorial smile. "Good for you." Kate swallowed. "Now you tell me what you want, I'll do it," Mrs Vincent said. Kate smiled and yawned again. "What I really want is to go to bed." Mrs Vincent laughed. "Ah, young love." "I didn't mean---' Kate began hastily, her cheeks burning. But Damon hung up then and came across the room. "She's a hot-blooded woman, Mrs Vincent. Now you see why I was so eager to get her to the altar." He grinned and looped an arm over Kate's shoulders. "Come, my love. I'll show you to our room." "Our room?" Kate spluttered as he steered her down the hallway, "Our room?" He led her into a room at the end of the hall. "What'd you want me to say, that you'd be sleeping on the couch?" "Don't be an ass, Damon. I'm not sharing a room with you!" "Think again." He shut the door to the spacious master bedroom with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out across Central Park. It was dusk and amid the trees she spied the thousands of fairy lights that surrounded the Tavern on the Green restaurant and, above them, the tall apartment houses that lined Central Park West. It was far better to concentrate on that than on the king-size bed which, even in the shadows, was the focal point of the room. Damon was putting her bags down, opening cupboard doors, pointing out the empty rod and hangers, saying, "You can use these. And then you can go to bed." E "I'm not sleeping here." "Don't argue. We're never going to make it if you dispute everything I say, Kate." "Tough." She glowered at him, feeling like a stubborn child in the face of his stony determination and not caring in the least. "I'll leave you to get settled in. I have some more calls to make." "Damon, I'm not sleeping-' " Obviously," he said mildly, and walked out. He didn't even listen! He treated her like one of his nieces, not his wife! Kate flung her handbag at the door he'd just shut. It rebounded with a satisfying thunk. "I'm not a child," she told the door furiously. It opened again. Damon poked his head around the corner. He grinned. "Then don't act like one." Once more he was gone. Kate glowered after him. She was tempted to take off her shoes and throw them as well. But who knew what he might do if she did? She contented herself with flopping down on the bed and pounding her fists against the mattress instead. Why on earth had she let herself get into this mess? She was as tired as she'd claimed. She was also hungry. Her stomach growled even as she lay there. She wished she'd asked for a meal, but she wasn't about to change her mind now. She sat up and drew her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, thinking about what she should do. Getting into bed was tempting. Pulling the covers over her head and falling into the blessed oblivion of sleep seemed the better part of valour at the moment. And yet--and yet her lips still remembered the taste of Damon'S mouth on hers. Her body still tingled with the imprint of his. And her mind could not quite ignore the possibility that he might come back and slide into the bed beside her. And then what would happen? She didn't want to think about it. She'd had enough of men after Bryce. Loving hadn't been at all what she'd expected. She hadn't, she remembered with chagrin, been very good at it. Bryce had been all too willing to point that out. She could imagine what Damon would s
ay. Not that she was ever going to give him a chance! The door opened and Damon came in bearing a tray. "Don't you believe in knocking?" Kate demanded. He ignored her, setting the tray in front of her. Kate tried not to look interested at the sight of the thin slices of chicken, fruit and salad on the plate. Her stomach growled, betraying her. "Thank you," she said with bad grace. She dug in, then looked up at Damon still standing there. "Aren't you having any?" "I'll eat on the plane." "What plane?" "I just found out I have to fly to Paris tonight. I'll be back on Friday." "Paris? Now?" "I thought you'd be thrilled," he said drily. "You get the bed." "Well, of course, but you haven't had any more sleep than I have." And he looked even wearier than she felt. "I'll live." "I'll go home, then," she said quickly, setting aside the tray and moving to get out of bed. It was too unnerving, staying here, sleeping in Damon's bed. "The hell you will! We're married, remember." "I'll go to Sophia's. I mean, if you're not here, why can't I stay there?" "Stephanos." "He won't --' " Damned right he won't. But I'm not letting him even think about it. You come back here, Kate. That's final. I'll be home Friday afternoon, hopefully before my mother arrives. I'll pick you up at Sophia's and we'll go deal with her together. " He gave her a quick hard kiss and was gone. Kate stared after him, tasting Damon on her lips and not the food she had hungered for. She lifted her hand and touched them. Why had he kissed her? No one had been watching. On Friday, she told herself, there would only be three hundred and fifty-seven days to go.
THE ALEXAKIS BRIDE by Anne McAllister Page 3