She’d thought she was prepared for this and for seeing him again but the racing of her heart and the dampness of her palms proved it to be a lie. She could have had a month to prepare and she still wouldn’t have been ready.
The waitress returned with their drinks then pulled her notepad out to take their food order. Elizabeth ordered the Yellowfin Tuna Tartare appetiser. She wasn’t hungry but it would be good to have something to nibble on, a distraction. Like most of the restaurants on the island, LuLu’s menu was a mixture of French and Creole. She’d adored the fusion when she’d been here before. She’d actively avoided both since. She’d avoided anything that would bring the memories back.
‘Why did you want to meet here?’ she asked, glad the sun was still strong enough to warrant keeping her shades on. She’d read once the eyes were the gateway to one’s true emotions. She couldn’t bear to think of Xander looking into hers and seeing the pain all the bittersweet memories were evoking.
‘It bothers you?’
‘It bothers my pride. I have no issue finding a life partner for you but I do think you could have shown some sensitivity and chosen somewhere neutral for us to meet.’
‘I don’t require a life partner. I require a wife.’
‘Is that not the same thing?’
‘A life partner suggests permanency. I only need a temporary wife.’
Removing her professional notebook from her bag, Elizabeth wrote ‘temporary marriage’ in it and circled it so heavily the nib of her pen bent.
Determined as she was to keep things on a professional footing, she couldn’t help but say, ‘Using your ex-wife to find you a new wife is one thing, but conducting the preliminary interview on the very island we met and married screams insensitive jerk to me. You have the money and resources to travel anywhere your heart desires so why here? Was it to rub my nose in it?’
When she finally looked at him, he was staring at her with a look she couldn’t interpret.
‘I had a number of reasons.’
She forced herself to remain poised. If he wanted to play mind games he could play them on his own. She was here to do a job and nothing else. ‘Tell me what kind of woman you have in mind to marry. Are there any turn-offs I need to avoid, like smokers or bearded ladies?’
Or five-foot-eight blondes with a pedigree your mother wouldn’t approve of.
She wished she had a chain-smoker with the world’s worst halitosis on her books to fix him up with.
Elizabeth waited for him to answer but his gaze remained on her, the same unfathomable expression on his gorgeous face.
Uncertainty crept up her spine. The way he was looking at her...
He took a swig of his beer then set the bottle steadily on the table.
‘I don’t need you to find me a wife, Elizabeth. I already have one.’ He leaned forward and lowered his voice. ‘There is no easy way for me to say this but you’re still my wife. Our marriage was never annulled. We’re still married.’
* * *
Xander watched the blood drain from Elizabeth’s face.
Long moments passed before she gave a quick shake of her head and finally removed her shades.
The dazzling amber eyes Xander had never forgotten finally met his, flecks of gold and red firing at him, disbelief resonating. Not even a professional actress could fake shock that well. It put the last of his doubts to rest. She hadn’t known.
Although the compression in his chest loosened a little at this, it made no difference to how things needed to proceed.
‘Elizabeth?’
Her throat moved. Her words came out in a croak. ‘Our marriage was annulled.’
‘Our annulment was rejected by the judge at the last hurdle.’
Blinking rapidly, she put her sunglasses back on and pushed them up to sit atop her head. ‘You’re not joking, are you?’
He shook his head and watched her slump in her chair.
She inhaled heavily. ‘I don’t get it.’
Xander had a two-week heads up on it and he still didn’t understand. ‘Did you ever receive official confirmation?’
Her eyes were wide and bewildered before she put her elbows on the table and rubbed at her forehead. ‘I received confirmation of the paperwork. I remember that. I remember it saying it would be rubber-stamped within a month, or whatever the time frame was.’ She looked back at him. ‘It was ten years ago. I don’t remember all the details.’
‘But you don’t remember receiving the official annulment?’
‘I...’ She slumped some more. ‘I moved out.’
‘Moved out from where?’
‘My mother’s. I left home soon after I received the confirmation letter. Mom was supposed to forward all my mail to me but she didn’t. I ended up having to redirect it myself.’ She straightened and let out a forced shaky laugh, muttering, ‘I can’t believe her.’
Their marriage had been too short-lived to get to the ‘meet the parent’ stage. They’d both been so wrapped up in each other they’d hardly spoken of their families. All he’d known of hers was that her parents were divorced and she was an only child. She’d taken a vacation to St Francis on the back of an inheritance she’d received from her paternal grandmother.
Elizabeth shook her head, trying to clear it of all the noise crowding in it. She felt as if she could explode. She shoved her chair back and got to her feet. ‘I need to walk.’
He stayed seated, a set look on his handsome face, his blue eyes turning to steel as they held hers. ‘You can walk later. Right now we need to talk.’
Her stomach clenched and there was a moment she feared she would bring up the morsel of food she’d managed to eat since their phone call the evening before.
Being with Xander again was a thousand times harder than she’d imagined and learning they were still married...
It wasn’t possible. It wasn’t.
Yet somehow it was.
Swallowing a ragged breath, she sat back down heavily.
The sun had almost set, its orange crescent gleaming over the horizon, the sky a deep blue shining with stars peeking out and waving at them. Such a beautiful sight and one that felt sacrilegious with all the turmoil Xander had just thrown her into.
Their food was brought to them. Xander had ordered monkfish fillets. The delicious scent from it turned her stomach.
Elizabeth looked at her tuna tartare, beautifully presented with an avocado salad, and knew she wouldn’t be able to manage even a bite of it.
‘Why was the annulment denied?’ she asked, trying frantically to get a grip on herself.
‘The judge determined there were “no unknown facts from either party” and that “no law had been broken” so there was nothing to justify it.’
‘But we were only married for five days.’
He sighed. ‘Another judge would probably have rubber-stamped it without any issue. We were unlucky that ours landed on the desk of a judge who took issue with it. We’ll never know his real reasons why—he passed away four years ago. How did you not know the annulment was declined?’
‘I never received the letter.’ Her mother had probably thrown it away unopened in a fit of pique.
‘You’ve already said that, but why didn’t you chase it? It seems strange that you didn’t call or do something to find out where the confirmation was.’
‘The same could be said for you,’ she retorted, removing her gaze from the sunset to look at him. ‘Didn’t you think you would receive something too?’
‘Hardly. I live on the other side of the world. You said you would handle it. As I recall, you insisted.’
‘How long have you known?’ she asked tightly.
‘Just over two weeks.’
She clenched her fists to stop herself from lashing out at him. ‘You’ve waited that long to tell me?’
‘I was trying to work out the best way forward. I only looked into it because I was hoping to bury the annulment so the press wouldn’t find out.’
‘Why
would you do that?’
‘The press are digging into every aspect of my life. I knew it would only be a matter of time before they stumbled onto it. I thought it best to bury it completely before they found it and used it as additional ammunition to hit me with. My family don’t know about us...’
‘You never got round to telling them? What a surprise.’ She didn’t bother hiding her sarcasm. My family will never approve of or accept you.
She hadn’t told her own family either but that had been for entirely different reasons. She hadn’t been ashamed of Xander. She’d just been too humiliated and heartbroken to speak of it. She couldn’t have endured hearing her mother’s condemnation and her father’s fake concern on top, then the fights as they tried to find ways to blame the other for it. Because it was always about them, never about her.
‘Things are hard for us at the moment without having to deal with all the press intrusion,’ he said.
‘Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?’ He’d been engaged to another woman. He’d used her and lied to her and then dumped her in the cruellest way possible.
‘You’re not supposed to feel anything. I’m just telling you how it is.’
‘But you had to fly me all this way to tell me? You could have told me in New York—you could have told me anywhere. It seems particularly cruel to bring me to the island we were married on just to discuss our divorce. Well, you have nothing to worry about. I have more to lose than you if our marriage comes out and I want it buried just as much as you...’
‘If I wanted a divorce I would have been in touch two weeks ago.’
Shaking off the fresh dread crawling up her spine at his words, Elizabeth said tightly, ‘You went through the court records specifically to bury our marriage.’
‘That was my original intention,’ he agreed easily although his eyes remained hard. ‘Learning we were still married changed things.’
The dread had lodged into her throat, suffocating her vocal cords so all she could do was plead with her eyes. Don’t say it. Whatever you do, don’t say it.
‘I need us to rekindle our marriage.’
CHAPTER THREE
HIS MEANING HIT Elizabeth immediately, no initial instant of uncomprehending shock, no moment of bewilderment. ‘Not in a million years.’
‘You’re a matchmaker, Elizabeth,’ he said calmly. ‘You arrange marriages...’
‘For other people,’ she interjected.
‘I want to employ you to rekindle ours. It won’t be for ever, a few months at the most.’
A passing waiter noticed they hadn’t touched their food. ‘Is everything all right? Can I get you anything?’
‘I’d like a cab to the airport,’ Elizabeth said.
Bemusement spread over the waiter’s face. ‘The airport’s closed now.’
She’d completely forgotten flights were forbidden on or off the island after sundown.
‘We’ll have two coffees,’ Xander cut in smoothly while she eyed him furiously.
‘Cappuccino, latte...?’
‘Two filter coffees will be fine.’
As the waiter drifted back inside, Elizabeth leaned forward and glared at Xander. ‘Is that why you brought me here? So I couldn’t escape?’
‘Partly. I had a number of reasons.’
‘Well, guess what? I don’t care what your reasons are. Keeping me here overnight isn’t going to change my mind so you’ve lucked out there. I’m not doing it. Period.’
If he was perturbed by her vehemence, he didn’t show it. Xander was treating the bombshell he’d just thrown at her as dispassionately as if he were conducting a business deal. She could be anyone to him, whereas for Elizabeth...
He had once been her world. Being with him again brought everything back. All of it. The delirious happiness followed by pain so sharp she had never allowed herself to get close to feeling either emotion again. They went hand in glove. If she hadn’t known the joy she would never have suffered so much in the aftermath.
But it hadn’t killed her. It had made her stronger and she would hold on to that strength.
‘You don’t even need a wife,’ she said in a much calmer tone than the explosion her tongue wanted to fire. ‘Your business has been completely unaffected by the Celebrity Spy! scandal...’
‘It has nothing to do with my business.’
The waiter wandered back to them with their coffees, eyeing their still untouched plates with obvious confusion.
Once alone again, Xander stirred a spoonful of brown sugar into his cup and then fixed his eyes on her. ‘My sister-in-law is an alcoholic. She’s recently been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. If she doesn’t stop drinking she will be dead within five years.’
‘You’re talking about Katerina?’ Elizabeth asked, shocked at this revelation.
His brow furrowed. ‘You remember her name?’
Feeling her body heat under his narrow-eyed scrutiny, she took a hasty sip of her coffee.
How embarrassing to remember the name of a woman she’d never met who had probably been mentioned only the once, and in passing at that. But she remembered every conversation between them, had committed to memory the names of his family members. She’d looked forward to meeting them and being a part of their lives.
‘Yes. I’m talking about Katerina,’ Xander continued when Elizabeth didn’t bother to answer his question. ‘I don’t know what will happen to her or if she will be able to stop drinking. I just don’t know. But what happened to her has acted as a wake-up call to my brother. I have been begging him for years to get help for his addictions.’ He gave a small tight smile. ‘Yanis’s poison of choice is cocaine, but he’s not fussy. If it comes in white powder form he’ll snort it. If it comes in liquid form he’ll inject it.’
Now he reached for his coffee and cradled the cup in the same manner Elizabeth was cradling hers.
‘Yanis admitted himself into a specialist lockdown facility in America ten days ago.’
The facility in Arizona was supposed to be one of the best in the world. Xander hoped with all his heart it could help his brother. If not...
He didn’t want to witness his brother’s coffin being lowered into the cold ground. He’d watched Ana’s body be lowered and the grief and guilt had almost sliced him in two. He couldn’t go through the same with his own flesh and blood, the only adult in his family he felt any affection for.
‘That’s good,’ Elizabeth said in a softer tone. The stoniness of her eyes had softened a little too.
‘It is. Very much so. He’ll be in rehab for around two months. As Katerina is unlikely to leave hospital any time soon and will not be in a position to look after their son, Yanis left Loukas in my care.’
‘Loukas is your nephew?’
Xander nodded. ‘He’s eight. Despite all the crap he’s had to put up with, he’s a great kid.’ And now he’d come to the real reason he needed her. ‘My parents have hired a lawyer to go for custody of him.’
Elizabeth’s brows drew together. ‘Custody of Loukas?’
‘Yes. Full custody. They’re saying Yanis and Katerina are unfit parents.’
He could see her brain whirling before she tentatively said, ‘Is giving them custody really a bad thing? What, with the way your brother and Katerina are...?’
‘It is the worst thing,’ he stated flatly. ‘My brother, when he’s not high, is a good father. He’s doing everything he can to straighten himself out so he can care properly for his son. My parents have made this move knowing full well that neither Yanis nor Katerina are in a position to fight it, so I must fight on their behalf.’
‘But...’
‘Elizabeth, I will not allow my parents to take custody of him. I wouldn’t allow it even on a temporary basis.’
‘Where’s Loukas now?’
‘At my home. I have a court order granting me temporary custody for two more weeks and then there will be another hearing. Now they know they’re fighting me, my parents will go for the jugular. They will
paint me as an unfit guardian too.’
‘Why?’
‘To stop me from winning. This scandal couldn’t have come at a worse time. It’s painting me as someone debauched and without any morals. The only way I’ll be able to convince the court to let me keep guardianship of Loukas and fight Yanis’s corner is if I can prove I have a stable home for him, and that’s why I need us to rekindle our marriage. Having you as my wife will prove I’m a stable influence and kill my parents’ plans.’
‘It’s that simple?’
‘Sure.’ He took a sip of his coffee. ‘My country is still inherently conservative with a bias towards female carers. With you as my wife, they will see two people able to care for Loukas until his parents are well enough to take him back. If my parents get custody, they will never give him back.’
Her eyes clouded. ‘Are they really likely to do that?’
‘Without doubt. My family has been at war for years and my parents think they finally have a chance of winning a battle.’
Elizabeth removed her shades from the top of her head and folded the bows, her eyes distant, not looking at him, clearly weighing up everything he’d just shared.
‘It really is quite simple,’ he said. ‘You and I announce our marriage to the world and stay together long enough for Yanis to get straight. With any luck, Katerina will make the road to recovery too.’
‘And what if Yanis gets straight but then relapses?’ she challenged. ‘Will I be expected to act as your wife again?’
He shook his head. ‘As soon as he’s released from his facility, I’ll get the steps put in place that I am to be Loukas’s legal guardian in the absence of his parents. You and I will stay married until this has been done. Yanis will agree. If we’d known our parents would take this action we would have done it before but neither of us imagined even they would stoop so low. They hardly know Loukas.’
They should have imagined it, Xander thought grimly. His parents were a law unto themselves. They treated family life as they treated business: as a sport in which there could only be one winner.
Married for the Greek's Convenience Page 3