by Jennie Lucas
Anna stared at her, breathing heavily. “Natalie, please…” she whispered.
Natalie’s eyes were hard. “You want to be strong? Fine. You got yourself in your mess. With Victor. With Nikos. Get yourself out of it. Just don’t kid yourself that your choices are for us. All you’ve done is make things worse for us. Thanks. Thanks a lot.”
Turning on her heel, she went for the door.
“Natalie!” She grabbed her sister’s wrist. “Don’t leave like this. Please.”
“Let me go,” Natalie said coldly. Her sister wrenched her arm away, and this time Anna released her.
After she left, Anna slowly sat down on the bed in the cool darkness of her room, still shocked by Natalie’s attack. Her sister had always been the one person Anna could count on. She hadn’t asked any questions when Anna had appeared on her doorstep in Russia, but had simply taken her in her arms and let her cry on her shoulder. She’d fought Nikos’s armed henchmen to try to keep Misha safe.
Heartsick, Anna left her room and realized she’d blindly gone to Nikos’s office to seek comfort. But his door was closed. She stared at the door, longing for him to take her in his strong arms and tell her everything would be okay. She would almost believe it if he was the one who said it. No doubt another example of her being delusional.
Was Natalie right?
Instead of being the one who’d saved and supported her family, had Anna been the cause of its ruin?
It was true that she’d never really stood up to Victor. He’d made passes at her, and Anna hadn’t known how to deal with his flirtations, so she’d simply put up with them. She’d never told him flat-out to leave her alone. When they’d gotten to be too much, she’d run away to work for Nikos.
And as for Nikos… She’d known his faults, but she’d still fallen in love with him. She should have been more careful. Especially about jumping into his bed. What had she been thinking to allow herself to conceive a child with a man who not only wasn’t her husband but didn’t even love her?
The closed office door stared down at her reproachfully.
Turning away with a heavy heart, she went to the nursery, where Misha was still napping in his crib. She gently picked him up and cuddled him in the rocking chair. Tears filled her eyes as she stared out the window at the pool, where for a brief time that morning she’d felt like she was part of a happy family.
How could she fix everything she’d done wrong?
How could she make things right?
The one thing she couldn’t do was ask Nikos—or anyone—for help. Natalie was right. Anna had caused this mess. She was the one who should take care of it. Alone.
Closing her eyes, she held her baby as she rocked back and forth. It was time to face reality.
Misha shouldn’t suffer just because Anna had such a hard time being around his father. No matter how much she wanted to return to New York, she couldn’t. She had to live close enough to Nikos that they could raise their son together. Misha deserved that much.
But she wouldn’t marry Nikos either. She’d been careless enough to get pregnant, but she wouldn’t make it worse by marrying him. She’d be miserable as his wife, committing herself to a man who didn’t even love her.
Anna would share parenting with Nikos, but that was it. She needed her own place. Her own life. Her own job.
She sat up straight in her chair as her eyes flew open.
She’d get Nikos to rehire her.
It was the perfect solution. She’d be able to travel with him around the world, so Misha would always see them both. Plus, working as his executive assistant was not only the best job she’d ever had, he’d also paid her a high salary that would be virtually impossible to find anywhere else. Enough so that she could set up a payment plan with Victor, which she’d force him to take.
It might be difficult to see Nikos every day, no doubt watching him date other women, but she’d deal with it. She would take responsibility for the choices she’d made.
Misha gave a little sigh. Opening his dark eyes, so much like his father’s, he smiled up at her. Anna smiled back.
All she had to do was convince Nikos to hire her as his secretary—while keeping herself from falling into his arms—and everything else would fall into place.
It wouldn’t be easy, but, hey—Nikos had asked for her help weeding out unsuitable résumés. She grinned. She’d pretend to go through them while taking over the secretarial job herself. She’d lull Nikos into complacency while she proved she could both work and be a good mother to his child. She’d prove to them both that she wasn’t a screwup. She’d prove she could do it all.
* * *
“What’s wrong with this one?” Nikos demanded, exasperated. “Carmen Ortega has thirty years of experience working with CEOs of billion-dollar companies!”
“Those companies had shareholders,” Anna said sweetly, tossing the résumé in the trash. “She’s accustomed to toeing the line for many bosses instead of sticking to one. Too many cooks, you know.”
No, he didn’t. He had no idea what she was talking about. Nine days of looking through résumés, and Anna had found fault with every single one. But, since he’d asked specifically for her assistance, he had no choice but to continue this farce until he could get Anna to fall in love with him.
It was proving to be harder than he’d thought.
His plan had been to lure her with romantic dinners, gifts, and family outings. Instead, work had somehow taken over. She’d turned the romantic dinners into working meals, taking notes in shorthand between dainty bites of Cavaleri’s pasta primavera and pad thai. When he’d given her flowers and chocolates, she’d thanked him gravely for remembering Secretaries’ Day. Secretaries’ Day! As if there was any damn way he’d remember some made-up holiday like that!
The family outings with baby Michael, including splashing in the pool, taking walks along the edge of the desert, and strolling through L’Hermitage, had certainly been enjoyable. Nikos had relished holding his son as they walked across the casino floor, through the Moskva Shopping Complex and into the elegant, soaring lobby of the turn-of-the-century-styled hotel. “This will all be yours someday,” he’d whispered into his son’s ear, and he’d been filled with pride.
But, though Anna seemed glad that he was learning to be a father, she didn’t seem at all inclined to fall at his feet for that alone.
At least the time had made a difference at his home office. The piled-up papers were gone, sorted and filed. His appointments had already been reorganized to better suit his schedule, with no more double-bookings. In nine short days Anna had mended Lindsey’s ineptitude with efficiency and poise.
He looked around his office. A man could get used to this, he thought with satisfaction. Then he stopped himself cold. No, he couldn’t get used to this. He couldn’t let himself. After the ten days were over Anna would return to full-time motherhood. Her place was at home, in luxury and comfort, raising their son.
It had been nice working from home for the last week, though, instead of going to his office at the casino as usual. He’d seen a lot of Michael, too, since Anna was still feeding him every three hours. She usually had him in the office with them for much of the afternoon. Right now the baby was in the nursery, taking his afternoon nap, but just a few moments ago he’d been lying on a mat on the floor, batting at the dangling toys of his playgym while he gurgled and laughed. Remembering, a smile formed on Nikos’s lips.
He shook himself. What kind of work environment was this? In spite of Anna’s organization, his work habits were slipping. His usual sixteen- or eighteen-hour days just weren’t possible when he was constantly being distracted by the laughter of his son and the gorgeous vision of Anna in a slim-fitting white shirt and black pencil skirt, crossing her killer legs while she took dictation.
No, he had to stick to his plan. Anna would be free of the burden of work, and he’d find some other secretary. He’d make do for the sake of his son having a happy childhood, and return to h
is eighteen-hour work days. He’d shown his son the empire that would soon be his; he couldn’t slack off on the job now.
But he was leaving tomorrow. He only had tonight to make Anna fall for him before he left for Singapore, and, while he still believed he’d achieve his goal, it might be time to get creative. He’d soon have no choice but to…ugh…talk more about feelings. He had no idea how to do that, but he’d improvise. How hard could it be? He’d talk about his childhood. Didn’t women swoon over stories of poverty and misery?
“What are you doing?” he asked, suddenly distracted by the vision of Anna’s sweet backside in the form-fitting black skirt as she knelt near the trash can and leaned forward on her hands. Wild images went through him.
“This must have bounced off the rim.” She picked up the crumpled résumé from the floor, then spotted something behind the can. Nikos groaned inwardly as she saw the pale blue envelope that he’d tossed there early this morning.
Leaning back on her haunches, she picked it up and read the envelope. “It’s postmarked from Greece.”
Nikos grabbed a new résumé. “Have you looked at this one?”
She refused to be distracted, and held the blue envelope a little higher. “When did you get this letter?”
“Yesterday,” he said, grinding his teeth.
She pushed back a long tendril that had escaped from her sleek chignon. “It hasn’t been opened, but it was in the trash.”
“And your point is?”
“Aren’t you going to read it?”
“I think my actions are self-explanatory.”
“But if your father’s widow wrote all the way from Greece to try to mend the breach in your family…”
“There is no breach, because there is no family,” he said shortly. “My father meant nothing to me, and now he’s dead, so why should I care about his widow? She can write me or not. That is her choice. I’m perfectly capable of throwing her letters in the trash without your advice.”
He still remembered all too well the first letter he’d received from the Greek woman. She’d broken the news of his father’s death, and informed him that he’d left Nikos a share in his shipping business—the same shipping business that Nikos had tried to crush as an adult. Worse, she’d told him that his father had been the secret investor who had helped Nikos create Stavrakis Resorts. His father had been the one to help Nikos build his very first hotel.
Shaken, Nikos had still refused to go to the funeral, or meet his half-siblings. He’d also refused the shares in the company. He hadn’t wanted any part of the family who’d been more important to his father than he and his mother had been.
But it was the kindness in her letter that had shocked him the most. She’d been so gentle, when he’d expected only hate. The confusion and pain had driven him to Anna’s house. He’d instinctively sought her comfort, her arms, her bed, and they’d conceived Michael…
Anna gave him a piercing turquoise glance, as if she guessed his thoughts. “But how can you still hate your father now that you know that he helped you?”
“If I’d known he was the investor behind the venture capital firm that financed my first hotel, I would have tossed the money back in his face.”
“But—”
“He was a married man when he seduced my mother. He got her pregnant, then sent her packing to New York. The man is nothing to me.”
“But your stepmother—”
“Don’t ever call her that again.”
“Your—your father’s widow said he tried to send you money every month of your childhood. Your mother was the one who always sent it back.”
Yes, he remembered what the Greek woman had said—that his father had always loved Nikos, that he’d tried to visit and send child support but his proud mother had refused. She’d even said that his father hadn’t wanted his mother to go to New York, that he’d been heartbroken when she’d left. She’d said his mother was the one who had refused to let him see his son.
Nikos didn’t know who to believe.
His mother, of course, he told himself furiously. She had died taking care of him. She deserved his loyalty.
The last thing Nikos wanted to do was read another of the Greek woman’s letters. The past was dead and gone. Better to let it remain buried.
Unfortunately, Anna didn’t see it that way. Her lips pressed in a determined line. “I’m going to read the letter.”
He grabbed her hand as she reached for the letter opener on his desk. “You’re quick to arrange my family affairs. Is it to avoid dealing with your own?”
She hesitated. “What do you mean?”
“Why did your sister come here? You’ve evaded the question for over a week. I’d like an answer.”
She tugged on her hand, but he held her fast. “It’s nothing,” she mumbled. “A family quarrel.”
“Does it have anything to do with Victor Sinistyn?”
She pulled away with a savage force that he hadn’t expected. “Just stay out of it! I don’t need your pity and I don’t need your help. I can handle it on my own—”
She grabbed at the letter opener with a trembling hand, plunging the sharp edge of the blade into the side of the blue envelope with far too much vigor. It sliced her palm, and she squelched a scream, holding out her bleeding hand.
“Let me see your hand,” Nikos demanded.
She turned her face away in a fruitless attempt to hide her tears. He was relieved that she didn’t resist as he gently took her hand. Blood from the cut smudged against the cuff of his shirt as he narrowly examined the wound.
“I don’t think you’ll need stitches.” He’d been hurt enough times while sparring in his boxing club to be a pretty good judge. “Let’s just clean it in case of infection.”
He led her into the adjoining bathroom, and she followed him, seemingly in a daze. She winced as he placed her hand under the running water. He dried it off softly with a thick white cotton hand towel.
“This might sting a little,” he said, before he applied the antiseptic he kept in the cabinet for any injuries he got working out at the club.
She closed her eyes. His hand tightened over her fingers and he felt a strangely agonizing beat of his heart that he was hurting her, even though it was for her own good.
He placed the small bandage over the cut. “All done.”
She opened her eyes. “Thank you.” She started to pull away, but he stopped her.
“Anna, tell me what hold Sinistyn has got over you.”
“He doesn’t.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“I don’t need your charity, and I don’t want your help,” she said. “It’s my family’s private business.” But even as she spoke the words he could see the tremor of her swanlike throat, the nervous flutter of her dark lashes.
“Not if it affects my son.”
Her eyes went wide. “You think I would endanger Misha?”
He glowered at her silently until he saw her blush. Good. Let her remember her worldwide travels to unheated ramshackle apartments on her own.
“Go to hell,” she said, and left him. But she’d barely gone three steps back into his office before he caught her unhurt hand.
“Tell me, or I’ll beat it out of Sinistyn. Or maybe I’ll just ask Cooper to track down Natalie. I doubt she’s gone far.”
“Please don’t.” She lowered her gaze to her clasped hands, then sank slowly into the hard wooden chair by his desk. “All right. I’ll tell you. We’re in debt.”
“How much?”
She took a deep breath, still unable to meet his eyes. “It was six million, but now it’s four.” She suddenly gave a hysterical laugh and leaned forward, rubbing her temples. “It’s at a thirty-five-percent interest rate and compounding daily. That’s why we were at my great-grandmother’s palace, trying to get it into decent shape to find a buyer. But the palace needs a fortune in renovations to make it livable.”
“You should have asked me for the money.”
“You think I’d sell myself for a palace?”
“Anna!”
“Thank you for your kind offer, but we found a buyer already.”
“For the palace, or for you?” he asked, trying to spur her into energy. Anything to make her eyes look less dead and defeated than they did at this moment. But she didn’t even rise to his bait.
“Both, I think,” she said dully. “Victor bought the palace from my mother for two million dollars. That’s why we only owe him four million instead of six. He’s planning to raze the palace and build a new house as a wedding present to me.”
“What?” he exploded.
“Victor has wanted me for a long time.” Rubbing the back of her neck wearily, she rose from the chair and started to pace. “He’s been lending my parents money over the years because he knew that eventually we’d default. I think it was his way to…to back me into a corner.”
Rage went through Nikos. Looking at the circles under her eyes, he wanted to rip the other man apart. “I’ll kill him.”
She shook her head. “No. I can handle him. I’ll talk to Victor, make him understand that I don’t love him and I’ll never be his wife. If you want to help me, there’s just one thing you can do. One thing that would really, really help me.”
“What’s that?” Nikos asked, relieved at her admission that she had no intention of marrying Victor Sinistyn.
She looked at him with a painful expression of hope in her lovely almond-shaped eyes. “Hire me back as your secretary so I can pay back our family’s debt.”
“I told you. You don’t have to worry about the debt. I’ll handle it,” Nikos said. And I’ll start by destroying Sinistyn, he vowed privately.
“Please, just hire me back,” she begged—Anna the proud, who never begged for anything.
He took her hand. He wanted to cover her with kisses, let her know that she was safe, let her know that he’d never let anyone hurt her again. “I’ll keep you safe, and your family, too. I swear to you on my life.”
“I just need a job.” She licked her lips nervously—full pink lips that were made to be kissed. For a moment he couldn’t stop looking at her mouth. Why hadn’t he bedded her yet? Why hadn’t he kissed her every hour, every moment? He tried to remember as she continued desperately, “I’ll work from home so I can still take good care of the baby. And you’ll be glad to have me back in your office, I promise. I’ll make you so glad—”