“Then prove it.” She shimmied to the side of the bed and slid off, the silky red dress covering up her delectable thighs. A dark brow winged upward as she turned to him. “We have all weekend, don’t we?”
CHAPTER NINE
SOFÍA SPENT TWO DAYS with her mother and Benetio before they flew home to New York. They toured Akathinia, went for a cruise to the neighboring islands and spent considerable amounts of time in the jewelry shops in the Akathinian capital, where her mother fell in love with a local designer.
It was with mixed feelings that she walked her mother and Benetio down to the helicopter pad on the palace lawn for their trip to Athens. She had made an effort to connect with her mother, not an easy thing for her to ask of herself, but something in Nik’s speech the night of their engagement party had resonated with her. She could either keep the shell she had built around herself intact, or put herself out there, make herself vulnerable, with the hopes of restoring her relationship with her mother. She had realized she couldn’t not try.
She had told her mother about the baby. It had made her mother cry, as if breaking through some of her mother’s own walls. It had been a step in the right direction for them and she’d invited her mother to come back by herself to spend some time together before the wedding.
“Thank you,” her mother said, catching her up in a hug as the helicopter blades started to whir. “It’s lovely to see you so happy, sweetheart.” She drew back and for the first time seemed to see the conflict in her daughter’s eyes. “You are happy, right? Nik is wonderful.”
She bit her lip. She didn’t want to worry her mother with her own wedding so close at hand. “Yes, Mama,” she assured her, giving her mother a last tight hug. “I am happy. Call me when you’re home so I know you’re safe.”
Her mother nodded and climbed aboard the helicopter with Benetio. It had been Nik’s idea to organize the helicopter ride so the couple could enjoy the spectacular views before flying from Athens to New York. A thoughtful gesture on her fiancé’s part that had Claudia Ramirez over the moon and terrified at the same time.
It seemed, Sofía thought wryly, as if her fiancé was intent on making all the Ramirez women face their fears.
Nik wrapped up his outstanding business and the next morning they flew by helicopter to the island of Evangelina, a few miles off the coast of Akathinia, to the summerhouse King Damokles had built for his wife, Evangeline. Aware of her nerves in the dipping and swaying helicopter that seemed so fragile to Sofía, Nik wrapped his fingers around hers and kept them there the entire short ride to the island.
His description of them as complex came to mind. It felt very accurate at the moment with a dozen different emotions swirling through her head. Would they be able to come to an understanding of each other? Could Nik really let her in? Trust her? Let go of his suspicions of her? Realize she was that same woman he’d met in New York? Or would their defensive barriers prove too thick for either to pierce?
Set on a pristine private island with glorious white sand beaches and surrounded by a brilliant azure sea, summerhouse seemed an amusing term to Sofía for the palatial villa that had been Nik’s great-grandfather’s hideaway, a place where he and his family could enjoy time away from the pressures of ruling.
Nik showed her around the eighteen-room villa built by a renowned Italian architect of the time, complete with fifteen bedrooms, an art gallery, a chapel and formal gardens.
“It’s magnificent,” she said as they finished their tour in the grand foyer with its spectacular staircase and priceless Renaissance paintings.
Nik took his sunglasses off. “It’s cooling off now. I thought we might enjoy a walk and a swim before dinner.”
She eyed him. “You really aren’t going to work?”
“On us? Yes. On official business? No.”
Her stomach rolled. The banked intensity that had swirled around her fiancé ever since she’d rejected him for the second time the night of their engagement party was an ever-present force that sat between them like a living entity. Unsure of what would happen when they unleashed the passion between them, the only thing she did know for certain was that it would change the rules of the game yet again. To what, she had no idea.
But really, she conceded, they had no choice. They had to make this work.
“I’ll go change, then,” she said huskily. “Will you show me to our room?”
He led her up to the ethereal, beautiful blue bedroom that overlooked a strip of white sand beach and an endless vista of blue. Dark, hand-carved furniture contrasted with the airy feel of the room, a massive canopied four-poster bed perfectly positioned to drink in the spectacular view.
A lazy morning sunrise or an evening sunset would be incredible from that vantage point, she determined, then steadfastly ignored the thought. She needed to see more evidence from Nik that he was willing to let her in before they went there.
Her clothes had been magically hung up while they had toured the villa, her bathing suits nestled in one of the ornate drawers along the wall. She slipped on a white bikini and some sunscreen, then pulled a short sundress overtop. By the time she was finished dressing, Nik had finished his call and was waiting in the bedroom for her clad only in low-slung black swim trunks.
Heavens. Her eyes drank him in. It was one thing not lusting after him when he was fully clothed, another thing entirely when so much of his tanned olive skin was on display. When the matching Vs that defined the top of his pecs and the bottom of his abs were cut deep into his rock-hard flesh in a work of perfection that begged to be drooled over. Touched. Paid homage to as he held himself over her and took her to heaven.
“You want to skip the walk, glykeia mou?” His gaze speared hers, all leashed testosterone. “I am all about a morning nap.”
A flush heated her chest, working its way up to her face. “A walk sounds perfect.” She picked up her hat and swished by him out the door. He cursed under his breath and followed. A smile curved her lips. She liked having the power for once. It was a heady feeling.
They walked along the pristine, blindingly white sand beach, cooled by a perfect light breeze that came off the sea. Nik reached for her hand and laced his fingers through hers. She didn’t protest this simple intimacy because it felt so familiar, so right, it was impossible to.
She turned her gaze to the sea. It was the most perfect shade of blue she’d ever seen. Not turquoise, not the gray blue of the New York harbor, but a pure, vibrant cerulean blue that took her breath away.
Her thoughts turned to Athamos, whose body might still be out there somewhere, was still out there. “Do you think they’ll ever find him?”
Nik looked down at her, his eyes shaded by the dark glasses he wore. “Athamos?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head. “The currents are too strong. The divers spent weeks combing the waters. There was only so long we could ask them to be out there in a fruitless pursuit.”
“That was the hardest part,” she said. “Not ever being able to say goodbye to my father. We were fortunate they found his body. Some families were not so lucky.”
He moved his gaze back to the water. “I went to the crash site after I met with Idas. It wasn’t until then that I realized I was holding out some crazy hope by not finding his body with the car that perhaps it was all a big mistake, that he was alive out there somewhere. Some fisherman had picked him up, he was concussed and couldn’t remember who he was. Or he’d ended up on one of the many deserted islands and we just hadn’t found him yet.” The grim lines around his mouth deepened. “That was, of course, wishful thinking. He would have been recognized if he was alive. And it never would have happened in the first place because no one would ever have survived that drop.”
Her heart throbbing, she squeezed her fingers tight around his. “Was Idas able to shed any more light on what h
appened?”
“Nothing more than it was a personal dispute between the two of them. Which I believe now it was. He said that Kostas was struggling with it.”
“I’m sure he must be. To be the one to survive, regardless of the dispute between them, it must be difficult.”
“If guilt is what he is feeling, yes,”
She let that sit, the lap of the waves and the cry of the gulls the only sounds in the air.
“They had a complex relationship, Athamos and Kostas,” he said after a moment. “They were rivals with a fierce respect for one other. They went to military school together. God only knows what happened between them.”
She thought back to his father’s cutting words that night at dinner. If Athamos had been here, this wouldn’t have happened. We would have had a deal with the Agieros.
“Has it always been like this between you and your father? The differences you have?”
“Always.”
“That must have been difficult,” she said carefully, knowing she was treading dangerous waters but equally sure this was key to understanding her soon-to-be husband. “For your father and brother to be so close. For you to have such different leadership styles.”
He turned his aviator sunglasses–protected gaze on her. “Confession time, Sofía?”
She lifted her chin. “I thought we were just having a conversation.”
He bent, picked up a shell, examined it and tossed it back into the sea. “I have deep internal wounds because of it. It’s shaped me into the closed, guarded man that I am. Is that what you want to hear me say? That my brother having my father’s ear has driven a painful wedge between him and I?”
Her mouth compressed. “Only if it’s the truth.”
He stared at her, whatever was going on behind those dark glasses a mystery to her. “I graduated top of my class at Harvard. Summa cum laude. I was the valedictorian. And yet my father did not see fit to attend. It was not of enough importance to him. Whereas my brother’s graduation from Oxford was. Where he did not graduate with honors. Where he was not valedictorian. That pretty much sums up the family dynamic.”
A lump formed in her chest. “What about your mother? Are you closer to her?”
He shook his head. “My mother doesn’t possess a strong maternal instinct. She left the child-rearing to our nannies. Particularly after my father’s infidelities. She spent more and more time away working on her charitable endeavors.”
And clearly she couldn’t have divorced her husband. Leaving Nik with no anchor at home except nannies who would never be able to fully emulate a mother-son bond. It was little more than she’d had.
She frowned. “How did you handle all of that growing up? Where did you find your strength?”
“Athamos and I were close despite our differences. As were Stella and I.” He lifted a shoulder. “I made my own way. Proved my worth through my own successes.”
But not to his father. He could be labeled the Wizard of Wall Street ten times over and it would never attack the core of his pain.
She studied his hard, unyielding profile. Knew now that was what was at the core of Nik’s demons... A father impossible to please, who had been more interested in the heir to the throne. Building success after success and never having it be enough...
“Did you want to be king? Ever, I mean?”
A frown furrowed his brow. “It was never a possibility.”
“But you must have had some thoughts on the subject.”
“No,” he said evenly. “I didn’t. I loved my life in New York. Some days I felt more American than Akathinian. It was the last thing I wanted.”
“But you were restless. You needed a challenge, Nik. I’m not saying anyone would have asked for this to happen. I’m saying perhaps this happened for a reason. You were meant to rule Akathinia, not Athamos.”
He was silent, the late-afternoon sun warming their skin as they rounded a curve and headed around the other side of the island. “I wish I’d had time to clear up some things between him and me,” he said, a faraway look in his eyes. “That is my biggest regret.”
Her heart contracted. “I am sure he knew. Whatever it was you needed to tell him... I felt that way about my father. I had so much I wanted him to know, but I had to believe he knew all of it. That our bond was that strong.”
His inscrutable expression remained. They walked the entire circle around the island. When they returned almost an hour later, perspiration slid down Sofía’s back, her skin like an oven. She stripped off her sundress, took the hand Nik offered her and waded into the stunningly warm water.
It was just cool enough to be heavenly. Slid across her senses like the most heady of caresses as they waded to deeper water and Nik drew her close. She clasped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, allowing him to anchor her in the bobbing waves. His eyes were an intense, brilliant blue as he held her, his palms pressed flat against her back.
“Is that open enough for you, Sofía? Have I earned the right to have you, then?”
Her heart tightened; poised on the edge of making a decision she knew would change everything. It would give him a power over her she was afraid of. And yet he was opening up to her. She had a feeling the things he’d just told her were thoughts he might not have shared with anyone else. It made her hopeful, willing to believe he was right, that they had to move on and put their trust in one other and the bond they shared. That, in time, that trust would fully repair itself.
“Was it that hard?” she asked quietly, her gaze fixed on his. “You’re teaching me to take risks, Nik. That terrifies me. My whole life terrifies me right now.”
His dark lashes lowered. “Expressing my feelings isn’t easy. I wasn’t brought up to do that. I was brought up to suppress my emotions. But I promise what I said the night of our engagement party is true. I am going to do my best to let you in.”
He kissed her then. The most soulful, thorough slide of his mouth against hers. She clasped his jaw in her hands and angled her head to find a deeper contact. When it was like this, when she could feel the depth of the connection they shared, stronger than anything she’d experienced in her life, she believed they could do anything together.
They traded kiss for kiss, sensuous slides of their mouths against each other. She could have sworn the water around them heated to a higher temperature. He was hard, ready, his erection insistent against her stomach. She was putty in his hands as the sun beat down on them, her body melting into his. But he lifted his head, his lust-infused gaze tangling with hers.
“I want a bed underneath us, kardia mou. Do not expect to sleep.”
* * *
The sun was scheduled to set just after six. Nik instructed the chef to leave dinner for them to have later, then waved the Paris-trained cook off to spend the night with her family. He did the same with the turndown staff who hovered to see to their needs.
He was craving his fiancée. He wanted no interruptions.
He waited for Sofía outside on the checkerboard marble terrace that overlooked the sea, resplendent with its stunning statues of Achilles in various poses and battles. Queen Evangeline had been a lover of Greek mythology, her obsession with the stories she’d adored apparent not only here, but in the frescos that covered the ceilings of the villa and the magnificent artwork on the walls.
The sun began its slow descent into the horizon, a golden-orange ball of fire sinking toward an endless horizon of blue. He wondered, as he drank in the spectacular sight only an Akathinian sunset could provide, about what Sofía had said earlier. About his wanting to become king. What made him so restless it was hard to be in his own skin at times...? What drove him?
He knew the answer lay here, in the heritage he had tried so ineffectively to distance himself from in New York. How every time he was in his father’s presence, th
at interaction seemed to strip away every success he’d racked up until he was no more than the black sheep he’d always been.
Had he really loved his life in New York that much? Or had he convinced himself he didn’t want to be king because that had been easier to swallow than being second best? It had been simple to tell himself his adrenaline-inducing life in Manhattan had given him the freedom and power he’d craved. Honest to a degree. He’d had the ability to determine his own destiny, what more could a man want? But now he wondered if he’d been running away from the one thing he’d needed to address. To conquer. The need to prove he was not second best. That his father had been wrong about him.
Was that why he’d felt unfulfilled in New York of late? Unsure where to go next? Because until he wrestled this particular demon to the ground he would never find peace?
He had outmaneuvered a tricky player in Idas and found a solution that benefited both countries, one which would hopefully keep his people out of a prolonged and bloody war. He had put what his father thought behind him and focused on what the country needed now. It wasn’t about winning, defeating Idas, it was about leading.
“No thinking about work.”
Sofía’s husky, sensual voice slid over his senses. He turned slowly, drinking her in. Her dark wavy hair was loose around her shoulders, her olive green dress simple, her feet bare.
The connection they shared enveloped him; drew him in. He had never wanted her more.
“I wasn’t thinking about work,” he drawled. “I had a far more compelling subject on my mind.”
She swallowed, the muscles at the base of her slim throat convulsing. He held out a hand. She walked to him and slid her palm in his. “Would you like to share?”
“I would like to show. But first we should drink a toast. And eat before you pass out on me.”
“A toast?” she queried.
He handed her a glass of the nonalcoholic champagne he’d had chilled. “To us. To a new beginning.”
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