Lys wanted to be alone with him. She was bursting with feelings she was dying to share. “I’d like that.” She grabbed her purse and left the room, turning out the light. They nodded to Magda and walked down the hall to the elevator. By the time they reached her suite, her heart was jumping all over the place.
Lys unlocked the door. “Come in.”
“I’m afraid I can’t.”
She swung around in surprise. “Do you have to go right now?”
“Yes.” Lines darkened his face.
“Why? Is something wrong at home?”
“No. The only problem is the way I feel about you. If I come in now, I’ll make you my wife tonight and forget the ceremony. As it is, if I thought you’d say yes, I’d ask the priest to marry us in three weeks instead of three months’ time.”
Those words brought her close to a faint.
“Think about it and give me your answer tomorrow when I come to get you.” In the next breath, he walked down the hall to the elevator, leaving her totally bereft.
She didn’t want him to go. “Takis?”
He turned.
“Please don’t leave yet.”
“You’d better think hard about what you’re asking. If I cross over your threshold, I won’t leave till morning. Is that what you want after everything Nassos did to protect you from moments like this?”
For once in her life she was going to be honest and throw caution aside. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because—because I need you and don’t want to be alone tonight.”
He moved closer, causing her heart to leap. “I need you too, but that’s not a good enough reason to break all the rules.”
“We’ve already broken several.”
“But not the most important one.”
“In my office earlier you said you wanted to be with me day and night.”
“I do, once we’re married.”
His moral strength astonished her. “Nassos is no longer alive.”
“Which leaves me to watch out for you. Weren’t you the one who told me he probably gave me half ownership of the hotel to help keep you from making a mistake?”
“He didn’t mean the kind of mistake we’re talking about right now and you know it!” Her cheeks had grown warm. “You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you.”
“Say what?” he murmured. “That you love me? That you can’t live without me?”
The blood pounded in her ears. “You’re a man who didn’t plan to marry right away. I wonder what you’d do if I said those words to you.”
His eyes gleamed an intense green. “Why don’t we find out?”
He was toying with her, not helping her out. If he truly loved her, he wouldn’t be so cruel. “To hear them would scare the living daylights out of you.”
Takis cocked his head. “If you don’t say them, we’ll never know.”
You’re a fool, Lys. He was the most aggravating, incredible, beautiful man alive. “So you’re really going to leave.”
“It’s your call. I dare you to sleep tonight, agape mou.”
Two words that meant beloved. Was she his beloved?
“Kalinikta, Lys.”
“Good night!” she snapped at him in English.
She heard his chuckle clear down the hall until he disappeared. He was driving her crazy.
Takis, feeling pure joy, headed for the garage to get his car.
After saying good-night to Elias, he’d waited another couple of minutes outside Lys’s office until she’d hung up from her phone call. He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but it had been clear she’d been talking to Danae. That’s when he’d heard the truth come from her own lips.
I love him so much.
Tomorrow evening they’d be with family and the answers to all questions would come straight from their hearts. There’d be no deception, no regrets.
* * *
Early Friday morning Lys’s phone rang. Excited because she knew who it was, she reached for her cell on the bedside table. “Takis?”
“No, Lys. It’s Danae.”
She sat up in bed. “What’s wrong? You sound worried.”
“If you haven’t seen a newspaper or turned on television, then don’t.”
Alarmed by her words, Lys slid off the bed and got to her feet. “Tell me.”
“The paparazzi have taken pictures of you and Takis together. One of the write-ups reads: ‘Lys Theron, heiress to the Rodino fortune, sets her sights on marrying billionaire New York hotelier Takis Manolis. Is there nothing this gold digger won’t do for money?’”
Lys’s thoughts reeled. Though she’d been used to this kind of coverage after Nassos’s death, she hadn’t imagined that it would continue. How had the press discovered their relationship? Could it have been that car she had seen following her a couple of times. It must have been! But what concerned her was the impact it would have on Takis’s parents.
“Thank you for telling me. I love you and am indebted to you. Now I’ve got to phone Takis and warn him in case he hasn’t seen the paper yet.” She hung up and rang him. Pick up. Please pick up.
To her chagrin the call went to his voice messaging. She left the message for him to call her immediately. Without hesitation, Lys took a quick shower and got dressed in a black sweater and skirt. Once she was ready, she hurried to the garage for her car.
Maybe he was painting and had turned off his phone. All she knew was that she had to find him. If the paparazzi were still following her, she didn’t care. What mattered was tonight’s get-together with Takis’s family.
They would have seen or read this new barrage of sensationalizing information linking the two of them. Her desire to protect him from any pain had her pressing hard on the accelerator all the way to Tylissos.
Lys spotted his car at the house before she pulled up behind it. After getting out she ran to the door and knocked. When there was no answer, she tried opening it, but he’d locked it.
“Takis?” she cried out and knocked harder.
Maybe he was over at his parents’ hotel. If Danae had seen the news, there was no doubt he’d seen it too. Possibly his brother might have come over to the house to talk to him and they were out somewhere. Or maybe he’d driven Takis over to the hotel.
She simply didn’t know, but she intended to find out and dashed to her car. It didn’t take long to reach the hotel. She parked near the front entrance and hurried inside. An attractive dark-haired woman manned the front desk.
“May I help you?”
Lys took a deep breath. “My name is Lys Theron. I need to speak to Takis Manolis. Is he here by any chance?”
“You’re Lys!”
“Yes.”
“I’m Doris, Lukios’s wife.”
“Oh—I’m so happy to meet you.”
“We’re all very excited about tonight.”
If Takis’s sister-in-law had seen the news this morning, she was hiding her reaction to it well.
“So am I, but I need to find Takis. Do you have any idea where he might be? I went over to the house and his car is there, but he didn’t answer the door.”
“Let me check with Hestia. She’ll know.” Lys waited while she made a phone call. When Doris hung up she said, “After breakfast he went to the village with his father and hasn’t come back yet. If you’ll wait just a minute, she’s going to phone him and find out when he’ll be back.”
Lys held back her groan. “Thank you.” The poor darling was probably trying to defend her reputation the best way he could, but it didn’t look good.
Doris’s phone rang and she picked up. Their conversation didn’t last long before she clicked off. “They may be gone for a while. Hestia would like you to come back to their apartment. She wants
to talk to you. Their door is at the end of the left hall.”
“I appreciate your help, Doris.”
Shaking inside as well as out, she headed for the apartment where Takis had been born and grew up. Hestia met her at the door with a hug and asked her to come into the living room. Wonderful smells from the kitchen filled the room.
“I’m sorry to come by now when I know you’re preparing for this evening, but I need to see Takis as soon as possible.”
His mother eyed her with concern. “Something’s wrong. What is it?”
She sat on the couch, folding her arms against her waist. “I wish I could tell you.”
“If it’s about the latest tabloid gossip, I pay no attention to it.”
Lys let out a slight gasp. “Then you know what was in the paper this morning.”
“Takis mentioned it at breakfast before he and his father left the hotel together.”
“I went over to his house, but he’s not there. I—I’m so afraid.”
“What is it?” she asked in such a kind voice, Lys had to fight the tears that threatened.
“He asked me to marry him, but I fear I’m not the right kind of woman for him. That’s what I need to tell him so we can call off this engagement party.”
“My son has never done anything he didn’t want to do. He wants you for his wife.”
“But gossip follows me wherever I go and it will rub off on him. I’d do anything to protect him and your family.”
“Tell me something truthfully. Do you love him?”
Her question brought the tears rolling down her cheeks. “Desperately, but he loves you and your husband with all his heart. He’s been so traumatized all these years for hurting you by leaving Crete, the last thing he needs now is to marry a woman who will bring more hurt to you.”
His mother shook her head. “What hurt are you talking about?”
Lys wiped her eyes. “He carries this terrible guilt that he abandoned you when he left for New York. He can’t forgive himself for it.”
“Oh, my dear—” She came over to the couch and put her arm around Lys. “By the time Takis was a year old, his father and I knew he was different than the other two. He insisted on exploring his world and needed more to make him happy. When his girlfriend died, we knew he had to find his life and were thrilled that Kyrie Rodino gave him that opportunity.”
“You were?” Lys cried. “Honestly?”
“Of course. We’re so proud of what he’s done and accomplished.”
Lys couldn’t comprehend it. “Then he’s the last person to know. He’s been afraid that he’s let you down and can never win your approval. And he’s worried that there’s—” She stopped herself before she said something she shouldn’t.
“That there’s what?” Hestia prodded.
“If I tell you, I’m afraid he’ll never forgive me.”
“Of course he will.”
“H-He’s afraid either you or your husband are seriously ill,” her voice faltered. “He thinks that’s why you asked him to come home for good.”
His mother lifted her hands in the air. “We’re in the best health we can be at our age.”
“Oh, thank heaven!” Lys half sobbed.
“Where would he get an idea like that?”
“Because you asked him to come home. He thought there had to be a vital reason.”
“There was. There is. We love him, and we miss him. We figured he’d made enough money on his hotels that he could come back and do something else amazing here in Crete.”
“He has done that!” Lys jumped to her feet. “You know the children’s hospital where your granddaughter had to go the other day?”
Hestia nodded.
“Takis had that hospital built and funds it completely.” At this point tears spilled down his mother’s cheeks. “He’s building another one in Athens.”
“Our dear son,” she whispered.
“Please, Kyria Manolis. Let him know how you feel. Tell him you’re both healthy. Reassure him you wanted him to find his way in the world. He needs to know how much you love him so he’ll be whole. But he doesn’t need a woman with my reputation ruining his life. Forgive me, but I don’t dare marry him.” She removed her ring and handed it to Hestia. “Please give this to him. Now I have to go.”
Hestia called to her, but she dashed out of the apartment to her car. The tears continued to gush as she drove toward Heraklion. Her phone rang, but she didn’t answer it. When she reached the hotel, she parked the car and rushed to her suite.
Once inside, she ran sobbing to her bedroom and buried her face in the pillow. When her phone rang again, she refused to answer it in case it was Takis. If he knew what she’d done by confiding in his mother, then he might never want to speak to her again.
* * *
Takis was surprised when his mother met him and his father at the back door of the apartment. “I’m so glad you’re home! Your fiancée has been trying to reach you.”
“I know. I tried to call her back, but she hasn’t answered yet.”
“I’m not sure she’s going to.”
He frowned and followed her inside to the kitchen. “What do you mean?”
She glanced at his father. “Both of you need to sit down so we can talk.”
Takis lounged against the counter, unable to sit until he knew what was going on.
“Lys came by the hotel earlier looking for you.”
Takis groaned aloud. “We went into the village to pick up the bedroom furniture you ordered and set it up at the house. I wanted it to be a surprise for her.”
His mother nodded. “While you were busy, we had a very informative talk about many things including the children’s hospitals you’ve been building. I’ll tell you everything, but first I want you to know you’re the luckiest man on earth to have found a woman who loves you so much.”
“She admitted that to you?” Takis was stunned.
“You’d be shocked what she told me.” In the next breath she related their whole conversation, leaving nothing out. After she’d finished, his father spoke first.
He stared at Takis through eyes that glistened with tears. “Your mother and I have loved you since the day you were born. We were so afraid for you after Gaia’s death, we rejoiced when Kyrie Nassos opened a new door for you. We didn’t want to say or do anything to discourage you from leaving, and we’ve never regretted that decision. You have no idea how proud we are of you.”
Takis couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Cesare had been right about everything. As for Lys...
“We’re not ready for the grave yet, son. We expect to enjoy years of life with you and the wonderful woman who loves you enough to have confided in your mother.”
Takis was so overcome with emotion, he could only hug them for a long time. After clearing his throat, he said, “Since Lys was so honest, I have something important to tell you too. You may not love me so much when you hear what I’ve done. It’s about the reason we’re engaged. Nassos left a will.”
Once his whole confession was out, silence filled the room. His father walked over and clapped him on the shoulder.
“I only have one thing to say. The fact that Kyrie Nassos thought so much of you he would give you half his hotel tells me and your mother that you’re the finest, most honorable Manolis we’ve ever known. I think all that’s left to say now is that you go find your fiancée and thank her for making this family closer than ever.”
His mother smiled. “I already love her.” She reached in her apron pocket and pulled out the engagement ring. Takis was aghast Lys had taken it off. “Give it back to her with our love.”
Takis’s heart was running away with him. He looked at his father. “Will you drive me home so I can get my car? I need to go after her before she decide
s to do something crazy like leave the country.”
“Where would she go?”
“To a friend of her mother’s in New York. If that’s her plan, I’ve got to stop her.”
* * *
Takis broke all speed records driving into Heraklion. It was a miracle he wasn’t pulled over. To his relief, her car was still in its space when he parked his Acura. But she could have called for a limo. There wasn’t a moment to lose.
He hurried to her suite and knocked on the door. When she didn’t answer, he phoned her. Still no response. Without a second to lose, he raced to the front office. Magda was on duty.
“Have you seen Lys this afternoon?”
“No.”
“She hasn’t left the hotel?”
“Not that I know of. Let me check with the manager.” She came right back. “No one has heard from her.”
“Then I need a card key to her room. I’m worried about her. We’re due at our engagement party.”
Magda seemed hesitant.
“Tell you what. Will you come with me and let me in?”
“Yes.” She grabbed a card key. Then she turned to the other woman manning the desk and said she’d be right back. Together they hurried to the third floor.
Magda knocked on Lys’s door and called out to her. After no response, she used the card key to let them inside.
“Lys?” Takis called her name. “It’s Takis. Are you ill?”
“What are you doing inside my suite?” sounded a familiar voice in an unfamiliar tone. He could rule out sickness. Her voice sounded strong.
Relief flooded his system that she hadn’t gone anywhere yet. He thanked Magda. “I’ll take care of this now. I promise you’re not in any trouble.”
“I’ll have to take your word for that.”
After she left, he started down the hall. “I’m coming in the bedroom, so if you’re not decent, you’d better hide under the covers.”
“I’m dressed if that’s what you mean.”
He moved inside. She looked adorable sitting on the side of her bed in a pink robe and bare feet, her face splotchy from crying.
Her purple eyes stared accusingly at him. “How did you get in here?”
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