Alex finished his water, tossed the plastic bottle into a recycle box and chastised himself. He’d just reminded Theo about digging into the past and here he was doing the same. Pathetic. Alex focused on the present. Neither he nor his family had come to Mexico after the tragedy, but had sent representatives instead. This was Alex’s first visit to the area where his brother had died.
“The family will be happy to know that everyone revered my brother,” Alex told Theo. In addition to English and Greek, Alex also spoke fluent Spanish and he’d had no difficulty making conversation with the villagers. “Everywhere I went, they approached me and offered their sincere condolences. Their love for him runs deep.”
“He was here four years,” Theo observed.
“Yes,” Alex confirmed. “Ever since college.”
“And…” Theo pressed.
Alex’s cheek muscle twitched. “And Lauren has been here for the past seven months.”
“She is as we heard? As the investigators reported? Pregnant?”
Alex gave Theo the information he fished for. “Definitely so.”
As Alex turned his attention back to the beautiful view, Theo wisely kept his mouth shut about what the family called “Lauren’s betrayal.”
“So when do we return to New York?” Theo asked. As head of security for Pappas Foods, Theo often served as Alex’s right hand man. Their fathers were brothers. Alex’s father had run the Pappas Foods while Theo’s had overseen other family interests. It had been Alex who had brought Theo on board.
“We leave late tomorrow night, with or without her,” Alex answered.
“Alex!” Sharp concern laced Theo’s deep voice. “That will not make any of the family happy. My father is very tired of this situation dragging on.”
Far below Alex, a woman on the street carried a large woven basket. A young boy about two years old raced by her feet. She called to the child, and he laughed as he grabbed her hand. Alex turned away to looked at his cousin.
“Theo, of all people, I am fully aware of how precarious a situation this is. I have heard all my life about how our family does not bear illegitimate children. I know my duty. But Lauren is stubborn. She has her own trust fund left to her when her parents were gunned down while she was in college. Convincing Lauren that I am what is best for her will take some time.”
“Perhaps I should talk to her? I can be very persuasive.” Theo offered.
“No!” The word shot forth from Alex’s lips like a bullet. Lauren had never liked Theo and Alex couldn’t risk another fight. “I will handle Lauren my way. She carries my brother’s child, and that makes this situation my problem and mine alone. I follow my own timetable. I know her best. She won’t be coerced.”
Theo shrugged. “Everyone has their price.”
“Not Lauren.” Alex studied his cousin for a moment. Like Alex, Theo was tall, but unlike Alex, he was stocky and gray marred his temples.
Theo’s lips thinned before he spoke. “She is your weakness, cousin. You are too involved, too close to this one. For you, this is personal. Despite the fact that Christopher was my cousin, to me, Lauren Andrews is simply a business matter. Give yourself some peace. Let me handle her. I will get her to say yes.”
Alex shook his head, his dark hair sticking together from the earlier heat of her office. “No. If I can’t convince Lauren, then no one can, not even you, Theo.”
Theo didn’t appear reassured, but Alex’s need for a soothing shower was at this point more important than to convincing his cousin. “I’m going to rinse off and afterwards I need you to bring me up to speed with the faxes that have come through. Just because we are out of town doesn’t mean that our work in New York has stopped.”
“Certainly. I get everything ready for you.”
Satisfied with Theo’s answer, Alex headed for the shower. Perhaps after he’d cleared his thoughts under the soothing hot water, he’d know exactly what he had to do to convince Lauren that he was right. There was no way in hell he was going to fail.
“Senor Pappas esta aqui para vera usted.”
As Lupe’s rapid Spanish announced Alex’s arrival, just minutes following the end of siesta, took a moment to absorb her surroundings. The only sound in the room came from the ceiling fan circling uselessly above her head, the dusty fan failing to cool or move long stagnant equatorial air. Outside she could hear a hammer and nails. A mission group was building a house.
Lauren pushed aside the multitude of papers on her desk. The report she had been about to send to the IBF could wait.
Feminine pride dictated that she at least finger-comb her hair before their meeting, but the attempt to smooth the few loose blond strands that had slipped from the tight bun proved futile. Instead of cooperating, the heat further plastered the wayward honey colored locks to her face. As was her habit, she tucked the offending pieces behind her ears. She resolved to make this visit quick, and then it would be over. He’d be out of her life forever.
She nodded to Lupe. “Send him in.”
It took only seconds for Alex to materialize. He was again dressed in a casual polo shirt and pressed chinos, this time different colors, and he filled the doorway as he stepped through.
“Hello, Lauren,” he said, his gaze scrutinizing her appearance. She fought not to flush. “I hope I find you well rested?”
Lauren swallowed and gathered her composure. When would his presence and subsequent appraisal stop affecting her? She could not let his innate maleness sidetrack her, and she certainly didn’t wish to reveal she’d spent a restless night tossing and turning because of him.
She fought to keep her voice deliberately level, and chill laced her tone. “I’m fine and surprised.”
He arched a brow.
“I’m amazed your secretary didn’t call and tell me you’d be unavoidably delayed.”
“Ah, a jab. Take another if you’d like.”
“It’s just beneath you to waste your time and my answer won’t change.”
His words held the crispness of his wealthy Greek-American accent and those fathomless, deep black eyes didn’t blink. “I told you I’d be here. I keep my promises, Lauren. I always have. I’m not like your dad.”
Her parents had died because of her dad’s stubbornness to leave the war-torn region where they’d been working. He’d promised her he and her mother would get on the next United Nations convoy, but they hadn’t. The guerilla warriors had cut them down and left them for dead the next day.
She stepped further behind her desk, placing the battered piece of wooden furniture in between them. “I’ve already told you I won’t marry you. Spare me the persuasive speech you’ve probably spent the night preparing and go. Time is money, and I’m sure Pappas Foods needs you to go make more.”
His broad shoulders shrugged and Lauren’s mouth turned papery. “Twenty-seven is too old to pretend to be petty, Lauren. I know you aren’t like that. Stop trying to convince me to leave. You and I both know that we have a child’s future to plan, things to discuss.”
“We have nothing to discuss, but as you won’t leave—” Lauren gestured to a plain wooden chair that had seen better days.
“Thank you.” He remained standing, and his right forefinger rubbed an invisible spot on his chin. Lauren realized she’d been staring at his hard muscular forearms. “When I returned to my hotel, I had a message. I hear you are transferring to Peru.”
The man missed nothing, and dismay filled Lauren. Could he use her upcoming transfer against her? “I am, yes. As soon as I finish Christopher’s work, it would be best for someone else to be stationed here. I’m already training Christopher’s replacement. He’ll train mine.”
Alex’s gaze never left her face as he lifted the wooden chair and placed it closer to her desk.
“I can’t fault you. It’s understandable you would want another placement given the circumstances. There have to be a lot of memories here.”
“Yes.”
“I saw the memorial. I went by th
e outside of the church after I left yesterday. Even though you and my brother were only together for a month or so before his accident, it must be hard working in the place where he died.”
The villagers had framed Christopher’s portrait and kept it surrounded with fresh flowers. She cried every time she saw it. Lauren bit her lip before she gave him another monosyllabic response. “Yes.”
“After I returned to my hotel, I realized that I should have been more sensitive of your feelings. I’ve been selfish. Call it my own foolish male pride. You did, after all, go from my bed to his. I didn’t take that well. You’d belonged to me the moment I first touched you.”
She said nothing and Alex gave a curt, bitter laugh. “That fact is irrelevant now, I suppose. Anyway, the more I thought about the situation, the more I wanted to keep our appointment and admit that I may have made a mistake in my approach. Despite the shortness of your and Christopher’s physical relationship, you two were friends. I have probably underestimated the profound impact his death must have had. Especially with you and he expecting to become a happy little family and raise a child together. Even if it was to be in this infernally hot village.”
She stared at Alex, but if he were bitter, his neutral façade didn’t show it. She swallowed and mutely nodded. She had no idea if he spoke the truth. Alex could be a master manipulator; his success rate in the business world as a master of mergers and acquisitions proved that. She’d read the business magazines—Alex Pappas never lost.
Amazingly enough the wooden chair held as Alex finally sat. Unreadable black eyes watched her sit in her own chair.
“I also forgot to tell you that my family thanks you for releasing Christopher’s body. It gave my mother much comfort. I am grateful and eternally in your debt for that.”
But not enough to leave her alone, Lauren thought. Still she took comfort in Alex’s words. Christopher had been her best friend, and as a friend she’d loved him dearly. She imagined the funeral had been a terrible ordeal, especially for Maria Pappas. Lauren’s child hadn’t even been born, but already she loved her baby and couldn’t wait to hold him. She could only barely begin to imagine how Maria Pappas felt losing her beloved younger son.
“Releasing Christopher’s body was the right thing to do.” Her lip quivered and she quelled it with a finger. “I would not have denied his family that.”
“Thank you.” Alex coughed and gentled his tone. “It must have been hard for you not to have been there.”
“It was not easy.”
The office chair creaked as Lauren gingerly sat down. She rolled forward and set her forearms on the desk. She didn’t want to exchange sympathies with Alex. Time to put matters to rest. “Alex, you don’t want me. I left you. Now please leave me in peace.”
He shook his head. “No. I can’t. That baby is a Pappas.”
The finality in Alex’s tone gritted and she searched for any expression of grief, or perhaps sympathy. Even empathy. She saw only the blank expression of a beautiful, yet cold-hearted man.
Lauren stiffened her spine. Alex was pure passion, the ultimate lover. She couldn’t forget the truth. She and her baby were simply loose ends that he needed to deal with so he could stamp “case closed” on Christopher’s untimely death.
He’d give her the Pappas last name, put her in penthouse somewhere and then be done with both of them like discarded toys.
Lauren leveled her gaze and looked Alex straight in the eye. Three summers ago she’d once backed a rebel soldier down, made the man put down his gun. That had been much easier than locking horns with Alex. She tried not to flinch.
“Alex, I hate to keep repeating myself. You’ve wasted your time coming here. The answer is and will always remain no. I will not marry you nor will I accept any sum to give up my child.”
Alex’s unreadable expression didn’t change, and the sandwich she’d eaten for lunch churned in her stomach as sudden worry spiraled through her.
Those hard lips spoke, his tone indignant. “You should know me well enough to know that I would never stoop to offering you money. No one in my family would; we have more pride than that. The baby is a Pappas,” he repeated as if that fact made all the difference. “Therefore, I cannot accept your answer. Whatever it takes. No matter how long. You will eventually say yes.”
Hysteria and hormones also created a dangerous mix, and despite her attempt to stay in control, her voice escalated. He still held that his family could do no wrong. “The baby is an Andrews, and it is mine.”
His eyes narrowed. “Your baby is a Pappas, with all the rights and benefits of such. He stands to inherit a sizeable trust fund when he comes of age. Until then, you have control and can vote his proxies. It’s a huge responsibility. Whether you like it or not, you’re already involved. My brother willed your child everything.”
Lauren paled upon learning what Christopher had done. He couldn’t have. “I control what? No. Me?”
“You.” Alex’s bitterness cracked the façade and his expression turned dark. “Don’t pretend that you don’t know that Christopher changed his will and living trust three weeks after you arrived here. Surely you were aware of that? He left his child everything and named you as trustee until the baby is of age. You control everything, Lauren, including a slice of Pappas Foods, the family business that you hate so much.”
“¡No lo cveo! I don’t believe it!” Lauren crossed her arms. Her baby was doing what Lauren called baby gymnastics and her skin bulged wherever a limb connected. “I don’t want it. I don’t want anything to do with your family.”
Alex frowned. “It’s far too late for that declaration. Theo’s lawyers have checked. The trust can’t be undone or changed. No court would find you unfit. No, the only thing left unsettled is the fact that this baby will be born illegitimate. I cannot accept that Christopher’s son, my family’s heir as I have no children, will be born in such a manner.”
Alex leaned forward even further and this time Lauren leaned back, her earlier bravado fading.
“A Pappas baby has the best schools, the finest opportunities available to him. You told me you regretted at time not having formal schooling until you were ten. Will you make your own child suffer that fate because of your stubbornness? You should not deny the baby what is rightfully his. Do Christopher’s actions not prove to you what he wanted? He wanted you returned to the fold.”
Christopher, despite his own relationship failings, was a hopeless romantic. “I will use the trust fund money to provide those things for the baby. I don’t need to marry you.”
Alex rubbed his chin. He’d shaved before he’d come, for his skin always had a five o’clock shadow. He’d been the most considerate lover, never marring her face. She blinked. She had to stay focused.
“There is an allowance for the trustee but it is not that much ore enough to live on,” Alex continued. “The fund was designed to grow until the child is twenty-three.”
“It will not matter. I have money. We’ll manage.”
As Alex drew a hand through his dark hair, Lauren wished she’d had the foresight to grab some bottled water from the office’s one luxury, a mini-refrigerator. Anything to help her composure, anything to keep her from screaming in frustration.
He shrugged his shoulders as if to loosen the tension. “Since you have refused to marry me multiple times, I admit I’m at a loss as to what to do next. You know how old school my family is. My uncle Spiro is quite angry. You are blackening the family name. I have told him and Theo I will handle the situation myself. My best solution is marriage. Let me protect you and take care of you.”
Theo thought she was darkening the family name. She’d already learned once just how horrible that could be. Lauren stood up, the chair scooting erratically out from underneath. She covered her stomach protectively and her next words came out with chopped force.
“Your family is not what you think it is, Alex. I want no part of the Pappas world. I’m sorry that Christopher left the baby his shares. If
you wish, I’ll decline being trustee and sign everything over to you, free and clear. I’m sure the courts will allow that. You can give them to the baby at your leisure, but we will manage without. I’ll send you updates. Pictures.”
He shook his head. “Unacceptable.”
“Then we have nothing further to discuss.” Chin held high and defiant, she swept by him.
Strong fingers reached out, snared her wrist and stopped her flight. She whirled around, her body shocked by the dangerous heat generated by his touch. An odd excitement filled her, and Lauren jerked her hand back. He let her wrist go, breaking the electric current traveling between them. She clenched her fists. Even towering over a seated Alex didn’t give her any advantage.
He gazed up at her, his black eyes glittering. “I would think that after living with me you know I’m not a man to cross. I only want what’s best for the child, and what’s best for you. The simplest solution is for you to marry me. We were good once. We had passion. We had it all. And I would not cheat on you me…” He paused before he finished the rest of that tangent. Regrouped. “You stubbornly refuse to see that this is the best solution for everyone. For once I wish you weren’t so selfish and stubborn.”
“Me? You dare say that I was selfish? When was I ever a priority to you?”
Her baby kicked, reminding her of what was important.
“You don’t love me, Alex, and never did. I was a pretty plaything, a novelty. I was a female with brain cells, unlike all your other bimbos who simply simpered and preened in your presence. Have no fear, Alex, I am what is best for the child. I am its mother and it will have a great life free from the horrible constraints of your world, shackles you misguidedly call family heritage.”
Alex’s face contorted and Lauren knew she’d scored a direct hit. She yanked open the door to her office. “Please leave and do not contact me again. I do not wish to see you ever. The shares won’t be voted so you have nothing to worry about.”
The Greek Billionaire's Secret Baby (Contemporary Romance) Page 3