He held a hand out to Duke. “Niko.”
“Duke.” He shook the man’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Gabriella said something in Greek as she kissed the other man’s cheek, and Duke wondered if he was her boyfriend.
Niko responded in Greek. Gabriella answered with a sharp tone and a narrow-eyed glare. Duke decided it was high time he learned the language. He owned resorts and casinos all over the world, and he was used to having the upper hand. He didn’t mind being on an even playing field, but he wasn’t about to be the underdog.
Worried that he’d upset a jealous boyfriend with his presence, he said, “Gabriella, if you tell me where I can find the resort, I don’t mind walking. I can tour the rest of the island on foot.”
“Don’t be silly. Gabriella loves to give tours.” Niko didn’t look like a man pushing his girlfriend into another man’s arms. He looked like he was up to mischief, teasing her maybe.
“I actually do enjoy giving tours. I just don’t usually get assailed by my brother for turning down a date with one of his friends.”
Brother? Turned down a date? Relief, far stronger than what he should feel after her brush-off, rushed through him. He was beginning to see a matchmaking pattern among her relatives.
“Ah, well, you’re a very different type of brother than I am,” Duke said. “I do everything I can to keep guys away from my sister.”
“Wow. Do all brothers butt into their sister’s lives?” Gabriella asked as Vivi came outside with two other girls her age.
“Didn’t you know? In order to be a brother, one must first prove himself to be overprotective and nosy beyond acceptable measures,” Duke said.
She laughed, louder than the last time, and it might have been the sexiest laugh Duke had ever heard.
“Thea, I called Mama and she said I could go to the library with my friends,” Vivi said. “Do you mind?”
“Of course not. Have fun.” Gabriella hugged her niece.
“It was nice to meet you, Mr. Ryder,” Vivi said to Duke.
“You too, Vivi. Do you need us to swing by and take you home on the way back?”
She shook her head. “No, thank you. The library is right there, and we walk home together afterward.” She pointed down the street to a small brick building. “Have fun on your tour.” She and her friends ran across the road huddled together and giggling.
Duke took a moment to check out Main Street. No two storefronts were alike. While the restaurant was richly Mediterranean in appearance, and the library was a nondescript brick, the bank was a stately Georgian-style building boasting wide stone steps leading to double wooden doors. An intricately carved triangular pediment graced a concrete porch. A market with colorful baskets of fruits and vegetables out front was flanked by a pharmacy and an empty brick building. Several shops were closed, or in severe states of disrepair, which he’d expected, but they looked out of place against the backdrop of the peaceful Atlantic and all the beautiful foliage surrounding them.
“She’ll be okay walking home later?” Duke asked.
“Life’s different here,” Gabriella said. “Niko, I’ll see you tomorrow.” She kissed his cheek and nodded toward the road. “Shall we?”
Duke shook Niko’s hand again. Niko pulled him into an unexpected manly embrace, surprising him.
“Enjoy Elpitha,” Niko said.
“Thank you.” Thinking of Gabriella, he added, “I already am.” Duke fell into step beside Gabriella. Without the noise of cars, he noticed other sounds, like the sounds of bike tires and footsteps on the dirt as people passed by and the birds chirping above. There were a dozen or so people coming and going. Nearly everyone smiled or said hello as they passed. It was quite different from the hustle and bustle of New York, where he lived, or for that matter, from just about anywhere else he’d ever visited.
“You said life is different here. How so?” he asked as they walked through town.
“It’s…better,” Gabriella answered. “Life is simply better here.”
“Better than…?”
She shrugged and looked up at the blue sky. Her eyes took on a dreamy quality. “Better than anywhere else on earth.”
Her simple answers—We’re Greek. It’s better—told of her love of the island and of her family, but it was the breathlessness of her answer that made him want to experience the island through her eyes.
Chapter Three
AS THEY TOURED the town, Gabriella made a point of introducing Duke to shop owners and residents, acting on her plan to quickly overwhelm and bore him. He’d tire of their small-town ways and realize that this wasn’t the type of place he wanted to sink his money into.
Lyman and Dottie Eastman, the couple who ran the local market, were out front stocking the fruit boxes when they walked by. They were as Southern as a couple could get, and real talkers. The perfect annoyance for a busy city man.
“Lyman, Dottie, this is Duke Ryder. I’m giving him a tour of the island.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Ryder.” Dottie’s Southern drawl was as thick as her graying blond hair. She was short and stout, with plump rosy cheeks. “How long’re you stayin’ on the island?”
Gabriella realized she’d been so confident she’d be able to push him back to the mainland by nightfall, she hadn’t looked at his booking close enough to know how long he planned on staying.
“Oh, a few days, maybe. I’m not really sure.” Duke shook Lyman’s hand. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
Lyman nodded. “You’ve got the best tour guide around.” His face was mapped with deep grooves from the sun. He winked one squinty eye at Gabriella, then pulled her into a hug against his rail-thin frame. “Gabriella knows every nook and cranny of this place. Why, I remember when she was yay high.” He held his hand about two feet off the ground. “Cutest little thing.”
Duke laughed. “So you’ve lived here quite a while?”
“Oh, yes,” Lyman said. “We moved to the island right after we got married.” He went on to describe what life was like when they first married and how it changed with the birth of each of their three children.
Duke talked with them for a long time about their family, the storms they’d seen roll through over the years, the trials and tribulations of getting supplies by boat, and just about everything else under the sun. Gabriella grew bored before Duke seemed to, and she finally urged Duke away to complete the tour. Was he trying to win them over, too?
“Nice folks,” Duke said as they walked down the hill toward the bait and tackle shop, owned by Gabriella’s uncle George.
“Gabrielaki mou,” George said as he opened his arms and embraced her. His eyes went to Duke, and after a quick appraisal, he gave Gabriella the look. She was used to the look and sick of the look. The look that said, He’s attractive, male, the right age. Well? How long would her family try to get her to find a man, marry, and have babies? Why couldn’t they have given her grandfather a look that said, Let her stay. She’ll be happier here. She pushed those thoughts aside and focused on giving Duke a boring and overwhelming tour. The problem was, he didn’t seem to be either, and if she was honest with herself, she was enjoying his friendly, down-to-earth side, which had emerged as their tour progressed. Had it been there when she’d first met him?
“Theo, this is Duke Ryder. I’m giving him a tour of the island.”
Duke shook his hand, and just as she’d known he would, George pulled him into a tight embrace. There was no such thing as too much love in her family, and they liked to share. Another sure turnoff for city people. Although Duke didn’t seem to mind it at all. He embraced George right back.
“Come.” George motioned for Duke to follow him down the fishing rod aisle. “Do you enjoy fishing?”
Gabriella leaned against the counter, watching the men talk, and laugh, and…Her plan was definitely not working. Duke seemed sincerely interested in hearing about George’s children’s fishing expeditions and the newest lures he was carrying. She took the opportunity
to look at him a little more closely than before, now that he was busy and unaware of her checking him out. He ran a hand through his thick hair, then leaned closer to her uncle and said something that caused George to laugh. Duke patted her uncle’s arm, then slid his hand into the pocket of his slacks, which were now boasting four inches of dust at the hem. He glanced in her direction and her pulse quickened. He lifted his chin, as if to say hello, and flashed the panty-melter again. She liked that panty-melting smile a whole hell of a lot, but it was his dark eyes that currently held her captive. Her body was acutely aware of his gaze as it lingered on her for a few seconds, causing her nipples to stand at attention and her skin to prickle with awareness before he turned his attention back to George.
After leaving the bait shop, they headed down to the fishery.
“Does everyone here play matchmaker?” Duke asked.
Embarrassment flushed her cheeks.
“I’m sorry if that’s too personal. It’s just that you seem to be getting looks from your cousin and some of the people here, and after what your brother said, I was curious.” He was quiet for a minute or two, and the silence suddenly felt heavy.
She hoped he was just making conversation and not thinking that she was a loser who needed a matchmaker. She might not date much, but she wasn’t in need of help in that area. She just didn’t come across very many down-to-earth people in the city.
“They’re not very discreet about it, are they?”
He laughed. “Does it bother you?”
“A little. My family thinks they need to find me a husband. No one seems to understand that I’m perfectly happy as I am. Well, except for living off the island.”
“I hadn’t realized that you lived off the island,” he said with a note of surprise. “Why do you, if you would rather be here?”
She was glad he focused on that instead of thinking she was in need of help finding a husband—or that she was looking for one. Which she wasn’t. God, what was happening to her mind? She never overthought everything like this. She focused on answering his question instead of the strangeness going on inside her head, or the awareness of how near he was walking to her.
“By the time I graduated from high school, tourism was really slowing down, and my grandfather decided that all of his descendants my age and younger should get college educations and have the chance to have more in their lives than what the island had to offer. While other residents on the island chose to move away, my grandfather really didn’t give us a choice. In our culture respect goes a long way. It’s not like the 1950s or anything. Women work, we have power, but our respect for our elders goes above and beyond all else.” She thought about the truth in that statement and added, “Actually, if you really delve into the homes, the women rule the roost. But after I got my degree, I got scholarships and went on to law school, and it’s not like we needed a family law attorney here on Bliss Island.”
“Bliss Island?”
She sighed and looked around with a dreamy warmth in her eyes. “No one here ever gets divorced. And divorce is only one aspect of family law. I handle surrogates, adoptions, and a number of other legal issues, which I really do enjoy. But that’s not the point, really. It’s that I didn’t have the chance to choose what I wanted. Everything I want is right here on the island. I don’t care about money, or building a big career, or making a name for myself in an industry I find a little…hypocritical.”
His eyes narrowed.
She cringed inside, wondering if he had an ex-wife in his past. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to rant.”
His gaze softened. “I like hearing about you.”
You do?
“Your family seems so close. Wouldn’t your grandfather put family above the rest and be more interested in keeping the family together than in sending you off to live somewhere else?” He slid a hand casually into his pocket, as if he had all day to chat about her life, and seeing that warmed her toward him even more.
“Yes. He does, don’t you see? He adores us, but he’s getting older, and he worries about what will happen to us after he’s gone, what will happen to the island. The dating pool on the island is practically nonexistent, and he worries about what that’ll mean for our family lineage, too.”
“That seems valid. Wouldn’t that have worried you? Do you want to have a family? Do you want Vivi to have the option to one day get married and have a family?”
She was surprised that he was asking these personal questions, but it also pleased her. No one ever asked her about what she wanted.
“I did worry about that, but I would have pushed those worries away, because I love the island and my family and the communal lifestyle more than I could ever enjoy the legal field.” She could hardly believe she was sharing so much of herself, so easily, but obviously Duke wasn’t the rushed, self-centered businessman she’d thought he was. She wanted to get to know him better.
“I do want Vivi and all of my relatives to have wonderful lives, but to me the island is wonderful. I think my grandfather thought that if I got a college degree, I’d want to stay on the mainland.” She shook her head with the memory. She’d cried for weeks after she’d gone away to college, but her family had insisted she stay in school. “But he was wrong. I only built my career to appease them. Family. Love. It seeps into every part of our lives.” She shrugged, intrigued by the genuine interest in his eyes. “This island is my life. The rest is…Well, it is what it is. When I’m here, I’m happy in every way.”
A look she couldn’t read passed over his face.
“I admire your passion, and I think that’s a perfectly legitimate reason to return. But don’t you worry about how quickly the island is losing money and residents? I read that the population has gone from three hundred and ten to two hundred and fifty in the last three years.”
“I know the statistics, and it’s true. The island, the residents, they’re in dire financial straits because we have almost zero tourism income these days, and without income, we lack funds to fix the resort and villas. My entire family is in favor of selling. But you need to know that I’m not.” She paused, realizing how childish her next sentence would sound, but for whatever reason, she didn’t care. She needed Duke to know where she stood.
“I have to believe that somehow we’ll make it without anyone’s help, and more importantly, without the island becoming host to a plethora of high-rise hotels and flashy casinos, with cars and paved roads and selfish attitudes to match.”
Duke stepped in closer, bringing a heat wave with him. Despite their being on opposite sides of the fence, she found herself admiring everything about him, from his sexy gaze and lips that looked like they were made for kissing to his kindness, willingness to talk, and to see both sides of the coin.
“I understand completely, Gabriella, and I’m not sure I disagree with your concerns. With development comes risk. Do you really believe you can make it without the help of investors?” He searched her eyes. “And I do love to hear you say ‘we’ when you speak of the island. It’s obvious how much of your heart remains here.”
She hesitated, because she knew that making it without investors was impossible. But that didn’t mean she was giving up hope. Something in the way Duke was looking at her tore the truth from her heart.
“I hope so.”
Neither spoke for a long moment, as her heart lay bare between them. Duke gazed thoughtfully into her eyes, and she could see, could feel, that he understood how deeply she cared about the island, and she swore she saw something else in his eyes. As if he cared, too.
He touched her arm, nodding toward the fishery. “How about we meet the next matchmaker?”
Mal Hacknee was a balding man with black-framed glasses and a body still carrying more muscle than fat, even though he was in his late fifties. He’d owned the fishery for more than twenty years, and when he saw Gabriella his green eyes widened and his thick arms opened. Oh, how she missed these types of greetings. In New York, she was lucky to get a glan
ce of recognition, even after shopping in the same stores for years. Mal hugged Gabriella so tight she worried she’d smell like fish for the rest of the afternoon. He and Duke talked for a while, and then Duke and Gabriella circled back toward the center of town.
She couldn’t stop thinking about his earlier response to her not wanting to leave. And that look? Oh, what that look did to her! Did he truly understand her love of the island? She was beginning to feel a connection to Duke and felt a little guilty for trying to turn him off to the island, but she resolved to stay on course with her plan. She’d show him to his villa and leave him be to wrestle with the spotty Internet.
Once they reached town, Duke asked if she’d mind if they went inside the library. She was surprised but agreed, and was happy to have a little more time to delve deeper into the mystery of Duke Ryder.
“You now know my life story. What about you? Is there a Mrs. Ryder or a fiancée back home?”
“No,” he said as they climbed the stairs to the library. “I hope there will be one day. I haven’t found the right woman yet.”
That was the second time he’d mentioned something along the lines of wanting marriage or a family, and it piqued her curiosity even more.
They lingered in the library, looking through stacks of books, until Duke spotted Vivi and her friends. He stopped by their table to say hello, and Vivi patted the chair beside her. Huh. He really has won the kids over.
Gabriella reflected on their conversations. Every so often Duke looked up at her and smiled, and she shifted her eyes away, not wanting him to catch her studying him again.
After he finished talking with Vivi and her friends, he joined Gabriella, leaned in close, and said, “They’re discussing boys, not reading.”
“You think?” She laughed. “They’re twelve-year-old girls. What else would they talk about?” She saw Georgette Swan nearing and waved at the sweet librarian. Georgette was in her early seventies, and she had worked at the library longer than Gabriella had been alive.
Claimed by Love (Love in Bloom: The Ryders, Book 2): Duke Ryder Page 3