by Susanna Carr
She left the terrace and wondered if there was a new piece of sculpture or work of art. Walking past the formal flower garden, she remembered how exploring the grounds had been one of her many solitary diversions.
When she had first moved here, she’d thought having many relatives would be a blessing. For an only child who had lived in boarding schools since she was six years old, the idea of a big family was as tantalizing as it was foreign. It had ultimately been a disappointment. It wasn’t easy being an outsider in a close-knit family.
It was only after Jodie had been banished that she’d realized the Antoniou home was more than a showpiece. She paused and brushed her fingertips against the velvety petals of a flower. The house and the grounds were part of the family’s fortress. Mairi only felt safe when she was at home and surrounded by loved ones.
The Antonious didn’t trust any outsider with the exception of Gregory. Jodie understood why. They had placed their trust in one of their own and paid the cost. They may never recover from being blindsided decades ago when Stergios was kidnapped as a child.
Jodie closed her eyes as the wave of sympathy washed over her. She had only collected bits and pieces of the story since everyone seemed to follow a pact of not discussing it. She knew Mairi and her ex-husband had been in an ugly custody dispute and that Stergios’s father had hired a team to kidnap his son. Stergios had only been seven years old.
Jodie blinked away the sting of unshed tears as she imagined a young and vulnerable Stergios. Mairi was a tigress when it came to her only child but she didn’t find him until he was nine. Stergios had lived on the run and in horrible conditions. He had emerged scarred, malnourished and tormented from the experience.
From the day Stergios had been taken, the house and grounds became impenetrable. So had the Antoniou family. Jodie accepted the fact and she knew their wariness wasn’t entirely personal.
Jodie sighed and slowly retraced her steps, returning to the portico. She saw a flash of movement in the corner of her eye and turned to see Stergios. He emerged from the wooded area, the gravel crunching under his running shoes as he jogged toward the house with a punishing pace. The fight-or-flight response swirled in her chest. She cast a quick glance in the direction of the formal garden, her heart skipping a beat as her hands bunched into fists.
It was too late to disappear, Jodie decided as she watched Stergios get closer. She tried not to notice that he only wore a dark pair of running shorts, or the way his golden skin glistened. Her gaze darted to his broad shoulders and then to his muscular arms. Jodie felt a spurt of heat low in her belly and she wasn’t sure where to look. She focused on his chest and followed the path of his dark hair. Her attention rested on his V-cut abs.
He didn’t break his rhythm as he jogged onto the terrace and then stepped onto the portico. He passed her as if he wasn’t going to acknowledge her presence.
“I didn’t know you were still living here,” she blurted out.
Stergios stopped without turning around. “I don’t.” Sweat ran down his spine but he didn’t sound out of breath. He placed his hands on his lean hips and stretched. She was mesmerized by the play of muscles and the faint crisscross of scars that ran down his back. “I have a home of my own but I stay here when I’m in Athens.”
Jodie stepped in front of him, blocking his way. It was irritating that he wouldn’t deign to look at her. She inhaled his scent and went still. It was hot, sweaty and male. A blush crept up her neck and into her face. She didn’t know why it left her flustered.
“How long are you planning to stay?” Jodie asked. His nearness was almost her undoing. Her breasts felt heavy and tight and she crossed her arms against her chest.
“For as long as you are, pethi mou,” he said. “I’m only here to keep an eye on you.”
“What?” Jodie’s lips parted as a thought occurred to her. “Is that why I was invited to the family home? To make surveillance more convenient for you?”
His eyes glittered with amusement. “It was thoughtful of you to accept.”
Jodie abruptly looked away and stared at the door that led to the house. She should have known it hadn’t been her father’s idea. Her intuition had been correct. She shouldn’t trust this act of hospitality.
She wasn’t going to let this get her down. Jodie clenched her teeth as she encouraged the flicker of determination to catch fire. It didn’t matter why she was invited. She was here and she was going to make the most of it.
“Going to go pack?” he asked in a drawl.
Her arms tightened around her as if she was holding herself together. “Why would I?” she asked as she slowly met his gaze. “I’m getting what I want.”
“Are you sure? Dimos doesn’t live here.”
“Wonderful,” she declared. “Now you don’t have follow him like a guard dog and save him from predatory women. That must free up so much time for you.”
There was a heavy beat of silence. “That wasn’t the only reason I stopped Dimos.”
“Of course it was. If Dimos had sex with me, a woman supposedly under the protection of the Antoniou family, he would have been stuck marrying me instead of the heiress of your choice.” She paused, not sure if she should say anything more. “Do you even know why we were down in the wine cellar that night? We were going to break into the good stuff while everyone was out of the house.”
“It didn’t look that way when I tore you two apart.”
Jodie glared at him. When Stergios had intervened, Dimos had her in a tight hold and had been sticking his tongue down her throat. She hadn’t been trying to get closer to Dimos—she had been pushing him away! “I was never interested in him. There was no way we were going to have sex!”
Stergios lifted an eyebrow. “Then how do you explain what happened between us?”
She felt her face turn bright red. It had been different with Stergios. When Jodie had returned from her last finishing school fiasco, she had become violently aware of her stepbrother’s sexual allure. It didn’t matter that he was eight years older or that he was too intense for someone like her.
But Jodie didn’t want anyone to notice how much power Stergios had over her. She had some pride! The man hated her and yet she wanted to get closer to him. She had become an expert at hiding her attraction. Or so she thought. Now she knew why she’d always bickered with Stergios. Why they’d always seemed to get under each other’s skin.
When Stergios had shoved Dimos up the stairs that night, she had launched into an argument with her stepbrother that felt as though it had been simmering for weeks. Vicious words had been exchanged and nothing had been held back.
To this day Jodie wasn’t sure what had happened next. What had been the trigger? Had she made the first move or had he? All she knew was that her mouth had slammed against his. His kiss, his touch, had set her free. It was as if they had exploded out of their cages. She’d clawed and bit as he ruthlessly made his claim. She’d encouraged him to give her everything he had. Their coupling had been fast and feral.
She hadn’t experienced anything like it since. Even now her heart pumped hard and her skin felt scorched as she remembered the way he took her against the wall.
“I looked for you after that night,” Stergios confessed.
She jerked back as the memories splintered. “No, you didn’t,” she said softly. “You left like a bat out of hell. Where did you go?”
He speared his hands in his long hair and gave a guttural sigh. “It doesn’t matter.”
It had mattered to her. She had felt rejected and abandoned. Used.
“You’d left Greece by the time I returned,” Stergios said, staring blindly at the garden. “I went to America to find you. I assumed you went to your mother’s but you had already left by the time I arrived in New York. Your mother wasn’t helpful in how to contact you.”
Sh
e gave an awkward nod. Carla Little had not been a motherly, nurturing kind of woman who needed to know what her daughter was doing. “Mom was in the middle of a business deal that would have determined her legacy,” she mumbled. “She couldn’t afford any distraction.”
“I kept looking for you,” he admitted with great reluctance before he returned his piercing gaze on her. “No one seemed to know where you were.”
Her parents hadn’t been interested in finding out. While her friends were envious of her independence, the lack of parental concern had always embarrassed Jodie. “I knew how to take care of myself,” she said. “Why was it so urgent to find me?”
“I wanted to check on you.”
Jodie drew her head back. She wasn’t sure what to say. Of all the people who had been part of that night, he had been the only one who tried to contact her. Even though he had made it clear how much he didn’t like her, how little she meant to him.
Stergios watched her with an intensity that pinned her to the spot. “You were a virgin and I was...rough.”
Jodie frowned when she saw his stony expression. Stergios had been beating himself up about that night when she’d savored the primal and naked responses. It had been everything she had hoped for with the man who had starred in her secret fantasies.
And why did he have to bring up her inexperience? Her eyes widened with surprise. “Wait...were you going to insist on marriage?” she asked. She knew how the Antoniou males thought. They had very old-fashioned views. The men married the virgins and had affairs with experienced women.
“I didn’t use protection that night,” he said stiffly, as if the oversight went against his personal code of honor. “I needed to know if there were consequences.”
Oh. He wasn’t worried about her as much as he was concerned about an illegitimate child. Disappointment crashed through her. She wanted to hunch her shoulders and curl into herself as if she could contain the pain. “There weren’t,” she said in a whisper.
Stergios gave a sharp nod. “I knew I had to seek you out because you wouldn’t have volunteered that information with me.”
Not necessarily. He always assumed the worst in her. “If you thought that, why did you give up looking for me? We’re talking about your child, the Antoniou heir,” she said grandly as she spread her hands up high in the air. “You would have searched the world if you thought that was a possibility.”
“I stopped looking a few months later.” His features hardened as he gave her an unforgiving look. “There was a picture of you online and you were definitely not pregnant.”
She frowned. “What picture?”
Stergios sneered from the memory. “You were on a yacht in the Caribbean with that royal playboy.” He spat out the last word as if it was a curse.
Jodie wanted to cringe. The prince had been a mistake. She had been looking for love. She had been desperate to be loved and found a playboy instead. Unfortunately, she had found a few playboys on her search for love before she wised up.
“I see,” she said calmly as she watched Stergios’s lip curl with disgust. “And suddenly it no longer mattered that I was a virgin or eighteen.”
He shrugged. “I might have been your first, but then you threw yourself at the next man who showed any interest,” he declared as he turned away. “You were no longer my problem.”
No longer my problem. The words echoed in her mind as she dazedly watched Stergios stride into the house. Once he’d decided that she “belonged” to another man, she had no longer existed.
Jodie hissed air between her clenched teeth as the pain ricocheted. He had ruthlessly cleaved her out of his life. He had moved on without missing a step. It was a fear she struggled with constantly. The fear of becoming invisible. Forgotten.
But she had no idea it was that easy.
She needed to work harder to become unforgettable to those who mattered. It was an impossible task, Jodie decided as she took the steps back to the garden, intent on getting away from the house, from Stergios. As she marched along the path she gradually realized what she had to do. She was going to use her wealth to become an indispensible member of the family. She might be unlovable now, but money could change anything.
CHAPTER THREE
HE HAD UNDERESTIMATED JODIE, Stergios decided later that night. He considered what he had seen at the family dinner a few moments ago and scowled. Not only had she gained her father’s attention with the mention of an expensive gift for his upcoming birthday, but Jodie had also excelled in the area that had consistently been her downfall. She had been the quintessential dinner companion, delighting the surliest of his uncles and making fast friends with the younger wives and fiancées.
Stergios reluctantly admired Jodie’s strategy. She had approached the outer circle of his family and was slowly gaining allies. He couldn’t have this.
He leaned against the marble newel post as he watched Jodie descend the staircase like a regal queen. She had reapplied her bright red lipstick after dinner and he found it difficult to look away from her mouth. He couldn’t fault her long-sleeved black dress. It should have been modest but it clung lovingly to her thighs. The white stripe zigzagging from her shoulder to her waist and hips was pure Jodie. Despite her attempts to blend in with the crowd she couldn’t wear anything that might have her fade into the background.
“You gave a worthy performance at dinner tonight,” he said as she drew closer.
She cast him a haughty look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You were very proper.” He should have appreciated the charade. Stergios remembered the family dinners she’d attended in the past. At times he hadn’t known if she’d been intentionally provocative or if she’d been unable to control her tongue. “You’re playing it safe. That’s not like you.”
She stood on the last step and met his gaze. “I know what is expected of me.”
“Especially if a wrong move will harm your chances with this family.” She wasn’t going to make a mistake soon. Jodie was using all of her knowledge from her past visits to dazzle and deceive. “What is it you want from us? Status? A favor?”
“As I have said before, I no longer want to be estranged from my father.”
She was sticking to that story but Stergios knew there had to be something more. What had happened that would cause this change of heart? What did her father have that she wanted? “Why?”
She frowned. “He’s my father.”
“He’s also the one who threw you out of this home.” And to someone like Jodie, that act would have been unforgiveable.
The corner of her mouth dipped before she looked away. “Emotions ran high that night,” she said quietly. “We said and did things we later regretted. It’s time to forgive and move on.”
Stergios raised an eyebrow at her practiced answer. “You think Gregory regretted his actions? That he wants forgiveness?”
She hesitated and glanced at the music room where her father was chatting with guests. “I can only speak for myself,” she replied in a faraway voice.
“You didn’t think the timing of that night had been suspicious?” He crossed his arms as he watched her closely. “He cast you out of his life when you were eighteen.”
Jodie’s head jerked and she gave him a cold stare. “Mairi kicked me out,” she corrected him. “This is her house and my father was obligated to agree with her.”
“And Gregory was no longer receiving child support from your mother.” His quiet tone didn’t soften the blow.
She pressed her lips before she spoke. “You think my father only tolerated me because of the money?”
There were many times when he had believed that. Gregory may have won full custody of Jodie, but he had constantly sent her overseas to any school that would take her. When she was away, it was as if Gregory forgot her existenc
e. Each time Jodie had been expelled from a school and came here to live, Gregory had made it clear that the living arrangements would be temporary.
“He didn’t get rid of me the moment he could. I hadn’t just turned eighteen,” she reminded him. “If that had been his reason, he would have kicked me out months before.”
Stergios knew he had wounded her. Her rigid stance and cool tone didn’t give her away. It was in the way she tried to give a scornful smile. Her tremulous lips ruined the effect.
He had dug in and exposed a fear that had settled deep in her heart. It gave him no pleasure. But Stergios knew he couldn’t hold back if he wanted her to leave. He had to go in for the kill.
“It’s common knowledge that Gregory wanted to become a father so he could eventually live off the child support.”
Her forced smile tightened. “Yes, I’ve heard what was said during the divorce proceedings. That was one lawyer’s argument and it doesn’t make it true.” She took the last step and headed for the music room to join the others.
“Why would you want a relationship with a man who only showed an interest in you for the money?” he called after her.
“Perhaps you should ask your mother that question.” She whirled around. There was restrained anger in her movement but her expression was coldly polite. “My father married Mairi for money. She married him because he’s a respectable escort. He’s not a danger to her fortune or family like your father was.”
Stergios’s head snapped back. No one discussed Elias Pagonis in this house. In front of him. No one. Stergios had shed his father’s name years ago but he couldn’t rid himself of the memories and the damage Pagonis had created.
Jodie took a step closer as if she wasn’t aware of the emotional grenade she’d just lobbed. “Mairi and my father have been married for ten years and they have grown fond of each other. Is it really outside the realm of possibility that my father can grow to love his only child?”