“Forgive me, Giannina, but I need to freshen up and will join you in a half hour.”
“I don’t understand. Do you need to talk to your uncle again?”
“No, but what I have to do first is important.”
What was going on with him? “How about another kiss before you go.”
“There’s nothing I want more.” He caught her in his arms and gave her a long hungry kiss that wasn’t nearly enough.
“Promise you won’t leave me like you did three years ago and never come back?”
“I swear I won’t be long.”
“I’ll be waiting for you,” she said, struggling not to show her disappointment. “Thank you for the fabulous ride.”
His dazzling blue gaze took in every feature. It took everything not to throw her arms around him again.
“Remember how much I love you.”
Why would he have said that to her? His parting words filled her with a strange foreboding. What should be the happiest night of her life was turning into something else she couldn’t comprehend.
* * *
Alex took off for his apartment down the hall. He had everything he needed to transform himself and hurried in the bathroom. After fourteen years he was finally going to be rid of his disguise.
First, he removed his shirt and took out his blue contact lenses. With that accomplished he reached for the permanent black dye. Once he’d put on gloves, he brushed it into his dyed blond hair, saturating it.
During the wait while the black color penetrated to turn his hair back to its original color, he dyed his blond eyebrows black. Then he stepped in the shower to shampoo his hair and brows. He stared in relief as the black residue drained away. Once he’d stepped out, he removed the gloves and reached for a towel to dry his face and hair.
The test came when he looked in the mirror a few minutes later to see the result.
“You’re a new man, Alex. The man you’re supposed to be. Your enemies won’t know you. Neither will Giannina.”
Feeling sick to the pit of his stomach as he imagined her reaction, he went in the bedroom and pulled a white linen shirt from the closet. Combined with a pair of stone-gray pants, he finished getting dressed and rolled the sleeves to the elbows. He slipped on well-worn brown leather sandals, ready to meet his fate. This could be the beginning of the end of his dreams if she couldn’t forgive him. But it was too late to back out now.
Tonight she’d admitted that she loved him. Her response to his kisses was everything he’d been praying for. But knowing what was coming had brought his deepest fears to the surface—fears that had been plaguing him from the beginning.
Giannina was a brilliant woman in her own right, the head of a renowned newspaper because she deserved to be the editor-in-chief. She was desirable beyond belief. While they’d been apart, it was a miracle she hadn’t fallen in love and married another man.
Alex had prayed she’d wait for him, no matter how long it took. Even though she’d admitted on the cruiser that she still loved him, he knew the damage he’d caused. Could she overcome the revelation he still had to tell her?
Though he’d asked her to marry him, there were no plans to make until she’d learned the whole truth about him. He needed to give her all the reasons why it had been necessary to deceive her. But in his gut he knew what was going to happen. The mere thought of her reaction shook him to the core of his being.
With no time to lose, he headed for her apartment.
* * *
After freshening up, Giannina waited for Philip on the love seat. She’d texted Nico to let him know about the arrest and that she was in Croatia. But she didn’t reveal anything personal about her and Philip yet. That could come later, after their talk.
She’d just finished sending it when she heard a knock on the door. “Come in, Philip.”
Giannina looked up expecting to see him walk in the sitting room. Instead, a tall, black-haired stranger stood at the entrance—a drop-dead gorgeous male defying ordinary description. Her breath caught.
Beneath black brows his eyes gleamed like black fires. The phone slipped from her hands. Though at first glance she didn’t know who he was, there was something hauntingly familiar about him.
“Giannina?” The deep voice sounded like Philip’s, penetrating to her insides. She didn’t understand what was happening and started to tremble. “I’m sorry if I alarmed you,” he murmured. “You’ve known me as Philip Dimas for one reason only. I feared you’d be made a target by my family’s enemies and I couldn’t allow that to happen. Since London I’ve wanted to introduce myself.
“My real name is Alexandros Cimon Pisistratus. Just so you know, before I was taken to safety, everyone called me Alex. It’s the name I told you to call me when we played together in the palace grounds years ago.”
If ever Giannina had been the type of person to faint dead away, this would have been the time. Fortunately, she was still seated.
He came inside and shut the doors. Dressed in gray pants and a white shirt open at the throat with sleeves rolled to the elbow, he possessed the raw, sensuous masculine appeal of Philip. But his black hair and eyes brought out another element that turned him into an entirely different person from the one who’d stolen her heart three years ago.
This man appeared bigger than life, possessing a magnetic aura that shouted he was the missing prince of Hellenia. He stood across from her with his hands on his hips in a totally male stance that made him unforgettable. His gaze burned into hers.
While in a stupor over what was happening, her mind recalled the young, black-haired prince she’d met years ago. Even then she’d seen the promise of the magnificent man in the good-looking thirteen-year-old. After having disappeared for years, here he was in the flesh! It couldn’t be... It just couldn’t!
He didn’t say a word while she tried to fathom one pertinent fact. There was no Philip Dimas!
All this time he’d been the prince in disguise while the world wondered if he’d died. The spectacular journalist the world had acknowledged and feted for the years following an early college education had never existed. Their relationship had never been real.
Everything had been a lie!
As she started to come back to life after being frozen in place, pain such as she’d never known attacked her entire body. It started in her heart and radiated to every extremity, causing her to cry out in agony.
She shot to her feet, incapable of thought except one. “Welcome to the world you were born to, Your Highness. It’s now clear that this is the story you’ve been alluding to, the one that puts the arrests of my uncle and the general in the background. Call my managing editor. She’ll arrange for an interview with you when you’re ready to announce your return to the throne.”
* * *
The whiteness of Gianinna’s face would stay with Alex for as long as he lived. Everything he’d feared and more had come to fruition with nightmarish clarity.
His heart came close to failing him as she dashed into the bedroom. He reached the entry to her room before she could slam the door in his face.
The plight of Odysseus upon coming home from the Trojan War filled his mind. After ten years absence as prince of Ithaca, Odysseus yearned to be with his faithful, beloved wife, Penelope, and returned dressed as a wily beggar she didn’t recognize. Yet once he revealed himself to her, she remained cautious, wary of being hurt and deceived. In the end she set him a test that only the true Odysseus could pass.
Alex couldn’t help but wonder what test Giannina would set for him so he could regain the love she’d once felt for Philip. Tragically the two men were not the same in her eyes. He would have to win her heart and soul as Alex, but he might not have the luck of Odysseus and lose his reason for being.
She sank down on the side of the bed with her face buried in her hands.
“Giannina?”
/>
She slowly looked up. A light had gone out of her eyes, causing a physical change in her countenance. He’d accomplished the perfect deception, but the revealed truth had done a kind of damage from which they might never recover.
“We have to talk.”
“I wanted to talk during our horseback ride,” she responded with amazing calm. “Since the moment we met in London, I wanted to tell you that that I’d hoped you would ask me to be your wife. But I was dying to be the wife of Philip Dimas.”
He cringed inwardly while he waited for the rest.
“Now I know why you put me off so long. Your transformation has said it all. I appreciate the trouble you went to so I could be there for Ari’s arrest and know the truth. He stole your life away from you, and your uncle gave you a new one. Please give that remarkable man my regards and thank him for his hospitality. I’m happy for both of you. Now I’d like you to leave me alone.”
Alex couldn’t do that until he’d told her everything. “I’ll tell him, but you need to know that Zikos isn’t my uncle.”
She gave a despairing shake of her head. “Of course he isn’t. I kept looking for a family resemblance but couldn’t find one.”
Her words cut him to the marrow. “He was my father’s right-hand man and would have been made prime minister but for the assassination.”
Anger shot her cheeks with color. “Next I suppose the home in Portugal and all his residences around the world were sheer fabrication on your part. Small wonder you never took me there to meet him.”
He swallowed hard. “Zikos is a Hellenian citizen who’d fought in an earlier war alongside my father when they were young men. He lived in Loria, where he met his wife. In time he became the chief assistant to my father. That happened after my grandfather, the former king, died of pneumonia and my father was crowned king.
“The night my parents were murdered, Zikos brought me here to his mother’s family home, where we’ve been safe from the enemy. He has treated me like a son.”
She averted her eyes. “He’s a true hero for what he’s done, but I’ve heard enough.”
“You haven’t heard everything yet.”
Giannina hugged her arms to her waist. “Seeing you like this is enough. It’s all making sense now. I was amazed you kept dating me after that first night when we had drinks.”
Where was she going with this? “What do you mean?”
“You did your research all right. Ari Hatzi was your target and once we started seeing each other, you discovered I was his niece. There was no stopping you because I’d fallen head over heels in love with you. You saw the perfect way to learn more about one of the men you’d been tracking secretly. His relationship with my family was like finding gold, wasn’t it?”
His jaw tautened. “You couldn’t be more wrong. I only knew his name after you told me about him and how mean he’d been to you growing up. But I didn’t learn until ten days ago that he’d helped kill my parents.”
“You mean it was just a coincidence,” she mocked with cutting scorn.
“Yes. An incredible coincidence. You only have to talk to the eyewitness who came forward ten days ago to know I’m telling the truth.”
“What naive little fool do you take me for? I couldn’t believe you were attracted to me. One of the most famous journalists in Europe had picked me to spend time with out of all the women around.”
“That’s because there’s never been another woman like you, Giannina.”
“Naturally not. They didn’t have the advantage of being related to the man you were hunting. I was the chosen one and told you everything about myself and my family while you wined and dined information out of me.” Her eyes blazed. “How can you deny that you used me in the cruelest of ways?”
A groan escaped his lips. “I deny it before God!”
She looked away from him.
“I had a young teenage crush on you years before we met again in London. I knew after our first evening together that I’d fallen irrevocably in love with you. Nothing else mattered to me during the month we were together. That was the happiest time of my life.”
She shook her head. “You were so happy, you suddenly left London without telling me your secret. You didn’t trust me or grant me even a half hour of your time before saying goodbye to me. You insult my intelligence to suggest you ever loved me. Loving someone means total trust.”
He could see her body shaking. “I agree, but in our case I was terrified to take you with me in case you got killed because of me. If that had happened...” He couldn’t finish his thoughts.
“I never saw you for three years,” she accused him in pain. “Then two days ago you ventured into my office with my charming managing editor, who was already smitten.”
He moved closer to her. “The postcards I sent were—”
“An affront to me!” she broke in on him. “How dare you mention them. You didn’t even trust me enough to give me a PO box on the card where I could write back to you. How could that have endangered my life? Couldn’t anyone have found them and killed me at the office?”
“But nothing happened to either of us in London. Once you’d gone back to Salonica, no one ever saw me with you again, so your life wasn’t in danger. The postcards were my only way to let you know that you were constantly in my heart.”
Caustic laughter escaped. “And when you did come to Greece a few days ago, it—”
“It was to protect you and your family before the news came out about your uncle. I wanted you to be there when he was arrested so you’d see the truth of his malevolence for yourself.”
He heard a harsh intake of breath. “Please let’s not do this, Philip.”
“I’m in love with you and always have been. You charmed me as a girl. When we met up again in England, the reality of your beauty and intelligence overpowered me and I’ve never been the same.”
She refused to look at him. “You didn’t even make love to me.”
“I didn’t dare take the risk of getting you pregnant while we were in London. Furthermore, I wanted you to be my wife before I took you to bed for the first time. You’re the only woman I’ll ever love and want to marry.”
Her head reared, causing her shiny hair to flounce. “Well, I have news for you. The man I want to marry doesn’t exist yet. Maybe never. When or if he ever makes an appearance, he’ll trust me with all his heart, might, mind and soul.”
“I already do,” he fought back. “Asking you to be my bride means you’ll be my lover and wife, the mother of our children. If I’m put on the throne, you’ll be queen of Hellenia, beloved by everyone.”
“Queen?” She stared at him as if he were insane. “That’s the last thing on earth I would ever want to be.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I can’t imagine being a royal.” Her words pierced him. “If you’d told me the truth in London, I would have checked myself out of school and flown home that very day.”
“Giannina—”
“Please leave.”
She was too hurt and angry for him to try to reason with her right now. “I’ll go, but I’m not giving up on us. We love each other and we’ll find a way.”
It was two in the morning as he left her apartment knowing there’d be no sleep for him now. He raced down the hall to the back stairs. Once outside he headed for the swimming pool at the side of the palace. A workout would exhaust him.
But as he found out after reaching his room two hours later, no activity helped relieve his pain. While he was changing clothes, a new fear gripped him. He’d lied to her in the worst possible way a man could hurt the woman he loved, but she wasn’t the kind of person who went into hysterics. Instead she would find a way to slip out of the palace without telling him and leave for Salonica.
If he phoned or texted her, she wouldn’t answer. With pounding heart, Alex c
hanged clothes and hurried to her apartment. He checked his watch. Quarter to five. He knocked on her door, but there was no answer.
“Giannina? Are you awake?”
He waited. Still no answer. Hoping she would forgive him, he opened the door, but didn’t go in. “If you can hear me, let me know. I have to talk to you.”
The quiet alarmed him. Something told him she’d gone.
After dashing back to his room for his wallet and keys, he raced out the door and down the staircase to the foyer. One of the night staff approached him. “Your Highness? I was told by Kyria Angelis to tell you goodbye. She called for a taxi.”
He could hardly breathe. “How long ago did she leave?”
“It has been half an hour.”
Maybe there was still time to catch up with her. “Thank you, Jakov. Please tell Uncle Zikos I’ve gone after her and will be in touch with him.”
Alex pulled out his phone and asked Ivan to drive around to the entrance to the palace. He needed to leave for the airport immediately.
If she’d phoned her brother to send the Angelis jet, it was possible he might miss her. Then again maybe she didn’t want to bother him and had decided to fly commercial. Alex’s instinct told him the latter was what she’d done.
He stepped outside to wait for Ivan, who arrived in record time. They left for the airport. En route he phoned the pilot to be ready to fly him to Salonica. When they reached the main terminal, Alex told Ivan to wait and rushed inside. The place was packed with tourists.
There was no sign of Giannina. He hurried to the gate for the flight and found her seated while she waited to board. Relieved to realize she hadn’t left yet, he walked over to her. She’d dressed in a small black-on-white print sundress and jacket with white sandals to match. He loved her hair cascading to her shoulders. Alex could eat her alive.
When she saw him, she got up from the chair with her overnight bag and walked away to avoid people. “Don’t try to stop me,” she whispered.
Harlequin Romance April 2021 Box Set Page 7