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There was a time when Gabi hadn’t thought there was a man who came close to Rand in his cowboy boots and Stetson. While on her two-week summer vacation with Rachel McCallister, her friend from college, she’d fallen hard for Rachel’s cousin and his Texas charm. Two weeks of a whirlwind relationship and she’d thought it would go on forever.
Too late she found out there was nothing deeper to back up his fascinating drawl and the smile in those dancing blue eyes. He’d let her go back to Alexandria without making any kind of plans to see her again. When she learned through Rachel that he was getting married to his old girlfriend, Gabi’s heart withered.
Since then she’d met and dated some attractive, successful men at her work and at the consulate, but she took no relationship seriously. Her career had become her top priority, the one thing she could count on.
Thankfully she’d learned her lesson well before meeting the legendary Andreas Simonides. Though there was no male to equal his intelligence or incredible appeal, she wouldn’t fall into that trap again. Once had been enough.
She walked toward him carrying Nikos. “Good morning.”
“Kalimera.” His voice had a lazy, almost seductive quality. She felt his gaze linger on her face before he switched his attention to Nikos. Again his gray eyes lit up. “Do you remember me?” He kissed the baby’s cheek.
Nikos’s eyelids fluttered in reaction. He was so cute.
“Gabi?” His eyes trapped hers once more. They held a trace of anxiety. “I brought someone with me I’d like you to meet.”
Who?
Maybe it was a woman he was thinking of marrying now that he was running the Simonides company. Gabi fought to remain calm. Naturally that woman would be hopelessly in love with him. But when she learned he had two sons, would she be able to accept and eventually love the children he’d fathered with someone else?
Suddenly Gabi was feeling very possessive. No woman could mother them the way she could, but it was none of her business since she had no parental claim to the boys.
He put a hand on her upper arm and squeezed gently. “It’s all right,” he whispered, noticing how quiet she’d gone. “I trust him with my life.”
Him?
While her heart picked up the lost beat, Andreas stepped around the end of the wall. Within two seconds he came back again, but at this point Gabi thought her vision had become blurred because she was looking at two of Andreas.
She blinked in alarm, but nothing seemed to clear her double vision. They came closer, in range now, she realized there was nothing wrong with her eyesight. Moving toward her was Andreas and his mirror image wearing a tan suit and cream shirt, only he didn’t have a scar and his hair was the same style and longer length as in the news photo.
Gabi stared at Andreas in surprise. “You’re a twin!”
“That’s right. Gabriella Turner, meet my best friend and older brother by five minutes, Leonides Simonides.”
“Hello, Mr. Simonides,” she said, shaking his hand.
“Leon? Say hello to your sons.”
Chapter Three (#uc3afcf44-442c-50e0-a6e8-b8d9281fec25)
Thea had been with Leonides Simonides, not Andreas?
“Ms. Turner? I hardly know what to say.” Leon looked as stunned as she felt. In fact he barely got those words out because his gaze had fastened on the boys in visible disbelief.
“Gabi’s holding Nikos,” Andreas stated, filling in the silence. “Down there is Kris, who looks like he just woke up from his catnap.”
Swift as the speed of light Andreas caught Gabi’s eye and winked. Warmth flowed through her body as she smiled back, remembering the humorous comment she’d made on Saturday about the children being fat cats.
But she couldn’t forget Leon. Though Andreas would have told him about the children ahead of time, this still had to be the most earthshaking moment of his life. She wasn’t surprised he sank down on the bench literally stupefied.
“Would you like to hold Nikos?” she asked.
“I won’t know what to do if he cries,” he murmured, ashen faced.
“He won’t.” She handed the baby to him. By now Andreas had reached for Kris and was kissing his sweet little neck.
Deciding to give them privacy, she wandered to the other side of the park and sat down to finish reading the biography she’d picked up on the life of the French chef Julia Child.
She hadn’t enjoyed a book as good as this in several years. Like Julia, Gabi had experienced an epiphany about food. But it hadn’t happened until her father had been transferred to Crete where she’d tasted her first pastitsio and developed an instant love of Greek cuisine.
During the last few months she’d been practicing in the kitchen at the consulate, determined she would raise the boys on Greek food in honor of both their parents. By now she could make pretty good spanakopita.
When she realized she’d read the next page for the tenth time, she closed the book and looked across the park. The babies had been put back in the stroller. Both men stood next to them. It seemed as if Andreas was doing most of the talking. Gabi wasn’t sure what it all meant.
Hesitant to interrupt, she waited until he started wheeling the stroller toward her with a grave countenance marring his handsome features. She put the book back in her purse and stood up, noticing that Leon had walked out to the street.
“Let me apologize for my brother.” He spoke without preamble.
“There’s no need. It’s not every day a man is confronted by instant fatherhood, especially when they’re twins.” The happiness she’d felt earlier to see the children united with Andreas had dissipated. Not in her wildest dreams would she have thought up a contingency where his twin brother was the father!
Andreas eyed her with a solemn expression. “Especially when he’s been married three years.”
A small gasp escaped her throat. Had Thea known he was married, or hadn’t it mattered to either of them in the heat of the moment?
“Obviously he’s going to need some time,” she whispered.
“You’re a very understanding woman. When he can gather his wits, I’m sure he’ll want to talk to you.” She was fairly certain Leon wouldn’t, particularly when Andreas would have already told him she planned to go home to Virginia and raise the twins. But she didn’t say anything.
“Thank you for making this meeting today possible, Gabi.”
It sounded like a goodbye speech if she’d ever heard one. Leon had probably told him he couldn’t deal with the situation. What man could? One night in a stranger’s arms wasn’t supposed to end up like this. He wouldn’t be the first father to opt out of his responsibilities.
She felt sorry for Andreas, who clearly loved his brother and had done everything he could to support him. “Of course. I approached you, remember? Thanks to you I won’t ever have to lie to the children.”
After clearing her throat, she said, “When I get back to Virginia, I’ll be reconnecting the phone and will leave the new phone number on a voice mail for you. That way if your brother ever wants to contact me, you can give him both numbers. One last thing. Please let him know I’ll never try to get hold of him for any reason.”
His eyes turned as black as his grim expression. “How soon are you leaving?” he asked in a gravelly voice.
“The day after tomorrow.” She extended her hand, not wanting to prolong the inevitable. “Goodbye, Mr. Simonides.”
Tuesday evening Gabi’s phone alerted her to a text message while she was packing the last of the babies’ clothes into the big suitcase. Her parents were in the nursery playing with the twins, their last night together for two months or more. Pretty soon it would be bedtime. Her dad wanted to put them down.
Since yesterday when she’d pushed the stroller in the opposite direction from Andreas and his brother, she’d tried hard to put the whole business behind her. She thought she’d been doing a fairly good job of hiding her feelings from her parents. Any pain they’d seen would have been attributed to tomorrow’s dreaded departure.
Little did they know she’d met the boys’ father. To her dismay he was doing nothing to prevent her from taking his children out of the country, out of his life.
Gabi hurt for his sons.
She hurt so horribly she could scarcely bear it, but she had to handle it because that was her agreement with Andreas. She would honor her commitment even if it was killing her.
With a tortured sigh she reached for the phone on the dresser. Her best friend Jasmin knew she was coming home and probably wanted to find out her flight number and time. But when she saw who’d sent the message, her adrenaline kicked in, causing her heart to thud.
I just arrived in Heraklion. When you’ve put the twins to bed, meet me at the park.
I’ll wait till morning if I have to because we need to talk. A.
She had to stifle her cry of joy. This meant Leon had been having second thoughts about letting his children slip away without making some arrangement to see them again. It meant she would have contact with Andreas one more time. Gabi wished her pulse didn’t race faster at the thought.
After shutting the suitcase, she hurried to her bedroom to change. She slipped off her T-shirt and jeans, then reached for the tan pleated pants and kelly green cotton top she’d left out to wear on the plane tomorrow.
Once she’d run the brush through her curls and put on lipstick, she poked her head around the door of the nursery. Her parents were absorbed with the children, too busy to be unduly curious about her. “I’m going out for a few minutes to pick up some things at the store.”
“Don’t be too long,” her dad cautioned in between singing to Nikos off-key. The scene melted her heart.
“I won’t.”
A minute later she waved to the guard at the sentry and headed in the direction of the park. Because of the reflection from the water, twilight brought out the beauty of the Greek islands, but never more so than tonight. It was Andreas’s fault. The knowledge he was waiting for her had added that magical quality.
Maybe this was how Thea had felt when she’d met Leon that evening aboard the yacht, as if the heavens were close for a moment and one of the twin gods from Olympus had come near enough for a human to touch.
He’d come close all right, so close he’d touched her with two little mortals, and now his twin, the powerful god Andreas, was here to parlay a deal between the two worlds. When Gabi thought of him in that light, the stars left her eyes and sanity returned.
Tonight he wasn’t dressed like a god. She spied him at the fountain wearing a cream sport shirt and khakis. No one else was about. Instead of expensive hand-sewn leather shoes, he’d worn sandals like everyone else walking along the beachfront.
He watched her coming, but didn’t make a move toward her. “Yassou, Gabi.”
“Hi!” Keep it airy. “I came the minute I got your message because Mother and I have an early morning flight to Athens.”
“I’m aware of that.” He stood with his hands on his hips, emanating a stunning male virility. “Before you go anywhere, I have something in mind I’d like to discuss with you.”
She blinked. “Why isn’t Leon with you?”
Andreas studied her for a long moment. “I think you know the answer to that question.”
Gabi was afraid she did, but Andreas’s presence confused her. “Then I don’t understand why you’re here.”
“Because I don’t want you to leave Greece.”
She struggled to stifle her moan. Of all the things he might have said, his blunt answer wasn’t even on her list. Now if Rand had said, “I don’t want you to leave Austin…” But he hadn’t said anything. As for Andreas, she knew his agenda had nothing to do with her personally.
“I don’t understand.”
He took a deep breath. “Leon’s in a panic right now, but in another day or two he’s going to conquer it. When he does, the children need to be here, not clear across the Atlantic.”
Gabi was the one starting to panic and shook her head. “I can’t stay on Crete.”
His pewter gaze pierced her. “Why not?”
“B-because my parents need to get their life back,” she stammered. “The boys and I need our own home.”
He took a step closer. “You’ve had a home here for months. I would imagine your parents will be devastated when the babies are gone. Therefore that couldn’t be the real reason you’re so anxious to take flight. Do you have a lover in Alexandria waiting for you?”
Taking the out he’d proffered, she said, “As a matter of fact I do. Not that it’s anyone’s business.” While she spoke, she watched a young couple who’d wandered into the park and had started kissing.
“You’re lying. Otherwise he’d have flown here to whisk you and the children back to Virginia weeks ago.” The comment had come out more like a soft hiss. He would make a terrifying adversary if crossed.
She turned her eyes away from the amorous couple. “If you must know, I want the children to myself.”
“So they’ll know you’re their mother,” he deduced. “That makes perfect sense, but you don’t have to go to Virginia to do that.”
Gabi sucked in her breath. “I don’t have the means to earn a living right now and Dad’s home in Alexandria is paid for. With my savings and his financial help, it will work until they’re in school and I can go to work.”
He shook his dark head. “I’ve learned enough to know your father has the means to help you move into your own place here on Crete where you and the boys can be close by but still independent. Why are you afraid to tell me the truth? What’s going on?”
Andreas saw too much. “There are already too many questions being asked about the paternity of the twins. My parents don’t know anything. If it got out about your brother and Thea, my family as well as yours would suffer and you know it. That’s why I want to take them back with me.”
“Out of sight, out of mind, you mean.”
“Yes.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “That might work for a while, but it’s inevitable the day will arrive when the secret comes out. They always do. By then the damage will be far worse, not only for the families involved but for the twins themselves.”
“I realize that, but for the present I don’t know what else to do. There’s—” She stopped herself in time, but Andreas immediately picked up on it.
“What were you going to say?”
“N-nothing.”
“Tell me!” he demanded.
Feeling shaky, she said, “I should never have come to your office.”
“That isn’t what you were about to blurt.”
The man had radar. At this point she had no choice but to tell him. Not everything, but enough to satisfy him.
Taking a few steps, she sank down on the park bench. He followed, but stood near her with his tanned fingers curled around the back railing. “Thea’s husband would love to hurt our family for backing her in the divorce. He’s capable of making trouble that could make things unpleasant for Leon, too.”
“You’re talking about Dimitri Paulos.”
Gabi got up from the bench. “How did you know?”
His eyes played over her. “I did a background check. Thea’s passport alerted me she has an ex. Has he threatened you personally, Gabi?”
She pressed her lips together. “No, but suffice it to say he was furious when Thea divorced him. If not for diplomatic immunity through Dad, I don’t even want to think what might have happened to her. Dimitri considered her his possession. Thea was convinced he’d hired a man to follow her everywhere.”
One black brow lifted sardonically. “My father and I have had business dealings with Dimitri’s father in Athens. I’m familiar with his son’s more devious methods.”
That shouldn’t have surprised Gabi. Andreas knew everything. “The trouble is, before she died she told me he was still out for blood wanting to know who made her pregnant. If he were to learn your brother is the father of her twins, he’d love to feed that kind of gossip to the newspapers just to be ugly.”
