the situation. He’d made reservations for two rooms, but the way he was feeling right now, one of them would be going to waste. Dimitrios couldn’t believe he’d reached this point.
“Your cell phone’s ringing,” she reminded him.
There was no way he could talk to anyone right now. He handed it to her. “When you answer it, tell whoever it is I’ll get back to them.”
“It’s coming from the villa. What if it’s your nephew?”
She knew him too well. But the question drew his attention to the generous curve of her lips with their flare of passion.
When he’d awakened the morning after the accident to find her face mere inches from his, he remembered thinking she had a mouth nature had made without flaw.
“Shall I let it ring?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “If it’s Leon, I’ll talk to him.”
Except that as he listened, it became clear someone else had called. The conversation was over so fast, he realized it had to have been Ananke. These days she was so upset over Leon, she’d forgotten her manners.
After his secretary had clicked off she said, “That was your sister-in-law. She told me to tell you her son is no longer a student at the university. He just left the villa with his backpack and indicated he wouldn’t be around for the family dinner tomorrow night.”
That didn’t surprise him. It was a knee-jerk reaction to punish Dimitrios for taking Alexandra into his confidence, or so Leon had thought. “What else did she say?”
“That was all, but she sounded…desolate.” Her head swerved in his direction. “I got the distinct impression she blames me that he’s gone away so upset.”
He changed into a lower gear so the car could begin its gradual ascent to the lodge. “My sister-in-law’s one dream has been to see her son rise to the head of the Pandakis Corporation. What she forgot to remember is that Leon is capable of dreaming his own dreams.
“Whether they have substance or not, he thinks he wants to be a monk on Mount Athos. She’s terrified of losing him.”
“Oh, dear God— I’m so sorry—” The voice of the woman next to him shook with pain.
“Don’t fall apart on me now, Alexandra. For him to run away because you happened to express an innocent opinion in his presence means he’s more childish and immature than I thought.”
She shook her head. “That’s not it. He must have believed you’d confided his dream to me, a mere secretary. He couldn’t help but think I was trying to influence him on your behalf. If I’d been in his shoes, I would have felt a trust had been broken, too.”
Dimitrios had to clear his throat, not only because of her understanding and sensitivity of the problem, but because of her earnestness in trying to make him understand how badly she felt.
“He worships you!” she cried. “I saw it in his eyes and expression the moment he boarded the plane and found you suffering. And later at the villa, until I ruined everything, he was so excited to try on the costume for you.”
“I love him very much, and appreciate what you’re saying, but I’m not blind to the fact that he’s still very young for his age.”
“Age doesn’t matter when you’re not used to sharing the person you love with a stranger,” she came back. “I don’t blame Ananke for being beside herself. If I could just tell Leon you bear no fault in this.”
“I appreciate your defense of me, Alexandra, but if my nephew can’t see how petty he’s being, then he’s not ready to make life-changing decisions.”
“I think it’s more a case of his being afraid he could never measure up to you. Perhaps he sees the monastery as a place where he won’t have to try.”
He marveled at her ability to see through to the heart of a situation. Her mind was as exciting as everything else about her.
“My uncle Spiros used coercion on everyone in the family in order to have his will obeyed. Even my own father gave in to him out of fear. When I became Leon’s guardian, I determined that was the one thing I would never do.”
“Perhaps you succeeded so well, it has led him to believe you don’t think he’s capable of following in your footsteps. Maybe it’s your approval he’s been waiting for to give him that final push in the right direction, but he never received it. If that’s the case, then my comments to him would have come as a double blow.”
“What do you mean?” Her understanding was rather astounding. He found himself anxious to hear what else she had to say.
“Have you told him straight out you don’t want him to be a monk?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s possible he has a true vocation.”
“But don’t you see—” She broke off talking.
He turned his head toward her. “Go on.”
“I—I’m much too outspoken. It’s none of my business.”
“After what happened in my bedroom, I’d say you’re very much involved. Finish what you were going to tell me.”
She was making more sense than anyone he’d ever known. With every word that came from her mouth, he found himself more enamored of her.
“Maybe he took my remarks to mean that you don’t think he’d make a very good monk, either. Coming from me, it must have been humiliating for him.”
Good heavens. Was it possible she had hit on the truth?
He couldn’t count the number of times Ananke had begged him to take Leon in hand. But all these years he’d shut his mind and heart to her entreaties because she’d been the one doing the pleading.
From the moment Leonides had told him he’d been trapped into a loveless marriage, Ananke had been emotionally dead to Dimitrios.
If Alexandra was even partially correct, then he’d done a terrible disservice to his nephew, who could be floundering. It made sense he’d gone off to lick his wounds.
Dimitrios struggled to contain emotions erupting inside him. To think Alexandra had applied for a job with him four years ago, yet only now was he beginning to understand what a true prize she was.
Without wasting any more time, he reached for the phone to call Leon, but his nephew had turned off his cell phone. The only thing to do was leave a message.
“Leon?” he spoke in Greek. “Wherever you are, I hope you hear this in time. I thought I was recovered enough from my accident to take part in the opening ceremony of the trade fair. But I flew in the helicopter to inspect the silk exhibits and found out I’m still too dizzy to contemplate anything that vigorous.
“I need you home, preferably by tomorrow afternoon. Thank goodness for all the polo you played. You ride like you were born in the saddle.
