while and breathe some fresh air.” There was no sign of her baby’s father. The sun had fallen below the horizon.
“Nikos doesn’t want you up here until we’re out on open water. It’s for your safety. I promised him that I would take care of you.”
There’d be no point in begging his guard dog to let her walk around on deck. “All right.” She turned around and went back to the dimly lit passage below, and finally Nikos’s bedroom. Stephanie couldn’t believe this was the same man she’d fallen madly in love with.
Since he wasn’t working at Vassalos Shipping right now, what was he doing on this yacht? Needing to figure out why he was being so cruel and secretive, she opened his closet, but all she found were casual clothes. Nothing that told her anything. The clothes in the dresser didn’t reveal anything, either.
Needing answers, she left the bedroom and went along the passageway to the next door, on the left. It was another bedroom, with a queen-size bed and its own bathroom.
She tried the next door, but it was locked. Maybe it was the bedroom of the man who was crewing for Nikos. Stephanie’s gaze darted to the lounge across from it. One end contained a couch, table and chairs, and an entertainment center. The other end had been made into a den, equipped with a computer and everything that went with it.
After checking out his desk, she came across sets of maps and charts with Greek words she couldn’t read. Stephanie was afraid she’d be caught snooping and it would intensify his anger. Quickly, she put them back in the drawers and hurried down the corridor to his bedroom.
Once she’d shut the door, she leaned against it with a pounding heart while her mind tried to make sense of what he was doing on the yacht. When she’d calmed down, she was so exhausted she stretched out on the bed. In case he came to check up on her, he would think she’d been sleeping instead of exploring the yacht without his permission.
Emotionally spent, she closed her eyes for a minute, trying desperately to put all the disjointed pieces together. The man at the reception desk had told her Kyrie Vassalos was out of the country and wouldn’t be back in the foreseeable future. It was a blatant lie, since Nikos had obviously been living on this yacht for some time. Why?
Stephanie racked her brain for answers until she knew nothing else. When she next became aware of her surroundings, the yacht was still moving. To her surprise Nikos had thrown a blanket over her. How long had she slept? Her watch said it was 11:00 p.m., Greek time.
When she rolled over to get up, she realized he’d removed her sandals. At the end of the bed she saw her suitcase. That meant he’d already sailed to Chios, and had no doubt taken care of her hotel bill.
She started to tremble. No one in the world knew where she was right now. No one would be looking for her yet. Stephanie was being held against her will in the middle of the Aegean Sea by a man she didn’t begin to know.
After slipping on her sandals, she left the bedroom and walked down the hall to the stairs. No one met her at the top. She walked to the railing and looked all around. Night had descended. In the distance she could see lights twinkling from land far away. Though the sight was beautiful, she shivered to think she’d been so foolish as to climb aboard the boat of a perfect stranger. In Greek waters, no less...
Didn’t Greek mythology tell of Pandora, the first woman on earth? Zeus had given her a beautiful container with instructions not to open it under any circumstances. But her curiosity had prevailed and she did open it, letting out all the evil held inside. For what she’d done, she’d feared Zeus’s wrath.
Another shudder rocked Stephanie’s body. Today she’d opened that container, knowing she shouldn’t have. The action had seemed so small at the time. But what she’d done, in order to find the father of her baby, had turned out to have severe and far-reaching consequences for her, inciting Nikos’s wrath.
“You’re not supposed to be up here.”
At the sound of Nikos’s deep voice, a cry escaped her lips and she spun around. The warm night breeze flattened the T-shirt against his well-defined chest, ruffling his black wavy hair. Despite his hostility, his male beauty captivated her.
“I was looking for you.”
“It’s dangerous to walk around at this time of night. You’re lucky I didn’t set the wireless security system yet, or you would have received the fright of your life by the noise.”
Her hand clutched the railing. “I’m used to being on boats,” she said defensively.
His lips tightened into a thin line. “Go back down. Now.”
Nikos’s mood was too dark and ominous for her to dare defy him. Taking a deep breath, she turned around and walked back to the stairs, which she descended. She felt him following her, all the way to the bedroom.
After he came inside, she looked at him. “Was the alarm set this afternoon while I was waiting to talk to a crew member?”
“Yes, even if that part of the marina is Vassalos private property. There are some people who will trespass no matter what.”
She lifted a hand to her throat. She’d considered going on board, but had held back, thank goodness. “You mean all those other boats belong to your company?”
“That’s right.” His chiseled features stood out in stark relief. “I must admit I’m surprised you didn’t step on the Diomedes without permission. When we were together on Providenciales, I noticed what an adventurous person you were, unafraid to explore the depths where the others held back. I guess it doesn’t really surprise me you would show such tenacity in trying to find me, regardless of the consequences.”
Her softly rounded chin lifted. “That’s because I was on a sacred mission.”
“Sacred?” he queried silkily. “What an interesting choice of words.”
Salty tears stung her eyelids. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
Stephanie shook her head. “You’ll only mock me, so there’s no point.”
“You’re trying my patience, what little I have left,” he said, his voice grating. He lounged against the closed door. The stance looked familiar, but she had an idea he needed the support. Stephanie wished she didn’t care about his condition, but the signs of his suffering, both physical and emotional, had gotten to her. “I’m waiting.”
“When we were in the Caribbean, you asked me about my father. I told you he and my mother never married and she raised me alone. But I never went into the details.”
“Why was that?”
She sank down on the side of the bed. “Because it’s such a painful subject for me to talk about, and because I barely knew you. Eventually I would have told you everything, but we ran out of time.” Her voice shook.
His jaw hardened. “That must have been a shock to your carefully laid plans.”
“I didn’t have any plans, Nikos. I don’t know why you won’t believe me. You say you want answers, so I’m trying to give them to you. Mom met my father on a winter skiing holiday in Colorado. They spent a glorious week together before he said he had to leave, but would fly to Crystal River to
