and now we’re back on the yacht.”
“Wait, wait, wait. You’re married?”
“Yes, and I won’t be coming back to Florida until after the baby is born and it’s safe to fly.” A noise in the hall attracted her attention, followed by a tap on the door. “Listen, Melinda— I’m not alone. I’ll have to call you tomorrow. Ciao.”
She hung up and tightened the belt on her robe before opening the door. Nikos was still dressed in his uniform. His dark gorgeous looks affected her the same way they’d done on the island when she’d first laid eyes on him. She couldn’t breathe then, either.
“I take it Tassos and Elianna have gone?”
He nodded. “I could hear your voice just now.”
“Yes. I was talking to Melinda.”
His black eyes searched the depths of hers. “Elianna told me you’ve invited her over in a few days.”
Nervous, Stephanie clasped the lapels of her robe. “Yes, if that’s all right. But if you have other plans for us, I’ll phone her and we’ll decide on a later time for a visit. I just assumed you would want to get back to work.” When he didn’t respond, she added, “Ours isn’t a conventional marriage, and my coming to Greece interrupted everything. I don’t want you to think you have to entertain me.”
“Elianna told me you were going to try and help her get over her fear of scuba diving. How did she know you’re an expert?”
At the way his brows furrowed, alarm shot through Stephanie’s body. “While she was helping me out of my dress, I mentioned that we met scuba diving in the Caribbean. Did I say something wrong?”
He undid his tie and removed it in a way that made her pulse pick up speed. “Have you forgotten you’re having a baby? You told me you were giving up diving.”
“Nikos...that doesn’t mean I can’t swim at all. A little exercise for pleasure will be good for me. As for helping her, I won’t be descending with her. I’ll only work with her on the surface and encourage her until she overcomes her fear. Tassos wants her to do it, but she would probably feel better around someone like me who doesn’t intimidate her.”
“You mean Tassos does,” Nikos drawled in a tone with an edge.
“He’s her husband. She wants him to be proud of her, not watch her struggle.”
In a quick move Nikos unbuttoned the jacket of his uniform. “Anytime you go in the water, I intend to be close by.” With that parting remark, he started walking down the corridor.
“Wait...”
He paused midstride and looked back.
“Is Yannis still on board?”
“No. He won’t be coming until morning. Why?”
That meant they weren’t going out to sea. “I just wanted to thank him for everything he did for me today.”
Nikos turned to face her. “It was no penance for him to button you up. He asked my permission, by the way. Yannis was worried you had no one to attend you.”
Silly as it was, she felt heat swarm her cheeks. “He was very sweet.”
“You can tell him that tomorrow.”
She shoved her hands in her robe pockets. “Let me thank you now for making this day perfect. The Gregerov family couldn’t have been kinder. I can see why you feel so close to them. I—I wish I’d been able to meet Kon.” She stuttered over the words. “Your heart must have been touched to receive his ring.”
“You can’t imagine. It belonged to his grandfather, who gave it to him before he died. Kon wore it until he entered the military, then put it away to make sure nothing would happen to it until he retired. He planned to give it to a son if he ever had one.”
Stephanie heard tears in Nikos’s voice. She wasn’t at all surprised at the depth of his grief and understood more than ever why she’d found him so broken when she’d first collided with him on board. “I’m sure Kon would have wanted you to have it.”
She bit her lip, not knowing what else to say to comfort him. In fact, she feared her talking was irritating him. “Do you mind if I go up on deck for a while?”
He gave an elegant shrug of his shoulders. “This is your home. You can do whatever you like. When I was in town this morning, I bought some English speaking films on disk, which you can watch in the lounge. I won’t set the security alarm until we’re ready for bed.”
“Thank you,” she said to his retreating back.
After drinking some water from the galley, Stephanie went up on deck to take in the wonder of the night. She’d always lived by the water, but no place in her experience lived up to the beauty of these isolated islands set like glittering jewels on dark velvet.
Time passed, but Nikos still didn’t join her. She had assumed that, in marrying her, he intended to sleep with her. She didn’t know and he hadn’t spelled out a detail like that, but without love on his part, she wouldn’t be able to respond.
The problem was this was their wedding night. The kisses he’d given her at the restaurant had felt like a prelude to making love, but maybe they’d been for show. For the photographs.
Deciding not to wait for him any longer, she went below. There was no sign of him in the lounge. She could go down the hall and knock on his door. Was he waiting for her to come to him? Stephanie had no idea what to do. When they’d been together on the island, he’d never left her alone.
But they weren’t married then, and he’d never intended to propose to her. They’d found intense pleasure together, but in his mind it had been temporary until he returned to his unit and ultimately to Natasa Lander.
Even leaving the other woman out of it, the more Stephanie thought about the situation, the more she understood that if he still didn’t believe she was carrying his child, he wouldn’t want to sleep with her. Maybe the thought was distasteful, even repugnant to him. Shivering at the possibility, she made up her mind never to expect a physical relationship with him.
After brushing her teeth, she took a pill and turned out the light. But once she was under the covers another thought came to her, with such force she let out a small cry and sat up. She didn’t know why she hadn’t considered it before. Since he was sterile, it was more than possible he was impotent, too.
Nikos...
If that was the case, then her heart grieved for him. He was such a proud man, it was only natural that since the explosion he wouldn’t want to marry Natasa or any woman.
But he’d trusted Stephanie enough to marry her in order to give their child a father. In the process he’d become her husband in name only, to make it legitimate while he waited to find out the results of the DNA test. The dots were lining up.
No wonder he hadn’t wanted his family to be a part of today’s nuptials. Everything was based on whether or not he was the father. She fell back and buried her face in the pillow to stifle her tears until oblivion took over.
