“But that’s absurd! She’s in love with you.”
“It’s a moot point, since I’m not in love with her and never have been. Any hope you had for me marrying her is out of the question. I’m deadly serious about this.”
His father’s cheeks grew ruddy with emotion. “You don’t know what you’re saying!”
“But I do. Natasa is a lovely person, but not the one for me.” Unless she had an agenda of her own, there was something wrong with her for waiting around for him this long. “At this point I’m afraid a marriage between the two of us is only a figment of your and her parents’ imagination.”
“How dare you say that!” his father muttered furiously.
“How dare
you?
” Nikos retorted back. “You’ll be doing her a favor if you tell her and her family that I’m not well enough to see anyone now. Hopefully, they’ll finally get the point! Don’t turn this into a nightmare for me or you’ll wish you hadn’t!”
Nikos had suffered too many of them since the fishing vessel with all the surveillance equipment, along with Kon, had been blown out of the water by the enemy. If Nikos hadn’t happened to be over the side, checking the hull for damage because of a run earlier in the day, he wouldn’t still be alive.
As it was, he’d been found unconscious in the water. The doctors at the hospital hadn’t given him a chance of walking again due to the damage to his lower spine, but they’d been proved wrong. He’d come out of it with deep bruising and reduced mobility. No one could say how much he would heal with time.
“We can discuss this later,” his mother said, always anxious to mollify his father. For as long as Nikos could remember, she’d tried to keep peace between them. Though he loved her for it, the ugly history with his father had dictated that certain things would never change....
“There’s nothing to discuss.”
His military career was over. Life as he’d known it was over. Nikos was living for the moment when he could be away from everyone. Both his parents crowded him until he felt stifled, but he knew he had to endure this until tomorrow morning.
He’d already made arrangements with Yannis, who would come to the house and drive him to the marina in Nikos’s car. Once on board the
Diomedes,
he intended to stay put. Drinking himself to death sounded better and better.
Silence invaded the vehicle until they reached the small airport in Athens. Nikos took a fortifying breath as he stepped out and reached for his crutches to board his father’s private jet. The steward knew him well and nodded to him. “Welcome home, Nikos.”
“Thank you, Jeno.”
“Are you hungry?”
“No.”
“Some tea?”
“How about a beer?”
The other man smiled. “Coming right up.”
Nikos found a seat in the club compartment with his parents, who for once had gone quiet. He put the crutches on the floor and fastened himself in. It was a short forty-minute flight across the Aegean to Chios. From there they’d take the helicopter to Vassalos Shipping on Egnoussa, where they’d land and drive home.
He stared blindly out the window until fatigue took over, causing him to lounge back in the seat and close his eyes. The mention of marriage had triggered thoughts of a certain female in another part of the world he’d had to leave two and half months ago—so abruptly he still hadn’t recovered from the pain.
Stephanie Walsh would have received the gardenias with his note. It would have sent a dagger straight to her heart. Nikos knew how it felt, because when he’d had his farewell gift delivered to the restaurant, he’d experienced gut-wrenching pain over what he’d been forced to do.
His hand formed a fist, because there hadn’t been a damn thing he’d been able to do to comfort her at the time. As a navy SEAL, everything about his life was classified. Since then his whole world had been turned upside down, ensuring he would never seek her out again.
From the second he’d first met the beautiful American woman on the beach, her appeal had been so strong he couldn’t find the strength to stay away from her. Knowing his leave was for only two weeks, he hadn’t intended to get involved with her. Because he’d be returning shortly to join his unit, there could be no future in it.
Every day he kept telling himself he’d go to another resort on the island to keep his distance, but every day he grew more enamored of her. The night with her before he’d received orders to return to Greece should never have happened.
He loathed himself for allowing things to get that far, but she’d been like a fever in his blood. Intoxicated by her beauty, by everything about her, he’d given in to his desires, and she’d been right there with him. Her loving response had overwhelmed him, setting him on fire.
There’d been other women in his life, but never again would he know a night of passion like that. What he and Stephanie had shared for those ten precious days had been unbelievable. His longing for her was still so real he could taste it.
When he’d awakened on their last morning together, they’d been tangled up in each other’s arms. She’d looked at him with those sapphire eyes, willing him to love her, and he’d wanted to stay in that bed with her forever. After their dive that afternoon, it had shredded him to walk away from her and board the jet for the flight to Athens, but he’d had his orders. He couldn’t imagine a world that didn’t include her.
After meeting up with Kon for their next covert operation, Nikos had confided his deepest feelings, telling him that after this last mission was completed, he planned to resign his commission and marry her. But just three days after that, the enemy had struck, and his best friend was dead. Nikos was no longer a whole man. Stephanie could be only a memory to him now.
En route to the Caribbean he’d never dreamed he would meet the woman who would leave her mark on him. His mind went over the conversation he’d just had with his father.
You don’t know what you’re saying!
But I do. Natasa is a lovely person, but there’s something wrong with a woman who waits around for a man who’s never been interested in her romantically. I’m afraid a marriage between the two of us is out of the question.
Nikos had met the ideal woman meant for him, but she would have to remain in his dreams. If Kon were still alive he’d say, “Get in touch with her and tell her the truth about your condition. You trusted her enough to spend every living moment with her. It might ease the pain for both of you if she knew who you really were, and what happened to you.”
A groan escaped Nikos’s throat. With his spinal injury, he wasn’t the same man she’d met. Part of the collateral damage had rendered him sterile. He’d never be able to give a woman a child from his own body. Nikos lived in a dark world now. He looked and felt like hell. No woman would want a man whose flashbacks could make him dangerous to himself and others. Stephanie would only hate him for lying to her. For using her for pleasure, then dumping her without explanation.
“Nikos?”
His eyes flew open. “Jeno?”
The steward looked at him with compassion. “Are you feeling ill? Can I get you anything?”
He shook his head. He’d come to a dead end. The woman he loved and desired was permanently beyond his reach now.
“We’re getting ready to descend.”
“Thank you.”
He fastened his seat belt. Jeno was right about one thing: Nikos did feel ill. The meeting with the vice admiral was like the first handful of dirt thrown on top of the coffin. He saw the life he’d once known vanish into the void, leaving him to travel through a tunnel of blackness that had no end....
July 26
Stephanie was going to be a mother.
She ran a hand over her stomach, which had grown fuller, making it harder to fasten the top two buttons of her jeans. It still seemed unbelievable that she was carrying Dev’s child. When she’d missed her period last month it hadn’t alarmed her, because she’d always been irregular. In college she’d gone six months without a period.
But over the last three weeks she’d felt weak and nauseated. In her depressed state she’d lost her appetite and thought she had a flu bug. But it didn’t go away and then she started noticing other changes to her body. It all added up to one thing, and the home pregnancy test yesterday had turned out positive, shocking the daylights out of her.
The trip to Dr. Sanders today had confirmed that she was three months along with Dev’s baby.
Incredible.
Her OB had ordered pills for her nausea, plus iron and prenatal vitamins to build her up.
If she caught up to Dev, would he want to know he was going to be a father?
Deep down, she’d been waiting for him to contact her. He knew she worked for Crystal River Water Tours. It would have been easy enough for him to call and leave a message. But that hadn’t happened. He hadn’t planned on ever seeing or talking to her again.
Yet she felt certain the man she’d fallen in love with would have wanted to hear the truth about his own baby. But it seemed that man didn’t exist. If she were able to find him, would he still tell her he wanted nothing to do with her or the baby, once he found out?
For the next twelve hours she agonized about what to do, vacillating over the decision she needed to make. By morning, one thing overshadowed every consideration. She knew her child would want to know its father. It would be the most important thing in her baby’s life.
Stephanie knew all about that, having always longed to meet her birth father and know his name. It took two to make a child, and it was up to her to inform Dev if it was at all possible. What he did with the information was up to him.
But her hand hesitated before she reached for the phone to begin her inquiries at the resort. The two people she knew there might wonder why she needed information. They’d probably deduce she was some obsessed girlfriend.
How humiliating would it be to confide the truth about the baby to them? She just couldn’t. But maybe it would work if she explained she’d been worrying about him ever since he’d disappeared, the very night they were going to have dinner together. She felt certain he’d been ill, thus the reason for his swift departure. Did they know any way she might get in touch with him, just to see if he was all right?
With her hand shaking, she called the number on the brochure she’d kept, and waited.
“Dive shop. This is Angelo.”
She gripped the cell phone tighter. “Hello, Angelo. I’m glad it’s you. I tried to reach you earlier, but you were out. This is Stephanie Walsh. You probably don’t remember me. I was there almost three months ago.”
“Stephanie? I always remember the pretty girls, you especially.”
Her heart beat too fast. “You just made my day.”
He laughed. “You had a good time on vacation?”
“Wonderful, thanks to you.”
The best of my whole life until the box of gardenias was brought to the table.
“That’s good. How can I help you?”
“I’m trying to reach Dev Harris, the scuba diver from New York I partnered with that first week. Do you have a phone number or an email for him? Anything at all to help me? He left so suddenly, I’ve worried over the last few months that he might have been taken ill. I have pictures I’d like to send him via email.”
“Let me check. Don’t hang up.”
“No. I won’t.”
She paced the bedroom of her condo while she waited. There were a lot of Devlin, Devlon or Devlan Harrises listed in New York City, but none she could reach was the man she was trying to find.
When she’d first gotten back to Florida, anger had driven her to phone New York information, but there was no such name listed for him. She’d spent several days phoning exporting companies where he might be working, but she’d turned up nothing.
After exhausting that avenue, she’d called various airlines that had landed planes on the island April 18, but got no help. The resort could tell her only what she already knew, that he was from New York. That was when she’d given up. But her pregnancy had changed everything.
“Stephanie? I’m back. Sorry, but there is no address or phone number. Perhaps one of the shops you visited would know something.”
She bit her lip in disappointment. “We didn’t do any shopping, but he did have some flowers delivered to me. Would they have come from the resort?”
“No, no. The Plant Shop in town. Just a minute and I’ll give you the number.” She held her breath while she waited. “Yes. Here it is.”
Stephanie wrote it down. “You live up to your name, Angelo. Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome. Good luck finding him.”
After hanging up, she placed the call. Stephanie had once told him she loved gardenias. Tears stung her eyes. She had to admit his parting gift had been done with a certain style, while at the same time destroying her dreams. If there were no results, then the baby she was carrying would never know its father.
“The Plant Shop.”
“Hello. My name is Stephanie Walsh. I’m calling from Florida. On April 27 a box of gardenias from your shop was delivered to me at the Palm Resort. I never did get to thank the gentleman who sent it to me. He left before I realized he’d gone. His name was Dev Harris. Could you give me an address or a phone number, please? He’s from New York City. That’s all I know.”
It was a long shot, but she was desperate.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t give out that information.”
“Can you at least tell me what time he left the order?”
“Just a moment and I’ll check.” After a minute, the salesclerk returned. “It was phoned in at 5:00 p.m.”
“Thank you for your help.”
After she hung up, one more idea flitted through her mind. She called the resort again and asked if she could speak to Delia, the darling girl who’d been the maid for their rooms. Could Delia call Stephanie back collect, please? It was very important.
The front desk said they’d give her the message. Within a half hour, Stephanie’s phone rang and it was the resort calling. Delia was on the other end.
“Hello, Stephanie.”
“Oh, Delia. Thanks so much for calling me back.”
“Of course. How is the handsome Dev?”
I wish I knew.
“Actually, I’m not sure. I’m really worried about him. That’s why I’ve phoned you. I’m thinking he must have left the island early because he was ill and didn’t want me to know or worry. I thought I would have heard from him by now, and need your help to find him if it’s at all possible.”