Rebecca Winters - The Greek Wants a Wife

Tension sizzled between them as he started down the stairs toward her. To his relief she didn’t fight him. Slowly she followed him to the main floor. They went down the hallway and out a side door where he’d asked that his sports car be brought around.

Alex saw the question in her eyes. “I bought this ten years ago. It’s my getaway car when I need to be alone to think.” He intentionally let her get in by herself because he didn’t trust himself not to touch her. After leaving the grounds, he headed for the road leading to an isolated portion of the coast with rocky terrain.

“But you’re not alone,” she said in a haunted whisper.

“If you mean the bodyguards, you’re right.” He felt her nervousness. “Relax. If I had seduction in mind, we wouldn’t be in this. I purposely chose it in order to keep my hands off you tonight.”

“Alex—”

“Let me finish,” he interrupted. “Whatever you may think about me, I’m not in the habit of luring available women to my bed when the mood strikes me. You came to Hellenica at my request in order to test Zoe. Neither of us could have predicted what would happen after you arrived.

“I can’t speak for you, but I know for a fact that even if your husband’s memory will always be in your heart, the chemistry between us is more powerful than anything I’ve ever felt in my life. We both know it’s not going to go away.”

She lowered her head.

“One night with you could never be enough for me.” He gripped the steering wheel tighter. “I know you would never consent to be my mistress, and I would never ask you. But until the coronation is over, I’m requesting your help with Zoe.”

She shifted in the seat. “In what way?”

“Stasio and my daughter both need me desperately, but I can’t be in two places at the same time and still manage the daily affairs of the crown. My brother is going through the blackest period of his life. He’s clinging to me and shutting out our grandmother. She’s beside herself.”

“I can only imagine.”

“I’m worried about both of them and asked the doctor to come. He’s with them now, seeing what can be done to get them through this nightmare. He says I need to be there for Stasio 24/7. I’ve asked our cousin Philippe to fly here and stay for a few days so my brother has someone to talk to he trusts.”

“I’m so sorry, Alex.”

“So am I,” he muttered morosely. “This situation is something that’s been coming on for years. Unfortunately it’s had a negative impact on Zoe. When we got back to the palace today, it took me an hour to settle her down. She wanted to go to your room with you. Tonight she begged me to let you become her official nanny.”

Alex heard a half-smothered moan come out of Dottie. The sound tore him up because any kind of connection to keep her with him was fading fast. “It wouldn’t work.”

“You think I don’t know that?” he bit out. “But as a temporary solution, would you be willing to stay at the palace on Aurum with her until the coronation? She loves it there, especially the garden. One of the staff has grandchildren she plays with. I’d fly over each evening in the helicopter to say good-night.

“When the coronation is over, I’ll be moving back to Aurum with Zoe, and you can return to New York. Hector will see to your flight arrangements. I assume your replacement will arrive soon after that, if not before. But until then, can I rely on your help?”

She nodded without looking at him. “Of course.”

The bands constricting his breathing loosened a little. “Thank you. On Saturday I’ll run you and Zoe over in the cruiser. We’ll skip her preschool next week.”

“Are you still going to go ahead with the arrangements for the Varney boy to come home with Zoe after class tomorrow?”

“Yes,” he murmured. “Any distraction would be better than her being around my grandmother, who’s not in a good way right now. She’s always been a rock, but she never saw this coming with Stasio.”

“You sound exhausted, Alex. Tomorrow will be here before we know it. Let’s go back to the palace.”

She sounded like Hector. Go back. Do your duty. Forget you’re a man with a man’s needs .

Full of rage, he made a sharp U-turn and sped toward the palace tight-lipped, but by the time they reached the entry, he’d turned into one aching entity of pain. He watched the only person who could take it away for good rush away on her gorgeous legs.

Dottie could tell Zoe felt shy around Mark Varney. She stuck close to her daddy at the shallow end of the pool.

They’d just returned home from the preschool. Mark was a cute, dark blond first grader who sported a marine haircut and was a good little swimmer already. He didn’t appear to be nervous as he floated on an inner tube at the deep end, kicking his strong legs. Dottie sat on the edge by him.

“My mom told me she talks funny. How come?” he said quietly.

“Sometimes a child can’t make sounds come out the way they want. But I’m working on them with her. One day she’ll sound like you, but for now I’m hoping to get your help.”

He blinked. “How? She’s a princess.”

She looked at his boyish face with its smattering of freckles. “Forget about that. She’s a girl. Just be friends with her. In a way, you can be her best teacher.”

His sunny blue eyes widened. “I can?”

“Yes. You’re older and you’re an American who speaks English very well. If you’ll play with her, she’ll listen to you when you talk and she’ll try to sound like you. You’re a guy, and guys like to dare each other, right?”

He grinned. “Yeah.”

“Well, start daring her. You know. Tell her you bet she can’t say bat .”

“Bat?” He laughed.

“She’s working on her B ‘s and T ‘s. Make a game out of it. Tell her that if she can say bat right, you’ll show her your MP3 player. I saw you playing with it in the limo on the drive to the palace.”

“Don’t tell my dad. I’m not supposed to take it to school.”

She studied him for a minute. “If he finds out, I’ll tell him you’re using it to help Zoe. She’s never seen one of those. There’s an application on it that makes those animal sounds.”

“Oh, yeah—”

“It’ll fascinate her.”

“Cool.”

“See if you can get her to say cool , too.”

“Okay. This is fun.”

Dottie was glad he thought so. After trying to learn Greek at school and home, it had to be a big release for him to speak English. “Let’s go have a war with her and her daddy.” She took off her beach coat and slipped into the water. “You get on the whale. I’ll push you over to them and we’ll start splashing.”

“Won’t the prince get mad?”

“Yes.” Dottie smiled. “Real mad.”

His face lit up and they took off.

Hopefully Alex would get mad enough to forget his own problems for a little while. She’d suffered for him and his family all night. No matter her misgivings about spending full days with Zoe until the coronation, she couldn’t have turned Alex down last night. The look in his expression had been a study in anguish, aging him.

Once they reached their destination, the happy shrieks coming out of Zoe were just the thing to get their war started. For a good ten minutes they battled as if their lives depended on it. The best sound of all was Alex’s full-bodied laughter. After knowing how deeply he’d been affected by his family’s problems, Dottie hadn’t expected to hear it again.

When she came up for air after Alex’s last powerful dunk, his eyes were leveled on her features. “You’ve been holding out on me. All this time I thought maybe you couldn’t swim well. I was going to offer to teach you, but I was afraid you’d think I was a lecherous old man wanting to get my hands on you. After I showed up in your cabin on the yacht, now you know it’s true.”