Greek's Marriage Bargain (8 page)

Body still thrumming with anger, Leah returned to bed. She was certain she wouldn’t be able to sleep with the adrenaline flowing, but exhaustion swept over her, returning her to a deep sleep within minutes.

She awoke later in the morning to someone shaking her. Felling heavy-headed, Leah blinked open her eyes, staring at Arianna with a touch of confusion.

“He’s gone mad, Leah.”

She blinked, forcing her eyes to focus on Arianna as she sat up in the bed. “Who?”

“
Theo
Nikos is insane. He’s insisting I marry Loukas.” The younger girl’s lip trembled. “He’s gone to discuss the particulars with Loukas’s father.”

“What?” She shook her head to clear it. “That’s crazy.”

Arianna nodded. “He insists it’s the only way to fix this.” She wrung her hands. “I don’t want to marry him, Leah. I love Loukas, but it isn’t the kind of deep love one needs for a marriage.” She blushed. “I am not exactly in love with him, if you understand what I mean? I was curious, and he is handsome and kind…” Her blush deepened as she trailed off. “I wanted him to be my first lover, not my only lover.”

Leah hugged Arianna. “I understand. It probably wasn’t a wise decision, but it’s an understandable one.” She shook her head. “He can’t really mean to force you to marry that boy.”

Arianna nodded. “He has reserved the church for three days from now and sent for a seamstress to make me a dress. All that’s left is to negotiate the deal with Loukas’s father.”

Leah nibbled on her lower lip. Nikos sounded determined to force the marriage. She knew how stubborn he could be, and getting him to change his mind would be difficult. It would be impossible with Arianna’s presence. Making a decision she prayed she wouldn’t regret, Leah said, “Pack a bag while I make arrangements for you to travel back to New York. Once Nikos calms down, I’m sure I can persuade him that trying to force you to marry Loukas isn’t the right answer.” To her relief, she sounded much more confident than she felt.

Arianna threw herself against Leah, hugging her hard. “Thank you, Leah.”

“It will be okay,” she said, patting the girl’s back while hoping she wasn’t lying to her. The thought of facing Nikos’s anger induced a wave of nausea as she slid from the bed, forcing her to swallow hard.
Please let him be reasonable
, she thought to herself.

“You did what?” Nikos’s roared filled the salon, making Leah wince. “You had no right interfering, Leah.”

She squared her shoulders. “I did the right thing, Nikos. When you’ve calmed down, you’ll realize that. It’s foolish to try to make her marry Loukas. She’s only eighteen.”

“You undermine my authority and then call me foolish?” His voice was arctic, cutting through her to the bone. “You are the foolish one, interfering with my family.”

She glared at him. “We got married so I could help take care of Arianna. I’ve done my best to watch out for her and protect her. Right now, she needs protecting from your crazy Greek pride.”

Nikos said something in Greek before leaning in close, his face against hers. “It is not crazy pride that motivates my decision. Arianna made a mistake, and I am fixing it.”

“It wasn’t a mistake.” She ran a hand through her hair. “She’s a teenager. Teenagers have sex. It’s not a big deal.”

“You didn’t,” he said quietly.

Leah faltered. “Everyone is different.”

“If you, an American, can wait until marriage, why can’t my niece?” He exhaled harshly. “I do not understand how she could do this.”

His confusion cut through her annoyance, and she put a hand on his shoulder. “Arianna loved him. She acknowledges it isn’t the kind of love she should have for her husband, but she does care for him. Arianna chose him for her first. It was her choice, not yours or mine. You have to let this go, Nikos. She’s too young to get married, especially to someone she doesn’t love.”

He compressed his lips. “You do not need love to make a marriage work. Look at us.”

She barely kept herself from reacting as though he’d struck her physically. In a cool voice, she said, “We have love for Arianna in common. We’re also older and more mature. Marriages of convenience aren’t the norm, especially for eighteen-year-old girls.”

His gaze settled on her with disconcerting intensity. “You told her she would enjoy making love when she was in love.”

Leah shifted uneasily. “Yeah. I was trying to give her a good answer.”

“Do you believe what you told her?”

Sensing dangerous territory ahead, Leah cleared her throat. “Yes,” she finally said reluctantly.

“Yet how would you know, Leah
mou
? I have been your only lover.”

Wishing fervently he would return to his state of anger from minutes before, she searched for an answer. “I believe a young woman should feel love for the boy she takes as a lover.” She shrugged, affecting a careless demeanor. “Adult women don’t have the same requirements.”

“Hmmm.” He seemed to weigh her words. “That is good. It means you require no false sentiment to come to my bed, being an adult,” he said with a hint of mockery.

Feeling trapped, she tipped up her chin. “Of course not. We both know how pleasurable sex can be. Who needs anything else?”

“Indeed.” Nikos startled her by sweeping her into his arms. “I find I’m in the mood for some pleasure after the day I’ve had. Do you object?”

How could she and maintain her façade? The last thing she wanted to do was admit she’d fallen in love with him and face his rejection. Or even worse, his pity. A shudder ran through her. “Not at all.” The physical pleasure might dull some of the emotional ache that came from loving him without reciprocation.

Nikos had left by the time she awakened the next morning. Nausea had crept up her throat, making her regret the marathon lovemaking that had led them to skip dinner. A quick breakfast of a boiled egg and oatmeal had her feeling better, and her thoughts turned to Nikos.

To her relief, he had mentioned nothing else about a marriage between Arianna and Loukas. Perhaps he had acknowledged his overreaction to the situation.

Now that Arianna was back in New York, she expected Nikos to cut short their vacation and return to the city. In preparation, Leah returned to the master bedroom and pulled down her suitcases, intending to pack everything except a couple of outfits, in case they stayed through tomorrow. She had filled half a suitcase when a knock sounded. “Come in,” she called.

Irina entered, clicking her tongue when she saw Arianna’s luggage. “I will do that,
Kyria
.”

Leah waved a hand. “It’s fine, Irina. It keeps me occupied.”

The older woman scowled. “You have a visitor to keep you occupied, if you want to receive her.”

Leah arched a brow. “Who?”

Irina appeared to be choking when she said, “Maia Papadas.”

She grimaced. “Tell her Nikos will be back sometime later in the morning.” That might or might not be true, but it should get rid of the other woman, at least for a time.

“She asked specifically for you,
Kyria
Leah.”

Leah groaned. “I wonder what she wants.”

“I can send her away,” suggested Irina with an unaccustomed hardness in her gaze.

She contemplated it and shrugged. “No. I’ll see what she wants. I might as well get it over with.” After the display she and Nikos had given her at Arianna’s party, Leah had half-expected a confrontation with Maia.

Leah took a moment to straighten her appearance and gather her wits. Her stomach clenched with nervousness as she left the bedroom and walked downstairs to the salon. With each step, Leah tried reminding herself that Maia couldn’t hurt her, no matter how catty she became. After all, Leah had the man Maia wanted, so she was the ultimate victor in any battle.

Maia had draped herself artfully on a sofa, the white fabric highlighting her golden-brown skin and turquoise sundress that looked deceptively casual, meaning it had probably cost a fortune. She swung one foot, encased in silver sandals with dangerously high heels, as though she had no cares.

Leah hovered in the doorway for a second, but forced herself to enter the room and take a seat across from the other woman. “Hello,” she said with as much coolness as she could muster. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” she asked with a trace of mocking.

Maia’s eyes narrowed, but then her mouth curved into a satisfied smile. She leaned forward slightly, as though preparing to attack. “I knew there had to be a reason.”

“That’s what I’m trying to discern. What is the reason for your visit?”

Maia wrinkled her nose. “I meant there had to be a reason for your marriage. Specifically, for Nikos playing the doting husband.” She tapped her long nails, painted scarlet, against the glass of the coffee table. “I could think of several scenarios for why he would marry you, but not why he would pretend to be happy about it.”

“Perhaps you should consider that it isn’t a pretense.” She was proud of herself for not betraying any reaction, though her stomach tightened. Maia was much too pleased to have news that would be good for Leah.

Maia’s cold laugh held more scorn than amusement. “You poor, deluded fool. Have you imagined Nikos has fallen in love with you?” She raked a contemptuous glance down Leah, clad in khaki shorts and a pale pink tank top. “Did you sway him with your impeccable sense of fashion?” Her lids lowered slightly. “Or maybe it was your prowess in the bedroom?”

Leah shifted slightly. “I’m sure there’s a point to your visit, so can you please get to it?”

Her expression was so malicious that it contorted the other woman’s face into something not even remotely beautiful. “Here is the reason for your marriage.” She lifted a manila envelope from the table and tossed it at Leah. “I can assure you it has nothing to do with love, you little fool.”

Leah caught the envelope automatically. Her first instinct was to drop it on the floor and refuse to see the contents, but she didn’t. She had to know what had made Maia so happy. With shaking hands, she lifted the flap and pulled out a thin sheaf of papers. A cursory glance revealed legal jargon. “What is this?”

“Those are the papers that allow Nikos, as your husband, to act as a voting proxy for your shares of Andrakis Corporation.”

Leah shook her head. “You’re crazy. I don’t own any Andrakis stock.”

“Wrong.” Maia laughed, clearly enjoying her revelations. “Dmitri gave your father ten percent of the company ages ago. That came to you upon his death, and you blindly handed over the control to your husband.” She shook her head, sending glossy strands cascading over her shoulder. “Did you really think he loved you?”

It took every ounce of control, but Leah managed to hide her bewilderment and the stirrings of anger. “I allowed Nikos to vote for me because he knows the company,” she bluffed. “Besides, I hardly think he would have tied himself to me just to get back my ten percent. He could have bought me out.”

“Not then, he couldn’t. When Dmitri died, the company was in trouble. Nikos managed to turn it around, but the company couldn’t have absorbed the costs of buying you out, and Nikos was using his own money to finance the day-to-day expenses of the company and of caring for Dmitri’s daughter.”

Her chest ached with a hollow pain, and she found it more difficult to maintain a calm façade. “My share would hardly matter. I couldn’t do anything with ten percent.”

Maia shook her head. “Kostas had given away other shares before Dmitri took over, shortly after he started the company. He was the son of a poor fisherman and didn’t have the necessary capital. His partners had shares in the company.”

“What has this to do with me?” asked Leah coldly, desperate to be rid of the other woman.

“Kostas purchased back much of the stock he’d used for collateral, but there remained bits and pieces among friends and family. Dmitri attempted to buy back the shares when the company was strong, but a few refused to sell.” Maia leaned a little closer. “The other shareholders were pressuring Dmitri to take the company public. He remained steadfast about keeping it a private corporation, and he had your father’s full support. However, when they died, you were left with enough shares to secure a majority share of the company if you’d thrown in with the others.”

Leah’s head spun, and she shook it, trying to clear her thoughts. “You’re lying. Nikos didn’t even want to run Andrakis Corporation.”

“True.” Maia shrugged. “Nevertheless, he is Greek and knows the importance of family. He wanted to honor Dmitri’s plans for the company.” She grimaced. “Nikos was willing to do anything, apparently.”

“Get out.” Leah stopped caring about hiding her reactions. She got to her feet, letting the envelope scatter on the marble floor.

Maia regarded her coolly. “I will leave, but only for a short time. Now that you know the truth, you have no reason to stay.”

She straightened her shoulders. “Nikos still needs to control my shares.”

The other woman gained her feet in one fluid motion. “Not any longer. He has reacquired all other stock, and the company can easily purchase your stocks. He has control of your stock, so I am puzzled why he’s keeping you around. Perhaps he has decided a divorce is too expensive, or he doesn’t want to risk you being petulant and refusing to sell the shares now that the company is almost fully under his control.” Her eyes narrowed, and the smiled widened. “My theory is he has decided to woo you into signing over those stocks. He’s trying to make you so besotted that you will agree to anything. Once you give up the stock, it will be the end of your ‘marriage’.” Her laugh was full of cruel mockery.

“I want you to leave. If you come back—”

Maia’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, I shall return. Soon, I will be
Kyria
Andrakis. I made a foolish decision years ago, but I refuse to let Nikos slip through my fingers again.” An expression resembling pity flashed across her face. “You can’t really think you would be able to compete with me?” Without another word, she turned and strode from the room, her heels tapping against the marble.

Leah sagged into the chair, leaning down to pick up the dropped envelope. She pulled out the papers and examined them more thoroughly. Her signature appeared on several pages, all authorizing Nikos to control her shares of the company for as long as they remained married, unless she revoked the right. At the time, she had signed them without really reading, assuming the papers were more paperwork relating to their marriage contract.

Nausea burned in the back of her throat, and she swallowed thickly. Nikos had told her she was penniless. Selling the stock would have allowed her to finish her education and have the life she’d wanted. He must have thought she would choose her own comforts over allowing him to keep the company under his control.

Marriage had been such a drastic step to secure the shares. Of course, he had needed a companion for Arianna. It must have seemed like a small sacrifice, exchanging three years for total control of the Andrakis Corporation.

So why had he suggested extending the marriage? Had he developed feelings for her? Or was it as Maia had theorized, that he was trying to make her fall in love with him so desperately that she would do anything he asked? Was it simply a matter of convenience? He had said he didn’t want to start over in another relationship. Was she merely his convenient wife, made even more convenient now that she was fulfilling all her wifely duties?

He hadn’t expected Maia to be available. Would he change his mind now that he knew she wanted to take on the role she had shunned years before? Or would he keep Maia as a mistress and Leah as his wife?

Her lips compressed at the thought. She refused to be in that position. It didn’t matter why he had changed his mind, or even if he had changed it again. What mattered was their marriage had begun under false pretenses, and he had deliberately withheld the only way she could have maintained her original plans for the future. In just a few minutes, the truth had shattered all the trust she’d placed in him.

Anger cut through the numb disbelief, and she jumped to her feet. The pages scattered around the floor, but she didn’t stoop to pick them up. Her focus was centered on returning to her packing, but not with the intention of waiting for Nikos to decide it was time to return to New York. She would arrange for the jet to take her home. Once in the city, she would move her things from his penthouse apartment and go on with the plans she’d made when their marriage was supposed to dissolve at the end of summer.

Anger fueled her movements, and she filled her cases in less than an hour. Leah was stuffing clothes into the last bag when the bedroom door opened. Her spine stiffened, her heart raced, and her stomach churned as Nikos came in.

He seemed to be in a better mood than yesterday, and she briefly remembered Arianna’s plight. If he was still intent on forcing a marriage, Leah would do her best to stop him. Forcing a marriage must be his answer to everything, she thought sardonically.

He drew up short, his gaze on the packed bags. “What’s going on?”

“It’s time to return to New York,” she said in an icy tone.

Nikos frowned. “Has something happened? Is Arianna ill?”

She shook her head. “No.”

He walked closer, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back against him. “What’s the rush? I thought we could stay a while longer, just the two of us. It could be the honeymoon we never had.”

She had stiffened at his touch, and now she jerked away. “The honeymoon we never had that went with the marriage we never should have had.”

With a sharp exhalation, he turned her to face him. “What has happened? You are angry.”

“Yes, but more than that, I’m just done.” She didn’t like the hint of defeat bleeding through in her voice.

His face reflected his bewilderment. “Done with what?”

“This.” She waved her hand vaguely. “The whole situation, Nikos. I’m through with this sham of a marriage.”

He frowned. “What happened to extending our arrangement?”

“What happened to honesty?” She advanced toward him, spurred by her anger. “You lied to me. You kept my share of the company shrouded in paperwork, taking advantage of my grief to take over the stocks, knowing I was in no state to realize what you were doing.”

Nikos flinched. “What are you talking about?”

“Ask Maia,” she tossed out glibly. “She knows everything about your motivations for the marriage. More than I do, but I’m just your wife.”

“I had no motivations beyond Arianna’s welfare,” he bit out.

“I don’t believe you, Nikos.” She turned away from him. “I can’t trust you, and we can’t have a relationship if there’s no trust.”

“You’re leaving, just like that?”

She nodded, glad he couldn’t see the tears pushing against her eyelids. “It’s over.”

“No, not yet.” Nikos strode to the door. “You are not going anywhere.”

She glared at him. “Try to stop me.”

A nasty smile made his lips curve. “Gladly,
agape mou
.” He slammed the door behind him. Leah rushed toward it as she heard a key turn in the lock.

“What are you doing?” She pounded on the door. “Nikos?”

“I am ensuring you stay put.”

Leah yelled his name as the sound of his footfalls faded. “You bastard.” She hit the door again before sagging against it, drained. It had been her plan to avoid a confrontation, at least until she was back in New York. Her racing mind had supplied a few scenarios for how it would go when she told him the marriage was over, but this had never occurred to her. She had never dreamed her husband would lock her in their bedroom, like a prisoner.

Like a prisoner? She was a prisoner. Trapped in his bedroom, in his house, and in his country, Leah was at Nikos’s mercy.

The minutes crept by, and she paced the room while waiting for his return. At one point, Leah walked onto the balcony, but a look down confirmed the drop to the ground would be dangerous. The longer she paced, the more Leah seethed. When the lock finally turned in the door, she turned to face him as he entered the room, with her feet solidly planted, as though bracing herself.

“What do you think you’re doing? You can’t lock me in this room. I’m leaving.”

His face tightened. “Not yet, you aren’t.”

“Stop me.” Leah straightened her spine and strode forward. His hand clamped around her arm as she tried to pass him. “Release me, Nikos.”

“If you want to leave, then you can—once you take this.” He shoved a bag into her hand.

Leah took it automatically, opening the plastic bag to find a three-pack of home pregnancy tests and a specimen cup. She blinked, looking up at him with confusion. “What is this about?”

“It is about you not leaving until I know if you’re carrying my child,” said Nikos, his expression unreadable.

She closed the bag and tried to push it back into his hands, but he wouldn’t take it. “This is crazy. I’m not pregnant. I can’t be.” Leah stared pointedly at the bedside table before looking back at him. “You always used protection.”

“Always?” he asked silkily. “I think you’re forgetting the first night we made love. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll acknowledge our passion was so intense that we didn’t always act responsibly.”

Leah paled, but shook her head. “I’d know if I were pregnant.”

He shrugged. “You haven’t had your monthly visitor in weeks.”

Her face burned. “How would you know? Are you keeping track?”

Nikos snorted. “Not at all, but you haven’t been indisposed at all since we became lovers. Any person with a scintilla of observation would see that.”

She dropped her gaze, not wanting to admit that she hadn’t been keeping track. Her mind raced as she tried to remember when she’d last had a cycle. A sinking feeling hit the pit of her stomach when she realized she had been in New York the last time. They’d been here for weeks, and she was usually regular.

Leah swallowed audibly. “Fine, just to humor you, I’ll take one.” She lifted her head, meeting his gaze. “Just so we’re clear, when the test is negative, you aren’t stopping me from leaving.”

His mouth curled at one corner. “I wouldn’t dream of making you stay against your will,
agape mou
.” She turned toward the bathroom, freezing when he added, “Unless my child is inside you.”

With a mutinous set of her shoulders, she advanced to the bathroom, uttering a sound of protest when he pushed open the door. “I can handle this alone.”

Nikos arched his brow. “Of course you can, but I do not trust you to tell me the truth.” He took the bag from her to withdraw the specimen cup. “You take care of this part, and I’ll supervise the testing process.”

“You’re such an insufferable bastard.” She snatched the cup from his hand. His chuckle followed her into the bathroom. Under her breath, she cursed him as she set about the task at hand. Performance anxiety caused a delay, but she finally managed to produce a sample.

With a sinking heart, she set the cup on the counter. “You can come in now,” she said with reluctance, wanting to put off the test. She wanted to deny that she could be pregnant, but the more she thought about it, the more things made sense—like the bouts of nausea and her fatigue. She had attributed them to other causes, but now she couldn’t help reevaluating the past few weeks, mentally searching for clues.