Mediterranean Mavericks: Greeks. Кейт Хьюит

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СКАЧАТЬ stared at the empty doorway in dismay, then slowly rose out of bed. Her body felt stiff from sleeping so long.

      Going into the elegant marble bathroom, she took a hot shower, which refreshed her. Wrapping herself in a towel, she wiped the steam off the mirror. Her face looked pale and sad.

      A fine thing, she thought. When she was about to meet his family. They’d take one look at Letty’s face and assume, as Santiago Velazquez had, that she and Darius had gotten married only because of her pregnancy. Why else would someone as handsome and powerful as Darius Kyrillos ever choose a penniless, ordinary-looking woman like her?

      He was taking a risk even bringing her to meet them. She could embarrass him, treat them disrespectfully. She could even explain how he’d blackmailed her into marriage.

      Letty looked at her eyes in the mirror. She didn’t want to hurt Darius. She just wanted him to forgive her dad.

      Maybe she could start by treating his family with the same respect she wanted for her father.

      Letty dressed quickly and carefully, blow-drying her long dark hair and brushing it till it shone. She put on lipstick, and chose a pretty new sundress and sandals from the closet. Her knees shook as she went down the hallway. A maid directed her toward the terrace.

      With a deep breath, she went outside into the sunshine.

      Bright pink bougainvillea climbed the whitewashed walls of the Greek villa, above a wide terrace overlooking the mountainous slopes of the island jutting out of the Ionian Sea.

      Against the blue horizon, she saw the shaded forest green of a distant island. The whole world seemed bright with color: blue and white buildings, sea and sky, pink flowers, brown earth and green olive, fig and pomegranate trees.

      She felt the warm sun against her skin, and pleasure seeped through her body. Then she saw the group of people sitting at a long wooden table.

      Darius rose abruptly from the table. Silence fell as the others followed his gaze.

      Wordlessly, he came over to her. His dark eyes glowed as he lowered his head to kiss her cheek. Turning back to the others, he said in English, “This is Letty. My wife.”

      An elderly woman got up from the table. Standing on her tiptoes, she squinted, carefully looking Letty over from her blushing face to her pregnant belly. Then she smiled. Reaching up, she patted Letty on the cheek and said something in Greek that she didn’t understand.

      “My great-aunt says you look happy now,” Darius translated. “Like a beautiful bride.”

      “How sweet… Did she see me before?” Letty asked.

      “When I brought you in. She said you looked like death warmed over.”

      She stared at him in horror, then narrowed her eyes accusingly. “She never said that.”

      He gave a sudden grin. “She says our island has obviously revived you, all our sun and sea air. Plus, clearly—” he quirked a dark eyebrow “—marriage to me.”

      The elderly woman said something quickly behind him. He glanced back with an indulgent smile. “Nai, Theia Ioanna.”

      “What did she say?”

      Darius turned back to Letty. “She said marriage to you seems to agree with me, as well.” Looking down at her, he hesitated. “Our wedding was…”

      “Horrible.”

      “Not good,” he agreed. His dark eyes caressed her face, and he leaned forward to whisper, “But something tells me our honeymoon will make up for it.”

      Letty felt his breath against her hair, the brush of his lips against her earlobe, and electricity pulsed through her at the untold delights promised by a honeymoon in the Greek villa. In that enormous bed.

      She tried not to think about that as he introduced her to the other people around the table, aunts and uncles and innumerable cousins. She smiled shyly, wishing she could speak Greek as one Kyrillos family member after another hugged her, their faces alight with welcome and approval.

      One of the younger women grabbed her arm, motioning for her to take the best seat at the table. On learning she was hungry, other relatives dished her out a lunch from the tempting dishes on the table. Tangy olives, salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and feta, vine leaves stuffed with rice, grilled meats on skewers, fresh seafood and finally the lightest, flakiest honey pastries imaginable. After sleeping so long, and having no appetite yesterday, Letty was ravenous and gobbled it all up as fast as she could get it.

      The women around her exclaimed approvingly in Greek. Darius sat beside her, smiling, his dark eyes glowing beneath the warm Greek sun.

      “They like how you eat,” he told her.

      She laughed in spite of herself. In this moment, beneath the pink flowers and warm Greek sun, with the blue sea beyond, she felt suddenly, strangely happy. Finally, she pushed her chair away from the table, shaking her head as his relatives offered yet more plates. “No, thank you.” She turned anxiously to Darius. “How do I say that?”

      “Óchi, efharisto.”

      “Óchi, efharisto,” she repeated to them warmly.

      One by one, his family members hugged her, speaking rapidly, patting her belly, then hugging Darius before they hurried into the villa.

      “Your family is wonderful.”

      “Thank you.” He lifted a dark eyebrow. “By the way, some of them speak English quite well. They’re just hoping if you don’t realize that, you’ll be inspired to learn Greek.”

      She laughed, then looked around the terrace at the flowers and sea view. “I’m feeling very inspired, believe me.”

      “They already love you. Because you’re my wife.” He put his arm along the back of her chair. “Not only that, you’re the first woman I’ve ever brought home to meet them.”

      Her eyes went wide. “Really?”

      He grinned, shaking his head. “For years, they read about my scandalous love life and despaired of me ever settling down with a nice girl.” He sipped strong black coffee from a tiny cup. “Great-aunt Ioanna is delirious with joy to see me not only sensibly married, but also expecting a child. And she remembers you.”

      Letty’s smile fell. “She does?”

      “Yes.”

      “Does she blame me for—?”

      “No,” he cut her off. “She remembers you only as the girl that I loved and lost long ago. In her mind, that means our marriage is fate. Moíra. She believes our love was meant to stand the test of time.”

      Letty blinked fast. Our love was meant to stand the test of time.

      Leaning forward, he took her hand. “You are part of the family. You are a Kyrillos now.”

      It was true, she realized. She had a new last name. When she updated her passport, she’d no longer be Letitia Spencer, СКАЧАТЬ