Mediterranean Mavericks: Greeks. Кейт Хьюит

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СКАЧАТЬ style="font-size:15px;">      Then he’d gotten a message from Howard Spencer himself, saying he was in the hospital. Even then, for a few days, Darius had told himself it was a lie. Until his investigator had combed through the hospital records and confirmed it was true. Darius had no choice but to face it.

      Now he had to tell Letty.

      But how? How could he explain to her all his weeks of silence, when he’d known her father was dying in a Brooklyn hospital?

      Darius still believed he’d done the right thing. He and Letty had made a deal at the start of their marriage: no contact with her father. There hadn’t been any fine print or “get out of jail free” card if the man decided to die. All Darius had done was uphold their deal. He had nothing to feel guilty about. He hadn’t just paid Spencer’s debts, but also his living expenses and even his medical bills. He’d practically acted like a saint.

      Somehow, he didn’t think Letty would see it that way.

      Darius dreaded her reaction. He’d halfheartedly started to tell her last night, but stopped, telling himself he didn’t want to risk raising her blood pressure when she was so close to delivery. He didn’t want to risk her health, or the baby’s.

      After the baby’s born, he promised himself firmly. Once he knew both mother and baby were safe and sound.

      She would be angry at first, he knew. But after she’d had some time to think it over, she’d realize that he’d only been trying to protect her. And it was in her nature to forgive. She had no choice. She loved him.

      Feeling calmer, he walked past his executive assistant’s desk toward his private office. “Good morning, Mildred.”

      Lifting her eyebrows, she greeted him with “Your wife is on the line.”

      “My wife?” A smile lifted unbidden to his face, as it always did when he thought of Letty.

      “She said you weren’t answering your cell.”

      Instinctively, Darius put his hand to his trouser pocket. It was empty. He must have left it in the car.

      “Mrs. Kyrillos sounds pretty stressed.” His executive assistant, usually stern and no-nonsense, gave him a rare smile. “She said it’s urgent.”

      Letty never called him at work. His smile changed to a dazed grin. There could be only one reason she’d call now, so close to her due date!

      “I’ll take it in my office,” he said joyfully and rushed inside, shutting the door behind him. He snatched up the phone. “Letty? Is it the baby? Are you in labor?”

      His wife’s voice sounded strangely flat. “No.”

      “Mildred said it was urgent—”

      “It is urgent. I’m leaving you. I’m filing for divorce.”

      For a long moment he just gripped the phone, that foolish grin still on his face, as he tried to comprehend her words. Then the smile fell away.

      “What are you talking about? Is this some kind of joke?”

      “No.”

      He took a deep breath. “I’ve read about pregnancy hormones…”

      Anger suddenly swelled from the other end of the line.

      “Pregnancy hormones? Pregnancy hormones? I’m divorcing you because you lied to me. You’ve been lying for months! My father is dying and you never told me!”

      Darius’s heart was suddenly in his throat.

      “How did you find out?” he whispered.

      “Mrs. Pollifax couldn’t understand how I could be such a heartless daughter to just let my father die alone. Don’t worry. I’ve let her know that the heartless one is you.”

      He looked up, past his desk to the window overlooking the southern tip of Manhattan, and the Atlantic beyond it. Outside, rain fell in the gray November morning.

      He licked his lips and tried, “Letty, I don’t blame you for being upset—”

      “Upset? No. I’m not upset.” She paused. “I’m happy.”

      That was so obviously not true he had no idea how to react. “If you’ll just give me a chance to explain.”

      “You already explained to me, long ago, that you wouldn’t love me. That love was for children. You told me. I just didn’t listen,” she said softly. “Now I really, truly get it. And I want you out of my life for good.”

      “No—”

      “I’ve brought my father to Fairholme.”

      Gripping the phone, he nearly staggered back. “Howard Spencer—in my house?”

      “Yes.” Her voice was ice-cold. “I’m not leaving him in the hospital, surrounded by strangers. He’s going to spend his last days surrounded by love, in the home where he was married to my mother.”

      “It’s not just your decision. I bought that house and…” He stopped himself, realizing how pompous he sounded. But it was too late.

      “Right.” Her voice was a sneer. “Because money makes the man. You think you can buy your way through life. That’s what you do, isn’t it? Buy things. You bought my virginity, and ever since, you’ve kept buying me. With marriage. With money. You didn’t realize it was never your money I wanted.” Her voice suddenly broke to a whisper. “It was you, Darius. My dream of you. The amazing boy you were.” She took a breath. “The man I actually thought you still were, deep down inside.”

      “I’m still that man,” he said tightly. “I was going to tell you. I just didn’t want you upset…”

      “Upset by my father dying!”

      Darius flinched at the derision in her voice. “Perhaps I made a bad decision, but I was trying to look after you.”

      “And you assumed I would forgive you.”

      He felt shaken. “Forgiveness is what you do.”

      She gave a hard laugh. “How convenient for you. Only the idiots who love you have to forgive. But since you never love anyone, you never have to worry about that. You’re free to hurt whomever you please.”

      She didn’t sound like his wife at all, the kindhearted woman who greeted him every day with kisses, who gave so much of herself and asked for very little in return.

      Except for him to forgive her father, Darius realized. That was the one thing she’d actually asked for. And the one thing he’d refused, again and again.

      He, who was never afraid of anything, felt the first stirrings of real fear. “If you’ll just listen to me—”

      “I’ve had suitcases boxed up for you. Collins is taking them to your penthouse in Midtown. Don’t worry. I won’t stay here forever. You can have Fairholme back after…” Her voice was suddenly unsteady. СКАЧАТЬ