Mediterranean Mavericks: Greeks. Кейт Хьюит

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ wall. She looked at her own chubby face when she’d been just a toddler with two parents beaming behind her.

      Trying to ignore the ache in her throat, Letty started to turn toward the stairs. Then she heard low male voices coming from down the hall.

      Her father’s bedroom was the nicest and biggest, the room he’d once shared with her mother, with a view of the sea. He rarely got up from his bed anymore, except when Letty managed to cajole him into his wheelchair and take him down in the elevator for a stroll around the winter garden, or to sit in a comfortable spot near the fire, beneath the Christmas tree, as the baby lay nearby.

      But the male voice Letty heard talking to her father didn’t sound like Paul, his nurse. Who was it? Frowning, she drew closer.

      “Yes,” she heard her father say, his voice a little slurred. “Always a good kid.”

      “I can’t believe you’re saying that, after everything.”

      Hearing the visitor’s voice, low and clear, Letty’s knees went weak outside her father’s door. What was Darius doing here? How had he gotten into Fairholme?

      “You weren’t so bad. Just prickly, like your father. Eugenios was the best employee I ever had. We used to talk about you. He loved you.”

      “He had a funny way of showing it.” Her husband’s voice wasn’t bitter, just matter-of-fact.

      Howard gave a laugh that ended in a wheeze. “In our generation, fathers showed love differently.”

      “Yet Letty always knew you loved her.”

      “I didn’t grow up with your father’s fears.” Howard paused. “From the age of fifteen, he was your grandmother’s sole support. When you came along, he lost any chance of a job in Greece.”

      “I know.”

      “His greatest fear was of not providing for you.” Coughing a laugh, Howard added, “Maybe if I’d been a little more careful about that myself, I wouldn’t have left my daughter destitute while I spent years in prison. It’s only because of you that we’re back home now. That’s why I called. I’m grateful.”

      Darius’s voice was suddenly urgent. “Then convince Letty to stay.”

      “Stay? Where would she go?”

      “She says as soon as you’re dead, she’s leaving New York.”

      Howard gave a low laugh. “That sounds like her. Foolish as her old man. Can’t see the love right in front of her eyes, has to flee her own happiness because she’s afraid. Actually, now that I think about it, she sounds like you.”

      Letty’s heart was pounding as she leaned against the oak-paneled wall beside the open door, holding absolutely still as she listened intently.

      Silence. Then Darius said in a voice so low she almost couldn’t hear, “I’m sorry I blamed you for my father’s death all these years. The truth is, the person I really hated was myself. I said something terrible to my dad right before he died. I’ll never forgive myself.”

      “Whatever it was,” Howard said simply, “your father forgave you long ago. He knew you loved him. Just as he loved you. He was proud of you, Darius. And seeing that you were brave enough to come here today, I am, too.”

      Her father was proud of the man who’d treated her so badly, who’d lied to her? Letty sucked in her breath with an astonished little squeak.

      There was a pause.

      “Letty,” her father said drily, “I know you’re there. Come in.”

      Her heart was in her throat. She wanted to flee but knew she’d only look foolish and cowardly. Lifting her chin, she went into her father’s room.

      His bedroom was full of light from the bay window. Her father was stretched out beneath the blankets, propped up by pillows, his nightstand covered with pill bottles. His gaunt face smiled up at her weakly, his eyes glowing with love.

      Then, with a deep breath, Letty looked at the man standing beside the bed.

      Tall and broad-shouldered and alive, Darius seemed to radiate power. For a moment, her eyes devoured his image. He was dressed simply in a dark shirt, dark jeans. His hands lifted, then fell to his sides as he looked at her, as if he had to physically restrain himself from touching her. But his dark eyes seared her. Their heartbreak and yearning cut her to the bone.

      Her body reacted involuntarily, stumbling back as her heart pounded with emotion. Fury. Regret. Longing…

      “What are you doing here?” she whispered.

      “He’s here to meet his son,” her father said.

      She whirled on her father, feeling betrayed. “Dad!”

      “And I want him to stay for Christmas Eve dinner,” he continued calmly.

      She stared at him in shock. “No!”

      Her father gave her a weakened version of his old charming smile. “Surely you wouldn’t refuse your dying father his last Christmas wish?”

      No. Of course she couldn’t. She ground her teeth. “He kept me from you for two months!”

      Her father stared her down. “Only a little longer than you’ve kept him from his son.”

      “I would like to meet him,” Darius said quietly. “But if you don’t want me around after that, I won’t stay.”

      Trembling, she tossed her head defiantly. “Did he tell you the baby’s name?”

      “No.”

      “It’s Howard.” She lifted her chin, folding her arms. “Howard Eugenios Spencer.”

      To her shock, Darius didn’t scowl or bluster. He didn’t even flinch. He just looked at her with that same strange glow of longing in his eyes.

      “That’s not the name I would have chosen.” Triumph surged through her as she waited for him to be sarcastic and show his true colors in front of her father. Instead, he just said quietly, “His last name should be Kyrillos.”

      Darius was upset only about the surname? Not about the fact that she’d named their precious baby son after her father—his hated enemy?

      “Aren’t you furious?” she said, dropping her arms in bewilderment.

      His lips curved as he looked down at her father, then slowly shook his head. “Not as much as I used to be.”

      Darius came toward her. It took all Letty’s willpower not to step back from him as he towered over her. It wasn’t him she was afraid of, but herself. Her whole body was trembling with her own longing. Her need. She missed him.

      But she couldn’t. She’d made her choice! She wouldn’t be married to a man who didn’t love her!

      “Please let me see my son,” he said humbly. He bowed his head, as if waiting for her verdict.

      “Let СКАЧАТЬ