With a reluctant sigh, she pushed back the covers and eased her legs over the side of the bed. As she glanced around, she realized she had no idea where she was. The room was spacious and cheerful, with several windows to allow natural lighting.
She pushed herself up and walked into the adjoining bathroom, her eyes widening at the size and luxury. She eyed the Jacuzzi tub with longing. While she might not know how many days had passed—they’d all been a blur—she did know that she hadn’t had a bath in a while, and she couldn’t wait to feel clean and refreshed again.
Bracing her foot on the step to the tub, she leaned over and turned the handle to start the water. When she looked up, she saw Chrysander standing in the doorway. A startled gasp escaped her.
He started forward immediately and grasped her arm to steady her. “I’m sorry for frightening you, pedhaki mou. It was not my intention. I worried when I came in to check on you and you were not in bed.”
“I just wanted a bath,” she said in a low voice.
“I do not want you to be in here alone,” he said. “I’ll summon Mrs. Cahill so that if you have need of anything, you can just call out.”
She closed her eyes for a moment and drew in a steadying breath. Then she met his gaze. “Please, Chrysander, let’s not have any further lies between us. There’s no need for you to pretend that I’m important to you…that I matter.”
Bleakness entered his eyes, and his face grayed underneath the olive tone of his skin. “You matter very much to me, agape mou.”
Before she could respond, he retreated from the bathroom, and a moment later, Patrice bustled in. In a matter of minutes, Marley found herself stripped and settled into a warm bath. Not too hot, Patrice assured, since overly hot baths were not good for a pregnant woman.
As Marley settled into the fragrant bubbles, she leaned her head back against the rim of the tub and glanced over at Patrice. “Where are we? And how did you get here? I thought you were in Athens with Dr. Karounis.”
“Mr. Anetakis asked me to fly back so I could be with you,” she said soothingly. “He was quite desperate. The idea of returning to the apartment upset you so badly that he brought you here.”
“And where is here?” Marley asked.
“His house,” she explained patiently. “We’re about an hour from the city. It’s quieter here, more peaceful. He thought you’d prefer it.”
Tears blurred Marley’s vision. And she thought she hadn’t any more tears to shed. She hadn’t known he owned a house outside of the city, and like the island, it was one more place she’d never visited in all the time she’d been with Chrysander. Further proof that she’d never occupied an important place in his life.
“He’s been very worried about you,” Patrice said, her face softening in sympathy. “We all have been.”
Marley shook her head in denial. Chrysander hated her. He’d never loved her, and she’d been too stupid to realize it.
“What am I going to do?” she whispered to no one in particular. She’d been an idiot to give up her apartment, her job, every means she had of taking care of herself when she moved in with Chrysander. She’d been too blinded by her love and convinced that she had a future with him.
“Come out of the tub,” Patrice said gently. “You need to get dried off so you can go down to eat.”
Marley allowed Patrice to mother her. She was dried off and pampered then clothed in comfortable slacks and a maternity shirt. She rubbed a hand over her belly and whispered an apology to her unborn son.
She couldn’t afford to fall apart. Her child was depending on her.
Chrysander was waiting for her when she exited the bedroom. He said nothing, but he cupped her elbow and helped her down the stairs, and she let him, too numb to protest. Marley also remained silent, her emotions too much in turmoil to try and have a reasonable conversation.
They sat at a small table that overlooked a beautifully manicured garden. Bright morning sun shone through the glass doors, and she felt warmed by the sun’s rays.
Chrysander set a plate piled high with food in front of her then settled into a seat across from her. She piddled with her fork and toyed with the food, pushing it around the plate as she avoided his gaze.
He sighed, and she looked up to see him staring at her. His expression was somber, as though he was enduring the worst sort of hell. She nearly laughed at the absurdity. To her horror, she felt the prick of tears, and his face swam in her vision.
“We must talk, Marley. There is much I need to say to you.” His voice sounded oddly strangled. “But first you must eat so you can regain your strength. Your health and that of our child must come first.”
She bowed her head again, refusing to meet his stare any longer. She concentrated on eating, and once she started realized she was actually quite hungry.
As she was finishing the last of her juice, she heard a door slam in the distance, and then she heard the determined stride of someone walking across the floor. She turned to see Theron enter the room, a grim look on his face.
Before he could speak, Chrysander locked his gaze onto his brother and said in a steely voice, “Whatever it is, I’m sure it can wait until Marley has finished eating.”
Theron cast a concerned glance her way and nodded his understanding to Chrysander. Anger tightened her throat and made swallowing difficult. Whatever it was they wished to speak about, it was obvious they didn’t want to do so in front of her. But then why would they? She was someone they believed had stolen from them.
She stood abruptly and tossed down her napkin. Without a word to either man, she stalked away.
“Marley, don’t go,” Chrysander protested.
She turned and pinned him with the force of her glare. “By all means, have your conversation. I’d hate to intrude. After all, someone who has stolen from you and betrayed your trust isn’t someone you want around when you’re talking.”
“Theos, that is not the issue here. Marley? Wait, damn it!”
But she ignored him and continued walking.
Chrysander watched her leave and cursed. He felt strangled by helplessness. How could he ever hope to make things right between them? She hated him, and she had every right to.
He turned to Theron, who had also watched Marley go, a frown etched on his face. “What brought you here in such a hurry?” Chrysander demanded.
Theron reached into the jacket of his suit and pulled out a folded newspaper. He tossed it onto the table in front of Chrysander. “This did.”
Chrysander opened it and immediately cursed in four languages. On the front page was a picture of Marley being carried by Theron on the day she’d run from the apartment. Underneath were pictures of himself and of Roslyn with a story outlining the soap-opera saga that highlighted every single facet of his relationship with Marley.
He threw the paper across the room with vicious force. “It had to be Roslyn. None of my men would have spoken to the press.”
Theron nodded his agreement. “Since you had her arrested for her theft and her duplicity in keeping the ransom demands from you, she likely thought she had nothing to lose and everything to gain by giving the public her spin on your supposed relationship with her.”
Chrysander sank into the chair and rested his elbows on the table. “I curse the day I ever hired that woman. Marley could have died because of my stupidity.”
“You love her.”
It wasn’t a question, and Chrysander didn’t treat is as such. It was simply a statement of fact. He did love her. But he’d managed to kill her love for him not once, but twice.
He nodded and buried his face in his hands. “I wouldn’t blame her if she never forgave me. How can she when I cannot forgive myself?”
“Go to her, Chrysander. Make this right between you.”
Chrysander stood. Yes, it was time to try and make things right with Marley. If he could.
Sixteen
M arley stood in the bedroom, staring out the window with unseeing eyes. Nothing Chrysander did at this point should hurt her, but he still had that power over her, much to her dismay.
“Marley.”She swung around to see Chrysander standing in the doorway. He looked tired, his features drawn and his eyes worried. There was something else in his expression. Sadness and…fear?
He started forward, a little hesitantly. “We need to talk.”
She tensed then braced herself for what she knew would come. His repudiation of her. She turned her face away but nodded. Yes, they needed to talk and get it done with.
His fingers curled around her chin, and he gently turned her to face him. “Don’t look like that, agape mou. I do not like to see you so sad.”
“Please,” she begged. “Just say what it is you want to say. Don’t draw it out.”
He lowered his hand to capture her wrist. His thumb brushed across her pulse, which jumped and sped up at his touch.
“Come, sit down.”
She let him lead her over to the bed. He eased down beside her and sat stiffly, his posture screaming discomfort. Suddenly she couldn’t wait for what he would say. Her anger bubbled like an inferno within her.
“You lied to me,” she seethed. “Every single thing you’ve said to me since that day in the hospital has been one lie after another. You don’t care about me. All those things you said, everything was a lie. When you took me to bed, you despised me, and yet you made love to me and made me believe you cared. Who does that sort of thing?”
She shuddered in revulsion and put her hands to her face.
“You are wrong,” he said softly. He pulled her hands away from her face and lifted one to his lips to kiss her upturned palm. “I care a great deal about you. I didn’t despise you when I made love to you. Yes, I lied to you about details. I was told not to do or say anything to upset you and to let your memory come back on its own. I lied, Marley, but about the little things. Not the important things. Like how much I care about you. S’agapo, pedhaki mou.”
She bowed her head. Her nose stung, and tears burned her eyelids. How she wanted to believe him. But he’d done nothing to earn her trust.
“I have wronged you greatly, Marley.”
She raised her head to stare at him in shock. Chrysander admitting that he was wrong?
Shame dragged at his eyes, and deep sorrow had pasted shadows under them.
“There are things you must know. I never received any ransom demands. I would have moved heaven and earth to free you. No price would have been too high. I did not know that you had been abducted.”
Her mouth fell open. “How could you not know?”
His eyes grew stormy. “Roslyn destroyed the ransom notes. You were right to dislike her, and because I ignored your feelings about her, I placed you in terrible danger.”
Marley’s mind reeled with all he had told her. She raised a shaking hand to her mouth. He hadn’t gotten the ransom demands? “I thought—” She broke off and shook her head, emotion overwhelming her.
“What did you think, agape mou?” he asked softly.
“That you hated me,” she whispered. “That you wouldn’t pay to free me because you thought I had stolen from you. That I wasn’t even worth half a million dollars to you.”
He groaned and pulled her into his arms. His hands trembled against her back as he stroked up and down. “I am a fool. I was wrong to accuse you as I did. I have no defense.”
She pulled away and gazed up at him. “You don’t believe I stole from you?”
He shook his head sharply. “No. It was Roslyn. She planted the papers in your bag to make me think it was you.” He paused and swiped a hand through his hair. “Even though I thought you had stolen from me, it no longer seemed to matter after your abduction. All that mattered to me was that you were back where you belonged. With me.” His mouth twisted. “That night when you asked me about our relationship…I was frightened.”
She raised one eyebrow. The idea of anything frightening Chrysander was laughable.
“I thought you were unhappy, that you wanted more than I was giving you,” he admitted. “And then I was angry because it scared me. I was determined that you not be the one to decide our relationship, so I pushed you away by telling you that we had no relationship, that you were my mistress.”
Her heart sped up as she viewed the vulnerability on his face. Her chest tightened, and it became harder to breathe as her pulse raced. “What are you saying?” she whispered.
“That I love you, pedhaki mou. S’agapo.”
Her eyes widened as she realized what the words he’d said a few minutes ago meant. She couldn’t even formulate a response, so she stared at him in shock.
Self-derision crawled across his face. “I have a terrible way of showing it. I was proud, too proud to just tell you how I felt. I didn’t even know it then. I just knew I didn’t want you to leave and was angry that I thought you were unhappy in our current relationship. And then when I saw those papers in your bag, I was shocked and furious. I couldn’t believe that you would steal from me.”
“But you did,” she said painfully.
He looked away, sorrow creasing his features. “I was angry. I’ve never been so angry. I thought you had used me so you could help our competitor. So I sent you away.”
He ran a hand around to clasp the back of his neck. “And God help me, I sent you straight into the kidnappers’ hands.”
She closed her eyes, not wanting to remember the fear and despair she’d experienced during her captivity. Even though her memory had returned, that part was still very much a blur. Maybe she’d forever block it out.