Doorstep Twins / The Cowboy's Adopted Daughter

Who would have dreamed that, before the lift door closed, an innocent-looking blonde female would sweep into his office like a Cycladic breeze, bringing a fragrance as sweet as the honeysuckle growing wild on the island before she dropped her bomb?

Still charged with adrenaline, he changed into his swim trunks and hurried down to the beach where the family ski boats were in use.

“There’s Uncle Andreas!” One of his nieces waiting on the beach for her turn screeched with joy and ran toward him. Her brother followed. “Now that you’re here, will you take us? Grandpa hasn’t come back for us yet.”

His sister Leila’s children were the youngest, seven and nine. “What do you think?” He grinned. “Climb in my ski boat. We’ll show everybody! You spot your sister first, Jason.”

“Okay!”

Happy chaos reigned for another half-hour, then everyone left the beach because dinner had been announced. Andreas secured his boat to their private pier. Things couldn’t have turned out better than to find his brother Leon the last to tie up his own ski boat. His wife Deline had gone up with the others, leaving them alone for the moment.

“How was the party last night?” Andreas asked as he started tying the other end for him.

Leon shot him a glance. “Fine, but I have to tell you Dad wasn’t too thrilled you didn’t make a showing. He was hoping to see you there with Irena.”

Irena Liapis was a favorite with the family and the daughter of his parents’ good friends who owned one of the major newspapers in Greece. It was the same paper that had shown Thea aboard the family yacht.

Everyone was hoping for news that a wedding was in the offing. With his four siblings married, his parents were expecting some kind of announcement from him.

Andreas groaned. No woman had ever been his grand passion. Maybe there wasn’t such a thing and he was only deluding himself because he’d been a bachelor for too long. But his feelings for Irena had grown over the months. Besides being beautiful, she was intelligent and kind. He wanted his marriage to work and knew it could if she were his wife.

But last night Gabi Turner’s explosion into his life had caused every plan to go up in smoke. Now that a certain situation had developed threatening to set off a conflagration, his whole world had been turned on its side. For the time being he couldn’t think about Irena or anything else.

Andreas knew it wasn’t fair to keep any secrets from the woman he’d intended to marry, but, as he’d just found out, life wasn’t fair…not to the twins who’d lost their mother or to Gabi who’d taken on the awesome responsibility of raising her half sister’s children.

By tacit agreement he and his brother started walking up the beach toward the pool area. Using his fingertips, Leon scooped up his sandals lying in the sand. “Your non-appear-ance was kind of a shocker. Normally Dad gives you a pass.”

“It’s because he has a soft spot for Melina.” She was the baby in the family.

“If you pulled off the Canadian gold-refining merger, I’m sure all will be forgiven.”

Andreas frowned. “That might not happen. I’m still debating if it’s to our advantage.”

“With the kind of revenue it could bring in, you must be joking!”

“Not at all. I think they’re in deeper trouble than they’ve made out to be.” He gave his brother a covert glance. “Speaking of trouble, there’s something you and I have to talk about in private.”

“If you’re referring to the acquisition of those mineral rights in—”

“I’m not,” he cut him off. “You made a brilliant move on that.” Leon was his second in command. “I’m referring to something else that doesn’t have anything to do with business. After we eat, come to my villa alone. Make it look casual. You need to see something.”

Leon let out a bark of laughter. “You sound cryptic. What’s gotten into you?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

For the next hour Andreas joined in with his family and gave Melina the gift he’d found for her on one of his business trips to the Balkans. She collected nesting dolls. The one he gave her proved to be a hit. Once dessert was served, he faded from the scene and headed for his place, nodding to one of the maids on the way. Not long after, Leon showed up.

“Lock the front door behind you. I don’t want us to be disturbed.”

Leon flicked him a puzzled glance as he pushed in the button. He walked into the living room. “What’s going on? The last time I remember seeing you this intense was when Father suffered that mild heart attack last year.”

Heart attack was the operative word.

Andreas was still trying to recover from the one Ms. Turner had given him. Without wasting any more time he handed the newspaper photo to Leon, who studied it for a minute before lifting his head. “Why are you showing me a picture of you? I don’t understand.” He handed it back to him.

“If you’ll notice the date, this headline is a year old. When the picture was taken, I happened to be in the States on business with our big brother. As usual, the paparazzi got you and me mixed up. That was during the time you and Deline were separated. This tall, ravenhaired beauty who’s looking over at you was the woman, right?”

Only now did it strike Andreas that Thea bore a superficial resemblance to both Deline and Irena. Sometimes it astounded him that he and Leon had similar tastes, not only in certain kinds of foods and sports, but in women. They were all striking brunettes.

“Yes,” he whispered. “And if I hadn’t gone to Deline and told her the truth about that night, it could have cost me my marriage. I still marvel that she forgave me enough to give us a second chance.”

Leon unexpectedly grabbed the paper out of his hand and balled it up in his fist. “Why are you reminding me of it? Look here, Andreas—” His cheeks had grown ruddy with unaccustomed anger.

“I have been looking,” he came back in a quiet voice. “Because I love you and Deline, for the last twenty-four hours I’ve been doing whatever it takes to protect you and keep this news confidential.”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought you’d like to know the name of the woman you spent that hour with on the yacht. Her name was Thea Paulos, the divorced daughter of Richard Turner, of the Greek-American Consulate on Crete. Her ex-husband Dimitri Paulos is the son of Ari Paulos who owns Paulos Metal Exports, one of the subsidiary companies we acquired a few years ago.”

While his brother stood there swallowing hard, Andreas removed the twins’ photo and DNA results from the manila envelope and handed everything to him.

Stunned into silence, Leon sank down on the couch to stare at the children he’d unknowingly produced. Though Andreas had it in his heart to feel sorry for his brother’s predicament, a part of him thought Leon the luckiest man on earth to have fathered two such beautiful sons.

“I had our DNA compared to theirs. It’s a match.”

Leon’s face went white.

“I’ve seen them,” Andreas confided. Thanks to Gabi, he’d held and fed both of them, an experience he’d never forget.

His brother’s dark head reared back. “You’ve seen them—” He sounded incredulous.

“Yes. They’re three months old.”

“Three months?” He mouthed the words, obviously in shock. “How did Ms. Paulos contact you?”

“She didn’t. Tragically for the children, she died on the operating table giving birth to them.”

“She’s dead?” He kept repeating everything Andreas said, like a man in a trance.

“It was her half sister, Gabi Turner, who came to my office yesterday. She’s the one who arranged for me to see the boys at a park near the consulate today.”

His brother jumped up from the couch looking like a caged animal ready to spring.

“Take it easy, Leon. I know what you’re thinking, but you’d be dead wrong. In the first place, she believes I’m the father.”

Leon jerked around. “You didn’t tell her I was the one in that news photo?”

“No.”

His brother averted his eyes. “How much money does she want to keep quiet?” he asked in a subdued voice.

It was a fair question since the same one had dominated Andreas’s thoughts when she’d first pulled out the photograph. “Forget about her desire to blackmail me. This has to do with something else entirely.”

“And you believed her?” Leon cried, grabbing his shoulders.

Andreas supposed Gabi could have been lying through her teeth. If that were the case…He saw black for a moment before a semblance of reason returned.

“I’d stake my life on the fact that her only agenda for coming to me was to make sure I knew I had two sons before she left Greece.”

“Why would she do that?”

He sucked in his breath. “Because she said they deserve to be with their real father if it’s at all possible.”

Leon’s eyes clouded for a moment before he flashed Andreas a jaded look and released him. “It could be a ploy. Where’s she supposedly going?”

“Alexandria, Virginia.” To her home and her life, as she’d put it. “Her father started his diplomatic career there. I have confirmation of it.”

While Leon stood there tongue tied, Andreas’s cell phone rang. He checked the caller ID and clicked on. “Mother?”

“Where are you?”

“In my villa.” He glanced at his brother. “Leon’s with me.”

“Can’t you two stop talking business for one evening?”

“Yes. We’ll be right over.”

“Good. Everyone’s wondering where you are. Deline’s been looking everywhere. We’re going to start some family movies.”

“Tell her we’re coming,” Leon called out loud enough for her to hear before Andreas clicked off.

He went into the study and locked the envelope in his desk, then eyed his brother soberly. “Since Gabi thinks I’m the father, we’ll leave it that way for now.”

As soon as Leon handed the wad to him he set it in an ashtray on the coffee table and put a match to it. When the evidence was gone, he lifted his head. “Before you make a decision about anything, you need to see the twins for yourself.”

Another odd sound escaped his brother.

“I’ll phone Gabi and see if we can’t arrange it for Monday. We’ll make up some excuse to the family about a business emergency. We won’t have to be gone long.”

Leon buried his face in his hands. “How am I going to be able to act like everything’s normal until then?”

A shudder passed through Andreas’s body. “We’re both going to have to find a way.”

His dark head reared back. “When Deline finds out about this…I swear I’ve been doing everything to make our marriage work. It only happened that one time, Andreas. It’ll never happen again. I love Deline.” The tremor in his voice was real enough.

“I believe you.”

“You know the reason why we separated for those two months. We’d been fighting over my working too much. She got on that old rant about my being married to you instead of her. She said she was tired of being neglected and told me I was the reason we hadn’t gotten pregnant yet.

“When she told me she wanted a separation because she needed time to think, I was in hell. After weeks of trying to get her to talk to me, she told me she was thinking of making the separation permanent. I was so hurt, I ended up taking the yacht out. Some of my friends came along and brought women. There was too much drinking. I never meant to lose my head.”

Andreas had heard it all before. He’d seen his brother was in anguish then, but this news added a terrifying new wrinkle.

After pacing the floor, Leon stopped and faced Andreas. “I know that was no excuse for making the ghastliest mistake of my life.” His mouth formed a thin line. “Sorry you got involved in this mess.” There was a lengthy pause. “It isn’t your problem. It’s mine, but I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do about it yet.”

At least Leon had admitted responsibility. “Once you’ve seen those babies, you’ll figure it out.” Of course Andreas could tell himself that now, but there was no sure way to know how his brother would feel after he’d gotten a look at them. “Let’s agree that for the moment there’s nothing else to be done. You go on back and find Deline. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Though he’d promised his mother he wouldn’t be long, he found he didn’t want to put off the phone call to Gabi until tomorrow. It surprised him how much he was looking forward to talking to her again.

Gabi had just finished changing the last diaper of the night when she heard her cell phone ring. She’d kept it in her jeans pocket to be certain she’d didn’t miss Andreas’s call if it came.

A peek at the caller ID and a rush of pleasure filled her body. Since her parents had gone out to dinner with guests, she could talk freely and clicked on.

“Andreas?”

“Good evening,” came his deep, compelling voice. She liked the sound of it. Thea had obviously found it attractive, too. The knowledge that she’d had an intimate relationship with him increased Gabi’s guilt and anger at herself for having any thoughts or feelings about him.

“Am I calling at the wrong moment?”

“No.” She left the bedroom that had been turned into a nursery and closed the door. “It’s a perfect time.” Gabi was the only person to speak for the children. He sounded eager enough to see them again. “The children are finally down until their three-o’clock bottle, thank heaven.”

“Then you’re going to need your beauty sleep, so I won’t keep you.”

She let the remark pass. His only agenda had to do with his children, who appeared to be growing on him. That was the result she’d been hoping for. Leaning against the wall in the hall, she said, “Have you decided you want to see the twins again?”

“Yes. Could we meet at the park on Monday?”

Her pulse sped up. “Of course. When would you like to come? Morning or afternoon is fine with me.”

“Morning would be an ideal time for me.”

“Then I’ll meet you at ten o’clock. After they’ve been fed and had their baths, I often take them on a walk when it’s not so hot.”

“I’m anxious to see them again.”

That was an excellent sign. “The children love any attention.” Especially when it was from their father. “I’ll see you then.”

“Gabi?” There was a nuance in his voice that caught her off guard.

“Yes?”

She heard him take a deep breath. “Thank you for being there for them.”

It was too early for her to get a handle on his vision for their future. After his visit on Monday to see the children, there might not be another one. She had to prepare herself for that possibility. “You don’t need to thank me. I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

“I’ve noticed you don’t accept compliments graciously, so I’ll say it another way. Not everyone would do what you’re doing. Not for your sister, not for anyone.”

“Before you give me too much credit, don’t forget I watched the twins being born. It was a life-changing experience for me.”

“I don’t doubt it. Ta Leme.” She knew that phrase well enough.

Gabi hung up, wishing his visit was as soon as tomorrow instead of Monday. She would like to know his plans because she was leaving with the children next week. It was no good staying in Greece any longer. One way or the other, she needed to get on with her life and her parents needed to get on with theirs.

During Gabi’s morning walk with the children, Kris had nodded off. Last night he’d played too hard after she’d gotten up to give him a bottle. Nikos, on the other hand was wide awake and raring to go.

When she reached the park bench beneath the shade, she undid the strap and picked him up. He clung to her as she showed him the fountain. The noise of the babbling water had captured his attention. She looked round to see if Kris was all right. As before, her breath caught to discover Andreas standing over the stroller looking down at him.

Every time she saw the boys’ father, she experienced a guilty rush of excitement that was impossible to smother. He’d dressed in a light blue business suit with a darker blue shirt and no tie, the personification of male splendor in her eyes. Thea’s, too.

There was a time when Gabi hadn’t thought there was a man who came close to Rand in his cowboy boots and Stetson. While on her two-week summer vacation with Rachel McCallister, her friend from college, she’d fallen hard for Rachel’s cousin and his Texas charm. Two weeks of a whirlwind relationship and she’d thought it would go on forever.

Too late she found out there was nothing deeper to back up his fascinating drawl and the smile in those dancing blue eyes. He’d let her go back to Alexandria without making any kind of plans to see her again. When she learned through Rachel that he was getting married to his old girlfriend, Gabi’s heart withered.

Since then she’d met and dated some attractive, successful men at her work and at the consulate, but she took no relationship seriously. Her career had become her top priority, the one thing she could count on.

Thankfully she’d learned her lesson well before meeting the legendary Andreas Simonides. Though there was no male to equal his intelligence or incredible appeal, she wouldn’t fall into that trap again. Once had been enough.

She walked toward him carrying Nikos. “Good morning.”

“Kalimera.” His voice had a lazy, almost seductive quality. She felt his gaze linger on her face before he switched his attention to Nikos. Again his gray eyes lit up. “Do you remember me?” He kissed the baby’s cheek.

Nikos’s eyelids fluttered in reaction. He was so cute.

“Gabi?” His eyes trapped hers once more. They held a trace of anxiety. “I brought someone with me I’d like you to meet.”

Who?

Maybe it was a woman he was thinking of marrying now that he was running the Simonides company. Gabi fought to remain calm. Naturally that woman would be hopelessly in love with him. But when she learned he had two sons, would she be able to accept and eventually love the children he’d fathered with someone else?

Suddenly Gabi was feeling very possessive. No woman could mother them the way she could, but it was none of her business since she had no parental claim to the boys.

He put a hand on her upper arm and squeezed gently. “It’s all right,” he whispered, noticing how quiet she’d gone. “I trust him with my life.”

Him?

While her heart picked up the lost beat, Andreas stepped around the end of the wall. Within two seconds he came back again, but at this point Gabi thought her vision had become blurred because she was looking at two of Andreas.

She blinked in alarm, but nothing seemed to clear her double vision. They came closer, in range now, she realized there was nothing wrong with her eyesight. Moving toward her was Andreas and his mirror image wearing a tan suit and cream shirt, only he didn’t have a scar and his hair was the same style and longer length as in the news photo.

Gabi stared at Andreas in surprise. “You’re a twin!”

“That’s right. Gabriella Turner, meet my best friend and older brother by five minutes, Leonides Simonides.”

“Hello, Mr. Simonides,” she said, shaking his hand.

“Leon? Say hello to your sons.”

Chapter Three

Thea had been with Leonides Simonides, not Andreas?

“Ms. Turner? I hardly know what to say.” Leon looked as stunned as she felt. In fact he barely got those words out because his gaze had fastened on the boys in visible disbelief.

“Gabi’s holding Nikos,” Andreas stated, filling in the silence. “Down there is Kris, who looks like he just woke up from his catnap.”

Swift as the speed of light Andreas caught Gabi’s eye and winked. Warmth flowed through her body as she smiled back, remembering the humorous comment she’d made on Saturday about the children being fat cats.

But she couldn’t forget Leon. Though Andreas would have told him about the children ahead of time, this still had to be the most earthshaking moment of his life. She wasn’t surprised he sank down on the bench literally stupefied.

“Would you like to hold Nikos?” she asked.

“I won’t know what to do if he cries,” he murmured, ashen faced.

“He won’t.” She handed the baby to him. By now Andreas had reached for Kris and was kissing his sweet little neck.

Deciding to give them privacy, she wandered to the other side of the park and sat down to finish reading the biography she’d picked up on the life of the French chef Julia Child.

She hadn’t enjoyed a book as good as this in several years. Like Julia, Gabi had experienced an epiphany about food. But it hadn’t happened until her father had been transferred to Crete where she’d tasted her first pastitsio and developed an instant love of Greek cuisine.

During the last few months she’d been practicing in the kitchen at the consulate, determined she would raise the boys on Greek food in honor of both their parents. By now she could make pretty good spanakopita.

When she realized she’d read the next page for the tenth time, she closed the book and looked across the park. The babies had been put back in the stroller. Both men stood next to them. It seemed as if Andreas was doing most of the talking. Gabi wasn’t sure what it all meant.

Hesitant to interrupt, she waited until he started wheeling the stroller toward her with a grave countenance marring his handsome features. She put the book back in her purse and stood up, noticing that Leon had walked out to the street.

“Let me apologize for my brother.” He spoke without preamble.

“There’s no need. It’s not every day a man is confronted by instant fatherhood, especially when they’re twins.” The happiness she’d felt earlier to see the children united with Andreas had dissipated. Not in her wildest dreams would she have thought up a contingency where his twin brother was the father!

Andreas eyed her with a solemn expression. “Especially when he’s been married three years.”

A small gasp escaped her throat. Had Thea known he was married, or hadn’t it mattered to either of them in the heat of the moment?

“Obviously he’s going to need some time,” she whispered.

“You’re a very understanding woman. When he can gather his wits, I’m sure he’ll want to talk to you.” She was fairly certain Leon wouldn’t, particularly when Andreas would have already told him she planned to go home to Virginia and raise the twins. But she didn’t say anything.

“Thank you for making this meeting today possible, Gabi.”

It sounded like a goodbye speech if she’d ever heard one. Leon had probably told him he couldn’t deal with the situation. What man could? One night in a stranger’s arms wasn’t supposed to end up like this. He wouldn’t be the first father to opt out of his responsibilities.

She felt sorry for Andreas, who clearly loved his brother and had done everything he could to support him. “Of course. I approached you, remember? Thanks to you I won’t ever have to lie to the children.”

After clearing her throat, she said, “When I get back to Virginia, I’ll be reconnecting the phone and will leave the new phone number on a voice mail for you. That way if your brother ever wants to contact me, you can give him both numbers. One last thing. Please let him know I’ll never try to get hold of him for any reason.”

His eyes turned as black as his grim expression. “How soon are you leaving?” he asked in a gravelly voice.

“The day after tomorrow.” She extended her hand, not wanting to prolong the inevitable. “Goodbye, Mr. Simonides.”

Tuesday evening Gabi’s phone alerted her to a text message while she was packing the last of the babies’ clothes into the big suitcase. Her parents were in the nursery playing with the twins, their last night together for two months or more. Pretty soon it would be bedtime. Her dad wanted to put them down.

Since yesterday when she’d pushed the stroller in the opposite direction from Andreas and his brother, she’d tried hard to put the whole business behind her. She thought she’d been doing a fairly good job of hiding her feelings from her parents. Any pain they’d seen would have been attributed to tomorrow’s dreaded departure.