The Giannakis Bride

“If it’s a matter of money—”

“It has nothing to do with money,” Dimitrios cut in sharply. “Your expenses will be covered.”

“But I can afford—”

“So can I.”

He was impossible. Arrogant, intransigent and just plain unpleasant! Why she’d once thought, even for a minute, that he was a man she could love, escaped her.

Pointedly ignoring him, she met Noelle’s calm gaze. “Can we discuss this at another time? Privately?”

“Of course. I was about to suggest exactly that. Tomorrow, if you’re up to it, although I understand if you’d rather wait another day. Crossing ten time zones in twenty-four hours is a bit much.”

“I’ve been doing it for years and trained myself long ago to sleep on airplanes.”

“Then it’s a date. Say about noon? I’ll be through surgery by then.”

“Noon will be fine.”

“Good. You’ll arrange for your driver to bring her to the clinic, won’t you, Dimitrios?”

He grunted assent and stared moodily into his glass. Unperturbed, Noelle smiled and raised hers. “Cheers, then. Here’s to you, Brianna, and a long and happy relationship with your niece.”

About to swallow a mouthful of whatever it was he was drinking, Dimitrios almost choked on it instead.

CHAPTER TWO

HE WAS behaving like a boor, knew it and couldn’t help himself. And all because she hadn’t changed, and watching her, noticing again the perfect posture, the graceful movement of her body, was driving him crazy.

He’d hoped that, like Cecily, she was beginning to lose her looks. Fat chance. If anything, she was more beautiful than ever. The same long, luscious legs and narrow, elegant hands. The same flawless ivory skin and thick, shining fall of ebony hair. The same amazing ice-blue eyes, whose clear, heavily lashed glance could paralyze a man’s mind and leave him drooling like an idiot.

Erika served lamb for dinner. Flavored with rosemary and roasted on a spit over an open fire to succulent tenderness, it was one of his favorites, but that night, he could hardly keep it down. Brianna, of course, ate with her customary restraint, refusing the potatoes and helping herself to only a small portion of the meat, although she made inroads on the salad. She barely touched her wine and passed on the honey-and-fig compote dessert. Only Noelle ate with any relish, packing away a surprising amount of food for such a little woman.

After the meal they returned to the living room, and although neither guest took him up on his offer of metaxa, they both accepted coffee. “What’s it like, being a world-famous model?” Noelle asked, settling herself kitty-corner from Brianna on the couch.

“Very hard work, very long hours and not nearly as glamorous as most people think.”

“Sounds a bit like my life.”

“Hardly,” Brianna said, with exactly the right degree of charming modesty. “I wouldn’t presume to compare the two. Unlike you, I don’t have any special skill or expertise. I’ve certainly never saved a life.”

“You might. And that you’re willing to try puts you on a pedestal in my eyes. As for your not having any special skills, I rather doubt that’s true. It must take enormous patience and stamina to meet the artistic and, I imagine, often conflicting demands of photographers and couturiers.”

Brianna gave an elegant little shrug, a studied response designed to draw attention to her upper body, he was sure. Why else would she have chosen to wear a dress that left one shoulder bare? “On occasion, yes.”

Clearly fascinated by a way of life so far removed from her own, Noelle tucked her legs under her and settled more snugly into the couch. “What drew you to modeling in the first place?”

“My mother got us started when my sister and I were still in diapers, and it more or less took on a life of its own from there. While other children our age played in the sandbox or learned to ride a bike, we traveled from one junior beauty pageant to another.”

“She must have been very proud of you.”

“She marketed us ruthlessly,” Brianna said flatly.

For a second Dimitrios thought he heard an edge of bitter resentment in her reply, then decided he must have been mistaken. She might not have had any choice when she was still a minor, but as an adult, if she didn’t like what she did for a living, she could have chosen something else. She wasn’t completely without brains, was she?

“And did it very successfully,” he remarked, trying to keep his scorn under control. “Admit it, Brianna. You and Cecily became international celebrities before you were in kindergarten.”

“Because, as you very well know, Dimitrios, there were two of us and we looked identical. That’s what made us special.”

“Now there’s only you, but you seem to be doing just fine on your own.”

“Losing a sister is never easy,” Noelle said, flicking him a cautionary glance, “but it must have been particularly difficult to lose a twin. You were very close, I’m sure.”

“When we were children, yes.”

That was just one lie too many for him to stomach. “Oh, come on, Brianna! You were thick as thieves when I met you.”

She turned a slow stare his way. “If you believe that, it just goes to show how little you knew either one of us.”

“I was married to Cecily, remember?”

“I’m hardly likely to forget.”

“Of course you aren’t,” he jeered, knowing that by continuing to goad her, he was pushing his luck, but unable to stop. “After all, look how you aided and abetted her in getting me to the altar.”

Her mouth dropped open in shock, the delectable curve of her lower lip stirring memories of a time when he’d explored it at erotic leisure. But he wasn’t fooled. He knew better than most how she and her twin had impersonated one another when it suited their purpose.

Recovering, she said, “I dropped everything to come here at a moment’s notice because you asked me to, Dimitrios. I can leave just as quickly.”

“This isn’t about you, Dimitrios, it’s about Poppy,” Noelle reminded him, electing herself mediator of a situation fast deteriorating past a point of no return. “Let’s not forget that.”

“Of course not.” He ventured to meet his sister-in-law’s icy-blue stare. “Forgive me, Brianna. I’m worried sick about Poppy, but that hardly justifies my belaboring you with it.”

“I understand.” Again, she tilted one shoulder in that tempting little shrug. “I’d have come sooner, if I’d known.”

“You’re here now, and that’s what matters.” Noelle set her cup and saucer on the coffee table and unfolded her legs from beneath her. “And, pleasant though it is sitting here and being spoiled, I’d better be off and catch up on my sleep. I enjoyed meeting you, Brianna.”

Smiling, Brianna rose in one fluid movement. “I enjoyed it, too.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, at noon?”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Excellent! Walk me out, Dimitrios?”

“Sure.”

Noelle waited until they reached her car and were well out of earshot of anyone in the house, before rounding on him. “Tell me, Dimitrios Giannakis, just how badly do you want your daughter to get well again?”

“More than anything in the world, as you very well know.”

“Then I suggest you keep your tongue and your temper on a very short leash. Your behavior tonight was inexcusable.”

“You might not think so, if you knew the history between Brianna and me.”

“I don’t give a rat’s behind about your history! The only person I care about is Poppy, and I will not sit idly by and watch you systematically sabotage what might turn out to be her best chance of recovery.”

“Brianna isn’t all she seems.”

“Really? I consider myself a pretty good judge of character and she struck me as a very nice, sincere woman.”

“You didn’t see past the beautiful face.”

“I’m not the one hung up on her looks, Dimitrios. You are. And I strongly recommend you get over it.”

“Easier said than done,” he grumbled, helping her into her car. “She’s a carbon copy of her sister.”

Noelle laughed. “Identical twins usually are, dear!” she said and, engaging the gears, roared off into the night.

No sooner had they disappeared outside than Brianna escaped upstairs to her room. She and Dimitrios were like oil and water, never meant to mix. If Noelle Manning hadn’t been there to referee, they’d have been at each other’s throats by now. But they had to find a way to get along, and she could only hope a good night’s rest would leave them both more kindly disposed toward each other by morning.

Erika or one of her minions had turned down the bed, switched on a reading lamp and left two English-language magazines on the nightstand. The French windows in the sitting area stood open, their filmy white drapes pulled back and hanging still as mist at each side. Over the arm of the love seat lay a shawl of softest mohair. A sterling silver tray holding an exquisite bone china hot chocolate pot and mug waited on the coffee table. Regardless of whether or not she approved, Erika was obeying to the letter her instructions to treat the guest like royalty.

But then, from what Brianna had seen, palatial was the key word at the villa Giannakis. She’d barely been able to concentrate on the evening meal, she’d been so bowled over by the magnificence of the setting. His dining room must have been fifteen by thirty feet, with a marble-tiled floor and priceless Savonnerie rug. Original artwork worth a king’s ransom hung on the walls.

The table, large enough to seat twenty with ease, consisted of a square slab of beveled glass supported by pillars fashioned after Doric columns. Five chairs upholstered in rich cranberry fabric lined each side. A fabulous old carved sideboard and sleek sterling candelabra completed the decor, resulting in a marriage of antique and modern; of classic elegance and good taste.

A sharp departure from her penthouse which, although overlooking the strait separating the mainland from Vancouver Island, and furnished with its own kind of elegance, didn’t compare to this place, which oozed comfort and opulence at every turn. And yet she’d have given anything to be back there now, mistress of her own fate.

But that wasn’t an option. She was here in Dimitrios’s home, if not exactly a prisoner, then certainly not a cherished guest, either.

Too keyed up to sleep, Brianna kicked off her shoes, tucked the shawl around her shoulders and stepped out on her deck. Moonlight spilled over the sea and dappled the garden with shadows. Apart from the soft sigh of waves on the beach below, the night was utterly quiet, utterly peaceful—until a rap at the door shattered it, that was.

“Brianna,” Dimitrios announced, too loudly for her to pretend she hadn’t heard him, “it is I.”

How painfully formal and grammatically correct, she thought wryly, refusing to acknowledge the frisson of apprehension his voice inspired. “If you’ve come to continue needling me,” she began, opening the door, “you can take yourself and your—”

“I have come to apologize. Again. And to ask if we can forget the past, not just for Poppy’s sake, but for yours and mine. This business of donating bone marrow amounts to more than a few minutes in a doctor’s office. The tests are exhaustive, and I have no wish to make your time here any more unpleasant than it has to be.”

“Well, if tonight’s any example…”

“It’s not. I’m afraid I’m never at my best after I come back from the hospital, but that scarcely excuses my taking out my anxiety on others, especially not you.” He offered his hand. “May we please start over?”

She could cope with his hostility, his bad behavior. Let him snipe and rant until the earth stopped turning, if he chose. He couldn’t hurt her that way, not anymore. But in his present conciliatory mode, he was downright dangerous. Enough that the resentment she’d harbored all these years suddenly seemed not so well-founded, after all, and how stupid a conclusion was that when all the evidence pointed to the contrary? “I’m not sure it’s possible,” she said, struggling to shore up her sagging defenses.

Taking her by surprise, he slid his fingers around her wrist in a warm, close grip. “Can we at least talk about it, and try to find a way?”

She wrenched her arm free and stepped back, horrified by the way her pulse leaped at his touch.

She’d have done better to stand her ground because he took her retreat as an invitation to march right into the room and close the door. It was all she could do not to run for cover behind the love seat. Trying not to hyperventilate, she clutched the cashmere shawl tightly at her throat.

The suite was generously proportioned. Even allowing for what the furniture occupied, there was still almost enough floor area left for a Las Vegas chorus girl to put on a show. Yet he seemed to swallow up the space until it shrank to the size of a shoe box. “What’s the matter, Brianna?” he inquired silkily, closing in on her. “Are you afraid I might kiss you—or just afraid you might like it too much to try to stop me?”

“Neither,” she replied, and suppressing a tug of something suspiciously like desire, she drew herself up to her full five foot nine in an attempt to stare him down.

She might as well have spared herself the effort. “Really?” he purred. “Why don’t we find out?”

His arm snaked around her waist and pulled her close. The feel of his body against hers sent the blood thrumming through her veins. The lightning rod that was his mouth brought back in vivid recall the memory of the first time he’d kissed her, and where it had led: to a rendezvous in his stateroom, and an introduction to the pleasures of lovemaking, of sex, that had spoiled her for any other man.

But she remembered, too, what came afterward. The betrayal, the abandonment, had almost killed her. Although she’d honored her modeling assignments, smiling through her pain, covering up the dark circles under her eyes, everyone had noticed something was wrong. Rumors that she was ill—anorexic, bulimic, on the verge of a break-down—had circulated like wildfire and almost destroyed her career.

You’ve got to show them you’re still on top, Carter had urged. And she had. Because her career was all she had left. Dimitrios had robbed her of everything else.

She couldn’t let him do it again.

Lifting her hands, she pushed against the solid wall of his chest with all her might. “That might be your idea of starting over, but it’s certainly not mine.”

He released her willingly enough. “Forgive me for allowing my baser instincts to get the better of me,” he said, aloof disdain written all over his cold, beautiful face. “Believe me, I know better than anybody that what happened between us in the past is long ago over and done with, and nothing either of us can say or do will ever change that.”

“At least we’re agreed on one thing.”

“More than one, I hope. I’m calling for a truce, Brianna, because the future—Poppy’s future—is all that matters now.” He wiped a hand down his face, and all at once weariness softened the severe cast of his mouth and left him looking achingly vulnerable. “They tell me what’s happened to her isn’t my fault, but I blame myself anyway. If I’d been a better father, paid closer attention to her, she might not be in such bad shape now.”

Touched despite herself, Brianna said, “I’m sure you were, and are, an exemplary father, Dimitrios.”

“No.” Restlessly, he paced to the French doors and stared out. “I ignored her symptoms. She had what appeared to be a cough and a cold, and I did nothing about it for the better part of two months. It wasn’t until I noticed she had bruises that couldn’t be accounted for that I insisted on a more thorough investigation into the possible causes.”

“Surely you’d consulted a doctor before that?”

The question was out before she could contain it, and he swung around, his face a mask of hurt and anger. “Of course I did! Within a week of her cold first appearing. I’m not a complete imbecile.”

“Then if indeed there’s blame to be assigned, surely it lies with her doctor?”

Again the fire went out of him. “It lies with me,” he muttered, dropping down on the love seat. “It’s a parent’s job to protect his child. He should instinctively sense when something’s not right, and maybe I would have, if I hadn’t been away half the time, looking after business.”

“But, Dimitrios,” she said, “that’s what fathers do. They go out and make a living so that their children have a decent roof over their heads, food on the table and clothes on their backs.”

“There’s a big difference between working to live, and living to work.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

He cast her an oddly cynical glance. “Ambition can consume a person—and you ought to know.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

A muscle twitched in his jaw. “Nothing,” he said, averting his gaze. “Just that, in your line of work, you have to…stay on top of your game.”

“Well, yes. But don’t you think that’s true of anyone who wants to succeed, regardless of what they do?”

“Not if winning becomes more important than anything else. Because somebody always ends up paying. In my case it happened to be my daughter.”

“You give yourself too much credit, Dimitrios. You aren’t responsible for Poppy’s illness. It happened despite you, not because of you. None of us ever has total control of the world around us. Sometimes fate plays a dirty trick and all we can do is find a way to live with it.”

He pinned her in a mesmerizing stare. “Are you speaking from personal experience?”

Not five minutes earlier he’d said that the past was over and done with and the future was all that counted. But the way he was looking at her now was all about the past. It hung between them, as vibrantly alive as if it had happened just yesterday. The memories tore at her, making her ache for what might have been. And for the man she’d thought he was.

“Brianna?”

He felt it, too. It was there in the sudden deepening of his voice when he spoke her name. It swirled in the air between them—an awareness so acute she felt herself melting in its heat.

“Yes,” she said, hating that she sounded so breathless. “I learned to move on when dreams I held dear didn’t materialize.”

“Any regrets? Ever wish you’d held on to those dreams, instead of letting them go?”

Cecily’s triumphant voice echoed down the years. Face it, Brianna, it’s over. He tried both of us and chose me. We were married, just last week. Sorry there wasn’t time to send you an invitation….

Hardening her heart, Brianna said, “No. Do you?”

“Hell, yes,” he said grimly. “I wish I could have given Poppy a mother who cared. But there are some things money can’t buy.”

“Are you always so uncomplimentary about my sister?”

He flung another forthright gaze her way. “What do you want me to say, Brianna? That she was the best wife a man could wish for? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but there’s a limit to how far I’m willing to go to preserve your illusions. The plain fact is, marrying Cecily was the second-biggest mistake of my life.”

“What was the first?”

“You were,” he said, surging to his feet and towering over her. “You and that damnable cruise to Crete. I should never—” He blew out an exasperated breath and raked his hand through his hair.

“Well, don’t stop now. You never should have what?”

“Never mind! I’ve already said too much.” He strode to the door and yanked it open. “Thank you again for coming. Get some rest. You’re going to need it.”

And having stirred up memories of the most painful period of her life, he left her.

So much for leaving the past in the past….

They’d stopped in Athens en route to London and Vancouver; a two-day rest between flights only. At least, that was the original plan, until the invitation was hand delivered to their suite at the Grande Bretagne, the evening before they were scheduled to leave.

In marked contrast to Brianna’s uninterested reaction, Cecily had almost fallen over herself with glee. “It sounds divine! I want us to accept, I really do! If you won’t go for yourself, do it for me.” She’d pinned on her most beguiling smile. “Please, Brianna? Pretty please?”

“Honestly, Cecily, I’d rather not. This is the first break we’ve had in months, and I’m ready for a rest. But there’s no reason you can’t go, if you’re all that keen. We’re not joined at the hip.”

“You know full well having both of us there is the coup they’re after. One of us doesn’t have the same cachet.”

“For heaven’s sake, we’re professional models, not a circus act.”

“And all you ever think about is work.” Cecily’s tone crossed the line from wheedling to whining. “If you’re so damned eager to take a rest, why can’t you do it floating around the Mediterranean on a luxury yacht? What’s so hard to take about that?”

“We don’t know anyone else, for a start. These people so anxious to have us on board aren’t friends, Cecily, they’re collectors whose idea of scintillating dinner conversation is dropping the names of the celebrities they’ve rubbed shoulders with.”

“And we’re highly collectible!”

Brianna sighed. They’d argued this point more times than she cared to count, and were never going to agree. “We’re a couple of reasonably pretty women who look so much alike, most people can’t tell us apart. They might recognize our faces, but they haven’t a clue who or what we’re really about, and nor do they care. We’re nothing more than novelties.”

“Maybe it’ll be different this time. Maybe these hosts enjoy meeting new people and showing them a good time.”

Tired of riding the same pointless merry-go-round yet again, Brianna had welcomed the arrival of their manager, Carter Maguire, who occupied the suite next door. As usual after a successful assignment—and this last had been a triumph both on the runway and at the photography shoots—he’d brought a bottle of champagne. Her relief, though, was short-lived when he told them that he, too, was to join the yachting party. Was, in fact, largely responsible for the three of them having been invited in the first place.

“Too bad you wasted your time,” Cecily informed him petulantly, when she heard. “Brianna’s refusing to go. Thinks I should put in a solo appearance.”

“Out of the question.” Calmly he uncorked the champagne and filled three flutes, handed one to Cecily and shooed her out to the balcony. “Go enjoy the view, and leave me to talk to her.” When she was well out of earshot, he faced Brianna. “This isn’t so much an invitation as a command performance, sweet pea. These people are big names in the fashion industry and we need the contacts. You’ve been at the top for a long time now, but we’re in danger of losing that spot, and I think we both know why.” He cast a quick glance over his shoulder. “Cecily’s screwed up a few times too many, and word’s getting around that she’s not reliable. That business in Bali last month made big headlines.”

The reminder of her sister’s drunken display at a night club made Brianna blush all over again. “I know. People don’t forget that kind of thing in a hurry.”

“Especially not in this business. And not to put too fine a point on it, but time isn’t exactly on your side anymore. You’ll be twenty-four in August. The next couple of years are critical—for all of us.” He’d given her the lopsided grin she knew and loved so well. “Come to that, I’m no spring chicken myself. The way I see it, when you decide to call it quits, I will, too.”

“That’s ridiculous, Carter! You’re only fifty-three, and there are hundreds of models who’d give their right arms to have you represent them.”

“Not interested.” He shook his head. “When I’ve worked with the best, why settle for the rest? There’ll never be anyone like the two of you, Brianna—or at least, there never used to be. Now…” He shrugged and raised his eyebrows in a way that spoke more eloquently than words.

Cecily wandered back into the room at that point and helped herself to more champagne. “Straightened her out yet, Carter?”

“I’m not sure.” He turned a smiling glance on Brianna, but the message in his eyes was sobering. “Have I?”