He liked women—a lot—but he preferred to be the hunter, not the hunted. Since that article had been published he’d begun to feel like a deer on the first day of hunting season. The hordes of women who had dogged his steps for the past six months were not to be believed. He certainly wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t experienced it firsthand!

He’d been confident the initial frenzy would wear off—a nine-day wonder, he’d assured himself. But he hadn’t counted on low hard news, and wire services hungry for something to spice up their pages.

Especially when a couple of former girlfriends had decided it was in their best interests to gain publicity by kissing and telling.

Of course it would blow over eventually. Who, after all, was really interested in his marriageability—besides his mother? Someone else he’d been avoiding.

When he’d returned to New York long enough to win the sailboat race for his father, Theo had deliberately avoided going out to the family home on Long Island.

He loved his mother, but he didn’t need her input into the mess that was his life. She was always ready to meddle.

“Offer suggestions,” she called it.

In this case he knew exactly what suggestion she’d offer. “Get married, Theo. End of problem.”

But it wouldn’t end the problem, Theo knew. He’d been married once—not that his mother knew it. And it hadn’t ended his problems at all. It had simply created more.

Now, older and wiser, Theo knew that marriage wasn’t his style. Relationships weren’t his metier. He was perfectly happy playing the field—as long as the field wasn’t overcrowded and the women understood the rules.

He was glad he’d made sure Little Miss Jet Lag understood she wasn’t moving in. She might not have known about the article, she might not have come because of it, but he didn’t want her there getting ideas!

He was sorry she’d come all this way for nothing. But there were lots of guest houses on Santorini. So what if the ones available at the last minute weren’t likely to be at quite the level of homey comfort she was used to. Too damn bad. If she didn’t like it, she could go back to wherever she’d come from.

It was her problem, not his.

The ferry from Crete was just coming into the harbor. Tourists hung over the railings and waved and shouted. Plenty of them were gorgeous, eager women. And not one of them, God willing, knew he was here.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Theo cranked in the jib and smiled as the boat heeled away from the wind and picked up speed.

Turning his back on the ferry, he headed out of the harbor and put everything else out of his mind.

It was dusk when he got back. The tavernas were all lit up and music throbbed from half a dozen small nightclubs and cafés. The quay was crowded with holidaymakers, laughing and jostling and some even dancing. Two or three even wanted to dance with him.

Theo smiled and shook his head. Equanimity restored, he could look at them dispassionately now. Sometime in the near future he might even take some lovely lady up on it.

But chatting up some woman seemed more effort than it was worth tonight. He was tired and so he kept going, climbing the steps that led up the hillside, looking forward to a cold beer and a shower and a soft bed.

He climbed the winding stairs to the front door—and stopped dead at the sight of Martha in the window, crossing from the living room toward the kitchen.

Equanimity evaporating, Theo thundered up the last dozen steps, pushed open the front door and headed straight for the kitchen after her.

“Listen, I thought I told you—”

“Theo!” A sultry Scandinavian-accented voice came after him from the living room.

Theo jerked around. A tall slender blonde woman—every man’s dream, he’d thought when he’d first met her—opened her arms wide as she glided toward him.

“Agnetta?” It wasn’t really a question. And Agnetta was no longer a dream—she was a nightmare. If there was any woman he wanted to see in his living room less than he’d wanted to see Martha Antonides, it was Agnetta Carlsson.

But before she could reply, another younger woman appeared as well. “Theo!” She ran across the room to throw her arms around him.

Theo caught her before she could smother him with kisses and stared down at her, horrified. Whoever she was, she looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t put a name to her. In fact, he didn’t have to.

“Remember me? Cassandra,” she told him cheerfully. “You know, Cassie! Cassie Thelonikis. Your mother’s goddaughter!”

Ye gods. Deliberately Theo held her at arm’s length, recognizing her now, and not at all happy with the recognition.

“Your mother sent us over,” Cassie said happily, confirming his worst fear. “Isn’t that cool?”

Cool was not the word Theo would have used to describe it. “Sent you here? Why?” He knew he sounded harsh. He couldn’t help it.

But Cassie was immune. “She says you need some distraction. And protection,” she added. “She says you’re too focused on sailing and since you’re the world’s sexiest sailor you have too many women bothering you.”

Which gave his mother full marks for perception. But why the hell had she thought sending more women would improve matters?

And Agnetta Carlsson of all people! Theo grimaced inwardly. She didn’t even know Agnetta! Did she?

Cassandra, who obviously could read minds, explained. “I’ve been modeling this past year, and I worked with Agnetta lots this spring. They seem to think it’s cool, her being so fair and me so dark.” She shrugged. “We got to be friends. And when I had lunch with your mother last week in the city, Agnetta came along. She wanted to meet your mom because you two were friends.”

Was that what they had been? Theo wouldn’t have called it that. He had met Swedish model Agnetta Carlsson last summer at a sailboat race off Marseilles. She had been there on a fashion photo shoot. And after the race and the shoot, there had been a party and Agnetta had come with one of the Australians, who got drunk and promptly forgot her.

Agnetta hadn’t minded. She had found someone far more interesting—Theo.

And at the time Theo had been equally, though casually, interested in her.

His brother George had once called him “an equal opportunity womanizer.” And while Theo wouldn’t have put it that crudely, he had never claimed not to like women. He did. And gorgeous curvy blondes like Agnetta definitely topped the list. He’d charmed Agnetta that night. And she’d charmed him. Still, he’d been clear about what interested him—and what didn’t.

“No strings,” he’d said right up front.

“Strings?” She’d batted her gorgeous long lashes at him. “But no.” She’d cuddled up to him and kissed him soundly. “Of course not!”

Agnetta was beautiful. She was eager. She had been good fun and, not surprisingly, she had been good in bed.

For a month they had been an item. The society editors and gossip columnists loved them. Agnetta’s blond beauty and Theo’s dark features were a photographer’s dream. But soon the columnists—and Agnetta—began talking about marriage.

Is Aggie “the one”? One of the tabloids shrieked.

Will Aggie catch her man? Asked another.

Aggie’s rock? Big as Gibraltar? Demanded a third.

Does Aggie have a secret? Screamed a fourth.

“Where the hell are they getting this stuff?” Theo had done his own demanding. “We aren’t getting married!”

“Of course not, darling.” Agnetta had batted her lashes and shaken her head. “Unless,” she had given him a dimpled coy smile, “they know something we don’t know!”

“Not bloody likely,” Theo had said gruffly.

But it soon became apparent that they had heard rumors Theo hadn’t. At least not until Agnetta had come to him a week later and said, “I’m pregnant, Theo.”

“Pregnant?”

Theo found that hard to believe. He was a careful, responsible man. And he’d never been less than careful with Agnetta. He’d asked to see the pregnancy test, asked to talk to her doctor.

Agnetta’s face had flushed. “You don’t believe me?”

He didn’t say that. But he hadn’t married her, either. He would marry her if a child was involved. But he was determined to wait and see first.

Agnetta had been appalled, then angry. “You don’t trust me!” she’d accused him.

“Show me a test. I want to talk to your doctor.” He’d been adamant.

Agnetta had thrown a shoe at him. She’d cried and wailed.

Theo had not been moved. “We’ll know soon enough,” he’d said. “Plenty of time.”

And within two weeks the wait was justified. There were more tears, of course. Cascades of them. But they were followed by a convenient announcement.

“I—I m-must have been l-late. I thought I was pregnant! It’s because I’m so stressed about our relationship!” She’d glared at him accusingly.

He’d nodded understandingly. “Well, we wouldn’t want you to be stressed, would we?”

Agnetta brightened at once and went to put her arms around him. “So we will marry anyway?” she said eagerly.

“No. It will be better if I just get out of your life.”

And so he had.

He hadn’t seen Agnetta again—until this minute.

Now she smiled calculatingly at him over Cassie’s shoulders. “Such a wonderful suggestion your mother made,” she purred. “Come and spend a week here in our new house, she said to us. So kind. So sweet. And so nice of that girl to be here to let us in.”

Theo’s eyes narrowed. “What girl?”

“Marla? No, Martha,” Agnetta corrected herself. “The girl in the kitchen. She let us in. Helped us with our bags. Very helpful.”

“Was she?” Theo said through his teeth.

“Oh, yes,” Cassie agreed, beaming.

He’d kill her. Damn Martha Antonides! She knew he didn’t want anyone here! Especially not a pair of females who were setting their sights on him.

“She said she was sure you wouldn’t mind the intrusion, that that’s what family homes were for. To be shared,” Cassie reported.

“Did she?” The penny—hell, the whole damn national debt—dropped. Theo’s jaw came together with a snap. “Where is she?”

“Just making us a snack, she said,” Agnetta answered, turning to smile in the direction of the kitchen.

Theo turned, too, and was treated to the sight of Martha Antonides giving him a brilliant smile and waggling her fingers at him in a little wave.

If he could have killed her with a look, she’d have keeled over dead.

Instead she dared to sashay toward them, still all smiles, carrying a tray with bread and oil and canapes and olives.

“I knew you’d be thrilled to have company.” She met his gaze with a challenging one of her own as she held out the plate to Agnetta and Cassie. “It was so sweet of your mother to think of you here by yourself, with so much room available—and hospitality being the cornerstone of Greek culture.”

“Is it?” Theo’s tone was deadly. “I thought war was.”

Her expression grew suddenly wary, but almost immediately she seemed to regain her equilibrium.

“Both, I think,” she said, aiming a cheery smile at both Cassie and Agnetta. “Battling with your friends is almost as much fun as battling with your enemies, don’t you think?”

“I expect we’re going to find out.” Theo swept the plate from her hands and thrust it into Agnetta’s. “If I may have a word with you, Ms. Antonides?”

“I don’t think—”

“You don’t need to,” he informed her as he spun her into his arms, pulling her hard against him and moving her toward the bedroom.

“Mr. Savas! I’m not—”

“That’s what you think,” he cut her off. And as she began to protest again, he shut her up the only way he knew how.

He pressed his lips to hers, backed her down the short hall and into his bedroom where he kicked the door shut behind them and met her furious gaze with a satisfied smile. “All’s fair in love and war, sweetheart.”

CHAPTER TWO

“WHAT DO you think you’re doing?” Martha shoved away from him, her eyes wide and blazing with fury, her gaze flicking around her parents’ bedroom, looking anywhere, at anything—but him!

But while it had always been her parents’ bedroom, it wasn’t theirs any longer. That was obvious.

It was spartan, totally masculine, with stark white walls and sleek dark furniture, the only adornment two poster-size black-and-white photos of sailboats cutting through rough seas. The sort of room a man like Theo Savas would feel at home in. Clearly the room now belonged to the man who was glaring at her just as angrily as she was glaring at him.

“More to the point, Ms. Antonides,” he said through his teeth, “what the hell were you doing opening up my house to strangers?”

“They weren’t strangers to you,” Martha argued. She was still trying to catch her breath and calm her heart, which was slamming against the wall of her chest. She was also trying not to lick her lips, which were still throbbing from the press of his mouth. Despite her attempts to quell them or ignore them, her hormones were doing odd and completely unexpected things she’d never experienced before—certainly not when Julian had kissed her.

Good Lord! Even her ears seemed to be ringing. She mustered every ounce of sanity she could find.

“The girl—Cassandra—said your mother sent them. She said she was an old friend.” And from the look of things they could both be a good deal more as well. Did Theo Savas take lovers two at a time?

“To you they were strangers,” Theo bit out. “And they should have stayed that way. You know damn well I don’t want anyone here! I told you—”

“I know what you told me,” Martha said sharply. “But these weren’t groupies. They’re friends of your mother! If you don’t want them here, fine. Throw them out. Who cares? Just go out there and tell them to leave.”

Theo ground his teeth. “I can’t. And you know it.”

Martha raised her brows. “I do? Why?”

“Because you have a Greek mother, too. One that you don’t want to know you’re here. Am I right?” He gave her a knowing look.

Martha shrugged irritably. “That’s not the same.”

“It is the same. They meddle, mothers do. They think they know what’s best.” He cracked his knuckles and paced around the room.

Martha watched him curiously. “So…what’s best for you, according to your mother?” she asked at last.

He cracked his knuckles again. “A wife,” he muttered at last.

Martha grinned.

“It’s not funny.”

She wiped a hand over her mouth, taking the smile with it. “Of course not,” she intoned solemnly. But a corner of her mouth twitched anyway at the thought of Theo running scared of his mother’s machinations.

“She thinks it will get the groupies off my back if she provides me with other choices.” He scowled. “She’s wrong. Especially she’s wrong about that one.”

“Which one?” Martha didn’t think he’d looked particularly happy to see either of them.

“Agnetta.” Theo fairly spat the name.

“Ah.” Yes, there had been a bit of animosity on his part when he’d spied her, and Agnetta had definitely been the one who’d been startled to see her here. She’d demanded to know who Martha was the minute she’d opened the door to the pair of them.

“I take it you two have a history,” Martha said mildly now.

Not that she wanted to know it. But it was obvious from the unfinished sentences that Agnetta had left dangling, and the suspicious way she’d studied Martha ever since she’d arrived. Contrarily Martha had done no more than tell them her name. But while Cassandra had been eager and open, Agnetta had been more wary. She’d also dropped the words dear Theo into the conversation at least half a dozen times.

Martha couldn’t imagine anyone called Theo “dear” to his face. Not even his mother.

Now dear Theo ground his teeth. He jammed his hands into the pockets of his canvas shorts. “It wasn’t a…history. It was brief. And it’s over.”

“Not to her apparently.” Martha stated the obvious.

Theo slammed his hand against the wall. “You could have said I wasn’t coming back.”

“Well, you were. You told me you were. How did I know what you wanted me to do?”

“You knew I didn’t want anyone here!”

“Yep, I knew that. And you were such a jerk to me, I thought it would serve you right.” Martha gave him a cheerful grin.

He jammed his hands into the pockets of his shorts. “Thanks.” His tone was bitter. “Damn it,” he muttered and hunched his shoulders, then straightened and raked both hands through his salt-stiffened hair.

He was a gorgeous specimen of manhood, Martha thought, still remembering—albeit reluctantly—what it had felt like to have his lips on hers. No wet soppy kisses from Theo Savas.

Not like the ones she’d had from Julian, that was for sure.

Men like Theo ought to be locked away where they couldn’t have an adverse effect on women. It was obvious he’d had one on Agnetta, if she’d come all the way to Greece just to get a second chance at him.

And why? A woman as beautiful as Agnetta could have any man in the world. But she was apparently determined to have Theo.

He paced like a jungle cat trapped in a cage, then reached the end of the room, spun around and demanded, “How long are they here for?”

“What do you mean? Here on Santorini?”

“No. In the living room,” he said sarcastically. “Of course on Santorini. Don’t be an idiot!”

Martha shook her head. “A week, I think. Cassandra said they’re having a week’s holiday before they had to be in Marseilles for a shoot. Apparently she called home, and your mother was visiting hers, and when she heard that Agnetta and Cassandra were in the Adriatic, she had this brilliant idea they should come visit you and—”

“I get the picture,” Theo said grimly. He paced some more, considered some more, and finally nodded. “Okay. A week. They can stay a week. You’re staying, too.”

“Me?” Martha stared at him. “But you said—”

“You wanted to stay. You said so. ‘Big enough for both of us,’ you said.” He quoted her words back at her. “You made a big issue out of it.”

“Well, yes, then, but—”

“No buts. They can stay for a week, as long as you do. Acting as my girlfriend.”

“What!”

“You heard me. They won’t be able to pester me if I’ve already got a woman in residence.”

“I’m not—”

“And when you go, they go.”

Martha glared at him. “You’re trying to make me the bad guy.”

Theo shrugged unrepentantly. “Up to you.”

“But I’m going to be here three weeks. That’s what my plane reservation is for!”

“Then you can take this week to find another place to stay. No problem.”

Not to him, maybe. In fact Theo looked disgustingly pleased with himself.

Martha glared. “Why?” she asked him at last. “Why should I?”

He shrugged. “Because you need a place to stay? You’re broke and desperate?” He gave her a mocking smile.

It was altogether too close to the truth. But that didn’t make her want to do it. She stalled. “Tell me more about this ‘history’ you have with Agnetta.”

Theo didn’t look as if he were going to, but when Martha just stared at him wordlessly, he finally muttered, “I just don’t want her thinking she’s going to worm her way back into my life.”

“So she was in your life?”

“I went out with her a few times.” His tone was dismissive, but definitely edgy.

“‘Out with?’” Martha raised her brows. “Just casual dates? Home by eleven? That sort of thing?” she queried with false innocence.

“Slept with,” Theo snarled. “But that’s it. Nothing else.”

“What else could there be?”

“I mean, no strings! It wasn’t a ‘relationship.’ We weren’t a couple. I don’t do relationships. It was a good time, that’s all. And I made that clear.”

“How very charming of you.”

“Look, I never claimed to be in love with her. I met her at a sailing race. She was a model on a photo shoot. We hit it off. Had a few beers. Spent some time together.”

“In bed.”

“In bed and out of bed,” he said, exasperated. “But I told her I wasn’t looking for anything serious. Ever.”

“Of course not. You just swept her off her feet,” Martha agreed gravely. “You and that earth-shattering charm.”

Theo’s teeth snapped together. “Nobody forced her to go to bed with me!”

Martha gave him a baleful look. “Oh, I believe it. A man with charm like yours…”

“At least I didn’t lie to her!”

And, as Martha well knew, some men did.

Julian had dripped charm as he’d vowed he loved her and wanted to spend forever with her. Julian had told her he just wanted her to be ready. The same Julian who, in the meantime, hadn’t been able to keep his trousers zipped.

Perhaps truth had more to recommend it than charm, Martha thought and decided to cut Theo a tiny bit of slack.

“So fine. You didn’t want anything serious and she did. So? Don’t tell me she tried to kidnap you and force you to the altar.”

“Damn near,” Theo growled. He rubbed a hand against the back of his neck. “We spent a few weeks together on the shoot and after. Next thing I knew, she showed up on my doorstep announcing she was pregnant!”

He said the word as if it had four letters. Clearly not a man hankering to be a father.

“So what did you do? Whip out the charm and tell her to get rid of it?” While she imagined he had been shocked, she was still indignant at the thought.

Theo’s teeth snapped together. He leveled a hard look in her direction. “I’d never do that.”

“Then…?” Martha frowned, confused.

“There wasn’t a baby.”

“But you said she said—”

“She said she was pregnant. She wasn’t. Ever. But she figured that if she said she was, I’d marry her.” He looked furious all over again, and if he was really telling the truth, Martha could understand why he was upset with Agnetta.

She was a little upset herself. She didn’t like to think there were women who would try to trick a man into marriage like that. And she couldn’t imagine anyone being stupid enough to try it on a hard case like Theo Savas.

“So, um, how did you…find out?”

“I’m not an idiot,” he snapped. “I take precautions. But there is always the remote chance something could have happened, so I said we’d wait.”

“Wait?”

He nodded. “And see. I mean, it was going to be obvious if she was pregnant pretty soon, wasn’t it? She wasn’t happy. She wailed a lot. Accused me of being heartless.”

Martha could imagine.

“I didn’t give a damn.”

Martha could imagine that, too.

“But when she saw I meant it, that I was not going to marry her unless she produced a real obvious pregnancy, she suddenly ‘discovered’—” Theo’s lip curled on the word “—she was only late, that she wasn’t pregnant at all.” He snorted in disbelief. “It was on account of all the stress of wondering where our relationship was going, she said.” He gave a cynical shake of his head. “It wasn’t going anywhere,” he said flatly. “And it still isn’t. And you, Ms. Antonides, are going to make sure of it.”

“I’m not—”

“You are. You’re going to stay right here—” he hit the word with both feet, making it clear that he meant not only the house, but his bedroom “—and make sure Agnetta—and Cassandra—know I have a woman in my life.”

“But you—”

“You want a place to stay. You can stay here—as long as Agnetta and Cassie stay. As my very devoted girlfriend. Got it?” Theo’s black eyes fixed on her with a hard look that dared her to disagree.

Martha didn’t. Her thoughts were in a whirl. She couldn’t change her ticket. It had nearly wiped out her savings as it was. Only by booking her return for three weeks hence had she been able to cut the cost a little. Paying for a room for three weeks was out of the question.

Now she wouldn’t have to—if she agreed to stay here in the house.

<1 2 3 4 >

На страницу:

Перейти

2 из 4