Bound To Her Greek Billionaire
His eyes narrowed on her features. “The daughter whom Nassos helped raise for his best friend has my full, undivided attention. Tell me what’s on your mind. Obviously it’s very important to you, otherwise you wouldn’t have flown all this distance during your bereavement. I’d do anything for him, so that translates I’d do anything for you. Just name it.”
Lys felt his sincerity sink deep into her psyche. “Thank you for saying that. I guess I don’t have to tell you what this means to me.”
Takis sat on the corner of his desk. “How can I help you?” he asked in a quiet tone, drawing her attention to his powerful legs beneath his trousers. She couldn’t stop noticing every exciting male trait about him.
“It concerns the hotel in Heraklion.”
One of his brows lifted in query. “Go on.”
She got up from the chair, struggling with how to approach him. “In his will, every possession and asset of his except the hotel was left to his ex-wife, Danae.”
The man listening to her didn’t move a muscle, but she saw a quickening in his eyes, not knowing what it meant.
“That was as it should be,” she continued. “Danae was his devoted wife for twenty-four years. When they divorced, he left her with everything she would need. Now that she has received the full inheritance he left her, I know she’ll be well provided for all of her life.”
“So I’m presuming the hotel is now yours.”
Lys shook her head. “I only have half ownership and didn’t want the half he left me.”
Lines marred his features before he got to his feet. “That’s very strange, but what does any of it have to do with me?” Confusion was written all over his handsome face.
Lys had tried to present this the right way, but she wasn’t getting through to him. Taking a deep breath, she said, “Nassos hoped to leave a lasting legacy. Since none of us knows when we’re going to die, he took precautions early to preserve that legacy when the time came, whenever that was.”
“I still can’t believe he’s gone.” His mournful comment touched her heart.
“Neither can I. Because he didn’t have children, it meant putting the hotel in the hands of someone who understands and shares his vision.”
Takis was listening. “That was you.”
She took a deep breath. “I worked for him, yes. But I think this decision was made because he’d been my guardian and was always protective of me. He probably felt I needed someone to share the responsibility so I wouldn’t make a serious mistake.”
His brows dipped. “Mistake?”
“Yes. He loved the myth of King Minos, who forgot to rule wisely. Because of his mistake, he was killed by the daughters of King Cocalus, who poured boiling water over him while he was taking a bath. I notice you have a little statue of him.”
“The story of King Minos intrigued me as a youth too.”
Lys smiled sadly. “It proves you and Nassos had minds that thought alike. More than ever I’m convinced there was only one other person he could think of who would honor what he’d built.”
She opened her handbag and pulled out the sealed envelope she handed to him. “That person is you, Kyrie Manolis. His attorney instructed me to give this to you. Any explanations are inside. I don’t know the contents.”
If Nassos had another flaw besides his pride, it was his secrecy, which had left Lys at a loss.
After clearing her throat she said, “In case you’re not aware, it made Nassos happier than you could ever imagine to know that the little help he gave you in the beginning was the only thing you needed to go all the way. It means a lot to me to have met you after all this time. Not everyone could accomplish what you’ve done in so short a time. I’m truly impressed.”
She moved to the door while he stood there in a trancelike state. “I have to get back to Crete. Please don’t take long to let me know your plans. I wrote my private cell phone number on the back of that envelope. I live at the hotel and will meet with you at your convenience. Now I must get going. My limo is waiting in the front courtyard. Kalimera.”
She hurried down the hall. To stay in that room with him any longer wasn’t a good idea. They’d only just met, yet she’d felt a strong, immediate attraction to Takis that had rocked her world. It had gotten its start in the long-ago conversations between her father and Nassos, and the impression she’d created of the younger man who’d been hungry to better his life.
She knew she had to get away from him and leave the castello before she didn’t want to leave. Lys had never felt these kinds of initial feelings about any man in her life.
Those playboys who’d passed in and out of her life couldn’t touch this extraordinary man, who’d earned the highest praise from her father and Nassos. The intense way he was looking at her, the emotions he’d aroused, had caused her bones to melt.
CHAPTER THREE
TAKIS KNEW HE HADN’T dreamed up this meeting with the woman Nassos had helped raise. When she left his office, her flowery fragrance lingered, providing proof she’d been in here.
He’d seen tears in her eyes when she’d heard him enter the room. She’d just been looking at Nassos’s picture. The exquisite woman who’d walked down the aisle at the funeral had been his ward at one time. Shame on Takis for wondering if she could have been the mistress talked about in the news.
How old was Lys Theron? Twenty-five, twenty-six? And now she was half owner of the hotel, with Takis owning the other half.
Several emotions bombarded him, not the least of which was the attraction to her he’d felt at the funeral. He looked at the envelope his hand had squeezed without his being aware of it. According to her, this was Nassos’s gift to him.
Utterly incredulous, he opened it and pulled out a letter and a deed. To his shock it was official all right, signed with Nassos’s distinctive signature, stamped and dated. There it was in bold letters.
Takis Manolis, half owner of the Rodino Hotel in Heraklion.
The letter indicated he should get in touch with the attorney Xander as soon as possible. Once Takis returned to Heraklion, he could sign the deed in front of witnesses so it could be recorded and filed for the court.
He read more. Neither owner would be free to do what they wanted with the hotel until six months had passed.
Aghast, he shook his head. What on earth had possessed Nassos to do such a thing?
Once Takis’s hotels in New York had started making money, he’d paid the older hotelier for the help he’d given him. No amount could really be enough. How did you assign goodness a monetary value? He’d tried, but to his chagrin Nassos was now gone and there’d be no last time to thank him for everything.
This unimaginable development had thrown him.
For Nassos to turn around and simply give him half the hotel in Heraklion made no sense whatsoever. Takis didn’t want the hotel! He’d paid him back generously.
What in the hell was Nassos thinking? Now that he’d passed away, there was no way to confront him about this. The inconceivable gesture made him feel as if he’d always be the boy who’d come from near poverty. The thought hurt him in a way that went soul deep.
To add to the hurt, this deed had been delivered by special messenger in the form of Nassos’s beautiful former ward. Why would he force Takis’s hand by making him a co-owner with her?
She was too damn beautiful. The kind of woman he never imagined to meet. Didn’t want to meet. Only one other woman had touched his heart and she’d died. He didn’t want to experience those kinds of feelings again. Yet a few minutes with this woman and a fire had been lit.
How did she feel about being half owner with a stranger, even if she knew a lot about him from Nassos and her father?
His thoughts centered on what she’d told him about the way the press had labeled her in the cruelest of ways. With her kind of unforgettable looks, she was an easy target. Was Nassos’s divorce the result of his taking on Kristos’s lovely teenage daughter to raise?
What business is it of yours to care, Manolis?
Unfortunately it was his business until he could fly to Crete and clear up this whole mess with the attorney of record.
Adrenaline surged through his veins. He wished to hell none of this had happened. He still couldn’t believe Nassos was gone. Worse, he didn’t want to know anything about her. Takis wished he’d never laid eyes on her. He didn’t want this kind of a complication in his life. Loving a woman made you vulnerable.
A violent epithet flew from his lips. In his rage he tossed the deed across the room. It hit Cesare in the chest as he walked inside Takis’s office.
With great calm his friend picked it up and put it on the desk. He shot Takis a questioning glance. “I take it this had something to do with the drop-dead-gorgeous woman I saw leaving the hotel a minute ago. Where on earth did she come from?”
Takis had trouble getting his emotions under control. “You don’t want to know.”
“Yes I do. You’ve been with several women over the years, but I’ve never seen you turned inside out by one before.”
“It’s not just the woman. It’s everything!” His voice shook. “I feel like my world has been blown to smithereens and I don’t know where I am anymore.”
Takis should never have left his parents’ home. He should have stayed on Crete and worked alongside his brother. He’d been so certain he’d had all the answers to help his family. But in the end he’d accepted the help of a wealthy man.
The thought of the deeded gift sickened him. That kind of gift might be given to a son, but Takis hadn’t been Nassos’s son. He was the son of Nikanor, who after all these years still didn’t want his money. Neither did his brother. Worse, one of his parents was probably ill and Takis didn’t have a clue because he’d been living out of the country for years. He was the ingrate of all time.
“What’s the point of anything, Cesare?”
Worry lines darkened the features of his Italian friend. “Hold on, Takis. Come with me. We’re going for a ride. My car is parked in the rear lot of the castello.”
“You don’t want to be with me.”
“Well, I refuse to leave you here alone. It wouldn’t do for Sofia to find you in this condition.” Cesare was right about that. He didn’t want his assistant privy to his personal life. “Whatever trouble you’re in, we’re going to talk about it. Let’s go.”
Takis grabbed the papers and stuffed them inside his suit jacket. They walked swiftly through the corridors past some of the guests to the outside. Cesare started up his sports car. He followed the road around from the back of the castello and they drove down the hill to the little village of Sopri. Before long he parked in front of a sports bar on the outskirts that didn’t look crowded this time of day.
They went inside and found a quiet spot in a corner. Cesare ordered appetizers and their favorite Peroni, a pale lager from the brewery that had been founded in Lombardi. Once they’d been served rolls along with a hot plate of grigliata mista di carne, he eyed Takis.
“You didn’t eat breakfast, which might explain the state you were in. You need lunch, amico, and you’ve got me for an audience. Now start talking and don’t stop.”
Cesare knew Takis’s weakness for their grilled sausage, lamb and steak mix. Combined with the lager, it did taste good and he could feel his strength returning.
He pulled the deed out of his pocket and pushed it toward Cesare. “As you know, I attended Nassos Rodino’s funeral while I was in Crete. Would you believe in his will he gave half the Hotel Rodino in Heraklion to me as a gift? The other half was given to that woman you saw. She was the courier who delivered it.”
His friend studied it. “Who is she?”
“Lys Theron, the daughter of Kristos Theron, the hotel owner in New York who gave me my first job after I reached the States. You remember me talking about him. When he died, his best friend, Nassos, Rodino became her guardian and brought her back to Crete to raise.”
A low whistle came out of Cesare. But Takis didn’t want to talk about the beautiful woman who’d robbed him of breath the moment he’d laid eyes on her. She was another problem altogether.
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