Chapter 2
Port of Thessaloniki, Greece
A few days later…
Alexi stood on deck, looking down at the docks at the port of Thessaloniki. They were a familiar sight, and Alexi felt his fear that he might not remember disappear as he gazed down at the crewmembers making the boat fast.
“Alexi, it’s been a pleasure to have you aboard,” Captain Rodis told him.
“Captain, I will not forget your kindness.” As they’d entered Greek waters, Captain Rodis had insisted Alexi remain hidden in his own personal cabin. Since Captain Rodis had been sailing in and out of these ports for more than forty years, when the customs officials had boarded the ship, there was no reason for them to demand access to the captain’s private quarters. Alexi was able to arrive at the port without drawing unwanted attention.
“Do you have a suggestion for how I might contact my family without attracting attention? Also, I need to borrow a razor.” There wasn’t much Alexi could do about his hair, as he wasn’t about to try and cut it himself. His current haircut was an attempt made by a member of the crew who fancied himself a barber. His uneven locks were longer than he normally wore, but at least he still had his hair. Several other crewmembers had opted to shave off the bad haircuts they’d received.
He rubbed a hand through the dark locks and then inwardly smiled. In my current state, I probably resemble Leo now more than ever before.
Captain Rodis chuckled. “I have an extra razor in my cabin you are welcome to use.”
“Thank you.” Alexi scrubbed his hand over the beard. He’d left it to ensure his identity stayed hidden while moving amongst the ship’s crew. He’d remembered more about what had driven him to isolate himself from the family and he was taking every precaution.
He’d also remembered Gemma and was anxious to contact her. While he didn’t love her with the romantic love he knew she probably wanted, he cared deeply about her. He remembered how she’d looked at him when he’d bid her farewell two years earlier. He’d promised to return shortly, not able to anticipate the lengths he would be forced to go to keep those he cared about safe.
Gemma brought out his protective instincts. Now he was done running, he was determined to make sure she was taken care of. He knew she would be angry at him for being gone, but he hoped she would forgive him once he explained himself. Alexi cared for Gemma and once she realized that, she would go along with whatever plans he came up with to ensure her continued safety. She had to.
The captain was watching him when he glanced up. Alexi realized he’d allowed his mind to drift from the present. He cleared his throat. “Forgive me, I got caught up in my thoughts. You were saying?”
“I suggested calling a car to take you directly to the estate. I could have them wait for you at the employee lot, that way you wouldn’t draw any unnecessary attention. The dispatcher notified me to warn the men that there were still an abundance of press waiting around the parking lots.”
“Press? Whatever for? Surely the news of my death is old?”
“It seems that some major event has taken place while I’ve been at sea. I can ask…”
Alexi shook his head. “No, it will not change what needs to happen. If you would be so good as to call a car service for me, I will avail myself of your razor and then be ready to go.”
“There’s nothing much I can do about clothing…”
“Captain, you have done more than I can ever repay. Your kindness will not be overlooked.”
The Captain bowed. “I was happy to be of assistance.” He located the extra razor, leaving Alexi to take it from there. “I’ll be on the deck when you’re ready to depart the ship.”
Thirty minutes later, dressed in borrowed work clothes, and with a hat pulled low over his brow, Alexi slipped into the back of an unmarked car and provided the driver with the address to the Moustakas estate. He kept a careful eye out as the vehicle pulled away from the port, only breathing easily once they’d left the docks and waiting reporters behind.
The estate was situated on a small hill just outside the city limits and as the vehicle moved towards its destination, Alexi played various scenarios through his head about how his reunion would play out. He knew his family would be excited to see him and full of questions. He only hoped he had the answers.
“Sir, um… What do you want to do about them?” The driver slowed to a halt, motioning ahead. A plethora of reporters were gathered outside the estate gates.
“What in the hell?” Alexi counted nearly a dozen reporters and cameramen apparently camped outside the imposing metal gates. “Can you drive through them to the guard shack?”
“I can surely try.” The driver honked his horn and started edging forward. Many of the reporters and cameramen moved out of the way, trying to see who occupied the back of the vehicle. Alexi was grateful the vehicle had blacked out windows. After several painstaking minutes, the driver reached the gates.
A uniformed security guard came to the window. “Do you have business inside?”
“I have a passenger. Sir?” The driver met his eyes in the rear-view mirror.
Alexi took a deep breath and then leaned forward to better view the guard. He recognized the man as one that had worked for his family for nearly a decade. Although he hated pretending to be his brother, it was the easier option. He slid to the privacy window and leaned his head forward. “Christofer.”
“Mr. Moustakas! But I thought you left yesterday…” The guard caught himself. “Sir, I apologize. Of course, if you left and have now returned home that is none of my business. I’ll open the gate right away. Shall I announce your arrival?”
“No need. I’ll announce myself in a few minutes.” Alexi sat back, relieved he hadn’t had to outright lie to the guard. The man had naturally assumed he was Leo.
The vehicle made its way through the gates and up the winding driveway, coming to a stop in front of the large estate Alexi had called home for as long as he’d been alive. He allowed the driver to open his door. “I’ll have a man come out with your payment momentarily. Wait here.”
He strode towards the front doors, opening them and surprising a young woman rushing across the foyer. She came to a sliding stop. The only thing that kept her from falling headfirst into the marble column at the bottom of the winding staircase was Alexi reaching out and catching her around the waist.
“Whoa!” She dug her fingernails into his forearms as she regained her balance.
He took in her long blonde hair, pulled up in a ponytail atop her head, and fair skin tone. When did my parents begin hiring foreigners as domestic helpers? His body responded to her nearness, catching him completely off guard. When she pulled against his hold, he released her.
“Thanks! I wasn’t expecting…” Her voice broke off and her body stiffened when his arm brushed her chest as it retreated.
Alexi had a sudden desire to see what color her eyes were. She had kept her face averted from him so far, something that sparked more than mere curiosity. His body hardened, his fingers itched to run through her hair, and he had a vision of himself pressing this woman against the nearest wall and kissing her senseless.
Alexi was furious at his inability to stay focused on what was truly important. Damn it! I don’t have time for a dalliance with one of the household servants! Get it together!
Adopting a much sterner tone than the situation demanded, he barked at the maid. “Try walking instead of running.”
The young woman stiffened at his tone of voice. Instead of trying to defend herself, she ducked her head. He could see a blush creeping up the side of her neck. Her muttered, “I’ll do that,” was so soft, he couldn’t tell if she was close to tears or angry. Not that it mattered. She’s just the hired help.
The young woman kept her head turned away and slowly walked the rest of the way across the foyer, disappearing from his view. He’d never gotten a good look at her face. Alexi suppressed the urge to call her back.
“Aimee, I found him…” Kassi’s voice faded away as she stepped into the foyer and saw Alexi standing there. She looked puzzled, eyeing his clothing up and down before shaking her head. “Leo, really, that outfit might be going overboard. When did you get back here? I thought Aimee said you guys were having transportation issues and might not be back for a few weeks.”
Alexi looked at his cousin. “Yia, Kassiopeia.” Seeing Kassi first was a stroke of luck. He watched her face as the nickname only he had ever used for her registered in her brain.
The color faded from her face and her mouth opened, but no sound came out. Recognition filled her eyes and she moved forward, reaching a tentative hand out to touch his face. “Alexi?”
Her hands touched his face, his hair, as she took in the healthy tan he’d acquired during his weeks on the island. Before the accident, Alexi had spent much of his time indoors. He’d worked out regularly, but his skin had never gotten deeply tanned like Leo’s, who preferred to spend his days in the sun. Although Alexi hadn’t seen his brother in quite a while, he assumed he bore an even closer resemblance to his twin. Watching Kassi’s face as she examined him from head to toe with her eyes, he knew that to be true.
Kassi finally let her fingers wander to his arm, turning it as she searched for the tattoo and gasping when her eyes found it. Her eyes filled with tears. “You really are Alexi, aren’t you?”
His heart swelled with emotion. “Nai, I am Alexi.”
She shook her head. “But…but we had your funeral…”
He smiled at her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “I hope it was suitably elegant?”
Kassi’s eyes widened. She jumped into his arms, knocking them both backwards several feet. “You’re not dead! Leo said you weren’t, but I was afraid to hope… Mou éleipses!”
Alexi hugged her close and repeated the words. “I missed you too. Where is Leo? Is everyone here?”
“Oh! Your mitéra is going to cry…and your patéras! Alexi, I don’t know if his heart can handle this. Where have you been?”
“Let’s go find my parents and I’ll make my explanation once instead of several times. Which way?” He turned her around, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and then waited until she pointed to the left. “I’ll let you go first and make sure they are both seated before I come in.”
Kassi reached up a hand, tears streaming down her face, and touched his cheek once more. “You’re really here? I’m not crazy?”
“I’m alive,” he told her. “And I have a driver who needs to be paid.”
Kassi picked up the elegant phone sitting on a nearby table. She gave instructions for someone to take care of the driver waiting in front of the house. “Done.”
Alexi smiled. “You look good.”
“Not as good as you do. I still can’t believe you’re here.”
“Believe it.” He waved a hand towards the hallway, pushing aside the vicious pain that was beating away inside his head. The headache had been steadily growing since the cargo ship had docked in the port. At the captain’s request, he’d been looked over by the ship’s doctor a few hours after boarding the ship for Greece. He’d told the doctor about his memory loss and the terrible headaches, and while the doctor hadn’t been able to rule out something more serious, he suggested the headaches were his body’s way of telling him to relax and not push his brain too hard. Alexi knew he was setting himself up for a horrible headache in the coming hours, but he couldn’t stop pressing for answers, not when he was finally home. There were so many things he needed to do, but first, he had to let his parents know he wasn’t dead.
Then there was the small matter of finding out who had been threatening him to deal with, and then he would head to the States and find Gemma. He’d thought about her many times on the journey home, coming to terms with the fact that he didn’t love her with a passionate, romantic love, but then again, Alexi hadn’t allowed himself to love anyone in a number of years. He’d tried once as a young adult, but that woman had only been after what he could buy her and she’d treated his devotion like it was a curse.
With Gemma, she hadn’t seemed to care how much he bought for her or what places he had taken her. She was just as happy with a hot dog from a street vendor as she was dining at a five-star restaurant. Being with her was refreshing and simple and Alexi longed to feel that way once more. Gemma was a romantic and would expect flowers and poetic words, but he hoped that when he explained things to her, she’d be content with a friendship like no other and the sure knowledge that he would always be there for her. It wasn’t fair, but then, Leo with his endless escapades had proven time and again that nothing in the world was fair. Alexi didn’t want to live like that, but after his accident, his viewpoint had changed. He was going after what he wanted and not letting anything stand in his way.
Kassi paused outside the library, using her fingers to wipe the tears from her cheeks. “I’ll just…oh, what am I going to say?” She looked at him. “It won’t matter. They’re going to have the same reaction I did.”
“It will all be fine.” Alexi turned the door handle and then stood aside while Kassi preceded him into the room. He found himself nervous about the coming revelation and rubbed his hands on the worn jeans someone from the cargo ship had loaned him. Maybe I should have gone upstairs and found some different clothes…
“Come on in,” Kassi called.
He took a breath and then pushed the door open, stepping into the room. His mitéra surged to her feet, her hands held over her mouth. His patéras looked at him, tears pouring silently down his cheeks as he sat frozen in his chair.
“Mitéra please don’t cry.” Alexi wrapped her in his arms. She was crying brokenly now, and he closed his eyes and thanked the gods above for giving him this second chance. “Shush, I’m alive.”
She pushed away from him, clasped his cheeks with her hands and then placed kisses all over his forehead and his cheeks. “I prayed for a miracle, but when they called off the search… And then we saw a picture… I was afraid to hope and be disappointed.”
“I’ll explain everything in a minute.” He turned and took the few steps that brought him in front of his father’s chair. He went to his knees and took the hands of the man who had raised him. “I’m so sorry to have put you through this. My yacht sunk and when I washed up on an island, my memory was gone. I didn’t know who I was or where I’d come from.”
Vasil Moustakas pushed himself to his feet, Alexi rising with him. Vasil clasped his son’s face, kissing him on both cheeks before turning to his wife. “Alexi’s come home!”
Alexi felt his mother’s arms wrap around his waist and then Kassi joined the group hug, tears running down all their cheeks. Only the sound of a hesitant voice from behind him broke them apart. “Excuse me.”
Alexi turned his head and saw the young woman he’d rescued in the foyer. There was something familiar about her now that he could see her face, but he couldn’t find the answer he sought. Pain lanced through his head, but he ignored it as he gazed upon her. She was the most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen and he had to clench his hands to keep from reaching for her.
Kassi was the first to speak. “Aimee, Alexi really isn’t dead. Leo was right! Isn’t that great news?”
The young woman looked at his face and paled, swaying as if she was going to pass out. He rushed towards her, intending to catch her. Instead, she held out a hand to ward him off and darted from the room.
“What in the hell?” Alexi looked around, but no one in the room had an answer for him.
Kassi shook her head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her. I’ll go find out…”
“Okhi! Stay here and I’ll go, since it appears my arrival is the cause of her upset.” Alexi strode after her. She hadn’t gone up the stairs, but had hurried towards the kitchen. He found her there a few moments later trying, unsuccessfully, to wipe the face of a small toddler.
He stepped into the kitchen. “We meet again.”
The young woman spun around, a little boy with midnight black hair and deep blue eyes held in her arms. The toddler instantly held his arms out with a cry of delight. “Dadda!”
“No, oh no, sweetie. That’s not daddy.” She looked at Alexi. “You’re the other brother, the twin who supposedly died at sea? Alexi?”
Alexi nodded, his gaze directed towards the child. “He thinks I’m Leo?” Alexi couldn’t believe how much the little boy looked like he and his twin had as toddlers. His mother had a picture of them both on her dresser, and Alexi was certain that if she compared the picture and boy even she would have difficulty seeing a difference.
The young woman nodded. She seemed flushed, as if hot, but the kitchen was no hotter than the rest of the house. “An easy mistake to make.”
Alexi walked closer, fascinated by the child. “How old is he?”
“A little over a year and a half.”
“And Leo is his…father?”
Again, the young woman nodded.
The toddler once more held out his hands. “Dadda!” When his demand to be transferred to Alexi’s arms didn’t gain a response, he kicked his feet. Storm clouds filled his frustrated eyes. “Dadda!”
The young woman held the toddler out, giving Alexi no choice but to take the boy into his arms, immediately calming the threatening storm. “Easy there.” Alexi looked at the young woman. “What is his name?”
“Damien.”
My brother has been busy while I was keeping danger away. Another reason I need to find the threat and eliminate it. The playboy of Greece must have gotten careless or he allowed himself to be used.
Damien squirmed in his arms, his little hands reaching up and touching Alexi’s hair and his cheek before clasping his head on both sides and staring into his eyes.
Alexi smiled. At least he didn’t just abandon the child. “Hey, little guy.”
“Dadda?”
“No, I’m your Uncle Alexi.” He looked back at the young woman and smiled. “And yours? What is your name?”
“Aimee. I’m watching this little guy.” She tickled Damien, eliciting a giggle from him.
Clearly a trusted nanny. “Where is my brother?”
“They didn’t tell you?” She paused and then answered her own question. “No, I don’t imagine it would have occurred to them. He left yesterday to go look for you. Someone showed him a picture of you taken on an island and he’s determined to bring you home.”
Alexi digested this news and then handed Damien back to his nanny. The action brought them into contact, and he smelled her perfume, a light floral scent that perfectly matched her dancing eyes. He lingered, breathing it in and heard her gasp. Focus, Alexi! “I must see that he is contacted immediately. Excuse me.”
He left the kitchen, once more forcing himself to ignore the effect the young woman had on his libido. It’s merely the fact that you’ve been without any sort of female companionship for so long. Send a message to bring Leo home. You can deal with the threat and then go find Gemma. Who knows, maybe you’ll have the same visceral reaction to her when you see her again? Maybe you haven’t completely given up on a passionate sort of love.
*****
Aimee watched Alexi’s retreating back, her mind racing. Two years earlier, when Gemma had been dating Alexi, Aimee had kept her distance. The first time she’d seen him she’d been bowled over by her visceral response to the handsome young man, but the bonds of her friendship with Gemma had precluded her having any sort of relationship with him.
Not trusting that she could be around Alexi and not let Gemma realize that she was attracted to him, Aimee had chosen to view him from afar. She’d never actually spoken to him during the three weeks he’d spent with Gemma, and her reaction to him a few minutes ago in the library had only served to remind her that Alexi Moustakas was dangerous to her peace of mind. He’d starred in more than one late night fantasy, something that had caused feelings of guilt to plague her until Gemma had revealed that she was actually in love with Leo, Alexi’s identical twin.
That information had released something in Aimee and once more, the vision of a tall, gorgeous man with dark hair, dark eyes, and a voice that caused goose bumps to rise on her flesh, had occupied her dreams. She’d never actually thought she would be faced with seeing him in person again. Now, she just had to figure out how to protect herself from his particular brand of temptation - the kind that would steal her freedom and her dignity.
Alexi was just like any other rich, single guy. The way he’d snapped at her when he’d first seen her in the foyer proved it. He thought his money and position entitled him to rule his little corner of the world and everyone should be prepared to bow low and remain subservient while in it.
Not me! Never again am I going to make the mistake of thinking that a man can share power with a woman. I’m better off remaining single and focusing on my career. I don’t care how damn attractive he is! Aimee took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. I’m not giving my freedom up for any man!