 
# The Counterfeit Bride

### Boundless Billionaires - Book 1

## Liberty Blake

#### Bewitching Hour Publications
Copyright © 2017 by Liberty Blake

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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**D isclaimer**

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Dedicated to the memory of Dr. David Switzer, our fearless leader in Greece.

### Contents

With Gratitude:

Acknowledgments

Also by Liberty Blake

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Epilogue

Letter to the Important People

About the Author

The Misplaced Bride

The Infamous Bride

The Masked Bride

The Designer Bride

Christmas Lights

Spirit Board

Christmas Spirit

Change of Heart

The Realtor's Baby

Hearts and Flowers

The Journal of Leah MacKinnon Walker

# With Gratitude:

Thank you, George Drosidis, from Village House of Pizza in Whitinsville. Your help with the Greek language was invaluable and your delicious food sustained me. Any mistakes in this book are mine.

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Be sure to sign up for Liberty's newsletter 

# Acknowledgments

Thank you to all my friends of Rhode Island Romance Writers, past and present. Between the members, speakers, and workshops of RIRW I have learned so much and have hopefully improved my craft.

Several people have aided me in this process and their help has been invaluable. Thank you, Amanda Torrey, Skye Sullivan, Karen Frisch, and Janet Jones Bann.

Special thanks to Jane Bowen for adopting me as her Valentine and allowing me to use her name for a character in this book. Love you, Jane.

# Also by Liberty Blake

The Misplaced Bride

The Infamous Bride

The Masked Bride

# 1

"Stop the wedding!"

Six hundred heads snapped towards the central doors of the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Annunciation, the _Metropolis,_ the church of choice for Greece's elite.

The silly French trumpeters Cassiopeia Dolmides had insisted on blasted a fanfare to announce the new arrival. Theron Christofides' heart thumped harder. _Was this it? Had his legal team found a loophole to get him out of this accursed wedding without a wife he did not want?_

Theron did not recognize the voice of the woman now strutting down the aisle. His eyes squinted against the bright Greek sunshine, but still he could not get a clear view of her. Unless his attorney had undergone a sex change overnight, it was not him. The sun's rays outlined a curvaceous body but hid the details. Never-ending legs were exposed by an extremely tiny skirt.

In ancient times brides would have made a sacrifice to Apollo for a day such as this to wed, but it did not lift the gloom that issued forth from Theron's heart. It was an unfair God who placed this woman in the vicinity of his mannequin bride on their wedding day.

Cassiopeia, his not so lovely bride, clutched him with trembling hands. The sanctuary and priest loomed behind them and Ajax Pappas, his best man, stood beside him with a huge grin on his face as the guests buzzed. "I don't remember any of your women being so height challenged," Ajax snickered.

Up until the time he climbed out of his limo and walked up the steps of the Cathedral, Theron had hoped his attorney would find a way out of this farce, but the realist in him knew there was no way out of this unpleasant situation for him, not if he wanted to take possession of Evadne Island.

The Greek economy was trapped in the River Styx. Unfortunately, he could not single-handedly save the entire country, but he had the chance to salvage the island of his birth. All he had to do was marry the pasty faced fashion horror standing next to him, and beget an heir on her. It was archaic and infuriated him, but it was the only way Dolmides would relinquish control of the shipping line that brought tourists to the island. The tourists the islanders depended on for their livelihood. There was also the small matter of the Dolmides Cruise Liner wrecked off the north coast of the island. The ship had struck a sandbar and "sunk" the year before and yet its carcass still littered the coast. A fresh reminder to the world of the incident that had taken ten lives.

Theron was pulled out of his thoughts by Ajax's quip. Before he could reply a melodious voice rang out loud and clear, "Is this when I say I have an objection? Or have I already missed that part?"

His bride gasped and turned even pastier. Theron watched the woman in her wedding cake gown shift from foot to foot. She was as jumpy as a young cat going through its first heat; too thin, too needy, and shameless in her endeavors to climb into his bed. Her claw-like fingers squeezed his arm. He wondered if his white shirt would have blood stains on it before this was all over.

"Damn American tourists," Theron muttered under his breath. "They think they can burst in anywhere they want, with no care for the privacy of others." The woman's boots clattered noisily on the tiled floor as she strode briskly up the aisle. She headed straight for the sanctuary with no regard for the wedding that was in progress. The crowd tittered at this unprecedented breach of etiquette. They probably thought she was one of Theron's discarded lovers, since several of them had made scenes in the past. Apparently the best way to find another high profile lover was by publicly humiliating your past lovers.

Theron had never seen anyone stride and sway at the same time, but somehow the intruder managed to do so. Her top did not meet her skirt and a sun beam danced through the stained glass window to sparkle on a jewel in her navel. The heeled boots gave her a boost in stature that she needed. He was bemused to see the footwear; they were not fashionable in any way. They did not feature heels so high the wearer had to have two inch lifts on the soles to accommodate the height of the heel. In addition, they were purple and appeared to be made out of snakeskin. Were they cowboy boots? The hat wasn't a frothy wedding concoction favored by the other women attending the wedding; it appeared to be a cowboy hat. She looked like she had just stepped out of a movie or a stable. He suppressed a grin at the incongruity of her appearance in the stately old cathedral.

She was attractive with a capital H for hot. The woman fizzled like a _pyrotechnia_ , ready to explode at any moment. The set of her jaw and the no nonsense stance she took when she came to a stop halfway up the aisle proclaimed her firecracker status louder than a neon billboard in New York's Times Square.

"I'm sorry for the interruption, folks, but it couldn't be helped," her voice flowed over his senses like warm honey waiting to be lapped up, and sent his blood rushing south. Cassiopeia's voice was high pitched and whiny; no blood ever rushed at her nasally voice. "Does anybody here speak English?" Strands of fire curled around the woman's body. Would that fiery hair scorch his hands when he touched it?

The cathedral doors closed and in the reduced light Theron stared at the petite woman in a miniscule denim skirt. It went well with the cowboy boots and hat, but was out of place in Athens' great cathedral.

The bride-to-be did not fare well in a comparison with the flaming beauty. Cassiopeia's skin had a grayish tinge, causing her make-up to stand out like a clown-face mask. Her hair, although red, did not have the glow of flames in it; instead it was as dead and lifeless as a pile of bricks. Disgust flowed in his veins at the sight of her. He did not want Cassiopeia Dolmides in his bed. Ever.

He blinked as the elderly priest rushed past him in a whoosh of air. The old cleric stood in front of the young woman, shaking her hand. "I speak English. I spent many years in your country. How may I help you?" His damn hand was still holding hers. "Perhaps there has been an accident?"

Theron could not stay near his bride; he had to get away from the woman. She was a clinging vine and her touch annoyed him. Distaste stamped his soul as he left Cassiopeia with Kelley Flynn, her mother, and joined the priest with the _pyrotechnia_. He could feel the waves of hot sexual energy pouring off the woman. Was she dipped in pheromones the way Achilles was dipped in the River Styx?

Another honeyed laugh came out of the woman's rosy lips. They were not full or puffed out like Cassiopeia's, but they looked luscious enough to lick. _Would they taste of honey from her laugh?_ Theron's body reacted to her again as his arousal grew harder. He wanted to taste those lips. He needed to see if they were sweet or tart.

What was happening to him? The last time he had so little control over the urges of his own body had been when he was a fourteen-year-old boy and Angeliki, the tavern owner's daughter, taught him how to please her.

"Oh, no, Padre, it's nothing like that," her sigh accompanied a small pout. Theron wanted to tug on her lower lip with his teeth. "I'm sorry about my hat. I know it's a bit unusual around here, but I wasn't sure if your church required women to have their heads covered or not. I didn't have time to change into anything more appropriate, although this is my best hat." Her cute little nose wrinkled up. "Do you think I should have added some flowers? I was running so late and there was just no time to change. I really needed to be here before you reached the part about forever-after-hold-your-peace thingy. I thought it was better to keep the hat on and err on the side of poor taste, than to offend the rules of your beautiful church."

The priest gazed at the black cowboy hat cocked flirtatiously on her gleaming copper hair. "Your hat is quite charming. It looks authentic, like it's from a John Wayne movie."

"Why, thank you, sir." Her eyes twinkled at the old man. "I worked hard to get that look." She cocked her head. Theron's pulse continued the flood south. "Have you gotten to the part where you ask if anyone has any objections yet?"

Theron had many objections to the marriage, beginning with his intense dislike of Costas Dolmides and ending with his revulsion of Cassiopeia Dolmides, but he had no idea what this sexy little package's opposition might be.

"Is this is one of your floozies, Christofides?" Costas' loud voice and stocky body pushed into the aisle. Apparently Costas had decided to take umbrage at a perceived insult to his family honor.

Theron wanted to respond in kind, but the contracts would not be signed until after the wedding ceremony. Until he had the deed to Evadne he could not allow his righteous indignation to show. "I have never seen this woman before." _But I wish I had,_ Theron thought.

"Woman, you have barged in on a private ceremony. This is a holy place and you dare to come here dressed like a whore." Costas Dolmides' body shook, his anger palpable, as he stood between Theron and the young woman. Theron wanted to pound him for his crudeness to the woman. His protective feelings surprised him. "You are desecrating my daughter's wedding. Get out before I call the police."

The little firecracker looked down her nose at Costas. She did not quake or crumble as most women did around him when he was abusive. Instead a flame burst behind her eyes. Theron had the eerie sensation he should duck to avoid getting burned. "You dare to talk of desecration, old man!" Dolmides, one of the richest and most powerful men in the world, shook his fist at the tiny slip of a woman. She gave him the disdainful look of a Sunday school teacher facing a rude little boy clutching a toad in his dirty hands. Theron had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling at her audacity. He admired her spirit even as he disliked the scene she caused.

A moment later she broke into laughter. Theron's flanks shuddered. No one had ever affected him this strongly, and he did not know her name. Yet.

"My father is right, Padre, I am sorry my outfit is not worthy to be in your beautiful church. I'm afraid there was a problem with our lay-over in Frankfurt. Instead of arriving in time to check into my hotel yesterday, we just arrived a few minutes ago. I didn't have time to shower or change into something more appropriate. As soon as they released me from customs I boogied right on over here."

He had to do something. He wanted her to stop smiling at the ancient priest and look at him so he blurted, "Perhaps you should have planned your trip a little better." Her scorn-filled eyes turned on him. _Theos_! He felt himself growing even larger as he caught his first glimpse of the most magnificent purple eyes he had ever seen. Her full attention was now focused on him. _Christos!_ The perfection of that face-, he understood why the old priest could not resist her.

"Sir, in these days there are some contingencies which you may think you have planned for, but you can never tell in advance if your plan is going to work." Her words were slow and sweet sounding, even when they dripped with scorn. "Such as a suspected bomb on our aircraft."

_Was she talking about herself?_ He thought wickedly.

"Or the eighteen hours spent trying to sleep on the hard floors of the Frankfurt airport." Her words were losing their soft sibilance. Her voice was taking on some of the clipped sounds of his bride, but without the whine. "They take airport security very seriously, you know. Between the bomb sniffing dogs and the automatic rifles the airport security carried, it was pretty scary." Her gorgeous violet eyes filled up. "On top of that I had to worry about not getting here on time. I still don't know if I made it on time. Nobody has answered my question. Have I arrived in time to stop the wedding, or am I married to a stranger?

# 2

Cassidy Flynn stared at the Greek God that confronted her. He had the rugged face of a man who has had to fight for what he wanted, and won. Cassidy had expected to meet a man who had had everything handed to him on a silver platter, including a beautiful face, courtesy of a plastic surgeon, if not nature. He stood well over six feet, much too tall for her. Now why did that thought pop into her head?

If the eyes were the mirror of the soul, Cassidy shivered, because this man was soulless. His bottomless black eyes never blinked. He looked like he was about to swing her over his broad shoulders and run out the door with her and she wasn't too sure she would mind. If he wasn't hiding abs of steel under that fancy jacket of his, then she would dance on the bar when she got home!

If he was the groom, what did he see in Cousin Julia? Julia Jenkins had been a sniveling little sneak thief as a child and it looked like she still wanted everything that belonged to Cassiopeia. However, it didn't explain why Kelley Flynn and Costas Domides went along with it. There was something dirty going on here, and Cassidy would not leave until she was sure a wedding involving her name was stopped.

Holy moly, she needed to look at something other than Mr. Too Tall and Too Hunky, so Cassidy's eyes swept the interior of the church. The infamous Kelley Flynn, Cassidy's birth mother, was hugging and comforting the bride. Aunt Patsy stood nearby, wringing her hands. Julia looked ready to vomit. Whatever scam these people had going on here, Julia would never be able to hold up her end if Aunt Patsy didn't stay within pinching distance of her. Pinching had been Patsy's favorite way of keeping her daughter submissive. She had tried it once on Cassidy, but when Cassidy pinched her back the woman freaked.

Julia's normally mousy brown hair had been dyed a brick red to match Kelley's.

The sight of Kelley hugging Julia caused Cassidy a pang. She wanted to believe they were from anger, but she had the horrible suspicion they were caused by the hurt an unloved child felt. She put that thought aside with the hope of never revisiting it; she had no time to analyze the emotions now. Cassidy focused on Julia, whose pale gray eyes were wide and scared. Did they look different from when they were kids? Mascara liberally dripped off Julia's face. Tears streaked black rivers down her cheeks and splashed onto the pristine white confection she wore. The photographer was still faithfully recording the proceedings. Lovely mementos of a wedding that would never be completed; not as long as Cassidy was there to stop it.

_Was Mister Tall, Dark, and Delectable in on whatever the scam was? Or was he the dupe?_

"Hey, Cassidy. You didn't tell me y'all were coming to this shindig. You could have flown over with us. Private jets don't get held up in Frankfurt."

Cassidy looked over and saw her erstwhile beau Buck Matthews standing in a nearby pew. If she hadn't felt sorry for the young man and gone out to dinner with Buck a few nights earlier, she never would have heard about this dastardly plot. He bragged about this high society soiree he had to go to. He had laughed so hard telling her about the bride's ridiculous name that he never noticed that Cassidy didn't join in.

Cassidy's heart had dropped. The ridiculous name Buck found so humorous was the very same name listed on her birth certificate. She knew she had to do something to stop the wedding. If not for that one pity date she would be safely tucked into her own cozy bed in Primrose, Texas totally unaware that her life was in danger on the other side of the world.

Cassidy looked the young man in the eye and the fixed smile on her face grew warmer. "You look real good, Buck. You clean up nice." The young college student blushed under the warmth of her smile.

"Sit down, Buck. I hope you're not part of this April Fool's prank," the man beside Buck growled.

Cassidy's spine locked into the perfect posture Grammie had drilled into her as a child. She had to push her indignation to the bottom of the pit of atrocities that she craved vengeance for. _April fool's prank indeed! As if I were some college student with nothing better to do with my life._ She owed Buck Matthews a lot for alerting her to the problem. The wedding was set for the next weekend, so she hopped the first plane she could get out of Texas. Cassidy was afraid she'd end up married by proxy if she didn't do something to stop to the wedding. She had read of things like that happening. Her attorney didn't think it would be legal, but with the Dolmides money behind whatever was going on, she couldn't afford to take the chance. She didn't want some overbearing Greek messing up her life. Her "parents" had done a fine job of that on the day of her birth.

Time was her enemy.

Cassidy never regretted leaving home at fifteen, and looking at her cousin Julia Jenkins pretending to be Cassiopeia she was even more ecstatic she had escaped when she had. The thought of living with the Jenkins made her skin crawl and nausea boil in her tummy.

A gentle touch on her arm brought Cassidy back to the present and Athens. She turned her attention back to the priest with the nice brown eyes. He wasn't the enemy. It looked like he was another dupe of the Jenkins and Dolmides.

"Why do you wish to interrupt this ceremony, my child?" he asked in a gentle voice "What is your objection?"

"I have no wish to be married, especially not to a man of someone else's choosing." She could feel her voice losing some of the warm Texas drawl. The voice she used to calm men down. Instead she heard the hard bitten Yankee edge she had when dealing with an obnoxious drunk or all around creep. Every time she dropped an 'r' she mentally cringed. She hated hearing Aunt Patsy's voice coming out of her own mouth. She shivered in revulsion. "I'm a free woman with a mind of my own. I choose my own way of life and my own men."

"Then why the hell are you here? Do you think I will pay you to leave? If so, you have sadly miscalculated. I do not pay off tramps," Costas Dolmides shouted.

"No, sir, you just pay to get rid of their unwanted children. The children neither one of you think about nor care anything about again. At least not until you need them to do something for you. You should be ashamed of yourself throwing babies away!" Tears gathered in her eyes, but she would not let a creep like Costas Dolmides make her cry. She counted it as her biggest failing that whenever she got mad the tears flowed.

Kelley Flynn stepped away from Julia's elbow, tottered in her very high heels, pulled back her arm, and hit Cassidy solidly across the face. "How dare you malign the character of a fine man like Costa. We've explained everything to dear Cassiopeia. She understands why we had to do the things we did in order to protect her. She's forgiven us."

Cassidy raised an arm in the age old signal to halt, which effectively stopped the two black leather clad behemoths that had rushed up the aisle to protect her. "It's all right, boys." She paused briefly. "Thank you for the fine welcome you have given me, Mom. Unfortunately for you and your lover, you are both being conned. You never explained anything to Cassiopeia, and she sure as shootin' hasn't forgiven the two of you for a single day of misery she had to suffer at Aunt Patsy and Uncle Joe's hands. Tell me something, please. Does it feel weird to not know your own daughter? That an imposter has stepped in to pretend to be your daughter? Or are you in on it?"

Kelley's face flushed an angry red. Cassidy mentally snickered at the unattractive color that clashed so badly with her hair. Kelley looked like she was going to respond, but a glance from Costas kept her mouth shut. _Gee, Mom, you didn't even have to ask how high._

Cassidy turned her own face to Theron, the blazing hand print burning her cheek from chin to eye. "I am sorry if you have feelings for your bride, but you must know the truth before you are wed." Cassidy stopped talking to clear her throat. This wasn't as easy as she had hoped it would be. "There is a school of thought, in the brilliant legal minds I conferred with, about the legality of such a marriage as well as to whom you would actually be married. You see, that," she pointed a finger at her cousin, "is not Cassiopeia Dolmides. That is Julia Jenkins, daughter of Patsy Jenkins."

Patsy rushed into the fray in a froth of mauve chiffon that looked hideous with her red nose. Her hands clawed at Cassidy's arm. "Julia! Julia, what are you doing? Why are you ruining your dear cousin's wedding like this?" Patsy turned her mottled face to Costas. "I am so sorry. This is my daughter Julia. She is a deeply disturbed young woman. She has always been jealous of dear Cassiopeia and the generous way you have always provided for her."

"Aunt Patsy, you are delusional. There is only one fate that is worse than being the child of those two monsters," Cassidy's hand swept towards Kelley and Costas, "and that would be having you and Uncle Joe for parents."

A collective gasp rang around the distinguished church.

Cassidy threw back her head and laughed. It was either that or scream.

Her laugh was coated in honey, but Theron felt the steel core. Was this beautiful woman as disturbed as Patsy Jenkins claimed? He took a careful look at her. He could not believe such perfection had come from a harridan like Patsy nor her fool of a husband. The girl looked like Kelley- the height and the hair color was different, but all the features were the same. Could the similarity in their looks have fostered the girl's delusion?

"Good try, Aunt Patsy, but I can prove I am Cassiopeia Flynn. Get that? Flynn, not Dolmides. I guess y'all did some finagling to get the last name changed in time for this big, fancy wedding." The little woman looked him straight in the eye. "I'm sorry, but until I can be assured that this marriage will not impede my freedom, or my life in any way, I will not allow it to go forward. At least not as long as the bride is using my name. If you want to marry Julia Jenkins, then the wedding can proceed as soon as you can get the proper documents."

The marriage of Cassiopeia Domides to Theron was to ensure the merger of Dolmides Global with Christofides International. This was Theron's one chance to save the island of his birth. The only terms Costas would agree to included a marriage between Theron and one of Costas' daughters. The only daughter not already married was the crumpled woman crying on the outside of the circle the Dolmides family had formed in the center aisle. His bride looked ready to collapse and had not uttered one word in rebuttal.

It did not make sense for Costas to perform this enormous hoax. He had nothing to gain by foisting the wrong woman on him.

Kelley Flynn looked shell shocked, her usual poise and beauty crumbling as quickly as the bride's make up. Patsy and her husband Joe looked wary. Did they have something more than a disturbed child to hide?

Why was he not turned-on looking at his bride but the deranged firecracker had put him into an instant stare of arousal?

"Padre," Cassidy began.

"You are in Greece, not Spain. Do not refer to our man of God as Padre again," Costas erupted.

The _pyrotechnia mikros_ ignored Costas once again. "I am sorry, sir. Where I come from calling a priest Padre is a sign of respect."

The priest picked up one of her small hands in his, her purple nails drawing attention to the action. "It is perfectly all right, my child. Your show of respect speaks well of you. Why do you say the bride is not the real Cassiopeia Dolmides, the real daughter of Costa and Kelley?"

The woman took a deep breath. As she filled her lungs Theron tried to keep his eyes on her face. Even so he could see her chest expand; the fullness of her breasts and a hint of black lace peeped over the low neck of her tight top. He had never felt anything like the physical pull she had on his libido. Too bad the woman's family claimed she was crazy.

Perhaps giving up his mistress a few weeks before the wedding had not been wise. Surely if he still had Chloe in his bed his reaction to this little ball of fire would not be so intense. Chloe had been a good mistress and willing to remain in his life, but no, he had to be honorable and give the American fruitcake a chance at a happy marriage by giving her fidelity.

"My name is Cassiopeia Amethyst Flynn." She fluttered her violet eyes at him. "At a guess I would think the name Amethyst was because of my purple eyes. Julia's are pale grey."

"My bride's eyes are also purple." Theron said. This gorgeous woman had to be an imposter. If old man Dolmides had tried to foist a false bride on him, it meant Dolmides had made a fool of him. His pride told him to go, leave the church right now, and never look back, but the fire haired woman held him captive. Not to mention the merger he needed to complete.

"The violet eyes came to me through my maternal grandmother. Patsy was her niece by marriage. The eyes are not in her genes," the little flirt batted her eyes at him.

"It's obvious that woman is wearing contacts," Patsy Jenkins shriek interrupted Theron's bewitched stare into the purple depths.

"That's true. I could be wearing contacts, but I don't have to because I have perfect eyesight. However, friends of mine that do wear contacts have told me that they can only wear them for so long before they start to irritate. You know one guy told me that the lens got stuck on his, oh dear, what was it? Was it his cornea or his retina? I can never remember technical stuff like that. I tend to be a bit of a bird brain at times. Anyway, they had to perform emergency surgery to get it out. You could have Jules and I sit in a brightly lit room somewhere and wait it out. No bathroom breaks, no walking around alone, nothing."

The bride in her white gown whimpered. Was she afraid someone would put her to the test?

"You mean you have no legal proof, other than purple eyes to support your claim?" Theron snapped. He wanted to touch this woman, but not at the cost of losing the deal. The deal was the most important thing in his life. Women come and go, but this merger was crucial.

"On the contrary, I have oodles and oodles of proof," the little firecracker answered.

"Where is it?" Theron volleyed back.

"The originals are with my attorney. The copies are right here." She snapped her fingers and one of the monoliths moved forward, withdrew papers from an inside pocket of his leather vest, and handed them to her. "Thanks, Moose." She certainly had the imperiousness of a Dolmides.

Theron looked at an old passport, dated ten years previously. It was an original in the name of Cassiopeia. She had also handed him a copy of a birth certificate, baptismal record, and several other documents proclaiming the existence of Cassiopeia Flynn. "These all seem in order, Costa."

"Those are forgeries. We've already shown you the originals!" Patsy Jenkins screeched. The sound went straight to a point in Theron's brain and settled right between his eyes. He hoped his bride wasn't too attached to her aunt; he didn't want the woman staying in his home for any extended visits.

The young woman in front of him closed her eyes for a moment. "You still haven't learned how to use your indoor voice, have you, Aunt Patsy?" she asked in a pained voice.

The more the little intruder referred to Kelley's obnoxious relative as "Aunt", the closer he came to believing her. If she were telling the truth it would be a disaster.

"Aunt Patsy, you may have provided documentation, but it is either a forgery or a duplicate. I took all the originals with me when I ran away ten years ago." A smug look came over her gorgeous face. "There is still one more way of proving who I am, and it can neither be forged nor duplicated."

"What would that be?" Costas growled.

"It's running through my veins." The firecracker folded her hands demurely in front of her and smiled the smile of a saint sighting heaven for the first time. "My DNA. Unless Kelley was messing around behind your back, it will prove I am your daughter."

Theron felt the pull of air being inhaled around him. The woman had made an impression on the entire congregation.

"I've made arrangements to have the testing done at the U.S. Embassy. If you want the truth, be there at two this afternoon. There will be no wedding until this is settled." She stood on her toes and kissed the priest on each cheek. " _Adio, o papas._ Goodbye, Father. _Efharisto._ Thank you." Then she performed a perfect pivot and left the church through the sun flooded doors.

"I'll be happy to take this little minx off your hands." Theron flinched. His best friend Ajax stood at his side and wanted the little beauty for himself. Jax already had a secret wife hidden away somewhere. He didn't need any more complications in his life and Theron wasn't going to let anyone else have the little firecracker. He looked his best friend in the eye and uttered a rude comment about Jax's parentage. Jax laughed it off.

"This could be your way out of the marriage," Jax said in a lowered voice.

"It could mean the end of Evadne Island," Theron muttered back.

# 3

Cassidy's hat skimmed across her hotel room to land on a table in front of the windows. A toss worthy of John Wayne, the actor that cute old priest admired so much. She walked over to the bed and collapsed onto the side of it. Her energy level; zilch.

"Cassidy, you look beat," Lynda Davis, said from the doorway of the adjoining room. The woman had some frightening tattoos, but nothing could hide the love and loyalty in her soul. "How'd things go at the church? Did you stop the wedding?"

Cassidy struggled into a sitting position and started yanking her boots off. As they unceremoniously hit the floor, her poor, aching feet celebrated their liberation. If her toes could sing, there'd be a hearty chorus of Hallelujah. The poor things hadn't been freed since she had left her house and boarded the puddle jumper in Lubbock, Texas. Well, except for that humiliating search she had to go through at the international airport when the TSA people did everything but a cavity search on her.

She never dreamed it would be forty-eight hours before she would see her Pretty Kitty socks again or that she had to wear her bar clothes into the beautiful old cathedral.

Lynda and Moose had insisted on accompanying Cassidy to Greece. There was no way they would let "their girl" travel all that way alone, especially once they had seen how upset Cassidy had been. She would rather they had stayed home and cared for Zio while she was gone, but they had been overprotective towards her ever since Rico died six months earlier.

After Rico's funeral they gathered the remnants of their old motorcycle gang, to guard Cassidy and acted as doting grandparents to Zio. Cassidy knew there was no way they would allow her to walk into what they feared was a trap without suitable backup. That's what family was all about. They took care of each other. They loved each other. They protected each other. They stuck together in times of adversity as well as the good ones. Cassidy had learned the hard way family wasn't about blood; it was about love and trust. She had loved and trusted Rico and now she relied on friends like Lynda and Moose to help her protect baby Zio.

"Oh, babe, you should have seen her. She was magnificent. She fluttered her pretty pansy eyes and told her tale. She only allowed the Yankee frost to slip into her sugar-will-melt-in-her-mouth voice a few times. She even snapped her fingers at me like she was one of those high falutin' society babes." Moose smiled from the suite's living room door. "Cassidy, when we go to the embassy do you want me in my leathers or my lawyers' duds?"

Cassidy sighed. She didn't want to go to the embassy. She didn't want to be in Athens. She wanted to be home with her son. "We decided to present ourselves as professionals, not a bunch of rowdies from the Wild West." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I guess it's too late to worry about that."

Moose swaggered into the room on legs, bowed, not from riding a horse all day, but his years riding a hog. "Well, little lady, that bull has already escaped the chute," he said in his best cowboy imitation. No one would guess he was from Hoboken, New Jersey, never mind that he was a former motorcycle cop turned lawyer. "Maybe instead of a prim and proper appearance we should stick with the bush whacker look. The groom looked like he'd be more than happy to trade you for that mess of a cousin of yours. If you'd shown up looking like a virgin princess, in a white satin gown and tiara, he'd have scooped you up and we'd have to pry his cold dead hands off you."

Lynda laughed along with Moose and Ari, the other pseudo bodyguard. Ari's parents were Greek, so his linguistic skills were invaluable on this trip, especially since Cassidy didn't want to tip her hand and speak too much Greek. She wanted to know what her adversaries were saying without them knowing she understood them. She was in their territory and she needed every advantage she could get.

"You're not funny. The man looked at me as if I was a particularly smelly microbe of swamp water."

"Cass, you are as innocent as a child when it comes to men. I'm afraid we've done you a grave disservice keeping all the scum away from you. Men are careful around you because there is always one of us nearby and we scare the crap out of 'em. You may be pint sized, but you have a body that makes men lick their lips, and think of all the things they want to do to you," Lynda laughed. "Was it the eyes or the legs?" She asked her husband.

"He certainly liked both of them, but he couldn't stop looking at her chest and the amethysts dangling from her belly button," Moose said.

"I don't know," Ari said "I thought he was really enraptured with all the long red hair. But then when she turned to leave he couldn't take his eyes off her ass. I heard him counting under his breath in Latin. I think he was trying to keep himself from running after her."

"You guys are full of it. You're making it up." Cassidy felt the heat in her face. It had to be as red as tomato soup and clashing with all the hated red hair.

Lynda walked over and put her arm around Cassidy's shoulders. "Cassie, honey, you gotta understand. Men always look at you like that. The men back home see your purity and innocence wrapped up in a body that's illegal in at least five states and the District of Columbia. Add to that your feistiness and they just can't help themselves." She looked Cassidy straight in the eye. "They like to live, so they keep their hands off. They know one of us is always around you. We'd rip them apart if they tried anything. But there might come a time when we're not with you. You have to become more aware on your effect on men."

"Lynda, I love you guys, but you do tend to exaggerate. I know some men look at me, but mostly because they think I'm goofy, with my freaky red hair, skin that doesn't tan, and big blotches of freckles," Cassidy smiled. "I'm an anomaly, especially in Texas."

"Honey, I swear to on my sacred Harley, I have seen gay men staring at you and wondering if they stood a shot, at least for one night," Lynda laughed.

"Out of the room, before you make me as crazy as you three old coots." Cassidy was still laughing as she prepared for her long awaited shower. Too bad she didn't have enough time for a bath, but she knew if she rested in warm water, sleep would overtake her. At least her lavender and mint soap should refresh her. Hopefully it would wake her up and keep her alert. She wouldn't put anything past those people. Thinking about them raised her stress level, so she thought of home and her son. She would _not_ think about that gorgeous groom and wonder what he and Jules had been up to while her duplicitous cousin pretended to be Cassiopeia.

# 4

"Thank you for allowing me to wait up here, away from the crowds, Mr. Ambassador." Theron had been met upon his arrival at the American Embassy by the Ambassador's PA. The small reception room he had been installed in gave him a clear view of the street. After refusing the offer of refreshments, Theron positioned himself at the window to wait and watch.

Alone.

He had spent all of ten minutes in splendid solitude before Adam Shift, the ambassador, walked in and took the liberty of patting Theron on the shoulder. "Son, I don't know what kind of scam artist that young woman is, but I guarantee she will not show up here today. She probably thought that _Kirios_ Dolmides would immediately pull a roll of money out of his pocket and pay her off so the wedding could continue without further interruption."

Theron chose not to comment. When the Ambassador received no reply to the conversational gambit he tried another track, "Those are the type of people that give all Americans a bad name. Look at the press frenzy out there. She must have contacted them out of spite when she didn't receive an immediate payoff. She is quite a gambler if she believes a man of Costas Dolmides stature would deign to take her seriously. The Dolmides family are not coming, are they? You were sent as an emissary, in case she had the nerve to follow through."

"You are correct, Costa will not come. Like you, he does not believe the girl will have the nerve to appear here today." Theron shrugged, dislodging the Ambassador's hand. He found strangers touching him distasteful. _Theos_ , the Dolmides had a lot to answer for. He was in this humiliating situation because of Costas Domides and his manipulations.

"We were all shocked when the priest refused to continue the ceremony. We were sure after the little gold digger left you would find her papers were faulty and continue with the ceremony," the Ambassador continued.

"The wedding could not continue once its legality was put in doubt." If the Ambassador knew how relieved Theron was to have a reprieve, he would spread it all over Europe. The man was as gossipy as the fishwives down in the marketplace. He had met Adam Shift many times, at various functions and had never truly appreciated what a bore he was until now. This was private business. Personal business and yet this highly exalted representative of a major world power was trying to pry personal information out of him. The Ambassador's persistence made the fishwives look like amateurs.

Movement on the street drew Theron's attention. He leaned forward, but still remained out of shutter range. The paparazzi did not swarm on the people walking down the street, they still mulled around the entrance. It must not be the young woman from the church.

Theron checked the gold Rolex on his wrist, an engagement gift from Cassiopeia. A bit ostentatious for his taste, but she had been so exuberant when she presented it to him he had to wear the damn thing. It felt like a slave bracelet rather than a fine time piece.

The intruder was late. Theron started to turn away from the window, but his blood heated. She was out there. He could feel her presence. He looked more closely at two couples walking down the street toward the embassy. Two large men dressed in suits flanked a small sprite, while an Amazon in a trouser suit led the way. The little one danced down the street in a yellow dress that flared with her movements. A big straw hat hid her face from view and not a wisp of golden-red hair showed. She teetered on very high, very thin heels, like a child dressing in her mother's clothes. Theron knew by the sudden rush of his blood that the little sprite was the _pyrotechnia mikros._

Theron was glad she had shown up. It would save him the trouble of finding her to wring her neck. Whatever the scheme she and her cohorts were working, she must be made to see how important the merger was. She had to publicly renounce the ludicrous statements she had made that morning in church. He would assure her that no charges would be brought. He would not allow her to spend time in a Greek prison. Locked in his bedroom, yes. Prison, no.

Costas had been the one to insist on this farce of a wedding before he would sign the merger. He wanted an heir of his bloodline to inherit the island and the company. Costas would not foist a false bride on him. Blood ties were too important to a man like Dolmides.

It was really too bad the little firecracker was a con woman. He would far rather spend the honeymoon with her exploding in his arms than with the overdone confection he was being forced to marry.

The group disappeared from his sight as the marines at the gate allowed the group to enter the embassy. Soon the matter would be settled and he would have to get back to the business of getting married. Perhaps he should pay her to continue the charade; there still might be a chance his legal team could find a way to push forward the merger without the handicap of marriage being involved.

His thoughts were interrupted when the door in back of him opened.

"Thank you, sir. Y'all been so kind to help us. I am sure an important man such as yourself has more pressing matters to do than to show li'l ole me around."

Theron turned to find the imposter gushing at a man. A man who was not him.

"I can't believe that the personal assistant to the Ambassador himself has taken time out of his busy day to help us. It is so refreshing to meet a gentleman like you." The little flirt lowered her eyes and peered at the man through long, lustrous lashes. The PA reminded Theron of a worm; a slimy, balding worm. The woman's true colors showed as she flirted with the low level employee. She would have done better to save the flirtatiousness for him and not waste it on the worm. She could not be very intelligent.

"Yes, Harris, it is amazing how you can find time to conduct guided tours," the Ambassador snapped.

"Anything to help our citizens, Mr. Ambassador," the blushing PA said with a cheeky grin. The shock on Adam Shift's face was clear to see, and confirmed the usually sober Michael Harris had never spoken to the Ambassador in such a manner before.

The sprite turned to the Ambassador with a smile that dazzled. "You are the Ambassador. Please forgive me, sir. I never would have guessed you were the Ambassador. I always thought Ambassadors were stodgy old men. I didn't think the President would trust such a virile young man in such an important position." Theron watched in amazement as the alleged Cassiopeia batted her thick eyelashes at the middle aged Ambassador. She apparently liked her men short and hair challenged. "You must be really smart to have such an important position at such a young age." Adam Shift suddenly stood an inch taller as he sucked in his paunch.

Theron couldn't blame the Ambassador for his response; he himself had been exposed to the power of those violet eyes just that morning, but she wasn't going to draw him in now. The woman had to learn that scam artists, no matter how attractively they were packaged, could not win with a man of superior intellect.

She turned her glowing eyes from the Ambassador to Theron. He buttoned his suit jacket with a casual air, in the hope no one noticed his constricted appendage pressing against his zipper. Even though he knew she was playing a game to blackmail money out of him and the Dolmides, he could not deny his physical attraction to her. It was a very good thing he was an ethical man, or else he would give into her sexual advances and still ensure she never received a penny for her efforts.

"Ah," she said holding her hand out to him. "The groom is here. I wasn't sure you would be, but it is a wonderful idea. It's always best to oversee your own problems. I don't imagine after this morning you would want to trust it to anyone else, especially a Dolmides."

He watched the gentle sway of her hips as she walked over to the window and gazed at the street below. "I see Mommy and Daddy haven't arrived. I hope they can get through all the paparazzi out there."

"How did you get through them so easily?" Theron's natural skepticism asserted itself. "Did you promise them an exclusive?"

She chuckled "I didn't have to promise anyone, anythin'. They were lookin' for the wild cowgirl from the church. They didn't spare me a glance."

"Do not bother to dissemble, _pyrotechnia mikros,_ you are the only reason they are out there," Theron growled.

The pink tip of the imposter's tongue moved from the center of her top lip to the corner and stayed there for a moment, distracting Theron. "They may be outside because of the tizzy I caused this morning, but from all the stuff I Googled on you, I'd say they are here because you're involved. That circus outside doesn't care a fig about a li'l ole gal like me. They only care about the act in the center ring, and that would be you, cowboy."

Theron forced his gaze back to her eyes and braced himself for their impact. "Do not argue with me, they are here for you."

"You're probably right," Cassidy sighed, "but unfortunately for them, they don't know what I look like. They were looking for a li'l ole country gal wearing boots and a cowgirl hat. They certainly didn't expect this." She did a ballerina spin causing the bottom of the skirt to flare over her luscious knees. A delightful portion of thigh peaked his interest. "How much longer before Mumsy and Daddy arrive?" Her voice drew his attention back to the conversation.

"Kelley and Costa will not be here." He walked over to the door and held it open. He looked directly at the bemused spectator. "Mr. Ambassador."

The Ambassador looked at Theron, cleared his throat, and gave a slight bow over the hand of the radiant young woman before he walked sedately through the door. He looked to the three people who had accompanied her and waited with the door open.

"You may close the door. My friends are staying." Cassidy lifted her chin in response to his raised eyebrow. "They are my friends, my lawyer, and my bodyguards."

Theron quietly closed the door.

Cassidy watched as the Greek God approached her. She retreated to the safety of her rock solid friends. She didn't know the man, except for the tidbits she was able to glean from the internet; but even a blind ninny would know Theron Christofides was dangerous just from the energy he exuded.

Her parents weren't coming. All her life she had tried to imagine meeting them and now she had, but there were no loving words, no warm hugs; just rejection and a refusal to face the truth. Cassidy carefully drew in a calming breath, straightened her slight shoulders, and firmed her chin, which showed a distressing tendency to wobble.

"Our business here is through." She was proud her voice came out without the slightest hint of a tremor. If she could get out of there without falling flat on her face she would consider that a graceful exit. She didn't trust the skinny heels on her stupid shoes to hold her. She really wished she had worn her boots. She tilted her head in order to look into his fathomless black eyes, and held her hand out. "Goodbye, Mr. Christofides."

He raised a satanically slanted eyebrow at her. "Surely you do not mean to leave without negotiating a settlement."

Cassidy raised her own perfectly shaped brow at him. "Why on earth would I need to negotiate a settlement? All I wanted to do was stop the wedding, and I was successful at that."

The look on his face was priceless. He looked stunned. She waited for a snort to erupt from his classical nostrils, but apparently he was too elegant to snort like common folk. "If you do not plan to negotiate, then why are you here?"

She widened her eyes innocently. "I'm here as a courtesy." Southern molasses warmed her voice, in an effort to melt the ice in his. "If a strange woman appeared out of nowhere claiming to be my daughter, while another strange woman stood at the altar also claiming to be the same daughter, I would want to know the truth." She broke eye contact with him and twirled around. "I don't see them here, so obviously they don't really care who their daughter is. All you titans of industry really care about is having someone obedient to follow the script. I guess any actor, or should I say, any Cassiopeia, will do."

Cassidy watched in fascination as the muscle on the side of his jaw twitched. "Dolmides is aware of who you are. Your mother, Patricia, explained all about how her daughter Julia, that would be you, ran away from home at the age of fifteen with a man. He was a Hell's Angel and they were terrified for you, but there was nothing they could do to get you back." His disparaging eyes burned over Cassidy's body. His lip curled as his expression showed exactly how he thought she had survived all those years on the back of a Harley. Or was that on _her_ back?

Anger tightened Cassidy's vocal cords. She despised hypocrites. What had he done to get all his riches? Could it be more morally reprehensible than anything she had to do to survive? Had he ever had to fight for his food? Had he ever had to fight to protect his virtue?

She wanted nothing more than to wipe that supercilious smirk off his face. Her muscles tightened in preparation, until a movement in her peripheral vision stopped her. Lynda had grabbed both Ari and Moose by their belts. They must have been about to defend her and Lynda had to prevent them from tearing the Greek to pieces. It served as a reminder that she was civilized, barely, and civilized people used their brains, not their fists to show their superiority over foes.

Cassidy forced an amused expression on her face, hoping the blood that had rushed to her head wasn't clashing too badly with her hair. She took the big straw hat off and let her coppery tresses fall around her face and waist. The action allowed her to take a few calming breaths without allowing her adversary to see just how badly he had shaken her. There was no way she would allow this cockatrice to think he was getting to her.

His status had changed from hunk to Dolmides flunky.

"It's wonderful to see alcohol hasn't destroyed all Aunt Patsy's brain cells. She actually got some of that story right." Cassidy crossed the room and gracefully lowered herself into a delicate Louis the Fourteenth chair. She watched his eyes drop to her legs when the sound of one nylon clad leg crossed over the other in the silent room. The action caused her skirt to part at the bottom button, mid-way up her thigh, and fall on each side of her legs. The demure dress? No longer demure.

"Perhaps your friends would be more comfortable waiting downstairs while we talk business," Theron suggested in a silky voice.

Cassidy placed her hat on the table at her elbow. She folded her hands on her lap, the way her precious Grammie had taught her. After she was sure the Greek was looking directly into her eyes she said, "My associates will remain where they are, but thank you for your concern. However, you seem to be under a mistaken impression. You and I have no business to discuss. Any business there might have been was strictly between me and my parents. Their failure to appear has negated any further obligation I may have felt."

"It is imperative that the wedding take place immediately."

The violet tip of her finger tapped against her pursed lips "Ah, now I understand. You got Cousin Julia pregnant. You are sure it's your baby, right? While it is commendable that you want to marry her and give the child your name, why on earth must the bride use mine to accomplish the deed?"

The large man sank down on the chair opposite Cassidy. He appeared to be at ease. His attention focused on Cassidy. "How much do you want?"

Lush lashes blinked at him; a smile frozen on her lips. "Excuse me?"

"How much money do you want to drop this silly claim? You are not Cassiopeia Dolmides. Kelley is sure you are not her daughter, and who would know better than the mother?" He asked harshly.

Her eyes narrowed to slits. The melodious Texas drawl was buried deep below hard Yankee permafrost. "First of all, I do not claim to be Cassiopeia Dolmides. I _am_ Cassiopeia Flynn. Check my birth certificate. I was born Cassiopeia Flynn and I will die Cassiopeia Flynn. Dear old daddy refused to give me his name at my birth, but apparently now, when it is for his convenience, my name has suddenly been transformed to Dolmides. No thank you. It's too late to save me from all the school yard name calling. Secondly, how would Kelley Flynn know who her daughter is? Since she has never laid eyes on the child since the day the baby was born. She sent the baby away to Grammie, Kelley's mother, the same day as it was born. Today was the first time she has seen me since that day. Thirdly, I do not need, nor do I want, your money."

"Obviously, Julia, you have been privy to all the family secrets. It is only to be expected that you would trot them out now to try to bolster your case. However, once you leave here the offer of a settlement is off the table. Mud slinging at the family, through the tabloids or otherwise, will not earn you enough money to protect you from the combined wrath of both the Dolmides and the Christofides families." His smooth voice really irritated her.

Cassidy rose from the chair.

Over the years she had faced a lot of name calling. Small New England towns do not forgive illegitimate births. The parents, in order to show their superiority, sneered about Cassidy's dubious status. They were delighted to rub Old Lady Flynn's nose in her daughter's dirty laundry every time they encountered the product of the dirty laundry. Their little darlings joined in and jeered and leered. When Cassidy grew into a teen and began to develop curves, many of the fathers began to leer too. Then there were the suggestive remarks; some became very touchy feely with their hands. If not for Rico, terrible things would have happened to her.

Grammie's admonishments to always keep her head high moved her chin up another notch. Name calling did hurt as much as sticks and stones, you just didn't have exterior scars to show. Grammie was right when she said, D _on't let the bastards see how much they hurt you. It'll just draw a bigger target on you._ "Sir, I will repeat this one last time. I do not want Dolmides money. I do not want Christofides money. I do not want the tabloids money, although, I could have a lot of fun with the rag sheets. You can marry Julia anytime you choose. You just have to do it under her name. _Not_ under _mine_!"

"Why do you persist in claiming to be Cassiopeia? It is obvious the other girl is Kelley's true daughter. They have the same purple eyes."

Cassidy opened her eyes wide. "As do I. However, in my case the color is real, not changed from pale grey as in Julia's case."

"They both have red hair."

Cassidy picked up a fistful of curls "What do you call this?"

"Rippling flame," he breathed. "It is alive with gold, copper, and flame, all mixed together." He cleared his throat and shifted his weight. "They are both Titian. The color of your hair is unique. It belongs to only you."

Cassidy felt the blush in her cheeks melt the permafrost. "Are those all the differences you can come up with?"

"There is the matter of their height and fashion model slim figures."

"Of course, how could I be so obtuse? They look like stick figures with expensive materials covering their giant bodies, while I am short and dumpy. Have you looked at Costas lately? He is definitely height challenged. Kelley probably has to get everything off the high shelves for him. And I'm willing to bet the women in his family all have curvy chests and behinds with a little bit of jiggle. I did inherit my genetics from both sides, you know." The permafrost was almost completely gone. Cassidy felt volcanic steam rising. At any minute she expected it to shoot out her ears and nostrils, like in an old cartoon.

"There is no way Kelley would ever burst into a church and create the kind of scene you did."

"Kelley! The perfect mistress," Cassidy gave an unladylike snort. "The woman gave up her child in order to keep her place in a rich man's bed. Yes, let's use Kelley as the arbiter of good taste and proper manners." Cassidy shivered at the prickly feel of her hair springing away from her head. "That little scene at the church wouldn't have happened if someone had taken my calls, or at least had the common decency to return one of them."

"Calls? There were no telephone calls?"

Cassidy puffed out a breath in frustration. "I called all of you. Costas, Kelley, even you. I tried both your home and office numbers. Unfortunately I wasn't able find your cell number in time."

His jaw tightened. The muscle in his cheek twitched spasmodically. Cassidy was fascinated, but tried not to stare. She didn't want him to know he had a _tell_. He was broadcasting his emotions to her as clearly as a two year old in full tantrum mode. Clearly he was a man who normally played his cards close to his chest. "None of those numbers are available for public access. If you made the calls, as you claim, how did you obtain them?"

The hot Texas sun blazed in the smile she tossed Theron's way. "Why sir, surely you don't expect me to give you confidential information. My Grammie always told me that it was very important for a woman to be mysterious."

"There were no such telephone calls."

"You are choosing to believe I am lying. It is easy enough to check with your secretary, PA, housekeeper, or just look over the phone logs. Now, can we please put this all aside. Arguing with you is beginning to tire me. What day would they like to reschedule the tests for?"

"The Dolmides do not intend to reschedule the tests. However, as we speak they are already rescheduling their daughter's wedding. It will be so much easier if you withdraw your scurrilous claims. You will be handsomely paid for it."

"You can marry Cousin Julia anytime you want, but the marriage will have to be between you and Julia Jenkins." Theron Christofides was so handsome. She hated to toss him back to the lions. She wanted to eat him up herself. There was something about him that called to Cassidy. It caused her a twinge of pain to say those words so callously. "Cassiopeia Flynn is unavailable for marriage at this time." Cassidy stood up and walked towards him.

Theron also stood and met her half way. "Cassiopeia Dolmides and I will be wed by the end of the week." He leaned towards her.

There was a burning in her belly. "There is no such person as Cassiopeia Dolmides, check out the birth certificate." No more than six inches separated their noses. Cassidy could smell the minty freshness of his breath. Cassidy lowered her voice so that only Theron could hear her. "Don't you find it strange that a simple DNA test could resolve everything quickly and yet I am the only one who wants to have it performed?"

"This marriage is to cement a very important merger between the two families and the two companies. If there is no marriage we will all lose." His voice was pitched for her ears only. "Delay is costly."

"Ah, so it is all for monetary gain. Making the rich richer!" She couldn't believe the disappointment she felt. At least when she thought he might have gotten Julia pregnant she could pretend he cared for something more than money. She couldn't disguise the look of disgust in her eyes.

Theron grabbed her by the arms. She heard a rustle and knew that Moose was getting ready to pounce, so she shook her bottom, a sign they had developed years ago to let the boys know that this was a situation Cassidy wanted to handle herself. "It is about more than money. It is about jobs. Thousands of jobs." He lowered his mouth to hers. His tongue followed the route she had teased him with a few minutes earlier. She felt her body curving into his. Just as her tongue started to duel with his he shoved her away from him "The Dolmides/Christofides wedding will take place before the end of the month."

Cassidy wanted to scrub his kiss away, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing how much he had affected her. She had never felt such a prickling sensation all over her skin before. Her nipples had puckered before he pushed her away.

"The wedding can take place anytime you want." Cassidy took a step back, hoping it didn't look like retreat.

"It will expedite matters if you sign an affidavit to renounce your claim." His black eyes glittered coldly.

"Bless your heart! I'm not gonna sign anything. You can marry anytime you want, as long as the bride's name is not Cassiopeia Flynn or Dolmides." Cassidy reached a hand out in back of her, her purple eyes never leaving his black ones. Moose stepped forward and put a thick legal document on her palm. She wrapped her fingers around it and handed it to Theron. "These are for you."

She headed for the door. Theron opened the document. "An injunction?"

"A petition has been filed in the Federal District Court in Texas. Simultaneously one was also filed here in Athens. Until this identity crisis is settled to the satisfaction of the courts. Anyone presenting themselves as Cassiopeia Flynn or Dolmides, daughter of Kelley Flynn and Costas Dolmides cannot be legally married in either the United States or Greece. Should you try to get married in another country, the marriage, for all intents and purposes will not be recognized as valid in either country."

She stepped close to Theron once more and placed her hand on his neck. She drew his ear down to her mouth. "Let's pretend you're the good guy here, entering into this marriage for the greater good. Now, let's say you believe I am who I say I am. Why would Costas and Kelley refuse to find out the truth? What do they have to gain if you marry an imposter? And what will the situation do to your precious deal? Who could win big? Who could lose even bigger?"

She released him. She wanted another kiss before she left, but with the greatest restraint Cassidy resisted the primal urge. She twirled towards the door, the skirt once again lifting above her knees. She hoped he enjoyed the sight of her legs, but Cassidy walked through the door without ever looking back to see if he did. She head held high.

Grammie would have been proud.

# 5

"Stand still and stop your squirming. Really, Cassie, sometimes you are worse than a five year old with chiggers down his britches." Lynda yanked the rope of red hair she was weaving into a French braid. "I can't get this dang thing to hang straight."

"Lynda, you are such a hoot when you go all Mississippi on me," Cassidy chuckled. "Just make sure the bangs are tucked in tight. I don't want to be flicking them out of my eyes all night."

"I don't understand why you want to scrape all your hair back. It looks beautiful when you use a sparkly barrette to hold it out of your face."

"There's going to be trouble tonight. It's easier to break up the fights when I don't have to worry about some drunk trying to pull my hair out." They both knew it had happened many times in the past.

"I heard you doubled the bouncers for the weekend. Is that why you asked me to watch Z for the night? You've got Mountain Man working there?"

Cassidy rubbed the back of her neck. It had been an extraordinarily long week with half of it spent in Greece. The beer distributors had taken advantage of her absence by convincing her bartender to double the orders. Mountain Man, her ranch foreman, farrier, and nanny, had received an urgent call from clients in New Mexico needing him immediately. Plus Z had started teething, making it impossible to run a bar with a baby crying in the office.

"M had business to take care of over the border. He left before all the excitement began."

"For crying out loud, Cassidy, get to the point!" Lynda tugged on the braid as she wrapped an elastic around the bottom. "Don't keep me in suspense. Why do you expect more trouble than usual?"

"It's a Friday night with a full moon."

"Is that all?" Lynda pouted.

"No, that's not all," Cassidy mimicked her friend with crossed eyes. "Around midnight, last night, Jane Bowen went out to her husband's pick-up to get her cell phone. As she approached the truck she saw a full moon."

"Big deal," Lynda said.

"The full moon she saw wasn't in the sky. The full moon she saw was in the bed of her husband's pickup truck. It was heaving up and down. She plucked a green stick from my forsythia hedges and approached the truck. Jane slammed that stick across the bare naked butt as hard as she could. Only as it turned out, the butt didn't belong to her husband. It belonged to Jack Franklin, her best friend's husband. To make matters worse, he was doing the bare naked mambo with Annie May Cox."

"Billy Cox's wife?"

"Billy Cox's pregnant wife," Cassidy said with a grimace.

"The Billy Cox who just came home from Afghanistan and caught Annie May doing the nasty with Walt "Little Wiggly" Wyman? I thought Billy was going to divorce Annie May?" Linda clucked.

"He was until Annie May got down on her knees and swore to be faithful. She swore she had always been faithful. It wasn't what it looked like. Wee Wiggly had gotten her drunk and drugged her." In drama queen fashion Cassidy placed her hand over her forehead. "He took vile advantage of her."

Cassidy picked Z out of the porta-crib and kissed him nosily on the neck.

"The same Annie May who tried to press rape charges against Wee Wiggly?" Lynda seemed to have a hard grasping the situation.

Cassidy's grin said it all. "The same." She watched Lynda dance around the living room.

"It's gonna be a hot time at the Scorpion's Tail tonight. Someone is going to feel the stinger," Lynda cackled. "You're gonna need more back-up. Give me half an hour to call around. I'll find a babysitter for Z, throw on my glad rags, and meet you there. It'll be like the old days, only now I'm on the side of the angels. All we need is a good plan so the bar doesn't get too torn up."

"Lyn. . ."

"I remember when you and Rico first opened the Scorpion. All new furniture, everything to make a cozy little club for the locals. First night, first fight, no more furniture. I was sure you two would have to build a cage to keep the band safe, just like every other Lone Star road house. But did you two do that?" Lynda shook her head as she continued searching drawers. "No, you go to yard sales for more furniture, call in a few markers from your old biker buddies, and here you are with a respectable business," Lynda turned a watery smile on Cassidy. "Have I ever told you how proud I am of you?"

Cassidy had to remove the baby's fingers from her mouth before she could answer her friend. "I have always known how you feel, _mamacita_. If not for you and Papa Moose, Rico and I would have been road kill soon after we had left that hell hole we used to call home. Aunt Patsy destroyed my home when she moved into Grammie's house." Cassidy tried hard, but she couldn't control the shudder that shook her delicate frame. She thought she had moved past the awful memories, but seeing the Jenkins in Greece had brought the nightmares back.

Tears spurted from Lynda's eyes as she wrapped her arms around Cassidy and Baby Z. "You are the child I never had. The child of my heart. Of course, Moose and I had to take you under our wings. You two were such innocent babies and yet so fierce. When you walked into that diner in Kentucky and those truckers tried to take you away from Rico, we thought for sure you guys were goners. But you both fought hard enough to take down a grizzly. The two of you probably would have taken the eight of them down without any help, but we couldn't resist a good fight. We didn't realize at the time what a little tiger you are."

The two women pressed their foreheads together while the chubby baby between them chortled and pinched their tear slick cheeks.

Lynda pushed Cassidy away. "Give me that baby and get to the Scorpion. You'll want to get the troops in position before everyone arrives. I should be there in about half an hour."

"I'm sorry, Lynda, but you will have to stay home with Enzio. There isn't a babysitter to be had anywhere from here to Needmore. As soon as word got out every baby sitter in a fifty mile radius was already spoken for. I heard most of them were spoken for before the Scorpion's doors were locked last night. This morning I received calls from Needmore, Lakeview, and Brownfield wanting to reserve tables. I'm surprised you hadn't already heard."

"I had customers that rode in from Arizona." Lynda was a Master of the tattoo arts, people came from all over for her work. "I sure hope you are up to date on your insurance payments," Lynda, the ever practical, said. "This could be the type of brawl that can put you out of business."

"That's the beauty of it. There isn't going to be any brawl. There are going to be two Rangers parked right outside the door. As soon as anybody tries to start anything, me and my trusty Louisville Slugger will escort them right into the waiting arms of Texas's best." Cassidy poofed her baby's belly.

"You're gonna have a lot of disappointed Texans on your hands."

Cassidy hugged Enzio tightly to her and kissed him heartily before handing him over to Lynda. "I don't think anyone who comes for the show will be too disappointed. They'll get to see people arguing with me and the business end of my baseball bat. If those morons really want a fight they can take it outside. The Rangers will be more than happy to turn a blind eye, or maybe even come inside for a while. I will not allow my place of business, the source of income for myself and my son, to be jeopardized by a bunch of adulterous morons."

"You know, Cassie, if things get too tough, you can always contact that Greek God you were suppose to marry. He really had the hots for you." Lynda's face took on a playful leer.

"Lynda, all he cared about was getting his hands on my old man's money, the company, and Cousin Julia's scrawny body. He certainly wasn't interested in me personally." Cassidy fought an inner battle to keep a blush away.

"Cassidy, I really don't know how you can reach the ripe old age of twenty-five and still be so innocent!" Lynda put the baby down in the portable crib. She raised her arms up in the air; Lynda loved to talk with her hands. "I watched the man. He thought he was so smooth buttoning his suit jacket when you walked into the room, but I could see he was trying to hide just how glad he was to see you."

"Lynda!" Cassidy gasped. This time she was not successful at hiding the ugly blush that flooded her cheeks.

"I'm just saying. . ."

"Lynda." Cassidy drew in a deep breath and changed the subject. "I have a dozen kids staying in my bunkhouse this weekend. Cooter and Angela are overseeing their care, but if you wouldn't mind. . ."

Lynda wrapped an arm around Cassidy. "Why don't I keep Z overnight and I'll bring him out to the ranch and help with story time and the barbeque tomorrow?"

"As much as I appreciate the offer, I need Enzio with me when I get home. I know I'm being selfish, but I missed him so much while we were gone."

"Honey, we were not gone that long!"

"I know, but it was the first time we were separated since Rico died," Cassidy felt tears flood her eyes as she remembered the man who had been her best friend. "It was torture to be without my son for so long."

Cassidy knew Lynda was trying to help, but she had a really bad feeling. She wanted her son with her tonight. He was the most important thing in her life and she had to protect him at all costs.

# 6

"Costas, time is running out for the people on Evadne. You need to sign the papers today." Theron kept his tone reasonable, though his hands were tightly fisted in his pants pockets. "We have an agreement."

"You have not honored our agreement, Christofides. Until you have fulfilled your end of our bargain, we will maintain the status quo," Costas Dolmides leaned back in his desk chair and drew on his thick cigar.

"I was in that church, ready to complete your archaic bargain. It is you who has one too many daughters named Cassiopeia," Theron replied in a controlled voice. Inside he fumed over the injustice of innocent people suffering while the Dolmides family played games with their lives.

"There is only one Cassiopeia, and she stood by your side at the altar on April first. The other is a con woman trying to extort money from Dolmides Global."

"How much money has she asked for? If all she wants is money, why have you not paid her off?" Theron demanded.

"You are an impertinent upstart," Costas ground his cigar into the ashtray on his desk.

"How much does she want?" Theron repeated.

"I do not know," Costas grumbled.

"If she is not asking for money, what else does she want?"

"Of course she wants money. Women always do, except for my lovely Kelley. She has never demanded anything from me."

"Costa, we cannot wait any longer for her demands. You must sign the papers today," Theron took one hand out of his pocket to push the agreement papers towards Costas.

"I promised Cassiopeia that you would marry her. The poor girl has her heart set on marriage to you. It still remains at the center of our deal."

"You have ignored the girl her entire life. Why is it now so important that I marry her?" Theron really did want to hear Dolmides answer, though after meeting Cassidy, tasting the sweetness of her lips, he knew he could not make love to Cassiopeia Dolmides. At least not the girl Costas Dolmides was trying to pass off as his daughter.

"Perhaps it is because I have ignored her. When Kelley's relatives brought Cassiopeia to us, she very sweetly thanked us for all we had done to ensure her proper upbringing. I took care of her financially. Her reunion with Kelley was touching." Costas shoved the papers away from him.

"How do you know she is the real Cassiopeia?" Theron persisted.

"My daughter has been lovingly raised by Patricia Jenkins, Kelley's relative. She has sent us monthly reports. Never has she mentioned Cassiopeia in anything but glowing terms. There is no way that little termagant is mine," Costas stood up. "Go find the imposter and make sure she signs the proper papers to overturn the injunction. As soon as you are married to my daughter you will gain all you wish to own."

"Send your people after her." As much as Theron wanted to see Cassidy again, he knew it would be impossible to marry Cassiopeia if he saw the little firecracker again. She ignited something deep within him that no other woman had ever set a spark to. Cassidy Flynn was a matter best left to Costas.

"Joseph Jenkins has already left to find his daughter. Cassiopeia confided to Kelley that she is afraid that Jenkins will hurt the woman when he finds her. I do not like the young woman, but I do not wish to cause my daughter distress because Jenkins has harmed her cousin. Plus the scandal it would cause would not reflect well on my family or my business," Costas's beady eyes burned into Theron's. "It is time to resolve this issue. It is time _you_ resolved this issue."

The hair on the back of Theron's neck rose at the thought of smarmy Joe Jenkins going near Cassidy. He would find her, get the signed affidavit from her, and then he would marry Cassiopeia Dolmides and do his duty.

# 7

"Hey, boss! Do we really need so many people working tonight?" Sandy Butler flashed his boy next door grin at Cassidy. "I keep tripping over people back here."

Cassidy stopped restocking the bar long enough to look Sandy in the eye. "Yes, we do."

"I know we're expecting a huge crowd, Cass. I was really hoping to clean up in tips, but if you cut my station in half I won't be able to make anything at all. With Easter only a few weeks away, I was plannin' to go shoppin' in Lubbock tomorrow for new clothes for the kids and stuff," Bobby Jean, one of the cocktail waitresses, complained.

"I get it. Nobody is happy about having extra help. So who's volunteering to go home? You," she pointed at Bobbie Jean. "Or you, Sandy?" Cassidy was tempted to lock the doors and close for the night. She was the owner. She could do it. The business had been built on her sweat, blood, and tears. She paid her workers well. Now her employees wanted her to risk everything so they could make a few extra bucks. Then she saw Bobbie Jean's hands shaking. She was a single mom and must be terrified of being sent home with empty pockets. "Y'all will make out just fine, as long as you give good service to the customers you have in your section. If you leave them waiting all night for a round or you fail to pick up the empties, that will affect your tips more than having less tables to cater to. In fact, better service on fewer tables will make you more money."

Once the set up was complete Cassidy climbed on top of the bar. "I have a few things for y'all to remember before the hordes descend upon us." She held up a finger. "Boys, if you have even a tiny glimmer of suspicion that someone has been drinking before they got here, you are to refuse admittance." She flicked up another finger. "Two, triple check all I.D.'s, I don't care if you think they are old enough, make sure the state says they are." A third finger went up. "Three, shut them off before they're drunk and be sure to tell the other waitresses and bartenders. If you are in doubt ask someone else. I'll be bopping around all night. Four, nobody, absolutely nobody, is to touch you. Serving drinks is not a contact sport. Five, check the bathrooms frequently. If there are drugs, find me or Moose _immediately_. Six, when we reach capacity not another person is to be admitted. No matter who it is. Seven, if you think a fight is about to break out you are to step back and tell the closest employee to get me and Moose. Do _NOT_ try to handle it yourself. Y'all don't get paid enough to chance getting hurt."

Cassidy hated having to give such detailed instructions. She had a well-trained crew. They knew what to do, but she didn't want anyone to get hurt trying to be a hero. In this case an insult was better than an injury

"Ready, troops?"

Everyone raised their right fist in the air to show they were battle ready.

"Open the doors, Moose."

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Theron asked, distaste thick in his throat.

"My operative said Cassidy Flynn Vega, the name she goes by around here, closes the joint every night." The man in the cheap suit threw a speculative look towards the tall Greek.

"Sir, maybe you should go back to the hotel and I will go in with this man," Luca, Theron's chief bodyguard suggested in Greek. "There is a large crowd already, even though it is still early. It is not safe for you to do this."

Theron looked at the two tattooed giants guarding the doors. They wore matching black tee-shirts, with a silver scorpion stretched across the broad chests. The shirt stretched tight over bulging muscles, while the scorpion posed suggestively with its head pointed to the men's groins.

Theron understood his bodyguard's concern. The place was obviously a dive, as bad as any waterfront tavern he had run errands for as a young boy. Apparently the imposter was a hooker after all. His lip curled in distain. There was plenty of honest work for anyone who wanted it. A woman who sold herself for money was lazy. It looked like Costas was right in thinking she was out to squeeze money out of her cousin's good fortune.

"Whadda ya mean I can't take my gun in?" a loud voice shouted from in front of the line.

"No guns allowed on the premises." The bouncer jerked his thumb towards a hand written sign hanging on the door.

The gun owner spit a wad of tobacco at the bouncer's foot. "It's my Constitutional right!"

"I'm not here to debate the Constitution with you. No guns." The bouncer said coolly.

"This is Texas. We keep our guns with us. Never know when you're gonna run into a rattler." The man persisted.

"The boss is a Yankee and she says no guns." The bouncer stood with his bulging arms crossed.

"I'm never coming here again." The Texan said as he tried to pull a blonde woman out of line with him.

The blonde punched him in the arm. "Speak for yourself, Pete. I'm going in and I'm going to keep coming here. The Scorpion is the best place to dance. And you always know your drink was made in a clean glass. You run on along and play with your little six-shooter while I go in and par-tay!"

The Texan's face turned bright red, but he stepped back into line and held his arms out to be patted down. Theron was amused to see the man did not have a weapon on him, even though he had made such a scene.

The next man in line held out his arms and said, "Waylan, I admit I'm carrying, but I promise I'll be good."

"Hoyt, you know I can't let you in with a gun," the bouncer responded.

"Please. I gotta go in, my girl is already in there. I got dropped off and I don't have a car to leave it in."

"Hoyt, you know you're the reason we instituted the 'no gun' policy. Last time you shot the juke box it took nearly three months before it would play music again. It was gettin' so bad the boss threatened to sing," the bouncer chuckled.

"That couldn't be too bad. She's a purdy little thing," Hoyt said.

"It is a really bad thing. She may be purty, but she's got the ugliest singing voice you've ever heard." The bouncer held out his hand. "Give me the piece and I'll hold on to it for you."

The man named Hoyt handed over a large revolver and went into the bar.

" _Theos!_ " Theron mumbled in Greek. "What kind of place is this?"

Luca grinned at him and answered in Greek. "I think it is going to be a fun night."

"Is the woman an alcoholic or a hooker?" Theron asked the investigator in disgust. It was a good thing the woman didn't have any children. If she did he would have had to force Costas to intervene on the child's behalf. That is, of course, if she were really Costas' daughter. Thanks to the obstinacy of Costas Dolmides, they were at a standstill.

The Dolmides family insisted their candidate was the "real" daughter. The surprisingly top-notched Greek lawyers Cassidy had hired persisted with the claim she was the true child of Costas Dolmides' seed. Her attorneys had placed a legal injunction before the courts. Both the Greek and American courts had issued orders to prevent the marriage of Cassiopeia Amethyst Flynn and Theron Alexandros Christofides. The result was no marriage. He did not have control of the company or Evadne, nor did he have the DNA results. What he did have now, courtesy of Costas Dolmides, was the distasteful job of confronting a drunken whore in a dirty dive in Texas.

"The broad gets around," cheap suit gloated.

"You know the woman?"

"I met her and Vega, the so-called husband, when they first came to Texas. She's an uppity bitch. Thinks she's better 'an everybody else. Her and Vega did business in a dive in Amarillo for awhile."

Bile rose in Theron's throat. The situation was going from bad to worse. He had to make this woman see reason. Tonight. "What kind of business?"

"The same as she does here," the man pulled a fat cigar out of his breast pocket.

"No smoking on the premises," a tattooed giant said as they reached the door.

"Waddya mean 'no smoking'? It's a bar, not a tea parlor, ain't it?" Cheap suit said as he struck a match.

The tattooed man pinched the flaming tip of the match between his thumb and forefinger. "The boss says 'no smoking on the premises', that means _no smoking_. Either git rid of the cigar or leave. There's plenty more in back of you that wants in."

Theron took the cigar away from the investigator. He couldn't believe he had actually engaged the services of such a person. His corporate security people had assured him this was the best man in the area for the job. He had to talk to the imposter now, before it was too late for the merger and before she had enough time to become drunk. He didn't have time to straighten out this fool.

"We will be going in."

"There aren't any tables left, but there are a few seats at the bar. If you ask me, the bar is the best seat in the house, anyway. You get a great view of everything going on." The doorman was the size of a Cyclops, with a spiral tattoo swirling on the left side of his bald head. His twin, or at least a close facsimile, was stationed on the other side of the double doors. Their size alone would make them valuable to any personal security team. The eyes on the one closest to him were clouded by neither drugs nor alcohol. They were in fact quite clear. Perhaps the head of Christofides security should look into employing them. They would frighten his adversaries into reconsidering their positions.

"Do you know if Cassi-dy Flynn will be here tonight?" Theron fought to keep his voice casual. _Theos_ , he had almost given himself away by calling the imposter Cassiopeia. If he did that he would be giving her the psychological upper hand in the forthcoming negotiations. He was here to get her to retract her claim with as little pay-out as possible. Her foolish attempt at blackmail had gone on long enough. If she could not be brought to see reason than she must be bought off. Soon.

He would talk to her tonight, before she became too inebriated. He had to make her understand the importance of the situation. He wanted to be back in the air before the night was over. Considering there had been no contact with her marks, she must be getting desperate, and ready, to accept any amount offered. Principle decreed he should not pay her anything at all, but the merger and the marriage must go through without any further delay.

Luca led the way to three open seats at the bar. A pretty-boy bartender approached with a huge smile on his face. He placed cardboard coasters on the bar in front of them. "Good evening, gents. What's your poison?"

"I'll have a draft of imported, a shot of Cuervo Gold, lime, and a shaker of salt," the investigator said tapping the wooden bar with his middle finger. "And I want an ashtray."

"Sorry, sir, there's no smoking allowed in this bar," the pretty boy said.

Theron shot the investigator a silencing look. He did not want trouble because the lout wished to smoke, and the last thing Theron wanted was alcohol. The place looked clean enough, but it wasn't the kind of place he wanted to drink in. "Single malt scotch, on the rocks."

Luca ordered a soda, as was his usual custom.

"We expect a large crowd tonight so we won't be running any tabs, unless you plan to pay by credit card. If so, I'll have to have your card now. It'll be returned to you after you settle up," the barman said as he placed the drinks in from of them.

If the girl talked about her exploits when she drank everyone in the state had already been made privy of the details of the blackmail attempt and would have heard of him. There may be those who would try to capitalize on that information. Ever since his private wealth had become a matter of public knowledge there was always someone who expected a hand out. _Christos._ This was Dolmides dirty clothing, Dolmides should be taking care of it.

"I will pay now," Theron said. He placed a fifty on the bar.

"The name is Sandy. If you want anything just holler." He gave them a distracted smile as he made change for them and then moved onto a group of women seated at the corner of the bar.

Theron took a look around. It was rustic American. A lot of knotty wood. A lot of bright neon signs. A lot of loud people. Very rustic American. Nothing like the exclusive clubs he frequented when he was in LA., New York, or Miami. Those places used lights, mirrors, and special glass to create an atmosphere. Women shopped for days to find the right dress when they knew they would be going to one of the clubs with Theron Christofides. A dress suitable for a Miami club would cost more than all the clothing in this . . . place combined.

Did the woman think she was justified in her scheme? If it only affected Costas Dolmides he would have wished her good luck, but there were too many people who would be hurt if she continued to hold the wedding hostage.

The background noise fell to a clamor before a hush fell over the crowd. Heads turned to a door at the back of the room. His eyes followed. She was momentarily silhouetted in the door; the back light showed off her remarkable figure. He wondered if she always entered rooms in such a way. His could see her posed just so in his bedroom doorway, wearing nothing but her flaming hair.

He was jolted out of the vision when she moved away from the door. She was headed straight for him. The ubiquitous boots showed off legs that went on forever before they met a denim skirt which was barely decent. Its shortness hardly seemed capable of covering the essentials. It hung low on her hips and stopped high on her thighs. A black, scooped neck, tee-shirt encased plump white breasts, her deep cleavage was showcased above the neckline. The top stopped just short of her bejeweled navel. A black cowboy hat was set rakishly on a head as bright as a _pyrotechnia_. Theron longed to toss that hat aside and see if the hair was as hot as it looked. He wanted to bury his hands in her hair and his arousal in her.

He was disgusted with himself. Patsy and Joe had told him horror stories about this woman as a teenager. Her character was why he would not sample her body. She was nothing like her innocent cousin Cassiopeia. This woman was sex on luscious, endless legs.

He drank his scotch down in one gulp. He was here on business. He _never_ confused business with pleasure. To watch her cross the room was enough to assure him the sex would be pleasure, even if pleasure was her business.

He had to flush her out of his system and complete this deal. He was needed in Greece and he needed to be there before he did something that would jeopardize all his plans. Cassiopeia would be hurt if she found out he had sex with her cousin. He may not want a wife at this stage of his life, but since she was to be his wife, she deserved his respect and his fidelity.

He continued to watch the woman weave her way through the crowd. She stopped at one table to hug a big woman. She glided by another slapping hands with an older man. She walked by another table and the man guzzling beer from a bottle reached out and grabbed her denim clad derriere. Theron wanted to plant his fist in the lout's face. She stopped her forward movement, turned on one booted heel, and hit the man across the face so hard he fell off his seat. It was all done in one smooth movement, as if it was an act she performed often. The other three men at the table started to stand, but two large men in scorpion tee-shirts appeared at her side and the man's three friends quickly resumed their seats. At a nod from the woman, the bouncers assisted the man to his feet and dragged him out of the bar.

She didn't bother to watch; instead she turned her back on the drama and climbed up on the stage.

"Howdy, y'all! Welcome to The Scorpion's Tail. Where our stinger is worse than our bite." Her smile was as bright as her hair.

"Howdy, Cassie," the audience replied in unison.

"I'd like to thank y'all for being here tonight. There are a few simple rules for you to remember." She paused while the crowd cheered. "We added tables and waitresses to accommodate everyone. Please remember to tip your servers well. If I find out they haven't received a good night's pay I will not expand to accommodate you all next time. Then there'll be a lot of you won't be able to git in." She paused until things quieted down a bit. "The Scorpion's Tail has a strict hands-off policy. If you inappropriately touch a waitress, a bartender, or a bouncer you will be immediately expelled and banned from future entrance."

Groans sounded from the back railing where all the single men were standing.

"And the most important rule is, have a good time. Now, please put your hands together and welcome Gypsy's Daughters to the Tail!"

The crowd went wild as she left the stage. She circled the room chatting with people, working the room like a top notch politician collecting campaign funds. No one was left out of her friendly greetings. The bright smile never left her face. The woman was amazing.

Her skirt, though short, never exposed her precious parts. Shouldn't a prostitute be showing the wares? Why did she pay so much attention to the women? Surely men would be her best customers.

As she pranced around the bar she acted as if she owned the world. Something wasn't making sense here.

She hadn't reached him yet, but she was getting closer when a fight broke out in back of her. The sound of a bottle smashing against a table raised the hackles on the back of Theron's neck. Childhood memories of rescuing his mother's face rushed over him.

He watched as the little fool waded into the middle of three large cowboys. They towered over her, shouting at each other over her head. Even her cowboy hat didn't obstruct them. He was about to go after her when he noticed Sandy the bartender pick up a baseball bat from behind the bar. The man did not leave the bar to help Cassidy. He merely walked to the end with the bat balanced on his shoulders and watched. The _mikros pyrotechnia_ stomped her booted heel on the instep of the man in back of her as he tried to grab her from behind. Simultaneously she reached up and caught the man with the broken bottle by the ear lobe and dragged him across the floor. He went with her, wailing all the way like a recalcitrant child caught in a misdemeanor by his _yiayia_. Every person standing in her way quickly evacuated the space until she led him out the door. His friend limped behind them whining, "Dammit, Cassidy, I think you broke my foot."

"Good. Maybe next time you'll think twice before you cause a ruckus in my bar." Her tone was as sweet as honey, but the strong flavor of steel underlying the sugar held everyone's attention.

Theron returned to his seat and Sandy placed the bat under the register and sauntered down the bar refreshing drinks along the way.

"Why did you not go help the girl?" Theron asked.

Sandy flashed a cheeky smile. "If I tried to interfere the boss would fire me. She believes in the Prime Directive." Theron was puzzled. It must have shown on his face because Sandy continued, "Non-interference with alien cultures and societies. She hires big men to dissuade fights, but once one starts she goes in herself to defuse the situation. Most men will back down from her because they don't want to look like brutes," the bartender laughed "Don't worry about Cassidy. She's a bitty thing and I had my doubts until I saw her in action. When she's riled she can take down a full grown buffalo without breaking a sweat."

A warning prickle at the base of his neck had Theron spinning around. Cassidy edged close to him.

" _Kali spera, dhespinis_." In his surprise at finding her so near, he gave the tradition Greek greeting.

" _Kali spera, kirios_ Christofides. What brings you to our little ole neck of the woods?" The innocent look in Cassidy's purple eyes was belied by the mischievous grin on her face.

"Where else should I be, when my fiancée is here?" He couldn't help himself. He had the urge to tease her. He wanted to see what her reaction would be.

"Whoa, I am nobody's fiancée," she exploded. Had she wondered how good their bodies would feel together since they had kissed in the embassy? It had certainly crossed _his_ mind more than a few times an hour.

She moved closer. If he wrapped his hand around her waist, would she melt into his arms or knock him off the bar stool? His heart thumped in anticipation. He really wanted to know the answer.

"Hey, boss, Joanie Franklin just walked through the door. She looks like she's loaded for bear and she's headin' straight for Annie May," Sandy said from the other side of the bar. He had a big smile on his face as if he took a great deal of pleasure imparting the news.

Cassidy sighed "I'm sorry, I have to take care of this. I'll be back later and then we can talk." She reached her hand over the bar. "Give me my Slugger."

The band staggered to a discordant stop.

The bar was now silent. All conversation had stopped. All attention focused on two women who had taken a combative stance. An eerie silence hovered in the thick air. They waited in anticipation.

Cassidy wrapped her slim fingers around the wooden shaft of the bat and gave it a loving stroke. Her rosy lips touched the wood in a kiss that increased the pressure on Theron's zipper. If this kept up it would leave permanent teeth marks on his cock.

She strode as if she were Athena entering the battle field at Thermopylae.

The crowd parted like the Red Sea before her. Confidence beamed from her like a beacon on a clear night at sea. She moved toward the two women who now confronted each other on the edge of the dance floor.

They stared at each other. Hate permeated the air around them. They were so absorbed in their conflict they were unaware that retribution was headed their way. Nemesis arrived wrapped in the magnificent body of Cassiopeia Flynn.

The sway of Cassidy's hips as she walked away from him held his fascinated gaze. The long lines of her legs made his fingers itch to see just how far up they went. He didn't see one woman slap the other. He only became aware of the physical action when the sound of a hand connecting loudly with flesh vibrated around the timbered walls.

He sprang forward. If anyone had dared to hit Cassiopeia . . .

A wall of people surrounded the trio. He watched as a blond woman threw a drink in the older woman's face. The older woman grabbed the blond by the hair on the back of her head. They screamed obscenities at each other. Apparently, a man was involved. A cold chill ran down Theron's spine. He had seen situations such as this before. They could turn deadly in a matter of seconds. He had to get Cassiopeia out before she was the one to be hurt.

She was almost within his reach.

While Theron kept his eyes on Cassiopeia, she used both hands to lift the wooden baseball bat over her head. The bat smashed down on the table, demolishing all that was within its path.

The two women had been screeching louder then the band's amplified noise had been, until the sound of breaking glass and plastic struck their ears. Stunned into silence they stared at Cassidy with dropped jaws. Their hands still in the other's hair.

"My cell phone. You've destroyed my beautiful smart phone!" The pregnant blond screeched. "Cassidy, you'll have to buy me a new one."

Cassidy stood with her bat still at the ready in her hands. "I'm not buying you anything, Annie May. That's the price you pay for bringing trouble into my business. Joanie, get your hands off Annie May."

"She should've kept her hands off my husband. Why do you let a tramp like her come in here with decent folk?"

"I run a business. I am not the morals police. If I were, I wouldn't have any business at all. We do not serve Annie May alcohol because of her pregnancy, but as far as her other activities go, she's on her own. If I have to ban Annie May for being a tramp, then half the people who come in here and leave with someone other than their own spouse would also have to be barred. That would include you and Jane Bowen."

"Whaddaya mean me and Jane? We never leave with anyone else's man." The older woman growled.

"You and Jane always come in together on Ladies Night. You drink together. You dance together. You laugh and whisper in each others' ears. You leave together. How do I know you two aren't leaving to have a torrid hot lesbian affair in my back parking lot?" Cassidy paused for a moment. The silence was so deep you could hear the ice melting in the drinks. "Lucky for you and everyone else who comes in here, I am not in charge of anyone's morals but my own."

The older woman dropped her hands from the blonde's head. Her fingers choked the air. She looked at Cassidy with pure hate in her eyes. Cassidy wiggled her cute little buttocks. Was she preparing to hit a home run?

"None of that is true," the Joanie gasped. "Jane and I have been best friends since we were five years old. We started kindergarten together. How dare you say something that dirty about us?"

"I've heard those rumors about you and Jane ever since I moved to Primrose. I heard the rumors about Annie May and your Jack, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary going on in here. I heard rumors, sure, but that's all they are to me," Cassidy paused. "If I were you I would go home and have a long talk with Jack. He's the one married to you. He's the one who made you vows and promises. He's the one who has broken your trust. Not Annie May. She never made any promises to you. Go talk to your hound dog husband. Leave your private business at home, where it belongs. Don't bring it to the Scorpion. You ever pull a stunt like this in here again and you will be permanently barred. Now get out."

"B-b-but..."

"Out. Now!"

There was a slight stir in the crowd and two bouncers appeared. They flanked the older woman and escorted her out.

The young blonde threw herself into Cassidy's arms. "Oh, Cassidy! Thank you so much for sticking up for me. Nobody has ever stuck up for me before."

Cassidy pushed her away shaking her head. "I wasn't sticking up for you, Annie May. I don't allow any fighting in my bar."

"But you kicked that old cow Joan out and let me stay," Annie May pouted her full lips.

"I'm only letting you stay until Joan has left the property. Then you will also be escorted to your vehicle."

Annie May stomped her stiletto heeled foot. "Cassie, that's not fair. It's Friday night. There's nowhere else to dance and have fun. The Scorpion's Tail is the hottest place in the county."

"You should have thought of that before you did the dirty with a married man in my parking lot."

The blonde's full lower lip got even fuller as she pouted it out further. "I thought you said you weren't the morals police?"

"I'm not, but in this case I am the arbiter of good taste. You have definitely committed a crime in the eyes of the Court of Good Sense. How could anyone go with Jack Franklin? He's a mean junk yard dog. Always putting the moves on every female that moves. You have a nice, good looking young husband. He's been willing to forgive you and start again." The _mikros pyrotechnia's_ deep purple eyes misted over. "Not every woman is as lucky as you. Your war hero husband came home alive and uninjured. Go home and start setting up your nursery. You'll have plenty of time this week. You're barred for one full week. If I see you here before next Saturday you'll be barred for a month. Be careful, any more trouble because of you, could result in your permanent banishment."

Annie May left without another word. Silent black tears ran down her face, her shoulders slumped in despair, as two of the tattooed bouncers walked her out the main entrance.

Cassidy pointed the bat at the band. "The floor show is over, start earning your paycheck. Play me something country."

Cassidy in crisis mode was an instant aphrodisiac applied directly to his groin. She displayed a ruthlessness that reminded him of the Dolmides family. Except she did her own dirty work. He almost felt sorry for Costas Dolmides. Almost.

# 8

If this night didn't kill her, nothing ever would. First that fool grabbed her bottom and she had been so jumpy she reacted first, thought later. She probably broke the poor guy's nose. If he went to the doctor he had better take care of the bill himself. She couldn't afford the bar's insurance premiums going up.

She had done her meet and greet routine, with the hope she could cool down the volatile situation already simmering away. She felt the Greek watching her. She had actually felt him. Was that cool or spooky? It was spooky cool, she admitted to herself.

Her hands shook as she continued around the room. Why hadn't she worn something more attractive? Something feminine. Why did she choose tonight to introduce her new tee-shirts?

While she dealt with Joan Franklin and Annie May Cox, Cassidy was sure she felt Theron Christofides in back of her. When she turned around he was there. He looked concerned. It had been a long time since anyone had been concerned about her in that way.

She hadn't been able to get the man out of her head. While his body was on the other side of the world, his dream spirit cavorted with her every time she closed her eyes. Now he was here, in her world. Would she be able to keep her hands off of him? Her lips? Did she want to?

After dealing with Annie May she was depleted, emotionally exhausted. She had just shown her not-so-pleasant side to the sexiest man she had ever seen. She wanted to cling to him just as much as she wanted to avoid him. It was still early and there were twice as many people crowded into the bar as usual. She hadn't expected the confrontation between Joan and Annie May until much later in the evening. Now she had to worry about keeping everyone entertained for the rest of the night. It was a Friday night with a full moon and a full house. She was exhausted. It was going to be a long night.

There was no sense putting this off any longer. She headed towards Theron. She had just reached the service station when the mayor lifted a regal hand in summons. She sent a round of drinks over to Theron's group along with her apologies. She never had another free moment all night. By the time last call came Cassidy knew she would not have the time nor the energy to deal with the Greek situation.

"Take another round of drinks to the gentlemen at the end of the bar. Offer my apologies. I will not have time to speak to him tonight. Get his contact information and tell him I'll call him either tomorrow or Sunday."

"Cassie, the man's been here all night. Why don't I send him to your office after we close? He's not the type of guy who hangs around all night just for the chance of a few words with a girl."

"Thanks for the advice, Sandy, but I'm too tired to deal with anymore drama tonight. I just want to pick up my son and go home. Tomorrow is another day. I'll deal with him then."

"Really. You're quoting Scarlett O'Hara? I thought Z was spending the night with Lynda and Moose?" Sandy said as he mixed the drinks.

"He was, but I miss him. I called Lynda. I'm picking him up as soon as the lights go out."

Theron's jaw tightened in disbelief and anger. How dare that woman make him wait all night to speak to her and then send a message through a flunky saying she had no time to speak to him tonight? Heads of state did not leave Theron Christofides waiting. The most beautiful women in the world courted his attention. And this scrap of a woman sends him a message. No attempt at a smile or a private word. Instead she sent her lover over with alcohol.

It was time the _pyrotechnia mikros_ learned who she was dealing with.

The lively banter of the occupants at the table Cassidy was clearing came to an abrupt stop. She looked up, a smile on her face. A furious thundercloud glowered back.

Her first impulse was to turn and run for her life, but Cassidy determinedly kept the friendly smile firmly in place.

"Mr. Christofides, how nice, but you didn't have to come over to say goodnight." The sweet southern drawl was firmly in place too.

"Okay, fellas, time to wrangle yer favorite cowgirl and cozy up for the last dance of the night," the lead singer shouted.

"Our dance, I believe," Theron said with a cold showing of his perfect teeth.

Cassidy looked at the bronzed hand he stretched out to her. She was tempted to refuse, but one look in his cold eyes and she chose discretion over valor. A brawl between her bouncers and his security might be entertaining, but it would cost a fortune to rebuild the bar. She bit her lip as she placed her hand in his. He grabbed the hat off her head and tossed it onto the table.

"My hat!" Was that squeak her voice?

"I want to see your eyes."

As soon as they reached the dance floor he released her hand and embraced her with both arms, the way a lover embraced his partner. At first she tried to maintain a bit of distance between their bodies, but he wouldn't have anything to do with that. With a strategically placed hand on her buttocks he pulled her closer. So close she could feel his very impressive erection mold itself into her belly. Her nipples tightened, pushing their way into his chest. Her panties became very uncomfortable due to the unbidden moisture that had gathered there.

He nuzzled her throat and sniffed. The scent of her excitement joined the innocent flower scent she wore. He buried his face in her hair. It was as warm and alive as he had thought it would be. He wanted to sweep her up into his arms and carry her to the nearest point where he could make love to her. The wall, the bar, the stage, anywhere there was enough room for her to wrap her legs around him.

What happened to keeping his distance from her? She was a con-artist. He had to regain control. He _was_ going to marry her cousin. He _was_ going to salvage this deal. Too many people, too many lives, depended on him doing what was right, not what he wanted.

"We must talk," he said through gritted teeth.

He sounded fierce. Where was the polite gentleman who had sat at the bar all night? "We can talk tomorrow."

"This cannot wait. We must talk tonight." If he clenched his teeth any tighter they might crack. "You must retract your allegations. It is imperative that Cassiopeia and I marry as soon as possible."

"You cannot marry Cassiopeia, because that is me and you have never proposed to me. If you really want to marry my cousin Julia, go ahead. You just have to convince her to use her real name. She can't go through the rest of her life pretending to be me."

Cassidy felt the waves of animosity pouring from his body, but she also felt his erection become even more prominent. Her lips were practically touching the skin at his neck. She was so tempted to kiss his skin. The urge to lick it swept through her. She wanted to savor his taste.

She wanted him. She wanted him so badly she was ready to rip her cousin's face off to keep her away from him. Cassidy couldn't trust herself this close to him. She pushed herself out of his arms and fled to her office. She left him standing alone in the middle of the dance floor, with a raging hard on, and discretion was very low on her list of priorities.

# 9

Cassidy pressed the clicker one more time. She was too exhausted to find anything funny about this situation. Her baby was crying in the back seat, and now the stupid security gate wouldn't open.

If this was a movie she would be afraid to get out of the truck to open the gate manually, but this was Texas, not a silly movie where an alien creature would devour her or a serial rapist would grab her.

The full moon cast a weird glow and added to the lunacy of her thoughts. This was real life and she was on her own property, in this very expensive pick up truck. She couldn't really afford to spend the money on this truck, but it was worth every penny knowing that Zio was safe riding in it.

They were safe here, at the ranch. And she had a cranky baby who smelled like he had just filled his diaper. _Just get out of the truck and open the damn gate,_ she told herself.

She cringed as the gravel on the shoulder of the road bit into her bare feet. She should have put her boots back on before she stepped out of the car, but her feet hurt from being on them all night. She dreaded the thought of having to wear them again tomorrow. Just for one night she would like to show up in comfortable sneakers, like everyone else. Lost in her own thoughts, Cassidy didn't hear the footstep behind her until it was too late. Bulky arms enclosed her in a bear hug. As she struggled another hand placed a smelly cloth over her nose and mouth. She fought and struggled, all her training for naught in this situation. Her only thoughts were for the baby left alone in the car. What would these animals do with her precious Enzio?

_My baby_ , her mind sobbed as the world went black. _Please, don't hurt my baby._

# 10

"Sir? There is a truck in the road up ahead," the hired driver said over his shoulder.

"What is the truck doing?" Theron asked.

"It's just sitting there, with the motor running. The driver's door is open, but I can't see anyone in the vehicle," the driver replied.

"Perhaps it is someone who needed to relieve himself," Theron said.

"I don't see anyone and most people would close the door so someone flying down the road wouldn't hit it," the driver stated. "Besides, my headlights caught a coyote jumping out of the open door."

"It sounds like a trap, sir. We should go around it and get off this road as quickly as possible," Luca pointed out.

"Nobody knew we would be coming this way," Theron said. "And I don't know of anyone who would use a coyote to lure me into a trap."

"No, but that investigator gave you these directions and knew you would be coming here sooner or later. I do not trust him," Luca said forcefully.

A wave of unease rippled through Theron. He barely suppressed a shudder. "Where are we in conjunction with Cassidy's property?

"According to the directions the truck is in front of her gate," the driver answered.

"Then it is possible that it is her truck and she may be in trouble?" Theron said.

"Yes, sir," Luca said.

"Stop the vehicle." The SUV limo slid to a smooth stop inches from the large pick-up's rear bumper. The road was narrow and did not allow much space on it. Theron reached for the door handle as Luca reached out to stop him.

"It is not safe for you to leave the vehicle. Let my men do their jobs."

Theron wanted to get out and help. The intuition that served him well in business now told him it was Cassidy's vehicle and she was in trouble. He had to be the one to find her. He agreed to let his men assess the situation before he joined them. He waited through hours of agony, even though his men were gone less than five minutes. When they returned one of the men had a squalling baby in his arms.

"What is that?" Theron asked.

"The truck has been deserted. It was left running with the lights on and the door open. The baby was alone in the rear seat," Luca reported.

"Where is the driver?"

"Not here. Someone tampered with the gate's opening mechanism. We found signs of a struggle and this. Luca held a blood stained cloth in one hand. "It still smells of chloroform."

"The vehicle belongs to a friend of Cassidy?" Theron was still trying to hold on to hope. If anything had happened to the girl it would be his fault. He should have gone along with Dolmides plans and married Cassiopeia elsewhere.

"No, sir, it belongs to Miss Flynn," Luca said quietly, "and so does the baby."

The baby was hers? No wonder she fought so hard to gain recognition as a Dolmides heir. She had a child's future to consider, it wasn't just her own greed. If he had kept his doubts to himself regarding the girl's claim, if he had held firm that there was no merit to her story, perhaps she would now be safe in her own bed. Her child comforted by her arms. Who could have perpetrated this monstrous act? Did Cassidy have enemies besides the Dolmides?

Of course she did. Every Doldmides did. Someone had a lot to gain by being the Dolmides' heiress and his wife. Could it have been one of his enemies? One of Dolmides' enemies? Dolmides himself?

Theron had one last hope. "You are sure Cassidy did not walk to the house to open the gate?"

"She left her boots in the truck. The terrain is rough, the road unpaved, and there are poisonous snakes. I don't think she would have walked off barefooted nor would she have left her baby alone on the open road, in an open vehicle," Luca shattered Theron's last hope with a few simple statements.

"Get all her personal belongings out of the vehicle. Get whatever belongs to the baby and let's get out of here. We must find her quickly before she is hurt or made to disappear forever. He pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket and gave orders in rapid Greek. While he was still engaged in an animated conversation with his PA an odoriferous bundle was placed on his lap. He looked up at Luca standing just beyond the limo door. "What is this?"

"That is a baby," Luca said.

"I can clearly see that. What it is doing on me?" Theron grimaced.

"My men are stretched thin. They must protect you, collect what is needed from the car, and try to find some clue as to who took the woman and where. They cannot tend to the child, too." Luca's phone rang and he stepped away from the limo to answer it, leaving the smelly baby on Theron's lap. His PA's voice brought him back to his own conversation. He gave a few pithy orders to his PA while his hand rubbed the baby's back in a soothing manner. He was surprised to find himself doing it.

The baby stopped crying and stared at Theron with a lost expression in its deep brown eyes. "Don't worry, little one, we will find your _mitera._ Your Mama will be with you soon."

Theron tried to ignore the noxious odor emanating from the child. He had grown up on the docks where bad smells were the norm, but this tiny human being had his bent nose twitching at the smell. He moved his foot, hoping the child would be out of nose range and kicked a shoulder bag on the floor. He used his free hand to pick it up and found baby toys sticking out of the top.

No.

He would not change a diaper. Changing a diaper was not a job for a man worth billions of dollars. Changing diapers was a job for a woman, either a mother or a nanny, it mattered not to him which, as long as it was not him.

His phone rang. He put the bag down and pulled the phone out of his pocket again. The baby placed a plump thumb in its mouth and sucked; sad eyes glued to Theron's face. The phone shrilled in Theron's hand again before he pushed the button. He did not look at the caller ID, the baby commandeered his eye contact. "Yes?" He snapped.

"Ah, Theron, I finally have good news. I have heard from my sources that the confidence woman is ready too withdraw her suit and the marriage between you and Cassiopeia can go forward as planned."

The woman he had been observing all night ran the bar with an iron fist covered in a velvet glove. She expected her employees to keep the high standards she had set, and they did. She didn't sell inferior liquor, she poured an honest drink, and she made sure nobody was shortchanged, no matter how inebriated. He was convinced Cassidy was the real Cassiopeia. That woman would never capitulate.

Unless she was tortured or terrified for a child left alone is a vehicle. Unless they showed her film of the coyote in the front cab of the truck with the baby in the back seat. Were they even now under surveillance?

Costas was a braggart. If Theron handled him carefully he could be quite illuminating. "I'm impressed, Costa. I did not believe you would be able to break her so soon. How did you get her to sign off so quickly?"

"She is in the process right now. Her father found her in some small nowhere town in Texas. He has explained how you and my Cassiopeia want to be married as soon as possible. He has convinced her of the error of her ways."

"If she cared so much for how her family felt about the wedding, why did she stop it in the first place?

"She has always been jealous of all the extras I have supplied for my daughter. Over the years she felt as if she were entitled to everything my darling daughter had been given. She wanted to hurt my sweet Cassiopeia. My daughter is tall, slim, and beautiful, the con woman is short, chunky, and not very attractive."

Had Costas seen the same woman Theron had?

The baby whimpered. Theron had squeezed it a little too tight. The old man must be blind if he believed the simpering redhead in Athens was more attractive than Cassidy, the flame haired goddess. His Cassidy might be height challenged but she had a spirit which more than made up for it. She had an hourglass figure that made grown men drop to their knees, and a face even more beautiful than Titian's La Flora. He had fallen in love with the painting the first time he saw it and purchased it once he could afford to. He suddenly realized Cassidy could have posed for the painting five hundred years ago and that was one of the reasons the woman had struck such a cord with him.

Costas' droning voice brought Theron back to the conversation rattling in his ear. "Jealousy is very unattractive in a woman. It is a good thing my daughter does not show any tendency in that area. Huh, Theron?" Costas laughed heartily. "A young man does not need a harridan for a wife when he wishes to spend time in other pursuits." Costas chuckled, "Isn't that so?"

A disgusted shutter ran through Theron at the implications that his future wife would turn a blind eye to any infidelity. Or did he shutter at the prospect of who was to be his future wife? In the last week the only female he could picture under him was the _pyrotechnia mikros._ He had wanted her from his first glimpse of her violet eyes and fiery red hair. There was something about her that had touched more than his libido. It took a lot of courage to walk into a cathedral filled with hundreds of strangers, in a foreign country, and declare the wedding a farce. Sure she had a couple of big tattooed thugs with her, but she was still alone facing down two of the richest men in the world, in a church, filled with some of the most powerful people in the world.

She had been fortunate to get out of the church without being arrested. Her departure from Greece had been unheralded, unlike the fanfare her entrance into the church had drawn. Nobody had seen her leave her hotel. Not even the men he and Costas had each appointed to watch her. Of course, the watchers were found bound together on her hotel bed with their own handkerchiefs stuffed in their mouths and cheap neckties fastened around their eyes. It was no wonder he had not been apprised of her sudden decampment.

Once again the baby squirmed on Theron's lap. This time something warm and wet oozed onto his leg. Big brown eyes flooded with tears, just waiting for the worst possible moment to explode. Tiny lips trembled around the thumb they were fastened to. Theron had no experience with babies, but he was sure these were all dire signs.

"I have another call I must take, Costa. We will talk again soon," Theron promised. If so much did not weigh upon the merger of the two companies, Theron would never speak to any of the Dolmides family again.

"Now it is your turn, baby. What must I do to keep you from crying?"

The poor little thing tightened every muscle. Its spine curved to such an extent Theron was sure it was not natural and would do permanent damage to the child. Beads of sweat broke out on Theron's forehead and moisture ran down his back. Under his arms grew clammy, his silk shirt clung to him. He tried not to breathe too deeply. The stench coming off the baby made Theron consider air unnecessary to survival.

Would Cassidy survive whatever Joe Jenkins had planned for her? He had seen something evil in the man's eyes every time her name was mentioned. It was evident he wished to harm her for interfering with the wedding, but Theron could have sworn he had seen lust there as well. He had shrugged the idea off when Patsy proclaimed the girl her daughter. Now he feared his initial thoughts were the correct ones. This did not bode well for Cassiopeia. Not if his men had read the signs correctly, and his men were the best in the business, so he knew they had read the situation right.

The blame was his. Cassidy had been taken by force and her child abandoned by the side of the road because he had failed to act earlier. He was a decisive man. A man accustomed to making life and death decisions on the spur of the moment. This time he had hesitated out of fear. Fear that this woman had the power to change him, his life, his goals.

He feared she was the one woman he would not be able to control. The one woman he would not be able to walk away from with a kiss and a diamond necklace. There was no room in his life for a woman like that.

He had to find her.

He had to give her back her baby. Who could have guessed that beautiful body had given birth so recently?

Theron would return to Greece and he would never think of her again.

He flinched as pain ran down his cheekbone. Something hard had hit him in the face. He looked around. The doors were closed and locked. The windows were sealed shut.

The baby squirming on his lap was the only living thing near him. Clutched in the baby's sticky little hand was a mobile phone. As the baby flailed his arm he hit Theron's chin. "This behavior will not do. Give me the phone and we shall both be happier."

The only response the baby offered was to put the corner of the phone in its mouth and gnaw on it. Streams of saliva flowed out of its mouth and down the child's chest until it pooled on Theron's leg. It mixed with the baby's other noxious body fluids. The suit would have to be thrown away. He doubted his dry cleaner would be able to get the smell out.

"I do not believe that phone is good for your health, child of Cassiopeia. You must give it to me now," Theron used his most commanding voice, although he had never felt less in command in his life. He held out his hand. The child used his free hand to slap Theron's and giggled around the mobile phone.

Theron realized he would have to physically take it away. It also occurred to Theron that the baby had stopped crying as soon as the phone went in its mouth. A diversion would be needed; he could not endure any more screaming and crying from this miniature human. With one hand still holding the child on his now very wet leg, he used the other to dig into Cassidy's large bag. A small blanket first came to hand. He placed it on the seat and continued his search. He pulled out several folded things. They had plastic liners on the outside and seemed to have some kind of cushioning in the middle. They joined the blanket on the seat. The next thing his hand encountered was a rectangular hard plastic box with a lid within the center of a larger lid. It contained wet naps. He had hoped for a genie to take the baby away, but at least he would be able to wipe off his phone and sponge off his trouser leg.

That is if he ever got his phone back. He put this new find on the seat with the mystery cushions. At the bottom of the bag he found some more toys, a bottle of sunscreen, a tube, and, thank the Gods, a baby bottle filled with milk. Finally he had a way to quiet the baby down.

There was a lid over the top, it took a few moments but he found a way to snap it off and revealed the rubber nipple underneath. Theron, the man considered a genius of business by every major player in the world, the man who was always at the top of everyone's list of innovative business leaders, felt inordinately proud of this new accomplishment.

Upon sight of the bottle the child flung the mobile phone. It whizzed past Theron's head on the way to being shattered against the bulletproof window in back of him. Flying shrapnel hit the back of Theron's head, but at that moment, as he sheltered the small human being with his own body, he didn't care about his head or his phone, he was only relieved to get something that could be toxic away from the child.

The child bounced up and down on Theron's leg and grabbed at the bottle in his hand. The baby garbled something, but Theron's English was not up to the standards of American baby talk. Not really knowing how to handle feeding a baby, he carefully brought the bottle to the child's lips. The baby greedily latched onto the hard rubber nipple, one hand grabbed the bottle, the other sticky little hand held Theron's large hand firmly in place. The howling stopped and was replaced by deep gulps.

His heart melted when the child cuddled into him. Theron had once observed a woman in the park holding a baby in this position while it fed. Perhaps parenthood wasn't as difficult as he had always feared. If a baby already knew how to get into position to be held or whatever, then when he and Cassiopeia had the required heir it would not be difficult to care for, especially when she was already an experienced mother.

He knew that creating a child with her would not be an onerous task. Her body had surely been created just to pleasure men, and he had wanted her to pleasure him from the first moment he had set eyes on her. The fact that he had been at his own wedding had not the power to stop his erection. His reputation as an international playboy had been honestly earned, his former mistresses had been sorry when it was time to end their affairs. He had had sex with some of the most beautiful women in the world and he had been willing to give it up. He had been willing to give his loyalty and fidelity to his new wife, the future mother of his children.

Then the little firecracker walked through the big double doors with her hourglass figure, her flaming hair, and her gorgeous legs. His bride looked pasty, overly made up, and anorexic. After seeing Cassidy, he had lost all will to complete the wedding ceremony and had absolutely no desire to bed the bride.

The baby squirmed uncomfortably on his lap, bringing his attention back to the situation at hand. It was halfway through with its milk and the look on the little face did not connote pleasure. In fact, it looked as if it were about to cry again. The pungent bottom moved. A look of pain encompassed the child's face whenever it shifted position.

No. He would not do it. He did not want to do it. He did not know how to do it. There was not enough money in the world to make him to do it.

The baby moaned around the rubber nipple. Quiet tears flowed from its dark brown eyes. Big hot drops landed on Theron's hand. Hitherto unknown compassion filled Theron at the child's agony. It became clear that he must get the child's wrappings off and put it into something dry. His men were proving to be insubordinate and were strangely missing while the child needed to be cared for.

He cast another hopeful glance out the windows. Not a nappy changer in sight. He was alone on this desolated country road with a child in need of help and no one but himself to provide that help.

First things first. How do you clean a child? He tried to put the child down on the seat, but it clung to his arm. Whimpering.

That gave him time to think and the thoughts he had were of the things people do in limos. There was no way Cassiopeia would forgive him for exposing her child to whatever might be ingrained in the leather upholstery of the damn car.

The blanket. He spread it on the seat and placed the child on top of it. Gingerly he unzipped the fuzzy pajamas, and peeled them off. The inside was coated with something nasty, so he tossed it into the far corner. He was glad he had upgraded to the SUV.

The interior was dim, but he could see the undershirt was just as bad. He found the snaps between the baby's legs and removed the shirt. He tried not to think about what was now coating his fingers.

He could taste the scotch he had earlier as it tried to leave his belly and fill his mouth. _Stop this right now_ , he commanded his stomach. _This is nothing compared to the smells on the wharves and in the canneries. You survived that and you will survive this. The baby needs you to be strong enough to take care of it._

He removed the child's wrapping and realized the cushiony things were actually throw-away nappies. The baby grabbed the clean nappy out of his hand and gnawed on it. Theron opened up the box of wet naps and started the process of cleaning the baby before he opened the other nappy.

"Okay, you are a boy," he observed as he cleansed the newly exposed area. "Young man, right now it is just you and me. So just bear with me while I figure out how to do this. You must understand, I tend to do everything very well, so I am sure this is not going to prove to be a problem. Then we shall find your mother and reunite the two of you."

The waning light showed a red rash on the boy's delicate skin. Blood oozed out of the sores. There was something wrong with the child. He must be taken to emergency services as quickly as possible. He reached for the door handle, but before he could open the door it flew open and Luca's bald head filled the aperture.

"We have found no sign of the woman. I think. . ." Luca sputtered to a stop as a stream of fluid flew over the baby's head and hit the chief of security in the chest.

"Gather the rest of the team. The baby needs medical help."

"Boy babies are known for doing that. It's disgusting, but he is fine," Luca, who had several nieces and nephews, responded calmly.

"No, no!" The normally urbane Theron battled down panic. He picked the baby up and shoved the little derriere in Luca's face. "He has wounds. He is bleeding."

"My nephew Spiro had a rash like that once. It is nothing serious. Just use the medicine in that tube on the floor next to your foot and he'll be fine," Luca said with a chuckle.

"How much do I give him? Should I mix it in his milk? Or should I give him water with it?" Theron let out a ragged breath. This baby business was a much more complicated than he imagined.

Luca appeared to be shocked for a moment "Ah, sir, the child must not ingest it, that would be toxic. It is a salve. You apply it directly to the affected area."

Theron opened the cap and smelled the white cream. He looked at the tube. There was no applicator. He dove into the bag "I can not find the applicator."

Luca held two fingers up. If Theron did not know better, he would think his Chief of Security, the man he considered as close as a brother, was biting the inside of his cheek. Was he laughing at his employer? "You don't use an applicator. You soothe it on with your fingers."

Luca _was_ laughing at him. "Since you have experience in these matters you may complete the task."

"I wouldn't dream of taking the child away from you. The two of you have bonded. Listen. He is calling you Daddy." The baby pulled himself up on the seat and threw himself, in all his naked glory, into Theron's arms. Luca laughed out loud. "It would be wrong to separate the two of you. It would confuse the little one. Make him cry."

The baby gave Theron a noisy kiss on the cheek. A sharp pain pierced the hard shell he had around his heart. He cared about this smelly chunk of humanity. With the exception of his mother and a few old friends, he had never cared for anyone before. Certainly not a child or one of his women. Caring for this child showed him he was truly feeling concerned about Cassidy. She had to be the real Cassiopeia; he could not let down the people of Evadne simply because he wanted the wrong woman.

He suspected it was no coincidence her "father" was in Texas at the same time as she disappeared, leaving an abandoned child and an open vehicle behind. Dame Fortune had looked out for the child. There had been three wild dogs, or were they coyotes, approaching the truck when they had stopped. Another coyote had jumped out of the vehicle. If they had been five minutes later the child would not have been found alive.

Shaky hands and a wiggling baby did not make it easy for a novice, but he managed to get the diaper on before Luca returned.

The child needed his mother.

"Theron, we must go to the authorities. Give them the child," Luca said.

"No. We must find the woman and give her back her child. She will not believe he is safe unless she sees him for herself," Theron's voice was husky with concern. The baby settled into the safety seat one of the men had brought to the limo. Theron covered him with the fleece blanket to keep him warm. After they found Cassidy the baby needed clothes. There was a chill in the air.

"We do not know this country. We have no idea where to start," Luca tried to reason with his friend.

"We may not know this country, but Costas Dolmides is being kept apprised. I would wager my fortune he knows of her location. We must find her before Dolmides people harm her."

"You have spoken to Dolmides tonight?" Luca asked.

"He called moments ago. Claiming Kelley's slimy relative has Cassidy in some nowhere little town, here in Texas."

"That's what he said. Some no where little town?" Luca asked. No one else would recognize the excitement underlying his tone, but Theron, as a lifelong friend, did. For the first time in an hour he felt his hopes rising. Luca continued to voice his thoughts, "There is a small town not many miles west of Primrose called Nowhere. That's where they've taken her. I know it. We must turn this over to the authorities. They will know where to look."

"No I must be the one to find her. I will not jeopardize her safety or her child's in any way. We have no standing here. It would take too much time to convince the authorities we are on the level."

"We don't know the area, the people. We don't know where to begin the search. Going to the police is the only option we have," Luca argued.

"We begin by searching the local motels." The baby jumped in his sleep. Theron unbuckled his seat belt and took off his leather jacket. He placed it over the sleeping baby, his hand lingering to caress the child's black curls. _I promise I will find your mother. I will keep you both safe._

"Theron, you are not thinking logically. The men who have taken this woman won't take her to a motel. They will go to some deserted place where no one will see or hear them. We must go to authorities. They will know the right places to look."

"To utilize the area properly Jenkins would have to find someone local to help him. He was in Greece until three days ago. That would not give him enough time to find the right locals. You have seen Cassidy's friends. They are not the sort most people would want to cross. He would have to be discreet to find the right thugs. People he could trust not to expose his plan." Theron relaxed his shoulders a little as he took comfort in his own words.

"If we do not find her in the local motels we will go to the authorities?" Luca insisted.

"Yes." Theron agreed.

# 11

Eighty-seven minutes later they were standing outside cabin twelve of the Lonesome Wrangler Motor Court. The sign boasted of having such luxuries as full size beds, hot showers, and color television.

Theron paid one thousand American dollars for a key to an already occupied room. The woman in the office with the straw hair and whiskey breath was more than eager to give it up once she was told she would also be able to keep the five hundred dollars Jenkins had given her to look the other way.

The woman made one request, no blood on the bed spread. She had bought it only three years before and she wasn't ready to replace it so soon. Theron shook his head at the woman's callousness. The dregs of society were still the dregs, whether they lived in Athens, London, or small town America.

Despite Luca's urging, Theron left the baby with the driver and prepared to enter the room with Luca.

He repressed the tremble that wanted to take over his hand as he reached for the lock. He opened the door. A roar erupted deep in his chest.

Cassidy was tied spread eagle on an iron bed. Her tee-shirt with the sexy pink scorpion caressing her breast was ripped down the middle. A man with a hypodermic needle poised above the vein in her arm knelt on the bed next to her.

Her porcelain complexion was now an ashen shade. Her breathing shallow. Sweat poured down her face, gathering on her chin where it formed a river that pooled between her breasts. The breasts the man who claimed to be her father had his hands wrapped around.

Theron and Luca had learned their fighting skills in the back alleys and wharves of Athens. They had been a team, fighting back-to-back. Theron did not take the time to calculate the best way to handle the situation. He didn't take the time to see who else might have been in the room. He just leapt with a mighty roar knocking the needle holder onto the floor with one judiciously placed kick to the chest while his fist caused a loud crunching sound as it shattered the nose and eye socket of Joe Jenkins. Luca and Marco easily took care of the other three men in the room.

While they secured the five men, Theron untied Cassidy and tried to bring her back to consciousness. It was clear that Cassidy had been given drugs before they had arrived. Now they must find out what the drugs were so that she could be treated properly.

Theron held the shivering woman in his arms while Luca found a clean blanket to wrap her in. Luca began questioning of the men. At first no one would speak until it became clear that Theron would have his answers no matter what measures had to be taken to get them. In fact, he favored more brutal methods to get quicker results.

When the laundry list of drugs was finally revealed, a deadly cold settled over Theron. Cassiopeia could die or suffer severe brain damage from the drug cocktail these men had had injected into her system. She needed medical attention immediately. That was the only reason the five men were left alive in the roach-filled motel room. Theron would not put her down, nor would he order his men to do a task which he wanted to do himself.

Back in the limo, with the baby sound asleep in his seat and Cassiopeia clutched tightly in his arms, Theron discovered a fear he had never felt before. It was the fear of losing someone special. Well, he was not going to let that happen. He borrowed Luca's mobile and made a series of calls.

# 12

Everything hurt. Everything. From her hair that was using knives and daggers trying to remove itself from her scalp to her toenails that were trying to get off her feet and take her tonsils with them.

Her tongue was so swollen it filled her entire mouth. Nothing would go down her throat, though that didn't really matter since there was nothing there to go down it anyway. At the same time, nothing would come out of her throat. Nothing. Not even the groan of agony that had fought its way up from the pit of her pain could get out of the desert that had once been her throat.

Her arms wouldn't move, which was a pity because she really wanted to rub the sand out of her eyes. Then maybe her eyelids would lift open. If she could see she would feel better. She knew she couldn't feel any worse. There was bright light, shining through her eyelids. Was it the sun?

What on earth had she done last night to feel so bad this morning?

This morning. What was so important about this morning? Bile rose in her throat. Why couldn't she remember? Her breath shortened. There was something important she was supposed to do today? But what? What?

Tears seeped through her closed eyelids and trailed over the curve of her cheekbones. Why wasn't her brain functioning? She always awoke clear headed! She always reviewed her daily plans and obligations before she had to face the day. Why couldn't she remember? Why couldn't she move?

She had to pull herself together. Quickly. Enzio would wake up any minute and he needed her to have her act together.

Enzio!

Of course!

Baby Z. Rico's son. Now her son. He needed her. She needed him. They loved each other. They were a family.

She tried again, but she couldn't move. She had to open her eyes, get out of this bed, and take care of her family.

She tried to get up, but, oh, she hurt. Was she paralyzed? Was she in an accident? But if she was paralyzed would she be in so much pain?

The ranch. She owned a ranch. She had to get out of bed to run it. She had a dozen special needs kids arriving after breakfast. They were going to spend two fun-filled days working with horses, riding horses, and eating around a campfire near their horses. They certainly didn't want to find their hostess still in bed looking like a bedraggled Raggedy Anne doll left outside for the entire monsoon season. She had to get up and shower, no matter how lousy she felt. After a good hot shower she would feel just hunky dory. She would. She had to. There was no one else to keep things running if she wasn't.

How egocentric did that sound? It's not that she thought she was indispensable or anything, but in this case the ranch would be too short-handed to keep the children for the weekend without her there to help. It would be a real shame for those poor kids to have gotten up before the crack of dawn, traveled on a bus for hours, and then be sent straight back again. It wasn't fair. Just because she had a touch of the flu those brave little kids shouldn't have to suffer.

It would be okay once she could reach the phone. She'd call Lynda and have her step in. Everything would be fine. Lynda was actually better handling the kids than she was. Once she took a couple of pain killers, drank some vitamin C, and took a long, hot shower she'd be better than new. Then she would go out and enjoy herself with the kids and the horses.

It hurt like hell, but she slowly slid her arm in the direction of the oak night table where she kept her phone. It shouldn't be that far away. She only had a double bed. That's all she needed since the only one to ever share the bed with her was baby Z. Too bad that big hunk of burnin' Greek lust wasn't around. She would give odds that he knew how to use a bed so that no spot was wasted and very little sleepin' went on in it. _Bet he wouldn't like this old iron bed. It would be too short for him, the old mattress too lumpy, the woman in it too plain_ , she thought dismally.

He wouldn't like her too short, lumpy body either. She had _googled_ him a few times, okay more than a few times, since she had come back from Greece. All his "women friends" were tall and slender, like Julia. They looked like glamorous sticks in their five hundred dollar shoes, ten thousand dollar dresses, and endless bleach jobs. They had probably never met a piece of chocolate they could keep down.

_Stop this right now,_ she told herself. _You've been obsessing over that man for more than a week. It's time to let go of the erotic dreams and the hopes of a happy ever after ending and get out of this bed. You've got children to care for today and a bar to run tonight. Nothing in your world takes care of itself._

Once again she inched her arm in the direction of the phone. The effort took so much energy and she hurt so badly that the tears once again leaked out of her swollen eyelids and rolled down her cheeks. Something must be really wrong with her. The tears burned as they slid down the dried skin of her cheeks. It really hurt. Oh no. Oh no! Had she been exposed to radiation? Or a pandemic? Was she so sick she had to stay away from the baby? Please, please, don't let him already be exposed. If anything were to happen to Enzio her heart would be forever lost.

Blackness engulfed her again.

# 13

More light. She was seeing more of the light. Okay, so now she was hallucinating. The muted rose of her bedroom walls had changed to a deep rust color and there were too many windows. Her bedroom was a corner room which meant she had two windows, one on each outside wall. This place, wherever here was, had an entire wall of windows. Her vision was blurred, but she knew the difference between white curtains and burgundy. The sky didn't seem right, and the sun was in the wrong place. The air was off, too. It didn't smell right. Where was the sweet aroma of horse manure?

Her heart stopped.

It had been so dark, in spite of the full moon. The electronic gate would not open and she had to get out of her truck to open it manually. Arms grabbed her from behind. A stinky cloth suffocated her nose and mouth, burning the sensitive skin on her face. The stars exploded into a black hole. Then nothing.

Where was her baby and where the hell was she?

She had left Zio alone in the truck. But the truck wasn't here. She wasn't on the ground outside her ranch. Her heart was shredding inside of her. Where was her baby?

"Mama. Mama!"

"Shhh, _moro_ , your _mitera mikros_ is sleeping." A deep voice spoke quietly. Its slight accent haunted Cassidy's memory. "If I let you on the bed with your little mama you may kiss her, but no hugging. Remember, it hurts mama when you squeeze her."

Relief flooded Cassidy's bruised heart. Enzio was here. He was safe. _Please,_ she wanted to plead, but her dried lips couldn't move. No sound came out. Nothing. Not even a moan. _Let me hold my sweet baby,_ she silently begged.

The mattress dipped as a weight that far exceeded Baby Z settled on it. Goose bumps covered her arms as she tried to control the trembling that started deep in her soul as she felt the presence of a large man. When she realized he didn't have the sour stench of old sweat reeking off of him she tried to relax the muscles that were beginning to clench into a Charley Horse. He wasn't one of the men who had grabbed her. Those men didn't know such a thing as soap existed, never mind how to use it, and they wreaked of evil. This man smelled refreshing, like a long cool drink on a hot summer day.

It hurt to breathe. She tried a deeper breath and realized there were constricting bands wrapped around her mid-section. Did those bastards break her ribs?

Who was this guy? She knew it wasn't her creepy uncle; he would never be nice to Z. He would have left the crying baby alone in the truck.

She felt a warm little hand patting her cheek. There must be some bruising on her face because the baby's little hand hurt her. Cassidy didn't care about the pain; the joy of knowing her son was safe was the only thing that mattered.

The bed whirled like Dorothy's house caught in the tornado. She hadn't felt this degree of vertigo since the last time she had to drive into the Rockies to pick up the children who were to spend a week at Pegasus. Driving along the cliff edges, the sheer drop-offs threatened her sanity and her resolve to complete the mission. She had been forced to realize that her fear of heights was not just relegated to tall buildings.

She had vowed then and there to be a flatlander for the rest of her life. Somebody else would have to do the pick-ups. Common sense told her she would not fall off a mountain, but common sense had nothing to do with her fear. Rico used to tease her about it. He said one day he would take her to Paris and leave her at the top of the Eiffel Tower. He would have, too, if he hadn't tried to stop a man in the barrio from beating his wife to death. The man, a suspected drug dealer, was negotiating for a reduced sentence while her Rico was dead and his son was left an orphan. With the help of some of Rico's fellow Rangers and Moose's legal expertise, Cassidy married Rico on his death bed and he signed his will and the guardianship papers, giving Cassidy the sole legal custody of Enzio. Otherwise, there might have been a legal battle and Zio could have ended up living with strangers.

She couldn't think about it anymore. It hurt too much.

She couldn't see anything, but she felt a warm breeze float across her skin. Loose tendrils of her hair brushed against her sensitive nose. She tried, but she couldn't lift her hands to push the annoying stuff away. The mattress shifted. A gentle hand brushed her hair behind her ear. She felt safe. S-a-f-e.

She felt glorious. Soothed. No, that wasn't the right word. She felt more than soothed she felt languorous. Sensual.

Something warm and moist gently patted her face, swirled over her neck and then skittered over her breasts. She savored the aroma of fresh spring flowers after a rain storm, everything smelled clean and fresh. She was sprawled on her back enjoying the wonderful feeling elicited from the slow slide of water down the sides of her breasts. Her nipples tightened into buds. She had never had a fantasy like this one before. Her fantasy life usually revolved around getting the bills paid on time and making payroll with a little extra thrown in to put into Zio's college fund.

What the . . . No, No, No! She mustn't use bad language. Z parrots everything he hears. It is easier if he doesn't learn the word in the first place, than to try to break him of it later. She would _not_ be the "do as I say, not as I do" type of parent.

_Cassidy._ Snap. Snap. Snap. _Keep on topic. Something weird's going on._

The wonderful warmth left her breasts. She heard water cascading into a pool of water. Then the warmth was back and getting intimate with her belly button. _Pain!_ Her belly button ring was being yanked. It hurt. A male voice uttered something fierce. He was swearing in Greek!

"Hey, watch your mouth. I don't want Z to learn any bad words," she declared in a weak voice she didn't recognize.

"Ah, you are finally awake." The pain in her belly subsided. At the same time Cassidy realized she was naked, she was mortified to hear his chuckle. There was a man in the room and she was naked! Good Heavens! Her hands scrambled around as she searched for something to cover up with. "Hold still. Hold still. What do you think you are doing?"

"Don't look at me. Please, I need to get covered up." Her voice sounded like a sander grinding on dried wood, and it felt even worse.

"You have a magnificent body. There is no need to cover it," the man declared. His slightly accented voice sounded familiar. She groaned as she realized that not just any man had seen her naked. It had to be Theron Christofides, her daddy's top pick for husband material.

"I am sorry, Cassiopeia, but I must look at you. I cannot untangle the wash cloth from your jewelry if I do not look."

"Eeeek!" Her shriek echoed off the walls. "A wash cloth! What are you doing to me?"

Her eyes finally opened with a pop. She could see the dark skinned Greek billionaire, whose wedding to her cousin she had disrupted, standing over her wearing a bright white tee shirt and old faded jeans. His normally well-groomed hair hung over his face. Reclining on the bed as she was, she couldn't help but notice the huge bulge in those jeans. Could a zipper explode? Because if it could his would at any moment.

He looked so yummy, good enough to eat.

"Relax I am doing nothing nefarious, merely giving you a sponge bath."

Her mouth dropped open. "A sp-sp-sponge bath?" Did she just shriek?

"You have a tendency to stammer. I never noticed that before. I hope our son does not inherit that trait from you. It will make doing business very difficult for him when he takes over the helm."

_Does not compute,_ a tinny voice inside her head droned. _Your computer has encountered a fatal error. Danger. Danger. Does not compute._

"I don't think he should have your eyes, either. They are beautiful eyes, but the color is too feminine for a boy. No, it will be much better to save your eyes for a girl child."

"You're crazy. We don't have, nor are we ever going to have, any children." Her eyes were now as big as the pansy's they were so often compared to. "At least not together."

Before he could respond she heard a familiar cry from somewhere outside the room, "Theee! Theee!"

She struggled to sit up, but ended up grimacing when her elbows could not support her.

"Your son is awake. I must attend to him before he starts shouting." A smile warmed his full lips. "He is very impatient. Much as I am." He gently pushed her shoulders back down on the mattress and pulled the sheet that draped her lower body over her breasts. "Do not try to move. You are not strong enough yet." He picked a white cotton tee-shirt off the foot of the bed and lifted her shoulders.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" She really hated that squeak in her voice. She wasn't a squeaky sort of person. It made her sound weak and she wasn't weak, damn it. She was a strong woman. Strong women did not squeak!

"Relax, _pedhaki mou._ It is just a shirt to cover you. I did not think you would like to be uncovered in front of your son." She could not believe how gentle his hands were as he pulled the shirt over her body. No one had ever touched her with such sensitivity before.

"I didn't like being uncovered in front of you, but that didn't stop you from undressing me."

"Ah, the _pyrotechnia_ returns," he patted her shoulder. "You did not have any clothes on when I found you, so I did not undress you."

The blood blazed its way into her face. "Then what were you doing to me?"

"I was merely bathing you. It has been quite warm and I thought to soothe you while you were unconscious."

"Theeeee!"

"I will bring your son to you." He paused with his hand on the door knob "What is the name of the _moro_?"

_Moro? Moro?_ After all those years of Greek classes she didn't know what _moro_ meant. The foolish desire to cry overwhelmed her. "I'm sorry, I don't understand."

"The child. By what name do you call him?"

"Z.

He looked blank "You gave him a letter for a name?

"We call him Z. Short for Zio. Which is short for Enzio." She couldn't believe she actually heard a giggle coming out of her throat.

Theron stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. Now that her eyes were open and her vision clear she took the opportunity to get a better look at her surroundings and tried not to think about why she was naked when he found her. And where did he find her unclothed?

The one thing she knew for certain; this was not her room. Nor was it any room she had ever seen before. Where the hell was she? And why did she have wires coming out of her arm? She was on an intravenous? Why hadn't she notice that when the hunk was putting the shirt on her? She was filled with questions and feared what the answers would be.

She also hated to admit to herself that when Theron was near her, touching her, tingly sensations raced through her body. He hadn't just been near her, he had been touching her and looking at her body. Those weren't just tingles, they had been high voltage electrical shocks sizzling through her veins. What was it about the man that made her react in such an uncharacteristic way to him?

She had to stop distracting herself with thoughts of tingles and find out what was going on.

"Mama. Mama!" Her son's excited voice brought out of her reverie. She opened her arms and Enzio's warm squirmy body crashed onto her chest as his arms wrapped around her neck and wet kisses covered her face. Her arms convulsively closed around his dear little body. She didn't know what had happened to her, but she was sure she never wanted to be parted from this little guy ever again.

An unaccustomed lump of emotion formed in Theron's heart as he watched the mother/son reunion. Even laying down, wearing an old shirt of his, with her hair a rat's nest, and the pallor of the last few days clinging to her soft skin, she exuded nothing but love and concern for the child she held so close to her heart. The same child he had grown close to in the time they had spent together.

He would ask her one last time. If she told him she was Cassiopeia this time, he would end his agreement with Costas Dolmides. He would have to find another way to save Evadne. This young woman had suffered enough at the hands of Jenkins and Dolmides. Their game was not his.

# 14

All she had to do now was climb back into the bed. But it was a very high bed. She clung to the oak post at the foot of the four poster as a wave of dizziness rolled over her. Dragging herself into the _en suite_ bathroom had been more of a chore than she had thought it would be. The warm water did little to revive her, but she had to be clean before that man took into his head to complete the earlier sponge bath. That gorgeous, hunky man.

As she gasped for breath and tried to gather the strength needed to get her onto the high bed, she looked around the magnificent room. The room was large enough to contain two ceiling fans. The windows, though open to the breeze, were covered by white gauze curtains that blocked the view. As much as she would like to, she couldn't see out the windows. From where she stood it looked as if an entire football field lay between her and the goal posts.

She needed to know where she was. She had to have an escape route. No matter where she was she always had to have a way out. Three or four routes were even better.

Theron quietly opened the door so as not to disturb Cassidy's healing sleep. To his astonishment she was standing, if you could call the bed holding her up standing. Her hair dripped water onto the white tee shirt clinging to her luscious body.

Why on earth had he spent so many years with skinny women? They enjoyed the trendiest restaurants, ordered the most expensive dishes, and then proceeded to push the food around on their plates without any of it crossing their lips. The few women who would actually eat some of the food would purge before the night was over. When he came across one of them, the night always ended early. No amount of mouth wash in the world could erase the memory of hearing someone vomiting.

None of his former mistresses would have survived all that Cassidy had been through. She was thinner after her ordeal, since she had not been able to eat, but she was still the fire haired termagant who had burst into the church on April first. Everything about her was real. Looking at her clinging to the bed he realized that none of the women he had known before had been real, not their hair, their teeth, or their breasts. Even their interest in him was based on what his bank account and notoriety could do for them.

The _pyrotechnia_ sneered at him and his money.

Cassidy didn't know Theron was in the room until she was swept up by his two strong arms. The vertigo went away to be replaced by a tingling in her tummy and the budding of her nipples. She had never felt like this before. It must be a residual reaction to whatever had happened to her.

She didn't like to be touched. Her breasts started developing when she was twelve. The boys in school took notice. There had been many times they had corned her to grab her breasts or to shove their hands up her skirts. They always had rude comments to make. Most of the teachers knew what was going on, but they didn't do anything to stop it. It wasn't just the boys, either. Mr. Polanski, her seventh grade math teacher, cornered her once and put his hand down her blouse and touched her nipple. He followed her home in his car and when he couldn't "seduce" her he resorted to blackmail. He thought because she was illegitimate and not even her mother wanted her that she would be easy prey. He didn't realize that Grammie, _Tia_ Maria, and Enrico had raised her to value herself. She had gone immediately to Grammie and told her what was happening.

Grammie, a no-nonsense feminist, went directly to the police.

Mr. Polanski not only found himself without a job, he found himself in jail. Other girls came forward after the news reported what he was charged with and said he had done the same thing to them. He pleaded guilty, so none of the girls actually had to testify in court.

Grammie believed women had to respect themselves and their bodies. She had failed with Kelley, but not with Cassidy.

Cassidy respected herself. She treated her body well.

Hell! She was still a virgin. She had never met a man who made her want to change that situation. Until now.

She could protect herself from men, but how was she supposed to protect herself from herself?

Theron placed her gently on the bed.

He looked into her deep purple eyes. Eyes that were finally clear and bright with the intelligence he had seen her display time and time again. They were deep with emotion and worry. She was vulnerable.

Theron wanted to kiss her more than he wanted to draw another breath. He wanted to hold her in his arms, possibly forever. He needed to keep her safe and reassure her that all would be well.

There had been many moments over the last few days when he feared for her life. For her sanity.

He did not need to ask her if she was the real Cassiopeia. He already knew she was. While delirious she responded to Cassiopeia and Cassidy, but not to Julia. He had no more doubts.

Theos! He needed to kiss her.

Her lips were not the puffy butt-fat filled lips, made popular by actresses and supermodels. Her lips were in the shape of Cupid's bow. Naturally a dark rosy pink, and always ready to lift in a smile. Would they already be warm, or would he have to warm them?

He had to kiss her. But he didn't like kissing. That whole butt fat idea always made him nauseous. He really wanted to kiss this woman, though.

But he could not. He had to give her time to recover. Regain her senses. Let her make the choice if she wanted to kiss him. He could not take advantage of her, especially not after what he had seen in that motel room. She was fragile and needed to be protected, even from him. This was not a good time for his housekeeper to be away helping her pregnant daughter.

Cassidy's eyes gazed into his.

Theron leaned closer. Her heavily lashed lids lowered. Gently his lips covered hers.

Paradise!

Her lips were so soft. So warm.

He could hear her heart thumping. Or was that his?

He realized it was the two combined, in a perfectly matched rhythm. He had never felt such excitement from anything before, especially not from a simple kiss. He had to end this. He could not take advantage of her in her weakened condition.

Last year he had been involved with the actress named the sexiest woman in the world. She was an expert with her mouth and tongue. He had never reached this level of excitement with her, not even when she had used that talented mouth of hers on him in the lavatory at a White House function. Never mind from a closed mouth kiss.

He did not like kissing, but this was not a kiss. This was a connection of two lost souls.

Cassiopeia's arms were wrapped around his neck. One hand slid into his hair. She sighed against his mouth.

Without another thought his tongue savored the shape of her lips before slipping into the opening she provided. The feelings, the desire, overwhelmed him. It was more than he could ever have imagined. His arms pulled her closer. Their bodies touched from lips to hips and his erection was pushing into her belly.

"Thee. Theee!"

Theron's hard-on pushed against her belly. Erotic tension pulsed through her.

His hands tugged at the hem of her long tee shirt. Cassidy wore nothing underneath the shirt. Was this it? Was she about to make love for the first time in her life?

His mouth left hers and went directly to a newly bared breast. As soon as his mouth touched her nipple she felt a gush of moisture in her most private of spots.

"Mama. Mama."

"Did you hear something?" She didn't want to break the moment, but she was sure she heard something.

"Ummm." He transferred his attention to the other breast.

"Thee. Theeee!"

Abruptly he jerked his mouth away. He cursed under his breath. He was not sure how it had happened but he had joined her on the bed. He _never_ lost control. He _always_ knew what he was doing.

"Theee!"

" _Theos_!" He jumped off the bed. Once again he pulled the shirt down to cover her tempting body. He hoped she did not see the tremor in his hands. "I must get your son. Remind me when he starts bringing girls home to interrupt him often."

"We are alone here?" Her voice was husky, he hoped from desire. His control slipped dangerously. If she said another word he would be ripping the shirt off her and climbing back onto the bed.

Then he realized he heard apprehension in her voice and did not understand the cause. They had been on the verge of making love. Surely, she was not afraid of being alone with him. Or perhaps that is what frightened her.

" _Ne,_ yes, it is just the three of us here." He could read the question in her beautiful eyes "It is you, Enzio, and I."

"Oh."

"I will bring Enzio to you. If you feel capable of watching him, I will leave him with you for a few minutes while I go to the kitchen and get you something to eat."

"You don't have to wait on me. I can go down to the kitchen and get myself something later. I'm not very hungry right now." Cassidy did not meet his eyes as she spoke.

"My darling _pyrotechnia mikros_ , you cannot stand up, even with the wooden post of the bed as your backbone. It is imperative you begin to eat so that you may regain your strength. For now I will limit the food to some toast, orange juice, and tea. The doctor says not to put heavy food into your system yet." He left the room in order to prevent her further arguments. Theron could not suppress the smile that burst on his face at the evidence that her spirit was returning after her ordeal.

# 15

Cassidy snuggled under the sheet and light blanket Theron had covered her with. He had been right. She had started to feel much better after she had eaten the toast and jam he had fixed for her. Of course the O.J. and tea helped a great deal to increase her energy, but she knew she was far from feeling back up to her fighting strength.

Enzio and Theron had stayed in the bedroom with her for over an hour. She had admired Z's new clothes and read him _Goodnight Moon_. It was kind of Theron to get her son new clothes and books while she was not able to care for him herself.

She could barely keep her eyes open when Theron carried Zio out of the room so she could nap. She had wanted the baby to sleep in the bed with her, but Theron wouldn't hear of it. "He has been inside all day. He is very happy to have his mama back, but you must not be selfish. While you sleep he can be outside and enjoy the fresh Greek sunshine."

Cassidy hated to admit it, but he was right, Zio did need to be outside. After all, he was a Texan and there was nothing a Texan loved better than being out in the wide open spaces. Theron said something that niggled at her brain, but as she snuggled deeper into the pillow she couldn't imagine what it was. She'd think about it later when she wasn't so exhausted.

When she awoke her "boys" were back with soup and toast.

After dinner they joined her on the bed until Zio dove into her arms and excruciating pain shot through her entire body. A groan escaped her before she could bite it back. Theron had Enzio in his arms and away from her before the stars had stopped exploding in front of Cassidy's eyes.

"It's okay, I can hold my son," she whispered around the pain.

"Later. After you have rested," was his cruel answer. "Kiss your son and I will bring him back to you later." He lowered Enzio for her kiss and then he placed the child on the floor while he held out a pill and a glass of water. "Take this."

"What is it?" she asked suspiciously.

"It is just medication for your pain. Take it and rest. I will bring the child back after you have both had a chance to nap."

"You promise?" She hated the pleading sound in her voice.

"I promise."

After she complied with his wishes, he placed the refilled glass next to her bed, covered her with a light blanket, then walked out with her son.

_They looked so cute together, the tall, dark haired man and her small dark haired son,_ she thought drowsily as she dropped into a deep sleep.

The next few days fell into a pattern of Theron bringing Enzio in to share breakfast with her. After the food was eaten Cassidy was allowed to play with her son until the boy became rambunctious. Then Theron would swoop the boy away and insist on Cassidy resting. The boys would return with lunch and repeat the morning pattern. Early evening a freshly bathed Zio snuggled with his mama while she read him stories and sang to him. She was self-conscious singing in front of Theron, she knew she couldn't hold a tune, but babies did not criticize, they just loved you, bad voice and all.

As the doses of pain medication were lowered, her dreams began filling in the horror of what had happened to her. She didn't mention it to Theron. She couldn't bring herself to talk about it, even though she knew she had to thank him for saving her. But how do you thank someone for what he had done, for what he was doing?

Words were inadequate.

She would have to withdraw her injunction and let him marry Julia.

# 16

After what felt like forever, Theron carried a comfortable armchair into the bathroom so that she could oversee Enzio's bath. It was startling to see how close Zio and Theron were and the amount of fun they had with the bath water. Rico had died when the baby was only a few weeks old, and although she had Mountain Man and Moose around the boy a lot, they weren't daddy and didn't do daddy things with him. The boy obviously enjoyed the boats and water animals that inhabited his bath and the stories and games that went along with them.

Enzio's delighted chortle brought her attention back to the tub where a fleet of ships were in danger of being sunk. Cassidy couldn't help but notice the front of Theron's shirt was soaked and molded to his finely developed chest. The two boys played with the ships until they were sunk, then the three of them returned to the bed where she and Theron took turns reading to Zio until he was ready to fall asleep.

Tears were too close to her eyes, so she didn't fuss when Theron picked Enzio up to leave. Z put his little hands on the sides of her face and kissed her goodnight. Theron followed it with a quiet kiss of his own. It was nothing more than a peck, but the tingle went all the way down to her toes. Before the guys left her room. Theron made a great show of tucking her in. "If you are a good girl in the morning and eat all your breakfast, perhaps Enzio and I will allow you to join us outside on the veranda for a while."

She had slept for hours, but at three o'clock in the morning she awoke and couldn't go back to sleep. She laid there replaying all that had happened since she woke up to the sponge bath. She suddenly realized that in the whirlwind of pain and excitement she hadn't really thought about where she was.

Enzio was with her and appeared to be happy, healthy, and safe, so she had let herself remain in a haze as to where here was. But at three o'clock in the morning she suddenly remembered the first conversation she had with Theron, right after she found him washing her. He had said they were in Greece.

Her last memory was of being in Texas. She remembered something about Jane Bowen whipping Jack Franklin's butt with a stick and Joan Franklin wanting to hurt Annie May Cox. She had to get back to the Scorpion's Tail and make sure everything was all right.

Cassidy didn't know how she got out of the Lone Star state or why Theron brought her to Greece. Had he orchestrated her kidnapping?

She should be afraid, but she wasn't. She felt safe. Was he drugging her to ensure her compliance?

Cassidy didn't fear Theron, she was excited at the thought of going outside with her son. She was dying to see where she was. Cassidy cocked her head toward the window trying to listen for clues. All she heard were the love calls of night insects and the gentle whirring of the ceiling fans. It wasn't anything like home where you could hear the owls hooting in the night sky as they dove for the little critters they were so good at spotting or the bats as they captured mosquitoes on the fly. The lonely howl of the wolf whose mate was murdered last year always echoed through her own heart. The occasional horse's neigh, the crickets, and peepers always filled the night with music at her ranch.

Here all she heard were the crickets.

She missed Pegasus, but she looked forward to seeing more of the Greek countryside before she went home. From the little she had seen on her last "visit" to Greece, it was a spectacular country. That is as long as she stayed on the ground. Lynda had dragged her off to the Acropolis on their last visit. It was a gorgeous structure. An amazing structure. She loved the artistry in the statues of the museum, the beauty and grace of form that was captured forever in marble.

Her problem was that Athena's temple was built on a "hill" as high as Mount Everest. Lynda called her crazy, but when she looked out and saw Athens spread out so far below her booted feet, she knew the gods would laugh as she fell off that mountain. It had taken Lynda hours to lead her quivering body down the path to the safety at the bottom of that monstrous height. Elderly men on walkers passed them, but her legs shook so badly she could barely stand. Her body still got all cold and clammy just thinking about it. Never again would she allow anyone to take her higher than the second floor, and even that would be under duress.

To get her mind off her disturbing memories she once again listened for clues as to where they were. There were no traffic sounds. No trains. No planes. No other voices could be heard. _Well,_ she thought, _Theron is a Greek tycoon. They all own private islands._ Perhaps he brought her to his private island. _Alone with Mr. McHottie. Ooooh! Wasn't that romantic?_ Except, of course, for the fact that her face was now a lovely shade of mustard yellow from where it had previously been black and blue.

Maybe Theron would kiss her again. He was a great kisser. In fact, he was the best kisser she had ever met. She might still be a virgin, but she had been kissed. Many times.

Just a few more hours and she would find out everything she wanted to know. Perhaps more than she wanted to know, a little voice whispered in the back of her mind.

# 17

_S omething wasn't right about this place_, Cassidy thought. The air didn't feel right. It felt thinner, harder to breathe, like when she had to do that horror drive into the Rockies.

She sat in the shade, on a beautiful patio overlooking the pool. Back home the folks who had pools either had above ground pools or large rectangular ones such as those that were favored by the town facilities. This pool looked like pictures of a romantic grotto she had seen in the picture books Grammie kept on the coffee table. She was surrounded by shade trees, grassy walkways, and exotic flowers. The blue water looked soothing; it called to her.

Unfortunately when Theron came with her breakfast this morning he had brought along a very small pile of clothes consisting of a man's white button down shirt, and her own lavender lace bra and panties. There wasn't a bathing suit or a pair of jeans or anything that was going to cover much.

Theron's rueful grin didn't fool her. She could see lust in his eyes as he explained that her clothes had been ruined before he had reached her. She shuddered as she remembered the look on that horrible monster Jenkins's face as he had cut the clothes off her trembling body. She had been really lucky Theron had arrived in time to save her. She knew Jenkins would have raped her if he hadn't been stopped. After the things he had tried to do to her when she was only fifteen, she wasn't surprised. The only surprise was that he hadn't raped her while she was unconscious. To a deviant like Joe Jenkins it wouldn't have mattered if she was conscious or not.

" _Pyrotechnia mikros_ , come. Join us!" Theron leaned his forearms along the edge of the pool closest to her; his bronzed shoulders as broad as any linebacker's on the Dallas Cowboys' roster. His muscles were so well developed Cassidy wanted to run her hands over them and see if they were as hard and smooth as they looked. As she stared at him, his nipples hardened into delicious looking points. The sudden desire to lick him overcame her good sense and her tongue had to moisten her lower lip.

She heard him groan. Was he in pain? Had he hurt himself carrying her around all the time? Was he having cramps from eating before he went in to swim? It was pain, but not from eating too much. She knew that hungry look, she had seen it often enough on the faces of the lonely cowboys who asked her out.

"Why do you call me that? I had Greek lessons when I was younger, but I don't remember learning _pyrotechnia_."

"When you waltzed down the church aisle with the sunshine glistening in your hair, you reminded me of a little firecracker. All fire and energy. Then you opened your mouth and confirmed it." His grin lit up her heart.

_Oh boy! I'm really in trouble here,_ she thought.

"Do you require help walking to the pool?" he asked.

"I-I can't. I don't have a bathing suit," she stammered.

"You do not need a suit here, _pethi mou._ It is just you and I and Enzio. You do not need to wear anything if you wish, or you may wear just your shirt or your under things. We do not mind. Do we Enzio?"

"Well I would mind. I do _not_ make a habit of running around naked in front of my son. Or anyone else for that matter!" She stood up with her arms crossed over her chest. Her legs felt like limp spaghetti, but they managed to hold her up.

A happy grin covered Theron's face. Cassidy became instantly suspicious. That smile was definitely a happy smile, not a let me charm you out of your panties smile. It couldn't be the result of her saying no to a skinny dip. Cassidy knew all too well she would never be offered the position of Playboy centerfold, but she only knew two men who had no desire to see her naked, and they were both gay. Theron didn't seem gay. Then again, when she woke up that first day she was bare naked. Nothing covered her body at all, except the wash cloth he was running over her, and her belly button ring. Maybe he saw enough of her and just didn't like her body. Maybe he just didn't like her.

So why did he have a smile on his face? He didn't seem like the kind of fool who walked around with a smile on his face all day. At least not the kind smile that reached those deep dark eyes. Not smiles that came from the heart; smiles that came from the soul.

She shook her head and brought her attention back from admiring the sun shining on the drops of water that were sensuously sliding their way from his, umm, so-broad shoulders to his well-toned, bronzed pectorals. His brown nipples were peeking and calling to her. Her tongue wanted to taste him. They reminded her of the maple sugar candy Grammie used to buy her when they traveled to New Hampshire every autumn to view the foliage. She loved sucking on that candy; it was so sweet and tasty. Would he be as sweet and tasty?

_Cassidy! Stop eating him with your eyes. He's speaking to you and you don't have a clue what he's saying._ Cassidy rolled her eyes as she castigated herself for her inattention.

_OhmiGod! He's climbing out of the pool!_

"Don't you dare!" She said as she pointed a finger at him.

"Dare? Dare what?" he asked as he hoisted himself onto the edge of the pool nearest her.

"You get right back in that water. You can't leave Z in there all alone!"

"He is quite safe. He is wearing the best floatation devices on the market." He lowered himself back into the water "They have received the highest rankings from the United States Government Consumer Products Board, _Consumer Reports_ , and," he paused and snapped his fingers as if he were trying to remember something, "We also have, um, what do they call it, ah, yes, the _Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval_. The devices are manufactured by one of my companies. They are used on my cruise ships. I have nothing but the best of equipment on my ships. My PA assures me Enzio is safer in these devices than he is in his mother's arms."

She gasped at the hubris, the down right gall of the man. "A child is never safe when he is left unattended in water!"

"He is not unattended. We are both right here watching him," he said in a conciliatory tone. "Plus I have been teaching him to swim all week. He has been blessed by Poseidon and is like a fish in the water."

Cassidy flushed guiltily. She hadn't been watching her son; she had been too busy acting like the mother of six, married to a man with a large spare tire around his gut. It was like going to see The Chippendales for the very first time. (Wooo, Mama! Better bring a lot of dollars!)

Only instead of staring at some unknown stud-muffin in a g-string, she was staring at this _hunka hunka burnin' love._ He had such lovely bronze skin as far as the eye could see. Bronze face. Bronze shoulders. Bronze chest. Bronze washboard abs. (She didn't like to think in terms of six packs, it reminded her of work.) Bronze powerful thighs. Bronze calves. Even his feet were bronze. Was he bronze _everywhere?_

Those darn swimming trunks covered more than her mini-skirts did! Was he still an even bronze under them? Was it his natural skin color? Did he usually swim and sunbathe "au natural" like so many other Europeans were said to?

In spite of wearing tight clothes, short skirts, and showing more cleavage then Marilyn Monroe on a hot day on a tropical island, Cassidy was a prude. She freely admitted it. She didn't want everyone to see her body parts, no matter how many times somebody said, "Hey come on, you ain't got nothin' I haven't seen before." Her response was always, "Good. Since you've seen it so much, you don't need to see mine."

Yes, she's a prudish Yankee and proud of it. Nobody had seen hers, except for her doctor, and nobody will either, as long as they have _that_ kind of attitude. But, boy, even though she felt like a hypocrite, she sure would like to see what Theron had. Besides that, he had already seen hers. Fair was fair!

Cassidy dressed the way she did for two reasons. Work. And to hide who she really was.

Most people spent so much time looking at her breasts they couldn't tell you what color eyes she had. If nobody looked you in the face, then they never saw the real you.

After Rico rescued her from Joe and Patsy Jenkins and helped her escape, she knew how important it was to remain incognito. She needed a disguise to hide and protect herself. Nobody would identify or confuse the innocent little Catholic school girl in her buttoned up blouse, navy blue vest, knee length plaid skirt, and tightly braided hair for the wild chick with the endless legs, big boobs, and untamed curls.

Yeah, she would like to see what Theron's skin looked like, but unlike that mother of six let loose in Chippendale's, she didn't want a man who shook it in front of every woman's face. She wanted a man who valued his body and his privacy as much as she did hers.

"Come, _pyrotechnia mou_ , come join us in the pool." He sent another one of his devastating smiles her way. "Swimming will help you regain your strength."

Oh dear heavens! She wanted _this_ man. It didn't matter that she didn't know anything about his morals or ethics, and what she did know scared the vinegar out of her. She wanted him anyway.

She could hear Grammie's voice in her head. _Girl, if you're not careful you're going to end up in his bed. You'll end up just like your mother, with a baby nobody wants. You'll regret it. You mark my words, you'll regret it._

_Grammie, I love you, but you always show up at the most inconvenient times. For crying out loud I'm the only twenty-five year old virgin left on earth. I might be a virgin, but I'm not totally stupid. I'm sure he must have a supply of condoms somewhere in this huge mansion._

Grammie would say, _Condoms are not fool proof._

_Well, any baby of mine wouldn't be unwanted. I'll want her, I'll keep her, and I'll love her. Just like you always loved me._ Grammie didn't have an answer for that one.

"You know how to swim, do you not?"

Cassidy had to shake Grammie out of her head before she could understand what the glistening bronzed god in the pool said. "Of course I know how to swim." Her eyes flashed bolts of electricity at him. "We lived right next to the ocean. Grammie signed me up for swim classes at the local Y while I was still in diapers."

"So you choose not to cool off in the water with Enzio and me because. . ."

She wrapped her arms around her and pouted her lower lip. "I'm quite comfortable, thank you."

"You do not find the Greek sun hot this time of year?"

"I live in Texas. I'm used to the heat," her voice faltered under is gaze. _Please don't notice the sweat rolling down my face._ "I'm not hot!" She finished in a near shout.

"Tisk. Tisk. Tisk." Droplets of water flew from his coal black hair. "You should never lie, _pyrotechnia mikros_. You are not capable of doing it credibly. Your face is redder than your hair. Why do you not swim? Is it fear? Are you afraid to be in the water with me?"

She stamped her foot, and regretted the loss of her boots. She tore the shirt off her back, and dove into the pool without thinking. When her head resurfaced it was to the joyful sound of her son clapping and laughing. The cool water felt wonderful against her overheated skin and the buoyancy of the water relieved the nagging ache she had felt in her legs. An overwhelming feeling of bliss flooded her. She hated to admit it, but a little pool time was just what she needed.

With some luck it would clear her head. She needed a clear head in order to find out where they were, and then find a way home. Theron might have rescued her from Jenkins. He might have brought her to this mansion. But she still felt like something was wrong. She hadn't been able to find a phone. She had even asked where the phone was so she could call Lynda and Moose to let them know she was okay. But he kept putting her off or changing the subject.

Something was not right here.

# 18

First thing in the morning a supply of fresh clothing would be delivered for Cassiopeia. It had been such a torturous pleasure when she had stripped down to her lacey lingerie and he watched that luscious body dive over his head into the water. True he had seen all of her body while he had been caring for her, but it had not prepared him for the rush of desire that swept over him when he saw all that creamy white skin exposed, with nothing more than a few scraps of purple lace covering the most crucial parts. Only the presence of the child had kept him from having her right then and there.

He wanted her. There was no doubt about that and having her run around naked, with only his shirts covering her glorious body, was too much for his control to handle. Their first time together should not be in a pool or on the floor of the loggia or on the dining room table; although he was sure they would eventually get around to all those places. No, their first time should be some place comfortable and unhurried. His cock twitched. Perhaps the first time would be quick, but as soon as he recovered he would take it slow and easy. They would both receive the maximum enjoyment. His thoughts would not be troubled by business woes.

She wanted him too. He had seen it in her eyes, on her face, even in the stance of her body when she watched him in the pool. Theron knew Cassidy liked the way he interacted with her son. Perhaps the way into the woman's heart was through the boy.

It would not be a hardship for him. He enjoyed the time he had spent with the child. It was good practice for when she provided him with the much needed heir.

Tomorrow he would ask her to marry him. He had already explained many of the reasons for the aborted wedding over dinner. She had been _simbonetikos_ , sympathetic to the families who would be harmed if the merger did not go through quickly.

It had been difficult to concentrate on all he had to say while she sat there in his blue silk shirt. He could see her nipples through the thin cloth. Much of the meal had been spent wondering if she had her panties on, since she had certainly left the bra off. His libido wanted him to find out. His brain would not let him. If he knew for certain that she was pantyless, he would not be satisfying his hunger by eating the food.

They could have a very successful arrangement. They were attracted to each other, and she had already proved herself to be fertile. He liked her child, and she had her own business; she would understand about the demands of his.

Yes, he would broach the subject with her tomorrow. By then she would have had enough time to have recovered from the horrors of the kidnapping and drugs. After breakfast he would talk to her once again about the reason he had to marry Dolmides' illegitimate heiress. He would find out from her own mouth why she was not in the family home she was supposed to have been raised in, if she truly was Cassiopeia. Then if he was satisfied she was telling the truth, which he was sure she was, they would be married.

With that settled he stripped down and entered his bathroom. The shower was preset at the temperature he preferred, but tonight that would not do. Ruthlessly, he turned the dial to the point where the water would be frigid. He could handle one more night of cold showers. Tomorrow night, after he had her promise to either marry him or to withdraw her objections to the Dolmides' marriage, he would bed her. Rid himself of this obsession to have her. After tomorrow there would be no more cold showers.

A cooling breeze tickled the back of Cassidy's neck. She was in heaven on good solid ground. She had just had a scrumptious breakfast with Theron on what he called the small patio. In this house of luxury everything was supersized, but the patio actually was on the small side. It was an enclosed patio with potted plants and one lone lemon tree, with luscious yellow fruit dangling from the tree limbs. A small glass table, small by the standards of this house, with a blue umbrella, which matched the color of the blue Mediterranean sky overhead, held the remains of the meal.

She wore a pretty orchid sundress she had found lying on her bed when she entered the room after her morning shower. The first shower she had been allowed without Theron standing guard outside the door. Thin spaghetti straps and delicate eyelet embroidery along the scalloped hem made it the most feminine dress she had ever worn. A gorgeous strapless bra and matching panty in the same shade of orchid lace were next to the dress. She doubted they would fit her, her size was deceptive, but she tried them on anyway, only to be amazed at the perfect fit. The man obviously knew his way around women's lingerie.

Not only had Theron prepared all the food, but he insisted she remain seated at the table while he served.

After they finished the meal, they moved to the rattan love seat on the other side of the patio while Enzio played with blocks on a mat at their feet.

"Tell me about your childhood home," he commanded as he lifted his coffee cup to his full lower lip. Cassidy couldn't help but wonder how his lips would feel nibbling on her neck.

So, he had ulterior motives for lingering over one last cup. It was time he grilled her about Cassiopeia. Apparently Theron still didn't believe in her. For a moment her heart thumped hollowly in her chest.

"Where would you like me start? Do you want me to tell you how Grammie answered the front door one day to find a uniformed chauffeur standing at the door with a day old baby in a car seat and an envelope in his hand?" She tried to keep the old bitterness out of her voice. She now realized what a blessing it had been to be raised by Grammie instead of Kelley.

He raised one eyebrow. Man! When he did that he always reminded her of Mr. Spock. She could practically hear his deep voice saying, _Really, Captain, I do not see what you find so amusing._

Instead, Theron's deep voice said, "I did not think we had to go back quite that far, but now you have intrigued me. Please continue."

Cassidy steeled herself. She had never told anyone her "story" before. The only people who had ever loved or wanted her had been Grammie, Tia Maria, and Rico, and they all knew the story. Now they were all gone and all she had left was little Enzio. What kind of monsters didn't want their own baby? Enzio wasn't hers by blood, but she would never toss him away like unwanted underwear.

She would always love Z more than life itself, and they didn't share any blood or DNA. Why didn't her parents want her?

What had she done wrong, besides being born?

"Pop, Grammie's husband, came from a long line of whaler's. His great, great grandfather was a very successful Captain. He owned his own ship free and clear and owned half interest in three others. He married the young Irish girl who kept his house and office clean and built her a fine house on the cliff overlooking the harbor. It had a widow's walk on the roof."

"What is this widow's walk?" Theron asked before taking another sip. Cassidy watched his throat as the coffee worked its way down. She wanted to follow the coffee's path with her tongue.

"It's like a porch built on the highest point of the roof. It's flat and fenced in to keep the sailor's wife from falling off. The women of the family, primarily the wife, would watch the sea, waiting for the ship to come in. Waiting for her man to come home," a touch of sadness edged into her voice. "Moira waited up there for him every single trip. He swore he could see her from half an ocean away, and it was her love that always guided him into safe harbor."

"Did you spend a lot of time on the widow's walk watching for your love?" He asked with a gleam in his eyes.

She shuddered. "I always loved it up there until the Jenkins moved in."

He could see she was reticent to continue. There was more story to be told about that fenced in roof, but he would not push for it for now. She was delectable to look at in the dappled shade of the lemon tree.

"Anyway, the house has been handed down from father to son since the nineteenth century. Pop and Grammie met on the first day of kindergarten and neither one of them ever saw another member of the opposite sex again. Pop was career Navy. He survived Korea, but not Viet Nam. Kelley was born three days after Grammie received the notification of his ship going down." She raised her teacup and carefully took a sip of the scalding liquid.

"Did your Grandmother ever remarry?" It was obvious he was going to pursue this until he had the whole story.

"No, Grammie was a Kelley. She always said Kelley women only love once in a lifetime." Her purple irises looked as bruised as pansies that had survived a level five hurricane. "Whenever she heard me crying at night because the kids at school made fun of me and I wanted my mommy and daddy, Grammie would try to soothe me with stories of the Kelley women's loyalty to their men. Whether they deserved it or not. That's why Kelley couldn't be with me. Costas needed her here and she couldn't leave him to be with her little girl. Even though Grammie was sure that Kelley really wanted to be with me."

"How did this affect you?

Cassidy had to hold back the urge to giggle. He sounded so much like a television shrink. He was so cute she wanted to kiss him. "It made me decide never to love any man. Anything that causes a woman to throw away her own child is not something I want to suffer from."

"How did Enrico Vega feel about that?" His voice was harsh and raspy.

"Rico?" She asked confused. What on earth did Rico have to do with this conversation?

Theron picked up her left hand and tapped the large gold band on her ring finger. "Oh! Right. Rico has known me since I was one day old and delivered to my grandmother's door still wearing hospital clothes and wrapped up in a receiving blanket with the hospital's name printed in big black letters on it. What kind of woman doesn't even buy one outfit for her new baby? Or even a soft blanket?"

Cassidy could see the shock on his face when he heard the vitriol in her voice. She felt like kicking herself. Every so often she let her little Miss Suzy Sunshine mask slip. People didn't like her when she did that. Theron wouldn't like her now. He would never kiss her again. And she did like his kisses.

He wanted to wrap her in his arms and kiss the pain out of her beautiful eyes. His mother was an alcoholic and a single mother in a country that was unforgiving to unwed mothers. But at least she had been there to send him off to school, to feed him at least one meal a day, to give him hugs and kisses, whether he wanted her to or not. He thought he had heard and seen it all growing up in the streets and alleyways of Evadne and Athens, but he had always known on a deep down level that his mother loved him. Cassidy never had that.

What he had to ask her to do was not right. She seemed so strong, but actually she was quite fragile. If he had any other options he would leave her out of this altogether, but if the merger did not go through as planned thousands of innocent people would be affected adversely.

When it was all over and the marriage was dissolved he would make sure she had everything she needed. She would never be without money again and she would never have to work in that bar with all those men grabbing her behind.

He nodded his head in satisfaction. Yes, he would make sure she and Enzio were well provided for before he went back to his own life and preferred entertainments. He would allow her fair access to his son. Yes, her life would be much improved. She would be happy. They would be friends. Friends who had made a child together. Perhaps they would continue to be friends with benefits, after their divorce. His painful erection reminded him how much he wanted her now.

After a few minutes of silence he asked, "When did the Jenkins come into the picture?"

"When I was fourteen Aunt Patsy called Grammie and begged her to take them in. They were being evicted from their apartment. Joe had lost his job, and they had nowhere else to go. Grammie felt bad for them. Patsy was Pops' only niece, so she offered to let them stay until they could get back on their feet." Cassidy lowered her eyes hoping he couldn't see the emotion roiling in them. The mixture of hate and fear she felt, even after all these years, shamed her.

Theron needed to hear the rest, but he could not rush her. He could see how fragile she was. If he tried to hold her now, tried to comfort her, he was afraid she would shatter into a million pieces.

Cassidy took a great interest in the skirt of her dress and started pleating it. With her eyes carefully following the pleating process she continued. "Soon after they moved in Joe started following me around the house. Cornering me in isolated rooms. I tried to tell Grammie. I was afraid of him, but I didn't have the words. I was young. Innocent. I didn't know what he wanted, not really, I just knew he scared me. I didn't know what he wanted, but Rico did. Rico always managed to be around to save me. Except once." Cassidy shook her head and went down another mental path. "Grammie had always been healthy and alert, but after the Jenkinses moved in she had several accidents, and she seemed to get sick every other week. She never fully recovered from anything.

"Rico was going to enlist in the Marines right after he graduated from high school, but he was worried about Grammie and me. So he didn't. On one of Grammie's good days he talked to her about me and my problems with Joe." Cassidy still hadn't lifted her eyes to his.

"Did your grandmother believe Rico?"

Cassidy was shivering in a beam of Greek sunlight. Theron rubbed her hands but they still trembled in his.

Her shadowed purple eyes lifted and looked directly into his in distress. "Of course she believed Rico. When Patsy returned from shopping, Grammie called her into the study and told her they had forty-eight hours to 'get their carcasses' out of her house."

"And did they leave quietly?"

"The next morning I found Grammie at the bottom of the stairs." Tears were rolling down her face. "She was cold. Already dead."

"What did you tell Kelley when she arrived for the funeral?" He asked.

Cassidy laughed harshly. The sound grated in her throat. "Kelley never came to the funeral. She never took my phone calls. Tia Maria talked to her, but she said it wasn't convenient for her to leave Greece at that time. But she and Patsy had had a long talk and everything would be fine. Patsy and family would be staying on in the house to take care of me." She was now choking back sobs. Sobs she thought she had defeated years ago. "She wouldn't even listen while Tia tried to warn her about the danger I was in. Joe was going to get me, there was no doubt."

He wrapped her in a warm embrace. He was afraid he already knew how this was going to end. It was obvious she never talked about that time in her life. Now that the flood gates were open, it was better to let it flow out of her. To keep that kind of pain dammed up would harm her and their future relationship.

"I turned fifteen the day of Grammie's funeral. He told me right there at the cemetery, standing right over Grammie's grave, right over her dead body, that 'tonight is the night I'm gonna make a woman out of ya'."

_Theos!_ Cold dread ran down Theron's spine. His sources told him that Joe Jenkins was back in Athens. Theron would find a way to have serious charges brought against Jenkins and he would never get out of a Greek jail. He didn't recognize his own voice. It was harsher than he had ever heard it before. "He raped you after your grandmother's funeral!"

"No. No. He never got the chance. Rico took his savings out of the bank, bought a friend's old Harley, and we disappeared on it that afternoon while the reception was still going on. I didn't take any documents with me. If we were stopped I didn't want the authorities to find out who I was and send me back to that house of horrors. I preferred going to juvy or into foster care as a Jane Doe."

"Tia packed up all my important documents and put them into a safety deposit box. I only returned to Massachusetts on my way to Greece to pick up those documents."

She had not rejected his embrace, so he tightened his arms around her. With the sunny smile and the twinkle she usually had in her eyes, who would ever have suspected such horrors scarred her soul?

Something was still bothering him, though. "Why did your grandmother leave the house to the Jenkinses? Surely her husband had left it to her?"

A hard light entered her eyes and her chin rose to a defiant level. "Grammie did not leave the house to the Jenkins. Kelley gave them permission to live there so that she wouldn't have to be bothered by me, but it's not her house, either. Grammie left it to me, free and clear."

"Why have you allowed them to continue to reside there?"

She looked him straight in the eye. The question sent another chill down Cassidy's spine. He was going to despise her when he found out what a coward she was, but it was better that he find out now. "When I was eighteen I thought about going back to Massachusetts and throwing those cretins out of my house, but the truth is I was too afraid. That monster used to back me into corners and pinch my breasts. He left black and blue marks on me. He was always making lewd remarks. He was planning on raping me." The tears were pouring down her cheeks. "I was too afraid to go back. Even with Rico to protect me, I just couldn't do it."

Theron gently rocked Cassiopeia. Glad they had sat on the love seat so that he was near her, where he could offer her comfort.

Rico was a man who had definitely been worthy of her love. He, Theron Christofides, would make sure Rico's son would always have everything he needed. The boy would never want for anything, even after he and Cassiopeia went their separate ways.

She turned into his shoulder so sweetly. So trustingly. Her sobs had subsided, but her tears were still flowing, soaking his polo shirt. He rubbed her back and thought of the best way to make his proposition to her.

A woman who had been through all she had been would probably rejoice at a business marriage. She had already been married to a man she had loved. What she needed now was protection and security, not love.

# 19

When he had started the conversation Theron had never expected such a heart wrenching story. He had been fairly certain before, but now he was convinced she was the real Cassiopeia. The woman had no guile. There was no pretense about her. She had a tender heart, so he was sure she would agree to the marriage and the terms of their agreement. After all, it would ensure the future for her and her son.

When Theron looked down he saw Cassidy had cried herself to sleep. The poor woman was still recovering from the brutal injuries inflicted on her by Jenkins and he felt like a monster making her talk about the horrors she had to endure as a child. Cradling her in his arms he carried her into the den and placed her on the couch while he ran back to the patio for Enzio. Having a child around was not only inconvenient but also a lot of work. Theron looked into the child's dark eyes and smiled at him. "If your mama agrees to my proposition, you and I will be seeing a lot of each other, my little friend."

Enzio chortled and grinned. "Thee."

Theron's own smile turned into a large grin. "I will teach you to swim and how to speak Greek."

He carried the boy upstairs, changed his newly filled nappie, and procured a fresh bottle. He sat in the rocking chair he had placed in the make-shift nursery and fed the child. "We will have to have a decorator come in and design a proper room for you. Will you like that? Or do you think mama will want to do that herself?"

Enzio closed his eyes and drifted off without a response. Theron continued to sit and rock the child while he contemplated all he had to accomplish that day.

He must call his attorney immediately. The prenuptial agreement that had been drawn up for the halted wedding to the faux Cassiopeia would have to be adjusted to make accommodations for Enzio and a few extras he wanted to be certain this Cassiopeia would receive. After they parted she would never have to work in a dirty bar again. She would never want for anything. Ever again. He would make sure of that.

After lunch he would broach the subject of their marriage to Cassiopeia, but first he had to get Dorcas, his housekeeper, back to work. Enzio was a good baby, but Dorcas could use her grandmotherly magic on the child while he engaged the mother with his proposition.

Cassidy was so excited at the prospect of a little walk around the grounds that she couldn't keep a silly grin off her face. She felt as if she and Theron had developed a solid link between them in the last few days.

Lunch was served by a middle-aged woman whom Theron introduced as his housekeeper. He explained the intricacies of the deal he had made with her "father". It was difficult, try as she might; there was no way she could think of the man who had callously spurned her since her birth as her father. There would always be mental air quotes whenever the word was associated with _him_.

According to Theron, the Dolmides family had happily lived off the profits of their cruise line ships, but skimped on putting money back into the business. Over the last several years, there had been a few instances of the ships running into sand bars, thus sustaining extensive damages to the ships and passengers. The last one occurred off the coast of a small island called Evadne. A year later the ship was still stranded on the sandbar. An eyesore to all and a health hazard to those who lived on the island, fished the waters, and in fact to the overall economic health of the entire area.

The Dolmides' personal money was well protected, but the company was about to sink. If this happened, the people who had been hurt or had lost a loved one would lose the expected compensation. Thousands of employees would be out of work. Many of the higher personnel would not be able to find comparable jobs in their fields because Dolmides loudly proclaimed everything the fault of the people on the ships. He even blamed those supervising them at corporate headquarters. Costas Dolmides never shouldered the blame for anything.

The local island people would lose because Dolmides, as the biggest cruise company in the Greek Isles, had edged all other companies away from "his" docks and now the other ships were not willing to start servicing those ports. They did not want to go head to head with Costas Dolmides, even though there were many rumors that Dolmides Cruises was going under.

Costas had plenty of money, but he was willing to let all "the little people" sink with the polluted ship. Dolmides wanted the government to step in and pay off all claims against him, but even if the government were so inclined, with the current state of the economy, there was nothing they could do. The unpaid claims were bad for an economy that depended heavily on tourism.

Dolmides argued that tourism was an important part of the Greek economy. Several government ministers, cronies of Dolmides, agreed. However, younger members felt it was not the government's place to interfere in private commerce. A delegation approached Theron, who owned luxury hotels and resorts scattered throughout the Mediterranean, and asked him to become a White Knight. He already ran several smaller cruise ships around the various ports and they felt he would be a natural fit.

Theron wanted to salvage the ship and save the island.

He quietly bought up all the stocks not owned by the family. Many of the extended family members quietly sold their stocks to him when it became apparent that Costas had no intention of pumping the needed capital into the company.

In spite of the millions Theron had used to buy up the shares, control was still out of his reach. He approached Dolmides and tried to work a compromise. The man refused to turn over control.

When it finally dawned on Dolmides that the government assistance he sought was not coming, he approached Theron with the tale of his illegitimate daughter in the United States. Apparently the cover-up of her existence had been very good, because until then Theron hadn't known she existed.

Cassiopeia's happiness at the beautiful day was now long gone and she was forced to swipe a tear from her cheek. One would think that after all this time her parents' total rejection wouldn't hurt anymore. And considering the way he treated everyone in his company, his customers, and the poor people on the island, she was glad that she hadn't grown up under Costas Dolmides thumb.

That nasty old man didn't want to let go of any control. Dolmides had informed Theron if he wanted to gain control of the company, and not lose the millions he had already poured into buying the shares, then he would have to marry the outcast daughter and father a son with her.

Upon their marriage, Theron would receive the stock Costas had placed in trust for Cassiopeia on the day she was born. She was due to come into the trust on her thirtieth birthday, but by marrying with Costas blessing the control of the stock would become Theron's. That would then give Theron a fifty percent share of the company. Costas would give him his proxy to vote however he wanted to. On the day Cassiopeia gave birth to their first son, Costas would then sign over all his shares to his grandson, for a large amount of Euros, and the shares were to be held in trust for the boy. _The old man probably expects the baby to be named after him!_

Cassidy was shocked to learn that her father had put anything in trust for her. Was it guilt? Or did he actually have feelings for her?

What did it matter? He had ignored her all her life and apparently treated everyone like crap. Not the kind of father she had dreamed of as a lonely little girl, or a terrified teenager.

_Enough_! She thought. _Stop worrying about personal stuff._

Theron had jeopardized his own businesses and personal wealth to save the ailing cruise company and all the people associated with it.

He trusted her with the truth. That had to mean something. Didn't it?

She liked him. She really liked him. She ignored the sneaky little thought that kept trying to tell her that it was more than like.

He had saved her and Zio from that crazy pervert Jenkins. Theron had brought them all the way across the world to his private hideout to protect them. He had even taken care of their personal needs himself. Cassidy knew that changing Z's diapers would be considered dangerous, even hazardous, work by most people, and yet he did it and never complained about the task.

He had to like her. Maybe even care for her, didn't he?

Here she was, just a few months shy of twenty-five and she had never had a boyfriend. Sure she had gone out on dates, but there was never anyone she trusted enough to be a boyfriend. In spite of that she had a baby, thanks to Rico's untimely death, but no boyfriends. Thanks to Jenkins.

She was a strong woman She could ride anything put before her, be it a Harley, a wild mustang, or a skateboard. She could handle the meanest drunks and still make preachers smile. She could face down a jealous wife and wind up wiping the woman's tears and becoming her best friend. But when it came to a certain playboy who had been named sexiest man in the world by not one, not two, but three different tabloids, she knew he was way of out her league and to hope he might someday learn to love her was like wishing on a shooting star. It filled a person with wonder and excitement until it disappeared into the night sky.

Their relationship could be over before the star even had a chance to fizzle. She might be inexperienced in interpersonal relationships between men and women, but even she was bright enough to pick up on the fact that he never alluded to forever. He just wanted her to give him the company and a son.

A son!

So if she married him they would have sex, but other than that would they have a real marriage?

Or was this just another business deal for him?

If his kisses were anything to go by, having sex with him certainly wouldn't be a hardship. The way he used his tongue made her toes curl. Forget his tongue kisses, when he relaxed and forgot to use his sophisticated smile, but actually let loose with a boyish grin, not only did her toes curl, but every butterfly in creation was let loose in her tummy and champagne bubbles burbled throughout her blood stream.

Rico always told her she could do anything she set her mind to. Well, if she married Theron she wanted it to become a real "happily ever after" marriage. Her children deserved that kind of security. She had no intention of drifting from man to man. Once she committed herself to Theron, she would stay committed.

But was he a forever kind of man?

Oh! Who was she trying to kid? If she committed herself . . . She was already committed. She would tell him she had made her decision while they were touring the grounds. She might as well see her new home now.

He would have to wait until Lynda and Moose could get here before they could tie the knot. After all, there was still the injunction to be set aside before they could get married, and Moose was her lawyer. Not to mention they were also her family.

But just because they would have to wait a few days to get married, it didn't mean they had to wait until then before they could "do it", did it?

Before she could blurt that embarrassing question out, Cassidy excused herself and headed for her room.

While she washed the tear streaks off her cheeks, she got a good look at herself in the mirror. Shoot! She needed an elastic. She looked on the bathroom vanity, then moved into the bedroom to check out the top of the bureau. How could the man have found her clothes that fit her perfectly but forget about her hair? For crying out loud! He always had a hand in it, stoking it, caressing it. How could he have forgotten something as essential as an elastic?

There were a few scarves in the drawer. She wasn't sure, but they felt expensive, like they were made out of real silk or something. It was a shame to use them as hair ties, but there was no way she was going to walk out in the heat of the Greek midday sun with her heavy hair hanging down her back, making her neck perspire.

# 20

His palms were sweating. His palms never sweat. He never got nervous. Not when he had to deal with difficult business negotiations, not when he was with a supermodel or Hollywood star, not even when he had to put his mother into the clinic for rehabilitation for the third time. Now, not only were his palms sweating, but his heartbeat was accelerated, and he had a chronic bulge in his pants. What was it about this little scrap of a woman that caused his body to react this way?

Abstinence. He had been abstinent for far too long. Longer than he had ever been in his adult life. Plus he had an intimate knowledge of all her assets after physically caring for her. Not as intimate as he would like, but he was working on satisfying that situation. Theron knew every inch of her body was real and completely hers. That in itself was an incredible turn on, as the Americans liked to say. Once he had bedded her he would no longer feel this strange feeling. It may take a few times, perhaps ten or twenty, but after that these strange sensations will have subsided and he would return to his established routine.

"Would you like a cold glass of juice before we go for our walk?" He asked when she rejoined him on the veranda.

"No, thank you. I'm still full from lunch." She rubbed her tummy, giving him a saucy grin. Today she was alive. Really alive. She had made the decision to marry Theron. She was willing to sign the prenuptial papers he'd mentioned. She couldn't let all those people suffer if the deal didn't go through. Cassidy pushed down the little voice that kept telling her she was going to get hurt if she married a man who didn't have any feelings for her. A man who only wanted to use her to complete a business deal.

_Stop that right now_ , she scolded herself. _You've made your decision. You will not change your mind now!_

"The breeze feels wonderful. Shall we go out and enjoy it?" Cassidy smiled at him.

Cassiopeia tossed her head and he gulped as her blazing hair danced through the air. He really had to get her into bed. Soon or he would never make it. Theron had not felt this randy since Angeliki, the tavern owner's daughter, had taught him the ins and outs of sex. Since then celibacy had never been his strong point.

Theron reached his hand out to her and she placed her small hand into his. Cassiopeia gave him a warm smile which he knew had grown on the inside and glowed through her eyes. He shook the lascivious thoughts from his head and wove their fingers together. He led her hand in hand to the gate at the other end of the veranda leading into the open space of the Meteora.

He could not wait to see her face when he presented her with his world. Even if she did not care for him how could she refuse such a wonderful eyrie in which to raise her son?

Cassidy knew she had a silly grin from ear to ear, but such an innocent thing, Theron holding her hand, made her giddy all over. Yes, she had definitely made the right decision. She would be kicking herself from now until eternity if she didn't follow through on these feelings. Emotions. She had a chance to build a future with this man. After all, if he planned on having children with her, then he had a plan for a future for the two of them and Rico. That's the way it worked when you planned on having children. You planned a long future together. They could have a good life together. They _would_ have a good life together.

Her breath stopped halfway up her windpipe. Her heart started to race. Something was wrong here. She had been looking back at the magnificent red roofed mansion, which Theron had just said stood where a former monastery had been. She had turned her head to admire the view he was extolling, only there was no view. There was the ground beyond immediately in front of her with high rock edging the area. A couple of small buildings, and a few trees were on her level.

Were those stone walls like they had in New England? But, but, but there was nothing beyond those walls. No sweeping panorama of houses, grass, or woods. Nothing but open sky Emp-empt-empty open sky!

Not really empty sky; there were birds swooping around the walls and dipping below the other side, and then swooping back up.

Her hands trembled. Her spine dissolved. Her legs shook. Her knees collapsed under her. Her hand remained in Theron's. Her only solid connection while the world swirled around her.

He looked at her in bewilderment. "Cassiopeia, what is wrong?"

She couldn't answer. She was too busy trying to breathe through a throat that was too tight.

He knelt down in front of her. That's when she realized she had dropped to her knees. "What is wrong? Have you been stung by a bee?"

Cassidy stared past him. Her eyes were unfocused. There was nothing but sky.

Theron was speaking to her, but she couldn't hear anything over the pounding of blood trying to get to her brain.

He scooped her into his arms and hurried back onto the enclosed veranda. He held her close. She struggled for words. "I will marry you if you get me safely back to earth," she finally gasped through blue lips.

# 21

Cassidy's head hurt. Why was everything all white? _Ohmigod!_ She had been on top of a freakin' mountain! _Oh! My! God!_ She must have fallen off the freakin' mountain!

"Ah, so our patient is finally awake.

Cassidy turned toward the pleasantly accented baritone.

"Did the mountain collapse?" She croaked.

"No, nothing so drastic. Neither did you fall out of the 'flying tuna can'," the man in the white coat chuckled.

_Ah. The international uniform of a doctor._

"Do you know what happened to you?" He asked as his warm hand adjusted the blood pressure cuff on her arm.

"There was no earth."

"Of course there is an earth," he replied. "Kiria Vega, not all the toxicology reports are back yet. You must be honest with me so that I can prescribe the proper treatment. What drugs are you on?"

"No. No, drugs. I don't do that stuff." Tears seeped from the corners of her eyes. "We were so high up. Falling from the sky. No earth, no trees, no other buildings. Nothing but sky and whispy clouds. We were going to fall off."

The doctor patted her hand "You are afraid of heights?"

Cassidy gave an unladylike snort. "I'm not afraid of heights. I'm terrified of heights. I can't even go near a second floor window. If I have an appointment on the third floor I can't keep it. If the ride includes going up a hill without tree coverage there is no way I will go."

"Have you always had this extreme fear?" the doctor asked. "Do you know what causes it? Perhaps I can refer you to a specialist."

"It's something that just came over me when I was fourteen," Cassidy sighed. "I don't need a therapist to find out the cause. I know what the cause is and nothing has been able to fix it or me."

Theron sat quietly in the corner while the doctor conversed with Cassiopeia. Fourteen. The age when Jenkins took an unnatural interest in her. He looked at her pale face. He would not push for answers now, but if he found out Jenkins had anything to do with the terror that had shut down her breathing, her reasoning, he would make sure Jenkins suffered all the levels of hell. Right here on earth.

"Where is my son?" Her hands clutched the sheet. "Did the mountain collapse on him?"

"He is well cared for." The doctor lifted her eyelid to gauge her reactions.

"I need to get to my son!"

Cassiopeia's heightening agitation could not be good for her. Theron went to her side and gathered her hands into his own. "Enzio is safe with my mother, _agape mou_. You must rest. As soon as the doctor says you are ready, I will take you to my home."

Her lips trembled. Theron wanted to kiss and soothe them. Turn the cause of the trembling from fear to desire. "I'm not going back to that awful place!"

Theron's heart sank. The Meteora was his home. His pride and his joy. The special _eyrie_ he went to escape the world. This woman he hoped to marry refused to return to his home.

"I will take you to my mother's home in the city. It is not on a hill." His thumb rubbed Cassiopeia's wrists. It gave him a great deal of satisfaction to feel the blood flowing through her veins a little faster due to his physical contact.

Soon. Soon he would have the blood thrumming throughout her entire body. After all, she had promised to marry him if he took her off the mountain. He intended to hold her to that promise.

# 22

A huge chocolate diamond sparkled where Rico's plain gold band used to reside. Theron had been serious about his proposal, although not a word of love had passed his lips, either in English or Greek. A soul deep sigh rattled through Cassidy. This was to be her second loveless marriage. It wasn't that she and Rico didn't love each other; they did. The love of a brother for a sister and vice versa. But that was not the kind of love that can sustain a woman's soul.

Especially not when Cassidy knew she already loved Theron beyond reason. As soon as she had looked into his midnight eyes in the Cathedral she should have run the other way and let the Jenkinses pull whatever scam they wanted.

Since she had been released from the hospital after her big scare on the mountain, she had been staying at an Athens' hotel which gave her a perfect view of the Acropolis from her windows. Rena Christofides had been staying at the hotel with her, helping her with Zio and shopping for wedding clothes.

It was unbelievable. Nine months ago, on October nineteenth she had married a man she had known all her life and was widowed the same day. Now she was about to become a June bride to a man she barely knew. She still wasn't sure how it had all happened so suddenly.

Another look in the mirror assured her the makeup she had applied five minutes previously was still on her face. A knock on the door stopped her musings. She answered the door to find an attractive man she had never seen before smiling at her.

" _Ciao, bella._ I am Massimo DeLuca, a friend of Theron's." The tall man enclosed her in a strong embrace. "I have come to escort you to your wedding."

"I don't understand, Mr. DeLuca. My friends are supposed to meet me here and we are going together," Cassidy fretted with the doorknob. Lynda and Moose had flown over with the legal papers which put aside the injunction she had obtained to stop Theron's previous wedding. They had brought along her favorite boots. She had asked them to ride to the wedding with her. She didn't want to arrive to her wedding without any friends or family to support her.

Massimo flashed a smile at her. "I'm afraid that since your friends had shown some animosity towards Theron, he did not care to give them an opportunity to change your mind on the way to the church. That is why he sent me." His megawatt smile grew even brighter. "However, he may yet regret his decision. I had forgotten how truly beautiful you are and I feel it is my duty to persuade you to run off with me, _carisima_."

Cassidy was torn between laughter and kicking something. "How could you forget, we've never met."

" _Si,_ this is true. We have not met, but I have an indelible memory of you as you walked down the aisle to Theron once before."

Cassidy wanted to sink into the floor. Massimo had been at Theron's aborted wedding to Julia. She did _not_ need a fresh reminder of that incident.

" _Mi scusi._ I did not mean to cause you embarrassment. It is a story we will tell at our children's wedding and cause much merriment. No?"

" _Our children's_ wedding?" Cassidy decided to humor the man.

" _Si._ It is decided. You and Theron shall make beautiful babies and I will make beautiful babies. They will grow up and fall madly in love. We shall be connected through our grandchildren," his smile was full of charm.

"How many children do you have?"

"None yet. I have not yet married, but when I do there will be beautiful bambino. _Si?"_

_"Si."_ Cassidy giggled.

"Now, off to the church," Massimo made a sweeping gesture towards the corridor. "My friend will worry if we delay too long."

"Okay, Mr. DeLuca."

"Please, we are going to be very good friends. You must call me Sim."

Cassidy stepped out of the limo onto the sidewalk of _Mitropoleos_. When she first saw where the car was heading, she had feared that Theron had arranged for their wedding to take place in the same cathedral where they had first seen each other. The same place he had been about to marry her cousin.

Instead the car stopped in front of an ugly modern building. Across the street Rena Christofides, Theron's mother, stood in front of the minuscule chapel, Church of _Agios Eleftherios_ , also called the Little _Mitropoli_. She had a huge smile on her face as she held Enzio, who looked adorable in a little white suit waving at his mommy. Lynda and Moose stood near them. Cassidy could tell they were worried about her and this quicky wedding, but they were doing their best to hide it from her.

The chauffeur closed the door in back of Cassidy as she smoothed a few wrinkles out of the white beaded sheath she wore. It was a concession to Theron's demand that his bride be suitable attired. "You are a bride I expect you to look like a bride," he had said quite emphatically.

It didn't take long before she and Rena found the perfect dress. It was deceptively simple looking, about as far from the huge monstrosity Julia had worn as she could get. Cassidy didn't want a veil, instead she had chosen to weave creamy white roses into her hair, which she fixed into small braids at her temples and drew back into a rhinestone butterfly clip in the back while the rest of her hair tumbled in silky soft waves past her shoulders and down to her waist. She hadn't bothered with a bouquet; she had thought that might be too presumptuous. Wasn't this wedding the equivalent of a civil ceremony back home? And it was just another business transaction for Theron.

She heard the collective gasp of the crowd of tourists around her and looked up to see what had created the commotion. Standing in the door of the chapel, looking more handsome and hunky then she had ever seen any man look, stood Theron. He stepped forward with a swoon-worthy smile that was directed at her and her alone. He picked up her hand and placed a warm kiss on her sensitive palm. "These are for you, _sizighos mou_."

She was stunned as he placed a magnificent bouquet of roses and lilies in her hand. "I-I'm sorry. I d-didn't underst-stand what you said," she stammered.

" _Sizighos mou_ , my wife. Today you will be my wife in name, tonight you will be my wife in body," he said with a lecherous grin that shook her all the way to her soul. Or was that soles? Her toes were curling inside her boots.

"But for now I must hand you over to your large friend Moose."

"Why?"

"He wishes to act in place of your father and give you to me as my bride."

That was the best thing he could have said to her. She wasn't alone. She did have family.

The ceremony went by in a blur. Cassidy found herself wondering irreverently if it would be that blurry if the proceedings were held in English, or if she was so enraptured with her husband that she would have been out of it anyway.

After the ceremony Ajax and Sim insisted they all must go back to the hotel. They had set up a small private reception for the newlyweds. Ajax, with a twinkle in his eyes, had said that they could not let Theron go without a proper sendoff.

After a light luncheon and several toasts the newlyweds were ushered out to their limousine. While the driver negotiated the streets of Athens Cassidy and Theron rode in the back seat. It was the first time they had been alone since he had placed the engagement ring on her finger.

"What is this? A tear?" Theron asked throatily. He gently lifted the tear off Cassidy's cheek. "Do you already regret our marriage?"

A blush flooded Cassidy's face. She really hated it when she blushed. The red of her face and the orange of her hair clashing would turn Theron off faster then Dorothy's house took out the Wicked Witch of the east.

"No. No, nothing like that. It was just so hard kissing Z goodbye."

"He will be well cared for at my mother's house. Your friends Lynda and Moose are also staying there, watching out for your son. Did you expect to keep him with us on our wedding night?" Theron's dark eyes watched her carefully.

What was he thinking when he looked at her like that? Did he want to put off their wedding night? She gave him a weak smile. "No. Of course not. It's just that I've spent so much time away from him lately."

They were standing in front of a door. A large marble entryway loomed in front of them. With just his fingertips he gave her cheek a feather caress. A chill ran down her spine. She closed her eyes to hide how much she wanted this man.

He leaned his hands against the door, effectively boxing her in, but not touching her in any way. "My mother will phone once they arrive at her house." He whispered close to her ear.

Cassidy's eyes snapped open. She hadn't realized he had moved in so close. "Sh-she will?" Why did her voice suddenly sound so wispy? "Why?" She squeaked. _Oh, God._ He was nuzzling her neck.

"I requested that she do so. I thought it would ease your mind. You have made her very happy. She is now a _yia yia_." His mouth covered hers. His tongue, so warm, so thick, entered her mouth. Her knees melted. His hands left the door and his fingers slid into her hair, massaging her scalp, stimulating every nerve ending in her entire body with just that simple touch. Vaguely pushing through the fog that had infiltrated her mind she thought, _How on earth does he turn me to jelly and electrify me all at the same time? If he does this to me with just a kiss what on earth is going to happen later._

Her hands had been hanging by her side, but now they tentatively touched his chest. She felt his heart beating under her palm. A shiver of excitement worked its way up her spine. Her fingers flexed. She wanted to touch his hair. Run the silken strands through her fingers. She had to know if it was as soft as it looked. _Ummm_.

His mouth was delicious.

His lips started to lift away. Her fingers pulled his head closer, kept his scrumptious lips on hers. His tongue swept out as he ran it along her lower lip. His only contact with her was through their lips and his hands in her hair. Nothing touched her. His body arched away from hers. Why wasn't he touching her? Had she been mistaken? She wanted him, no doubt about it, but didn't he want _her_?

Her body started cooling off as quickly as if an ice cold keg of beer had been dumped on her. Was this marriage just about the stupid business deal after all? It was suddenly obvious he didn't find her attractive.

She felt the tears building. The thought was too embarrassing to entertain.

He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead. "My mobile is vibrating. I must answer it."

He had to answer the phone. On their wedding night? "Oh."

With a small grin and a lifted eyebrow he reached into his pocket and dropped the jiggling phone into her hand. "I believe it is Enzio calling to say _kalispera_ to his mama." After placing another light kiss on her forehead, he moved away to give her privacy while she spoke to her son.

# 23

With the phone still in her hand, she moved into the salon Theron had entered. This was a beautiful house in an affluent Athens neighborhood. Theron had bought it to share with his new bride. Unfortunately that new bride was supposed to have been Julia, not Cassidy. And it was decorated to Julia's taste. He also owned a penthouse in the center of Athens; it had been his bachelor pad. They could not go away until he had settled the business with Costas, so he had decided that the new house would do for their wedding night. Cassidy tried to hide her shudder of distaste. She despised Julia's house.

Theron handed her a fresh glass of champagne. "Th-thank you, but I think I've had enough to drink already."

"All you had were a few sips. He wrapped a warm arm around her waist. "We will toast each other and our future together before we adjourn to our bedroom."

Cassidy tried to wrap her mind around the fact that he wanted to go to bed already. It wasn't even dark out yet. Should she tell him she was a virgin? But with all her riding, horseback and motorcycle, would the membrane still be intact?

She didn't want anything to ruin their first time together. That was certainly not the way to start a marriage. Especially since the marriage wasn't based on mutual love. Yesterday's meeting with his attorneys proved that.

It didn't feel right to virtually disinherit Zio, but she had never considered Dolmides' money anything she was entitled to, so she wasn't really taking anything away from Enzio. Plus she had The Scorpion's Tail and Pegasus Ranch to leave to her son. She would always take care of him, no matter what.

What had really bothered her was the clause that in case of divorce any children born of the marriage would stay with Theron. She would never sign away any child of hers. Theron was not happy, but finally he agreed that they would have shared custody in case of separation and/or divorce. The attorneys presented her with the documents to sign right before Massimo came to pick her up. Fortunately Michael Harris, that nice man she met at the embassy in April, had arranged to have an interpreter there to make sure everything was kosher. But she still couldn't help feeling insulted.

She had finally admitted to herself that she was in love with Theron, but he was only interested in fulfilling the business arrangement he had made with her "father". Although he had made it clear that having sex with her was a benefit he was going to make use of. Often. Maybe once he knew her better he would learn to love her. In spite of the fact her parents had disposed of her at birth, she knew she was capable of love and worthy of love in return. Now all she had to do was prove that to Theron.

He had told her he had never been in love. He didn't believe in it. Cassidy was going to keep her fingers crossed and hope he changed his mind. Soon!

It would really suck to be in love with someone who would never love her back. It would gnaw at her gut and rot out her brain. She would turn into a loveless zombie.

She took another sip of the champagne. Theron leaned forward; his tongue took a leisurely lick at the corner of her lip. Then he withdrew. "There was a drop." he grinned.

The breath caught in her throat as she stared into his dark mysterious eyes.

He took her glass from her lax hand and placed both glasses on a side table. " _Theos!"_ He buried his fingers into her hair. Drew her body close. His kiss had an edge of desperation to it as her lips parted for the invasion of his tongue. _"Pame sto krevati_. Let us go to bed!"

Cassidy didn't answer. She couldn't. She couldn't think. Just react. She pulled his head down and joined her lips to his. Her tongue now the invader. Her hands left Theron's hair and massaged his shoulders. She squirmed closer to his body. The huge bulge pressing into her belly almost caused her to stop in shock. Almost.

" _Se thelo,_ I want you!" He moaned against her lips.

Good thing she had his broad shoulders holding her up since her knees had the stiffness of a rubber band. _Good thing lack of stiffness wasn't a problem Theron suffered from,_ she mentally giggled.

A clunk was heard as Theron's jacket hit the floor. Desolation swamped Cassidy as his lips left hers. Her lips tried to follow his, but he wouldn't let them. He began kissing her chin and followed up with nuzzling the hollow under her ear. Once again her fingers dug into his shoulders, looking for a means to hold her liquefying body upright. Her fingers went to his necktie and started fumbling with it.

A choked sound erupted from Theron as he stopped kissing her. "You are strangling me, _agape mou._ One would think you have never taken off a man's tie before."

"I hav-haven't." She blushed furiously. _Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!_

"Do not be so anxious to rid yourself of me. I have not had the opportunity to change my will, so you are not yet my beneficiary." He laughed hoarsely. He watched her face closely as he removed his tie and unbuttoned the top three buttons on his shirt. "You are the most amazing woman. You not only still blush at an age when all the women I know have left blushing far behind, but you do it so often and so well." He moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her bottom. "I can not wait to see if you blush all over or just in your face."

Her face flamed as hot as a sun flare. Then Theron kissed her again and she forgot all about the blood flow to her face. She could feel the blood flow to his cock as it pressed against her belly. _With all the blood down there will it be as bright as one of my blushes?_ Cassidy wondered. She hoped so.

Once again his lips traveled over her face before homing in on her ear. Her fingers played with the chest hair peeking out from the opened buttons. Tension built. She wanted to touch his flesh, but her fingers felt thick and clumsy. The buttons wouldn't slip through their holes. Cassidy wanted to touch his skin. She had to touch his skin!

While his tongue swirled around the rim of her ear she grabbed the edges of his shirt and yanked. The sound of ripping material and popping buttons echoed through the large room. Theron pulled away a stunned look on his face. Cassidy took advantage of the distance and yanked the white shirt down his bronzed shoulders. _Damn!_ She stomped her foot in frustration. The damn shirt wouldn't come off his hands.

A slow sexy smile lit up Theron's face. "My little firecracker is turning into _aghrio yineka_." She blinked her frustration at him. "My wife is a wild woman." He tugged at the sleeves of his shirt and threw it across the room. The white cuffs and gold cuff links remained on his wrists.

He scooped Cassidy up in his arms, and took the stairs two at a time. He didn't stop moving until they had entered the master bedroom. With the door firmly closed in back of him, he allowed her body to slowly slide down his front. Her arms were still wrapped around his neck, her lips playing with the pulse thrumming through his throat.

He had to slow down. He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. Big mistake. He could smell her. Not just the light flowery scent from her shampoo, but her. Her inner essence. He did not think it was possible but he instantly became harder. And still the blood went zinging through his body, making him more aware of her than he had ever been of anyone before.

He hoped he would live to survive the night.

He reached behind his neck and released her fingers from their grasp. He brought those tiny fingers to his mouth and kissed every one of them before he choose one to suck on.

Her eyes closed as she leaned into his body.

Whoever thought having a wife could be such sweet torture. He wanted to throw her on the bed, lift her bridal skirts, and sink himself deep into her. Would it be wrong the first time to rush it? To thrust and pound. Pound and thrust. Take his satisfaction quickly. Release his tension. He could slow down the second or third time. See to her needs later. Be a better lover, later.

No, that wouldn't work. She was an American woman. American women always demanded "satisfaction guaranteed".

Theron stopped sucking on her finger and removed it from his mouth. He took a deep breath. He had to slow down. He couldn't treat her like a woman he met in a bar and took in the coat room; eager for the encounter, but not caring for tomorrow. Cassiopeia was his bride. He would wake up with her beside him in his bed in the morning and for many mornings in the foreseeable future. The last thing he needed was a woman who felt badly used.

He had to take it slow. Build her anticipation until she reached the same pinnacle he was so tensely balanced on.

The lightest touch passed over his chest muscles and headed down. Theron shivered in delight. His mouth captured her lips. He made love to her mouth with a ferocity he had never achieved with a mere kiss before. He ripped himself away from her.

He stood half naked while his bride was still fully dressed and intent on relieving him of his pants. It was time to regain control before he tore the white dress off of her and tossed her onto the floor. That simple dress that had hinted at the lovely body beneath it, but didn't flaunt it. That dress had taunted him from the first moment he saw her in the church courtyard.

He wanted to push her against the wall, lift her until her legs wrapped around his waist, and push himself into her. But that wouldn't be right.

Not for her. Not for his bride. His wife. She was such a strong woman she brought big men to their knees and yet she was so fragile. He had to make their first time together special for her. She was like no other woman he had ever known. He looked at her and saw innocence.

While it was true Cassidy had already been married, and also true she already had a baby, none of that gave him the right to treat her with disrespect. She deserved consideration, kindness, tenderness; even if he couldn't give her the love she had been denied her entire life. He wished he could, but he was not a loving man.

Cassidy dipped her hands into his waistband and cupped his fine bottom. The man was driving her crazy. Stop and go. Stop and go.

Theron pulled from her and Cassidy was ready to scream, until he gently held both her hands behind her back in one of his as he nuzzled her neck. She never knew a tongue could make a woman feel so wanton. Or so frustrated. Her panties were wet and he hadn't touched her. Not really. Not how she wanted him to touch her.

He had given her a few burning kisses and now this torture.

There had to be something she could do to get him a little more motivated. For the first time in her life she wished she had more hands on experience with men. She moved her body snug against his and gave a little, she hoped, seductive wiggle against him. His groan excited her as his erection grew larger against the softness of her body.

Finally his free hand began unzipping her gown. Her skin cried for contact with his so desperately it itched and she knew instinctively the only way to relief was to rub it all over him. For hours!

" _Theos!_ " He breathed as the sheath pooled around her feet and he saw what she had hidden under the virginal dress all day. His eyes glowed with approval.

She had found the most exquisite lace set of strapless bra and matching panties in a lavender shade the saleswoman had assured her was the same color as her eyes. Cassidy searched for stockings with lavender ribbons woven into the lace tops.

The lust in Theron's eyes made all the time spent searching for the perfect lingerie worthwhile.

# 24

With a growl, Theron lifted her out of the puddled dress and carried her over to the bed. He tossed her down in the center and quickly joined her. He kissed her deep and long. Then he lifted his head and shoulders and gave her the sexiest smile she had ever seen "You surprise me. I had expected bridal white. I have decided, _agape mou_ , that purple is the hottest of colors. From now on whenever I see it, I shall think of you. If you want my attention, just wear purple. Do not bother with red; it is overdone and after seeing your pearly white skin next to this purple, red would be a severe disappointment."

"Don't worry, red will never touch my body. It clashes with my hair." Was that breathy voice really her? "It would be a total turn off."

His fingers snapped open the front closure on her bra. He stared at her breasts. "There is _nothing_ about you that could ever turn me off." The sound of his voice disappeared as that magical tongue of his swirled around one nipple before moving on to suckle the other.

After an eternity of kneading, suckling, and nipping, he started inching lower. Her breasts missed the attention, but the gentle breeze from the paddle fan overhead kept the moist nipples delightfully puckered and awaiting their new master.

On his journey south he encountered the heart shaped amethyst belly ring she wore the first time he had seen her. He gently lapped around the ring before laving the little innie button the jewelry showcased. This special attention caused Cassidy to arch off the bed, her fingers clutching the duvet beneath her.

Once again his lips and tongue were on the move. The lacy panties weren't an obstacle. He just worked his magic through them. Cassidy wanted to feel his mouth directly on her skin. She had heard women talking about this. She had read explicit scenes in romance novels. She knew men liked to do this, and the women enjoyed it even more, but was he doing it right? Weren't the panties supposed to come off? She wanted to help him. Her shaking hands tried to remove the dratted panties.

He looked up with a big grin. "No, _pyrotechnia mikros_ , leave them. I want the pleasure of removing them myself."

"Ohhh! I can't take any more. I want you now," Cassidy gasped as she dug her fingers into his thick hair and tried to drag his head up to hers

His only response was a smug sounding grunt and his finger creeping under the panty leg. At the touch of his skin on her swollen nub, her fingers left his hair and starting clawing at his shoulders. With a wild roar and absolutely no finesse, he ripped the delicate panties off her and threw them aside.

He reared up to a kneeling position between her legs. "Ah, Theron? Shouldn't you take off your trousers?"

"Woman, you are driving me mad!" He looked so cute with his hair standing up wild, a cockeyed grin on his face.

Before Cassidy could grab at his zipper, the pants were already hitting the floor with a loud thump. Her breath caught somewhere between her second and her third rib when her eyes beheld her new husband's powerful shaft. "I-I-I don't think we're going to fit," she whispered.

He moved back onto the bed and leaned over her, the tip of his engorged penis touching her wet entrance. "Do not worry, my love, I am quite certain we will fit perfectly." Theron's pleased smile lit the corners of her heart.

His lips devoured hers a moment later and inflamed her to higher heights. Tentatively, she ran her hands over his rippled ribs. How on earth did a self-made, multi-billionaire have time to develop abs like these. Her hands lovingly stroked up to his chest. Good solid muscles twitched against her palms. Those did not come from shuffling paper. Even his arm muscles were well cut. You didn't achieve muscle definition like that just by lifting a gold pen.

_Mmmm, his tongue was as well developed a muscle as the rest of him_ , she thought as once again his head disappeared between her thighs. He placed her legs over his shoulders. She wasn't sure exactly what he was doing, but he had definitely taken her to another plane of existence. Cassidy, in awe, listened to the sweet sounds they made.

They were so intertwined, Cassidy wasn't sure what parts belonged to her and what was Theron.

He was the only flavor she could taste. She had sampled the nectar of his mouth. The unique mix of Theron and her became the scent perfuming the room. It was a scent that could carry her to heaven. Their essences blended together.

Soon they would be one.

But for now. Wow! She was gasping for breath.

His tongue massaged the swollen bud of her womanhood. Once again her back arched off the bed as he nipped her. Down there! Before her spine could touch the mattress his warm finger entered her. Every thought scattered as she flew to pieces.

Theron's talented tongue licked and stroked. Another finger entered her. Stretching Cassidy's tight muscles. And still his tongue licked and stroked. Stroked and licked. His teeth nibbled at the most sensitive part of her. She had never realized that part was so sensitive.

Her heart pounded. "Ohhh," her breath came out in gasps. "Theron, I need you to kiss me."

"Soon, _agape mou_. Soon." He lifted his head just enough for her to see the heat in his eyes. Then he returned diligently to the task at hand, and mouth.

"Ohhhh, Theron, I need you! Now." Her breathing picked up speed. Her fingers pulled at his hair. "Right now!" She finished with a scream.

Theron rested his head on her knee as she fought for breath. His smile reminiscent of the cat that had lapped up all the cream. " _Pyrotechnia mikros mou_ , tell me, did you see fireworks?"

"It's a good thing we're not on your mountain top any more. I would be lost in the sky, full of stars like the Cassiopeia of legend."

Theron's smile became even smugger as his fingers started drawing circles on Cassiopeia's thighs above the lacy tops of her stockings. He had to be inside her soon. The erotic feel of her silk clad legs wrapped around his head had almost sent him over the edge. But first he wanted her to have a night like she had never had before. He wanted to wipe her dead husband and all other men out of her mind. After tonight he wanted to be the only lover her body knew. The only lover her body remembered and responded to.

"Oh no! I can't believe I haven't taken off my boots or stockings." She sounded genuinely shocked, and it made him grin.

She lifted her free leg in the air. Knee straight, purple boot pointed. Who ever thought cowboy boots could add an extra dash of sexy? His gorgeous little wife did not need any help in that department, but Theron gazed appreciatively from his place on the bed where he waited with bated breath to see what his surprising little bride would do next.

She had seemed so shocked with every move he had made. He didn't know why she felt she had to put on this innocent act, but he couldn't wait to see where it would lead them. No woman was this naturally sexy. He had always chosen experienced women for his affairs. There was a lot to be said for experience. He did not like games. He liked his sexual partners to be honest and straightforward. But her innocent pose was hard to resist.

Her fingers began to untie the lavender ribbons holding the stockings up until he placed his hand over hers. "No, _karthula mou._ When the time is right I will remove them.

"But, you didn't, you know..."

He watched in fascination as a blush rose from the curls where he had just feasted. The blush covered her pouting breasts, and ended with her face. Her entire body was aglow. He had never seen anything like it before. He would have to make Cassiopeia blush often when she was naked just so he could enjoy the light show.

And those curls! It had been years since he had been with a woman dressed in her natural beauty. The curls wrapped delightfully around his fingers when he began his exploration of her body. He intended to make sure they remained exactly as they were, no matter what fashion decreed.

He brought himself to a kneeling position between her thighs. "I will have my turn soon."

Before Theron could do anything else, Cassiopeia wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him forward. The leather of her boots was warm and hard on his ass. He wanted to enter her hard and fast.

Cassidy had waited for this moment all her life. She was with the man she loved and she was finally being introduced to the sexual side of her nature. But the man was taking too long. She enjoyed everything he had done to her so far, but she really wanted him to hurry up and initiate her to the joys of intercourse!

The suspense was killing her! She had to feel him inside of her. Now! If they went by his time table, she would be so nervous she wouldn't be able to enjoy it. And according to all the women she knew, _it_ could be very enjoyable. He was between her thighs and his penis was touching her, right where she wanted him. This was her opportunity to become proactive in this little seduction scenario he was working. She wrapped her legs tight around him and using the strength of her legs, she pulled him forward.

Theron fell onto her body. His hands cupped her breasts and she wanted him to squeeze them, fondle them again. His lips a breath away from hers. His rock hard erection probed her opening like a heat-seeking missile. Cassidy knew she had taken Theron by surprise and she had to act while he was still stunned.

She lifted her head until their lips were joined, her tongue sliding into his mouth. Her fingers dug into his hair, but gentled into a loving stroke on his scalp as his tongue played with hers.

The impetus changed sides. Theron's tongue took over the dominant role of seducer. His fingers pinched and stroked her swollen breasts. Cassidy groaned her satisfaction into his mouth.

"You drive me crazy, _agape mou_ ," he rasped into her ear. They both moved their hips. Cassidy wanted to grind into him. She raised her hips until the head of Theron's cock pushed into her wet interior.

He went all the way in.

Cassidy inhaled a sharp breath. She had not expected to feel any pain, but it was there as her membrane was breached.

Cassiopeia was so hot, so wet, so tight. Oh, so tight. Acting purely on animal instinct he threw away technique and pushed all the way in.

He felt her stiffen beneath him right before he heard her gasp and felt an unexpected barrier tear open.

" _Theos!"_ He held himself still. How could this be? She had a child. How could she be a virgin? " _Cassiopeia?_ " To minimize her pain he tried to pull out of her slowly. She clamped her legs tighter around him. The boot heels dug into his ass cheeks.

"Don't you dare!" She whispered.

He nestled his mouth into the crook of her neck. He kissed the pulse that beat there. "Cassiopeia, did I hurt you?"

"A little bit. Please don't leave me."

"I do not want to hurt you, _agape mou_."

"It's getting better. You just surprised me. You're so big."

"Let me pull out. We can try again later." He nibbled on her collarbone "There is no need for you to have to endure pain."

She wiggled her hips and he feared his cock would disown him if he stopped making love to her. "See, I am feeling better now." Her hands wrapped around his face and pulled him to her for a kiss that shook his very soul. She flexed her hips. Theron's groan shook through his body. His hips slowly moved in rhythm with hers.

"We have to talk," he said against her lips.

"Later." Cassiopeia's hips picked up the tempo. His rose to meet the occasion, and joined her. They moved together without a thought in either head until her scream of release was joined by his shout.

# 25

_T heos!_ He had to move. He had collapsed on top of Cassiopeia. He had closed his eyes, nearly asleep on her. Theron did not want to move, but he did not want to hurt her any more than he already had. _Christos!_ How could this have happened? It could not be true. Theron rolled to his side, taking her with him.

Cassidy had never felt so wonderful in her life. Her eyes drifted shut.

"First talk, then sleep," Theron's gruff voice penetrated the fog surrounding her brain.

"Okay. Why don't you go first?" She ran her fingertips along his side. She really hoped to distract him. Obviously he had discovered her little secret.

"Do not start something you cannot finish, _pyrotechnia mikros mou._ " He grabbed her hands and pulled them away from his body. "As a woman with no experience you will be too tender for more love play tonight." Theron brought Cassidy's fingers to his mouth and began to leisurely kiss them. "Tell me how a woman who has been married, widowed, and is the mother of a son can still be a virgin."

Cassidy looked in his deep, dark eyes and realized there was no way out. She would now have to confess to what she did out of compassion, and what she didn't do due to fear.

"I married Enrico Vega at Dallas General Hospital on October nineteenth at eleven-ten in the morning. The marriage was witnessed by two Texas Rangers, an ADA..."

A confused look crossed his face "What is ADA?"

"An Assistant District Attorney. They are the lawyers who prosecute the bad guys. Rico's personal lawyer, Moose, was there, and a justice from the Texas Supreme Court. After we were pronounced Man and Wife and we had signed everything that needed to be signed, the witnesses signed each copy. We had more witnesses than the law requires, just in case something happened to one or more of them. We wanted to make sure I would still have people who could testify as to the validity of our marriage.

"One of the Rangers left with the lawyer and the Justice. I don't know if what they did was strictly legal or not, but they did something to make sure everything was filed and 'legal'." She made air quotation marks.

"After they left, Lynda brought Enzio in. Rico had wires coming out of everywhere and the doctors didn't want Zio in there, but we knew," she choked on a sob, "we knew Rico wasn't going to make it. He had to see his son one last time. So I snuggled Zio into the only part of Rico's body that hadn't been blown to smithereens." She blanched as the stench of Rico's blood and the antiseptic hospital smells invaded her memory senses once again. "I stood there for hours holding Rico's shattered arm around his son. Rico was getting weaker by the minute. The doctors threatened to throw me out if I didn't send the baby away. So Lynda took Zio to a waiting room.

"I stayed with Rico. Holding his hand. Painting pictures of Zio's happy future for him.

"Then he was gone. At nine-eleven that evening my best friend was dead." Silent tears seeped down her face. "Rico had saved my life, my virtue, and my sanity over and over again. In the end he was still saving me. By sharing his son with me, he saved my life once again. Because, without Rico, I'm not sure I would have been able to go on. I'm not sure I knew how to go on alone, but because of Zio I had to."

He used the thumb pad of his free hand to capture her tears. He pulled her stiff body closer to his side. "Where is the child's mother?"

"I'm his mother."

"Yes, of course you are his mother, but you did not give birth to him."

"I won't tell you his birth mother's name. The knowledge alone could place you in great danger. If her family found out they would kill Zio and me. They are really bad people." She knew fear stared out her eyes, but for once in her life she didn't feel the need to put on a brave face. "Her family is part of a major drug cartel. When they found out she was sneaking around with Rico they locked her up.

"She had been locked in a basement room for months. Barely fed, and not allowed to see anyone, especially a doctor. When Rico found her, he fought his way past her guards and brought her to me, but it was too late. She was too weak. I was with her when she had Zio. She got to hold him before she died." The tears were sliding down his furred chest. "She begged me to take care of Rico and the baby." Cassidy paused and tried to control the tears. "She begged me to pretend the baby was mine, so that her family would never be able to have a hold over him.

"Zio is my son. He has been since the day he was born and he always will be."

She loved Theron, but if he could not accept Zio, now that he knew the boy was not her son by birth, then she would have to leave. She would never allow anyone to make her son feel unwanted.

She was tense; as tight as a high wire. He ran soothing fingers down her spine. He repeated the action over and over again until she was on the verge of sleep. "Cassiopeia?"

"Umm."

"Why did you not tell me all this before?"

"I shouldn't have told you at all. It's too dangerous to trust anyone," Cassiopeia's voice was slurred and so faint it was barely there.

It sounded like there were some very bad people after her. Theron knew the type. They had tried to intimidate their way into his company when he was starting out.

"You own a bar. You live a visible life." The story did not make sense when anyone could see how openly she lived her life.

She giggled. "I've been hiding in plain sight. If you hide like a mole you forget what sunshine looks like and you become all suspicious and stinky. Both are dead giveaways. Besides, they didn't know about me and Rico. He was undercover using another name. Zio and I will be safe as long as nobody knows who his birth parents were."

"While you are confessing, will you tell me why you are so afraid of heights?" He reminded himself to breathe. He already had a bad feeling about the reason.

"Two months before my fifteenth birthday, I had gone up to read on the Widow's Walk. I always went up there to hide from Jenkins, and I had a great library book to read. This time he followed me up there and backed me against the railing. When I refused to give him a, ah . . ." Her blush burned his chest. Cassiopeia cleared her throat. "He wanted me to perform oral sex on him and when I refused he threw me off the top of the house."

" _Theos!_ He threw you off! Was he arrested?"

"No, at first I was unconscious. When I came to he was in my hospital room. It was late at night and there was no one else in the room. Rico had just stepped out to go to the vending machines. Jenkins said if I didn't tell the police I fell he would kill Grammie. I couldn't tell anyone the truth." Her nails were digging into his arm. "They didn't believe my falling story. They thought I had tried to kill myself. After all, I was an unloved, unwanted child. Teenagers do crazy stuff like that all the time. I had to go to counseling.

"Grammie knew me really well, though. She knew I wouldn't do anything like that, because I wasn't unwanted. She and Tia Maria loved me and I had Rico as a brother. Grammie was a smart woman. She put two and two together and figured out what happened. She told them they had to move out before I was released from the psychiatric hospital. Joe Jenkins killed her a few weeks later."

"Why is he not in prison?"

"The authorities didn't want to believe that he would do anything like that. It was too much work to prove it. They would rather believe that Grammie chose to stop living because she was ashamed of me.

"I knew I would never be safe in that house again. So Rico came up with a plan. Rico saved my life."

Theron held Cassiopeia while she sobbed for the grandmother and brother who were gone. He wondered if she had ever had a chance to grieve for them before.

She had lost her family and her home. But he had no doubt that her story was true. He had seen with his own eyes the kind of monster Jenkins was.

As the tears slowed down and then stopped, her fingers began dancing over his chest. His guilt over taking her so roughly reemerged.

"If you had told me you were a virgin, I would have prepared you better," there was a note of sadness that Theron did not expect to hear in his own voice.

"It's not a pretty picture to tell." She tenderly stroked his cheek.

"It was wonderful when you made love to me." Cassiopeia nuzzled his nipple through the hair on his chest. "You were wonderful. I wouldn't change anything about our love making. I do a lot of riding. I didn't think the hymen was still there." She kissed him gently on the lips. "I'm sorry I disappointed you."

Theron held his bride tightly to his chest. "You did not disappoint me. No man could ever be disappointed with the gift you have given me. You are everything a man could wish for in a lover."

He was about to kiss her when another question popped into his head. "Cassiopeia, if you are so terrified of heights, how is it you can ride a horse?"

"I love horses. They are warm, loving, and loyal. They have a spirit that heals wounded souls." Her fingers were playing with his chest curls again. His erection was prodding him to end the conversation. "When I am on a horse, my spirit melds with the spirit of the horse. We become one. We are wild and free. I know the horse will never purposely hurt me."

Cassiopeia was the warm and generous woman he had never thought he would find. Despite his good intentions, Theron kissed her. He swore he could feel his soul touching hers. They made love again and again before Apollo's golden chariot brought the sun over the horizon.

# 26

Cassidy stood under the hot shower and let the water pound on her as she sang Faith Hill's _This Kiss_.

Theron had definitely marked her as his. She had several love bites and a whole lot of strawberry marks all over her body. If she had known sex was this good, she wouldn't have held out all those years. Of course, she had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't be anywhere near as good with anyone else as it was with her new husband.

She stopped singing suddenly when two strong arms wrapped around her waist. Theron nuzzled Cassidy's neck for a minute before asking her to pass the shower gel. Her heart sank. She really wanted to have shower sex with her husband, but she was so sore from last night she was afraid she'd wince or cry out if he touched her down there.

The most wonderful feeling overcame her reservations as Theron started to massage soap into her shoulders. "We will just wash each other's backs, yes, _agape mou_? We will save our love making for another time. I fear I may have over-taxed you last night." Pride showed in his eyes as he kissed her nose.

When it was Theron's turn to have his back washed, Cassidy gasped. His back was full of gashes; the bronzed skin ripped open.

The shower gel slid through her shocked fingers and slammed onto the floor. "What did I do to you?"

He turned his body to face her and raised her in his arms so that he could kiss her. "It is nothing more then the sign of our passion for each other."

"I can't believe I hurt you like that!"

"It is the passion between the two of us. It is very powerful. You did not know you scratched me and I did not feel you doing it. Our passion has taken me to heights I have never been to before, _pyrotechnia mikros mou._ I hope we will return there often, you and I."

Before she could reply he kissed again and then turned his back. "Please cleanse each scratch carefully, _ghata mikros mou_." He grinned and repeated, "My little cat, I cannot wait to make you howl and stretch your claws again."

"Theron, these are more than just little scratches. I gouged you. Drew blood!" Remorse thickened her voice. "I'll put on an antibiotic when we're finished in here," she said as she tenderly cleaned each wound.

"That will not be necessary," he said with a smile.

"Yes, it is necessary and you will wear a white tee-shirt over it. After lunch I will clean your back again and reapply the medicine."

"Are all wives this bossy?" He asked as he kissed her neck.

"Only the ones who care when they injure their husbands," she answered solemnly. It might not be wise to let him know so soon that she cared for him, but she wasn't an actress or a dissembler. She had big secrets to hide, but she was still basically honest.

# 27

"I have to meet Ajax. We have some business which must be concluded. Why don't you take your friend Lynda and my _mitera_ out to lunch? I will take Enzio with me," Theron spoke to her reflection in the mirror as he ran the razor over his bold chin.

Cassidy felt a little pang that he could leave her so soon after last night, but she knew the wedding had been unplanned and life still had to go on.

"I'll be happy to have lunch with your mother, but we'll take Zio with us," Cassidy smiled at her new husband.

"If that is what would please you." He shrugged his magnificent shoulders. "I will meet you at _mitera's_ house after lunch. We will have to see Costas and present our marriage certificate to him."

Over lunch Rena confided that she went to AA meetings every day. She explained how she had been a raging alcoholic when Theron was a child and he had been left to his own devices most of the time. Once he started making money, he had sent her to a rehabilitation clinic. She worked very hard to maintain her sobriety, and they had developed a close relationship.

"I hope you will allow me to be a part of your life and be a good _yia-yia?_ " Rena asked over coffee.

"Of course. You are my _pethera._ A new bride should always welcome her mother-in-law," Cassidy said with a smile.

"The other Cassiopeia was not welcoming," Rena sighed. "I had feared it was because I had been a bad mother to Theron."

"Theron has never spoken of you with anything other than love and understanding," Cassidy told her new mother-in-law truthfully.

"The other Cassiopeia . . ."

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Lynda exploded. "There is only one Cassiopeia and she prefers to be called Cassidy. Forget about that douchebag that pretended to be our Cassidy."

Rena grinned. Her face was transformed from the overly serious matron to the feminine version of her son. "You would not mind if I called you Cassidy?"

"Please, I would prefer it," Cassidy smiled back at her, grateful that Lynda had taken care of that obstacle for her. "I much prefer it. In fact, I wish Theron would call me Cassidy, I cringe a little every time he calls me Cassiopeia. I'm afraid he is thinking of my cousin Julia."

Rena spit on the café's sidewalk. "That _porni!_ My son did not like her. But it is easy to see he cares deeply for you and Enzio. It relieves my heart to see this. I had feared that I had permanently destroyed his ability to love or trust anyone. He always had some shallow woman around, but no one he had ever loved." Rena smiled happily at her new daughter-in-law. "Now his future includes a lovely wife and child. I know he has found love. He will finally have joy in his life."

Rena Christofides looked twenty years younger than she did the week before when Cassidy had first met her. It was obvious she could now forgive herself and be happy thinking that her son had found happiness.

Cassidy didn't have the heart to explain why they married. It would cause Rena too much concern.

"It must have been love at first sight for my son. He could not hide his fascination with you at the first wedding," Rena gushed. "I can see how much you love him, too. He even loves your son Zio. I have never seen him so smitten. Thank you for saving my son from becoming a person like Costas Dolmides."

"Ya know, I didn't think I'd be saying this, but it relieves me to know that when I go back to Texas, Cassidy will have a new mother to look out for her. Lord knows the one that gave birth to her could care less."

Ajax carried two glasses and a bottle of Ouzo out to the balcony which overlooked Athen's National Gardens. "I am surprised to see you today. I thought your little bride would have you under her boot heel for the foreseeable future."

"Do not mock those boots. I find them quite enchanting and having those heels wrapped around me is not a bad thing," Theron chuckled.

Ajax laughed with him. "I must say, those boots made a fashion statement I never thought I would see on one of your women."

"My wife is like no other woman," Theron said with a chuckle. He missed her and they had been apart less than an hour.

Ajax poured the Ouzo and handed Theron a glass before turning the conversation back to business. "Theron, are you sure you want to sell your Eyrie?"

"Of course I do not want to sell it, but there is no sense in holding onto it now," Theron picked up a _mezedes_ to eat before taking a drink from his glass.

"I know that this battle to take over Dolmides Global has tied up a lot of your resources, but I didn't know that it had hurt you this severely. Let me loan you the funds," Ajax offered. "There is no need to sell the Eyrie."

Theron smiled at Ajax. They had been close friends from the time they met in boarding school. While Ajax was there on family money, Theron was a scholarship student, but that had not stopped the two boys from quickly discovering they had much in common. They had remained good friends over the years.

"As much as I appreciate your offer, it is important to dispose of the Eyrie. I will not be going there anymore." Theron ate another _mezedes_ , he found he had a big appetite today. "I have decided to trade in the mountain top for an island. I had rather hoped that instead of exchanging money, you would like to trade your _krypte_."

"My grotto has served me well. The women love it. But why would you trade your view in the sky?" Ajax asked.

"Cassiopeia is not fond of heights. I will never be able to take her to the Meteora, but the grotto is a place where she and Enzio can relax and have a good time. If you are not interested I will continue to search for another suitable place."

"You would have to have work done on the house before you could bring your little bride there. You know it is where I took my women when I wanted to escape Athens," Ajax said with a grimace. "I do not think your wife would appreciate the décor."

"You will consider the trade?"

"There are a few women who have not taken my rejection of them well. They have been known to show up at the Grotto uninvited." Theron looked at his friend closely and realized that Ajax seemed restless.

"As I have never taken any woman to the Eyrie, except my wife, you will not have to worry about any women invading your time there, unless you have them flown in," Theron responded.

"You have been forced into a marriage by Dolmides. Are you happy with your choice of bride?" Ajax asked quietly.

"I am content to have wed my _pyrotechnia_ , but I am not happy that Dolmides tried to foist a woman of his choice on to me. This Cassiopeia and I will do well together."

"And Dolmides now accepts her as his true daughter?" Ajax asked. "You will not have trouble with him upholding his end of the deal now that you have married her?" He refilled his glass of Ouzo.

"I do not know how he will react," Theron glanced down at the peaceful garden Ajax's balcony overlooked. He must remember to take Cassiopeia and Enzio there. They would enjoy a respite from the summer heat that was settling into the city, and Enzio would enjoy the duck pond. He had been fascinated by the birds at the Eyrie.

"What are your plans?"

Theron dragged himself back from the pleasant daydream he had of his wife and child enjoying the afternoon in the cool shade of the National Garden. "If Dolmides still fails to recognize her as his daughter, I will have to find another way to help the people of Evadne. Without her voting shares I will not be able to take over the company."

"It will take much longer," Ajax moved restlessly in his chair. It was clear to Theron that his friend had something on his mind.

"I have been selfish, only concerned with myself. What troubles you, my friend?" Theron asked. The snacks now sat heavily on his stomach.

"My father has summoned the family. I will be leaving for Santorini this evening." Ajax's face was grim. "Something is not right. I am not sure when I will be returning, but Sim is still in Athens and Hector should be returning soon. You know that they will protect your back, should you need it."

"I know. I am very fortunate in my friends."

"How do you plan to handle Dolmides?" Ajax once again refilled his glass.

"Costas does not know that we have wed. I will inform him later today."

"But he has acknowledged this woman as his daughter?" Ajax persisted. When they debated issues at school he was always the Devil's Advocate.

"He has not, but she is." Theron wished he had a cigar. It had been a long time since he had smoked one, but now it seemed an appropriate accoutrement to the conversation.

"That is disappointing. You have heavily invested in obtaining the controlling interest. How long before the company flounders and takes you down with it?"

"It is my hope that the family members will soon awake and realize that they are about to lose everything. It will only take two of three of them jumping ship to swing the vote my way," Theron sighed and walked across the balcony to the wrought iron railing. He looked at the ground below and could imagine the terror Cassiopeia would feel if she were brought to admire this magnificent sight. It was time to bring the conversation back to the subject that had brought him here.

"If the company cannot be saved will you be all right?"

"My new wife owns a bar and a ranch. I can always become a gigolo and allow her to support me," Theron said with a half-smile.

"She does?" Ajax looked astounded.

"It appears my wife is quite the business woman. No matter what happens with my businesses, she and the child will never go hungry or be homeless."

"That is quite disappointing. I had rather hoped she would turn to me." Ajax said with his widest smile.

"Wipe that thought out of your damned lecherous mind. She is my wife. Perhaps it is time you found that wife of yours that you misplaced."

# 28

Cassidy stared at her new husband. Stupefied. They stood in the middle of what was apparently Costas Dolmides library, home office, whatever the hell he called it. Kelley was sitting on an overstuffed couch firmly holding Julia's hands while casting loving looks on her. Looks Cassidy had never received from the woman who was her mother. Good thing she had Lynda and now Rena. With a mother like Kelley, a girl could begin to doubt her worth.

"Cousin Julia, you really must give up these pretensions of yours. Kelley is my mom. She loves _me,_ not you. She doesn't know you. She doesn't love you. She never did." The real Julia gloated unmercifully.

"You should have waited, Christofides. We had a DNA test while you were gone and it is conclusive that the lovely creature seated with Kelley is my daughter." Costas gloated from his desk.

Despite biting her lip, Cassidy could not hold her tongue. "Well, old man, if that is true, then you were doing the nasty with Aunt Patsy at the same time you were playing hide the sausage with Kelley. You should be ashamed of yourself."

"You dare to bring your cheap _agapetikia_ into my house. You have been played for a fool, Christofides. As I have said from the beginning that girl is nothing but an imposter. Get rid of her and we can still work a deal." The look of disdain on Costas' face made Cassidy want to smash it away with a palm heel to the nose. If he said one more disparaging word to Theron she would, too.

"Unlike she who gave birth to me, I am no man's mistress, cheap or otherwise. Never have been, never will be. If anyone is being played for a fool it's you," Cassidy spoke out.

Theron cast a cold look on Cassidy before he shuddered his eyes, her knees almost gave out on her,. "Cassidy, my driver will take you back to _my_ house. Wait for me there. We will settle this matter between us later."

She looked her husband straight in the eye, but he wouldn't meet hers. She saw anger in his face. _He doesn't believe me_. She realized with a sinking heart. After their fabulous night together, he didn't believe her. He didn't trust her. He would never love her.

She'd leave all right, but she had a few things to say to Costas and Kelley first. Once again she found herself grateful to her Grammie. In spite of Cassidy's constant pleading, Grammie made Cassidy go to her Greek lessons every Tuesday and Thursday after school. For the first time in the hearing of those gathered there, she spoke in flawless Greek. "Kelley, you have been very generous with my house, allowing these freeloaders to live there all these years. They are not welcome on my property, so they are now in your lap. Daddy, dear, you have attracted the scum to you, but you haven't noticed it is scum because you are one yourself. May you all have much joy in each other."

Her long copper curls bounced on her derriere as she turned on her heel and headed out the door without giving her husband another glance.

Cassidy fumed as the housekeeper let her into the house. He hadn't even given her a damn key!

She ran upstairs to grab the travel documents she would need for her and Zio. She should have realized that last night was an omen of things to come. They had drawn each other's blood. Today he had cut out her heart. Not one word of rebuttal did he utter. Not one word of defense of his bride.

She grabbed her big shoulder bag, stuffed a couple of pairs of underwear and tee-shirts and shorts in it. Then she ran down the hall to what was to have been Enzio's room. She loaded diapers, wipes, and several changes of clothing into the bag. She rechecked it for her travel documents, then ran out for the taxi she had ordered from the back of Theron's car. If she could get Zio without raising Rena's suspicions, they could be on a plane and on their way out of the country before Theron finished making his plans with Costas to get rid of her. He had been ready to marry Julia before, now he could get an annulment from her and marry Julia instead.

The seat belt sign flashed on as Cassidy rubbed the tears away from her eyes. The plane taxied to a halt in Barcelona. Fortunately the flight was on time, so she would have to run to make the connection to Hong Kong, then from there she was headed for Sydney. She had Kelley cousins in the Outback. She would stay with them for a few weeks. When Lynda gave her the heads up, she would fly home to Texas.

Theron had already proven himself untrustworthy. But she hoped he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize Zio. Maybe she would be better off staying on with her cousins longer than a few weeks. They bred horses. She was good with horses.

Damn. After all these years of keeping her mouth shut and her secrets to herself, why? Why did she tell him everything? Did she sign her own death certificate? Would she be responsible for Enzio's death? Maybe she should leave Zio with her cousins. He'd be safer in Australia than he would be in Texas.

# 29

"Dolmides, you are never to say anything about my wife again. You are a cruel and vicious man to turn on your own daughter like that," Theron fumed.

"You are quite mistaken, Christofides, my daughter is still here in this room."

"If you are talking about Athena, the daughter born of your wife, you are correct. But that woman," Theron pointed to Julia, "is Julia Jenkins. The daughter of Patsy and Joe Jenkins. My people have run a complete investigation and have proven to a court of law in the United States that the woman known as Cassidy Flynn is indeed your natural daughter."

"No!" Kelley Flynn had dropped Julia's hand and stood between Theron and Costas. "That can't be true. Costas, you assured me you had done a thorough search and that she is our daughter." Kelley pointed to Julia.

"Kelley, be quiet and sit down." She sat. "Athena and Nicholas, leave. This conversation does not involve you."

"No, Father, if it involves our secret relative, and our company, it involves us," Athena said, standing her ground.

"We had a contract that stated if I married Cassiopeia Dolmides, you would turn over her shares and your proxy. I have done so and now I expect you to honor your end of the bargain," Theron stated.

"You have no proof that this Cassidy Flynn is Cassiopeia," Dolmides insisted.

"My proof has been shown to the judge who set the injunction in motion. He has declared my wife as your true daughter."

"That's good enough for me," Nicholas said. "You have my vote, Christofides."

"Nicholas!" Costas roared.

"You also have mine, Theron. I am sick of watching our name being dragged through the mud and our company's reputation being destroyed," Athena said. "Father, give him what he needs for Evadne."

Athena gave Julia and Kelley a disparaging look as she walked over to Theron. "Welcome to the family, brother. Please bring my new sister around to meet me and my children as soon as it is convenient for you." She then air kissed his cheeks and left the room.

Nicholas walked up to Theron and shook his hand. "I'm not kissing you. I don't care what our new relationship is. If you will allow me, I would like to work with you to save the company." Then he turned and followed his sister out of the room.

Kelley still sat stunned. Julia tried holding her hand, but Kelley was unresponsive.

"You and that woman have turned my family against me," Costas raged at Theron.

"You planned to cheat me by foisting an imposter onto me. Were you later going to expose her as a fake and cheat me out of our deal?"

Costas paled and fell into his desk chair.

Julia had thrown herself into Theron's arms and sobbed, "I love you. And I know you love me too. Please, please don't send me away. We can still be together. I-I'll wait until you can divorce Cassie. You can't love Cassie. Nobody does. Nobody ever has. It will be just you and I. We can be together, always."

Theron allowed the distaste he felt to show as he pulled her arms off of him. "You are quite wrong, Ms. Jenkins. Cassidy's grandmother loved her. Maria Vega and Enrico Vega loved her. My mother loves her already. Cassidy has never been unloved."

Julia's tears continued to flow. Theron looked her straight in the face. Why did this woman cry black streaks? When his Cassidy cried she looked beautiful, and she wore mascara. He watched in fascination as the mascara ran from her eyes, over her cheeks, and rolled off her jaw, ruining the white silk dress she wore. She clutched desperately at his hands "But you don't love her. You love me."

"No, woman, you are wrong. I have loved Cassidy since the moment I set eyes on her in the Metropolis. Since I first heard her voice, her laugh. When I saw her wrap the priest around her little finger with a few smiles and friendly words."

"No, you can't love her. You love me!" she shrieked.

"Woman, show some dignity. You were nothing more to me than a distasteful part of a business deal I needed to complete. Now go before I change my mind about turning you into the police. He shrugged her off, then straightened out his cuffs. He nodded his head towards Luca to remove the Jenkins.

Upon Julia's removal, Kelley looked at Costas, "She was not our daughter?"

"I did what I needed to do for my company. For my family."

"Your company. Your family." Kelley's voice was deadly calm. He had heard that voice one night in the Scorpion's Tail. He briefly wondered if he should warn Costas to beware of wooden objects.

"My daughter. The sweet little baby you made me give up, saying it would only be for a short time, until you could get a divorce from your wife. My daughter was here and you kept me from her again. You lied to me and made me call her a fraud."

"It was for the best. I could see instantly that girl would not bend to my will easily."

Theron would have to remember every word of this conversation for when he related it to Cassiopeia. She would get some satisfaction out of it. Plus she had a brother and sister who wanted to know her better. Perhaps even a mother.

"Bend to your will? You greedy monster. I should hope she wouldn't bend to your will. I was stupid enough to do so, and what did it get me?"

"I have given you much. Jewels. Clothes. Money."

"I have been your whore for almost thirty years. I gave up my daughter for you. Now you can go to hell." Her voice had remained flat throughout the entire confrontation. " _Kirios_ Christofides, could you please escort me back to my flat? And perhaps loan me some of your security team. I need them to keep the undesirable element away from me."

"Your flat? I gave you those apartments!" Costas shouted.

"You gave me nothing, Costas. I earned them, the old-fashioned way. I am ashamed to admit it, but earn them I did."

As they exited the building, Kelley Flynn looked at Theron with eyes almost as beautiful as her daughter's. "Do you think she will ever forgive me?"

"Your daughter is a _pyrotechnia mikros,_ but she is also very loving. She truly cares about people. Give her some time." Theron hoped he was right and that Cassiopeia would forgive her mama. The woman needed to have hope in her heart.

Theron had arrived home anxious to tell his wife that the business deal was settled and the Jenkinses were out of their lives forever. He knew something was wrong as soon as he walked through the door. The vibrancy Cassidy brought with her was missing. He opened door after door. His feet moved faster with each step. By the time he reached the master bedroom door, he was running. Relief flooded his body as he threw open her closet doors and found her clothing still there.

_She must be visiting Enzio_ , he thought.

Enzio wasn't there and neither was Cassidy.

He went back to his room and searched for her passport. It wasn't on his bureau where he had left it. He should have put everything in the safe last night, but he had been too intent on bedding his new wife.

Where could she be?

# 30

When he had entered his mother's living room, her face said it all.

Lynda and Moose had glared at him balefully. His heart sank. His wife hadn't turned to the people she thought of as parents.

"Theron, what have you done?"

He had been asking himself that same question for five whole, miserable months. He pushed his dinner away and walked out the kitchen door, heading for the barn. Maybe a good ride would put him to sleep. Maybe tonight his dreams would not be filled with images of Cassidy. He didn't know which image haunted him more; the one where she glowed in his arms after making love, or the look of despair when she thought he had no faith in her.

He had seen it in her eyes, but he could not reassure her. He wanted her out of that house before any more words could be said to hurt her.

He should have read her look better that day in Costas' office and sent Luca with her. He had thought she was safe with his driver and would be at home awaiting him when he completed his task.

Where the hell was his wife?

His investigators had tracked her as far as Sydney and then lost all trace of her. She had not returned to her ranch or her bar. When the Jenkinses had so foolishly returned to the Grandmother's house, they were met by a gang of bikers who held them there until the police arrived with warrants for Jenkins' arrest for the murder of Cassidy's grandmother. But Cassidy had not been there with them.

The three Jenkinses, Patsy, Joe, and Julia, had been lucky to escape Greece without having to spend a great deal of time in a Greek prison. Only Kelley's intervention had kept them free. She brokered a deal with Theron to save Dolmides's face and the company.

He received weekly phone calls from Kelley inquiring about her daughter and grandson. He feared if Kelley found Cassidy first he would have to fight the woman to get his wife back.

The wheels touched down at the very late hour of eleven at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. Cassidy had been traveling for more than forty-eight hours straight. Why was it whenever she had to take planes there were always delays and cancellations causing the travel time to double or even triple? The airline gods hated her! And having to spend time in airports and on planes with a cranky toddler was no pleasure. Even Stephen King couldn't concoct a more dire horror.

She still had hours of driving before her. If she rented a car and left right now she would be driving all night. However, if she picked up the car and drove out of Dallas, she could find a cheap hotel where she and Zio could get a good night's sleep. Ah, sleep! Cassidy rubbed her hand over her undulating belly. _Will you guys let your Mama get some sleep?_

She wasn't sure she was doing the right thing coming home now, but Lynda assured her there were no strangers lurking around. And she really, really wanted to be home. Cassidy wanted her babies born in her house. In her country, so there would never be any question of their citizenship. The doctor in Australia had told her that if she wanted to fly, it was either now or never, or at least not until after the babies were born and old enough to travel.

Yikes! That meant she might not be able to go home for another year. And the thought of traveling alone with three kids under two . . .

Sure, Cassidy could have stayed and played gooseberry to her newly wedded cousin. Yeah, they said they loved having her and Zio there. And she had set them up with a therapeutic horse program similar to hers, but watching Maura and Cade bill and coo while she mourned her all-too-brief marriage and watched her belly grow with the product of her lost love . . .

Well, it was just too much for her to handle. If she was going to be miserable she could be miserable in her own home.

Once Cassidy got home, she was never going to leave it again.

It took hours to find a cheap motel that didn't remind her of the Bates Motel, Hooker Haven, or a R,R,R, rat and roach roost She finally pulled into what looked like a family facility. The desk clerk had glared at her when she walked into the office carrying a fussing Zio. After she assured the clerk she wasn't a fleeing wife with an irate husband hot on her heels, he grudgingly appointed her to a corner room.

"That way the brat is less likely to disturb my other guests," he said as he handed her the key.

The next morning, after a late breakfast that still hadn't decided if it was going to stay down, Cassidy was once again on the road. Home. She was going home. She wouldn't go into the bar tonight, but she would check in the next night. She wouldn't be able to stay very long because she was tired. Too tired to put in those late night hours and she wouldn't be able to be as hands on as she had been before.

She should sell the bar.

Maybe she would open a coffee shop instead. Something that was open all day. It wouldn't be any competition to the diner which only stayed open until two. It could be a place for people who needed a pick-me-up in the afternoon or early evening. Maybe the teens would like to have a place to do homework together or just hang out.

It didn't take Cassidy long to realize she should have stayed in Dallas until she could get a flight into Lubbock. Instead she was taking scenic route 180, in a car that had never seen a good day, stopping often for cold drinks, bathrooms, and diaper changes.

Then of course, there were the regular stops to allow the car to cool down, that became more frequent the longer she drove.

The Outback was beginning to look a lot better. Maybe she should have stayed in Australia to have her babies. At the rate she was traveling, it would take her a week to get home; and a week in that car was eight days too many.

Cassidy was so tired she stopped for the night in Breckenridge. The next day she made even less progress and spent the night in Roby. When she called the car rental firm to see if they could supply her with a replacement, they gave her a runaround that would make any cheating husband proud. Night three found her spending the night curled up with Enzio in Los Ybanez. It was all she could do not to howl out her frustration. Home was a mere matter of hours away, but Cassidy didn't have the strength or the energy to go any further that day.

She stretched her aching back out on the most uncomfortable mattress she had ever had the misfortune to encounter, and her days on the road had led to many bad mattresses. The "color television with 100 cable stations" didn't work.

She didn't need the Weather Channel to warn her. The bones that had been broken when Jenkins had thrown Cassidy off her grandmother's roof hurt like a son of a gun. A weather system was coming in.

Great! Just what she needed. To drive the last hundred miles through a Texan sized winter storm.

Maybe they should stay in this flea bag motel and wait out the storm. Cassidy could tell by her pain level that there was a doozy coming in. They could end up trapped in this room for days, without even a television to entertain her and Zio. Cassidy didn't allow Z much television, but trapped in a small dingy room where she didn't want him to touch anything, including the floor, it would be nice if he could watch _Sesame Street._ She could use some of Big Bird's comfort and cheer, too.

Cassidy had already been traveling for more than a week. Crikey, as her cousin Mauve liked to say, she had been in Texas for four nights. Was she delaying her trip on purpose? Didn't she want to go home?

Trepidation swept through her at the thought of finally returning home. Why, she couldn't understand. Pegasus was hers and hers alone. It always had been. She and Rico had been partners in the bar, even though she was the one who ran it and did all the work while Rico pursued his dream of being a Ranger. But the ranch had always been her dream. Her sanctuary. Hers.

Cassidy turned on her side. Her fingers began playing with the diamond wedding band Theron had placed on her finger one-hundred and thirty-four days ago. She had meant to leave it on his bureau for him to find, but she forgot to. For a while she wore it on a chain around her neck; she had been too afraid to leave it anywhere unattended. Theron was probably married to Julia now. He had enough juice to get an immediate annulment. She would have to find a way to return the ring to him as soon as she could. When Cassidy had realized she still had the ring she was going to send it to him, but then she found out the reason she couldn't keep anything in her stomach was because she had a visitor in her uterus. Or as it turned out, two.

The ring went back on her finger. If by some chance they were still married, the divorce would have to wait until after the babies were born. She was born a bastard. She knew the stigma that word still carried. She would not do that to her children. When she found out she was having two of them, the need to protect them increased exponentially. Although Theron needed to be free to marry Julia, no business deal was more important than her children's emotional health!

A familiar yearning washed over her at the thought of Theron

Theron. Her husband for a day. She was only married to Rico for a day, too.

Would she ever find herself in a marriage that would last a lifetime?

Who was she kidding? She was about to become the mother of three. What man in his right mind would want to take that on?

Cassidy snorted. There would never be another marriage. How could she ever trust another man? Who was she trying to kid? How could she ever trust herself? Her own judgment was obviously impaired.

The realization finally came to Cassidy in that dank room. It wasn't so much Theron's betrayal that bothered her, although that hurt like h-e-double-hockey-sticks, what really hurt was the loss of her own protective shield.

A scratching at the door drew her attention. As the door opened, the scruffy face of the desk clerk peeked through the opening.

"What are doing here?" she gasped.

"Storms comin' in. I thought you could use somethin' to keep you warm." His green toothed smile made her feel bilious. When he grabbed his crotch and started bouncing his meager "package" up and down, Cassidy didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Finally she let instincts take over. She reached her hand under the blanket and firmly grasped her new Louisville Slugger between her two hands as she rolled out of bed. She landed in a fighting crouch and confronted the pervert.

"Hey, lady, don't get your panties all bunched up. I was only offering you another blanket if you wanted one," he said, trying to slime his way out of it.

"Really, let's call the Rangers and see if they see it that way."

Taking one hand off the bat, she picked up her cell and started dialing the familiar number. He rushed her, but since the bat was her weapon of choice, she swung it at his knee and heard the satisfying cracking of the bone. Then she pulled the bat back to get the momentum needed to bury it in his groin.

A few hours later, after repeating her story over and over again to several local officers and Texas Rangers, an older Ranger arrived on the scene and asked, "Cassidy, where on earth did you get a baseball bat in the middle of winter? I know they don't allow those things on planes nowadays."

"When I arrived in the big D, I went to an all night chain store. It's almost Christmas. You can get anything there, whether it's in season or not, at Christmastime. You know my motto. Never leave home without proper protection." Cassidy flashed him a tired grin. She was tired, but it was good to be home. Good to hear the Texas twang. Good to see friendly faces.

The Ranger cast a look at her belly. "Seems to me somewhere along the line you lost your protection."

Cassidy curved her hands protectively over her babies. "You don't use protection when you're reaching for a goal."

"It's good to know some things are goal results and not mistakes."

"Captain, I could never consider a baby a mistake." Tears glittered in Cassidy's eyes as she wondered how Theron would view the results of their one night together. It was the most difficult thing she had ever done, but she had finally decided somewhere between the blow to the knee and the shot to the stomach that she would have to have call Theron. He had a right to know about his progeny. Rena had a right to meet her grandchildren. But not now. Not tonight. Later. After the babies were born. When it wouldn't hurt so much to see him again.

# 31

Cassidy and Enzio were wide awake. The nasty room was empty of law officers and it totally creeped her out. There was no way she was going to be able to sleep. At least not here. It was time to go home. With any luck she would get there before the weather front blew in. There was no way she wanted to travel the dark Texas back roads in the middle of the night in bad Texas weather. But at the end of that long dark road would be the cozy little ranch house that was their home. It was worth the effort to get there. It was always worth the effort to get home to friends and family and security.

Somewhere a shutter had loosened from its mooring. The house lights were blinking in rhythm with the howling wind. Theron saved his work on the laptop in the small home office he had been working in. He would have to fix the shutter before it pounded a hole in the house. He'd never be able to sleep with all the noise.

He walked through the house, barely observing the Christmas lights and decorations Lynda had insisted were de rigueur. In the mudroom he shoved his feet into his new winter boots and grabbed his sheepskin-lined jacket off the hook. The wintery blast hit him full in the face as he closed the door behind him. It served to remind him he was a long way from the warm Mediterranean breezes of his homeland; not that he needed the reminder. Once his errant wife returned he intended to sweep her into his private jet and take her somewhere where she would never be able to escape him again.

_Stop thinking about Cassidy and find the damn shutter. Then get yourself back into the warm house before an important part freezes off._ After that admonition to himself, he quickly worked his way around the house, checking the latches on all the shutters until he came to the loose one on the living room window. He did not want to, but his glance quickly went to the scene inside. The brightly lit tree with cheap, childish ornaments sat in the bay window like a beacon in a lighthouse signaling Santa Claus. But Santa was not needed here. He, Theron, had already stacked the area under the tree with gifts that were sure to please both his wife and son. If he ever saw either of them again.

It took a few minutes to fix the shutter. The bolt attaching it to the house had been pulled out of the shingle siding, completely stripping the hole. Theron was required to use brute force to create a new hole to secure the hook and bolt.

As he entered the house he left the door unlocked and the light on in the mudroom. With the weather so vicious he wanted to make sure Mountain Man had access to the main house, just in case.

Theron stopped in the kitchen long enough to fix himself a mug of hot chocolate. Then, with mug in hand, he padded on bare feet into the living room. The fire in the old river stone fireplace had burned down to embers. Maybe it was foolish, but since autumn had arrived and now the winter, he always kept a fire burning in the hearth. He didn't want Cassidy, when she finally arrived, to walk into a cold, dark house. The fire rose to a comforting blaze. After carefully replacing the fire screen. Theron sat in the overstuffed chair next to the hearth and stretched his legs out in front of him. Eventually he fell asleep. He wasn't sure when he fell asleep or for how long, but his mind was groggy and his eyes blurred when he awoke with a start. He had heard something crash. Probably that damn shutter again. He could hear the wind lashing against the house; the rain pounding relentlessly on the roof. A groan rattled in his throat as his muscles protested his movement as he rose from the chair. He would secure the shutter, or rip it off the wall, whatever it took to stop the infernal banging. Then he would go in and stretch out on Cassiopeia's bed for a while. He could never sleep in there surrounded by her belongings, but he needed to feel her close to him.

Cassidy couldn't believe how cold it was. Even for winter, it was colder than the inside of Kelley's nonexistent heart. The wind battered the car, pushing the small compact all over the road. Rain began to pelt the windshield not long after she left Los Ybanez. By the time she had reached the outskirts of the next town, the rain drops had given way to sleet splatters. The window fogged up and the sleet froze on the outside of the windshield, which happened at the exact time she realized that neither the defogger, the heater, nor the passenger side windshield wiper worked. She had to pull off the road several times to clear the windshield of caked on ice, both in and out of the vehicle.

Thank heavens the tires were in good shape. Patches of hidden ice had caused her to skid several times, and within five miles of home she actually went into a three-sixty spin. A lump was already growing on her forehead and she was sure her belly was turning a marvelous shade of purple. Theron had said he had been first captivated by her purple eyes; she wondered how he would feel about her huge purple belly. A hysterical giggle fought to get out of her throat. She had to be crazy thinking about a man who only wanted her for one reason. And that wasn't even sex. His reason didn't have anything to do with Cassidy. All he cared about was Cassiopeia and what she could bring to him.

She knew better than to fall for him, and yet she had.

And fall she did. Again. Physically, when she climbed out of the Geo to open the gates. Two inches of frozen water coated the sensor, so once again she had to expose herself. But this time there would be no Jenkins to attack her. That situation had been taken care of forever.

While the gates opened Cassidy slid her way back to the car. Tucking herself back into the seat, she worked her way down the driveway. Praying all the way there were no trees down. What she needed the most right now was a clear road home.

Somehow she managed to stop the car short of the kitchen porch, and without the help of the porch. With a sleeping Zio clutched in her arms, Cassidy slowly skated her way to the door. The door to the mudroom was unlocked and the light on. She wasn't expected, so there was no reason Mountain Man would have left the house open for her.

A wave of exhaustion swept over her and obliterated any fear that might have arisen. She was finally home. Tired. Pregnant. Hungry. Soaked. And freezing. But home.

She couldn't stop in the mudroom; there was no place to put Zio down while she took off their coats and boots. She hated to track the slush into the house, but it was more important to tuck Enzio into his own bed. Then she could worry about herself. Get into her own lonely bed.

The kitchen was dark. Something hard hit her foot. It wobbled. When it crashed to the floor she realized it was one of her metal kitchen chairs. Enzio whimpered in her arms. The overhead light flared on.

The breath caught in her throat.

_Damn I've really lost it now,_ she thought. _I'm hallucinating Theron in my kitchen._

He was a vision. Ebony curls brushing his bronzed shoulders. Much longer than it had been on their wedding day. Black eyes stared at her. The sensual full lower lip caused a gush of moisture to rush to her reawakening female center. Cassidy's hungry eyes followed a path down his bare chest to where his jeans were unbuttoned at the waist and showed his delicious belly button. She had licked that belly button.

She shook her head. Her lips formed a circle "Nooooooo," She heard herself moan. She wasn't ready for this. She wasn't ready to see him yet. She wasn't sure she would ever be ready.

For one frozen moment, Theron was silhouetted in the kitchen doorway. The next moment, his arms encompassed her bulky frame; thick wet coat, big sleeping baby, big baby belly, and all.

She stared at him wide-eyed as his head lowered to hers. His lips touched hers and her power to think was lost. Delicious warmth swirled from her inner core to her extremities. She was wrapped tight in his arms. Zio tucked safely between their bodies, still sleeping, still secure.

She waited for his tongue to invade her mouth, but it never came. Instead he pulled his head away. Her lips tried to follow his, but he kept just out of her reach. Only his arms looped tightly around her hips kept her from total despair.

" _Theos!_ Where have you been, _agape mou_?" He asked, a haunted look in his eyes.

She wanted to give him a smart mouth answer, but nothing would come out. Love overwhelmed her, turning her knees to jelly and her eyes into blazing twin beacons of hope. Why was he here? Was this a sign? A good sign?

Theron felt Cassidy quivering. Or was she shivering? Was it from cold or fear? Was she afraid of seeing him after all these months? Had he done something to make his wife fear him?

He remembered the look on her face when she told him of the atrocities her uncle had committed when he repeatedly tried to rape her. And he, Theron Christofides, insensitive lout that he was, had insisted on making love to her. Over and over again. His ego had thought she had enjoyed. Now he was not so sure. She seemed to be terrified of him. Was that why she ran away the next day? Was she afraid he would give in to his base animal and take her right there on the kitchen table? Not that he would not like to, but he had to remember to take it slow. He had to gain her trust.

Her shivering increased. He slipped one arm under her legs and carried her, with Enzio still in her arms, into the bedroom.

Her pansy eyes opened wider when he placed her on the bed. "What are you doing?"

"You are shaking. You must rest."

Sadly, Cassidy admitted to herself, she did need to rest, but not until they settled a few things. "I have to put Zio in his own bed and get out of these wet things." She threw her legs over the edge of the bed and used a hand to leverage herself into a sitting position. "Gross. There's mud all over my quilt from my boots."

Theron reached out his hands. "Give him to me. I'll put him into bed while you get into something dry and warm yourself up."

Cassidy wanted to keep Zio as a shield, but she couldn't deny the fact that she was freezing. The pouring rain mixed with sleet had soaked through the seams and shoulders of her jacket, ran down her collar, and managed to cut through her layers of clothing to soak her to the skin.

Just as she made the decision to hand Zio over, Theron dropped to his knees. "Hold the baby a minute longer. Let me get these wet boots off of you."

She squeezed her eyes tightly shut in order to contain the tears which flooded her eyes. She was so sick of being a watering pot.

He was being so tender. Why couldn't he love her like she loved him?

She waited until Theron had entered Enzio's room before she stood up and closed her door. She dropped her voluminous duffle coat on the floor and headed for the bathroom, dropping wet clothes as she walked. A hot bath was what she needed after the trip from hell. Zio was well cared for. Now she had to take care of the two little ones she still carried. The trip was just as hard on them, if not harder, than it was on her.

Bubbles. She needed lots and lots of sweet smelling bubbles. Bubbles to cover her from chin to toe. Bubbles to chase away the bad smell of old body odor and frenzied people. As the steam started to rise from the claw foot tub, she opened the bottle of aroma-therapy bubble bath and poured more than half into the tub. Bubbles were good. They could make you forget the worst parts of life, at least while you covered your face with bubble mustaches and white a long goatee.

Before she lowered her body into the frothing tub, she ran her hands over the red welts that crisscrossed her belly from the seat belt. She needed to see a doctor and have him confirm the babies were fine, but she knew realistically she couldn't trust the roads again until a sander went by or the thaw came. It would be all right. The babies were fine. She was sure of it. As she sank into the relaxing water, they started rolling and tumbling. They were already auditioning for _Riverdance_. She had seen all the ultra-sounds. She had seen both babies. She knew there were only two of them, but suddenly it felt like a dozen pairs of tap shoes were dancing on her bladder. Great she had just gotten into the tub and now it would take her five minutes to leverage her bulky self out of it again.

She had just risen on her knees when the door opened and Theron walked in. Her bubble laden hands slipped on the tub rim and she floundered a bit in the water as she tried to maintain her precarious balance. A cool breezed brushed against her already burgeoning nipples. Neither she nor Theron drew a breath, nor did they make a sound. She could hear the bubbles coating her breasts popping and she felt exposed. Even the lavender scent was not able to soothe the agitation building inside her.

It was difficult, but Theron finally managed to swallow past the mountainous lump in his throat. _Theos_ She was more beautiful than ever. The shine of her make-up-free face made him want to lick her from her forehead down to her toes.

The light glistened on patches of her porcelain skin peeked through the bubbles on her wet breasts. Although they were very effectively camouflaged, he thought they looked much larger than he remembered. A flurry of little pops drew his eyes to a newly revealed nipple.

Yes, there was something different about her. She was not the same little dynamo she had been the last time he had seen her. She was rounder, softer, more opulent.

Suppressing a groan, his feet ate up the space between him and the object of every erotic dream he had had since the day she walked into the _Metroplolis_ and stopped his wedding to the woman he never wanted.

Placing his hands under her arms he pulled her to her feet and began devouring her lips. Her wet sudsy body pressed into his. Something had changed. She still melted in his arms, but she felt like she was holding herself away from him.

Something rippled against his stomach, causing him to draw in a breath. Was this some form of muscle control? Perhaps a yoga move designed to increase a man's level of stimulation? What had she been doing while they were separated?

The pressure changed and her abdomen rolled from top to bottom. There one second and gone the next. Then the action repeated itself. Before Theron could wrap his mind around this strange sensation, something hard hit him square in the stomach. He pulled away. Her glorious purple eyes fluttered open.

"Did you just hit me?" he asked her.

Cassidy's face turned a furious shade of red. "Oh dear, you felt that?" Her voice was wispy.

"It is not often a man is almost hit in his _orchis_ by his newly found wife." Seeing the look of confusion on his American wife's face he translated. "Testicles, woman, you almost hit my testicles."

He watched in fascination as her lower lip trembled and a tear drop quivered on her lush eye lashes. Then a mutinous look entered her face as she locked her jaw and shoved him away from her. "Listen, buddy, if I had wanted to hit you in the balls you'd be on your knees right now."

His lip curled. This woman had left him the day after they married. He had searched for her for months, and not one word did she send him. His scathing eyes dropped to her breasts.

The bubbles were gone and he noticed a marked increase in size. Numerous purple marks formed feather patterns across the formerly creamy skin. His hand shook as he gently touched her breast. Did she have her breasts augmented and some butcher botched the job?

Why would she do that? They had been perfect before. So sweet. So responsive. "You are hurt."

"No. No, I'm not hurt. The marks will fade. The doctor promised." Cassidy sputtered.

" _Theos._ You have seen a doctor?" Both hands now gently cupped Cassidy's shoulders. Theron's eyes dropped lower and so did his jaw. Her formerly flat belly was now watermelon shaped. The cute little innie belly button with the sassy jewelry was gone and replaced by something that protruded like a finger, sans jewelry. It pointed like an accusing finger at the guilty party.

Realization may have been slow in reaching Theron's brain, but then again, in his own defense, he had not had a thought in his head from the moment he had seen her standing in the kitchen. He had never seen a pregnant women close up, and certainly never naked, but he was sure his lovely little wife was pregnant. But where was the baby bump everyone talked about?

His hand lowered tentatively to her rounded abdomen. This "bump" was the size of a mountain on her small frame.

Theron closed his eyes as he felt the satin smoothness of her skin. The solid firmness of his child growing within her. Their child. His knees quivered. He dropped to them. His arms embraced her as his head leaned against the miracle before him.

Cassidy's fingers stroked his curls.

When he had regained the power of speech, he scooped her into his arms and started for the bedroom. "I want you in bed." The gruff voice did not sound anything like his own.

Her chuckle warmed him. "I can't go to bed like this, silly. If I don't rinse all the soap off, I'll be ripping my skin open by morning."

He kissed her on the lips, reversed course, and climbed into the tub with her, jeans and all. Then with gentle hands he made sure there was so trace of soap or bubbles left anywhere on her.

After wrapping her glowing body into a fluffy bath sheet, he lowered her onto the bed while he shucked his wet jeans into the corner of the room. Then, not being able to resist the call of his body, he placed his frame over hers. His arms bore all his weight, holding him above her, but not quite on her. "I have missed you so much, _agape mou_." He nuzzled her neck. "Why did you leave me?"

"I couldn't bear the look on your face when Costas said he had a DNA test and Julia was Cassiopeia. You looked so betrayed," she ended in a whisper.

"That was not betrayal, my love. That was anger. Costas had no right to speak in such a way to you. I wanted you away from there before he could say anything else that would hurt you." He looked into her pansy eyes, willing her to feel his love.

"I've missed you, too," Cassidy's honeyed voice stirred his soul. Her fingertips danced from his shoulders down to his buttocks. "So are we gonna talk all night or are you gonna make love to me."

"I cannot. I fear I may hurt you or the child," he groaned into her neck. "We must wait and see what the doctor says."

"The doctor says 'git it while the gittin's good'. In a few months we're going to be too tired to do anything more than sleep when we are in bed together." His fingers traced the dimple in her cheek.

"The child will not disturb us. I will hire you a nanny." He could see disagreement in her eyes and quickly added. "You will need one to assist you with Enzio and the new baby."

"I will agree to a nanny, but the primary care taker of my children will be me."

Relief rushed through his veins. He had never expected his little firecracker to agree so quickly.

Her fingers stopped the fluttery motions they were making on his back and slid around to stroke his erection and cup his sac. His hips started moving without any directions from his brain. "Come on, big boy, let's make love," she purred in his ear right before her pearly white teeth nipped his lobe.

He knew then that his life would be forever entwined with his fiery lady, and he would not change that for the world.

# Epilogue

Theron and his four year old son Enzio were doing laps in the pool while Xander and Zoe, his two-year-old twins, napped with their mommy. Theron smiled. Today was Zio's birthday and the Grandmothers were coming with gifts and good cheer.

Yesterday when he got home from the office he could see that Cassidy was bursting at the seams with a secret, but she would not tell him anything. She wanted to come here, to the island he had bought for her. The Meteora, his mountain retreat, was long gone. It was now Ajax's eyrie.

Theron knew what Cassidy's surprise was. He knew her body and its rhythms as well as he knew his own. Actually, he knew hers better.

He waited for her to tell him the news in her own way. Then he would gift her with the new pair of horses he had bought for the Pegasus Ranch in Texas. Under Lynda and Mountain Man's supervision, the ranch was thriving.

On the twins' first birthday Theron had helped Cassidy open Pegasus Two in Greece. Special needs children from as far away as England and Sweden came to enjoy the special activities and develop relationships with the magical horses Cassidy raised.

When he had been a young boy walking his _mitera_ home from the _taverna,_ he had never dreamed life could be so satisfying. It just took a _pyrotechnia mikros_ to bring the sunshine and joy into his life

Cassidy gave a contented stretch. She and Theron had just made glorious love and he was happy to find out they were having another baby. Although he did joke and say he hoped they would only have one this time. At least she hoped he was joking.

Theron had found Tia Maria, Rico's mother. She wasn't dead after all. The Jenkinses had fired her after Cassidy had left and Maria had disappeared into another household. Tia Maria loved Greece and loved all her grandchildren; Xander, Zoe, and Zio were equal in her eyes, just as they were in Rena's. Maria's house was a few blocks away from Rena's and they had become great friends.

Lynda was currently staying with Rena for a week's working vacation. The three grandmothers were a tight group.

Kelley was also there. Cassidy could not call her 'Mother', but Kelley was trying very hard to make up for the past, and she obviously loved her grandchildren, so Cassidy was giving her a chance.

All the grandmothers were on the island for Zio's fourth birthday. Theron had insisted that they spend the night and Cassidy had the feeling he did so because he had already guessed about the pregnancy. Her suspicions were confirmed after she had told him, when right before he fell asleep, he suggested they tell the _yia yias_ the good news at breakfast.

Cassidy had a solid relationship with Theron. He told her often that he loved her and proved it to her on a daily basis. Their love was deep and strong. With that kind of love she had to share it with others, which made the four grandmothers very happy.

# Letter to the Important People

**D ear Reader,**

**Thank you for reading _The Counterfeit Bride,_ Book One of the Boundless Billionaires. I hope you enjoyed it and will recommend it to others.**

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**T he Boundless Billionaire series is about hunky billionaires and the strong women who fall in love with them despite their money. Each book is a stand-alone story. On the following pages are some of my other works.**

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**Y ours sincerely,**

**Liberty**

# About the Author

Liberty Blake gave up her position as the head of a multi-million dollar non-profit corporation to stay home to raise her children and be the caretaker of her grandmother.

She is proud of her children and happy with the choices she made. However, there is a small part of her that wishes she had accepted the job offer that would have required her to travel internationally several times a year. The first assignment would have taken her to Paris in the springtime.

Over the years she has been a radio disk jockey, a news director, a cocktail waitress, and many other things.

But writing has always been in her heart while she worked at jobs to gain life experience and put food on the table.

Liberty began writing stories on a toy typewriter that was replaced with a real typewriter when she was nine. She has slowed down at times, but she has never stopped writing.

Liberty loves objectifying beautiful men, walking on the beach, in the woods, climbing mountains (ok, hiking up a small hill), and writing about rich men and the women who love them in spite of their money.

* * *

Liberty News by signing up for Liberty Blake in the Limelight. http://eepurl.com/cRW9jb

Please visit Liberty's Spellroom http://libertysspells.blogspot.com/

 Facebook

# The Misplaced Bride

**B oundless Billionaires**

**Book 2**

* * *

Being married wasn't so bad. In fact most of the time Ajax forgot he had a wife.

That is, until now.

Now he found himself sitting in an off-campus flophouse. His wife, nowhere to be seen, had a roommate who glared daggers at him. The woman had introduced herself as Callie, Tamara's roommate. Callie had a bad attitude which she directed at him from the moment she opened the door. She was rude and he didn't understand his wife's need to have a roommate at all.

The house was two steps away from being condemned. Why Tamara chose to live in a place such as this was perplexing. He covered all of her expenses, he was not a stingy man, if she needed more money all she had to do was contact his lawyer. Was she living in this hovel to embarrass him?

_Theos!_ He wasn't a cheap man, as any of his former dates could attest to; his lawyer had been instructed to give her any amount she asked for. There was no need for a roommate, nor to live in this substandard house.

He glanced once again at his watch. He had been sitting on the lumpy couch for almost two hours, staring at peeling paint, and he still had to pick up his brother Adonis. Ajax hoped Ado would be ready and waiting, but his young brother was in a rebellious stage and had refused to come home for the summer break.

The duty of telling his younger brother of the gravity of their father's health problems was forced upon Jax. He had to bring Ado home make sure he did nothing to the family's worries. Jax's first stop had been the fraternity house where he had been informed by one of the fraternity brothers that the upper classmen were all attending graduation to cheer on their buddies.

Having a secret wife had served Ajax Pappas well for the past eight years. And now that his _mitera_ was using his father's health to push for him into a marriage it was time to introduce his wife to his family.

Ajax had been hoping to be back on his plane and in the air by now. Unfortunately no one had informed him of the graduation or contacted Ado so that he would be ready and waiting.

Phoenix, his usually efficient PA, had failed to notify Tamara of his impending arrival. So when his hired car pulled up in front of the old Victorian she was not there waiting for him as he had requested. So here he sat with the glaring Callie.

Jax reached into his jacket pocket for his mobile, only to realize he didn't have his wife's number. He would have to ask the taciturn Callie for it when she next stuck her head through the door.

Five minutes later Callie walked through the door holding two glasses of a yellow liquid.

"Here. I found a powdered mix in the cabinet and made you lemonade. I thought you might want a cold drink while you're waiting for Mara. I figured you Greeks have a lot of lemon trees growing everywhere so you must like lemonade." She handed him a glass and then sat on the reclining chair placed near the other end of the couch. She kicked off her shoes and picked a remote up from the table. "I thought we could watch some TV while you wait."

The television came to life and Ajax cringed when a familiar female voice simpered from the speakers. Valerie Simpkins, a woman rumored to be his mistress, fluttered her fake lashes at the camera as she showed off a pair of diamond earrings she claimed were a gift from her Greek lover. He had escorted the woman for a brief time, but she found a richer field to harvest . . . his brother Kolya. His older, married brother.

"Oooo. Don't you just love watching Valerie? She looks so good since she got a booty reduction and her new boob job. Is it true she did it because you liked the way that English girl looked in her bride's maid gown?"

This Callie woman was rude and tactless. It was clear that Tamara's taste in friends left something to be desired. He once again reached into his pocket for his mobile and started going through his address book. "For some reason Tamara's number is not saved. What is her number? I need to contact her and have her to return here promptly."

Callie snorted. "Hey, buddy, who are you trying to kid. You haven't been in contact with Mara since the day of her father's funeral seven years ago. I'd be shocked if you had her number."

Ajax's jaw tightened and he could feel a drop of sweat rolling down his back. He took a sip of the vile drink the woman tried to pass off as lemonade and doubted a lemon had ever gone near the liquid.

"Is that what she has told you?" he asked in a clipped voice. His usual genial humor had deserted him after he had been summoned to attend his father's hospital bed.

"You don't remember me, do you?" the woman asked.

He suddenly felt like a school boy being asked to explain his misbehavior to the headmaster? "Should I?"

"Other than a couple of lawyers and Mara's father, I was the only other person at your wedding." Distain clear in her voice and eyes.

"You were the school friend that came to the hospital with her that day?" A vague memory of a girl with black plaits was called up from the files in his mind.

"Yeah, I'm the friend who comforted her after her father was buried. I was the one to wipe her tears away when her new husband rejected her and flew out of her life without an explanation or a goodbye." Callie slammed her glass down without taking a sip while Valerie's voice squawked nonsense from the television across the room. "It was my Dad who took picked her up and took her home with us. My Mom and Dad gave her a home and family when you didn't."

"That is how it was supposed to be. That is the arrangement her father and I made." Ajax didn't understand why he suddenly felt defensive. He hadn't done anything wrong. He had abided by the contract.

"Nobody told Mara that. She didn't know about any arrangement of the terms of it." Callie stared him in the eyes. She was a brave woman, she didn't flinch at his raised eyebrow. "She was devastated at the loss of her father and then you abandoned her too."

"Her father insisted that she be allowed to stay with Mr. Tillman and complete her schooling." Ajax was quickly losing patience. It would not do to offend Tamara or her friend before the woman had agreed to return to Greece with him and pose as his happy wife.

"You rejected her on your wedding night!" Callie's scathing voice made his own ire rise.

"She was sixteen years old. I do not have sex with children." Jax couldn't believe he was having this discussion. "I was a grown man. I did what was right."

"You knew how old she was. Why did you marry her if you didn't want her?"

"It was her father's dying wish. He wanted to protect Tamara and her money from 'the mother from hell' as he had called her. I did as he requested." His jaw was as a tight as a drum as he responded to the woman's accusatory tone.

"You didn't have to be so cruel to her." Accusation blazed in the woman's blue eyes.

"I wasn't cruel to her. I left her with her friends. Wayne Tillman assured me she would be treated like family."

"She wasn't treated _like_ family, she _is_ family," Callie's voice was firm. "Buddy, I'm putting you on notice; if you are here to hurt my sister any more than you already have you'll have me to deal with."

Ajax looked at the compact figure of the woman in front of him. She wasn't very tall, but she had a militant look in her eyes and a deadly air about her. He suddenly realized that before him stood a Valkyrie who would hunt him down to defend her friend.

"I have done nothing to hurt Tamara." His refusal to be seduced by a sixteen year old girl could not be considered damaging. It was done to protect her.

"No, you only rejected her and the very next week your picture was all over the tabloid covers with some bimbo." Callie shot him another venomous look. "There have been so many over the years that we have lost count of your conquests. Can you remember them all?"

Jax sincerely hoped Tamara wasn't as crazy as her friend. His father's health was too vulnerable to insert a lunatic into the family. His father wanted him married before he dies and his child bride was the only wife he could produce. His father's health recovered he would give Tamara her freedom. If she wished him to continue administering her money he would see to it, but it was time they both moved on with their lives. In the meantime he would not be censured by his wife or her friend on how he had lived his life. Not now, not ever.

# The Infamous Bride

### Boundless Billionaires —Book 3

Nollie Brislan has been living someone else's dream while living her own nightmare for the past ten years.

When a stalker breaks into her hotel room in Chile, Nollie does what she has to in order to protect her children and herself.

The incident is a wakeup call. It's time Nollie lives the life she wants, which includes giving her children a real home. When her best friend arranges for her to escape to Greece, Nollie hopes for a brighter future. That is, until she sees Hector Leonides, the man who had broken her heart years before.

A new fear is keeping Nollie awake at night. Magnolia Brislan has secrets to protect.

# The Masked Bride

### Boundless Billionaires — Book 4

Paige Chandler has one more job to do for her employer before she becomes unemployed. Gone are her pedestrian work clothes in favor of flashy dresses and thigh high boots. She is no longer a nanny, but a double for Breezy, the Queen of Rock.

* * *

Brent Carmichael is an award winning journalist and heir apparent to his uncle the Tabloid King. He is drawn to the beauty walking through the airport long before he realizes who she is. A recent scandal is still fresh on everyone's lips, and he knows there is a story there. The reporter in him urges him to pursue it. The man in him wants to pursue the woman.

* * *

Hidden identities and palpable passions run wild in the Big Easy. Should he show her his hand, or will he lay down a bet on The Masked Bride?

# The Designer Bride

### Boundless Billionaires — Book 5

Costume designer Analisa Norfolk, one of an elite team of doubles for rock star Breezy, is called to be a decoy in New York City when Breezy is under threat and running for her life.

* * *

Billionaire Marco Fuentes is a Broadway producer, director, and choreographer in desperate need of a costume designer. He is determined to have Analisa through trickery or negotiation, the method doesn't matter to him, only the result.

Is their chemistry strong enough to survive their secrets?

# Christmas Lights

### (Love Around the Bend)

Rockford Hollister, New York City native, has the perfect opportunity to see Maine's railroad amusement park when his daughter's nanny is indisposed. Not that he's interested in the park- it's the land it sits on that interests his money-making mind. However, when he finds himself saddled with his sick child on the last train of the night, he's completely lost. Thankfully, a kind employee takes pity on him and offers a place to clean up and settle the troubled tummy.

* * *

Azure Brown just couldn't ignore the plight of the pretty child, or the panicked look in the handsome stranger's face. And, as the next owner of Brownville Junction, she considers it protecting her heritage to make sure every customer leaves the historic park satisfied. But when confronted with New England's infamous weather, how long will her unforeseen guests be tucked into her tiny house with her? And how long can she keep from untucking the irresistible Rock?

* * *

Will he leave with her heart or her heritage?

* * *

**C hristmas Lights is also available in paper and audio.**

# Spirit Board

**( A short, sweet paranormal.)**

Preschool teacher Sara Jane Marafae is a descendent of Oberon the fairy king and a witch. As a result of her bloodline, Sara can see and communicate with spirits.

* * *

Hunky Luke McGraw is an undercover agent, sent to a party at Sara's house to catch the head of a drug ring. Trouble erupts when Sara's ex-roommate gets her hands on the family's heirloom Spirit Board.

* * *

Between a kooky family filled with surprises and a match making ghost will Luke survive All Hallows?

# Christmas Spirit

### (Winter Delight)

**A sizzling shortie by Liberty Blake**

* * *

Noelle Barnes has so much Christmas Spirit it spills over into everything she does. She even wraps the sandwiches she delivers to Christmas-phobic business man Harrison Steele in special Christmassy wrappers, with a candy cane attached. What's a man to do when he is confronted by a sexy Mrs. Claus?

* * *

Find out in Christmas Spirit a short romance by Liberty Blake.

* * *

**E xcerpt**

* * *

_W hat the hell had just happened?_ One minute he was in heaven tasting the sweet nectar of the gods. The next the little vixen was running down the subway stairs. Harry pulled his wits together and gave chase. The turnstile wouldn't budge. He was about to jump it when a voice said, "I wouldn't if I was you. It's a serious crime to steal from the Commonwealth. Buy a pass if you want to ride the train."

* * *

Harry turned to find a T officer standing directly behind him. The man pointed a nightstick toward a row of machines. "You can get one over there in the Charlie machines."

* * *

Card in hand, he was back at the turnstile in time to see the train Elle had jumped on pulling away from the station.

* * *

Damn. He didn't know her last name.

# Change of Heart

### (Winter Delight)

**A Sizzling Shortie**

**By**

**Liberty Blake**

* * *

After years in a dead-end relationship with Denny-the-Dawg, Melody is hoping to have a real Valentine's Day with new beau Mike. After the special weekend he took her on and that wild night in the hot tub, Melody believed her new man wanted a relationship, but now it was Valentine's Day and not even a phone call. Did he have a Change of Heart?

# The Realtor's Baby

### (A Short Story)

Eugenia Fitzgerald worked her way through the greatest tragedy in her life to become Atlanta's top Realtor. She thought she had put the past behind her until she answers her unused landline and a man who identifies himself as Lieutenant Luke MacGraw of the Pemi-on-Baker police department brings the past into the present.

# Hearts and Flowers

### (A Short Story)

Cassidy and Theron Christofides rushed into a marriage of convenience. They are about to celebrate their first Valentine's Day together when events conspire to disrupt their carefully planned day.

(The story of Cassidy and Theron began in Liberty Blake's The Counterfeit Bride. Hearts & Flowers is a sweet and short treat.)

# The Journal of Leah MacKinnon Walker

### (A Short Story of the Westward Movement)

Leah MacKinnon Walker has led a genteel life in Maine until her second husband decides he wants to move west to make his fortune.

* * *

Leah documented the journey in her journal . . .
