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As it had turned out, Marios’s ‘failing health’ had been a scam. The old man had been fine—better than ever, in fact, as he had finally laid off the ouzo. Nikos had seen straight through his father’s ruse to get him to move back home permanently. And he’d certainly had no intention of ‘paying a visit’ to Agnes Demopoulous’s youngest daughter Ilena, either, pretty as she was.
Nikos had recognised a trap when he’d seen one. Besides, he’d had no intention of finding a wife and settling down. Far from it. That road led only to misery. One summer—that was all he’d promised his father. Then he would be out of there.
But a lot could change in one summer...
The first trigger had been meeting up again with his old school friend, Philippos. Nikos had already heard the tragic news that Philippos’s parents had been killed in a car crash a couple of years ago, leaving him and his little sister to fend for themselves. Keen to see if he could be of any help while he was in Agia Loukia, Nikos had sat himself down at Philippos’s table expecting nothing more than a cup of coffee in return for his offer of help.
But when Philippos had started talking about the project he was working on—how he’d found a way to print circuits onto flexible plastic—Nikos had instantly seen the potential. He’d known it could be big—huge! Something that Philippos’s brilliant but totally non-businesslike brain hadn’t even considered.
Promising that this was going to make their fortune, Nikos had formed a joint business with him and set about doing just that. At that point neither of them had had two cents to their names, which had meant securing investment was difficult. But with boundless enthusiasm and determination Nikos had known he was going to make it work.
And then one night a remarkable woman had turned up at the taverna, just in time to share his adventure. Suddenly Nikos had been able to see a future, a wife, kids, the complete package. Suddenly the whole marriage thing had made sense. Here was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Kate O’Connor—The One.
Boy, had he got that wrong.
Returning from the bathroom, Kate slid into the booth opposite him again, looking slightly more composed than when she had left. Nikos acknowledged her presence with a quick quirk of a dark brow, his eyes slowly moving across her face, taking in the pursed set of her mouth, the wariness in those deep green eyes. She was nervous. Maybe she had good reason to be.
He hadn’t fully decided how he was going to proceed from here, but he did know he intended to use the situation to its full advantage. He was marrying for a legitimate reason—to secure the guardianship of Sofia. But that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be other benefits along the way.
Revenge was an ugly word, but it was still uppermost in Nikos’s mind. He and Kate had unfinished business and here was the perfect chance to put that right. He was going to make her pay for the way she had treated him. And he would enjoy doing it. He’d have to be careful he didn’t enjoy it too much.
‘Drink up.’ Breaking the silence, he indicated the second untouched cup of coffee in front of Kate with a wave of his hand. ‘If we hurry we can get a marriage license straight away.’
CHAPTER FOUR
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER Kate was in a taxi, drawing up outside City Hall.
She could see Nikos on the steps of the building even before the cab slowed to a halt. Amid the sea of people his tall, dark figure was unmissable, standing alone, arms behind his back, his eyes scanning the traffic.
Waiting for her.
Paying the driver, Kate felt her last bit of independence slipping away with the coins she dropped into his hand. She had flatly refused Nikos’s offer of a limousine to pick her up, insisting that she would find her own way, thank you very much. This whole wedding was enough of a farce as it was, without adding insult to injury with fancy cars and pointless traditions.
Snapping her purse shut, she stood on the pavement, knowing without looking round that Nikos had seen her, that he was coming down the steps to greet her. There was no escape.
Taking a deep breath, she smoothed down the fabric of her dress. This was it, then. A couple of days ago Nikos had been firmly part of her past, blocked out as best she could, the misery locked away, buried deep within her. If anyone had told her she would be marrying the man who had hurt her so badly—and so astonishingly quickly—she would have thought they were completely insane.
