“Then it’s settled,” his nephew declared with surprising finality. “We will eat quickly and leave.”
“Thank you all for deciding for me.”
Dimitrios’s wry comment prompted Alex to mutter, “Someone has to.”
“I’ll make it a short night on one condition.”
“What’s that?” Ananke asked the question foremost on Alex’s mind.
“After Ms. Hamilton went to all the trouble of having a costume made for me, I want the family to see Leon model it before he wears it in the parade tomorrow.”
“I’d be happy to do that, Uncle, but it’s too late now. We’ll be at the villa in a moment.”
Alex darted her host a sideward glance and caught a gleam in his eye. “As it happens, I asked Nicholas to put it in the trunk.”
Leon wouldn’t be able to wiggle out of it now.
Pleased to see Dimitrios’s tactics working where his nephew was concerned, Alex turned her head and looked out the window.
They’d been passing through another beautiful residential area of the city. As they turned into a private drive lined with cars, she caught sight of a pastel villa built along neoclassical lines. It looked even larger and more imposing than the one they’d just come from.
Mrs. Landau had once confided to Alex that even if Spiros headed the Pandakis family and had four sons to help run the company, his brother’s son, Dimitrios, was the driving force.
True to her prediction, after Spiros’s death there really wasn’t a transfer of power because Dimitrios was already the natural leader to whom the entire family and business magnates deferred.
It would be interesting to see if, after all Dimitrios had done to let Leon make his own decisions about life, his nephew ended up showing the same spark of business genius as his illustrious uncle. Stranger things had happened.
For Ananke’s sake, Alex hoped her son would marry and have children. The other woman was suffering. Her husband had been dead too many years for her to be actively grieving. Alex surmised that her pain stemmed from another source. She also had the impression Leon wasn’t the sole cause of it.
“We’ve arrived,” Dimitrios whispered against her ear. She knew it was accidental, but his lips grazed her lobe. His touch sent tiny ripples of delight through her system.
“Leon?” he called to his nephew. “I’ll help your mother inside while you take the garment bag and get ready.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
Alex struggled not to smile. Leon wasn’t used to Dimitrios making demands, but as far as she was concerned, it was exactly what he needed.
Within minutes both Alex and Ananke flanked Dimitrios as they made their way around the side of the villa to a terrace where a large crowd was gathered. Alex counted at least thirty beautifully dressed family members.
Spiros’s sons were all married with children, some of whom looked to be in their teens. Coupled with staff loading food on the tables placed around the ornate gardens, it made an impressive sight.
“Dimitrios!” someone cried in delight.
“Don’t move from my side,” he cautioned her.
ALEX was only too happy to oblige her host. Before he’d spoken, she’d spotted Giorgio Pandakis among the crowd. He was shorter than his brothers and had put on weight since the frightening experience trying to fend him off outside the silk museum.
Back then she’d found him the least attractive of the Pandakis men. The same held true tonight. She shuddered.
Dimitrios eyed her curiously. “Are you cold?” He noticed everything.
“No. I thought I saw a bug coming for me,” she lied.
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