“I’m sorry for ruining your dreams, Leah,” he said with such withdrawal, that it was Leah who held onto him this time. “You were a dangerous combination of recklessness and… I had to protect you from fortune hunters and—”
“Myself, of course.” But there was no real bite to her words.
She could not lie and absolve him of any of it. Despite wanting to hate him, she even understood why he had done it, but his apology touched something inside her. “I wanted a lot of things. But life happened. I’ll be fine, Stavros.”
He nodded and rose to his feet. “What will your collection be called?”
“New beginnings.”
“I do not know about dresses…” he said with such a straight face that she laughed, “but the passion I hear in your words, I am sure it will come through in what you do, ne?”
“You think so?”
“I believe that it will.”
He said it with such confidence that a snippet of conversation she had heard between him and Giannis came back to her. Her grandfather had been asking Stavros about his contacts with major design houses and Stavros had been patiently explaining who would be open to launching a new label with a fresh designer.
Pushing her chair back, she stood up, her stomach in knots. “Your belief in me is encouraging, but I can’t forever be ensconced safely in this world that Giannis and you have created for me. I can’t let you and him launch a label for me using your contacts and the might of…
“If you meant your apology, if anything has changed in how you see me—” she could feel heat rising in her cheeks, but she continued stubbornly “—you’ll stop arranging my life in cahoots with him.”
“He wants to do it for you because he cares—”
“Becoming successful because I’m the Katrakis heiress or Stavros Sporades’s wife will forever ruin my joy in this. Will you do that to me again, Stavros?
“Please… allow me the freedom to succeed or fail on my own merit. Tell Giannis to stop with this launching my label nonsense.”
“If you haven’t realized it, your grandfather has a will of iron—”
“And you can convince him that you could walk on water, so get him to back off.”
Smiling, he nodded. “Anything else?”
She hesitated, which in itself, held Stavros’s attention instantly.
“After that imperious command, what can be so hard, Leah?”
“I have been researching various fashion events and programs around the world and there’s one in Athens tomorrow night that caught my attention.”
“Ahhh…that’s why the uncharacteristic call to my office.”
She let his comment pass. “It’s like a co-op event, to be exact, an incubator for fashion design. No big labels or famous designers. Instead your… Helene and a group of fashion icons like her provide a stage for up-and-coming designers to showcase their talents. My application is ready. But I…”
He waited patiently.
“The entry fee is pretty hefty. Even with that, anyone who gets picked has to actually come with a recommendation from one of the event coordinators.”
Wariness and pity filled his eyes and Leah blanched at it. “Helene is one of those rare women who won’t take you on to do me a favor, Leah. In fact, recommending you to her will only lessen your worth in her eyes.”
She shook her head, wondering if he would always think her less than capable, less than what she was. Did she have anyone but herself to blame if he did?
And why, in God’s name, did the thought hurt so much?
“No, all I want is an introduction to her. My collection, at that point, will hopefully speak for me and garner her recommendation. Even if she doesn’t like it, I will still get some exposure to the industry folks.” Even as she confidently made her case, another tension filled her.
Just admitting the fact that Helene knew Stavros in a way Leah never would, made her want to throw up.
How could he mention the other woman so glibly? Where was his honor now, she wanted to demand. But to ask would be to show that she cared. That she spent entire afternoons wondering how he justified breaking his vows to her so boldly.
Was she so completely and irrevocably only a responsibility that he didn’t think he was cheating on her?
Standing up from his chair, he extended a hand to her. “I’m sure I can convince her to give us ten minutes before the show begins.” He stood tall and broad and incredibly handsome in front of her. His gaze was on her mouth; he was thinking about their kiss, she knew. Because it was impossible not to think about it. “But I need something from you in return, Leah.”
The soft intonation of her name stole her breath.
He had changed toward her if he was asking and not commanding. And whatever the reason, he was even more irresistible and dangerous now.
The judging, dominating Stavros, she could hate. This insightful, approachable Stavros…she didn’t stand a chance.
Spending a few days with Giannis and amassing a lifetime of memories was one thing. But tangling with Stavros, who would demand everything she had to give and more, who would bare her body and soul…she couldn’t risk the pain of knowing him and then losing him.
“What,” she finally managed.
“I will ask you some questions before the event. If I get a truthful answer, I will introduce you to Helene.”
“Anything else I can do instead?” The moment the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to snatch them back.
He only stared at her with that intensity again. “If you won’t tell me the truth, then how about a kiss?”
“You’ve already proved that I…I can’t resist you. There is no reason for you to kiss me anymore.”
He pushed a stray tendril of hair back from her forehead. And she stood very still in the wake of sensations that small touch aroused. “There is a reason.”
“What?”
“That I wish to. It is only when I kiss you that I know you, Leah.”
Warmth pooled in her belly, every word out of his sensuous mouth a caress and a promise. “What happened to that phenomenal willpower of yours that had the rest of us quaking in our boots?”
Laughter—hearty, gorgeous, and spine-tingling, enveloped her. “In this case, I have decided not to employ it.
“You can see Helene, Leah, but you shall have to give me your truths or your kisses. The choice is yours.”
How very neatly he had trapped her, how very stupid she had been in challenging fate when she had said Stavros knew nothing but duty. His words now were honeyed, so damn seductive that her heart thudded. “What if I asked you questions?”
“But I have never lied to you. However, if you ask me a question and I do not tell the truth, you are free to kiss me, as much as you want to.”
“Thanks but no thanks,” Leah managed to say, past the whooshing of her heart.
Turning away from him, she ran back to the sanctuary of her workroom, wondering what had suddenly unleashed this facet of Stavros.
Her wedding gown wasn’t done, but she had three other dresses she could take with her for tomorrow. Swiftly, she removed the dresses from their plastic bags and looked them over for anything to fix.
Countless hours