THE ALEXAKIS BRIDE by Anne McAllister Read online

  CHAPTER TWO

  'very funny. " Not only was Damon Alexakis powerful, he had a warped sense of humour. Just what I need, Kate thought irritably. "Who's laughing?" She looked up at him, startled. He was staring implacably back at her, not a glimmer of laughter in those hard, dark eyes. "You can't be serious!" One heavy brow lifted. "I don't joke about business matters, Ms McKee." "Marriage is not a business matter!" "Sometimes marriage is not a business matter," he agreed smoothly. "Sometimes it's a matter of hormones and pregnancy and some ridiculous thing called love. But for thousands of years it's been an economic decision, no more, no less." "And that's what you want?" "That's what I want." She shook her head. She felt as if she'd walked through the looking-glass or fallen down a rabbit hole. Certainly she felt as if she'd missed something vital in this conversation. "It doesn't make sense," she said finally. "Why would you want to marry me?" "I don't want to marry you. I need to marry you." "But why?" He shoved away from the' desk pushed his hands into the pockets of his trousers, and paced around the room, all vestiges of cool detached boredom a thing of the past. "I do, that's all," he said after a moment. He didn't look at her, choosing instead to stare out the window into the deepening twilight. Kate regarded him quizzically, interested in how suddenly agitated he'd become. "Not fair, Mr Alexakis," she said after a moment. He spun on his heel and glared at her. "What's that supposed to mean?" She gave him a faint smile. "I had to tell you my sordid little tale. Let's hear yours. " He gritted his teeth. "There's nothing sordid about it." "But there is a tale?" "It's business." "And as the person you've approached to take part in this business, however non-sordid as it might be, I have every right to know the particulars." He scowled at her. Kate smiled equably back and didn't say a word. He muttered something under his breath, then raked his fingers through his hair, mussing it even more. "It's my mother," he blurted out after a moment. Kate smiled. "Ah. I see. Your mother and my father." "My mother has nothing in common with your father!" "Maybe not. As you so aptly described him, my father is a barracuda. What's your mother like? " Damon rubbed the back of his neck, considering. Then his mouth twisted slightly. "Holding to a sea- world metaphor? A barnacle." "Once she attaches herself, she doesn't let go?" He nodded grimly. "Ever since my father died, she's focused on me. Consults me about every damned thing from changing the light bulbs to buying and selling stocks. " "Well, I can see where that might be a bit of a trial," Kate agreed. "But I hardly see how getting married will solve it." "That's the other part," he muttered. "She's determined to see me happy." "Married," Kate translated. "Right." He shot her a harried look. "She's got five daughters left to marry off and that isn't enough. She's determined to find me the perfect wife. She even says it in hallowed tones: " The Alexakis Bride'. Like the Holy Grail. " Kate smiled at his tone. "Well, in the words of one of our former first ladies, "Just Say No" " "It won't work." "It never does," Kate agreed complacently. "That's what's wrong with it." Damon gave her a narrow look. She gave him an impish grin in return, then sobered, remembering that the proposition he'd made her was no laughing matter. "Well, I don't see how marrying me will solve your problem. Married is married, however you look at it." "No. Married to you is a business arrangement. Married to Marina is----' " Whoa! Hold on. Who's Marina? This isn't a hypothetical marriage she's trying to arrange, then? " He grimaced. "Not any more." "She found her? The Alexakis Bride?" "Apparently." "So, who is the lucky lady?" He glowered at her sarcastic tone. "Her name is Marina Stavros. She's the daughter of one of my mother's dearest friends." "Your version of Jeffrey." "If you like," he said with bad grace. "You don't, I take it." Dark brows drew together. "Like Marina? Of course I like Marina. She's young and sweet and beautiful and everything a man could ask for in a wife." "Then why don't you many her?" "Because, damn it, I don't want a wife! Not now. And when I do, I'll pick her." "But if you marry me ' " You're a business deal. I marry you and you can stay on to help Sophia, as her sister-in-law this time. I guarantee he said the word as if it had a hundred- pound weight attached that Stephanos won't lay a finger on you. I also guarantee to send plenty of business your way when we're done. " "We're going to be done?" "Of course we're going to be done," he said impatiently. "You don't think I want to be married to you forever, do you?" "No, of course not," Kate said hastily. "I don't want to be married to you at all," she pointed out, in case he thought she was enthusiastic about his little plan. "Not even to save your business?" He gave her a nasty little smile. "That is what you've been worrying about, isn't it? That I'll do you in?" Kate's teeth came together with a snap. "You wouldn't dare." "Wouldn't I?" She had a pretty good idea that he would. And he wouldn't lose any sleep over it either. "Plus," he went on, as if their last exchange hadn't even taken place, 'you get proof positive that you were telling the truth to Daddy and can't possibly marry Jeffrey. " "But I'd still be married to you," Kate reminded him. "In name only." Her eyes widened. "Don't you. . .1 mean, is there. . . Do you not urn, like women?" "Damn it! Of course I like women!" "Oh. I see. You mean you'll be. . getting it. . elsewhere." "It?" He gave her a sardonic look. "You know what I mean," Kate said awkwardly, aware that her colour was deepening again. "Yes, Ms McKee," he drawled mockingly. "I know what you mean." He sighed and rocked back on his heels. "And no, I won't be getting " it" anywhere as long as the marriage lasts. I promise you that. I don't condone adultery. I told you that." He gave her a level look and she remembered what he'd thought about her and Stephanos. "Well?" Kate knotted her fingers together, wishing she was dreaming, hoping to wake up. "This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," she muttered. "I can't think of anything crazier." "Marrying Jeffrey?" he suggested smoothly. "I am not going to marry Jeffrey! I have no need of a man to support me. I have a business of my own." "For the moment," he agreed silkily. Kate's eyes snapped up to meet his. "Damn you." "Damn me all you like," he said easily. "But I'm trying to do you a favour. Stop being such an obstructionist, Ms McKee. It's tiresome. Do you want to save your business or not?" "Of course I do." "Do you agree that Sophia needs help?" "Yes." "And do you agree that being able to produce a fiance on demand will get your father to lay off about Jeffrey?" "Probably," she muttered. "Then where's the problem?" Kate couldn't answer that. Everything he said made perfect sense in a horrible skewed way. "But I don't love you," she protested. Damon snorted. "And I sure as hell don't love you. I told you, marriage has nothing to do with love. It's----' " Business," Kate filled in for him. He nodded. "Ah, you're catching on. Forget love, Ms McKee. You had that once, apparently. So cherish it. I promise I won't usurp his place in your heart. All we'll be doing is acting out the old axiom: you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." She just looked at him. The room was eerily silent. "For how long?" Kate asked at last. He gave her a long look, as if he knew she was really considering it at last. "Not long. A few months." "But once you're divorced, won't they?" "Marina's family won't accept me if I'm divorced." "I see." "Will Jeffrey?" "Accept me? He'd accept me if I was breathing, I think," Kate said grimly. What mattered to Jeffrey was getting his hooks permanently in DeMo may Enterprises. She was a means to an end, nothing more. And she suspected her father knew it--and didn't care. He liked Jeffrey. That was enough. "Well, how long, then?" Damon was looking impatient. "I haven't said I'll even do it." "How long?" "Six months. A year. I don't know." Kate shifted restlessly. "Another marriage to someone he didn't approve might make my father think I was hopeless," she said, voicing the notion as it occurred to her, musing, considering the notion. It was the first comforting thought she'd had in several hours. Damon looked at her closely. "He didn't approve of your first marriage?" "No." Her eyes met his defiantly. "All the more reason, then. Sophia will have what she needs. Stephanos's hands will be tied. And you and I will be protected from our respective parents' meddling in our lives. " Damon gave her a confident businessman's smile. "What have you got to lose?" "Plenty, I'm sure," Kate said wryly. "If it's money you're worried about--' " Money is not the issue. " "What then? Not love again?" His tone gave the word a bit
ter twist. Kate shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I--' " Look, Ms McKee, you can sit here and dither all night and never be any more certain. The question is, who are you going to let run your life? You or your father? " "How about you or my father?" Kate suggested. "I'm not trying to run it. I told you, this is business." Damon shot back his cuff and took a look at his watch. "And I have another business deal to make in a phone call to Hawaii in ten minutes. So what's it to be, Ms McKee? What I'm proposing is a one-year marriage. Are you in or not? " Are you in or not? Far below in the Streets Kate could hear the wail of a siren, the blast of a taxi horn; far above there was the steady thrum of a jet engine. Right in front of her, Damon Alexakis's fingers beat an impatient tattoo on the top of his desk. Will you marry me or not? A myriad images collided in her mind: Sophia's exhausted face, the cherubic smiles of Leda and Christina, her five-year-old twins, the smugly smiling face of Jeffrey Hardesty, the tired determination in her father's eyes, the newly stencilled sign in the brownstone's window that said in elegant silver gothic "KID KARE, INC." Her baby and Sophia's. Those were the images that stayed in her mind. Sophia did need her, there was no doubt about that. And Kate was glad to help out. Perhaps she was even living vicariously. She would never have a child of her own now. KID KARE was her child. Her business was all she had--she'd been no great success as either a daughter or a wife. If she lost it, she didn't know what she would do. And Damon could see that she did lose it if he set his mind to it. She hadn't a doubt in the world about that. Her father wasn't going to take no for an answer any more than Damon's mother would. He was almost seventy. Old enough to retire, he'd been pointing out. If only he had someone in the family he could trust. A reliable, hard-nosed businessman like himself. Someone like Jeffrey, for instance. Or someone like Damon Alexakis. The thought brought a smile to Kate's face. Wouldn't Jeffrey's smug smile vanish if he were faced with Damon Alexakis across a boardroom table? And what would her father think of Damon? He was certainly more of a force to be reckoned with than the smug, bland Jeffrey. In that way at least he was a man cast in Eugene DeMo may stainless steel mould. Even when the marriage ended in divorce, her father's opinion of her could hardly be worse than it was already. Besides, he might not even live to see that happen. He had a bad heart. He was always telling her that, too, in an effort to prod her into suitable matrimony. "You're amused?" Damon's voice cut into her reverie. "Yes, I am." He pushed away from the desk, standing up and frowning down at her. "I take it then that you're declining?" Kate thought about her father, about Jeffrey, about Sophia and Stephanos, about babies, both human and business. She sat up straight and looked at him with guileless blue eyes. "On the contrary, Mr Alexakis. I'm saying yes." He couldn't believe he'd done it. He sat in the stillness of his office and listened to her footsteps recede down the hallway and thought he needed his head examined. Had he really just proposed marriage to a woman he didn't know? A woman he'd wanted to wipe off the face of the earth less than an hour ago? Yes, he thought, and his mouth twisted into a grin as he thought it. He had indeed. And it was perhaps a further sign of his mental befuddlement that it didn't seem farfetched. What was a wife, anyway, but one more encumbrance, why not have one who was pert and willowy and had big blue eyes that snapped when she was angry? Besides, Kate McKee was at least destined to be useful, helping out with the twins. He rubbed his hands together, pleased with himself. It was a great solution. It would spike his mother's guns, take care of Sophia's problem, infuriate Stephanos, and incidentally help out the determined Ms McKee. Best of all, in a year, she would be gone. What more could he ask? "Damon!" Sophia beamed the moment he appeared in the doorway of the living-room. "How lovely! What a surprise!" She moved to get up from the couch, but he waved her back down, crossing the room^ and kissing her cheek. He glanced around for any sign of Kate and the children, but Sophia was alone. She was round and smiling, and Damon thought, albeit grudgingly, that she looked better than he'd seen her in several months. "How are you feeling?" "Tired. The baby is kicking me day and night. The twins were easier than this one. But I'd certainly be worse if it weren't for Kate." Sophia's gaze went fondly to the hallway which led to the children's room where Damon supposed she was. "So, what did you think of her when you met her yesterday? Isn't she a dear?" "A dear," he echoed, allowing a hint of approval to creep into his voice. He had to give the impression of being intrigued, smitten almost, without seeming besotted. "And very attractive as well." Sophia's eyes widened. "Kate? Attractive?" She looked at Damon closely. "I suppose you're right. She's not striking really. Not tall. No cheekbones to speak of. But there is a sort of warm wholesomeness about her." She gave her brother a shrewd look. "Not precisely your type, I wouldn't have said." Damon tried to look hurt. "Am I so predictable, then?" "So far. You've always gone for the showgirl sort- the love 'em and leave 'em ladies." He grinned rakishly. "The ones who aren't really ladies, you mean." Sophia laughed. "Just so." She yawned and stretched and set her book aside. "So, what are you doing here, Damon, at five o'clock in the afternoon. Surely you didn't come because of a fascination with Kate." "Can't a brother visit his sister without having an ulterior motive?" "Some brothers can. Not you." Damon sighed. "How devastating to be so transparent. I came to take my nieces for a carriage ride in Central Park. I promised them, if you'll recall, the last time I was here." "At Christmas time." "I've been busy." "You are here to see Kate, aren't you?" She gave him an assessing look. "She can come, too." "You're not to trifle with my mother's helper, Damon," Sophia warned. "I need her." Tell that to Stephanos, Damon thought grimly. "Don't worry, Sophie." He turned and headed towards the hallway. "I'll have the kids back by supper." "And Kate?" He grinned. "Only if I have to." "It's not my evening off." "Sophie says you can have it." "I don't want it!" Damon tossed a pair of lightweight jackets at his nieces. "Yes, you do. Stop arguing. How's anybody going to believe you're the least bit eager to see me if you won't agree to dinner after we dump the kiddies?" "I'm not eager," Kate protested. She'd been having second thoughts ever since she'd agreed to his preposterous scheme. She'd planned all day long to call him up and tell him she'd changed her mind. But Sophia hadn't given her a moment to breathe. Now here he was, bursting into the den, commandeering her as if he owned her, barking orders at the twins, herding them along to do his bidding. She stopped in the doorway. "Move," Damon said. He nudged Kate through the door, then turned back to his nieces. "Hurry up, you two." "Yes, Uncle Damon. We're coming. Uncle Damon," they said, scrambling into their jackets and tumbling after him. The girls were as awe struck as everyone else in the presence of their uncle. If he'd told them to jump out of the window, Kate thought, they'd have asked which one. "I don't think--' she began, but Damon cut her off. "You don't have to think. Just smile at Sophia and tell her you'll see her later. There's a good girl." His hand was against her back and his fingers were practically pinching her as he steered her through the room. Sophia watched them curiously, a smile on her face. "It's so nice of you to keep your promises, Damon," she said. "But then, you always do. Eventually." "I do my best." "Are you sure you wouldn't rather I stayed and helped you, Sophia?" Kate asked a little desperately. "No, no, dear. That's quite all right. I was telling Damon that the baby has been active this afternoon, but he seems to have settled down at last. I think I'll nap a bit until Stephanos comes home." She gave Kate a little waggle of her fingers. "You have a good time." "We will." Damon ushered them all out of the room, shutting the door firmly behind him. "This is crazy," Kate hissed at him as the girls bounded ahead and pressed the button for the lift. "Necessary," Damon corrected. It was a beautiful afternoon for a carriage ride, Kate had to admit that when Damon ushered them out of the taxi near the carriages across from the Plaza Hotel. The nippy April winds that had plagued the city earlier in the month were absent this afternoon, leaving almost balmy breezes in their stead. Kate could see beds of red and yellow tulips beginning to open and tender shoots of other young plants peeking out of the warming soil. The buds on the trees in Central Park had begun burs
ting into leaf. The girls, skipping on either side of Damon, were enchanted with the prospect of their outing, and Damon was smiling and indulgent as he let them take his hands. Kate, seeing no way out, followed them, apprehension giving way to bemusement-for the time being at least. The apprehension reappeared when they were bundled into the carriage and she found Leda and Christina on one bench facing forward, while she and Damon were wedged together on the opposite one. The feel of his hard body next to hers caused a momentary quickening of her heart. She edged away. Damon slipped his arm around her and pulled her back. "Cosy, isn't it?" Kate shot him a fierce look. "A.little too cosy." He grinned. "What's the matter, Ms McKee? Don't you like men?" His taunting rephrasing of her question to him was clearly deliberate. "Sometimes, Mr Alexakis, I wonder if I do," Kate said frankly. He looked startled, but before he could respond Leda pointed to the sky and said excitedly, "Look, Kate! Runaway balloons!" Sure enough, more than a dozen helium-filled balloons had somehow been let loose and were floating past the treetops, their bright colours vivid against the cloudless sky. "And look, there's the zoo where we saw the polar bears and penguins, Kate!" Christina added, bouncing up and down on the seat. "Have you been to the zoo, Uncle Damon? We're going again next week. Do you want to come?" "I'm sure your uncle is much too busy," Kate said. Damon disagreed. "Sounds like a good idea at that." "You shouldn't make promises you won't keep," Kate chastised him under her breath. "What makes you think I won't be keeping it?" "You're a busy man." "Ah, yes. But I'm also intending to be an attentive suitor." "We need to talk about that," Kate began. He closed the space between them and touched his lips to hers. "Later," he promised in lover like tones. Both girls giggled. "Damon!" Kate said, outraged. But one glance at his nieces told her that she wasn't going to get anywhere discussing their agreement with them around. But she vowed to let him know as soon as they were alone that she couldn't go through with it. At least that was her intention until they dropped ilie twins off and, instead of ieiiing Kale gu in with them, he told' Sophia he was taking her to dinner. They went to Baudelaire's. She didn't know if his choice was made by coincidence or design. But the moment they were seated and Kate opened her mouth to tell him the agreement was off, she noticed that directly across the room her father and Jeffrey were entertaining a group of Japanese businessmen. Her father seemed equally astonished. When he first realised it was Kate he was looking at across the room, he stopped mid-sentence and stared, then recollected his purpose and continued his conversation. But throughout the evening Eugene DeMornay's narrow gaze strayed in her direction more often than Kate would have liked, and she found herself determinedly smiling at Damon and keeping the conversation going animatedly. She didn't say a word she'd planned to say to him. There would be time for that later, she promised herself. Her father made no move to speak to her or even acknowledge her during the meal. Kate wasn't surprised. Eugene DeMornay always put business first. Even when she and Damon finished and got up to leave, Kate didn't expect he would do more than stare at Damon with his laser-like gaze. But when they were within ten feet of the table, Eugene DeMornay rose from his chair. "Katherine." Kate felt Damon's fingers tighten briefly on her arm and was grateful for them there. Her father stepped into her path and reached for her hand. "What a surprise! I had no idea you'd be here this evening. You should have said." He leaned towards her and Kate gave him a light peck on the cheek. "It was a spur-of-the-moment thing," Kate said nervously. "Gentlemen," Eugene turned to his guests, "I'd like you to meet my daughter, Katherine and--' He looked from Kate to Damon expectantly. "Damon Alexakis," Damon introduced himself before Kate could. "Her fiance." The two Japanese gentlemen offered polite bows. Jeffrey's jaw dropped. Kate's father's mouth opened--and shut. His eyes widened, then narrowed. A muscle ticked in his cheek. His gaze went from Damon to Kate where it remained, harsh and accusing. If she'd seen the slightest bit of wonder, the slightest bit of fatherly concern she would have denied Damon's assertion. She would have said there had been a mistake, they weren't sure yet, Damon was hoping. But Eugene DeMornay didn't look fatherly. He looked furious. And if there was concern, it was all for his business and Jeffrey. Kate pulled her hand away and slipped her fingers through Damon's. "You know how busy you are, Daddy. I haven't had a chance to bring Damon by to meet you." "I can see I've made a mistake by being so inaccessible." His gaze went once more to Damon. "Alexakis," he acknowledged. "Won't you two join us?" "We'd be delighted," Damon said over Kate's incipient protest. He drew over two chairs from the unoccupied table next to theirs, seating Kate next to him so closely that, every time he moved, his suit coat brushed her arm. Instead of moving away, he moved closer, slipping his arm behind her shoulders. Eugene watched them narrowly. "Mr Mori and I were going to have a brandy. But perhaps I should order champagne? To toast your engagement?" "That would be appropriate," Damon agreed smoothly. He turned and smiled into Kate's eyes, looking every bit the besotted lover. Eugene's jaw clenched for a split second, then in a tight voice he summoned the waiter. The two Japanese gentlemen spoke to each other quietly in their own language. Jeffrey didn't say a word. Kate was gratified to notice that there was no smile on his face, smug or otherwise. She didn't know how much her father knew about Damon. No doubt he'd heard of him. The movers and shakers of the world were always well aware of each other, even if they had never formally met. As she sat there she could almost see their brains clicking round, adding and subtracting, assessing and defining, deciding exactly in which piegeonhole the other belonged. She should have been feeling far more guilty than she did. But for once, as far as her dealings with her father went, it was nice to have the upper hand. The champagne arrived and was poured. Eugene lifted his glass. "To my daughter, Katherine," he said, fixing her with a speculative look. "A woman of surprises." "And passion," Damon said loud enough for Jeffrey to hear. Kate choked on her champagne. Her face flamed. She began to cough and her eyes began to water. Jeffrey's eyes bugged. He sat, transfixed. It was Damon who patted Kate's back, offered her water, and then his handkerchief to dab her streaming eyes. The moment she regained her breath, Kate gave him a speaking look. He gave her a conspiratorial smile in return, then leaned forward and touched his lips to hers. "Better now?" he asked softly. Kate opened her mouth, still stunned by both the kiss and the tone of his voice. No sound came out. Gamely she cleared her throat, then tried again. "S-some." But she was never going to be able to pull this off. She wasn't the actor Damon was. "I th-think perhaps we should go." "I do, too, love." Damon got to his feet and smiled apologetically at her father, then turned to Jeffrey. "See what I mean?" he said in a low tone. "She can't wait to get me alone." Jeffrey's jaw clenched. Mortified, Kate stepped on Damon's foot. Enough was enough, damn it. "Goodnight, Daddy. Nice to meet you," she said to his guests. "Jeffrey," she acknowledged briefly, trying to move away as quickly as she could, but Damon's hand held her fast as he made his farewells, beginning with the businessmen, ending with Kate's father. "Good to have met you at last, Mr DeMornay." Eugene didn't look as if he agreed, but he did manage a frosty smile and a nod. "Alexakis." There was a pause, then, "I'll speak to you tomorrow, Katherine." "But how long have you known him?" "Not long." "Where did you meet him?" "I've been working for his sister." "Babysitting?" Eugene DeMo may got a surprising amount of disgust and horror in one word. "Caring for her five-year-old twins, yes." Her father snorted. "I thought you ran the agency, Kate. Don't tell me things are so bad you have to go out and babysit yourself now!" "I am doing it as a personal favour," Kate said, which was as close to the truth as she was going to get. "Sophia hasn't been well." "Hmph. And I suppose Damon Alexakis just happened by one day and fell head over heels?" Her father's scathing tone told Kate exactly how likely he thought that idea. "Something like that." If she'd felt a bit guilty after they'd left him last night, today facing his hard words and harsh tone, she felt no guilt at all. "Nonsense. Pure nonsense. I can't believe a daughter of mine would believe such drivel. You can't possibly think he's in love with you, Katherine." "And why sho
uldn't I?" "Oh, Kate. Grow up. He wants what you've got. DeMo may he elaborated when she didn't respond. "He has an empire of his own twice the size of yours. He doesn't need DeMo may Daddy." She said it frankly and was glad to be able to say it. "Of course he doesn't," Eugene said irritably. "But that doesn't mean he wouldn't like it. Men like Damon Alexakis don't take what they need, Katherine. They take what they want. I'd heard he was a clever bastard, but by heavens I didn't think he'd stoop this low." At his words, Kate felt the anger surging through her veins. "Why is it so difficult for you to believe that anyone might want me for myself?" Her father gave a short half-laugh. "The way Bryce did?" His words were like a knife slipped between her ribs. Bryce. Oh, yes, Bryce. Her first love. The man she'd adored. The man she'd run away with, had promised to live happily ever after with. The man who, when he found out her father wasn't going to give them a penny, had left her flat. She supposed she was lucky that only she knew. Her father had always suspected, of course, but it had happened so quickly, he'd never found out. Bryce's fury, fuelled by drink, had led him to drive too fast. Kate became a widow only hours after she'd become an abandoned wife. She'd kept the knowledge to herself. She spoke to her father now with as indifferent a voice as she could muster. "Damon and Bryce are different people." "Alexakis is a damn sight smarter, I'll grant you that. But he's still not getting his hands on DeMornay's. I pick my successor, Katherine. Not you." "I never intended to pick your successor. I only want to pick my own husband. And I've done so." "The more fool you," Eugene rasped, and hung up.