A Tale of Two Cousins Read online

  “Why did you bring that damned thing?” a man’s voice asked.

  I felt like my whole body was floating, but at the same time, it seemed to be made of something infinitely heavy, like cement or lead, because I couldn’t turn my head to see who it was who spoke.

  “She takes it everywhere. It would be suspicious otherwise.”

  I slipped back into a nothingness that in itself was troubling, but my brain seemed to be filled with an odd sort of molasses, thick and black, slowing everything in my world.

  “Thyra, you have to answer the priest. Just say yes.”

  My eyes opened suddenly, my vision rolling up and down in waves, like I was floating on the ocean. “Huh?”

  “Say yes.” A blob danced in front of my face that slowly resolved into my cousin’s face. “That’s all you have to do. Just one word.”

  “Huh?” I asked again, confused, a sense of panic starting to grow deep inside me. I felt like I was bound up like a mummy, to the point where I looked down, my vision still blurry, but as it focused, I could see nothing amiss.

  At least, not with my body, but there was definitely something wrong with my mind. My gaze slid along a patterned stone floor until it came to two black shoes, which led to black pants, and up to a yellow shirt under a black suit jacket, up farther to a long, narrow face and dark hair that had been slicked back.

  Snake’s eyes. The phrase rolled around in my head when I let my gaze move along the arm. It was holding a hand. My hand.

  “Come on, it’s only one word. Just say yes loud enough for the witnesses to hear, and you can go back to sleep,” Maggie whispered in my ear. I turned my head slowly to look at her. She was smiling, but it was an odd smile, a satisfied one, one that made me want to recoil from it. If only my body wasn’t bound ... but it wasn’t, I reminded myself.

  A man said something in a language that I didn’t recognize. I looked at him. He stood in front of us, a little platter in his hand. On the platter were two gold rings.

  Wedding rings. This was a wedding ... my wedding ... to Kardom.

  “No,” I heard a voice saying, but it came out slurred and slow. I moved my mouth again, hoping it would answer my demand to shriek and scream and call for help. “No.”

  I tried to step back, but Kardom held my hand, his fingers tightening painfully around mine.

  Fury flared to life in his eyes, and I felt a jolt of adrenaline course through me. It triggered a brief moment of lucidity. He had drugged me somehow and was forcing me to marry him. I had to get out of there, get away from him and ... Maggie? How could she do that to me? How could she be a part of such a travesty? No, I thought to myself, pushing that away. No time to think about that. I had to get away. But how? My body felt like I had lead weights tied to my limbs. That had to be the drug, too. Drug ... they drugged me. That meant I was sleepy. I could use that. “Sleep,” I said, staggering forward onto Maggie.

  Rough hands grabbed my arms, shaking me, but I let my body go boneless, which wasn’t at all difficult, and heard Kardom swear. “How much did you give her? She’s out again.”

  “Just what you told me.”

  “Lay her down while I reassure the officiant that she’s not ill.”

  “Dammit, don’t you mess this up for me,” Maggie muttered while she hauled me over to where a couple of hard wooden chairs sat along a wall. “I’ve waited too long. Kardom! The witnesses are leaving!”

  She dumped me face-first onto the chairs, my legs dangling off them at an angle that hurt. I shifted myself, rolling slowly onto my side, then slid down onto the floor. I still felt like I was bound by chains, but at least my vision was mostly working. I seemed to be in some narrow room with high windows. Kardom stood with his back to me, arguing with a man, his long white hands moving as he spoke. The man made an abrupt gesture and turned around, going through a door to another room, Kardom hot on his heels.

  As he walked past a table, a couple of papers fluttered off it to the floor. Maggie was on the other side of the room, talking to an East Asian couple, who had the air of bewildered tourists trapped against their will. I looked around but didn’t see Valentino anywhere, panic hitting me over what they’d done to my cat.

  The fury that followed got me onto my feet, but when I opened my mouth to demand to know what they’d done with him, I saw that I’d been dumped next to a door. As silently as I could, I crept forward, snatching up the papers on the floor before staggering back to the door. I managed to slip through it, holding the handle carefully so it wouldn’t click when I closed it. To my relief, outside the room was an open office space and an entryway, through which I saw a familiar disgruntled orange shape.

  I lumbered across the room, ignoring the couple of people who sat working industriously at their desks, my joy at seeing Valentino tied up outside to a planter almost as great as his annoyance.

  “Poor thing,” I said, my tongue feeling as thick as a dictionary. “Sitting in sun without water. Come on.”

  I got his leash untied and, without thinking about what we were doing, or where we would go, stuffed the papers into my pocket and staggered across the street, my mind taking in vague images of a busy neighborhood in Athens, filled with traffic and people and noise and music. I don’t know how long I wandered up and down the streets; I just knew I had to keep moving. Slowly, my mind cleared, and I entered one of the many small neighborhood stores that dotted the residential areas. A young woman of about eighteen sat behind a counter, playing a game on her phone.

  “Hi,” I said, panting a little. “Can I use your phone? I have money.” I dug in my pocket and pulled out a collection of coins, not caring how much it was. “Someone kidnapped me. Need to call ... need to call ...”

  The woman said something to me in Greek.

  I slumped against the counter for a minute, my legs still wobbly, and my brain fuzzy. I had to focus, had to think, but it was so difficult. I needed help. I needed Dmitri.

  “Dmitri,” I said, and took a pencil from where it sat on the counter, and wrote his phone number on the edge of a newspaper.

  The woman snatched back the pencil, tsking, and tried to erase the number, clearly lecturing me about writing on papers I hadn’t paid for.

  “Dmitri,” I said again, pointing at the number, and shoved the coins at her. “Please call him.”

  She looked hesitant, her gaze going over me, then peered down to where Valentino sat at my feet. She gave a little eye roll but, to my relief, consulted the number I’d written, and called it. I sent up a prayer that Dmitri was out of his meetings and would answer his phone. If he didn’t—

  She started speaking, the suspicious look on her face changing quickly to one of curiosity. She shook her head, then held her phone out for me. “Dmitri?” I said into it, my words still sounding thick.

  “Thyra? Where are you? I thought we were supposed to meet at two? It’s almost four now.”

  “Roofied,” I said tiredly.

  “You’re on a roof? What roof? Does this have anything to do with the message you left me?”

  I took a deep breath. “I ... was ... roofied. Can’t think. Kardom and Maggie drugged me.”

  He said something that I assumed was swearing in Greek. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah. Just out of it. Will you marry me?”

  “What?”

  I leaned against a tall glass-fronted beverage case, too tired to stand upright any longer. “Kardom tried to marry me. I need to get married. I like you. I like your mouth. Will you marry me so Kardom can’t? I’ll divorce you later. No one has to know.”

  “I think I will want to know a good deal more about what happened to you, but for now, I want to make sure you’re safe. Put the woman on the phone again.”

  Tiredness swamped me. I could barely keep my eyes open. “K. But you have to promise to marry me first. Then I’ll take a nap.”

  “I promise that I will do whatever will keep you safe, all right?”

  “Deal,” I said, and slid down the
case to curl up on the floor with Valentino, who first sniffed my face, then patted it with one paw.

  I heard the woman talking above me, slipped back into nothingness; then I came to again when a couple of men, neither of whom I recognized, carried me into a dimly lit room where I was put on a couch.

  It seemed like just a minute or two, and I heard Dmitri’s voice. I sat up, blinking and squinting at the sight of him handing over money to the two men, both of whom were smiling and talking rapidly.

  “Oh, good, you’re here. I hope you have a couple of gallons of coffee,” I said, struggling to get up. He helped me, his arm strong and warm and utterly wonderful around my waist.

  “Not here, but I will get you some. Can you walk?”

  “Yes. Valentino?”

  “He’s out front with Athena. Evidently he’s the hit of the shop. Here we go. Step down here.”

  Valentino was indeed sitting on the stack of papers, accepting pets from anyone who came into the store. I thanked the girl for her help, but I doubt if she understood. “Please thank her for me,” I asked Dmitri.

  “I have already done so. My car is around the corner. No, let Alexis have Valentino. He will take care of him until you are in the car.”

  “Alexis?” I eyed the skinny young man with a thick crop of curly hair and a pronounced Adam’s apple.

  “My assistant. This way.”

  “Hi,” I told Alexis the assistant. “I was drugged.”

  “So I heard.” He had an accent, but it wasn’t nearly as nice as Dmitri’s.

  “I’m flattered you think so. I like yours, as well,” Dmitri told me.

  “Uh-oh.” I put my hand over my mouth as I stumbled, Dmitri’s arm keeping me from pitching forward. “I think my mouth is saying things without my brain telling it to go ahead.”

  “Probably, but a little rest should take care of that. No, you have to bend in order to get into the car.”

  He helped me get into the back of a shiny black car, handing Valentino in to me before taking the seat next to me. I went down into another sleepy period, waking up to find myself in an elevator with both men and Valentino.

  “Where are we?” I asked, somewhat worried that I could go in and out of consciousness like that.

  “We’re going to my apartment. It seemed safer than your hotel room. I’ve called a doctor to check you over. We’ll need her to test you for drugs if you want to file charges.”

  “OK.” I stared at him for a moment, admiring the way his hair curled, his high cheekbones, and the black lashes that set off his eyes so well.

  Amusement gave those eyes warmth as they considered me in return.

  “Thyra?” he said while I was enjoying staring at his face, cataloging all the things I liked about it.

  “Hmm?”

  “We have to get off the elevator. Other people will want to use it.”

  “OK,” I said, wondering what he’d do if I leaned over and kissed him.

  “I’d kiss you back, but let’s save that for once we’re inside the apartment, all right?”

  I frowned. “Sorry. Mouth is saying things again.”

  “I like the things your mouth says and does, but perhaps my apartment would be a better place to have that discussion.” He urged me through the door, but before I could get a look around, I was sitting on the end of a bed with Dmitri peeling off my shoes. “The bathroom is through there,” he said, pointing to a door. “I’ll make some coffee for you, but I think you should let the doctor do a blood test before you have anything. She should be here any minute. Will you be all right if I leave you here?”

  “Valentino?” I asked. “He needs water. Kardom left him tied in the sun.”

  “He had water at the shop, but I’ll make sure that he has some.”

  “He might also need to potty,” I said, fretting.

  “I’ll make arrangements for that. You lie down and rest until the doctor gets here.”

  I didn’t, but not because I didn’t want to sleep a good week or two. I used the bathroom, staring at myself as I passed a mirror. My glasses were askew, I had a smear of dirt on the side of my face, and my pupils were huge. “I’m going to get Kardom,” I told my reflection, then reentered the room to find Valentino sitting on the bed, wearing his usual disdainful expression.

  A half hour later, I felt much more human, and much more like myself.

  “You have a nice doctor,” I told Dmitri after she left. We were in the kitchen, sitting at an eating bar. Valentino squatted on the floor, occasionally reaching out one white paw to pat the lid to an empty water bottle that had evidently fallen on the floor. “She offered to loan me her boyfriend if I want him to rough up Kardom. Evidently the boyfriend is a bouncer at a club.”

  Dmitri’s lips thinned. “You won’t need him.” He poured me out another cup of coffee.

  “I think three cups is all I can take,” I protested.

  “The doctor said the more caffeine you had, the better you’d feel.”

  I sighed and sipped at the coffee. “Why won’t I need Dr. Nina’s bouncer boyfriend?”

  “Because I have a few things I want to say to this Kardom.”

  I gawked at him. “That sounded almost possessive, Dmitri.”

  He looked surprised. “It did, didn’t it?”

  “Does that mean that your date didn’t go well?” The words were out before I even realized I was thinking them. “No! Don’t answer me! I have no right to ask you. Just ... let’s move on.”

  “If I told you that your message made me laugh, would you be offended?” he asked; then before I could answer, he pulled me off the tall barstool I was sitting on, into his arms, his breath teasing my lips. “I thought about you the entire time I was with Audrey, wishing I was with you instead of where I was. Does that answer your question?”

  “Oh, thank God,” I said, sliding my fingers into his hair and pulling his mouth down the last half inch to mine. His kiss was as hot as I remembered, his tongue just as bossy, and his mouth just as sweet. I moaned, unable to keep from moving against him, my whole body demanding that I immediately apply my naked flesh to his.

  “I think—oh, Christ, right there, Princess—I think maybe we should continue this conversation in my bedroom.”

  I stopped biting the tendon that ran up the top of his shoulder to his neck, and glanced toward the floor. “Valentino ...”

  He had his phone out before I could finish the sentence. “Did you get her things? Good. And the cat’s items ... well done. Was there any sign of the cousin? I thought not. The cat will be loose, so be careful about leaving the door to the balcony open. You can put his litter pan in the guest bath. There’s a box in there now with shredded paper, but he hasn’t seen fit to use it. Thyra is making gestures that I believe means she’d like you to put down some food for the cat, as well. Don’t disturb me unless it’s an emergency.”

  “Thanks,” I said, stopping the sign language I was making, before I realized just what he’d said. “Hey, was that my stuff you sent him to get? That’s kind of high-handed, isn’t it?”

  He cocked an eyebrow at me. Before I could say more, he scooped me up and carried me through the kitchen to a hall that ran to one side. “Perhaps, but I didn’t think you’d want to go back to your hotel to get your things. Your cousin checked out, by the way.”

  “Oh. Wow. She did? Damn. I seriously misjudged just how angry she was that I took Pretend Princess Time away from her. Will Valentino be OK out there by himself? I don’t want him to be afraid because he’s in a new place.”

  With a sigh, he set me down just inside his bedroom. “Thyra, I very much want you in my bed, naked, with all your hair splayed out around you, so that I might do all of the things that I’ve thought about since last night, but I won’t be able to do them if Valentino is sitting there watching me. And that would be a shame, because my list has grown in length, and I’m desperate to start working my way through the items on it.”

  “Desperate?” I asked, flattered eno
ugh that I trailed a finger down his cheek, where his almost dimples lay hidden. “I’m pretty desperate for you, too, but I don’t know that Valentino should be alone.”

  He checked his phone when it pinged. “Alexis is almost here. He likes cats, so if yours is lonely, he’ll be on hand. Now, do you need to use the toilet? Are you hungry? Should I run out and get some birth control?”

  “Wow, that was direct,” I said, giggling a little.

  “I just want to make sure everything is covered, because the second you get into that bed, Princess, you’re mine.”

  “Ooh, I like that lascivious look in your eye,” I said, smiling, and pulling off my grubby T-shirt. By the time I was hopping on one foot, pulling off my shoes, Dmitri had closed the door and was peeling off his own shirt, revealing his chest.

  I stopped, standing on one foot while I was pulling my other leg out of my jeans, staring at the glorious expanse of skin as it came into view. “Hoochiwawa, Dmitri! Your chest is ... woof! Do you go to the gym?”

  “No, but there’s a pool just beyond the atrium. I try to swim every day. It’s a habit I picked up from Iakovos. Do you need some help?”

  “No, I think I have it,” I said, still hopping until I managed to get my foot out of my pants, after which the other leg peeled off quickly. “I am never again buying skinny jeans. I’m so not skinny.”

  He dropped his pants, getting out of them quickly and efficiently, whereas I had managed to catch one of the hooks on my bra on my hair, and was disengaging it. But at last we were both naked, and stood staring at each other, about five feet of distance between us.

  “OK, you’re downright impressive,” I told him, wanting to cover the various elements of my pudginess, but feeling that was cowardly. “Can I touch everything?”

  He laughed when I moved toward him, my fingers flexing. “Yes, but only if I am allowed to do the same.”

  “Oh, you definitely have permission for that. Oooh, it’s that adorable nipple I saw earlier. And look, he has a friend.”

  “They are a matched set,” Dmitri said, sliding his hands under my breasts until he cupped them, his thumbs gently sweeping across nipples that were suddenly needy and demanding. “I thought they’d look better that way.”