A Tale of Two Cousins Read online

  He knew better than to argue, so confined himself to a nod, and took a leisurely drive down to the marina in Piraeus where his boat was docked. “We could sail there, but it would take longer than the hour it would take using the motor,” he told her when they parked, and he pulled out the cat life vest he’d had Alexis pick up the night before. “I hope this fits. He’s a pretty big cat.”

  “Oh, I’m sure it will.” Thyra examined the vest, reading the instructions while Dmitri shouldered the bag of items necessary for the trip. The port was busy, and they had to wind themselves through crowds of people on the overcrowded docks. “That was really thoughtful of you to get it for him. It’ll make me feel a whole lot better about him being on—uh.”

  Dmitri had been looking at a text that Alexis had sent that said the investigators were on the job re Kardom when next to him, Thyra came to a halt. He glanced over at her, noted the less-than-joyful expression, and turned to see what was causing it.

  “There you are!” Audrey smiled and strolled over to them. She had a large straw bag with her, and as she reached them, she pulled off her sunglasses and leaned in to kiss him. He moved just enough that she hit his cheek rather than his mouth, unable to keep from shooting Thyra a quick appraisal.

  Her glorious amber eyes had been narrowed at the sight of Audrey, but they widened with the kiss, then went absolutely blank, as did the rest of her expression. He wondered for a moment if she was so angry she had shut down emotionally, but a little tremor of her delicious lower lip had him relieved.

  “Good morning, Audrey. What an unexpected pleasure this is,” he said, throwing as much emphasis on the important word as he could without seeming overly rude.

  “Unexpected?” She gave a little laugh, and tucked her arm into his. “Darling, don’t you remember planning the excursion to Agistri the other evening? We talked about going out today.” She flashed a toothy smile to Thyra. “As I told your assistant.”

  Dmitri heaved a mental sigh. Damn that Patricia. Of course she had to run straight to Audrey with the information that they were going out today.

  “That’s right,” Thyra answered, the note of amusement rich in her voice. He relaxed even more, the urge to kiss her for being so understanding so overwhelming, he almost did just that. However, the last thing he wanted was a public scene, and the fact that Thyra seemed to want to avoid the same filled him with satisfaction. “She did say that you guys had a date planned for today.”

  “I hate to contradict Audrey, but although we discussed the possibility of going to Agistri, we did not come to an agreement on a date and time.” He addressed himself to Thyra, but felt Audrey’s hand tighten on his arm.

  “I distinctly recall you mentioning something about sailing there today,” she told him, giving him a look that was mostly seduction, but he noted a bit of ire creeping in.

  “If so, it was in relation to taking Thyra out, which I had planned to do two days ago, but our trip was delayed.”

  “It was that,” Thyra agreed with a placidity that was starting to make him feel nervous. Although he was grateful she wasn’t a raving lunatic, frothing at the mouth with jealousy, she didn’t seem to mind at all the fact that Audrey had shown up, not to mention latching on to him.

  Was it natural for a woman to be that completely lacking in jealousy? Or was it that she truly didn’t care? Had her declaration that she was falling in love with him been a calculated act?

  He shook that thought away. Thyra wasn’t manipulative like that.

  Dammit, she could show a little bit of jealousy, though. Just a tiny bit, not enough to cause a scene, but enough to let him know that she was staking a claim to him.

  Pushing aside the thought that he’d never before wanted any woman to do that, he remembered his manners and, in the name of keeping relations pleasant between the Papaioannous and Patricia, said, “If you wished to join us, you may do so, although we are making a fast visit, since I need to be back in time for the auction.”

  “Darling, I would love to go to Agistri with you. Er ... and Thyra, of course. Oh, but I see she has her kitty with her, so perhaps she’s just seeing you off?”

  Thyra held up the cat’s vest. “No, Valentino is coming with us. He is too traumatized by his loss of family to be left alone, and Dmitri bought him a safety vest so he could come with us.”

  “But ... he’s a cat,” Audrey protested. “Cats don’t sail.”

  “This one does,” Thyra insisted. “At least, I think he does. If he seems to hate it, then ...” She looked at him. “Do you have a cabin or somewhere enclosed he could stay until we are back?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Problem solved, not that I think there will be any, because Valentino is a pretty chill cat.”

  They all looked at the big orange cat, who strolled a few feet in front of Thyra, his tail and head up as he looked around him with interest.

  “I have had cats my entire life,” Audrey said in a voice that Dmitri thought was louder than necessary. “I have three now, and I can tell you that cats do not like sailing. There’s wind and water and unstable movement, three things that every cat I have known has disliked intensely. Furthermore, as a cat lover, I feel compelled to tell you that to drag that poor kitty onto a boat and expect him to survive a trip to Agistri and back without being distressed is downright mean. Probably borderline animal cruelty.”

  He heard Thyra’s angry intake of breath and, before she could reply, said in what he hoped was a reasonable tone, “I can assure you that Thyra takes Valentino’s welfare very seriously, and she would never knowingly put him in either danger or a distressing situation. I am equally as confident as she is that his temperament is such that he will enjoy the trip, but if he does not, we will simply turn around.”

  Thyra didn’t say anything, but slid her hand into his, giving his fingers a squeeze, the smile that curled her lips for him alone.

  He wanted badly to kiss her right where she stood, but a desire to just get through what he had a suspicion was going to be a stressful day was now uppermost in his mind.

  “What’s that you have there?” Audrey asked a few minutes later, her voice coy when she touched his hand with a little caress. He thought for one startled moment that she was nodding toward his groin, but realized almost immediately it was the bag of supplies. He had set it down to unlock the cabin. “Something delicious for lunch? Champagne? Pâté?”

  “Not quite.” He got the cabin open, and pulled open the cinch holding the duffel bag closed, and removed from the depths a small plastic pan and bag of litter. “Supplies for the cat.”

  Audrey shot him an annoyed look, which she quickly changed into a smile. “How thoughtful you are, thinking of everything ... for the kitty.”

  Behind him, Thyra sat on one of the bench seats and talked to the cat while she got him into his life jacket. “Let me just snap that. ... There you are—now you’re safe and sound. And don’t you look stylish in it! Go show Daddy just how adorable you are.”

  Dmitri had to pretend to cough in order to smother the laughter that rose from the Daddy comment, pretty sure that it was Thyra’s way of poking a little fun at Audrey.

  Valentino hopped off the seat and strolled past him, disappearing into the cabin, clearly going to check it out. He hurried after the cat, setting up the litter box in a corner of the cabin before returning above deck.

  “So, darling, Thyra tells me you’re going to be married. If I’d known that marrying the boss was an option, I’d have volunteered to be your assistant,” Audrey said in a conversational tone of voice, but the look she gave Dmitri could have steamed broccoli.

  He glanced with surprise to Thyra, who gave a little shrug. “It kind of came out yesterday.”

  “Tell me all about it,” she cooed, moving over to Dmitri, raising her voice to be heard over the engine and wind when they set off. “How you met, how you fell for each other, why you decided to make her an employee, where the wedding will be held—much though I hate to an
gle for an invitation, you know I am dying to be there for the big event.”

  He glanced back at Thyra, but she was sitting on the low bench seat, her arms spread, her head tilted to the sky with a blissful expression on her face. “I don’t know that any of that is very interesting, to be honest, Audrey. And as for the wedding itself—we’re opting for a private affair, just a few family members. But we’ll have a reception later, one for all our friends, and I’ll be sure you receive an invitation to that.” He congratulated himself for his deft handling of what he knew would be a highly awkward situation should Audrey show up at the wedding, such as it was.

  “So thoughtful, taking into consideration Thyra’s ... circumstances,” Audrey said with a smile that Dmitri felt was almost entirely false. “Her poverty, that is. Patricia says she’s skint, flat broke, and thus forced to take a job with you just to rub together a few coins. Odd that someone who claims to be a princess would find herself in that position, don’t you think?”

  “I don’t see why,” he said, badly wanting to end the conversation, but unable to think of a way to do so without being outright rude. So much for his deft handling of Audrey, he mused sourly. “Lots of royalty bankrupted themselves over the course of the last few centuries. Thyra’s ancestors were no different, and it’s hardly a judgment on her that her family inheritance didn’t come with a large bank account.”

  “Still, it’s sweet that you’re willing to overlook the fact that she’s so obviously desperate for a man to support her.” Audrey put a hand on his arm, stroking it down to his hand. “I just hate to think of you being hurt.”

  “It’s a good thing, then, that I’m marrying Thyra, because I have full confidence that she will be an ideal wife.” In a less-than-suave attempt to separate himself from Audrey, he put the ship on autopilot and picked up Valentino when he emerged from the cabin, before carrying him over to sit with Thyra. “Enjoying yourself, Princess?”

  “Yes, completely. It’s so beautiful here, although I have to say it reminds me of the trip I took with Chris to California.”

  “So, when is the wedding to be held?” Audrey asked, to his surprise sitting down next to Thyra, not, as he expected, overly close to him.

  “Erm ... in a couple of days,” Thyra answered, shooting him a fast look. He gave an imperceptible shake of his head. She slumped back in relief. “But we’re just having a quick civil ceremony without any fanfare.”

  “How very odd,” Audrey drawled. “If I was a princess and was getting married to a very eligible, and entirely adorable, bachelor, then I would want the world to know about my marriage. And yet you both seem to want just the opposite. I can’t help but wonder, why.”

  “It’s like Harry told you yesterday,” Thyra said with a somewhat brittle smile. “We don’t want the press there. It’s a private affair, just us and Dmitri’s closest family.”

  “That doesn’t sound in the least bit romantic, but naturally, you must do as you please,” Audrey said, turning to gaze out at the passing scenery.

  Dmitri relaxed, allowing his fingers to tangle into Thyra’s hair, stroking the back of her neck, wishing like hell that he’d had her alone on the boat.

  Almost two hours later, he shook the water from his eyes and picked up his phone, which he’d heard ringing while he was climbing up the ladder onto the boat.

  A text message waited for him.

  FROM: IAKOVOS

  Harry would like to know if Thyra needs the loan of a dress. She volunteered to go through E’s things if so.

  “How bad is it?” Thyra asked, her expression tight and guarded. She was turning pink, from either anger or too much sun, and since he’d pressed a full bottle of sunscreen on her at the beginning of the trip, he assumed it was the former.

  “The propeller shaft is bent, and one of the propellers has sheared off.”

  “There, you see?” Audrey almost crowed. “I told you to turn starboard, but you insisted on going port.”

  “I’m sorry I hurt your nice ship,” Thyra said, her back stiffening. Every line of her body language screamed how uncomfortable she was. “I didn’t mean to run into the sandbar, but Audrey told me to go left—”

  “Port is left, darling,” Audrey said in that sneering voice that grated on Dmitri’s already raw nerves. “Starboard is right. I told you to go starboard. And this is a boat, not a ship. Honestly, I’d think you’d try to learn the things that are important to your employer, such as the fact that the boat he just bought less than a month before was his pride and joy.”

  He couldn’t see Thyra’s eyes, since she wore a pair of oversized sunglasses over her eyeglasses, but he was willing to bet they weren’t happy. “I didn’t ... your boat was new?”

  “Yes,” he said, deciding it didn’t matter whether it was Thyra’s inexperience or Audrey’s deliberate attempt to mislead her—he never should have left Thyra driving the boat while he went down to relieve himself in the head.

  Dammit, and she’d been enjoying herself so much, too, being thrilled with the power of the boat.

  “Is it going to cost a lot to fix?”

  “A fair bit. I’ll see if we can hire a boat on Agistri to pick us up and take us back to Piraeus.”

  “Tsk,” Audrey said, shaking her head, and leaning over to splash a little water onto her face. “What a shame. I wouldn’t have had that happen for the world, but at least Thyra can work off the amount of the damage. It’ll take years, no doubt, but still, it must be of some satisfaction to her that she can repay you for your misplaced trust that she wouldn’t run your boat aground the first minute she could.”

  TO: IAKOVOS

  I’ll ask her just as soon as I find someone to haul my boat in for repair.

  “That is so uncalled-for,” Thyra said, a warning note in her voice that Dmitri decided would be best if he ignored. “And for the record, I’ve about had it with you needling me. I’ve put up with it for long enough.”

  “Oh, you have? Well, I’ve had enough of you blighting what was supposed to be a perfectly lovely day spent with Dmitri,” Audrey snapped back.

  “Blighting!” Thyra rose to her feet, her hands fisted. “He’s my fiancé, if you would be so kind as to remember!”

  FROM: IAKOVOS

  What the hell? What happened?

  “Are you so insecure and jealous that you can’t stand for him to spend time apart from you?” Audrey asked. “And while we’re on the subject of this wedding and why you don’t want the press to know about it—could it be that perhaps you haven’t been as factual as you’ve led Dmitri to believe? I looked up the name of the place of which you’re supposed to be a princess. There is no such country as Sombleburg. I would have thought Dmitri had the common sense to verify your claims before he allowed you to force him into marriage, but evidently he had his reasons for not doing so. I’m happy to give you the information I found, Dmitri. Or rather, didn’t find.”

  Dmitri ignored the comment.

  TO: IAKOVOS

  Think Audrey directed Thyra to run my boat aground while Thyra was driving and I was taking a piss in the head. Going to have to replace the propeller shaft and propeller blades. Possibly more.

  “It’s Sonderburg. Sonderburg-Beck, to be exact. The whole may not exist any longer, but the Beck part does.” Thyra sounded downright irritated now.

  The cat sauntered past him, paused to bat at the water streaming down his legs to his feet, then headed into the cabin, no doubt to use his facilities.

  FROM: IAKOVOS

  Do you need me to do anything other than offer sympathy?

  “If it does, I’m sure it’s filled with annoying little gold diggers like you.”

  He heard the deep breath that Thyra made, and was just in time to see Thyra march over to where Audrey knelt on the seat, scooping up handfuls of water and patting it on her face and neck. “I am not a gold digger,” Thyra said through ground teeth.

  “Oh really? It sure didn’t take you long to find a rich man into whom you could
dig your chubby claws. If that’s not the sign of a gold digger, then I don’t know—”

  A shriek and splash followed the trailed words.

  TO: IAKOVOS

  No, the water’s not that deep, and Audrey knows how to swim. I’m sure she’ll be spitting mad when I haul her back on board, though. I do want to kiss Thyra, but I suppose I shouldn’t reward such behavior.

  FROM: IAKOVOS

  ???

  TO: IAKOVOS

  Scratch that. Kissed her anyway. Just as Audrey climbed back on board. She’s claiming she’s going to file assault charges against Thyra. Oh wait, cat is involved now.

  FROM: IAKOVOS

  Thyra assaulted Audrey? Wait, let me guess—pushed her overboard?

  TO: IAKOVOS

  Now she’s threatening to sue the cat, who just bit her on the thumb. Valentino seems to feel it’s his duty to protect Thyra. I’ll have to have a talk with him later and tell him to stand down. That’s my job. Shit.

  FROM: IAKOVOS

  The cat just shit on Audrey?

  TO: IAKOVOS

  No, Audrey tried to hit Thyra on the head with the first aid box, which I brought out to bandage the bleeding thumb. Had to confine cat—hissing and about to attack—to one of the cabins, and separate the women. Thyra’s gone to the bow. Audrey is prone in the aft, claiming she needs a doctor after the attack by both Thyra and the cat. Waiting for boat to come from Agistri.

  FROM: IAKOVOS

  I’ll have bottle of whiskey waiting when you and Thyra arrive.

  TO: IAKOVOS

  You are the best of cousins. Damn. Just heard breaking glass from cabin. Think the cat has broken out and

  FROM: IAKOVOS

  What did the cat do?

  FROM: IAKOVOS

  You there?

  FROM: HARRY

  Dmitri? Are you all right? Iakovos isn’t sure if his texts are getting through. Dammit, why didn’t we get a duress word. Yacky says you’ve got a full-fledged girl fight going on. Why is Audrey there?