A Tale of Two Cousins (A Papaioannou Novel Book 3) Read online

  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?

  TO: HARRY, IAKOVOS

  Sorry, was dealing with broken oil lantern. Valentino is fine. Audrey may end up with a black eye, but possibly not. She’s floating facedown in the water now, for the swelling, since I have no ice. Rescue boat just arrived. Back in port in an hour.

  FROM: IAKOVOS

  Come early. We’re going to want to hear all of it.

  FROM: HARRY

  Amen to that!

  TEN

  “Good evening, Mrs. Avrab—”

  “There you are!” Harry appeared dramatically, her belly leading the way when she marched over to us, wearing a long navy-blue chiffon dress, beaded on the bodice with tiny white crystals that reminded me of the night sky. “What happened to you guys? Does Audrey have a black eye? Why did the cat break glass? Wait, is he wearing a bow tie?”

  “—bos,” I finished, giving the housekeeper a smile before letting Valentino greet Harry, rubbing his face on the bare toes that peeked out of her sandals. “Yes, Dmitri bought Valentino this bow tie collar. Isn’t it cute?”

  “Very,” she said, waving a hand toward him. “I’d pet him, but that would mean bending over, and I can’t do that without people holding on to me.”

  “I’m sure he understands. That’s a gorgeous dress, Harry,” I said, trying to keep the envy out of my voice. “I like the crystal bit. It’s very galaxy.”

  “It’s not green,” Iakovos said when he strolled out to punch Dmitri in the arm, which—since Dmitri repeated the gesture—I gathered was their traditional method of greeting.

  “Thank you, Thyra.” She did a slow twirl. The dress seemed to flow around her big belly. “I thought it was particularly flattering, even if it isn’t Yacky’s favorite color. I can have the pleats over the tummy taken in once the baby is born, so I can wear it once I’m back to non-baby shape. Did Dmitri tell you that I raided the things Elena left behind?”

  “I don’t think so,” I started to say, glancing at Dmitri, but he was talking quietly to Iakovos.

  “Well,” Harry said, taking my arm and leading me down the hallway to the family rooms, “I see you’re in your pretty gold dress, but I thought you might want to have a peek at her things just in case there’s something you’d like to borrow for tonight. I asked her if she minded, and she said not in the least, and you were to feel free to wear anything of hers that you liked. She’s in Los Angeles for a few months, which is driving Iakovos nuts, because she’s been dating some actor who he says looks like a gigolo and is clearly after her solely for her money, but you have an older brother, so I’m sure you know what a pain in the ass they can be.”

  “I heard that, Eglantine!” Iakovos called after us.

  Harry giggled and opened a door, gesturing to the closet before sitting on the edge of the bed. “There’s a gorgeous red dress in there that I thought would be perfect for you. It reminds me of one of those flamenco dresses, all sleek lines and flouncy bits. What did Audrey do to you?”

  I had idly opened the closet and looked at the array of garments, but turned to face Harry. “Oh, God. I’m so embarrassed. It was a shit show, Harry, an actual shit show. Minus the—you know—literal shit. I didn’t intend to give Audrey a black eye, even though she was being as obnoxious as she humanly could be, and then when Dmitri was showing me how to drive his ship ... boat ... he had to use the bathroom, and we were coming up to a sandbar, and stupid me, I listened to her when she said to go left. Or right. Now I can’t remember which. And I broke his boat, Harry.” Tears of frustration welled up in my eyes, which just made me angry. I hated crying over stupid things like a broken boat. “He just bought it, too. I asked him if it was expensive to fix, and he just clammed up and refused to talk about it, which means it’ll cost a fortune to fix.”

  Harry nodded. “I know the one he bought, and those boats are expensive. Iakovos has a couple, and he only allows me to drive if he’s with me. I’m so sorry this happened. You’re sure Audrey did it on purpose? Not that I don’t believe she would, because she’s Patricia’s friend, and Patricia is ... well, we won’t go into that. But you’re sure?”

  “Pretty sure, yes. We were coming head-on to the sandbar, so I wanted to turn to the left, and she said no, there was an arm of the sandbar there, and to go the other way, only that was where the arm was.”

  Harry made mean eyes, which, oddly, made me feel better. “That bitch.”

  “Yes, well, in the end, the responsibility was mine. Now I owe Dmitri a ton of money to have the boat fixed.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” she said, waving away the idea. “He has insurance. That will pay for the repairs.”

  “That’s what he said before he clammed up, but I bet his rates go up because of it. I feel awful about it.”

  “So, did you push Audrey into the water? Is that how she ended up with a black eye?”

  “Oh, God.” I sat next to her on the bed, and simultaneously wanted to laugh and cry. The laughing won out. “No, that was afterward. She’d been making snarky comments about me since she forced herself on our trip, and I let most of it wash off me, because no matter how many times she touched Dmitri’s arm, and the two times she brushed her hand against his thigh, I knew that he wasn’t going to fall for her so-called charms. He’s not that sort of man.”

  “No, he isn’t, and he seems very much taken by you,” she said with a little smile that I shared.

  “Yes, well, our blossoming relationship aside, I let most of it go, but then she started in about me not being a real princess, and I kind of saw red.”

  “Oh?” Harry asked.

  I made a vague gesture. “I don’t much care about what people think about me, or whether I have the title ... but my family did nothing wrong. They treated the people of Beck well. They were good to the country, and even handed over a lot of power to the government in the nineteenth century. They simply weren’t strong enough to stand up to the German Empire. So when she started slagging off the title, and then called me a gold digger on top, implying I was with Dmitri just for his money, I ... oy ... I kind of lost it. And I shoved her overboard. I figured she needed cooling off. Literally.”

  “And of course, it had the opposite effect.”

  “Of course it did. I was stupid to give in to my emotions, and I did apologize afterward, but she was livid, and told Dmitri she wanted to file assault charges. Then Valentino took exception to her shoving me, and bit her hand, and she tried to bean me with the first aid box, and that was all she wrote. So to speak.”

  “Jeezumcrow.” Harry thought about that for a minute. “There’s more, though, right?”

  “Sadly, yes.”

  “Dmitri put Valentino in the cabin?”

  I nodded. “I went up to the front of the ship—”

  “Bow of the boat.”

  “—to the bow of the boat to cool off, figuring Audrey would be happier moaning and groaning to Dmitri if I wasn’t there, and all of a sudden, there was a crash. Valentino had pushed the screen out of the cabin window and, in doing so, knocked over one of the emergency oil lanterns. I got to the back of the sh—boat just in time to see him walking on the deck above where Audrey was lying down, talking on the phone and waving a cloth that Dmitri had used to wipe up the blood on her hand. Valentino did that squatty, wiggle-butt sort of move that cats make before they pounce, and I knew he was going to jump at the cloth that she was waving around while she was being dramatic on the phone, and so I yelled for him to stop, at which point Audrey looked up and screamed just as he jumped. She threw her hand up in reaction and knocked him to the side.”

  “Oh my God! Was he hurt?”

  “No, thank the stars, but he did go flying over the edge of the boat into the water, so of course, I ran the few feet to where he wen
t in, but Audrey was trying to get up at the same time—I honestly don’t think she meant for him to go overboard; she says she loves cats, and she was really horrified—so I slammed into her just as I was jumping over the side. I didn’t know that Dmitri was already in the water, having been looking again at the damage, and he had Valentino.”

  “Bless Dmitri for being in the right place at the right time,” Harry said, patting my hand.

  “And for buying Valentino the water vest. It kept him above the water, so his head barely got wet. Anyway, I dived in only to come up and find Valentino sitting on Dmitri’s shoulders while he climbed back onto the ship, and then when I got aboard, Audrey was sitting on the floor bitching that I’d kicked her in the face when I jumped in.”

  “Wow.” Harry and I sat silent for a few minutes while we thought about the events of the day. My thoughts were tinged heavily with guilt and regret. “That was some outing. Well, it’s over, and we have the fun of the auction ahead of us. So, what about that red dress?”

  “I’m fine in this dress,” I said, nonetheless looking when she pulled a dress out of the closet. I had to admit, it was gorgeous.

  “I even found a couple of pairs of shoes that might fit, assuming you aren’t weirded out about wearing someone else’s stuff.”

  I laughed. “Other than this dress, which was my mother’s, and underwear—which I get new—I shop exclusively at thrift and consignment stores. So no, I don’t have a problem wearing used things. But that’s not the point. I like this dress. I don’t see the need to wear something else just because people have seen it before.”

  “And so you shouldn’t,” Harry agreed. “I just wanted to let you know there were options available other than buying a new dress.”

  We returned to where the men were sitting on the patio, sipping whiskey. Dmitri, who had been a bit quiet since we’d returned from the ill-fated trip, offered me a glass, but I shook my head.

  “If you would prefer something else—” he said softly in my ear while Iakovos got Harry comfy in a deep chair.

  A little skitter of heat went down my back at the brush of his breath on my skin.

  “No, I don’t drink much. I don’t really see the purpose in it, to be honest.”

  A little line appeared between his eyes. “Are you in recovery?”

  “No, I’m not an alcoholic. I just don’t like liquor. Sometimes, if I’m feeling wild and crazy, I’ll have a lager and lime, but otherwise, alcohol doesn’t really appeal to me.”

  “Does it bother you if I indulge occasionally?”

  “No. Why are you so serious all of a sudden? Are you still mad at me?”

  “I’m not mad at you, Princess,” he said with a thinning of his lips that told me that he might not be angry, but he was annoyed. “I wasn’t mad earlier, which I told you three times while we were dressing.”

  “And each time you sounded angrier and angrier.”

  “Because you wouldn’t believe me when I told you I wasn’t angry over what happened!” He looked downright exasperated now, his voice rising to the point where, out of the corner of my eye, I could see Harry and Iakovos turn to look at us.

  “I feel horrible about what happened,” I told Dmitri, wanting to calm him down, but unsure how to do so. “I’m so sorry. So very sorry that I ruined your nice boat. And I will—”

  “Don’t say it!” he thundered, the line between his brows now a full-scale frown.

  “But I really am sorry—hey! You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t say,” I said, guilt at the damage I’d done to his boat mingling with annoyance that he thought he could dictate to me. “You can’t stop me from apologizing and saying I would take responsibility for the damage.”

  “Like hell I can’t.” The words came out a growl. Valentino, giving Dmitri a long look, hopped up onto what remained of Harry’s lap, and started purring.

  “I will pay you for the—”

  “That’s it! I’ve had more than I can bear!” Dmitri slammed down the glass and bent, hoisting me onto his shoulder before striding toward the interior of the apartment.

  I stared in shock at his upside-down ass for a moment before I slapped my hands on his back. “How dare you pick me up this way! Let me down!”

  “You dared me to stop you from saying you’ll pay me back, and I’m going to do just that,” he snapped, pausing when Iakovos called from where he was standing next to a laughing Harry. “What?”

  “We have to leave in twenty minutes. Also, speaking as a man who knows the ways of wives, I would encourage you not to wrinkle Thyra’s dress.”

  “Fine!” Dmitri all but spat the word out, and carried me into the house and straight to his cousin Theo’s room, where he set me down, then—before I could recover from all the blood that had rushed to my head—spun me around and pulled down the zipper on my dress, whipping it off over my head and laying it on a chair.

  “Dmitri, you can’t possibly—” He was on me before I could even protest. I had a few seconds of being scandalized that he had carried me off in a manner that made it very clear to his cousin and Harry just what he had planned, but evidently, that didn’t matter to Dmitri.

  He simply pressed me against the wall, his mouth hot and urgent on mine, his hands trying to find their way through the petticoat needed to give the skirt shape. “What the hell is this tortuous thing?” he almost snarled while he kept trying to find a way through all the ruffled layers.

  “It’s my mother’s petticoat,” I said, the warm pool of desire that immediately started up at his touch making me feel restless and needy despite the situation. “It has layers. Dmitri, you can’t do this!”

  “I can! I’ll simply take the blasted thing off you.”

  “No, not the petticoat.” I moaned into his mouth when he kissed me again, his tongue bossy and demanding and so sensual when it touched mine, I damn near went up in flames. “We can’t do this now. Harry and Iakovos will know what we’re doing!”

  “So? Jake does this all the time.”

  “Well, they have several children, so I assume so.”

  “No, the second he sees Harry all dressed up, he takes her off and makes love to her. I can’t tell you the number of times they’ve been late to functions. For the love of God, help me find the end of this petticoat thing!”

  “But you’re dressed! And I’m still wearing—” He growled something in Greek, bending down until he could slide his hands up from my knees, under the petticoat, at which point he dragged my underwear down, one hand dipping down my public bone until it found very sensitive flesh. “Oh, dear God, yes! To hell with still being dressed and your cousin knowing exactly what we’re—just a smidgen to the left—hoobah!—doing in here.”

  It was just that fast. One moment I was interested but hesitant, and the next, my body went up like dry kindling on a bonfire. He hoisted me up, pulling my legs around his hips, pressing me against the wall with his body while he fumbled at his fly, the whole time his mouth continued to torment mine. I jerked my glasses off, since they were getting in the way of me kissing everything I wanted to kiss, clutching them at the same time I clung desperately to his shoulders.

  “This is so ... mmrowr!” I said in between panting.

  “It is definitely that, and so much—dear God, woman, are you hiding your parts? Where is your—”

  I snuck my free hand down the froth of my petticoat and his tuxedo, tilted my hips, and placed him right where he needed to be. His eyes seemed to bore into mine for a second while he hesitated, the desire in them making the skitter of sexual tension inside me coil even tighter. “Tell me you want this, Thyra. Tell me you want me.”

  “Are you deranged? I’m almost coming unglued because I want you so much.”

  “All of me?” he asked, a strange note of intensity in his voice that I didn’t want to acknowledge. “You want all of me, everything in my life, everything that’s part of me?”

  “Yes,” I said without hesitation, part of my brain cheering, the ot
her part wondering what I thought I was doing. “I want you, Dmitri. All of you. Every last irritating, incredibly sexy, wonderful bit of you. I want you now, I want you tomorrow, and I will want you for the rest of my days. Which aren’t going to be many if you’re not inside of me in the next three seconds.”

  He smiled a wicked, steamy smile and hoisted me up a few inches, then sank with exquisite slowness into me. I didn’t want slowness, however. I tightened my legs around him, and urged him on. “Such a demanding princess,” he murmured, gently biting my bare shoulder. “Such a warm, tantalizing woman. No, don’t do that. Thyra, if you do that, I’m not going to be able to—”

  I tightened around him again, the tension inside of me about to release. I rocked my hips, tightening and releasing until he was groaning my name nonstop, and when I arched back, my body clenching with the power of the orgasm, he pushed roughly into me, giving short, hard little thrusts that made my girl parts damn near sing with happiness.

  Ten minutes later, having had a quick wash in Theo’s bathroom, and with my dress on once again, and the petticoat fluffed out properly, we sashayed out to where Harry and Iakovos were chatting with two giggling girls via video on a tablet propped up on Harry’s belly.

  They said good-bye almost immediately, at which point they both turned to look at us.

  “We did not just have sex,” I informed them.

  Harry grinned. Iakovos didn’t smile, although I swore his lips twitched and one of his eyebrows rose.

  “Yes we did. And it was damn good,” Dmitri said, his hand warm on my back.

  “No, we didn’t.” I kept my gaze firmly on the two people in front of us, ignoring the sexiest man in the world next to me. “Because if we did, I would not be able to face Harry and Iakovos due to embarrassment, and would, in fact, have to go back to your apartment, where I would become a hermit. I would never be able to face anyone again and would probably become the sort of a recluse who saves her own fingernails and bottles of urine.”

  “Ah.” Dmitri was silent a moment; then from the corner of my eye, I could see him nodding. “In that case, we did not just have damned good sex.”