Papaioannou 01 - Ever Fallen in Love Read online

  “Do you still want to make that third call?”

  “I think that’s best, don’t you?” I met his searching gaze with one of calm control, now that I had my errant emotions in hand.

  He shrugged and pulled up an entry from the phone’s contact list, handing it to me. “Try the top number first. If he isn’t at the apartment, try the second number. That’s the house.”

  I took the phone, wondering what sort of person had both an apartment and a house, waiting until he went into the other room, and the baby was entertaining himself by trying to chew the colors off the book, before I hit the dial button.

  “Hello. Is Mr. Papaioannou available?”

  “No, not here. Kyrie Papaioannou away.”

  “I see. Thank you.” I hung up and dialed the second number before I lost my nerve.

  The greeting was in Greek.

  “Hello. I’d like to speak with Mr. Papaioannou, please.”

  “He is expecting you?” the woman asked, her voice annoyed, as if she’d been disturbed.

  “No, not really. I’m calling in regards to his brother, Theo.”

  The woman was silent for a few seconds. “You hold,” she ordered.

  I held.

  A minute later, another woman’s voice spoke. “Who’s this?”

  I didn’t want to give my name but decided she couldn’t do much with just part of it. “My name is Kiera.”

  “You’re calling about Theo? Has he been hurt?”

  “No, not at all.” Was this his sister-in-law? She sounded worried. “I’m sorry if I startled you, but I was trying to reach Mr. Papaioannou. Theo’s brother, that is.”

  “I see. Iakovos is out with our girls, teaching them to swim, not that I won’t have to go out later and undo everything he’s taught them, because gorgeous as he is, he can’t swim worth a damn. But that really doesn’t matter, does it?”

  “No,” I agreed, somewhat surprised by the turn the conversation had taken.

  “I’m Harry Papaioannou, by the way. Theo’s sister-in-law. Can I help you with something?”

  “I hope so. This is going to seem like it’s a very odd question, but I’d like to know if you trust Theo.”

  “Trust him?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  I made a face at nothing. “Well ... because I want to know if I can trust him.”

  “Trust him with what?”

  I had the worst urge to laugh. This had to be the most bizarre conversation I’d ever had. “With me, basically.”

  “Really,” Harry drawled, sounding much more interested and a whole lot less suspicious. “Well, to answer your question, yes, I do trust him. He’s had some issues in the past, but even despite those, I trust him. We haven’t seen him since Nicky turned one, but ... well, the answer is yes.”

  “All right, thank you.”

  “This isn’t about that whole list thing, is it?”

  “What list thing?”

  “Dmitri told us that he heard that some magazine editor who has a man crush on Theo is pushing to get him on the list. The bachelor list.”

  “I ... I don’t know anything about a list.”

  “If you take my advice, don’t let him get on it. Not only does Theo not need more women throwing themselves at him, but it’s just a bitch once they’re on the list. Women think that it’s a hunting-season-is-open sign, for one.”

  “All right,” I said, wondering if the woman named Harry was insane, or if I was. “I won’t.”

  “Good. Is Theo there? Where are you? Why hasn’t he called us in forever?”

  I wasn’t at all comfortable telling this woman where we were, not since I knew well how deadly it could be to have one’s whereabouts known. Perhaps there was a reason Theo didn’t maintain contact with his family. Regardless of his relationship with them, it wasn’t my place to tell them where he was. “I’m sorry, but I can’t answer that. I’ll tell him you asked, though. Thanks for the information, and I’m sorry I disturbed you.”

  I hung up at the same time Harry demanded to talk to Theo, staring at the phone for a moment, wondering what I was doing sitting in a hotel room with a man who evidently didn’t need more women throwing themselves at him.

  He was trouble, pure and simple.

  “Well?” Theo wandered in, squatting down next to Peter, his expression oddly guarded. “Did my brother tell you how unstable I am, and to get away while you could?”

  “I didn’t talk to him,” I said, giving him back his phone. “I spoke with your sister-in-law. She said she trusted you.”

  “Harry,” he said with a fond smile that warmed his eyes.

  “I got the idea she wants you to call. She also said ...” I shook my head at the oddness of it all. “I’m not quite sure I understand this, but she said something about not letting you be on a list.”

  His smile grew. “Oh?”

  “Yes. Evidently it’s bad, and I’m supposed to stop you.”

  “Did she say anything else?”

  I got to my feet and, feeling the need for something to do that put a little distance between Theo and me, fetched the baby’s formula and bottles. “Not really, just that your brother was teaching his daughters to swim and that she’d have to undo it all later.”

  Theo laughed. “That sounds like Harry.”

  I had to leave soon, I told myself. Entangling myself with this enticing man and adorable baby was not the answer to my problems.

  The right thing, the reasonable thing, was to leave first thing in the morning. I barely knew Theo, even if I was oddly comfortable with him, and he didn’t need me to help with Peter. Not really. He was just a little overwhelmed at finding himself a new father, and he felt better having someone else around to help him over the hump of learning how to take care of a baby.

  I was just a convenient body, nothing more.

  I just wished that idea didn’t hurt so much.

  Theo talked nonsense to Peter while the latter was sucking noisily on his bottle. Another wave of longing swept through me, this one with so much strength, it made me tremble. There was something in Theo’s eyes, a sense of a man trying to keep his head above water, that called to me, like seeking like, my psyche wanting to comfort him even though I had no place doing so. I was broken, a danger to everyone I was near, my life such a knot of horror, fear, and despair that I doubted if I’d ever get it untangled, and yet, there I was wanting nothing more than to ease the pain that was so stark in his eyes.

  God knew what I might have done at that moment if Peter hadn’t finished his bottle and demanded that Theo admire it.

  I bolted to my room while Theo interested Peter in a toy, leaving me with the firm conviction that I had to get away from the seductive man who had so easily consumed my thoughts before it was too late.

  If it wasn’t already.

  FOUR

  Theo was furious when he saw the e-mail from his assistant. Annemarie was efficient in all things, even when she was in Australia while he was in New Zealand, and she hadn’t failed his request for an immediate background history on Kiera, or at least what could be found in a short amount of time. His body might desire her, but his body had made a lot of bad choices in the past, and he wasn’t about to risk the safety of his son with a stranger who so readily agreed to go off with him without a backward glance.

  Except it hadn’t really been that way. He’d had to use every bit of his not inconsiderable charm to get her to agree to help him.

  He looked down at the laptop screen, anger rising at the first sentence.

  Subject Kiera Taylor has an arrest warrant issued by Wellington police.

  She was a fugitive, a criminal. He was ready to throw her damned lies in her face, along with her soft looks and gentle way with Peter, not to mention the attraction to him that she fought, or pretended to fight. It was all false, all a lie.

  Then he read the next sentences, and he slumped back, his mind chewing it over.

  She is charged with theft of
property of Mikhail Girbac, specifically a valuable piece of computer equipment. The warrant has not been served, and her whereabouts are currently unknown. I did a quick search, and it turns out Mikhail Girbac has three arrests for domestic violence, one for robbery, and one for involvement in organized crime, all in Australia. He also has robbery and assault arrests in New Zealand, but to date, no convictions. Kiera Taylor has no prior convictions or other pending charges in New Zealand or Australia. I will be unable to find out if she has a record in the US until offices open there.

  He could just picture the situation: some man, probably a lover, beat her up, and she took a computer as retaliation. He filed charges, and she ran. That made sense with regard to her general air of fear and wariness. He hadn’t failed to notice how carefully she’d searched the lobby of the hotel before she entered it.

  The little gazelle was frightened, very frightened, but Theo wasn’t a fool. She hadn’t told him she was on the run from the police, and an honest woman would have done so. Desperate as he was for her help, it would be the sheerest folly to trust her with Peter’s care.

  Get me everything you can find on her, he e-mailed back to Annemarie. Also get full details on Mikhail Girbac.

  He closed his laptop and, after a moment’s thought, stuck it into its bag and pushed it behind the armchair. He didn’t really think she’d steal it right in front of him, but out of sight, out of mind.

  “I think he’s hungry,” Kiera said when Theo emerged from his room. She was in the tiny kitchen with a package of disposable baby bottles and the baby formula, reading the instructions. “Oh, good, it says I can give this to him at room temperature. I was worried about heating it up.”

  Peter distracted him for a few minutes by no-no-no-ing him, sucking happily on a cloth book.

  “Do we just give it to him?” Kiera asked, kneeling next to them with the bottle in her hands. “Or do you have to hold him to feed him?”

  “I don’t know,” Theo said, the familiar panic returning before he squelched it down. “Maybe if I hold him on my lap sitting up?”

  They tried that, and to Theo’s intense relief, Peter reached for the bottle, happily sucking from it, his eyes watching Kiera when she moved away.

  “I’ll just see if there’s something that he can eat in here.”

  He watched Kiera search the mini fridge, amazed that someone who looked so innocent and genuine could so completely hide the truth. He wondered if she had been driven to run from her boyfriend, or if there was more to it. Perhaps she was the consummate con artist, and he’d just fallen right into her silky-skinned, seductive trap.

  It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her about the warrant when she held up a miniature bottle of wine, and asked what he’d like.

  “Nothing.”

  Kiera looked at him oddly, no doubt noting the strangled sound of the word. His gut clenched, but he hadn’t been through hell and back again to let the need to drink control him. He made an effort to relax, using the coping mechanisms that he’d relied on in the past to get him through social situations where alcohol was present.

  “You don’t drink?”

  “No.”

  She poured two of the mini bottles she’d opened into the sink, and came over to sit next to him. Peter had finished with his bottle, and was now holding on to the couch, trying to crawl under one of the cushions. “How long have you been sober?”

  Theo shot her a questioning look.

  “My father,” she answered.

  His gaze dropped to Peter. It took him a few minutes before he answered. “Five years, four months, twelve days.”

  “That’s a good start,” she said, her voice soft with understanding.

  Theo wanted to wrap himself in it. “I made a lot of mistakes before I went into the clinic,” he admitted, his voice gruff.

  “But now you have even more of a reason to stay sober.” Kiera nodded to Peter.

  His gaze moved to hers, noting that her lovely eyes reflected the same thing he saw in the mirror when he was at a low point: doubt, fear, and pain. “My father had three children. It didn’t stop him from drinking himself to death when my mother died. What makes you think one child will be able to keep me from following the same path?”

  She considered him, then slowly shook her head. “You’re not your father, Theo.”

  “No.” He looked at Peter. “I’m not.”

  She reached out and put her hand on his, obviously trying to comfort him. “This is going to sound ridiculous since we just met, but despite that, I have confidence in you. You may be new to being a father, but I think you’re going to make an excellent one.”

  He closed his eyes, turning his hand so that his fingers curled through hers, bringing her fingers to his mouth. Sexual interest flared within him again, spreading a warm glow that started at his cock and rippled outward. He embraced it, welcoming the sensation, since it drove before it the need for a drink. With nothing more on his mind than a little precursor to seduction, he kissed her fingers, giving her his sexiest look, the one that never failed to bring women to his bed.

  She stiffened and, with a murmured excuse, all but ran to her room.

  “No no no,” Peter said, watching her.

  “Dammit,” Theo swore at himself, angry that he’d allowed his lust to make him forget he had to treat her carefully. “I’m a fool, Peter. I scared her.”

  Part of him wanted to be irritated with the situation. What the hell had he done that was so bad? He didn’t like being treated like he was tantamount to a rapist. He didn’t like how she seemed to interpret everything he did as being a threat to her personal safety. He didn’t like the fact that she didn’t seem to like him at all. “Women don’t dislike me, Peter. Some may not be overly interested in me, but they don’t actively avoid me. I may have my own personal demons, but I have never mistreated a woman. I’ve never given one the desire to run away from me. For God’s sake, Harry broke my nose when I tried to kiss her. No, Peter, I don’t like any of this. Kiera’s afraid, and I’m willing to bet she was abused by that Mikhail person with all the domestic violence arrests. But why is she running? Why doesn’t she get the police involved if she’s that afraid?”

  And just what sort of woman would be in such a bad mental place that she’d go with an absolute stranger to his hotel room? He knew the answer even before the question finished forming in his head: one who was deceptive, a liar, a thief ... or one who was wholly and completely terrified.

  That last thought made him feel like the world’s biggest jerk. If she truly was afraid of him, he could see how what to him was a perfectly natural flirtation might have been viewed in a completely different light.

  It was a very disconcerting thought.

  “No wonder she can’t stand to be around me. Then again, maybe it’s an act? Damn, I wish I knew. Either she’s a hell of an actress and plans on robbing me blind, or she’s desperate.” He took the chew toy that Peter brought him, babbling something that only he understood. “And frankly, I don’t like either situation. Much as I regret it, I’m afraid she’s going to have to go. We can’t put you at risk, old man, can we?”

  He spent the next twenty minutes playing with Peter, the niggling unease that was worry about Kiera pushed to the back of his mind as he was alternately enchanted and terrified by his son.

  “It’s not so much that he scares me,” he told Kiera when she finally emerged from her room. He was flat on his back, holding Peter above him while making a rough approximation of airplane noises. Peter screamed his delight, his arms and legs kicking wildly when he chuckled and no-no-ed happily.

  She looked momentarily startled to be coming into a conversation that he had been holding in his head. “Oh?”

  “It’s that I don’t know what I’m doing. What if I do something wrong? What if I mess up his life to the point where he hates me and has to spend years in therapy? What if I am my father after all?” He sat up, putting Peter down. The baby immediately no-no-ed Kiera, then crawle
d over to Theo’s foot and began gnawing on his ankle. “This shouldn’t have happened to me.”

  “Birth control goes both ways,” Kiera said, giving Peter an empty toilet paper roll, smiling when the baby promptly put it in his mouth.

  He cast her a questioning glance. “Was that innuendo?”

  She looked startled for a moment; then a little frown pulled her delicately arched brows together. “Not at all. I just meant that it’s not fair to expect women to always have to be the ones to take care of it. Maybe your Nastya got tired of being the one to get IUDs and shots and arm implants.”

  “That’s not exactly what I meant...”

  “Uh-huh. Just like you can’t afford Peter?” The look she gave him was one of cool disdain.

  Theo sent her a questioning glance. “I what?”

  “In the train station you told your ex you couldn’t afford Peter.”

  “Ah, that.” Theo smiled at the baby. “I meant I couldn’t afford the time to be a father, and the second I said it, I realized what an ass I was being. I won’t say that it’s going to be easy juggling a baby and my business, but I’ll have to make it work. He’s definitely worth the effort.”

  Their food arrived at that point, a waiter bringing in a cart full of a variety of dishes, followed by a maid with a high chair. Kiera glanced at the carpet and, picking up Peter while Theo directed the food to be placed on a small round table, went into his room. For one moment he wondered if he’d left his wallet out in plain view, but was ashamed of himself when she appeared with two towels in her hand.

  “This carpet looks expensive,” she told him when she laid the largest towel down under the high chair, plopping Peter down on it before swathing him, too, with a towel.

  “For someone who isn’t a nanny, you are remarkably good at this. I think this is yours.” He slid a plate her way.

  Kiera ignored her food to give Peter a couple of pieces of plain penne pasta before chopping up a slice of orange into very small pieces, which she placed on his tray. “You want to feed him some of that?” she asked, nodding toward a small dish of applesauce.

  “Sure.” He placed the bowl on the tray, only barely catching it when Peter smashed his fist into it, knocking the bowl into the air in an arc that landed with a wet splat on the table.