A Tale of Two Cousins Read online

  “Papaioannou Green?” I asked, my mind running around in circles. I liked Dmitri, I really liked him. My body wanted to like him a whole lot more, but my body was a notoriously bad judge of men. After all, it had driven me into a relationship with Kardom when I was only twenty, and that had been the biggest mistake of my life.

  “It’s the name of the company my cousins and I run. I’m in charge of the eco-friendly branch.” His voice was filled with pride as he told me about how he wanted to make housing that had limited negative impact on the environment, envisioning entire cities that were reliant upon renewable energies, available to compromised populations who seldom had such things as housing, medical care, and schooling. He told me about the inspiration—a place in Rio de Janeiro that was trying to provide for the poorest citizens—and how he wanted his arm of the family company to lead the way.

  With each mile we drove up the side of that mountain, I felt more and more disconnected from him. Oh, he was fascinating, and charming, and clearly was filled with passion for making the world a better place, but he lived in a world that—despite taking a job with a magazine that catered to the world’s one percent—I’d only seen depicted on TV. Dmitri’s life with its glitz and limos, penthouses, and private jets was as foreign to me as an alien was.

  The view of Athens was truly outstanding, I will hand him that. Valentino enjoyed the stroll we took along a dirt path to a vantage point that laid the city out like a relief before us, occasionally pouncing on a stray leaf or pinecone, but almost immediately regaining his dignity. The mountain itself was gorgeous, green and cool compared with the heat of the city below, with firs, oaks, and poplars giving shade over the pathways. People dotted the picnic areas, clearly enjoying a day out into the wilderness, while others hiked over to a monastery and ruined eleventh-century Byzantine church.

  Dmitri continued to talk about his projects while we strolled, Valentino maintaining an interested air, condescending to allow other visitors to stop and pet him.

  It was a gorgeous spot, in a gorgeous country, with a gorgeous man, and I was utterly miserable.

  Stop it, I lectured myself when we sat on the grass to look at the city. You’re acting like someone has taken away your piece of candy. Just because Dmitri isn’t what you thought he was doesn’t change anything.

  But it does, I argued, suddenly angry. It changes everything.

  “You’ve been awfully quiet this last half hour. Have I talked your ear off?” Dmitri asked, tickling Valentino with a long piece of grass, which the latter immediately pounced on and wrestled before suddenly sitting up and licking his shoulder just as if the playful episode had never happened.

  “It’s all ... gone to hell in a handbasket,” I told him.

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “I suspect you’re talking about something other than Papaioannou Green.”

  “I am.” I struggled with my emotions for a few seconds, but with an exasperated click of my tongue said, “I’ve never been good at this. I hate trying not to say something that I badly want to say. It just makes everything bubble up inside until I feel like I’m going to explode.”

  “Have I made you feel like you’re going to explode?” he asked, the smile fading from his pretty green eyes.

  “Yes. No. Partly. Mostly it’s me, because I know you’re no different now that you’re not a common working person, but your life is so remote from what I know, and that does matter. You live around and with and in a world that’s way out of my league.”

  “Do you know,” he said after a minute’s thought, leaning back on one arm, turned so he could face me, “if I had said the same thing to you an hour ago, you would have lectured me about treating you differently because you are royalty.”

  “Of course I wouldn’t,” I scoffed, then because I try not to lie, even to myself, admitted, “All right, I would have, but the two things truly are not the same.”

  “I don’t think they are, no. You’re a princess, an actual living, breathing princess. Descended from kings, I assume.”

  “Beck was a principality, so they were all princes. Although supposedly there were some kings if you go back far enough, but millions of people can say that. I know, because my mom did a lot on the family genealogy before she died. Besides, I can’t help being born into a family that had titles.”

  “No more so than I could help being born into a family that consisted of two very smart and savvy cousins who taught me everything they knew about real estate development,” he parried, and I had to admit he had a point.

  “But it’s a different world.”

  “You’re absolutely right,” he said, to my surprise. “In the normal course of events, you would be so far above me, I wouldn’t have the chance to even meet you, let alone show you Athens, and kissing you would probably be a beheadable offense.”

  “Now you’re being pedantic,” I said, frowning as I looked back at the city.

  “If I am, I apologize. I’m simply trying to point out that you can’t help being what you are any more than I can, and we’re both still the same people we were an hour ago. Except perhaps now I have a finer appreciation for my desire to kiss you.”

  I couldn’t help a little smile at his words, but I felt like I had to make it clear what bothered me so much. “What might be in the normal course of events, as you put it, doesn’t have any relation to reality. Your situation in life is wholly different from mine.”

  “It’s not. I might have made enough money to keep me comfortable and in a job I love, but you’re a princess.”

  “A poor one.” I struggled with what I wanted to say, part of my brain marveling that I was so open with things that I normally kept private, but Dmitri was different. I had a feeling that if I could just explain it, he’d understand. “You asked me why I’m not going for the position of crown princess of Beck.”

  “I did.” He tipped his head. “It seems to me that it would be a life worth fighting for.”

  I swallowed hard, looking off into the distance so I didn’t have to see his pretty green eyes. “What I said was true—they don’t want me, mostly because of the lies Kardom’s been pouring in their ears. But ... well, it’s also because I’m so ... so ...”

  “Tempting?” he asked.

  “No.” I ignored the faint note of amusement in his voice. “Poor.”

  His eyebrows were raised when I glanced over to see how he took that.

  “Broke. Flat busted,” I added, so the eyebrows would understand. “That’s why doing this interview is so important. If it goes well, then the Noblesse people will give me a column, and I will be solvent again. Not rich by any means of the word, but at least I could support myself, and then I can prove to the Beck ministers that I don’t want the position so I can suck up all their limited funds, as Kardom claims. I don’t want or need them to support me, but getting them to believe that when I’ve got sixty euros to my name is downright impossible.”

  “That does seem quite the problem,” he agreed in a neutral tone.

  I slid another glance his way. “That’s why it’s just so wrong us being here. Together. Your world is miles away from mine, Dmitri.”

  “So?” He traced a finger down my arm. “Your ancestry is miles away from mine, and yet, I still want to lay you down on this grass and kiss you until the sun sets.”

  “That sounds awfully good to me,” I said with a sigh, wishing I could shove away all the woes of my world.

  “I was hoping you’d say that.” He pulled me down until I was lying on my side facing him, my head resting on his arm. He brushed my cheek with a hand, frowned, and asked, “How well can you see without your glasses?”

  “I’m farsighted, so I can’t read without them, but for the most part, I can see.”

  “Ah. Good.” He gently took off my glasses and set them on a flat bit of rock behind us. “I wouldn’t want to smudge them with the amount of kissing I’m about to conduct all over your face.”

  “Ooh,” I said, excitement rippling through
me. I let him pull me up against him, my hand tracing out the line of his bicep through his white shirt. “I shouldn’t ... I just got through pointing out how different are lives are ... but honestly, at this moment, I don’t care. Would you think I was a hussy if I said I wanted to kiss you silly?”

  “Not at all. I’d think you were simply as interested in me as I am in you.”

  Interested, yes, my mind warned, but we had no future together. We were from worlds that were too far apart.

  I tried to think of something witty or profound or even halfway sensible to say, but the second his lips touched mine, all thoughts but those of an extremely carnal nature left my mind. Aware that we were in a public place—even if no one was on this particular stretch of mountain slope—we remained on our sides facing each other. I looped Valentino’s leash around my foot so I would be able to give Dmitri my full attention, and by the time he was done checking out each and every one of my teeth, I was glad I’d had that foresight, since my thoughts were as scattered as leaves on an autumn wind. “You are really good at this,” I said at one point when we both came up for air. “Either you have a natural talent for it, or you’ve been with some very instructive women.”

  “Both,” he said, his hand, which had been resting on my hip, sliding up to cup the underside of my breast through the fabric of my dress. “But I have to admit that you’re inspiring me to new heights.”

  “Can I ... I don’t see anyone around us. ... Can I touch your chest?”

  “Only if you let me touch yours,” he said, but before he could do so much as slip his hand inside my bodice, I pushed him onto his back. I hesitated over straddling him, as I wanted to do, but contented myself to simply kneel beside him, tugging the tail of his shirt out of his pants, and sliding my hands underneath. He moaned when I spread my fingers out across his flesh, his eyes closing for a few seconds.

  He was warm. Very warm. And the way my fingers moved over the various swells of his chest and belly made the fire that he’d started inside me with his kisses burn even hotter. “I want very badly to tell you that my crotch feels like it’s on fire, but since that is only going to sound wrong, I’m going to simply say that your chest feels wonderful. More than wonderful. Your chest hair is baby-bottom soft, too. I’d rip your shirt right off you if there weren’t families with small kids here. Oooh, tiny little nipple nubs. Do you like it if I ...”

  He sat up suddenly when I gave his nipples a gentle squeeze, pushing me backward until he loomed over me. “You, Princess, do not play fair. There’s no way I can return that sort of attention to you here, but be warned, the next time you find yourself in a private location, you will pay the price of tormenting my tiny little nipple nubs. But for now, I’ll have to content myself with kissing you until you can’t think.”

  I held open my arms. “Yes, please.”

  By the time a family, complete with grandparents, three small children, and a couple of giggling teenagers, emerged at the top of the slope above us, I was not only thoughtless; I was breathless, witless, and damned close to just ripping Dmitri’s clothes right off his delicious body.

  I stared at him when he pushed himself off where his chest lay across mine. He said something to the people, all of whom laughed and gave us cheery waves. I panted for a few seconds, desperate to get breath back into my lungs, wondering how I could meet someone the day before and want him so badly now. My body ached, positively ached for him. I wanted him touching me. Tasting me. I wanted him burning inside of me, my intimate muscles almost cramping at the thought.

  “If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to strip you naked and make love to you right here,” he said in a low, harsh voice, his hair, which normally lay in tidy curls, now standing on end after I’d had my hands fisted in it.

  “Is that supposed to stop me somehow?” I asked, having to clear my throat twice before I could speak.

  He stood up, grimacing as he did so. If I’d thought he was looking a bit full in the fly department before, now he was positively bulging. He stood with his back to me, his hands on his hips. I thought for a moment he was admiring the view, but when I got to my feet, fetched my glasses, and separated Valentino from a small green lizard he was tormenting, I realized Dmitri was trying to get himself under control.

  And as my desire and lust and need all faded with the return of sanity, I reminded myself that anything but a little flirtation would be foolish.

  Why? my inner voice asked. Because you’re so proud?

  I hushed her and moved over to stand next to Dmitri. “You OK?”

  “Yes. Just badly in need of a cold shower.” He slid a glance toward me that was so heated, it made me want to throw myself on him. “Or some time alone with you.”

  “If I told you that my girl parts were yelling at me for not encouraging you to do more than kiss me, would that make you feel any better?”

  He laughed, and took my hand in his as we started down the path to the parking area. Secretly, I was thrilled by the fact that he did so, enjoying the way his fingers twined around mine. His hand was warm and strong, and it gave me little girlish skitters of excitement that heightened what was already arousal-tinged anticipation. “No, but you can tell your girl parts I feel the same way. I don’t suppose you’d care to stop by my apartment before I return you to your hotel? And yes, that was another proposition.”

  I sighed. “I wish I could, but I’d better get back. Maggie is bound to be up, and she’ll want me there so she can go over the questions to be asked. Just so you know, she fully intends to twist you around her little finger at the interview.”

  “She can try, but she won’t succeed. Not when there’s a pretty journalist taking notes who I’d rather get alone.”

  “Pretty,” I said in a scoffing tone, flattered nonetheless. I wanted to protest the word, but my mother had taught me that it was rude to dispute a compliment, so I simply murmured a thank-you, and let the subject drop.

  On the drive back to my hotel, Dmitri offered to pick up Maggie and take us to his cousin’s apartment, where he had arranged to have the interview. “You’ll like Iakovos and Harry,” he said, his attention on the rush hour traffic. “Harry’s American, and is very outspoken. You remind me of her, or at least, your way of straightforward speaking does.”

  “Oh, lord, another person whose brain doesn’t vet things before she says them,” I said with a faux moan. “And thank you for the offer, but I think it would be better if Maggie doesn’t know we spent the day together.”

  “Oh?” He risked a quick, curious glance at me before returning his attention to the road. “Why?”

  I couldn’t put the feeling into words, not even to myself. “It’s just a vague worry that I have,” I said slowly. “Last night she was ... different. If she thought I’d broken her cover, she might refuse to do her bit, and then I’d lose the job. And I really need this column, Dmitri.”

  “I’m more than happy to be interviewed by you without her,” he said.

  “Yes, but it’s not just you. The editor was thrilled to have a princess writing for them, and said that if I did well with this interview, the column would be a go. And I really, really need that.”

  He said nothing, but his jaw tensed, and I wondered if I’d somehow insulted him by reminding him that I was doing the interview for the money. “Not that I wouldn’t love to interview you anyway,” I added, the words sounding lame even to me.

  He didn’t respond to that, just asked me for the hotel address, and after a moment’s struggle with my pride, I gave it to him. “It’s a budget place, but very clean inside,” I said, feeling like the worst type of reverse snob.

  “Is that why you didn’t want me to pick you up?” he asked, glancing at me, since we were stopped at a light.

  I gave another one-shouldered shrug. “Maggie is mortified at being there. I figured even a waiter would think it was a dump.”

  “I suspect that attitude also has something to do with why you wouldn’t let me take you to
the Acropolis.”

  “The entrance fee is like ten euros. Ten euros, Dmitri! That’s outrageous,” I said, with a little righteous sniff.

  “And you don’t have ten euros?” he asked, his voice carefully neutral.

  “Of course I have ten euros,” I said, thinning my lips at him, although he didn’t see it since he was driving again. “I have much more than ten euros. I just simply chose not to spend my many-more-than-ten euros on things like entrance fees.”

  “My intention was to treat you.”

  “Are we back to this? I’m sure all the other women you hang out with don’t have a problem with letting you pay for things, but I was taught differently.”

  He burst into loud laughter that I would have found insulting except it rolled over me, calling forth the desire to join him in such an expression of pure joy. “I didn’t mean to start that argument again, Thyra. I understand that you feel your point is valid, just as I feel mine is. No, you don’t have to explain it again. I’ll just say that you are very much going to like Harry. And Kiera, for that matter, although I don’t think Theo is in town. Theo is Iakovos’s brother, and Kiera is his wife. They’ve only been married for a year, but Kiera and Harry both give my cousins hell when they try to give them anything valuable.”

  “Good for them,” I said with approval. “It’s nice to know that other women have standards, too.”

  He gave a little shake of his head. “I believe, in interest of harmony, and the hope that you’ll let me take you to dinner after the interview—and yes, I mean I will pay for your dinner without any unseemly wrangling over the check—I will let the subject drop.”

  “I guess if you’re loaded, then I don’t need to offer you gas money for driving me around in your cousin’s car—hey! I didn’t say I would let you buy me dinner.”

  “Dammit,” he swore under his breath. “And now I find myself in an embarrassing situation.”

  “You do need gas money?”

  “No.” His expression was grim. “I promised to meet a friend of a friend for drinks at the marina later, after the interview.”