“Other times it’s as if the best is yet to be.”
“I understand what you mean,” Theo said, feeling a moment of connectedness with this stranger. At twenty, when Theo had envisioned his life, he’d been determined to have it all; a successful business and a loving wife and children. Lately he’d started to realize he’d been so focused on building his empire that the home and family he’d wanted had never materialized. Now he was forty years old, with nothing to show for his life except a fleet of boats and a profit and loss statement firmly in the black.
He shoved the self-pitying thoughts aside. He had a good life, and like Katherine, he held fast to the thought that the best was yet to come.
When the door to the elevator opened, Theo followed Katherine out and down a long hall. A throng of well-dressed men and women were milling around the entrance to the dining room, waiting to be ushered to their table. Theo wasn’t surprised when Katherine skirted the crowd.
The maître d’ led them to a table draped in white linen in an alcove just off the main dining area. The table looked like something from a magazine with its crystal wineglasses, shiny silver and fine china plates.
Theo didn’t give the elegant table setting much more than a passing glance. Instead his gaze settled on the attractive-looking woman with dark hair and eyes sitting at the table sipping a glass of wine. She rose when he approached the table. Unlike her older sister, Helena’s hair, eyes and facial features reflected her Greek heritage.
Though Theo wasn’t a fashion expert, Helena’s brightly colored dress had a designer look. Thankfully her smile was as open and welcoming as her sister’s.
She stood and extended her hand. “I’m Helena.”
He shook her hand, but instead of releasing it she held it firmly and took a step back. She studied him for a long moment, much as Katherine had, a look of utter astonishment on her face. “You look so much like—”
“He does, doesn’t he?” Katherine said, nodding her agreement.
Theo’s stomach tensed. Hopefully this would be the last remark he’d have to endure about Elias Stamos. If not, it was going to be a short evening indeed.
He offered an affable smile and gestured at the large airy room, hoping to change the subject. “This is a beautiful restaurant.”
“Thank you,” Katherine said. “It took a lot of planning. We have a fabulous French chef who is very talented. Excellent cuisine in an elegant environment is all part of giving passengers a memorable dining experience.”
Katherine sounded, Theo thought, very much like a proud parent.
“So I know that you’re responsible for Liberty’s public relations,” he said to Katherine, then turned to Helena. “And you do costume designing for stage and film?”
“That’s right,” Helena said with a pleased smile. “You’ve done your research.”
“Actually,” Theo said, “all I need to do to keep up is read the newspapers and watch television. Your father is an important man and the news media love his daughters.”
The minute the words left his mouth Theo saw the look of surprise on Katherine’s face when he’d deliberately not claimed any tie to their father. She seemed to be searching for a way to comment when one of the waitstaff standing a discreet distance away moved forward to pull out their chairs.
Once they were comfortably seated, it was Helena, not Katherine who spoke. “What business are you in, Theo? Katherine told me it has something to do with shore excursions?”
“That’s correct,” Theo said. “My company provides excursions to most of the islands around here. We contract with the major cruise lines so we keep busy year-round. Once we get the tourists to the different locations we have a number of employees on each island to lead tours.”
Though his operation had grown considerably over the last few years and earned a nice profit, it was tiny compared to Elias Stamos’s holdings. Still Theo couldn’t keep the pride from his voice. His company was something he’d built from the ground up, with no help from anyone.
“It must be wonderful to have that much control,” Helena said. “When I do my costume designs, I have a lot of artistic freedom but I certainly don’t have the final word.”
“Remember that show you did in Athens last year?” Katherine asked.
That was all it took for Helena to launch into a diatribe about the director from hell.
Theo just listened, grateful when the server came around and filled the wineglasses. The women were both friendly and going out of their way to make him feel at ease. Still, it seemed awkward to sit across the table from them and know that some of the same blood that flowed through their veins flowed through his. To know that they’d grown up in a whole different world based solely on the fact that his father had chosen to marry their mother.
Still, they kept the conversation going throughout dinner, and just as he’d hoped, the women seemed willing to carry the brunt of the conversation.
He learned that Katherine’s husband was an architect with worldwide clients, and consequently his job demanded a lot of travel. He also discovered that Katherine’s daughter, Gemma, was on the ship as a volunteer in the children’s centre. Helena touched briefly on her failed marriage and satisfaction with her career and single status.
But neither brought up the reason they’d contacted him, and even after they’d finished dessert, he still wasn’t sure why he was really there…until a spot of red hair caught Theo’s eye.
Trish Melrose, a woman he hadn’t planned on seeing again, sat across the dining room at one of the large round tables. His blood turned frigid as he made the connection.
He’d taken Katherine’s phone calls, hardly questioning the fact that out of the blue she’d decided it was time for them to meet. He hadn’t balked when she’d asked if he’d come aboard Alexandra’s Dream.
Now he realized he’d been a naive fool. His mother had been right. Katherine and Helena had their own agenda.
Now that he’d discovered what it was, he just had to decide what he was going to do about it.
CHAPTER FIVE
IF ASKED, TRISH couldn’t say exactly when she first became aware Theo was in the dining room. All she knew was that right in the middle of her Lobster Newberg, the hairs on the back of her neck prickled. She glanced around, checking out the other tables in her vicinity, but came up empty.
Then, after she ordered dessert, a curious warmth filled her body and she knew with absolute certainty that Theo’s eyes were on her. She couldn’t explain how she knew because she didn’t understand it herself.
Taking a sip of cappuccino, Trish slowly scanned the upper level of the dining room. Only this time she cut a broader swath, delving into the farthest reaches of the room, into the small alcoves reserved for VIPs and couples who wanted privacy.
She’d almost surveyed the entire room when her breath caught in her throat. For several heartbeats she sat frozen, unable to look away.
Theo Catomeris, the man she’d thought she’d never see again, sat at a table with two women, one with dark hair, the other an almost-blonde. He looked serious, his expression grim. Trish couldn’t help but wonder what they were talking about and why he was on the ship.
When he’d dropped her and the other tourists back in Corfu Town, she’d been certain she’d failed. Now it looked as though she may have been given another chance to convince him to sign that contract with her company. Trish’s heart fluttered in her chest and she placed the cup back on the saucer with a trembling hand as excitement coursed through her.
Although she often got an adrenaline rush before making a big business deal, this felt like something more. She suspected her mounting excitement wasn’t just because she had another