across the Aegean to Chios. From there they’d take the helicopter to Vassalos Shipping on Egnoussa, where they’d land and drive home.
He stared blindly out the window until fatigue took over, causing him to lounge back in the seat and close his eyes. The mention of marriage had triggered thoughts of a certain female in another part of the world he’d had to leave two and half months ago—so abruptly he still hadn’t recovered from the pain.
Stephanie Walsh would have received the gardenias with his note. It would have sent a dagger straight to her heart. Nikos knew how it felt, because when he’d had his farewell gift delivered to the restaurant, he’d experienced gut-wrenching pain over what he’d been forced to do.
His hand formed a fist, because there hadn’t been a damn thing he’d been able to do to comfort her at the time. As a navy SEAL, everything about his life was classified. Since then his whole world had been turned upside down, ensuring he would never seek her out again.
From the second he’d first met the beautiful American woman on the beach, her appeal had been so strong he couldn’t find the strength to stay away from her. Knowing his leave was for only two weeks, he hadn’t intended to get involved with her. Because he’d be returning shortly to join his unit, there could be no future in it.
Every day he kept telling himself he’d go to another resort on the island to keep his distance, but every day he grew more enamored of her. The night with her before he’d received orders to return to Greece should never have happened.
He loathed himself for allowing things to get that far, but she’d been like a fever in his blood. Intoxicated by her beauty, by everything about her, he’d given in to his desires, and she’d been right there with him. Her loving response had overwhelmed him, setting him on fire.
There’d been other women in his life, but never again would he know a night of passion like that. What he and Stephanie had shared for those ten precious days had been unbelievable. His longing for her was still so real he could taste it.
When he’d awakened on their last morning together, they’d been tangled up in each other’s arms. She’d looked at him with those sapphire eyes, willing him to love her, and he’d wanted to stay in that bed with her forever. After their dive that afternoon, it had shredded him to walk away from her and board the jet for the flight to Athens, but he’d had his orders. He couldn’t imagine a world that didn’t include her.
After meeting up with Kon for their next covert operation, Nikos had confided his deepest feelings, telling him that after this last mission was completed, he planned to resign his commission and marry her. But just three days after that, the enemy had struck, and his best friend was dead. Nikos was no longer a whole man. Stephanie could be only a memory to him now.
En route to the Caribbean he’d never dreamed he would meet the woman who would leave her mark on him. His mind went over the conversation he’d just had with his father.
You don’t know what you’re saying!
But I do. Natasa is a lovely person, but there’s something wrong with a woman who waits around for a man who’s never been interested in her romantically. I’m afraid a marriage between the two of us is out of the question.
Nikos had met the ideal woman meant for him, but she would have to remain in his dreams. If Kon were still alive he’d say, “Get in touch with her and tell her the truth about your condition. You trusted her enough to spend every living moment with her. It might ease the pain for both of you if she knew who you really were, and what happened to you.”
A groan escaped Nikos’s throat. With his spinal injury, he wasn’t the same man she’d met. Part of the collateral damage had rendered him sterile. He’d never be able to give a woman a child from his own body. Nikos lived in a dark world now. He looked and felt like hell. No woman would want a man whose flashbacks could make him dangerous to himself and others. Stephanie would only hate him for lying to her. For using her for pleasure, then dumping her without explanation.
“Nikos?”
His eyes flew open. “Jeno?”
The steward looked at him with compassion. “Are you feeling ill? Can I get you anything?”
He shook his head. He’d come to a dead end. The woman he loved and desired was permanently beyond his reach now.
“We’re getting ready to descend.”
“Thank you.”
He fastened his seat belt. Jeno was right about one thing: Nikos did feel ill. The meeting with the vice admiral was like the first handful of dirt thrown on top of the coffin. He saw the life he’d once known vanish into the void, leaving him to travel through a tunnel of blackness that had no end....
July 26
Stephanie was going to be a mother.
She ran a hand over her stomach, which had grown fuller, making it harder to fasten the top two buttons of her jeans. It still seemed unbelievable that she was carrying Dev’s child. When she’d missed her period last month it hadn’t alarmed her, because she’d always been irregular. In college she’d gone six months without a period.
But over the last three weeks she’d felt weak and nauseated. In her depressed state she’d lost her appetite and thought she had a flu bug. But it didn’t go away and then she started noticing other changes to her body. It all added up to one thing, and the home pregnancy test yesterday had turned out positive, shocking the daylights out of her.
The trip to Dr. Sanders today had confirmed that she was three months along with Dev’s baby. Incredible. Her OB had ordered pills for her nausea, plus iron and prenatal vitamins to build her up.
If she caught up to Dev, would he want to know he was going to be a father?
Deep down, she’d been waiting for him to contact her. He knew she worked for Crystal River Water Tours. It would have been easy enough for him to call and leave a message. But that hadn’t happened. He hadn’t planned on ever seeing or talking to her again.
Yet she felt certain the man she’d fallen in love with would have wanted to hear the truth about his own baby. But it seemed that man didn’t exist. If she were able to find him, would he still tell her he wanted nothing to do with her or the baby, once he found out?
For the next twelve hours she agonized about what to do, vacillating over the decision she needed to make. By morning, one thing overshadowed every consideration. She knew her child would want to know its father. It would be the most important thing in her baby’s life.
Stephanie knew all about that, having always longed to meet her birth father and know his name. It took two to make a child, and it was up to her to inform Dev if it was at all possible. What he did with the information was up to him.
But her hand hesitated before she reached for the phone to begin her inquiries at the resort. The two people she knew there might wonder why she needed information. They’d probably deduce she was some obsessed girlfriend.
How humiliating would it be to confide the truth about the baby to them? She just couldn’t. But maybe it would work if she explained she’d been worrying about him ever since he’d disappeared, the very night they were going to have dinner together. She felt certain he’d been ill, thus the reason for his swift departure. Did they know any way she might get in touch with him, just to see if he was all right?
With her hand shaking, she called the number on the brochure she’d kept, and waited.
“Dive shop. This is Angelo.”
She gripped the cell phone tighter. “Hello, Angelo. I’m glad it’s you. I tried to reach you earlier, but you were out. This is Stephanie Walsh. You probably don’t remember me. I was there almost three months ago.”
“Stephanie? I always remember the pretty girls, you especially.”
Her heart beat too fast. “You just made my day.”
He laughed. “You