The Affair: One Night...Nine-Month Scandal Read online

  Piers wrestled the blanket to the sand and piled their shoes at each corner to hold it down.

  “Now hurry and sit before it flies away again,” he said.

  She gingerly eased down and dragged the basket into the middle of the quilt. Piers sat beside her and they began divvying up the food.

  The sun shone bright above them, and the sand glistened like tiny jewels, scattered to the water’s edge. She sighed and turned her face up into the warmth.

  “You look very content, yineka mou. Like a cat sunning herself.”

  “Haven’t you ever wished that a single moment could last forever?”

  He became pensive as though he were giving her question serious consideration. “No, I can’t say I have, but if I were given to such flights of fancy, then today would be one such time.”

  She smiled. “It is perfect, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. It is.”

  They finished eating, and Jewel lay back on the blanket, enjoying the sounds and smells of the ocean. The warmth of the sun’s rays lulled her to sleep, and before she knew it, she was being shaken awake.

  “It’s time to return to the house, yineka mou. The sun will be setting soon.”

  She yawned and blinked lazily as his face came into view. She smiled up at him and held up her hand so he could help her.

  Together they collected the remnants of their lunch, and Piers packed them and the blanket into the basket. He reached for her hand when they arrived at the bottom of the steps, and she slipped her fingers into his.

  Tonight. Tonight she’d broach the subject of his past, and for the first time, she wouldn’t avoid hers. She wanted to know his secrets, the source of the pain she saw lurking in the depths of those shuttered eyes.

  Would he share those secrets or would he block her out? And should she press him on something that clearly he had no wish to discuss?

  * * *

  True to his word, after the night Piers had found Jewel on the floor of her bedroom writhing in pain, she’d slept each night in his bed. In deference to her incision, he spooned against her back, and she enjoyed the warmth and security his muscled body offered.

  Most nights she wondered if they’d resume their lovemaking after the tenderness left her abdomen. Tonight, however, she lay there, cuddled against his chest, gathering her courage to broach the subject of his past.

  “Piers?”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  Carefully she started to turn over to face him.

  “Will you tell me who hurt you so badly?”

  He went still, and she wished the lamp was on so she could gauge his reaction.

  “Who made you so distrustful of women?” she continued on. “And why is it that you don’t want this to be your child.”

  He put a finger on her lips. “That’s where you’re wrong, yineka mou. I want her to be mine very much.”

  Jewel cocked her head to the side. “But you seem so convinced that she isn’t.”

  He turned on his back to stare up at the ceiling. She tentatively cuddled into the crook of his arm and laid her head on his shoulder. When he didn’t resist, she relaxed, allowing her fingers to trail through the hairs on his chest.

  “Ten years ago I met and fell in love with a woman. Joanna. I was young and stupid and convinced I had the world by the tail.”

  “Don’t we all at that age,” she said with a slight smile.

  He chuckled. “I suppose you’re right. Anyway, she became pregnant, and so we married right away.”

  Jewel winced at the similarities but remained quiet as he continued.

  “She gave birth to a boy. We named him Eric. I adored him. I was as happy as a man can be. I had a beautiful wife who seemed devoted to me. I had a son. What more could I ask for?”

  Jewel’s mouth turned down unhappily. She could only imagine what he’d say next.

  “And then one day I came home to find her packing. Eric was two years old. I remember him crying the entire time I tried to reason with Joanna. I couldn’t understand why she was leaving. There hadn’t seemed to be any problems. I had no warning.

  “Finally, when I told her that she could leave but there was no way in hell I’d let my son go, she told me that he wasn’t my child.”

  Jewel sucked in her breath. “And you believed her?”

  A derisive sound escaped his lips. “No, I didn’t believe her. But to make a long story short, her lover who she was involved with when she and I met had devised the perfect plan to milk me for all they could. Several months and a paternity test later, it was proved that Eric wasn’t my son. Joanna took him and a great deal of my money, and I haven’t seen either since.”

  “Oh, Piers, I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “How horrible of her to allow you to fall in love with a child you thought was yours and then to yank him so cruelly away. How could she do that to either of you?”

  Piers trailed his fingers up and down her bare arm.

  “I have nightmares sometimes. I hear Eric calling to me, asking why I won’t help him, why I left him. All I can remember is the day they left, and how Eric screamed and cried, how he stretched his arms out trying to get to me, and all I could do was watch her walk away with my son. It’s a sight I’ll never get out of my mind.”

  “You miss him.”

  “He was my entire world for those two years,” he said simply. “I realize now that I didn’t love Joanna. I was infatuated with her, but I did love Eric.”

  Jewel rose up and cupped his cheek in her palm as she lowered her mouth to his. Then she drew his hand down to her swollen belly where their daughter bumped and turned between them.

  “She’s yours, Piers. Yours and mine.”

  “I know, yineka mou. I know.”

  Chapter 16

  “Piers looks more at ease than I’ve ever seen him,” Marley said to Jewel as the two stood on the patio overlooking the ocean.

  Jewel turned to the other woman and smiled. “Really? I hope I can take credit for it.”

  Bella laughed as she took another sip of her wine. “Of course the credit is yours. I’d swear the man is in love.”

  Jewel bit her lip and turned away. She wanted Piers to love her, but he’d never said the words. She wasn’t sure he was capable of offering his love to another woman after what had happened with Joanna.

  “Your house is beautiful, Jewel,” Marley said. “I just wish it wasn’t so far away from Greece.”

  “Or New York,” Bella said dryly. “You think Piers planned it this way?”

  Jewel grinned. “But we have jets at our disposal, don’t we?”

  “Hmm, you’re right,” Marley said thoughtfully. “The world shrinks quite a bit when airplanes are involved. No reason we couldn’t all meet in New York for some shopping. Theron is a soft touch, and he’d no doubt accommodate us.”

  Bella glared over at Marley. “Just because he isn’t an ape swinging from tree to tree and beating his chest while muttering stuff like ‘you my woman’ doesn’t mean he’s a softy.”

  “She’s very protective and possessive when it comes to Theron,” Marley said with a roll of her eyes. “All I meant was that of the three brothers, Theron would be the most accommodating when it comes to us wanting to get together. Chrysander and Piers would spend a month planning the security team.”

  Bella nodded. “You’re right about that.”

  Jewel looked at the two women in question. “Piers mentioned what had happened to Marley when I asked him why the need for all the security people. Has nothing been resolved yet?”

  Marley sighed unhappily. “As a matter of fact, we think the men who kidnapped me have been arrested. Chrysander got the call yesterday but we didn’t want to ruin our time here. When we leave, we’re flying back to New York with Bella and Theron so that I can
identify the suspects.”

  Bella threaded her arm around Marley’s waist and squeezed. “I’m so sorry, Marley. What rotten timing for you when you’ve been so ill with the new baby.”

  Marley smoothed a hand over her still flat stomach. “Chrysander is worried it will be too much, and he’s still feeling so guilty. He hates that I have to do this.”

  Jewel touched her hand in a comforting gesture. “Still, what a relief to know that they’ve been apprehended. I can only imagine the fear you’ve been living in.”

  “And the inconvenience it’s caused you and Bella,” Marley added. “I know that Theron and Piers have taken extra precautions because of the potential threat to anyone close to them. Maybe we can all relax a little now.”

  Bella held up her glass in a toast. “To freedom and relaxation.”

  Jewel held up her glass of water as did Marley and the women clinked the crystal.

  “I’m so glad you’re all here,” Jewel said.

  Bella looped her arm through Jewel’s. “We’re grateful you’ve made Piers so happy. He’s been so...hard.”

  Marley nodded. “It took him a long time to accept me. Of course now he’d do just about anything if I needed him, but it wasn’t like that in the beginning.”

  Jewel sobered. “Marley, do you think you could pull Chrysander to the side for me? There is something I’d like to discuss with him, something I’d prefer Piers not to know right now.”

  Marley lifted a brow. “Okay, I can do that, but you should know that Bella and I are insatiably nosy, and you’ll have to fill us in first.”

  Jewel laughed and squeezed Marley’s hand with her free one. “I’ll tell you after Chrysander. That way you two don’t try to talk me out of it.”

  “Uh-oh,” Bella said with a groan. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “I’m too curious to try and dissuade her,” Marley said. “If you’ll stay out here, Jewel, Bella and I will make sure Piers is occupied while you talk to Chrysander.”

  “Thank you.”

  The two women disappeared indoors leaving Jewel to gaze out over the sea. She was so absorbed by the view, that she didn’t hear Chrysander when he came out.

  “Marley tells me you’d like to speak with me.”

  Startled, she made a quick turn, and swallowed as she stared back at Piers’s older brother. He raised a brow in surprise.

  “Do I frighten you, Jewel?”

  “Oh no, of course not...okay, yes, you do,” she admitted.

  “It is certainly not my intention,” he said formally. “Now tell me, what can I do for you?”

  She twisted her fingers nervously in front of her. This was probably a stupid idea, and Chrysander would probably tell her she was out of her mind. He might even be angry that she intended to pry into Piers’s past.

  “Piers told me about Joanna...and Eric.”

  Chrysander’s eyes grew cold.

  “I know how hurt he was by what happened.”

  Chrysander sighed and moved closer to Jewel. “He was devastated, Jewel. Hurt is a very tame word for what he went through. He loved Eric, considered him a son for two years. Can you imagine thinking a child is yours for that long? And then having him snatched away?”

  She swallowed and lowered her gaze. “No, I can’t imagine. It would devastate me too.”

  “Perhaps you can understand now that he’s told you about them.”

  She looked up again, braving Chrysander’s stare. “That’s just it. I want your help.”

  Chrysander’s brows came together in confusion. “My help? With what?”

  “Finding Eric.”

  “No. Absolutely not. I won’t allow Piers to go through that all over again.”

  Jewel put her hand over Chrysander’s when he turned to go back inside.

  “Please. Hear me out. Part of the problem was that Piers never got to say goodbye. He never got any closure. His wound is still raw and bleeding. He’s still grieving for that two-year-old he lost. His only memory of Eric is of the day she left with him, how Eric screamed and cried for him. Maybe if he could see him now it would help to ease some of that pain. I can only imagine that he’s wondered over the years if Eric is happy, if he’s well, if he’s needed anything. If he saw that Eric wasn’t hurting, maybe it would go a long way to healing the awful pain Piers feels.”

  “You would do this?” Chrysander asked. “You would willingly bring a child back into his life that he loved? Risk contact with a woman he once loved just to make him happy again?”

  “Yes,” she said huskily. “I would do anything to ease his hurt.”

  Chrysander studied her for a long moment. “You love my brother very much.”

  She closed her eyes and turned away. “Yes,” she whispered. “I do.”

  “All right, Jewel. I will help you.”

  She grabbed his hand. “Thank you.”

  “I just hope when this is all over that my brother is still speaking to me,” he said wryly.

  She shook her head vigorously. “I’ll tell him you had nothing to do with it. I’ll take sole responsibility.”

  “My brother is a lucky man, I think.”

  “I just hope he thinks so,” she said wistfully.

  “Give him time. I have no doubt he’ll figure it out.”

  Chrysander leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “I’ll do some digging and let you know what I come up with.”

  Bella slipped out through the glass doors. “I’m afraid we’ve held him off for as long as possible. I hope you’re done, because Theron and Piers are convinced we’re plotting some evil.”

  Chrysander chuckled. “Bella, I have no doubt that where you’re concerned, it’s absolutely true. I haven’t forgotten that you dragged my wife into a tattoo parlor not so many months ago.”

  Jewel burst out laughing. “A tattoo parlor? You have to tell me about this, Bella. Did Chrysander have a heart attack?”

  “He might have bellowed a bit loudly just before he dragged us out,” Bella said with an innocent grin.

  Jewel wrapped an arm around Bella in a show of loyalty.

  “Just what we needed around here. Another woman to cause trouble,” Chrysander said with a mock groan.

  The door opened, and this time Marley came out with Theron and Piers on her heels. Both men wore expressions of suspicion as they surveyed Chrysander laughing with Bella and Jewel.

  “Whatever he’s said, don’t believe a word,” Theron said as he dragged Bella back against his side.

  “Why do I gain the impression that my family is plotting against me?” Piers murmured as he went to stand at Jewel’s side.

  She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him close. Then she leaned up to brush her lips across his jaw. “You’re being paranoid. Chrysander was just divulging all your family secrets.”

  Both Theron and Piers donned expressions of horror. Chrysander held up his hands. “Don’t worry. I’ve told them nothing you’ll be sorry for later.”

  “You mean there is dirt they’d be sorry for?” Bella asked. “Do tell. Theron always acts as if I’m the troublemaker in the family.”

  Jewel relaxed against Piers and enjoyed the laughing and teasing that went on between the others. She already liked Bella and Marley so much, and she was beginning to lose her uneasiness around Theron and Chrysander. To their credit, both men had seemingly accepted her presence in Piers’s life.

  Piers’s hand went to her belly as it often did, rubbing lightly over the swell. She wasn’t even sure he realized what he was doing, but it made her heart ache with love for him.

  She was beginning to realize that for all his coldness and aloofness that he was a man of great passion. When he loved, he did so with everything he had. How fortunate both her and her child would be to h
ave his love and devotion. She would never have to worry about being alone or of being accepted again.

  “Are you ready for dinner, yineka mou?” he murmured close to her ear. “I have it on good authority that the chef has prepared all your favorites tonight.”

  “Hmmm, I think I could get used to being so spoiled,” she said with a sigh.

  “You’re easily satisfied,” he teased.

  “I just want you,” she said seriously.

  Fire blazed in his eyes, and his grip tightened around her midsection.

  “Don’t tempt me so or I’ll forget we have guests and take you upstairs to bed.”

  “And this would be bad why? Your brothers all have wives. Surely they’d understand.”

  He laughed and kissed her on the nose. “You’re bad for my control, yineka mou. Come, let’s go eat. I’ll carry you up to bed later.”

  Chapter 17

  “Mrs. Anetakis, there is a call for you.”

  Jewel looked up to see the maid holding the cordless phone out to her. She took it and smiled her thanks at the younger woman. After she’d retreated, Jewel put the phone to her ear.

  “Hello?”

  “Jewel, this is Chrysander. I have some information for you about Eric. I’m glad you asked me to look into this. The news is not good.”

  Jewel frowned and got up from her seat at the breakfast table on the terrace. She ducked back inside so she could better hear over the distant roar of the ocean.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I found him. He’s in foster care. He was made a ward of the state of Florida two years ago. He’s been through six homes in that time.”

  “Oh no. No, no, no,” she whispered. Her fingers curled tightly around the phone as she battled tears. This would destroy Piers.

  “Jewel, are you all right?”

  She swallowed the knot in her throat. Memories that she’d spent her life suppressing boiled to the surface.

  “I’m okay,” she said shakily. “Thank you for doing this, Chrysander. I’d appreciate it if you could email me all the information you have. I want to thoroughly investigate this before I tell Piers.”