The Tycoon's Rebel Bride (The Anetakis Tycoons #2)(41)

“So how did this lead to you taking Isabella’s virginity? Without protection,” he added dryly.

“I’ve admitted my stupidity. There’s no reason to keep beating me over the head with it,” Theron said irritably. “It happened after I hauled her out of the strip club.”

“You what?” Chrysander broke into laughter. “Theron, this is sounding more absurd all the time. Do I even want to know why someone you were supposed to be watching over was in a strip club?”

“It’s not important. What’s important is that afterward, I seduced Isabella. We slept together. Without protection. She was a virgin. That covers it.”

“Yes, I’d say it does,” Chrysander said.

There was another long silence and then Chrysander spoke again. “She was under our care. Our father agreed that the Anetakis family would always care for her should something happen to her father. You’re going to have to marry her, Theron.”

Adrenaline surged in Theron’s veins. “I don’t have to marry her, Chrysander. I’m going to marry her.”

Fifteen

I sabella shoved aside the heavy curtains draped over the large window facing the street. Her apartment was on the top floor, larger by half than the apartments on the lower levels, and it had a wonderful view of a small park across the street.

There was no shortage of joggers, people out walking dogs, and children supervised by their nannies or mothers. It was a small mecca in the middle of a crowded city where someone could go and enjoy a short escape.

Could she live here knowing the man she loved was close by, married to someone else? On the surface it sounded absurd. In a city this size, she could go an entire lifetime without running into Theron. Except…except he controlled her inheritance and contact would be inevitable.

She sighed. She really did like the apartment, but she wasn’t sure she could remain here.

The sound of her door opening didn’t alarm her. Reynolds had been left waiting when she’d only said she’d be a minute. He probably lost patience and was coming to collect her.

Footsteps sounded behind her, and yet she still couldn’t tear her gaze away from the scene below. Maybe it was the normalcy of it all—the promise of an ordered existence where agonizing emotions such as love and jealousy or despair didn’t dictate her every breath.

Firm hands took hold of her shoulders, skimming upward, eliciting a small gasp from her.

“Bella, pethi mou, are you all right? What are you doing here?”

She spun around in surprise and stared up at Theron’s worried eyes.

“I went back to your suite and you were gone. I’m beginning to wonder if my life is going to be a study in never finding you where you’re supposed to be.”

There was a hint of amusement in his voice, but she was puzzled by his words. They made no sense.

“When I called Reynolds and he said you were here, I came right over. But Bella, there is no need of your apartment any longer,” he said calmly.

She held up a hand to his chest, almost afraid to touch him. Her head was spinning a mile a minute, but she needed to understand what he was saying, or what he wasn’t saying.

“I came to see if it was ready for me to move in,” she said simply.

He captured her hand in his and held it in place over his heart. “You won’t be needing this apartment, pethi mou.”

With his other hand, he dipped into his pocket and drew out a small square box. She stared suspiciously at it as he flipped the lid off and let it fall to the floor. Maneuvering still with the one hand, he turned it over and shook out the velvet jeweler’s box. With a few more flips of his fingers, it came open, and a brilliant, sparkling diamond caught the light from the window and flashed in her eyes.

She watched in complete astonishment as he picked up her hand and slid the ring onto her third finger.

“We’ll be married as soon as possible,” he said matter-of-factly.

She shook her head, sure that she must still be in bed back in her suite—dreaming. “I don’t understand,” she stammered.

“We must marry,” he said again, only this time the emphasis was on the must. “You were a virgin…and you could be pregnant,” he finished softly. “I didn’t think…that is I didn’t use protection. For this I am sorry.”

No, she wasn’t dreaming. In her dreams, her marriage proposal had always been somewhat more romantic. But then she was getting precisely what she wanted. It was hard to argue with that, no matter the motivation behind the proposal.

“Okay,” she said quietly.

Relief flashed in his eyes. Had he expected her to argue? Maybe play the martyr and give him a weeping, tragic refusal because he didn’t love her?

He pulled her into his arms, but instead of kissing her, he hugged her tightly. “We should go back to your suite. We have arrangements to make. Unless you’d prefer my penthouse? I’m afraid I’m no more settled in this city than you are, but we’ll remedy that. We can buy a house. Wherever you like.”

She wedged an arm between them and levered herself away. “What about Alannis?”

There was quiet between them finally, and his expression sobered. “She and Sophia are flying back to Greece tomorrow.”

Isabella tried to disguise the flinch. She didn’t want to think of Alannis’s heartbreak or her mother’s disappointment. Neither woman had been anything but kind to her. And now she was the femme fatale. It wasn’t a very good feeling.