Niko's Stolen Bride (2 page)

Her father stepped to the side to include the other man in their conversation. “I understand you met Niko earlier tonight.”

“Yes,” she said rather shortly. It had occurred to her that Niko would have gone straight to see his sister when he arrived. He must have known what had happened by the time they met at the bar. So why had he danced with her? Not exactly the act of a gentleman to make a move on her when she was drinking and hurting. It would be just like her stepmother, though, in her high-handed way, to arrange it as a distraction for Kara. The thought that Niko might be just as adept as his sister at interfering in others’ lives cooled her tone.

“I’m sorry that you traveled all this way just to find the wedd – event – cancelled. I believe there are a few outings planned that should still go on. Unfortunately, I expect to return home immediately.” A spa day had been booked for the women. Deep sea fishing and a tee time had been arranged by her father who’d hoped that he, Frank and Niko would bond over a round of golf. She suspected he just wanted to escape the women for a while.

Niko smiled with a flash of white teeth. “But you and I have all week to become acquainted. I am to captain the
Black Magic
. The yacht arrived just a few hours ago.”

Elaina had arranged for the use of one of her family’s yachts, normally docked in Miami, for her and Frank’s honeymoon. The plan was to cruise the Caribbean aboard the luxury ship for a week, stopping to visit various islands. It was to have been a romantic getaway, alone with her new husband except for the captain and the small crew.

Bright sunshine dancing across waves that crested on water the color of blue topaz. A broad, bronzed back, tapering to a narrow waist. A perfect dive from a ship. Droplets running from slick hair, across the muscles of a firm chest. Definitely not her ex-fiancé’s chest.

Kara raised a hand to her temple, pressing her fingertips against the pounding of her heartbeat that began to throb there as the images flashed through her mind. What was wrong with her? She never window-shopped for what she couldn’t have, and this man was definitely off limits. It had to be the remnants of alcohol blurring her sense of reality. “It was kind of your family to loan the ship to us, but it won’t be needed now.”

She winced at her automatic use of the word
us.
It was just her again. Single. Alone.

He dipped his head in acknowledgement, the light catching in his shiny black hair. “I understand that your plans have changed,” he said in a low tone that conveyed something that hovered just out of her understanding. She creased her forehead as she tried to grasp his meaning, but her father spoke before she could question him.

“Elaina and I hoped you might go anyway. Consider it a little getaway to take your mind off of things.”

She met her father’s eyes, saw the concern and glint of perception in their depths. He knew her well. She wanted nothing more than to hole up somewhere, to hide from life for a few weeks. The thought of disappearing on the yacht was tempting, but not with the man in front of her. The pheromones that oozed from his every pore could draw a woman in and make her forget everything but that seductive smile he’d no doubt been practicing since in his cradle. He was too much. Too male. Too sexy. Too disturbing.

“It’s all set,” Elaina said. “I’ve even packed an overnight case for you.”

Kara barely held her temper at the thought that the woman had riffled through her things. She must be more tired than she realized. Niko, too, had to be feeling the effects of his overseas travel. “It’s a tempting offer, but I couldn’t put Mr. Maragos to such trouble. He just got here. With the jet lag and the drive across the Everglades, I’m sure he’d love to go to bed right now.”

Her gaze met his just before his lashes dropped to hide an unholy flash of amusement. Flustered, she rushed to add, “Surely there’s another captain available. I understood–.”

Her father interrupted with a brief touch to her arm. “The captain’s wife is expecting twins and went into early labor. We arranged for a car to return him to Miami, and Niko has kindly agreed to take over his duties. It was that or cancel the trip.”

Cancelling was good. In fact, it was the easiest decision she’d made tonight. “I appreciate the gesture, but there’s just too much to do before we return to New York. I have to contact the pastor, the caterers and the band for the reception…” Her voice trailed off as her throat closed up with a knot of unshed tears.

A hand closed around hers, warm and secure. She raised her face to stare into the eyes of the man who had held her tenderly as they danced.

“Do not distress yourself,
glykia mou
. It will all work out.”

Sympathy was the last thing she wanted from Niko. Unwilling to see it in his face, she jerked her hand from his and shifted her attention to the others. Elaina was staring at her brother with a slight frown. When she caught Kara watching, she smoothed the wrinkles from her forehead and forced a smile.

“Niko is right, Kara. Your father and I will take care of all these issues. Go on the vacation. You deserve it.”

It sounded wonderful, but she wasn’t one to run from her responsibilities. Kara pressed her fingertips to her closed eyelids, trying to relieve the pressure she felt building there as she shook her head.

Her father reached to pull her hands down to her sides. “Before you say no again, let’s take a walk.”

She searched his face, wondering at his insistence. “Dad, I’m really tired. I just want to catch a few hours sleep before I have to face everyone. I need to figure out how I’m going to tell them the wedding has been called off.”

“A champagne toast at breakfast would be a good start,” her father said dryly.

Niko made a noise that sounded suspiciously like he was smothering a laugh.

Kara glared at him, then turned back to her father. “Are you
happy
we’re not getting married?”

“Relieved is more like it.”

Kara felt her mouth go a little slack and shut it with a snap of her teeth.

As if recognizing his cue to leave the discussion, Niko backed away from the group. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll just go get my suitcase from my room.”

“I’ll go with you,” Elaina said hastily. “We need to make plans before you leave.”

Kara stared after them, feeling empathy with her drowsy friends. Either she was too sleepy to grasp the meaning of the undercurrents that swirled around her or she’d been deliberately left in the dark. A queasy feeling in her stomach told her she wasn’t going to like what was revealed.

“I’ve got to sit down” she muttered. Taking a step back, she felt for the upholstered chair behind her and sank onto it.

Her father moved her small overnight bag from the other chair to the floor and sat down beside her.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you how I felt sooner,” he said. “It might have saved us all a lot of trouble.”

Kara noted that the lines around her father’s mouth were more deeply grooved than usual and a shadow of whisker darkened his jaw. She wondered if he’d been awake since he’d heard the news. Of course, he’d be concerned about her. It had been just the two of them for years. She’d hoped he’d view Frank as a friend, if not the son he’d never had, but realized now that the two men had little in common. “You don’t like Frank?”

“It isn’t that.” After a moment, he added, “I just don’t think he’s right for you.” Her father settled back into the chair and crossed his legs, deliberately smoothing a wrinkle from the fabric of his slacks

Kara recognized the delaying tactic from years of study. “Cut the evasive lawyer tricks, Dad, and tell me what you know.”

He laughed softly, then his face fell back into stern lines. “Just preparing you; you’re not going to like this.”

She waited, knowing there was no way to speed up his delivery.

“There were rumors,” he said slowly. “At first, it was just nights out drinking and playing pool with the boys, then he was seen regularly at strip clubs. I think a man ready to settle down should have made better choices.”

She had known, of course, that Frank went out regularly with his friends. The mention of strip clubs made her uneasy, but she wasn’t shocked. She shot her father a level look. “That’s it?”

“There’s a good bit more,” he admitted, “but none of that is important now.”

He leaned forward and placed a hand on her knee. “As father of the bride, it’s my job to take care of this. Let me take the burden, Kara. I’ll tell the family, cancel the arrangements, book your flight home. Everything.”

What he wasn’t saying was that today was going to be humiliating. Caterers and florists would be sympathetic, but require payment for the late cancellation. Friends who had flown here to Sanibel Island would look at her with pity. Relatives would gossip over their coffee and sweet rolls. She could almost hear Aunt Betty lecturing. Better that she learned it now, the woman would say in her Long Island twang, than later, after they’d started a family.

For better or worse, they were all stuck here near the heart of the Everglades for several more days with hotel bookings and pre-arranged flights, a reception with a band, bouquets of flowers and a wedding cake that would be wasted. She’d be faced with a reminder of the fiasco at every turn.

“I can’t dump this on you, Dad. That wouldn’t be fair to you or Elaina. I know you two have plans.” They had arranged to stay at the resort for a few days after the wedding. It had been a cold, wet winter in New England and Elaina was anxious for some beach time.

He sighed and patted her knee before leaning back in his chair. “I didn’t want to have to tell you this right now, but we suspect the blonde you caught him with was not a stranger.”

“I don’t understand.” She waited with suspended breath, as her mind raced through the possibilities, each one more heartbreaking than the next. Every muscle in her body tensed as if in anticipation of a blow.

“I talked to the groomsmen when they came back a few hours ago and one of them admitted that he recognized her. She’s a stripper from one of the clubs he and Frank frequented back home.”

“So they’re – he’s having an affair with her?”

Her father shook his head. “I don’t know that for sure, honey. We don’t even know if he invited her here or if she decided to show up on her own. It’s possible she was jealous and wanted to stop the marriage, so she could have him for herself. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that had happened.”

“Maybe, but it seems so unlike him,” Kara muttered, her mind reeling as she tried to grasp that Frank had been having a fling with a stripper. With anyone, for that matter. In comparison, a drunken one-time encounter at a bachelor party was almost forgivable.

“It always does.”

In that dark moment, the temptation to use the yacht as an escape returned so strongly it was nearly impossible to resist. If only the
Black Magic
and Niko weren’t a package deal. The man twisted her senses into knots when he was near for just a few moments. She could never survive a week on the ship with him.

“I couldn’t go away for a whole week,” she said then stopped short, surprised that she’d expressed the thought aloud.

“I agree,” he father said too promptly. “It was a bit much to expect you to take your honeymoon cruise, but at least take the ship out for the day. Niko tells me the trip down to Key West is only about four hours. The sunshine, the sea air, might be just what you need to help put this whole thing behind you.”

Kara opened her mouth to protest, but he stopped her with a raised hand.

“There are some terrific tourist sites to visit there. You can have a nice lobster dinner, drink a Rum Runner while you watch the sunset from Mallory Square and be back on Sanibel before midnight. By then, it will all be settled. You can hop a plane back to New York and go back to your normal life.”

“Just like that?”

He nodded, either missing the sarcasm in her tone or choosing to ignore it. “It will be just that easy.”

It wouldn’t be that simple and she knew it. Her father wanted to believe he could fix this, just like he had fixed the flat tire on her bicycle when she was a child or helped her with her softball swing. He felt guilty for the way things had ended between her and Frank. He should have shared his suspicions, yes, but it was clearly not his fault. Still, it might bring him peace of mind to handle the arrangements. It certainly wasn’t going to help her mental condition to thrash out the experience over and over.

The ding of the elevator returning to the lobby floor drew her attention. Niko stepped through the doors, a brown leather gym bag in one hand.

When he’d left the lobby moments ago, he had been clad in jeans and a tight black tee shirt that stretched across the impressive width of his shoulders. Now, he looked every inch the captain in a starched white uniform. Tailored slacks hugged the taut muscles of his thighs and a form-fitting shirt emphasized the lean indent of his waist.

Her father’s tone was urgent as he leaned toward her. “Will you do this for me, Hon?”

“Fine,” she said, her gaze locked on the man that approached across the marble floor of the lobby. “I’ll go.”

“Excellent.” Her father slapped his hands against his thighs and stood, turning to face Niko as he stopped beside them. “Good timing,” he said, relief evident in his tone. “You two should get out of here before anyone’s up for breakfast.”