Niko's Stolen Bride Read online

  “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.”

  The younger man nodded as he bent to place his leather case beside the overnight bag Elaina had packed for her. Neither would have held enough clothing for a week.

  She’d been beautifully set up.

  Elaina and her father had known she’d never agree to take the honeymoon cruise, so they’d pushed it on her, hoping she’d take the lesser of two evils and do what they really wanted, which was to leave for the day.

  Niko watched Kara as she slowly stood. “Kalimera. Again.”

  The wry grin that he flashed should have melted a heart of stone, but did little to warm hers. “It’s a great morning,” Kara agreed sardonically.

  So what was Niko’s part in this? The fact that he’d failed to introduce himself when they met in the bar took on a more disquieting tone. Could he have been checking her out before he agreed to escort her? She recoiled from the memory of how she’d leaned into him, practically begging to be kissed. Undoubtedly, he was comfortable with that type of response from women, as he had not declined to captain the ship.

  A smile edged across his lips to light the stormy blue of his ey
es. “I see you’re not a morning person.”

  “Not this morning.”

  Her father reached to give her a long hug, whispering against her hair. “Remember what your mother always said. Enjoy whatever the day brings you.”

  Stepping away, he raised a hand in dismissal. “See you both tonight.”

  She and Niko stood in silence for a moment as she watched her father make his way to the elevators. It was foolish, she knew, but the feeling that she had just been deserted slowly crowded out her frustration, leaving her exhausted and on the edge of tears.

  As if sensing the need to distract her, Niko reached to grasp her hand and raised it to his mouth, touching her fingers briefly with his lips. “Life, like the tides, flows in constantly changing directions. A clever person learns to swim with them, not against them.”

  Annoyance flared inside her again and she jerked her hand from his. He thought her less-than-intelligent because she felt honor-bound to stay and resolve the issues created by the abrupt cancellation of the wedding? Perhaps going with the flow was his way of life, but it certainly wasn’t hers.

  “Swimming with the tide is fine,” she said with lethal sweetness, “but what we have here is more a Bermuda Triangle.” Turning sharply on one stiletto heel, she headed for the lobby doors.

  Chapter 2

  They stepped out into a glorious sunrise. Gold and pink blended low on the horizon then shaded to dark purple overhead. Minutes from bursting into radiance, the sun peeked over the mainland, sparkling across the top of the rolling waves of the Gulf of Mexico.

  It was a perfect day for a wedding.

  Cringing inside, Kara firmed her lips and pushed the thought away. She stopped for a moment, buttoning her short cardigan against the chill. She deliberately focused on the beauty of the morning, allowing a small smile to turn up the edges of her mouth and reach her eyes as she crinkled them against the intensity of the light.

  The man beside her stilled and turned with an inquiring look. His deep breath expanded his chest as if he too were relieved to be outside, then he took her elbow and led her down one of the paths.

  It took several moments to reach the yacht basin. Niko moved swiftly through the concrete and wooden planks of the floating docks, nodding a brief greeting to a woman standing on one of the yachts with a cup in her hand, steam rising from it in the early morning dampness. As Niko led her toward the last line of slips, Kara’s gaze was caught by the most beautiful ship she’d ever seen.

  Black and sleek with the lines of a thoroughbred racehorse, it screamed power and speed. The cherry and gold of the morning sky reflected in the glossy paint, reminding her of the subdued glow of paintings on black velvet. If someone had described this ship to her, she would have scoffed at the ostentatious show and waste of money. Staring at it now, though, she felt a strange pull toward the vessel. It was as out of place among the huge white yachts that populated this basin as a magnificent black swan among white puddle ducks. Yet it alone seemed comfortable in its skin. It rode the waves as if it were joined with them, rather than an offending lump floating awkwardly on top. It seemed flawless, unsinkable and breathtakingly lovely.

  Niko headed directly toward it. The gangplank was stored, so he jumped across the narrow span of water, seeming eager to be off. Landing lightly on the decking of teak boards, he set the overnight bags at his feet and pressed a switch that extended the motorized gangway. Once secure, he stepped across it and leaned toward her, one hand stretched out to help her aboard.

  “Come,” he said, a grin flashing across his full lips and lightening his eyes to a silvered blue. “It is time for a little magic.”

  She couldn’t help but smile at the pun on the ship’s name, Black Magic. Her mood lifted at the excitement that smoothed the lines from Niko’s face, making him look younger and almost happy. She had a feeling that pleasure in the sheer joy of the moment was not an emotion he experienced often and not one she’d expected to feel herself today. That flash of immediate connection with him added to the dream-like quality of boarding the vessel. The warmth of his grasp was the only thing that felt real, linking her to the here and now.

  Taking a deep breath, she allowed him to pull her across, swaying slightly as she landed on the deck. His arms came up to steady her, the hard band of his forearms at her waist. The fire she sensed beneath the surface of his skin seemed to draw her in and she leaned toward him, telling herself it was the slight rocking of the ship that caused the rush of dizziness, not the man himself.

  “OK?” His breath brushed against her cheek as he spoke, the low timbre vibrating across her nerve endings.

  “Yes, thanks. I think it’ll take some getting used to.” With any luck, he’d think she was referring to gaining her sea legs. The last thing she wanted was to embarrass herself further with this man.

  “Kalimera, Nikolaos.”

  The voice, deep and gravelly, came from directly above them. Kara turned to see an older man with salt-and-pepper hair and a neatly trimmed beard descending the short flight of stairs that led to the lower deck. Niko’s arms dropped from her sides as he greeted the man.

  “Yasu, Eduardo. It is good to sail with you again. It has been too long.”

  Kara recalled Elaina mentioning that Niko had moved from the U.S. to Greece several years ago. After his parents’ divorce, he had been raised in Miami by his American mother, but had moved back to his homeland to join the family’s shipping operation. She wondered now why he’d made the trip back to the States. Attending the wedding of a total stranger would be of no interest to him, nor did he seem the type who did things out of duty or obligation. He was more likely to do as he pleased and damn the consequences. It was an attitude she envied, especially today. She reached to rub at the sudden ache behind her eyes.

  Niko must have seen the gesture for he turned back to her, concern shadowing his blue-gray eyes. “Eduardo, let me introduce you to our guest.”

  “Miss Kara Sommers meet Eduardo Vasquez. He has sailed with my family’s company for many years and knows the Caribbean like the back of his hand.”

  Kara shook hands with the short, stocky man. He too wore white, but he’d chosen wide-legged slacks and the loose, cotton shirt popular in South Florida. He had a firm grip and crinkles of laugh lines around his dark eyes. “What a pleasure to have such beautiful company with us,” he said in softly accented English. He gestured broadly toward the sky, yellowing with the rising of the sun. “The seas will be kind today. Where will your desires lead us, my dear?”

  Kara felt an answering smile curve her lips. “I’m told we’re visiting Key West.”

  “Excellent choice for a start.” He nodded with enthusiasm, though she suspected it was a polite show. He’d probably been to the island hundreds of times before. “And after that?” he prodded gently. “St. Thomas? Perhaps Martinique?”

  Kara felt her smile stiffen. So it began. The explanations. The embarrassment. Her joy in the freshness of the morning faded, replaced by the hard edge of reality. “Just a day trip.”

  Eduardo’s look of polite inquiry wilted. His gaze moved to Niko for confirmation. “But what about the wed–”

  Niko cut him off. “I’ve brought the bride. She’s all we need. We set sail immediately.”

  The older man frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  Kara made an abrupt motion. “The wedding’s been cancelled.”

  “I see.” The sympathy in the liquid brown eyes of the older man almost undid her. He turned to Niko, one eyebrow lifted in inquiry. “Shall I put her bag in the blue cabin?”

  “I’ll show her around,” Niko answered smoothly. He followed with a spate of what Kara thought was Spanish. Eduardo answered in the same language, his features relaxing into what she suspected were permanent laugh lines. With a polite nod in Kara’s direction, he disappeared up the short flight of stairs to the main deck.

  Niko lifted their bags and gestured for her to follow the older man. “I’ve asked him to find the other cr
ew member, George, and get us under way immediately. We’ll have breakfast once we’re in open water, if that’s all right with you.”

  “Certainly.” Her reply was short as she wondered if that was all he’d said to Eduardo.

  They crossed an area of open deck with built-in padded cushions covered in a soft gold fabric and black accent pillows. Another short flight of stairs led through a set of curved sliding doors with glass tinted so dark that it was difficult to see through into the main cabin. Inside, sofas lined the walls and a large-screen television was built into the partition directly in front of them. The floors were the same teak as the exterior flooring but the fabrics were softer, in blue-green with gold accent pillows that carried dual stripes of the same blue fabric. The overall look was casual and comfortable.

  “This is gorgeous,” she murmured, unable to keep the surprise from her tone. From the exterior, she’d expected the modern harshness of black and white. “And so big.”

  He gave a short laugh. “The ship is larger than the average house. There’s a kitchen and three bedrooms below plus crew quarters on the lowest deck.” He pointed toward a set of stairs in the same light wood as the flooring. “Let me show you to your room and then I’ll help get us under way.”

  The narrow stairs turned sharply as they descended. Polished brass wall panels reflected the recessed lighting along the stairwell. She could feel the presence of Niko just behind her in the confined space. The rasp of his breathing sounded almost as loud as if he had been running. She imagined switching positions with him there in the tight stairwell, descending behind him so that his head would be on a level with hers. She could easily bend and place her mouth on the strong column of his neck, while her hands moved around his shoulders and slid down the inviting hardness of his chest.

  Alarm coursed through her veins. This wasn’t like her, this instant attraction and craving to have her hands on a man, to feel his hands on her. With Frank, companionship had come first, then a slowly increasing desire. With Niko, everything was different, faster.