At the Tycoon's Service. Maya Banks
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and he’d forgotten her, she wouldn’t be very sure of herself, either. He left the room, and several minutes later returned with a tray that he set before her on the coffee table. Steam rose from the bowl of soup, but she wasn’t tempted by the offering. She was too unsettled.
He sat in a chair diagonally to her, but after a few moments, he rose and paced the room like a restless predator. His fingers tugged at his tie as he loosened it and then unbuttoned the cuffs of his silk shirt.
“Your assistant…Roslyn…said she left work for you?”
He turned to face her, his eyebrows wrinkling as he frowned. “Work can wait.”
She sighed. “Do you plan to watch me nap then? I’ll be fine, Chrysander. You can’t hover over me every moment of the day. If there are things that require your attention, then by all means see to them.”
Indecision flickered across his handsome face. “I do have things to do before we leave New York.”
A surge of panic hit her unaware. She swallowed and worked to keep her expression bland. “We’ll be leaving soon then?”
He nodded. “I thought to give you a few days to rest and more fully recover before we go. I’ve arranged for my jet to fly us to Greece, and then we’ll take a helicopter out to the island. My staff is preparing for our arrival as we speak.”
She stared uneasily at him. “Just how wealthy are you?”
He looked surprised by the question. “My family owns a chain of hotels.”
The Anetakis name floated in her memory, what little of it there was. Images of the opulent hotel in the heart of the city came to mind. Celebrities, royalty, some of the world’s wealthiest people stayed at Imperial Park. But he couldn’t be that Anetakis, could he?
She paled and clenched her fingers to control the shaking. They were only the richest hotel family in the world. “How…how on earth did you and I…” She couldn’t even bring herself to complete the thought. Then she frowned. Had she come from such a family?
Fatigue swamped her, and she dug her fingers into her temples as she fought the tiredness. Chrysander was beside her in an instant. He picked her up as though she weighed nothing and carried her into the bedroom. He carefully laid her on the bed, his eyes bright with concern. “Rest now, pedhaki mou.”
She nodded and curled into the comfortable bed, her eyes already closing with exhaustion. Thinking hurt. Trying to remember sapped every ounce of her strength.
Chrysander slumped in his chair and ran a hand through his hair. He fingered the list of phone messages as his gaze lighted on the one from his brother Theron. There was a message from his other brother, Piers, as well.
He shifted uncomfortably and knew he wouldn’t be able to put them off for long. They would have gotten his messages by now and be curious. How he was going to explain this mess to them and also explain why he was taking the woman who had tried to damage their business home to Greece was beyond him.
With a grimace, he picked up the phone and dialed Theron’s number.
He spoke rapidly in Greek when his brother answered. “How did the groundbreaking go?”
“Chrysander, finally,” Theron said dryly. “I wondered if I was going to have to fly over to beat answers from you.”
Chrysander sighed and grunted in response.
“Do hold while I get Piers on the phone. It’ll save you another call. I know he’s as interested in your explanation as I am.”
“Since when do I answer to my younger brothers?” Chrysander growled.
Theron chuckled and a moment later Piers’s voice bled through the line. He didn’t bandy words.
“Chrysander, what the hell is going on? I got your message, and judging by the fact you never showed up in London, I can only assume that you’re otherwise occupied in New York.”
Chrysander pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers and closed his eyes. “It would appear that the two of you are going to be uncles.”
Silence greeted his statement.
“You’re sure it’s yours?” Theron finally asked.
Chrysander grimaced. “She’s five months pregnant, and five months ago, I was the only man in her bed. This I know.”
“Like you knew she was stealing from us?” Piers retorted.
“Shut up, Piers,” Theron said mildly. “The important question is, what are you going to do? She obviously can’t be trusted. What does she have to say for herself?”
Chrysander’s head pounded a bit harder. “There is a complication,” he muttered. “She doesn’t remember anything.”
Both brothers made a sound of disbelief. “Quite convenient, wouldn’t you say?” Piers interjected.
“She’s leading you around by the balls,” Theron said in disgust.
“I found it hard to believe myself,” Chrysander admitted. “But I’ve seen her. She’s here…in our—my apartment. Her memory loss is real.” There was no way she could fake the abject vulnerability, the confusion and pain that clouded her once-vibrant blue eyes. The knowledge of her pain bothered him when it shouldn’t. She deserved to suffer as she’d made him suffer.
Piers made a rude noise.
“What do you plan to do?” Theron asked.
Chrysander braced himself for their objections. “We’re flying out to the island as soon as I feel she’s well enough. It’s a more suitable place for her recovery, and it’s out of the public eye.”
“Can’t you install her somewhere until the baby comes and then get rid of her?” Piers demanded. “We lost two multimillion dollar deals because of her, and now our designs are going up under our competitor’s name.”
What he didn’t say but Chrysander heard as loudly as if his brother had spoken the words was that they had lost those deals because Chrysander had been blinded by a woman he was sleeping with. It was as much his fault as it was Marley’s. He’d let his brothers down in the worst way. Risked what they’d spent years working to achieve.
“I cannot leave her right now,” Chrysander said carefully. “She has no family. No one who could care for her. She carries my child, and to that end, I will do whatever it takes to ensure the baby’s health and safety. The doctor feels her memory loss is only temporary, merely a coping mechanism for the trauma she has endured.”
“What do the authorities have to say about her abduction?” Piers asked. “Do you know why yet, and who was responsible?”
“I spoke briefly with them at the hospital, and I have a meeting with the detective in charge of the investigation tomorrow,” Chrysander said grimly. “I hope to find out more then. I’ll also tell them of my plans to take her out of the country. I have to think of her safety, and that of the baby.”
“I can see you’re already decided in this,” Theron said quietly.
“Yes.”
Piers made a sound as though he’d protest but was cut off when Theron spoke once more. “Do what you have to do, Chrysander. Piers and I can handle things. And for what it’s worth, congratulations on becoming a father.”
“Thanks,” Chrysander murmured as he pressed the button to end the call.
He set the phone aside. Instead of making him feel any better about the situation, his discussion with his brothers had only reinforced how impossible things were. He didn’t doubt that Marley didn’t remember him or the fact that she’d stolen from him. Her confusion couldn’t possibly be that feigned.
Which left him with the only choice he had, one he’d made the instant he’d known she was