A Reputation For RevengeThe Greek Billionaire's Baby Revenge Read online

  Let them look, he thought. Let all the world see.

  Taking Josie tenderly in his arms, Kasimir kissed her with all the passion and promise of a lifetime. When he finally pulled away, she pressed her cheek against him with a contented sigh, and they stood together, holding each other in the moonswept night.

  He could get used to Hawaii, he thought. In the distance, he heard the loud roar of the surf against the shore. He heard the wind through the palm trees, heard the cry of night birds soaring across the violet sky. And above it all, he heard the pounding of his own beating, living heart—his heart which, now and forever, was hers.

  “I wish we could stay here,” Josie said softly, for his ears only. She looked back at the other couple. “That we could live nearby, and all our children could someday play together on the beach…”

  “About that…” Thinking of the decision he and his brother had just made, to build the world headquarters of their merged companies right here in Honolulu, Kasimir looked down at her with a mischievous grin. “I have a surprise for you.”

  “A surprise, huh?” Tears glistened in Josie’s eyes as she shook her head. A smile like heaven illuminated her beautiful face. “Just wait until you hear the one I have for you.”

  EPILOGUE

  THE DAY JOSIE placed their newborn daughter in her husband’s arms was the happiest day of her life, after eight months of joyful days.

  All right, so her pregnancy hadn’t been exactly easy. She’d been sick her first trimester, and for the last trimester, she’d been placed on hospital bed rest. But even that hadn’t been so bad, really. She’d made friends with everyone on her hospital floor, from Kahealani and Grace, the overnight nurses who were always willing to share candy, to Karl, the head janitor who told riveting stories about his time as a navy midshipman with a girl in every port.

  The world was full of friends Josie just hadn’t met yet, and in those rare times when there was no one around, she always had plenty of books to read. Fun books, now. No more textbooks. She’d made it through spring semester, but now college was indefinitely on hold.

  The truth was, Josie didn’t really mind. Her real life—her real happiness—was right here. Now. Living with Kasimir in their beach villa, newly redecorated complete with a white picket fence.

  Now, Josie smiled up from her hospital bed at Kasimir’s awed, terrified, loving face as he held his tiny sleeping daughter for the first time.

  “Need any help?”

  “No.” He gulped. “I think.”

  Looking at her husband holding their baby, tears welled up in Josie’s eyes. They were a family. Kasimir loved working with his brother as partners in their combined company, Xendzov Brothers Corp. But for both princes, the way they did business had irrevocably changed. They still wanted to be successful, but the meaning of success had changed. “I want to make a difference in the world,” Kasimir had said to her wistfully, lying beside her in the hospital bed last week. “I want to make the world a better place.”

  Josie hit him playfully with a pillow. “You do. Every time you bring me a slice of cake.”

  “No, I mean it.” He’d looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “I was thinking…we could put half our profits into some kind of medical foundation for children. Maybe sell the palace in Marrakech for a new hospital in the Sahara.” He stopped, looking at her. He said awkwardly, “What do you think?”

  “So what’s stopping you?” With a mock glare, she tossed his own words back at him. “The only one stopping you is you.”

  “Really? You wouldn’t miss it?”

  She snorted. “We don’t need more money, or another palace.” She thought of little Ahmed breaking his leg on the sand dune, far from medical care. “I love your hospital idea. And the foundation, too.”

  He looked down at her fiercely. “And I love you.” Cupping her face, he whispered, “You’re the best, sweetest, most beautiful woman in the world.”

  Nine months pregnant and feeling ungainly as a whale, having gained fifty extra pounds on banana bread, watermelon and ice cream, Josie had snorted a laugh, even as she looked at him tenderly. “You’re so full of it.”

  “It’s true,” Kasimir had insisted, and then he kissed her until he made her believe he was an honest man.

  Josie smiled. Kasimir always knew what to say. The only time she’d ever seen him completely without words was when she’d told him she was pregnant that night of Vladimir and Bree’s wedding. At first, he’d just stared at her until she asked him if he needed to sit down—then, with a loud whoop and a holler, he’d pulled her into his arms.

  With the divorce cancelled, he’d still insisted on remarrying her and doing it right, with their family in attendance. He’d actually suggested that they wed immediately, poaching Bree and Vladimir’s half-eaten wedding cake, and grabbing the minister yawning at the bar. But rather than steal her sister’s thunder, Josie had gotten him to agree to a compromise.

  Tearing up the pre-nup, they’d married three days later, at dawn, on the beach. The ceremony had been simple, and as they’d spoken vows to love, cherish and honor each other for the rest of their lives, the brilliant Hawaiian sun had burst through the clouds like a benediction.

  Then, of course, this being Hawaii, the clouds had immediately poured rain, forcing the five of them—Josie, Kasimir, Bree, Vladimir and the minister—to take off at a run for the shelter of the resort, with their leis trailing flower petals behind them. And once at the hotel, Josie had discovered the ten-tiered wedding cake her husband had ordered her—enough for a thousand or two people, covered with white buttercream flowers and their intertwined initials.

  Her husband’s sweet surprise was the most delicious cake of her life. Good thing too. Remembering, she gave a sudden grin. They were still eating wedding cake out of their freezer.

  Josie glanced through the window in the door of her private room in the Honolulu hospital. In the hallway, she could see Bree pacing back and forth, a phone to her ear, telling Vladimir the happy news of the birth. Vladimir was still in St. Petersburg, finalizing the company’s move to Honolulu. They were a very high-powered couple. Bree was having the time of her life running the Hale Ka’nani resort, which was already up in profits, having become newly popular with tourists from Japan and Australia. Vladimir and Bree did hope to start a family someday, but for now, they were having too much fun working.

  Not Josie, though. All she wanted was right here. She looked at Kasimir and their daughter. Right now. A home. A husband. A family.

  “Am I doing this right?” Kasimir said anxiously, his shoulders hunched and stiff as he cradled his baby daughter.

  She snorted, leaning forward to stroke the baby’s cheek with one hand. “You’re asking me? It’s not like I have more experience.”

  “I’m a little nervous,” he confessed.

  “You?” she teased. “Scared of an eight-pound baby?”

  “Terrified.” He took a deep breath. “I’ve never been a father before. What if I do something wrong?”

  She put her hand on his forearm. “It won’t matter.” Tears spilled over her lashes as she smiled, loving him so much her heart ached with it. “You’re the perfect father for her, because you love her.” She looked down at the sleeping newborn in his arms. “And Lois Marie loves you already.”

  Kasimir’s eyes crinkled. “Lulu is the best baby in the world,” he agreed, using their baby’s nickname. They’d named her after the mother Josie had never known. The mother who, along with her father, she would always remember. Josie would honor them both by being true to her heart. By singing the song inside her.

  Holding hands, Kasimir and Josie smiled at their perfect little daughter, marveling at her soft dark hair, at her tiny hands and plump cheeks.

  Then a new thought occurred to Josie, and she suddenly looked up in alarm. “What if I’m the one who doesn’t know how to be a mother?” she asked.

  “You?” Her husband gave a laugh that could properly be described as a g
uffaw. “Are you out of your mind? You’ll be the best mother who ever lived.” Cradling their tiny baby, securely nestled in the crook of his arm, he reached out a hand to cup Josie’s cheek. “And I promise you,” he whispered, “for the rest of my life, even if I make a mistake here or there, I’ll love you both with everything I’ve got. And if I screw up, or if we fight, I’ll always be the first to say I’m sorry.” He looked at her. “I give you my word.”

  Reaching up, Josie wrapped her hand around his head, tangling her fingers in his dark hair. “Your word of honor?”

  His eyes were dark. “Yes.”

  She took a deep breath.

  “Show me,” she whispered.

  And as Kasimir lowered his head to hers, proving his words with a long, fervent kiss, Josie felt his vow in her heart like bright sun in winter. And she knew their bold, fearless life as a family, complicated and crazy and oh, so happy, had just begun.

  * * * * *

  The Greek Billionaire’s Baby Revenge

  To Pete, the sexiest, smartest and best. Every day, I love you more.

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  EXCERPT

  CHAPTER ONE

  SNOW WAS FALLING so hard and fast that she could barely see through the windshield.

  Anna Rostoff parked her old car in the front courtyard of the palace, near the crumbling stone fountain, and pulled on the brake. Her hands shook as she peeled them from the steering wheel. She’d nearly driven off the road twice in the storm, but she had the groceries and, more importantly, the medicine for her baby’s fever.

  Taking a deep breath, she hefted the bag with one arm and climbed out into the night.

  Cold air stung her cheeks as she padded through soft snow and ascended sweeping steps to the gilded double doors of the two-hundred-year-old palace. They were conserving electricity in favor of paying for food and diapers, so the windows were dark. Only a bare thread of moonlight illuminated the dark Russian forest.

  We’re going to make it, Anna thought. It was April, and spring still seemed like a forlorn dream, but they had candles and a shed full of wood. Once she found work as a translator she’d be able to make a new life with her four-month-old baby and her young sister. After months of hell, things were finally looking up.

  She lifted her keys to the door.

  Her eyes went wide as a chill descended her spine. The front door was open.

  Barely able to breathe, she pushed into the grand foyer. In the shadows above, an ancient, unseen chandelier chimed discordantly as whirling flurries of snow came in from behind, whipped by a cold north wind.

  “Natalie?” Anna’s voice echoed down the hall.

  In response, she heard a muffled scream.

  She dropped the groceries. Potatoes tumbled out across the floor as she ran down the hall. Gasping, she shoved open the door into the back apartment.

  A figure stood near the ceramic tile fireplace, his broad-shouldered form silhouetted darkly in the candlelight.

  Nikos!

  For one split second Anna’s heart soared in spite of everything. Then she saw the empty crib.

  “They took the baby, Anna,” Natalie cried, her eyes owlish with fear behind her glasses. Two grim bodyguards, ruddy and devilish in the crackling firelight, flanked her sister on either side. She tried to leap from the high-backed chair, but one of Nikos’s men restrained her. “They came in while I was dozing and snatched him from his crib. I heard him cry out and tried to stop them—”

  Misha. Oh, God, her son. Where was he? Held by some vicious henchman in the dark forest? Already spirited out of Russia to God knew where? Anna trembled all over. Her baby. Her sweet baby. Sick with desperation and fear, she turned to face the monster she’d once loved.

  Nikos’s expression was stark, almost savage. The man who’d laughed with her in New York and Las Vegas, drinking ouzo and singing in Greek, had disappeared. In his place was a man without mercy. Even in the dim light she could see that. Olive-skinned and black-haired, he was as handsome as ever, but something had changed.

  The crooked nose he’d broken in a childhood fight had once been the only imperfection in classic good looks. Now his face had an edge of fury—of cruelty. He’d always been strong, but there were hard planes to his body that hadn’t been there before. His shoulders were somehow broader, his arms wider, as if he’d spent the last four months beating his opponents to a pulp in the boxing ring. His cheekbones were razor-sharp, his arms thick with muscle, his blue eyes limitless and cold. Looking into his eyes was like staring into a half-frozen sea.

  Once she’d loved him desperately; now she hated him, this man who had betrayed her. This man who, with kisses and sweet words whispered against her skin at night, had convinced her to betray herself.

  “Hello, Anna.” Nikos’s voice was deep, dangerous, tightly controlled.

  She rushed at him, grabbing the lapels of his black cashmere coat. “What have you done with my baby?” She tried to shake him, pounded on his chest. “Where is he?”

  He grabbed her wrists. “He is no longer your concern.”

  “Give me my child!”

  “No.” His grip was grim, implacable.

  She struggled in his arms. Once his touch had set her body aflame. No longer. Not now that she knew what kind of man he really was.

  “Misha!” she shrieked helplessly.

  Nikos’s grasp tightened as he pulled her closer, preventing her from thrashing her arms or clawing his face. “My son belongs with me.”

  It was exactly what she’d known he’d say, but Anna still staggered as if he had hit her. This time Nikos let her go. She grabbed the rough edge of the long wooden table to keep herself from sliding to the floor. She had to be strong—strong for her baby. She had to think of a way to save her son.

  In spite of her best efforts, a tear left a cold trail down her cheek. Wiping it away furiously, she raised her chin and glared at Nikos with every ounce of hate she possessed. “You can’t do this!”

  “I can and I will. You lost the right to be his mother when you stole him away like a thief in the night.”

  Anna brought her hands to her mouth, knowing Nikos could use his money and power and man-eating lawyers to keep her from her son forever. She’d been stupid to run away, and now her worst nightmare had come true. Her baby would grow up without her, living in Las Vegas with a heartless, womanizing billionaire and his new mistress…

  “I’m so sorry, Anna,” Natalie sobbed behind her. “I tried to stop them. I tried.”

  “It’s all right, Natalie,” Anna whispered. But it wasn’t all right. It would never be all right again.

  A door slammed back against the wall, causing Anna to jump as a third bodyguard entered from the kitchen and placed a tray on the table. Steam rose from the samovar as Nikos went to the table and poured undiluted tea, followed by hot water, into a blue china cup.

  She stared at her great-grandmother’s china teacup. It looked so fragile and small in his fingers, she thought. It could be crushed in a moment by those tanned, muscular hands.

  Nikos could destroy anything he wanted. And he had.

  “I’ve been here two weeks,” Anna said bitterly as she watched him take a drink. “What took you so long?”

  He lowered the cup, and his unsmiling gaze never once looked from hers.

  “I ordered my men to wait until you and the child were separated. Easier that way. Less risk of you doing something foolish.”

  Stupid. Stupid. She never should have left her baby—not even to go to an all-night market in St. Petersburg. After all, Misha wasn’t really sick, just teething and cranky, with a tiny fever that barely registered on her thermometer.

  “I was stupid to leave,” she whispered.

  “It took y
ou four months to figure that out?”

  Anna barely heard him. No, the really stupid move had been coming here in the first place. After four months on the move, always just one step ahead of Nikos’s men, and with money running out, Anna had convinced herself that Nikos wouldn’t be staking out her great-grandmother’s old palace. Now mortgaged to the hilt, the crumbling palace was their family’s last asset. Natalie was trying to repair the murals in hopes that they’d be able to find a buyer and pay off their paralyzing debt. A fruitless hope, in Anna’s opinion.

  As fruitless as trying to escape Nikos Stavrakis. He was bigger than her by six inches, and eighty pounds of hard muscle. He had three bodyguards, with more waiting in cars hidden behind the palace.

  The police, she thought, but that hope faded as soon as it came. By the time she managed to summon a policeman Nikos would be long gone. Or he’d pay off anyone who took her side. Nikos Stavrakis’s wealth and power made him above the law.

  She had only one option left. Begging.

  “Please,” she whispered. She took a deep breath and forced herself to say in a louder voice, “Nikos, please don’t take my child. It would kill me.”

  He barked a harsh laugh. “That’s what I’d call a bonus.”

  She should have known better than to ask him for anything. “You…you heartless bastard!”

  “Heartless?” He threw the cup at the fireplace. It smashed and fell in a thousand chiming pieces. “Heartless!” he roared.

  Suddenly afraid, Anna drew back. “Nikos—”

  “You let me believe that my son was dead! I thought you both were dead. I returned from New York and you were gone. Do you know how many days I waited for the ransom note, Anna? Do you have any idea how long I waited for your bodies to be discovered? Seven days. You made me wait seven damn days before you bothered to let me know you were both alive!”

  Anna’s breaths came in tiny rattling gasps. “You betrayed me. You caused my father’s death! Did you think I’d never find out?”