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“What would that even look like?” she asked. “Would I move into Yaya’s suite?” She glanced toward that wing of the villa.

There wasn’t really a need for her to sleep there. Or space. It was a one-bedroom flat with a cozy lounge-kitchenette. The stove had been decommissioned so Yaya couldn’t accidentally hurt herself and the lock had been removed from the bathroom door so she couldn’t become trapped. Alia would be relegated to the sofa again, which wasn’t ideal for the night nurse, who liked to watch television and knit.

“Or take one of the guest rooms?” She glanced up, trying to hide how much she dreaded the idea of long nights in a room all by herself.

“I’m told wives usually sleep with their husbands,” Spiro said pithily.

A stab of alarmed anticipation had her flashing a look at him. All her delirious, dirty fantasies rushed in to fill her cheeks with bright, guilty heat.

His mouth curled as he studied her through the screen of his flinty lashes. “Not tonight, agapi mou. As I said, I have a headache.”

“That wasn’t—” She folded her arms and scowled her embarrassment across the blue of the pool.

“Lambros knows damned well that Khristos invented this relationship out of thin air.” His tone hardened. “I can’t dissolve this marriage. Once he realizes he isn’t likely to succeed with his coup, he’ll look to use this subterfuge against us, whether it’s impugning me to the board or challenging me in court or damaging our reputations in public. Yes, he will go after you, Khristos, and your beloved Julian as well as me. To preempt all of that, you and I will continue the deception that Khristos started. We are newlyweds, agapi mou. And we are delighted to be starting our life together.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Spiro woke at midnight. He was hungry because he’d swum a few laps after dinner, trying to get his strength back.

The bedroom was dark and Alia was sound asleep beside him, her hand on his bare arm.

Why did he like that so much? He had never been a lonely person, preferring his own company to almost anyone else’s.

He studied her, barely able to see her in the shadows, but he could make out the fan of her lashes and the fall of her dark hair against her cheek, enticing him to brush it back, but he resisted.

Even though she was his wife.

He was still furious at having that choice taken away from him, but he had to admit that Khristos had been right to take this action. A wife’s claim on a man and his assets was largely accepted without question.

According to his mother, Alia had begun exercising her power from the moment she had arrived in Athens. Daphne had expressed her dismay over that when he had returned her call this evening.

“You went home last night without telling me!” she had said indignantly. “We thought we would finally be able to speak to you in private. That woman has been such a burr, always stuck to your side. How could you marry without telling me, Spiro?”

“I was unconscious,” he reminded her.

“But what about her being pregnant?” Anxiety pierced her voice. “That causes a lot of legal implications, doesn’t it?”

Not the typical reaction of a potential grandmother, he noted disparagingly, but it told him Lambros was worried about that possibility.

“Alia and I aren’t ready to talk about that,” he’d said cryptically. Spitefully, even.

Marrying to beget an heir was not something Spiro had ever considered. He wasn’t sure he even wanted to be a father. He was a workaholic with a cynical, mistrustful personality. What did he have to offer a child by way of warmth and guidance? At different times, he had watched Khristos struggle through deep spells of depression and had never been able to do more than create a moat of safety around him. It was a hideously helpless feeling, one that made him reluctant to take responsibility for an adult partner and even more so a vulnerable child.

Now that he was actually married, however, he saw the advantage in having a spouse. Alia had allowed herself to be dispatched in his stead—not something his ego liked to accept—but she had returned with valuable information about one of his executives that was helping him block Lambros. He couldn’t pretend he didn’t appreciate that.

He was still concerned about her motive for accepting this marriage, but Khristos had reassured him on that front when they’d connected this afternoon.

“Was it Julian’s idea to involve Alia?” Spiro had asked point-blank, voicing the suspicion that sat like a toxin inside him.

“It was my suggestion. The minute Mother met me at the hospital, she told me Lambros wanted to be appointed interim CEO and they wanted my support.” Khristos’s voice had been gritty with resentment. “He had already told the board that I couldn’t handle it.”

Because Khristos had had to be admitted to a care facility for his own safety when he’d been a teen. Spiro spat a curse against Lambros for sinking so low.

“I could tell he would stop at nothing,” Khristos said with weary anger. “Julian read the company’s succession plan and said it was a pity you weren’t married. That if you were, your wife could vote your share and, if you had children, all of your work and personal assets would be protected within a trust. There would be no way for Lambros to touch them.”

“And you immediately jumped to the idea of marrying me to a stranger? Who even thinks to do that?” Spiro burst out.

“I work on behalf of refugees, Spiro. I’ve seen the lengths people will go to find a better life. Picture brides. Arranged marriages. We might not have got away with something so unconventional if Julian and Alia weren’t personally known to the mayor in her village, but she was an old friend of Herena’s. She knew their situation and wanted to help.”