The Renegade Billionaire

He’d broken her down so fast she couldn’t think. When she answered him, he cupped her elbow and walked her out to the limo. “Let’s hurry. We’ll take the helicopter from the airport and eat dinner on Thassos.”

That meant they were going back to his fabulous villa. Andrea hadn’t thought to ever see him again, let alone stay in that heavenly place. She closed her eyes, full of questions and incredulous this was happening.

She still had time to tell him no, but her self-control had deserted her. Throughout the week she’d done everything possible to put him out of her mind. But her heart had leaped the second she’d seen him sitting in Sakis’s office. It was still leaping. Andrea was terrified it might always remain in that state.

CHAPTER FOUR

STAVROS SAT IN the copilot’s seat, but looked over his shoulder at Andrea, who, from her seat behind the pilot, was devouring the lush scenery of Thassos Island. This was the first time he’d seen her wearing jeans. An ivory linen jersey top with sleeves pushed up to the elbow covered her womanly figure. Between that and her honey-blond coloring, he had trouble not devouring her.

A trip like this would never be wasted on her because she was a female of exceptional intelligence and she had an interest in everything. “Is this the first time you’ve seen Thassos from the air?”

Andrea nodded. “I’m glad it’s not too dark yet. The green of it is almos

t unreal.”

His gaze locked with her azure-blue eyes. “It has different looks, but twilight is the most beautiful time to see it.”

“Were you born on the island?”

“No. Thessaloniki. All my family lives there, but I fell in love with Thassos the first time my father brought me to one of the quarries. When I climbed to the top of Mount Ypsarion for the first time, I knew I wanted to live here and planned exactly where I would build my house one day.”

“You’re very fortunate to have realized your dream. Not all of us can do that.”

“It was only one of them, Andrea. Since then I’ve had more. What was yours?”

“That’s easy to answer. When I was little, I used to play dolls with my friend and pretend my mommy was alive. I would dream that she came back to life and lived with me and Daddy. By the age of six, I realized that dream would never be realized in this life. I haven’t dreamed since.”

The pathos of the moment produced a lump in his throat. “Do you have a picture of her with you?”

She blinked. “A couple.”

“When we reach the house, I’d like to see them. Are you hungry?”

“Starving.”

“My housekeeper has our dinner waiting for us.”

“Oh, good. I’m thankful we don’t have to cook anything. I don’t think I could wait that long.”

He laughed. Her honesty was one of the many traits he admired about her. “We’ll be at the villa within a few minutes.”

His gaze traveled to her practical duffel bag stowed on the other seat. No designer luggage for her. She’d traipsed around the world with her father and had discovered that less was always better than more.

The pilot dipped them down to the landing pad. It had been built on the west side of the villa with steps leading up and around the foliage to the front entrance. Stavros had planned it that way so it would be out of sight.

When he was in the house, he could usually hear the rotors. But last week he’d been so enthralled with Andrea, he hadn’t realized his mother had arrived in his father’s helicopter until she’d walked out on the patio.

So much had happened in a week. Through Leon, he’d found out their older cousin Dimitri had been promoted to CEO. Dimitri had wanted to be in charge for a long time. As for the state of affairs between Stavros and his parents, they couldn’t be worse. There’d been only one brief phone call from his mother since she’d left the villa.

He’d known how disappointed she was that he’d stopped seeing Tina, but he’d never dreamed she’d show rudeness in front of Andrea. Tonight he wanted to make it up to Andrea and planned to concentrate on the two of them.

Once they were on the ground, he thanked the pilot and helped Andrea down from the helicopter. After grabbing her duffel bag, he climbed out and ushered her up the steps to the front door of the house. To his surprise, Raisa opened it before he could use his remote. He’d thought she would have gone home by now.

“Kyrie...” she said in a hushed voice. “You have a visitor. Despinis Nasso arrived an hour ago by car and insisted on staying until you returned. I showed her into the living room.”

He couldn’t believe this had happened right after the conversation with Andrea about other women. Stavros decided he was cursed and ground his teeth.

Tina must have parked around the back. With the exception of Andrea, he’d never brought another woman to his house. The only way Tina could have found out where to come was through his mother.