The Renegade Billionaire

With a towel wrapped around her hair, she went back in the bedroom and pulled a nightgown and robe from her duffel bag. It was nice feeling normal again. She padded through the house to the kitchen to get a bottle of water. As she took it out of the fridge, she heard a loud couple of knocks. The sound was coming from the back door.

Had Stavros’s mother or ex-girlfriend heard about his injury? Or maybe it was Raisa.

She cinched the belt tighter on her pink-striped robe and hurried through the rear hallway to the door.

She jumped when she saw a man on the other side. He bore a superficial resemblance to Stavros. This had to be his brother. Maybe someone at the hospital had called him. She hadn’t heard the helicopter because she’d been in the shower.

Andrea undid the lock. He came inside and shut the door. The way he looked at her, it was apparent he was equally shocked to see a strange woman answering the door.

“I’m Leon, Stavros’s brother. And you are...?”

“No one important. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” he murmured. “Where’s Stavros? He hasn’t answered his phone all day.”

“You’ll find him in the bedroom, where all will be explained. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to bed myself. Be sure to lock up when you let yourself out again. He’s in no condition to do it.”

CHAPTER SIX

“WHAT THE HELL is going on?”

At the sound of his brother’s voice, Stavros lifted his head off the pillow. Something had to be wrong for his forty-year-old brother to fly all the way from Thessaloniki at this hour.

“Leon? What are you doing here?”

“You haven’t answered my phone calls all day,” he accused without preamble. “I got worried and flew here because it isn’t like you not to respond.”

“Take a breath and I’ll explain. Sit down, bro. How’s your family?”

“They’re fine.” Leon picked up the chair and put it at the side of the bed. They were alike in coloring, but his married brother was an inch taller and carried about thirty more pounds. He grinned. “Who’s the beautiful blue-eyed woman who opened the door wearing a pink-and-white-striped robe and a towel covering her hair?”

Well, well. That was a sight Stavros had yet to behold. “You mean she didn’t tell you?”

“No. She said she wasn’t anyone important and told me she was going to bed, would I lock up on my way out.”

Stavros let go with another burst of laughter.

“What’s so funny? Why are you in bed?”

He was glad Leon had come. The medicine had knocked him out earlier. Now he was awake and going crazy without Andrea’s company. “Why don’t you grab a beer from the fridge and then we’ll talk.”

“You don’t want one?”

“I can’t.”

“You’re not making sense.”

“The doctor told me no alcohol for a while.”

Leon’s brows met in a frown. He leaned closer to him. “I knew something had happened to you.”

“Would you believe I got stung by a stingray today? The pain was unreal. That unimportant person who answered the door saved my life.”

“Is she a nurse from the clinic? Is that why she’s here?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got the time.”