The Royal's American Love (4 page)

Chapter Four

Marianna suspected something was up at the charity ball the
next night. By the luncheon at the conservation center the day after, she was
certain about it. She just didn’t know what she was going to do.

It was painfully obvious to her that Nikolos was putting on
a face. It wasn’t quite a false one. If it had been a false one, that would
have given her something to work with. No, this face was his. The generosity
was real, the gregariousness and the charm were certainly real. However, she
couldn’t help thinking that in some deeply unnerving way, Nikolos had checked
out and left a very handsome puppet to take care of things.

The man she’d met in Los Angeles and again at the small
trattoria was gone, and in his place was a responsible young pillar of society,
a man who had the world in his hand. Marianna stuffed her disappointment back
down because the truth was she had deeper reasons to be concerned.

If he doesn’t show me his real self, I’m going to get to
the end of the month and have absolutely nothing to write about. Or worse, I
will find that I have nothing to say but the cheerful nonsense that ends up in
so many pamphlets and fluff pieces.

She deeply wanted to do something real about Nikolos, and
at this point she wanted to do it for him as well. A few times, she had
glimpsed behind the mask, and what was behind it was a deep well of something
darker. There was a man who sometimes seemed compelled to live down to other
people’s expectations, who had never truly been trusted to do anything but his
worst. The fact that he
didn’t
do his worst was impressive, and in fact,
from what Marianna had seen, he did a great deal of good as well.

Sometimes, when he turned at just the right moment, she
caught a glimpse of him that melted her heart. She couldn’t tell what it was,
whether it was some kind of vulnerability or some kind of longing for truth,
but it was there.

That’s the man I want to share with the readers
,
she
decided abruptly.
If they want to get to know him, that is the man they need
to get to know.

The only trouble was that man was hard to find. Marianna
followed him to a garden party, where she became gradually more certain that
she would get nothing of substance from him, nothing at all, unless she took
matters into her own hands. Otherwise, she might as well turn the job over to
someone who was more capable than she.

Never mind that the thought of leaving the job behind was
enough to make tears come to her eyes.

She woke up early on Friday to see that there was an
interesting assignment for the evening. Nikoloswas due at the grand reopening
of a library that was some seven hundred years old. Of course as his faithful
shadow, she would be coming as well. She checked the time and was pleased to
see the ceremony wasn’t due to start until seven in the evening. That gave her
all the time she needed to get herself together.

Marianna realized with a flinch that she had been wearing
black a great deal. It certainly allowed her to cut a dramatic figure, but the
truth of the matter was she had never liked how it looked on her. It was too
severe by far.

On impulse, she took a cab to the shopping district, where
goods from all over the world were gathered to be sold. She was too nervous to
go into any of the true boutiques that Opal and Mei favored, but she found a
tiny shop full of vintage goods down a dark alley. She just stopped in to
browse, but once she was there, a gorgeous dress in deep blue caught her eye.
The fitted bodice was embroidered with silver thread, and the wide, gauzy skirt
floated around her like a cloud. She paid for the dress without a second
thought, and as she made her way home, she smiled.

I will get something real out of you yet, Nikolos
,
she thought.

On an impulse, she texted Nikolos that he should go on
ahead without her. He agreed without hesitation, which made her a little sad,
but she didn’t stop to think why it might have done so. She had far too much to
do to be upset about such a trivial thing.

Perhaps if he didn’t realize that he was being observed, he
would be more natural, she thought.

That was the hope, anyway.

* * *

Nikolos felt a twinge of dismay mixed with relief when he
realized that Marianna would not be accompanying him to the library opening. He
finally had a chance to get away from her watchful silver eyes, to be without
her curiosity. He had never felt as if she were judging him. If he had, he
simply would have gotten rid of her.

No, the fact that she was merely curious was what made it
hard. She didn’t understand him, and so she asked him to explain himself. The
result was that he stayed on the straight and narrow, and worse, he had to
think about it.

The relief was far smaller than he thought it was. In no
time at all, it was eaten up by sadness. Over the last few days, he had become
very comfortable and familiar with his flame-haired shadow. She had been with
him for large chunks of the day, and though she was respectful of his space,
there was a kind of weight to her presence he had begun to long for.

He told himself it was silly, that he would have missed any
other pretty woman acting in a similar capacity, but he knew that was not the
case. There was an elemental sense of missing something that was a part of him.

Nikolos was in a dark mood as he dressed in his tuxedo and
made his way across town to the library. He was faintly surprised at himself when
the library head and the preservationists came out to greet him, and he was
able to be friendly and open.

Has she changed me so much already?
Nikolos
wondered.

The truth was that just a few weeks ago, he would have been
bored out of his mind. He would have shown up, drunk a single toast, made an
indifferent speech and been off before someone could start a conversation with
him.

Now, with Marianna’s gentle curiosity about the world at
large in his mind, he found a new patience for the people around him, for their
passions and their needs. Through their eyes, he could see the library for the
wonder it was. He could take pride in the fact that it was his family’s love of
the antique and the vital that had helped open its doors again.

Oh well, perhaps if Marianna is not here, I can still be
pleased with myself.

The event started with a series of toasts from the library
head, and then the older man offered Nikolos the microphone.

“Literacy had always been one of the cornerstones of Greek
greatness,” he began. He had prepared a speech, and though the note cards were
in his pocket, he started speaking from the heart instead.

“Throughout the ages, we Greeks have always understood that
as the least of us falls, so the greatest does as well. Instead of trying to
sever the ties between the two, our forefathers and foremothers made the
decision to make that link stronger instead. Now when one falls, the other can
carry them forward.

“Tonight, ladies and gentleman, we reopen one of the things
that makes that bond all the stronger. This library has served Athens for
generations, and over the last ten years, as it fell into disrepair and
disorder, it was my family’s turn to serve it. We are proud of the part we have
played in bringing this holy place of learning back to its people, and we are
humble enough to know that our contribution is small compared to the work of
the people who stand here with me.

“Now, please raise your glasses in a toast with me. To
knowledge, new and old.”

He raised his glass and tossed the liquid down his throat,
smiling at the thunderous applause his speech received. His father had been a good
speaker as well. Nikolos hadn’t thought that he was, but then when would he
have been able to find out.

He was giving the champagne flute to a passing waiter, when
out of the corner of his eye he saw a vision of loveliness. Before he saw her
beautiful face, her silvery eyes, or even her dramatically curvy figure, he saw
her hair. It was a deep auburn, but the natural shine turned it to a beacon in
the brightly lit room.

For the last few weeks, he had been trying to forget the
gorgeous socialite he had met in Los Angeles. Instead, he had gotten to know a
hardworking woman with a good spirit who wanted to tell his story so badly. He’d
thought the socialite was a mask, but now he could see that if it was, it was a
mask she wore very well.

He absentmindedly chatted with the people who wanted time
with him, but no matter where she went, he had his eyes on Marianna. Suddenly,
and with aching certainty, he realized no matter where she was in a room, he
would know. It was as if his heart and his brain were a compass, and she was
true north.

Nikolos knew what kind of trouble that put him in. She was
a woman who was after a career and a story. She was not interested in a fling.

Then he saw her laughing at the remarks made by a man twice
her age. He saw her responding with bright eyes to something the man said, and
he saw the man’s gaze resting surreptitiously on the low cut of her dress.

And that’s enough of that. I no longer care if I’m in
trouble at all.

He didn’t go to her immediately. There was no reason to do
so.

In the space of a moment, his strategy had changed. It went
from wanting to keep his distance so she wouldn’t see the true man
he
was, to wanting to know all about
her
. She was a person with hidden
depths, and now he wanted to see what they were.

He sipped at the champagne. He smiled. He made his way
through the crowd. It made him think of a wolf circling a herd, waiting for the
deer to become unwary. The image was a little grim, but it was one that suited
him.

Soon, pretty
,
he thought to himself.

* * *

When Marianna decided to find her own way to the library,
she hadn’t realized how difficult it was to get across Athens when most of the
city seemed to be intent on celebrating the end of the week. Her cab hit a
snail’s pace more than once, and more than once she was tempted to get out and
walk.

Finally, however, the driver delivered her to the library
in question, and after she paid and tipped the cabbie, she took a deep breath
and walked in. She was quiet enough she didn’t bother the people who were
listening to the opening address, but when she saw who was speaking, her heart
clenched.

There was something natural about the way he stood in the
limelight, she thought absently. He looked as if he was born to command hearts
and minds. He spoke with aching simplicity about the meaning of libraries and
literacy to the Greek people, and when he was done, she felt as if she
understood the subject a little more personally than she had before. She
clapped for him until her hands ached.

She knew he was going to be swamped by dignitaries and
other important people for a while. Marianna circulated herself, keeping a
weather eye on Nikolos’s whereabouts. She navigated the crowd, chatting here
and exchanging contact information there. She certainly wouldn’t mind more work
for this set, who all seemed to be well-educated, tasteful and interesting
people.

She kept meaning to approach Nikolos, but every time she
looked over, he was with another person. The last time she looked over, he was
chatting with a statuesque blond who shined like the sun. Marianna throttled
her jealousy, because there was absolutely no reason for her to be feeling that
way, and kept moving.

This is a good thing too
,
she decided.
This
gives me another view of him, one that I might not have gotten had I gone with
him.

The entire library, three stories of human knowledge and
endeavor, was open to the public. Despite the fact she was very much there for
her work, Marianna realized she was enjoying herself immensely. There was
something amazing about the volumes of ancient knowledge, the fact that
scholars from different eras had ventured through the very halls she now
wandered.

She came to a small dark room at the end of the hall,
almost by accident. She thought perhaps it was closet. Instead, it opened out
to a small room that seemed devoted to a single book.

It was a gorgeous thing, nearly as large a dining room
table if it were actually opened. Sitting under a spotlight, in a glass case,
the book had a presence all its own. It was a handsome volume bound with
leather that had once been black, and the silver clasps that held it together
retained the gorgeous patina of age.

She angled her head to read the placard.

Being the stories and histories of the Great King, Avila…

She hadn’t heard a step. Instead, she felt a prickle up her
spine, and she suddenly realized she was not alone. A lifetime’s worth of
hard-won experience following leads in some seedy places reared up and she spun
around, crouched and ready to act if she needed to.

To her surprise and shock, she saw that it was Nikolos. In
his black tuxedo, he looked ridiculously handsome, and the smile on his face
could have come from a painting of Lucifer himself, the fallen angel.

“Nikolos! You scared me.”

“Apparently,” he said, entering the room casually. “I
thought that you weren’t going to be here tonight.”

“Oh, I never said that,” she said with a small smile. “I
just told you that I wouldn’t be needing a ride.”

“I see, and what was the point of this exercise?”

There was something restrained about him, something
waiting, something coiled. She could feel her heart beat faster, but there was
no fear in her reaction. She knew that she should have backed away for a number
of reasons, but instead, all she wanted to do was to get closer, and closer and
closer…

“I want to see every side of you,” she said quietly.

“Explain.”