The Tycoon's Marriage Exchange (7 page)

He thought a
bout pushing her away and letting
her sleep on her own, but he actually preferred her touch, even though it was in sleep so he lowered both of their chairs slightly and let her
use his shoulder as a pillow
while he worked through the details of his next business acquisition. 

Several hours later, the plane landed once again
in Athens
.  As the plane taxied to the off-loading area
, he woke her up gently
by shaking her shoulder, the only place on her body he trusted himself to touch
.  “I have a driver waiting to take you home,” he said softly
when her lovely eyes fluttered open
.

Kallista
woke up and looked around.  “I’m sorry, I guess I was more tired than I realized.  Aren’t you heading back to your house too?’

“No.  I have meetings in London tomorrow morning.”

She looked at her watch.  “It’s two o’clock in the morning!  When do you sleep?”

“Its a few hours until I reach London.”

She was stunned that he wasn’t going to get a full night’s sleep.  How could he function on only a few hours of rest? 
“That’s not enough.  You need more sleep, Hector,” she said as her mind started functioning more clearly. 

He raised an eyebrow.  “Are you worried about me?” he asked, his cynicism coming through
in his tone
and he wanted to take back the words as soon as he said them when he saw her cringe
slightly
.  She was too tired to hide her reaction and he felt like a heel for being so rude when she was expressing honest concern for
his welfare, something he’d never had growing up except from her mother or father.  Receiving that sort of concern from Kallista had a completely different impact, and he hesitated to admit to himself that he enjoyed it
. 

“I am tired,” he replied in a softer tone.  “I’ll get some rest.  I just have a few more things to go over before then.”

She smiled slightly and looked away, feeling awkward and shy all of a sudden.  “Thank you for tonight.  It really was a fun game to watch.”

He pulled his hands behind his back as he bowed his head in acknowledgement. 
“I appreciate you coming all the way across the
Atlantic
spur of the moment like that.”

She shrugged, unsure of what to say.  Instead of saying anything, she turned around and
walked off the plane.  She wasn’t sure, but she thought she felt his eyes watching her the whole way down and was grateful for the reprieve when she
stepped into the limousine
.  She glanced back
towards the door of the plane once the limousine door was closed but he was already turned away
, so she felt silly for thinking he’d been watching her the whole time.  As she drove away, she was
glad for the dark windows that hid her concerned eyes as Hector walked back onto the plane, his shoulders slumped slightly. 

Chapter
5

Kallista
was actually afraid to answer her phone when it rang
several days later
.  Every moment of her day and night was filled with either research for her article, trying to prepare for her wedding, or attending some function with Hector.  And she honestly wasn’t sure which task was the most exhausting. 

The wedding was in two days and, because of the tight schedule, her mother hadn’t been able to plan a rehearsal dinner so she had a couple of free nights.  She didn’t want to attend another meeting, or endure one more fitting for her dress.  She wanted to stay home and pretend like her life wasn’t a crazy whirlwind with a stoic groom waiting for her at the end of the insanity. 

Hector actually made the wedding planning relatively simple by putting his social events director at her disposal.  But her mother refused to streamline any of the traditional preparation. 
Aella
wanted to see
Kallista
in different dresses, go to caterers and sample possible menus, meet with the baker and select a cake design.  The only details she was willing to release to the social director were the invitations and seating arrangements after they’d selected a venue.  And that
decision had been
pretty simple as well since so many of the places were already taken, it was decided that they would be wed in Hector’s back yard with tents erected for the event. 

Sonya, the woman in charge of social events for Hector, agreed to ensure that the tents were presentable for a wedding, thereby
allowing
Aella and
Kallista
rush through the city trying on
various
dresses and coming up with a menu.  Because the wedding was
such short notice
, the invitations had to be sent out immediately and Aella was terrified that she’d forgotten someone important on the list. 
Kallista
on the other hand, didn’t care who attended the wedding.  She was still trying to figure out how to get out of the whole event.  But as more details were nailed down, she felt the doors closing in on her.  Not to mention, her father was working
closely
with Hector to mitigate the issues with Rolf Peterson.  He kept checking with Aella on how the wedding was progressing, telling
Kallista
without words that he couldn’t accept Hector’s help without the wedding. 

Either at night or in the early morning hours,
Kallista
met with contacts, searched through warehouses and
took
pictures of the places her contacts said would have the drug raids.  She had to be careful though because she was only investigating this situation.  She really didn’t want to be caught in the middle of it all
or get in the way of a police investigation, if there was one at all
. 

On most days, she would be up by three or four o’clock in the morning doing her field work, then meet with her mother for dress fittings
.  Her mother also had to select a dress and Kallista was sad that Hector’s mother wouldn’t be able to attend.  She asked her mother about Hector’s parents, but
Aella
shook her head and told her she had to talk to Hector about his family. 

O
nce her mother had finally agreed on the dress,
there were more fittings, meetings with the
caterers and bakers
, consultations with the florist and more
appointments
than Kallista ever could have imagined were needed to organize a wedding
.   She
would finish
with her mother by late afternoon, which gave her about an hour or two to write up her discoveries before she had to get ready for whatever event
she’d be attending with Hector that night.  The
few
nights he was out of the country were wonderful because she was able to simply fall into bed and sleep until she had to wake up the following morning. 

Both
the
investigation
and the wedding were
finally coming together.  She had some good leads and she was going to have to bring in the police soon
, but she wanted more evidence since everything she currently had on the drug shipment sources was
hearsay
from her contacts
. 
She worked with her editor to figure out what she needed and when it would be a good time to bring the information to the police, but even he thought she should hold off for now. 

“In the meantime,” he chuckled
one morning several days before the wedding
, how about doing an article on the challenges of organizing a wedding?” He tossed her a file folder and Kallista’s face turned red as she looked at her face on the various articles about her upcoming
nuptials
, her nights out on the town with Hector. 
She’d had no idea that she and Hector had been in the news so often lately. 

“Why have you been collecting all of these?” she asked, noticing that neither she nor Hector looked very happy in the pictures.  It actually tugged at her heart that she was making him so miserable. 

She pushed her concerns about Hector out of her mind for the moment and looked up at
Torrance
, her editor.  The man was a little taller than she was with a receding hairline and always looked like he’d slept in his clothes.  She often wondered if the man emulated his dress code from Hollywood movies since he always looked like the gruff, frazzled editors from the silver screen.  “What did you have in mind?”

“Just the usual fluff piece that you do so well,” he answered, then shifted some files around on his desk.  “And if you want to include how much your wedding will cost, that might be an interesting factoid to include.”

She was already shaking her head.  “First of all, I don’t know
how much everything costs
.  I show up for the consultations and point to what I like or what I think Hector would appreciate,” she explained, blushing when her editor looked up at her with a raised eyebrow at the last part of her statement.  “But furthermore, you know how private Hector Christophe is.  I doubt he’d want it known how much his wedding will cost, much less any of the details of the event.”

He pulled away from shuffling the papers and files on his desk to glare at her. 
“So convince him!  Isn’t that your job?  What the hell do I pay you for if not to break the tough guys down and get them talking.” 

Kallista sighed and shook her head.  “You don’t understand the situation,” she countered.  “This isn’t really a…normal wedding.”  She even hated telling
Torrance
that much, feeling like she’d just violated Hector’s trust. 

The silence that greeted her reply forced her eyes to look up and her heart clenched with fear at the bright interest that was now on her editor’s face.  “So what’s so unnormal about this wedding?” he asked, his voice softer, almost coaxing. 
He slid his hip onto the side of his desk and looked down at her as she shifted uncomfortably on the plastic covered chair, the only one not filled with stacks of files and older editions of the newspaper the man refused to throw away for some reason. 

She pulled back and shook her head. “
Torrance
, there’s no way you’re going to start interviewing me.”

He laughed and moved closer.  “So, how did the great and powerful Hector Christophe convince the lovely little lady to marry him?”

She rolled her eyes at his description, only of herself because Hector really was powerful.  Spooky, scary powerful, she thought.  Not only
powerful
over his
own
businesses and financials, but he seemed to have a great deal of power over her as well.  Just one little look or a soft, passing touch and her mind shifted to dangerous thoughts. 

She wasn’t going to reveal anything.  “The usual way.  He asked me.  I accepted.”
  She smiled as she watched her editor’s frustration grow across his features.

“What’s so unnormal about that?”

She decided to toss him something, just to get him off the scent.  “For one thing, Hector Christophe is involved.  For another thing, we’re getting married quickly.  Both of those issues make it a not so normal event, wouldn’t you say?”  No way would she tell him that this marriage was saving her family from financial ruin and helping thousands of families to not lose their homes.  Kallista knew that would be a huge story that her editor would run with.  She really did not want her father’s m
istakes to be front page news and she refused to violate Hector’s trust by admitting anything about his private life, business or personal, to her editor. 

She stood up and tucked the bulging wedding file under her arm.  “Oh, I’m sure the
paparazzi
will come up with something wonderful to talk about after the wedding.  Who knows, maybe I’m already pregnant!” 

Kallista laughed as
Torrance’s
face blanched.  “Tell me you’re kidding!”

She took mercy on him at that point and shook her head.  “I’m not pregnant.  Trust me!”

She walked out of the office and back to her cubicle.  There, she flipped through the articles again, focusing on the pictures.  She looked very nice, she thought as she stopped at one picture that showed the two of them stepping out of a museum.  It had only been a couple of days ago and she’d worn a dress that had been delivered that day.  It was crimson satin and lace, scalloped at the neckline with matching red heels that had given her an extra two inches.  They hadn’t helped her in trying to catch up to Hector’s height, but what she found interesting was the look on Hector’s face.  Or more specifically, the direction of his eyes, which the camera caught looking at her neckline. 

She blushed as she remembered that dress, how low cut the neckline had been and how exposed she’d felt occasionally, especially when she’d turned and the fabric had twisted slightly.  She might be blushing, but it certainly was nice to know that Hector was at least looking, even if he wasn’t touching.

That thought startled her and she sat up straighter, ignoring the
squeak
from the old metal chair she was sitting on.  Did she want Hector to touch her?