Chapter Nine

IT WAS AN EXTREMELY lucky day for the handful of reporters hanging around the docks. Lukas Tsaldaris was one of Athens' most elusive tycoons, and his sudden appearance sent everyone into a frenzy. Photos of him had always been in demand, but more so since the billionaire had relocated his company to the States.

The noise coming from the mob of photographers and reporters had reached explosive levels by the time Kyr welcomed his friend aboard.

"You must be dating someone new," Kyr joked, "for the paps to be this excited."

Lukas' lip curled. "They think Lydia and I are getting back together."

Kyr didn't say anything else, since his friend's tone made it exceptionally clear that such a thing was not a possibility.

Lukas glanced around, unused to seeing his friend without the family he was famously known to dote on. "Where are Polly and the kids?"

"Out with their grandparents, but they'll be back in time to join us for dinner."

The two men moved to the upper deck, and an attendant was quick to serve them coffee as they settled in the seating area facing the marble-walled plunge pool.

The sound of sea waves gently lapping against the hull was soothing, and the vivid blooms of potted jacaranda trees added a whimsical touch to the otherwise tranquil surroundings. None of these, however, did anything to ease the tension that held Lukas' form rigid in his seat.

Asking for advice was a completely new experience for him, and Lukas struggled to come up with a good way to start.

Kyr was not oblivious to his friend's discomfort. "That bad?"

Lukas' lips twisted in a humorless smile. "I'm not sure 'bad' is the right term." As he watched his friend take a sip from his coffee, he then said baldly, "I'm thinking of marrying my housekeeper and adopting her son."

Kyr choked and swore when drops of coffee scalded his skin as he hastily set his cup down on the glass table. "Your housekeeper?"

"You have heard of Heart's Match, I'm sure?"

To say that Kyr was surprised would be an understatement. "The matchmaking agency?"

"Ne." Yes.

Kyr listened in pensive silence as Lukas tautly went over the details of how his agreement with Charlotte had transpired.

The reason behind his friend's disquiet gradually became obvious, and Kyr found himself recalling the time Lukas had called him about the results of his fertility test.

Aside from Kyr, the only other ones whom Lukas had thought it necessary to inform were the Rubios, whose daughter Lydia had been dating Kyr for some time.

Lydia's parents and Lukas had been in talks for the past year about merging their companies through marriage. And despite Lukas' infertility, the other party had still been willing to go through with the wedding—-with one condition.

Adoption was apparently a distasteful idea to the Rubios, and they had wanted Lukas to swear - as well as put it in writing - that adoption would never be an option he'd consider.

Lukas had refused, a falling out between the two parties had consequently ensued, and since then, the Rubios had done everything they could to smear Lukas' name in public.

"You understand then," Lukas questioned grimly, "why I hesitate to make Betsy my wife? We both know I can only do so much to protect her. What if she is too young and soft-hearted to handle Lydia and her family's bullying?"

"Maturity isn't always about age, and being young doesn't automatically make one weak. Polly was only eighteen when I married her," Kyr reminded his friend sardonically, "but as the whole of Greek society knows, it was not her who had made the more foolish mistake in our marriage."

Lukas' jaw clenched as Kyr's words hit home. He had forgotten about the age gap between Kyr and Polly, and while he was willing to concede the possibility that Betsy would be more than capable of handling whatever society threw her way...

What of his own pride?

His own plans?

Was Lukas himself prepared to handle what the world had to say if, following his marriage to Betsy, they were to suddenly find out about his condition?