Page 1 of Twins to Tame Him

CHAPTER ONE

“MAYBE AFTER THREE years the shine is wearing off your marriage, Ani,” Sebastian Skalas drawled from his seat at the brunch his sister-in-law, Annika Alexandros Skalas, had dragged him to that bright May afternoon with any number of threats.

Even the mention of that day three years ago when he’d disappeared on Ani because of that woman still made him angry. Luckily, it had ended up in forcing his brother to the altar. “It’s not too late to dump Alexandros and come back to me.”

Ani shook her head while his twin glared at him.

Her uncharacteristic quietness worried Sebastian. In the beginning stages of her pregnancy she should look radiantly happy. Instead, since he’d arrived at the Skalas villa near Corfu two days ago—upon her urgent request—she’d been withdrawn, irritable, even avoiding Sebastian. Which had never happened before.

They had been friends for years, as she had visited their estate every summer since she’d been an infant, as their grandmother Thea was her godmother.

He had assumed his twin had been overly concerned when he’d relayed Ani’s request to see him—Xander was protective and possessive on steroids when it came to his wife. Now Sebastian realized Xander’s worry was very much valid.

Since the three of them had sat down, Ani had watched the gates to their estate, looking excited and terrified in equal measures, every other second. And the fact that she had summoned, cajoled, threatened and begged him to be present for lunch for the last three days seemed like the signal for something big.

Suddenly, a car stumbled in through the electronic gates to the estate. Ani shot to her feet at an alarming pace that had both him and Xander rushing to theirs. As if the driver couldn’t decide whether to go forward or backward, the car shot forward, then stalled and repeated the strange dance a few more times.

“Is it the baby?” Xander asked, a terrified look in his eyes that Sebastian had never seen before, and never wanted to see again.

Ani shook her head, grabbed Sebastian’s hands, her eyes full of big, fat tears. A beat of dread pulsed through him, like he got before one of his migraines inevitably showed up. “What’s wrong?”

Behind her, Alexandros looked thunderous. “What the hell did you do, Sebastian?”

Ani shook her head, half smiling, half crying. “No, Xander. It’s not him...” She turned to Sebastian again, and threw her arms around his waist. “Just remember. I... I’ve been trying to do the right thing, okay? By all of you. I couldn’t bear it if you...hate me for it.”

Sebastian wrapped his arms around her trembling form and met Xander’s gaze over her head. His twin shrugged, looking as baffled and scared as Sebastian felt.

Ani pressed her forehead to his chest, soaking his shirt with her tears. “You’ve always been my first and true friend, Sebastian. Please, just... Just remember that I had to keep it from you.”

“Ani, you’re scaring me,” Sebastian said, the sensation making his words sharp.

“This cannot be good for the baby or you, agapi. Calm down, please. Whatever it is, I’ll make it right,” Xander ordered in a gruff voice, his hands coming to land on Ani’s shoulders.

Annika nodded.

Outside of their little tableau, Sebastian was aware of the little car finally reaching the courtyard. Heard the sound of the engine gunning, as if the driver wanted to turn the car around and run away. It sidled back and forth for a few more minutes, the tires digging grooves in the rain-drenched soil.

Irritated by the driver’s hesitation, Sebastian caught his twin’s gaze. “Are you expecting guests?”

Xander shook his head as Ani said, “I invited her here.”

Finally, the driver opened the door and stepped out. Sebastian’s nape prickled as he watched the woman. Instinct that had once helped him escape his father’s brutal fists made Sebastian brace for some unknown.

Recognition hit him at first glance, a solid punch to his gut.

Tall and impossibly curvy, the woman was shabbily dressed in wrinkled pants and an oversize T-shirt, with thick, wild corkscrew curls. A high forehead and stubborn beak of a nose and a wide mouth, currently in shadows by the sun behind her, would follow. He’d have known the prideful tilt of her chin and the straight, aggressive set of her shoulders anywhere.

It was the woman he’d been searching for, for three years. Only today she wasn’t all dressed up in a slinky red number, with her curly hair straightened into a waterfall, that mouth painted a lush red, the beautifully distinct amber eyes hidden behind brown contacts.

Memories came flooding back to Sebastian, suffusing his body with an instant heat. The silky swath of her skin that he had kissed and caressed with relish. The soft, sweet taste of her lips and how she’d clung to him after their kiss. The strange combination of open guilelessness and intense passion with which she’d begged for more of his words, his fingers, his caresses.

This was the woman he hadn’t been able to forget for three years.

The woman who’d disappeared on him after an explosive night together, the woman who had stolen the one piece of leverage he had over their old chauffeur, Guido, who was the only person who had known where their mother had disappeared to two decades ago. He had been finally so close to finding her whereabouts, only for this woman to snatch away the opportunity from him.

What the hell was she doing here now?

He had no doubt that he didn’t even know her real name.

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