Page 149 of The Skeikh's Games

It would have been nice to relax though, and be a Katsaros by marriage. The truth was that Kosta didn’t much care what he did so long as there was a reasonable chance that he wouldn’t have to do it forever. “I’ll be in touch,” he promised. It was nearly time for another trip to London.

But first there was business to be done.

He arrived in London a week later to find Athena packing to go home. “Your timing is terrible,” she told him and kissed his cheek. It was friendly and suggested that she was comfortable with him. That was good.

“Why are you leaving?”

“My brother’s engagement party. He would decide to have it just as the fall term started.” She shook her head and laughed. “Because of course everything is about me.”

“As well it should be. Can I at least drive you to the airport?” he asked. “I have to catch a plane back to Athens later tonight anyway, and—” It was a lie, of course, but he was playing an angle.

“Well that’s perfect. You can fly with me and we can yammer the whole way there.”

“Can I get a ticket for your flight at the eleventh hour?” he asked.

“Please! I’m taking one of the family planes. So join me. It’s not a long flight, but we can kick back and enjoy it. And when we get to Halithos, you can meet my family, and then we’ll arrange for you to go on to Athens.”

It was exactly what he’d been hoping for. If he could meet her parents before Simon could hustle him away, he could charm them into inviting him to stay a while. “I guess I could do that. Let me see if I can cancel my ticket.” He pulled out his cell and pretended to be pulling up an airline website. After a few minutes of scrolling through some online news site, he said, “There, it’s done.”

“Great!

This was working out better than he’d hoped.

The plane was so sleek and beautiful that Kosta decided that he was going to have one of his own one day. He’d name it The Athena. If people actually named their planes. Or even if they didn’t. It would be a nice, romantic gesture to name something so lovely after Athena. She’d be thrilled.

Once aboard, Athena ordered them a meal, and asked Kosta if he’d like a drink.

“Coffee if I may. Very sweet.”

It arrived once they were airborne, along with a little plate of cookies. “This might spoil my appetite for dinner, but I don’t care,” he joked. “These look too good to ignore.” He passed the plate to Athena who took one and smiled at him.

“Dinner won’t be for an hour yet,” she said.

They chatted about his business. He never mentioned Simon, wanting to keep this thing that was happening between Athena and himself. He was enjoying her, and making sure she enjoyed him. Kosta was on his best behavior.

Not long after their dinner arrived, Athena’s phone rang. “Oh it’s my brother. I should take this.”

“I’ll make myself scarce.” He got up and went to the lavatory to give her some privacy. But when he returned a few minutes later, She was weeping uncontrollably.

“Athena, sweetheart… what’s wrong?” He couldn’t say why the sight affected him so. It almost hurt him to see her so distressed.

From what he could gather from her garbled sobbing, her parents had been killed in an accident. What kind, he wasn’t certain. And it didn’t matter at that point, so long as he was there for her. He held her while she cried and said soothing things.

This wasn’t at all what he had planned, and he didn’t like taking advantage of this girl’s grief, but he was going to do what he needed to do.

Simon was waiting at the airstrip when the plane landed. That wasn’t what Kosta had planned either, but he figured he might as well make the best of it. Athena flew into Simon’s arms. Simon hugged her, all the while glaring at Kosta over her shoulder.

The Dimitrios girl was there too, looking upset, but she approached Kosta while the others huddled together in their grief. “I’m Eirene, Simon’s fiancee.”

“Kosta Petrakos,” he told her, using his real name instead of the one he’d done business with. “I couldn’t get much detail out of Athena, and I didn’t want to badger her, but—”

“Their parents were killed in a helicopter crash.” She must have seen Kosta wince because she said, “From what I understand, it was pilot error. He flew too close to some power lines.”

“I’m so sorry. What a shame. Athena had been telling me about your engagement party just before she got the call.”

“No,” Eirene sighed. “We’ll behaving a funeral instead. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Kosta managed to look embarrassed. “Look, I’d planned to fly into Athens before Athena invited me to fly with her. Is there some way for me to… uh…”

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