“I don’t blame you for being upset.”

Whether Delia believed her excuse for calling or not, Stephanie couldn’t worry about that now.

Two hours later her phone rang again. “Stephanie? He couldn’t get you names, but there were three flights out that evening, if this helps. One was a nonstop flight to Los Angeles, California, another nonstop to Vancouver, British Columbia. The last was a private jet owned by the Vassalos Corporation, headed for Athens, Greece.”

She blinked.

None of the planes had headed due north to New York. Her spirits plunged. If he’d been called back to his work on an emergency, surely he would have taken a direct flight to New York. There were dozens of them leaving the Caribbean for that destination.

“You’re an angel for being willing to help me, Delia. Expect a thank-you in the mail for you and your boyfriend from me.”

Stephanie rang off, shaking with the knowledge that Dev had lied to her without compunction. Who are you, mystery man? Had he pulled a fictitious name out of a hat on the spur of the moment? Was Dev a nickname?

One thing she was convinced of at this point: he was no New Yorker. And he’d been in an enormous hurry when he’d left Providenciales. Thousands of businessmen traveled by private jet. Certainly if he’d needed to leave before they’d even had dinner, it would make sense he had his own special mode of transportation waiting. No long lines...

Before she did anything else, she went to her computer in the den of the condo she’d inherited from her mother, to make a global search of the name Vassalos in Greece. One source came up more prominent than all the rest and drew her attention. Vassalos Maritime Shipping, Egnoussa, Greece.

Shipping...

After more searches she discovered the Oinousses, a group of small islands in the eastern Aegean Sea near Turkey. Egnoussa, the largest inhabited one, was fourteen kilometers long. One of Greece’s most important naval academies was based there, due to the rich seafaring history of the islands. A smaller island, Oinoussa, was also inhabited.

Reading further, she learned Egnoussa was home to some of the richest shipping magnate families in the world. There were only four hundred or so inhabitants, with some fabulous mansions. A naval commercial academy and museum were located on one part of the island.

She replayed the memories of Dev in her mind. His urbane sophistication and knowledge set him apart from other men she’d known. He’d possessed a natural authority and spoke impeccable English. But when she thought about it, she realized he hadn’t sounded like a New Yorker.

Had he come from a Greek island? If so, he would naturally be at home in the water.

He’d told her he worked for an international exporting company in New York. Did that company have an outlet in Greece? Did Dev work for it? Exporting could translate to mean shipping, couldn’t it? In her mind it wasn’t a far stretch to see where he might have come up with his lie.

What if Egnoussa was his home? Was he from that Vassalos family, with the kind of wealth that had opened every door for him? Maybe this was a stab in the dark, but the more she thought about him, the more the shoe seemed to fit. The cliché about looking like a Greek god fit him like a second skin.

She could phone the shipping company and ask questions. But since he obviously didn’t want to be found, if he was there or got wind that she was trying to reach him, she might never get answers. Scrolling down farther, she found more information.

After a short flight from Athens to the island of Chios, an hour’s boat ride takes you to Egnoussa Island. There’s one hotel with only twelve rooms, one taxi. You can walk Egnoussa in a day.

Her mind reeled with ideas. She could take some pictures of him with her and show them to someone at the shipping office. Stephanie would know immediately if that person recognized him. Maybe she was a fool, but for her baby’s sake she had to try to find him, and would use some of her savings to get there.

Stephanie called the doctor to make certain it was okay to fly. He told her she’d be all right for twenty-eight weeks. After that, she’d need to check with him about it. Since Greece didn’t require immunizations for visitors from the United States, she’d be all right.

Luckily, she already had a passport. When she and her friends had decided to vacation together, they’d applied for passports in case they decided on a vacation along the French or Italian Riviera. But in the end, the Caribbean had won out.

If she traveled to Greece and it turned out to be a fruitless mission, then so be it. Whatever happened, the sooner she went, the better for her state of mind. Unlike her mother, who didn’t attempt to tell her lover he was a father, at least Stephanie could explain to her child that she’d done everything humanly possible to locate the man who’d called himself Dev Harris.

Life was going to be difficult enough from here on out. She would have to discuss her condition with her boss. If he could give her a front desk job until after the baby was born, she’d be thankful and grateful. But if not, she’d need to start looking for another kind of job after she got back from Greece. Besides finishing paying off the mortgage, she needed to earn enough money to provide for herself and the baby.

CHAPTER TWO

July 28

NIKOS HAD BEEN out on the Diomedes for two weeks, but this afternoon he’d docked at the marina in Egnoussa. As soon as he replenished his food supply, he’d be leaving again. To his chagrin, he still needed support to move around, but had traded in his crutches for a cane. He used it only when he was exceptionally tired.

His right-hand man, Yannis, a seaman who’d worked for the family for over forty years, had just finished tying the ropes when Nikos’s silver-haired father approached them.

“Where have you been, Nikos?”

“Where I’ve been every day and night since I was released from the hospital, exercising and swimming off shore.” Battling his PTSD.

Despite taking medication, he’d had two violent episodes flashing back to the explosion. According to his doctor, with the passage of time they’d start to slow down, but it might take months or even years. For the time being Nikos had made the small custom-built yacht his home, where no one except Yannis could be witness.

What his family didn’t know was that some of his time had been spent with Kon’s grieving parents. He’d also had long talks with Kon’s married brother, Tassos, about many things. He was only a year older than Nikos and lived on Oinoussa, an island close to Egnoussa. Before Kon’s death the three of them had been close.

Tassos had gone into oil engineering and had recently returned after working on an oil rig in the southern Aegean. He had a brilliant head on his shoulders. He and Nikos had been talking a lot about Greece’s financial crisis and the direction of the country. For the time being Nikos mostly listened to Tassos, but he could scarcely concentrate while he felt half-alive.

“I’ve been phoning you for the last hour! Why didn’t you answer?” His father had to be upset to have come down to the dock.

“I was doing some shopping with Yannis, who’s bringing things on board from the car. What’s wrong?” His father looked flustered.

“You have a visitor.”

“If you mean Natasa, you’re wasting your time.”

“No. Someone else.”

“I can’t imagine who could be so important it would send you here.” Since returning home from the hospital, Nikos had stayed in touch with his family by phone, but he’d seen no one except Kon’s family and Yannis.

His father’s eyes, dark like his own, studied him speculatively. “Does this woman look familiar to you?”

He reached in his pocket and pulled out two snapshots. One showed Nikos and Stephanie in the dive boat. They’d just removed their gear and were smiling at each other. His breath caught at how beautiful she was. Angelo had taken the picture.