“Well, that’s a little complicated now, isn’t it?” He nodded at Illi, who was standing in her lap, singing in her ear.
“Not really,” Tanja said stiffly. “I spent five years living my life without you despite your name being attached to mine on a piece of paper. It will be the same for Illi.” She cradled the baby’s warm hair and kissed her sweet-smelling cheek. “We don’t need anything from you after this little pleasure cruise. I did bookkeeping on the side through school. Once I’m home, I’ll hustle up some clients and support us fine. It’s what I was going to do anyway.”
“I’ll give you a settlement,” he growled.
A smart woman would snap that up. She had a child to feed. But she was too insulted.
“It wasn’t a real marriage,” she reminded with an overbright smile. “Let’s not turn it into a real divorce.”
CHAPTER FOUR
IN ANOTHER LIFE, Leon would have seen Tanja’s refusal of his money as a best outcome and moved on. Today, he was incensed.
Before he could open his mouth with a retort, however, the phone in his shirt pocket vibrated. He glanced down and tilted it to see the screen.
“Zach is texting. I’ll see if he’ll accept a video call.” He withdrew the phone and tapped to place the call, then handed the phone to Tanja.
A smile of anticipation burst across her face, sunny with the stark love that she and her family seemed to express unreservedly toward one another. That affection was so constant and raw it was like a force of nature—the kind of thing Leon admired and respected, but didn’t trust. Thunder and lightning were exciting to watch, but it would kill you if you were careless enough to be stuck in it unprotected.
“Oh, it’s you.” Zach’s edgy voice eased into surprised relief. “I was worried when I saw Leon wanted a face call. I thought he might have bad news. It’s so good to see you.”
“Didn’t you get the message that we’re safe? Illi, look. Say hi to Uncle Zach.” She shifted the baby into sitting on her lap to face the camera.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Zach said warmly. “Good grief, she’s getting big. Well, I hurried out here to take this call, but since it’s you...shh.” His voice dropped to a whisper, raising hackles of suspicion across Leon’s shoulders. “Shonda’s sleeping, but look.” After a pause, he whispered, “This is Bryant.”
“Oh, Zach,” Tanja gasped softly. “He’s so beautiful.”
Her gaze came up, so shiny with joy it shot an arrow straight into Leon’s chest, leaving an ache that thrummed a vibration through him. She nodded an invitation for him to come see.
He didn’t know why he went. He and Zach were barely speaking, but he moved to stand behind Tanja and saw a newborn swaddled in a yellow blanket and wearing a pale green hat.
“Congratulations,” Leon said politely.
“Oh. You are there.” Zach’s tone went flat with dismay. The image jostled as he slipped from the hospital room out into the hall, then the screen flipped to show Zach’s disheveled hair and weary face. “Thank you for getting Tanja off Istuval. Shonda was on bed rest and had an emergency C-section yesterday.”
“Everything went okay?” Tanja asked anxiously.
“They’re both doing really well.”
“I can’t wait to hold him,” Tanja sighed.
“I thought you’d be on a plane.” Zach frowned. “I was texting for a flight number. Where are you?”
“On Leon’s yacht.”
“Tanja isn’t well enough to fly,” Leon said.
“I can fly,” she insisted, sending a disgruntled look over her shoulder at him.
“You can barely fight the baby for the phone.” Illi was about to win in her quest to grab it so he plucked her from Tanja’s lap, telling Zach, “Tanja and I have some legal things to sort out. We’ll do that in Athens and let you know her plans from there.”
“Finally getting a divorce? Good idea,” Zach said in a cool voice that grew concerned as he asked Tanja. “What happened? How did you get sick?”
Leon moved across to a colorful abstract painting, giving Illi something to stare at while Tanja reassured her brother that she had seen a doctor and was already feeling better.
Leon was replaying her accusation that he had destroyed her brother financially. Was that how Zach viewed it?
It didn’t hurt that my brother thought you were wonderful. Everyone wants their spouse to be friends with their sibling.
Leon hadn’t worried too much about terminating their business deal. For starters, he hadn’t had a choice, and as much as he’d liked Zach, he hadn’t felt deep loyalty toward him. Growing up with seemingly unlimited wealth, toys, looks and freedom meant that Leon had always attracted a lot of friends, most of whom wanted to take advantage of their association with him.
Leon had met Zach when he’d hired him as a tactician after losing to a team Zach had navigated through the San Juans. Such a tight working relationship demanded a lot of communication and reliance so they’d come to know each other fairly well, but Leon had been stung by hangers-on in the past. He only opened up as much as was absolutely necessary.
Zach’s pitch for a marina expansion had been nothing new. Leon had been drawn in because Zach had been dropping off the racing circuit to take over his father’s business. It was the complete opposite of something Leon would allow himself to be pressured into. He’d been deeply selfish in those days. There’d been a part of him that had imagined if he helped Zach he’d have an angle to persuade him to keep racing. That’s how Leon had been raised to view the world—favors begat favors. There was nothing money couldn’t buy. Nothing was done out of genuine caring or friendship.
Learning Tanja blamed him for the loss of her father’s business left a metallic taste of dishonor in his mouth. Especially when it had come about because he’d dumped Zach’s deal to rescue his own father’s business—a business built on lies and cheated negotiations.
Leon hated to see anything of his father in himself, but that tainted blood showed up at different times in ways that never ceased to make him loathe himself. Hell, he was so much like his old man that his wife felt scorned and tricked by him, the same way his mother had always felt about his father.
I thought you felt something for me. We were sleeping together.
Leon had felt toward Tanja what he had felt toward any attractive, available woman who reciprocated his interest—sexual desire. Granted, it had been an acute level of that sort of interest. Before meeting her, he’d had relationships of various lengths from one-night stands to yearlong affairs. All had been pleasant, and none had inspired more than basic levels of affection.