Along Came Twins…. Rebecca Winters

elevator door opened silently along the wall away from his desk. Leandros sat in his swivel chair, half turned from her while engaged in an intense business discussion with Frato on the speakerphone. She recognized his voice.

      At first glance she realized Leandros needed a haircut and a shave. There were wavy tendrils of dark hair, a shade away from being true black, clinging to his bronzed nape. It looked as if he’d been running his hands through it. The sleeves of the white shirt he wore had been pushed up to the elbows. Given his condition, and the accumulation of coffee cups on the desk, she could imagine he might have spent the night here.

      She’d never seen him like this before. He was thirty-four, yet he looked five years older right now. Her normally fastidious, temperate husband was nowhere to be found. Kellie had seen him truly out of control only once before. It was the night she’d told him she wanted a divorce. In a way, this was worse—different, even—because there was a savage air about him. For a second she feared she’d done the wrong thing by coming here without his knowledge. But with so much riding on this, she couldn’t run from him now. Too much was at stake.

      Finding her courage, she called out softly to him. “Leandros?”

      She knew he’d heard her voice, because his hard, lean body seemed to freeze in place before he slowly swung around to face her.

      He’d lost weight. A pronounced white ring encircled his taut mouth, testifying to his incredulity at seeing her here. It stood out almost as much as his gray eyes, which had gone black as pitch at the moment. Their color reminded her of the dark sky before the tornado had struck the Petralia resort near Thessalonika five weeks ago, killing little Demi’s parents.

      Frato was on the other end of the phone line, still talking. Leandros muttered something she couldn’t understand, before he hung up. His haunted look sent a shiver of alarm through her body. She sensed he was ready to spring from his chair.

      “Don’t get up,” she urged, and walked over to one of the chairs in front of his desk to sit down. Not only had her legs turned to mush at the sight of him, she couldn’t handle him touching her. He was still the most gorgeous man she’d ever known. In that regard, nothing had changed.

      Kellie heard his sharp intake of breath. “What in the name of all that’s holy brings you back to Greece?” His deep voice sounded so shaken, she hardly recognized it. His overarching look of disbelief sent a fresh shock wave of despair through her. The month apart had done the rest of the damage to their marriage, crushing the rubble to microscopic bits.

      Suddenly there was a tap on the door and Karmela started to enter. “Not now!” Leandros snapped. Kellie had to admit she’d never seen Leandros this upset with an employee. Maybe he hadn’t even realized it was Karmela.

      Kellie was shocked by the other woman’s sangfroid before she did Leandros’s bidding. She was tall enough to wear the attractive black-and-white dress skimming her figure. With her hair falling like a silky black curtain, she was extraordinarily beautiful and would cause a traffic jam when she walked down the street.

      Since she and Petra shared such a strong resemblance, Kellie could well imagine how his former wife had turned the sought-after bachelor into a married man. Karmela’s hourglass figure was so different from Kellie’s rounded curves.

      The younger woman closed the door, but not before she shot Kellie a venomous glance. That reaction alone vindicated Kellie’s belief that Karmela planned to win Leandros one way or another, if she hadn’t already.

      “Karmela still works for you, I see. And is still dropping in unannounced. As I recall, the last time we thought we were alone, Karmela dropped by with some papers for you. Though she didn’t find us making love, she certainly could have if we hadn’t been on the verge of divorce.”

      That was the first time Kellie had truly feared Leandros had been unfaithful to her with Karmela. Before that time, she’d only worried about the other woman’s behavior.

      “She was wrong to have done that, Kellie.”

      “It certainly was wrong, but you didn’t say so at the time. I was so hurt when you let her come to work for you, and I told you as much, but you kept her on. We’re almost divorced, yet she still works for you. As I’ve told you many times, your sister-in-law always had a habit of insinuating herself around you.

      “Even a little while ago she walked in without as much as a tap on the door, but it’s all right with you because she’s family.”

      Why did she sound so bitter? Kellie wondered. It was no longer her concern what Karmela did with Leandros. They were getting divorced. But the thought that he’d replaced her so soon hurt more than she could ever admit.

      His beautiful olive complexion darkened with lines. “It’s never been all right with me and I am going to do something about it. I’ll ask you again. Why are you here?” He seemed to have lost some color.

      Clearing her throat, she said, “I have news that demanded I come here in person.” She was in possession of certain facts that would alter his world forever.

      His hooded gaze pierced hers. “Has something happened to your aunt or uncle?”

      Kellie could understand why he’d asked that question. He’d been wonderful to them from the moment he’d first met them. “This has nothing to do with them. They’re fine.” She moistened her lips nervously. “A week ago I was so nauseated, I went to the doctor in Philadelphia to find out what was wrong. I learned that I’m…pregnant.”

      His dark head reared back in complete shock. “What did you say?” She heard excitement exploding inside him before he’d even had time to assimilate the news. Though he’d never given up hope they would get pregnant, Kellie had stopped believing such a miracle would happen to them.

      She breathed in deeply. “I’m more amazed than you. It seems that the last artificial insemination procedure I underwent worked. Impossible as it sounds, Dr. Creer says I’m already seven weeks pregnant.”

      A triumphant cry escaped Leandros. He leaped out of his chair, charged with an energy that transformed him before her eyes. Her pulse raced, because she’d known this would be his reaction. “The doctor said it’s the reason I fainted the night before I left Athens. My periods have never been normal, so I never suspected anything.”

      Leandros came around and hunkered down in front of her, like a knight kneeling before his lady. When he grasped her hands, she could feel him trembling. Emotion had taken the blackness from his eyes, filling the gray irises with pinpoints of light. “We’re going to have a baby?” There was awe in his voice as he kissed her fingertips. The news had started to sink in, but he didn’t know all of it yet.

      “There’s more, Leandros.”

      Fear immediately marred his striking features and his hands gripped hers tighter. “Did the doctor tell you you’re a high-risk pregnancy? Is something wrong?”

      “No,” she rushed to assure him. After he’d lost his first wife and unborn child, she didn’t want to put him through such anxiety again. He didn’t deserve any more trauma in that regard.

      His expressive black brows furrowed. “Then what do you mean?”

      Averting her eyes, she said, “The doctor ordered an ultrasound.”

      “And?” His voice shook.

      “The technician detected two heartbeats.”

      “Two?” His explosion of joy reverberated off the walls of his office. “We’re going to have twins?”

      She nodded. “They’re due March 12.”

       “Kellie—”

      The next thing she knew he’d picked her up and wrapped her in his strong arms, burying his face in her neck. She felt moisture against her skin as he crushed her against him. He’d been at the hospital with her to do his part while they’d gone through procedure