After a hard day's work negotiating prices with their overseas clients, Stella Athas left her office at the Athens headquarters a little after three o'clock in her new white Jaguar XK convertible, the first car she'd ever owned. Until she'd bought it with her own money two months ago, she'd used the old clunker estate car to get around.

Along with her new purchase, it seemed a different hairdo was necessary too. She'd always worn her dark hair long and straight, but all that had changed with the convertible, because the whole point of having the top down was to feel the sun and the breeze. It had only taken one day of whizzing around in it looking like the head of a mop for Stella to go to a beauty salon and get her hair cut in a trendy jaw-length style.

Everyone seemed to approve of her new look. Her colleagues said it emphasized the high cheekbones of her oval face. Her friends insisted it brought out the velvety texture of her midnight-brown eyes.

Her oldest brother, Stasio, teased her that she'd better watch out; she was a great beauty like their deceased mother. All the men, eligible or otherwise, had their eye on her now that she'd been seen around Athens in her flashy new sports car. When was she going to get serious over Keiko and take him for a ride in it? Didn't she know she was breaking his heart?

Stella knew that her brother was hoping she and Keiko Pappas would get together, but she'd been too burned by an experience in her past to get into an intimate relationship with another man. She preferred to remain friends with Keiko or any other guy hoping to get close to her for that matter.

As for today, she didn't want to think about anything but having fun because this marked the beginning of her three-week vacation from work. It was also the end of the school year for her six-year-old son, Ari.

Although she liked the family's town villa in Athens well enough—after all, it had been home to the Athas clan for three generations—she was a beach girl at heart and always looked forward to their holidays on Andros with Stasio and his wife, Rachel.

When Stella had attended college in New York, she'd met an American girl named Rachel Maynard. They had become best friends at a time when Stella had been recovering from what she could only look back on now as a nervous breakdown. When Theo Pantheras had deserted her and their unborn child, she'd allowed it to almost destroy her. Of course, that had been six years ago. She'd long since recovered, but the experience had caused her to lose her faith in men.

Still, with a vacation looming, none of that mattered now. She was eager to join Rachel, who'd married Stasio and who now had two little daughters, Cassie and Zoe, who adored Ari and he them. Everyone was looking forward to being together at the family villa on Andros and at some point her brother Nikos would be arriving from Switzerland with his wife Renate to vacation with them, too.

Nikos's arrival was always a worry for Stella, because he had a nasty temper and could make life difficult when he wanted to. Hopefully, this time he'd be on his best behavior, but she didn't know if it was possible.

Rather than be flown in Stasio's helicopter, Stella planned to drive her and Ari this visit. She wanted the new car at her disposal as she sped around the island and enjoyed the glorious summer. Tomorrow morning they'd leave early and take the ferry from Rafina. Ari loved ships of all kinds and adored being on the water. So did she and couldn't wait to get away from the city. It was starting to get overcrowded with tourists.

Once she'd pulled around the back of the house, she parked away from the trees and birds and hurried through the screened-in back porch where deliveries were left. When she entered the big kitchen, she saw the elderly housekeeper watering a plant at the sink.

"Yiasas, Iola. How was your day?"

She turned her gray head to look at Stella. "Busy."

"Cheer up. Ari and I will be leaving in the morning. With Stasio's family out of here, too, you'll have three weeks to take it easy and enjoy yourself." Stella gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm going upstairs to get packed."

"Everything has been washed and dried. You want me to bring up the luggage?"

"Thank you, but my suitcase is already in my closet. We don't need to take that much to the beach. Mine will hold both our things."

Grabbing an apple from the basket, she took a big bite and headed for the staircase at the front of the house. When they weren't on Andros, Stasio and Rachel lived at the villa on the third floor with the girls, she and Ari on the second. Nikos's suite was on the first floor next to the pool, but he was rarely here.

Once she entered her suite adjoining Ari's, she got to work. Ari had gone to spend the day with his school friend Dax, and Stella planned to pick him up at his friend's house around four-thirty. That gave her an hour.

While she started gathering tops, shorts and swimsuits for both of them, the house phone rang once. She picked up the receiver at her bedside table. "What is it, Iola?"

"You need to come downstairs. The postman has a registered letter for you that only you can sign."

Stella frowned. "Anything legal goes to Stasio's office, but you already know that."

"I told him, but he said this one is for you. He insists he has to deliver it into your hands, no one else's."

The postman could have done that while Stella had still been at the office. "I'll be right down."

What on earth was going on? Stella hung up the phone, eager to straighten out what was obviously a mistake so she could finish her packing. She hurried downstairs to the foyer and entered the front room.

"Yiasou."

The postman nodded. "You are Despinis Estrella Athas?"

"Yes." But no one ever addressed her by her birth name.

He thrust a clipboard at her. "Please sign the card on the bottom line to prove this was delivered to you personally."

"May I ask who sent it?"

"I have no idea."

Despite her irritation, Stella smiled while she wrote down her signature. "Don't shoot the messenger, right?"

But her comment was wasted on the postman, who remained stoic.

He took the clipboard and handed her the letter. "I'll see myself out."

Iola followed him to the front door and shut it behind him. Stella wandered into the foyer, more bemused than anything else by the interruption. "Perhaps I got caught speeding in my new car by one of those traffic cameras. You think?" Stella quipped.

"Aren't you going to open it and find out?"

Stella had waited too long for her vacation to be bothered by anything now. "Maybe after I get back from our trip. After all, if this had been brought to the door tomorrow, I wouldn't have been here."

"But you signed for it today!"

"True. Why don't you open it and tell me what it says while I finish packing." She handed it to Iola before starting up the stairs to make inroads on her packing.

Stella fully expected the housekeeper to come rushing after her with the news, yet no such thing happened. In fact it was eerily quiet. After a few minutes Stella stepped out in the hall and walked to the head of the stairs.

"Iola?"

Total silence.

"Iola?" Stella called in a louder voice.

When nothing was forthcoming she raced down the stairs. No sign of her in the salon. "Iola?" She ran through the house to the kitchen, where she found her sitting on one of the kitchen chairs, her head in her hands. The letter lay open on the table.

As she started to reach for it, Iola grabbed it from her and pressed it to her ample bosom. "No! This is not for your eyes."

The loyal housekeeper had been with their family since Stella had been in elementary school. She knew everything that went on under their roof. Stella had no doubt Iola would defend her to the death if the situation warranted it.

"What's so terrible you don't want me to see it?" Her question was met with quiet sobs. Stella sat down on the chair next to her and put a loving arm around her heaving shoulders. "Iola? Please. Let me see it."

A minute passed before she handed Stella the one-page letter. Her eyes fell on the missive. It was handwritten in bold, decisive strokes that looked faintly familiar. Stella's heart skipped a beat.

Dear Stella:

It's been a long time since the last time we were together. After the letters I sent you came back unopened and I'd exhausted every possibility of finding you, I left for New York to work, but now I'm back in Athens for good.

I saw you walking near your villa with a boy who has Pantheras written all over him. He's my flesh and blood, too.

You and I need to meet.

I can be reached at the phone number on my office letterhead. I've also written my cell phone number here. I'll expect your call tomorrow before the day is out. Don't make me petition the court to secure my right to be with my son. That's the last thing I would want to do to either of you.

Theo.

Stella's cry reverberated against the walls of the kitchen.

As she read the letter again, Theo's name swam before her eyes. She started to get up from the chair, but her body began to feel icy. Nausea rendered her too weak to stand. There was a ringing in her ears. In the distance she heard Iola cry before she felt herself slump against the housekeeper.

When next she had any cognizance of her surroundings, she discovered she was lying on the kitchen floor. Iola was leaning over her whispering prayers while she patted Stella's cheeks with a cold, wet cloth. As the housekeeper fussed over her, a memory of the letter filled her mind.

After six years Theo Pantheras had reappeared in her life, as if from the dead, wanting to talk to her? The very idea was so staggering Stella could hardly fathom it.

She'd known moments of anger in her life, but no amount of pain compared to the violence of her emotions against Ari's father, the man who'd come close to destroying her.

For him to think for one second she would pick up the phone and call him was too ludicrous to comprehend. The night she'd told him she was pregnant, he'd acted thrilled and told her he would find a way to take care of her and their baby. They would get married immediately despite their families being against it.

They had arranged to meet at the church, and once Theo arrived they would get married in secret, but Theo never came and Stella never saw him again. It was as if he'd simply disappeared off the face of the earth. The pain and the shame of waiting for him pretty well shattered her. Without Stasio's love and support, and of course the love she had for her gorgeous Ari, she probably would have died.

"I'm all right, Iola," she assured her. Sheer negative adrenaline flowed through her body, driving her to get to her feet. She clung to the chair back while she waited for her head to stop reeling.

"Drink this." Iola handed her a glass of water.

It tasted good and she drank the whole thing. "Thank you."

"Theo Pantheras has obviously been stalking you. That is not good. You must call Stasio at once."

"No," she countered in a quiet voice. "That's the one thing I won't do. I have Ari to think about. This is something I intend to handle myself."

Since her parents' deaths, Stella had relied on her brother for everything. It had almost ruined his life in the process, but she wasn't a helpless teenager anymore. She'd grown into a twenty-four-year-old woman with a responsible position in the company, who'd been raising her son for the last six years.

Stasio had done more for her and her son than any human could expect of another. Her love for her brother bordered on worship. The only way to repay him in some small way was to leave him out of this. He had a wife and children he doted on, and Rachel was expecting for a third time. Stella wasn't about to impose her problems on him or his family. Never again.

She stared at Iola. "Not one word of this to anyone, especially not Nikos or Stasio. It will be our secret. You understand?"

The older woman nodded, but she said another prayer under her breath.

With no time to lose, Stella went upstairs for her purse. While there she phoned Dax's mother and told her she was coming to collect Ari. After telling Iola where she was going, she put the letter in her purse, then left the villa and drove to Dax's house.

As soon as Ari saw her, he ran down the steps of the front porch carrying his backpack and got into the car. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "How was your last day of school?"

"Okay. We had to bring all our pictures and stuff home. Can we fly to Palaiopolis tonight?" It was the village on Andros where Stasio lived.

"No, honey. I'm planning to drive us tomorrow morning. I'd like my own car while we're on vacation."

"Hooray! I love our new car."

She chuckled. "So do I."

"Stasi says I'll be able to drive a car like this one day."

"Not for years yet, honey."

Whatever Stasio said, that was it. Long ago, when Stasio had told Stella he'd help her raise Ari, Nikos had warned Stella that Ari would always look to Stasio as his father. No other man could hope to compete. Nikos had told Stella that she should put her son up for adoption so he could have a normal life with a mother and father, but Stella wouldn't hear of it. Ari was her life! Since Theo had opted out of all responsibility, a boy could pray to have a surrogate father like Stasio.

While they waited for an old man to cross the street in front of them she glanced at her son. For six years she'd purposely concentrated on his Athas traits, but since receiving the letter from Theo, she was forced to take a second look at him.

Like Stasio, Ari was tall for his age with brown-black hair. He had Nikos's beautiful olive skin and her smile. But if she were honest with herself, his jet-black eyes, the musculature of his lean body, the shape of his hairline with its widow's peak belonged to Theo.