Her pulse sped up. Maybe now she’d get an answer for Andreas. “Thank you.” Zoe put the brochure on the chair next to her and followed the salesman around a corner and down a hall to the owner’s office. The substantial older man standing behind the desk invited her to sit down.
“What can I do for you?”
“I’ve taken a chance coming to you and am probably wasting your time. I’m looking for a Monsieur Guion Norville who owns a realty company here in Nice. Someone at the hotel where I’m staying recommended him. I was hoping he would help me to invest in a time-share for me and my friend who is waiting for me in the parking lot.
“But when I went there this morning, it had a closed sign in the window. If he moved his business to a different location, I’d like to know where. The travel agency next door couldn’t help me. Then I saw your name in the directory. Before I go to another Realtor, I thought I would ask you if you’ve heard of him since you have the same last name.”
He sat forward and put his hands flat on the desk. “You just met him.” Zoe almost had a heart attack. “He happens to be my cousin. I’ll go find him and ask him to come back in.”
The moment he left his office, Zoe phoned Andreas, who answered after the first ring. “Zoe? What’s happening?”
“Guion is here,” she whispered. “He greeted me at the door and is obviously working for Philippe.”
“I can’t believe it.” Andreas had to be in shock. So was she.
“Gus gave you a perfect lead. I met his cousin, who has gone to find Guion and bring him back to his office. Whatever happens, don’t be surprised.” She hung up because she heard footsteps coming down the hall.
Guion walked in and shut the door so they were alone. His eyes played over her with a hint of suspicion. “This is a surprise. No one has come looking for me since I got out of the realty business. Why are you really looking for me? I know we’ve never met or I would have remembered you.”
The game was up. Zoe got to her feet. “You’re right. I’m not the person who wants to talk to you. But since you’re working, I’ll tell him to come another time.”
“Him?”
“My friend. He’s waiting for me in the parking lot.”
“In that case I’ll accompany you since you’ve aroused my curiosity.”
Uh-oh. Th
is was it. Her heart pounded so hard, it was unhealthy. With fingers crossed, she left the office with him and they walked out of the building to the waiting limo.
Andreas had been lounging against the rear door with his arms crossed. When he saw them coming, he straightened. In a silky tan sport shirt and white pants, and his raven-black hair disheveled by a slight Mediterranean breeze, Andreas took her breath. His fiery black eyes met hers, sending an unspoken message of amazement.
Zoe loved him so intensely, she had to get hold of her emotions before turning to the other man. “Monsieur Norwood, I’d like you to meet Andreas Gavras.”
Guion’s hands came out of his pockets, and his brows lifted. “The Andreas Gavras who’s not only CEO of Gavras House Hotels, but the Gavras Sea Salt Company?” Andreas nodded. “Your name is well-known. Why would you want to talk to me? I haven’t worked in my family’s shipping business for many years.”
From his reaction, she saw no indication of alarm. Zoe could almost believe Guion truly didn’t know Lia had been engaged to Andreas when they’d made love, or that there’d been consequences.
How hard this had to be for Andreas, and in another minute for both men who were actually the same height. Guion was probably thirty-five. Now that she’d had a chance to meet him in person, she could see he’d bequeathed his rangier build to Ari. Genes didn’t lie.
She was sure Andreas was noticing all this and much more when he said, “I’ve come for one reason only. To let you know you have a sixteen-and-a-half-month-old son named Ari. It’s your God-given right to know you have a child with Lia Pappas, as she was before we married, but what you choose to do with this information is your business alone.”
Even in the partial sunlight Zoe thought Guion lost some color.
Zoe touched Andreas’s arm. “It’s getting busy out here,” she said in an aside. “Someone could hear us.”
Andreas eyed the other man, who’d gone quite still. “Shall we talk in the limo?”
Guion nodded and climbed inside. He sat opposite her and Andreas. “Why did Lia send you to tell me?”
“She didn’t. This was all my idea. She never wanted you to know and hoped neither you nor I would ever find out the truth. What she hadn’t counted on was Ari having to undergo an operation from a ruptured intestine earlier this year. He needed blood. That’s when I found out I wasn’t his father, so I filed for divorce.”
A pain-filled epithet escaped Guion’s lips.
“I confronted Lia with her lie. Apparently she spent the night with you without telling you we were engaged.”
“She didn’t say a word. Neither did her friend. I didn’t know she was engaged to you, I swear it.”