He only singed her with one of those smiles he was suddenly generous with. “Selene, I want you to meet Caliope.”
Selene looked dazedly at the stunningly beautiful woman she judged to be a couple years younger than her, who was clinging to his arm as if she was afraid to get blown away in an unexpected hurricane if she didn’t hang on tight enough.
She was Selene’s height, but far more curvaceous. Her skin boasted the most perfect sun-kissed tan she’d ever seen, looked incandescent against her white blouse and cardigan, also showed off hair streaked a hundred shades of bronze, caramel and gold and the most intense azure eyes that didn’t belong to a cat.
She started to nod at the woman, not sure what to think, what to say. The woman let go of Aris, extended a hand to her. Selene took her hand only for the woman to pull her closer, looking at her avidly.
Then she blurted out, “Is it true? You have Aristedes’s son?”
Selene’s eyes swung up to Aris. He’d told her? Whoever she was?
But she couldn’t even accuse him of breaching her trust. She hadn’t asked him to keep it a secret. Why had she thought he would? It might be in his best interest to expose her, to force her to acknowledge him as Alex’s father.
As if reading her anxiety and suspicions, Aris gave her a placating glance. “If you want a secret kept, you trust it to Caliope.” Aris looked down into Caliope’s suddenly sheepish eyes. “I bet even I haven’t developed as unreadable a poker face and demeanor as my youngest sister—when she wants.”
Sister?
He looked back at Selene. “Since Eleni isn’t coming today, I drafted Caliope into babysitting Alex while we’re out.”
“Out?” Selene echoed, her confusion deepening.
Caliope rolled her eyes. “You didn’t know, huh? Should have guessed he’s drafting you into an outing, too.”
Aristedes raised a sardonic eyebrow at his sister. “I drafted you only until you knew what this was all about, then I couldn’t walk fast enough to keep up with you as you zoomed to my car.”
“You bet I’d zoom, when my oldest brother comes telling me he has a ten-month-old baby, when I didn’t even know he was capable of procreating…” She winced, bit her lip. “I didn’t mean it that way, of course, since anyone looking at you will know you are, that way. I meant I always thought you weren’t exactly human—”
As Caliope gasped, then spluttered inaudible self-abuse at herself, Aris’s remaining eyebrow joined his raised one. “Always nice to know for sure what my ‘family’ thinks of me.”
“You know we love you, in spite of everything we think of you—” Caliope stopped again, grimaced, then groaned, “Okay, I’ll shut up now. Preferably forever.”
Aris gave a huff, twisted his lips at his sister’s red-faced distress. “Now that we’ve had that character-assassinating promo campaign in front of Selene, the mother of my miracle child, let’s hope we get invited over her threshold.”
“You mean she keeps you just outside, like a vampire…?”
Aris looked whimsically into Selene’s no doubt still-stricken eye as Caliope choked into chagrined self-chastisement. “First, I’m a different species, then a species incapable of procreating with humans, now we get to the specifics about what kind of inhuman entity I am. Will you at least prove to this know-it-all that she got…which one wrong?”
“Her assessment isn’t far from the truth,” Selene heard herself croak as she stepped back, wordlessly inviting them to come in. “You do suck the lifeblood out of rivals.”
“So you think so, too? But you couldn’t resist him, huh? That actually supports my theory.”
As Caliope eagerly asked her corroboration, Selene revised her estimate of her age. Caliope felt younger than she’d first thought, probably in her early twenties, making the difference between her age and Aris’s more than fifteen years. She hadn’t known he had siblings that much younger. Or that he’d treat one with such patience and indulgence.
What else didn’t she know about him?
“Between the two of you, who needs smear campaigns?” Aris sighed as he watched Selene lead Caliope to the sitting area. He came to stand before them as they sat down, the very image of masculine grandeur as he looked in the direction of her sleeping quarters. “I think it’s time we brought Alex into this delightful meeting. He, at least, doesn’t think I’m a monster.”
“He’ll probably wake up now,” Selene said, feeling bad that she’d collaborated with his sister in “smearing” him. Not that he sounded hurt or anything. It seemed he included her in his forbearance. But then, he had said he’d enjoy her “punishing” him…
“Great!” Caliope exclaimed. “I can’t believe I actually have a nephew from Aristedes! And I get to spend a day with him!”
“But I can’t leave Alex!” Selene protested, feeling this development snowballing, having no idea how to stop it.
Caliope put a reassuring, exquisitely manicured hand on her forearm. “You can. With my two older sisters married and breeding like crazy, they provided me with all sorts of kids to babysit. I’m an old hand at it by now.” She hesitated. “Though we’re talking about Aristedes’s son here.” Then she seemed to get worried. “Maybe he’ll be too much for me to handle!”
Selene, who didn’t want anyone babysitting Alex, especially not to go out with his father, still took exception to Caliope’s dawning anxiety.
Before she could defend Alex, Aris barked a laugh. “I assure you, Caliope, Alex isn’t as monstrous as his father.”
“I didn’t mean that!” Caliope rolled her eyes and groaned. “Maybe I’ll just record that statement, and put it on auto replay.” Her embarrassment deepened as she looked at Selene. “Really, I meant no offense to your baby, since that would reflect on you, too.” A second’s pause. “Okay, I’m babbling, but it’s not every day the Sarantos chieftain comes confiding in me and asking—insert gasps of shock and fainting thuds here—for my help.”
Aris looked at Caliope sardonically. “And you’re working as hard as you can to make it the last time.”
“Oh, no!” Caliope gasped. “I’ll shut up now, I swear. And I’ll be your best babysitter ever, you’ll have to use me again.”