  »"Jane
Porter delivers a fast-paced romance filled with
sizzling love scenes. Each page is a scorcher! Her characters
are sympathetic and realistic. She paints a beautiful tale of
two lonely people desperately needing each other, but unable
to admit it to each other. Readers will be cheering for the couple's "happily-ever-after" ending.
Ms. Porter gets better with each story she tells.
~ Review of Christos's
Promise by www.readertoreader.com
(posted June 5, 2001)
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Christo's
Promise is set in
Greece.
Visit janeporter.com's spotlight on Greece. Lots of photos! Click over!
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"You'd
rather remain locked here in the convent then marry me?"
Disbelief echoed in Christos Pateras' voice.
How could this girl-woman, actually, although she didn't look
a bit like the twenty-five her father claimed she was -- prefer
living in the spartan convent over marrying him?
He was no barbarian. Compared to the Greek
men she'd been raised with, he was downright civilized.
"You had my answer earlier," Alysia
Lemos retorted coolly. "You needn't have wasted your time
coming here."
He turned his back on the anxious nun hovering
in the background, intentionally making it harder for her to
hear. The Abbess might have insisted on providing Alysia with
a chaperone, but that didn't mean the sister needed to be privy
to the conversation.
"You told your father no," Christos
answered, his tone mild, deceptively so. "You didn't tell
me no." He rarely raised his voice. He didn't need to. His
size and authority generally were persuasive enough.
But Alysia Lemos' fine dark eyebrows only
arched higher. "Some women might find such persistence flattering.
I don't."
"So, your answer is...?"
Alysia's incredulous laughter contrasted sharply
with the dark blaze in her eyes.
"I know you're an American, but surely
you can't be this much of an idiot!"
Her cutting dismissal might have crushed a
man of lesser ego, but he wasn't just any man, and Miss Lemos
wasn't just any woman. He needed her. He wasn't going to leave
Oinoussai without her. "You dislike Americans?"
 "Not
all."
"Good. That should help ease the transition
when we move to New York."
Her eyes met his, the dark irises all the
more arresting against her sudden pallor.
"I'm not moving. And I'd never agree
to an arranged marriage."
He dismissed this along with her other protestations. "In
case you're worried, I consider myself Greek. My parents were
born here, on Oinoussai. They still call this home."
"Oh, happy people, they."
He almost smiled. No wonder her father, Darius,
was feeling desperate. She was not an eager bride-to-be. "I
don't know if they'll be happy with you for a daughter-in-law,
but they'll adjust."
Bands of color burned along the curve of her
cheek. "I'm sure your mother dotes on you."
"Endlessly. But then, most Greek mothers
live for their sons."
While daughters are disposable."
He gave no indication that he'd heard the
hurt in her voice, the small wobble in her breath as she spat
the bitter words. "Not mine. My daughters will be cherished."
At
thirty-seven, he needed a wife and Darius Lemos needed a husband
for his wayward daughter. This was no love match, but a match
made in a bank in Switzerland. "I'm an only child, the last
of the Pateras in my branch of the family. I've promised my parents
a grandchild before my thirty-ninth birthday, and I shall deliver."
"No, you hope I'll deliver!"
"I stand corrected."
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Christos Pateras has always loved Alysia.
When he found a way to make her his, he jumped at the chance.
He is certain he can make Alysia love him, build a strong family
structure and be truly happy. He is not prepared to face the
anger and hatred Alysia threw at him every day. Somehow he
will find a way to make her realize that they can be a very
happy couple.
North American Edition 
