least five men stood on the doorstep, all big, all wearing dark suits and earphones. No, the one standing closest wasn’t wearing one of those communication things and he looked madder than fire.
‘Are you okay, Miss Mardas?’ one of the men at the back enquired.
‘Who on earth are you all?’ Vivi whispered, feeling unusually intimidated.
‘Security, Miss Mardas. We work for your grandfather.’
‘I’m not security,’ Eros spelt out impatiently while trying not to squint to get a better look at the little boy anchored sideways below the redhead’s arm. His brain went momentarily blank as he focused on that grinning, lively little face below the splash of black curls. His son, assuming it was his son, looked very much like him, Eros acknowledged, momentarily shocked out of the rage that had powered him all the way from Greece.
‘Why would I need security?’ Vivi whispered.
‘I want to see Winnie,’ Eros grated. ‘I am Eros Nevrakis.’
Vivi froze and immediately awarded him a look of utter loathing. ‘My sister is at work.’
‘I will come in and wait for her, then.’
‘She won’t be home until after midnight, so there’s no point in you waiting,’ Vivi proclaimed with pursed lips.
Eros drew himself up to his full six feet four inches and simply looked through her, unperturbed by her hostile manner. ‘I will return at ten in the morning. Tell her to ensure that she is here then,’ he delivered through clenched white teeth.
‘NO—NO WAY am I seeing him after all this time,’ Winnie declared wearily after her shift with both her sisters treating her to an anxious appraisal. ‘What on earth does he want?’
‘Do you think he’s found out about Teddy?’ Zoe piped up worriedly.
‘I don’t see how.’
‘Grandad knows him,’ Vivi interposed thoughtfully. ‘I saw the look on his face when you admitted Teddy’s father was Greek and when you finally gave him the guy’s name, he was really, really furious—didn’t you notice?’
‘No, I wasn’t wanting to look at Grandad while I was being forced to tell that particular story,’ Winnie admitted, her face burning at that memory.
‘Well, Nevrakis can’t force you to see him. Go to the park as usual,’ Vivi advised.
‘Don’t you think—with him being Teddy’s father—that that is a bit unwise?’ Zoe murmured, as always the peacemaker.
‘He’s not Teddy’s father. He’s never been here for Teddy or Winnie when they needed him!’ Vivi sharply snapped back at Zoe.
‘It’s just I think...well, you know...er...that fathers have rights,’ Zoe said hesitantly. ‘And maybe if he knows about Teddy and that’s why he’s here, if you don’t play nice, he might start thinking about taking you to court to get permission to see him.’
‘Dear heaven, I hope not!’ Winnie gasped in horror but the more she thought about that risk, the more worrying the situation became. But was it really that likely that Eros would be that interested in a child?
Could Eros already know about Teddy? Could her grandfather have told him? She wouldn’t have trusted Stam Fotakis as far as she could throw him. He had already told her that she should’ve informed Eros that she was pregnant rather than simply walking away from their relationship without an explanation. For walk, substitute run, she thought unhappily, for the discovery that Eros was a married man had devastated Winnie, and after that deception she hadn’t felt she owed Eros the news that she was pregnant. She hadn’t wanted anything more to do with him, hadn’t ever wanted to even see him again...but now he had tracked her down and with Teddy around that was a game changer, wasn’t it?
Clutching her hand, Teddy chattered non-stop all the way to the park. It was toddler chatter in which only one word in ten was recognisable as an actual word. They had to walk slowly too, because Teddy loved to walk. But he had short legs and if she lost patience and put him in the buggy, he would throw a tantrum. ‘Not baby!’ he would scream, mortally offended by such a demeaning mode of transport.
He gave a shout of excitement once he saw the playground, tearing free of his mother’s grasp to race down the path in advance of her. Winnie broke into a run because Teddy’s fearless approach to life often put him at risk. By the time she caught up, he was climbing the steps to the slide. He had been as agile as a little monkey from an early age. He whooped as he went down the slide and she retreated to a concrete bench nearby, relieved to sit down because she was still tired from the night before.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she dug it out.
It was Vivi.
‘Nevrakis is coming to see you at the park,’ her sibling warned her. ‘I tried to put him off but he said he would stay and wait if I didn’t tell him where you were.’
Near panic engulfed Winnie, her jaw dropping at the thought of being cornered by Eros in a public place. But he wasn’t the type to make a scene, she reminded herself doggedly, and she couldn’t avoid him for ever. It was better to be sensible, she told herself bracingly, smoothing down her warm jacket, wishing she had put on a little make-up, telling herself off furiously for even caring how she might look while her nerves rattled about inside her like jumping beans. He had to know about Teddy, had to want to see him because there was no other reason for him to seek her out now. Her mind wanted to take her back to her very first meeting with Eros Nevrakis but she wouldn’t let it because memories would weaken her, tearing away the superficial calm she had learned to keep in place to make her sisters happy.
‘Oh, sure, I’m over him!’ she had taught herself to declare with a laugh for punctuation. ‘I’m not stupid!’
Two men lodged nearby below the trees, suited and smart. Her grandfather’s utterly superfluous bodyguards, whom Vivi had met the night before on the doorstep, Winnie suspected, and she ignored them. She would have to phone her grandfather about that unnecessary extravagance. Why on earth would she and her sisters need guarding when as yet nobody even knew they were related to Stam Fotakis?
In the distance she glimpsed a tall man striding down the path and her heart stuttered as though she’d received a shock, while breathing suddenly became a distinct challenge. Perspiration beaded her short upper lip, heat washing over her as she recalled what an absolute idiot she had been two years earlier...falling for her boss, sleeping with her boss.
Eros paused, all sleek, lithe and sexy elegance in a charcoal-grey suit and overcoat, a red silk scarf bright at his throat as he stood scanning the playground with the raw self-assurance of a highly successful tycoon. Winnie swallowed hard, her hands clenching together, nails biting into her tender palms. She had to force herself to stand upright to catch his attention because she wasn’t going to hide from him and refused to behave as if she feared him.
His brilliant gaze settled on her and she went even stiffer, turning her head away to check on Teddy, standing at the top of the slide shouting for her attention, for if there was one thing Teddy loved it was an audience. He was an irredeemable little extrovert, brimming with vitality. She moved closer to the slide, ignoring Eros to the best of her ability, even as she heard his steps sound behind her.
Teddy zoomed down the slide with a whoop, clambered off at the bottom and raced round to repeat the exercise.
‘Why didn’t you tell me about him?’ Eros breathed, soft and low and deadly.
Disconcertion turned Winnie’s head in his direction and she saw him in profile because his entire attention was studiously welded to her son. That classic bronzed profile made her heart give a sick thud inside