photograph.
‘Here.’ She thrust it at him. ‘The evidence you want. That is what you mean, isn’t it? Conclusive dates to match the date of that night on the beach?’
‘This will do for now, but I would like you to see a doctor here in Greece.’
What kind of fool did she think he was, simply to take her word that she was carrying his child?
He’d seen men cheated into bringing up other men’s children, and whilst he would stand by his child he had to know that it was his.
Even as the thought entered his mind he knew that it was. She’d been a virgin when she’d met him. He remembered vividly the moment he’d realised the truth. He had cursed aloud, the look of shock on her face forcing him to quell his reaction as he’d focused on giving her as much pleasure as he’d felt. Now all he felt was guilt about questioning her.
‘That won’t be necessary.’ She pushed away from him roughly. ‘I have seen doctors in England.’
He looked again at the image, his sharp gaze scanning the information. All the evidence he needed that the baby was his was there, but it was seeing the fuzzy image, knowing it was his baby, that pulled on his heart, creating a tight band across his chest as unfamiliar as if the sea around the island had frozen.
‘Even so, you will see a doctor once we arrive in Athens.’
‘I’m not going with you, Nikos. And I can’t marry you.’
Her voice was filled with emotion, and if he’d been a man with a heart he would have asked why. He would have taken her hand and told her they’d work it out. But he didn’t have a heart.
‘Once you agree to be my wife, to stay in Greece and to live as a family, I will give you what you want.’ He delivered the words in a cool and dominant tone, ignoring the way she visibly flinched.
‘I’ve told you—I don’t want anything from you.’
‘I’m sure your sister wouldn’t like to know you’d turned down a chance of her continuing with her IVF treatment.’
‘What?’ She crossed the floor and came to stand directly in front of him. ‘That is blackmail.’
‘No, it’s getting what I want at whatever price has to be paid.’
‘It’s blackmail—and totally ruthless.’ She hissed the words at him and, despite the situation, he admired her staying power.
‘Ruthless, maybe—but it is my only deal.’ He laid his final card down and waited for her surrender. ‘Take it or leave it.’
‘How can you even think I would accept such terms?’
She snatched the scan photo back and looked down at it, holding it tightly. When she looked up at him the glitter in her eyes bellied the anger he’d provoked.
‘Don’t go against me, Serena.’
The warning in his voice didn’t go unnoticed.
‘I’m not going against you. All I want is to do the best for us both—me and my baby.’
Anger shattered around the periphery of his vision and he inhaled deeply, locking his gaze to hers. He’d never expected such challenge, such dismissal of his deal.
‘You forget. It is my child too.’
* * *
The bristling atmosphere pressed down on Serena as Nikos stood watching—waiting for her answer. She looked again at the scan photo in her hands. The knowledge that she had the power to give the same experience to her sister, or deny her, sickened her. She closed her eyes against the nausea—and against Nikos’s merciless scrutiny.
Secretly she’d dreamed of marriage and happy-ever-after, but those dreams had finally died the moment she’d heard Nikos condemn the idea of love. How could she marry a man who not only admitted he hadn’t ever wanted to be a father, but one who firmly believed love had nothing to do with marriage?
‘But marriage...?’ Still stunned by his proposed deal, delivered without a hint of compassion, she could hardly form a sentence. Exasperation and fury raged through her, quelling the nausea of moments ago. ‘That’s a drastic step, Nikos. What if you meet someone you actually want to marry?’
‘Marriage has never been on my agenda.’
The icy tone left her in no doubt that he meant it.
‘So why marry me?’
Deep down she knew the answer—knew it was because he was opposed to his child being illegitimate. But that went against everything she’d ever wanted for her future. It meant their being forced together because of a baby—a copy of her childhood exactly.
He closed the distance between them, coming so close her heart raced—whether due to the attraction she couldn’t completely dismiss or the seriousness of their discussion, she couldn’t tell.
‘Call me old-fashioned, but my child—my heir—will not be born out of wedlock.’ His voice dripped with disdain as he towered over her. ‘You must decide, Serena—and right now. My plane is waiting.’
All sorts of scenarios rushed through her mind as he watched her, and she wondered if he could see them playing out. She saw her sister happy and content, with a baby in her arms. Saw her own child looking into its father’s eyes and smiling for the first time. These were things she could control just by accepting this bizarre proposal.
An image of herself in Nikos’s arms, being kissed with fiery passion, followed swiftly. The passion had existed once, but could it ever turn to love? Could he ever fall in love with her the way she’d fallen in love with him? If they could find that passion again, surely they could find love one day.
‘Serena?’ he said sternly, pushing her for a decision.
She wanted to rally against him, tell him she needed more time to think—but hadn’t she already done plenty of that? And yet if she said yes she’d be doing exactly what he’d suggested when he’d repeated what she’d said—anything to help her sister have a baby of her own.
She saw him draw in a breath of exasperation. Time was running out. If she said yes, went with him now, she would be buying more time to think.
‘Very well. We’ll do it your way.’
AS THEY ARRIVED in Athens Serena was still in a state of shock, unable to believe the man she’d fallen in love with could be so cruel.
After the private plane had whisked them from Santorini she’d fully expected a chauffeur-driven car to meet them at the airport, but one of the city’s many yellow taxis seemed to be what Nikos wanted.
During the flight she’d played Nikos’s words over and over in her mind, each time coming to the same conclusion. She had to accept his so-called deal—for her child and for her sister. She refused to admit that she hoped he might revert to being the man she’d first met and tell her what she most wanted to hear.
She looked across at him as they sat in the taxi. His profile was stern and unyielding. Could this man ever be the Nikos she loved? He looked at her, and even in the semi-darkness as they were driven through Athens at night she felt his icy cold glare.
Instantly she averted her gaze and looked out of the window, amazed by the sights and desperately wishing she wasn’t so tired, so confused.
‘It’s stunning—and so beautiful,’ she said as she caught sight of the Acropolis, lit up and standing proud on its rocky vantage point above the city, thankful for its distraction from thinking about the conversation they’d had in her hotel room.
It still hurt, and it proved he didn’t have any kind of feelings