it had been easier that way?
Her job as a travel writer wasn’t in the league of working for the national tabloids, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t use a story if it presented itself. He’d been extra-careful that she didn’t find out who he really was, having had enough of press speculation over his business dealings, as well as over his constant succession of female companions.
If he’d known Serena’s profession before their first amazing night together he might have been able to walk away, instead of being snared by her innocence and drawn in too deep towards something he’d always resisted.
To his sceptical mind there was only one reason she was here on the island, demanding to see him instead of simply calling. After believing she was different from all the other women he’d dated, she’d proved him wrong. She was here to use his wealth in order to secure her future and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. His deal for Adonia Cruise Liners could be lost if her story got out.
He swore aggressively, but the words did not ease the suspicion that filled him. Irritated, he marched from the windows to his desk, stabbing at the buttons on the phone. The calm enquiry of his PA cut through the rage of his emotions and he forced them back under control. How could Serena ruffle his equanimity so spectacularly even when she wasn’t in his company?
‘Organise my plane. I need to go to Santorini this afternoon.’
The Greek words were fluid and assertive as control flooded through him once more, but his anger towards Serena and the situation didn’t abate. Suspicion surfaced again. Why had she chosen now to come back? What did she want?
Did she know he was in the final and delicate negotiation stages of acquiring a cruise company? Expanding his shipping beyond freight and into the world of luxury cruises? It would make him CEO of the biggest shipping company in Greece. He didn’t need the added complications she might bring with her. Not now—not ever.
Despite the looming deal, his mind was drawn to back to Serena: vivacious, happy and utterly gorgeous. She’d made him want things he couldn’t have. The fact that no other man had ever made love to her—that she’d given him her virginity—had complicated the issue, and he’d forced himself to say goodbye, turning his back on what they’d briefly shared. Because of his past it was impossible to make an emotional commitment—even if he wanted to. Never again would he be that vulnerable.
Nikos took a deep breath and strode to the window, watching as a large cruise liner docked with an ease belying its size. Beyond that several container ships waited on the horizon, but the familiar sense of fulfilment from seeing the reality of his hard work and dreams out at sea didn’t come. Nothing before had ever taken the edge off standing at his window and looking at all he’d achieved, but right now his mind was elsewhere, unable to focus on anything other than the memory of the slender redhead who for two weeks had driven him wild with desire.
He could still see her pale face, and the green eyes that had always sparkled with life like the sea beneath the dazzling sun. Her silky hair, as red as autumn leaves, had begged his fingers to slide through it. Each smile had invited his kisses so tantalisingly.
The last words he’d said to her forged forward in his memory—as did the image of her standing on the beach, dusting sand from her clothes, her face flushed from the passion that had engulfed them so spectacularly that evening. He should have had more control, more restraint, but she’d made that impossible. Just holding her in his arms, feeling her curves against his body and her soft lips beneath his, had been too much temptation.
Had that been what she’d intended? He balled his hands into tight fists of frustration, hearing again his words that night, harsh and unyielding, breathing life into the worst scenario as he’d made his position clear.
‘If there are consequences of what has just happened you will tell me.’
He’d put stern emphasis on those last words and could still see her face paling beneath his hard gaze. As she’d looked up at him the desire burning in her eyes had slipped away faster than the setting sun. He’d spoken in a stern and uncompromising tone, but with his past snapping at his heels he’d been unable to think rationally, furious that passion had got the better of him, making him break his cardinal rule of always being in control.
He couldn’t blame her for running from him that night. He’d been furious at her—but mostly at himself.
Since the day she’d left he’d yearned for her, wanted her in his arms at night, but he had held firm to the resolute silence that had existed between them. As weeks had turned to months he’d hoped his fear of consequences of their night on the beach was unfounded.
Now, three months after that heated night under the stars, she was back. His heart slammed harder in his chest at the implications of her visit. She might have left it too long to tell him, and almost certainly had ulterior motives, but there was only one reason she was back and he had to face the fact.
She was carrying his child.
* * *
Serena’s heart thumped hard as she waited on the beach, with the day ebbing faster than the tide. Where was Nikos? Would he come?
The rhythmic rush of the waves over the sand did little to calm her.
During her flight from London thoughts of the amazing two weeks they’d spent together had been overshadowed by her accidental discovery of Nikos’s true identity only minutes before she’d boarded the plane. The man she’d fallen in love with was far from the humble fisherman he’d described himself as being all those months ago. She’d been sitting in the departure lounge and Nikos’s image had flashed across the news app on her phone, with a story speculating on the Greek shipping billionaire’s involvement in an aggressive takeover bid.
Nikos was a shipping billionaire?
She’d chosen to fly out to Santorini believing that he had very little money, but that he at least deserved to be given her news in person. Her shocking discovery, moments before she’d boarded her flight, had changed everything. Angry and betrayed, all she wanted now was to upset Nikos’s profitable little world and turn it upside down—just as he’d done hers.
As she stood on the beach the bravado she’d built up during the flight threatened to desert her. He would know exactly why she was here, but it didn’t make what she had to tell him any easier—whoever he was. He didn’t want ‘consequences’, as he had so nicely put it, and of that she was certain.
The tiny stirrings of hope she’d allowed to grow...that they might have a future together...had been crushed completely. A man like Nikos—a billionaire—would most certainly wash his hands of her.
Instinctively she placed her palm protectively over her stomach and the new life within. What if Nikos didn’t come? She’d wanted him to acknowledge that their passionate holiday affair had resulted in pregnancy. Now she wasn’t so sure. Did she want a man like that in her life? In her child’s life?
How could he have deceived her? She despised liars, having lived in the shadow of lies all her life.
She scoured her memory for that last night on the island. The gentle, loving fisherman she’d fallen in love with had changed drastically, showing a new and unfamiliar side, when he’d realised what might come of their spontaneous lovemaking.
It should have been just a goodbye kiss—one she could keep in her memory when she’d returned to her life in England. She’d known he didn’t want more, and had accepted it, wanting to experience love for the first time in the arms of a man who demanded nothing—the man she loved. But they’d both lost control as passion had claimed them, neither caring about anything other than the desire that had raged between them like wildfire, engulfing everything in its path.
A flurry of panic rose up again. She hadn’t told anyone yet—not even her family. She couldn’t bear to see their reactions, knowing she’d let them down. Her sister knew of her brief romance with Nikos, but she hadn’t found the courage to tell her about the baby—not now,