Читать книгу Modern Romance November 2019 Books 5-8 - Dani Collins - Страница 16

MY SON.

I have a son.

My chest squeezed tight. The emotions tumbling through me were…indescribable.

Back on Bora Bora everything inside me had prompted me to accept Calypso at her word—accept that the child was mine. Only I’d made the mistake before of thinking I could manage her, that she was a victim when she was anything but. She was cunning. Intelligent and resourceful enough to disappear without a trace for a whole year.

And apparently to take what is mine with her.

The result of the paternity test spelled out in stark indelible ink confirmed that, in this at least, Calypso had spoken the truth. But swiftly on the heels of that knowledge came a mystifying mix of searing fury and heady delight—the former for what I’d been deprived of and the latter for the astounding gift I hadn’t even realised I wanted.

My son.

She kept him from me. Deliberately. Chose to leave my home and have my baby on her own, with no care as to what my feelings were in the matter. Why? Because I’d left her on Agistros? In the lap of the kind of luxury most people only dreamed about?

But did you give her any choice?

I swallowed the bite of guilt as my eyes locked on the paper.

Andreos.

Even as a part of my brain tested the name out and accepted that it fitted him my fingers were shaking with the enormity of everything I’d missed. Things I’d never have thought would matter suddenly assumed colossal importance.

His first cry.

His first smile.

His first laugh…

Did babies his age laugh? I’d been robbed of the opportunity to find out for myself.

I tossed the document away and stood. Sudden weakness in my legs stopped me from moving. One hand braced on the polished wood surface, I sucked in a deep breath, attempted to bring myself under control.

Control was essential. Over my erratic emotions. Over my wayward wife and over the belief that she should take such actions without consequence. To deprive me of my own flesh and blood…

Why?

The deeply visceral need to know straightened my spine.

I found her in the smallest living room—the room farthest from my study and the one she seemed to have commandeered for herself and Andreos since her return. He lay on a mat on the floor, his fists and legs pumping with abandon as Calypso crouched over him. A few toys were strewn nearby, momentarily forgotten as mother and son indulged in a staring game of some sort. One that amused Andreos…my son.

So babies his age did smile. They also returned their mother’s stare with rapt attention until they were tickled, then dissolved into heaps of laughter.

Something stirred raw and powerful within me as I stared into the eyes that had seemed familiar to me from the start, even as I cautioned myself against full acceptance. The feeling intensified as I watched Calypso’s utter devotion, saw the bond between mother and son, the unit I’d been excluded from.

The unit I wanted to belong to—

Sensing my presence, Calypso’s gaze flew to mine, then immediately shadowed.

Theos mou, was I really that frightful?

‘You can be.’

I dismissed the uncanny sound of Neo’s voice in my head.

Too bad. I’d given her four days to settle in. Four days of swimming in the uncharted waters of her re-entry into my life with a son…my son…in tow.

It took me but a moment to summon Sophia, one of several household staff who’d been infatuated with Andreos since his arrival.

To Calypso, I said, ‘We need to talk. Come with me. Sophia will look after Andreos.’

Her clear reluctance lasted for the moment it took for her to spot the piece of paper clutched in my fist. Then she slowly rose.

About to head back to my study, I changed my mind and headed up the stairs.

‘Where are we going?’

The hint of nervousness in her voice rankled further.

‘Where we won’t be disturbed,’ I replied as evenly as I could manage.

‘But…’

I stopped and turned. ‘Do you have a problem with being alone with me?’

The faintest flush crept into her cheeks, but her head remained high, her gaze bold. ‘Of course not.’

Truth be told, perhaps my suite wasn’t the best choice. Amongst everything I’d imagined might happen when I finally located my wayward wife, discovering that the chemistry that had set us aflame on our wedding night still blazed with unrelenting power was the last thing I’d expected.

The fact that I couldn’t look at the curve of her delicate jaw without imagining trailing my lips over her smooth skin, tasting the vitality of the pulse that beat at her throat or palming her now even more ample breasts was an unwelcome annoyance that nevertheless didn’t stop my mind from wandering where it shouldn’t.

Did unfettered pleasure still overtake her in that sizzling, unique way it had during our one coming together? Did she go out of her head with unbridled passion at the merest touch? If so, just who had been stoking that particular flame in her year-long absence?

It took every ounce of control I had to contain my searing jealousy at the thought. Answers to those questions would come later. This was too important.

Without stopping to further examine the wisdom of the venue, I made my way into the room.

She followed, making a point to avoid looking at the bed as she passed through into the private living room. From my position before the fireplace I watched her take a seat and neatly fold her hands in her lap. Had her pulse not been racing in her throat I would have been fooled by her complete serenity.

‘He’s mine.’

Just saying the words dragged earth-shaking emotion through me, robbing me of my next breath. That a small bundle could do that—

‘I told you he was.’

There was a new defiance in her demeanour, a quiet, fiery strength that had been there a year ago but had matured now.

‘I’ve never lied to you.’

‘Then what do you call this?’ I tossed the report on the coffee table.

She paled a little, her throat moving in another swallow. And why did I find that simple evidence that she felt something so riveting?

‘You were always going to know your son, Axios. I simply took a little time before informing you.’

Rejection seared deep. ‘No. I should’ve been informed the moment you found out you were carrying my child.’

‘Why? So we could discuss it like a loving married couple? Or so you could treat it as another business transaction, like our arranged marriage? I’m sure you’ll forgive me for choosing neither option, since the former was a farce and the latter was unpalatable.’

The accusation scored a direct hit, making my neck heat with another trace of guilt. Over the last year I’d gone over everything that had happened in those twenty-four hours. Accepted that perhaps I could’ve handled things differently. But was this the price I had to pay for it?

‘I had a right to know, Calypso.’ My voice emerged much gruffer than I’d intended. And deep inside me something like sorrow turned over.

Her lashes swept down, but not before I spotted the sea of turmoil swelling in the blue depths. My nape tightened and my instincts blared with the notion that she was hiding something.

‘What if I told you that I didn’t know what I wanted?’ she asked.

A white-hot knife sliced through me at the thought that it would have decimated me had she taken a different route than bearing my son.

‘Calypso…’

Her name sounded thick on my tongue. I waited until she raised her gaze to mine.

‘Yes?’

‘Regardless of this…disagreement between us, you will have my gratitude for choosing to carry our son for ever.’

Her eyes widened in stunned surprise. ‘Um…you’re welcome,’ she murmured.

Once again her gaze swept away from mine—a small gesture that disturbed and confounded me. And then that defiant bolt of blue clashed with mine and absurd anticipation simmered in my gut.

‘He’s here now. Can we not put what has gone on in the past behind us and move on?’

‘Certainly we can. As soon as you tell me what I want to know I’ll take great strides to put it all behind me.’

Again that mutinous look took her over, sparking my own need to tangle with it. To stoke her fire until we both burned.

‘Are you prepared to do that, Calypso?’

For several moments she held my gaze. Breath stalled, I awaited an answer…one answer…to quell the questions teeming inside me. But then that unnerving serenity settled on her face again.

‘It’s not important—’

‘Not important? You leave my home under cover of a blatant falsehood, then you disappear for a year, during which time you bear my son, and you think your absence isn’t important?’

‘Careful, Axios, or I’ll be inclined to wonder whether you actually missed the wife you bothered with for less than a day before walking away.’

I sucked in a stunned breath. A year ago she’d warned me that she wouldn’t be biddable. Discovering she was innocent had clouded that warning. But this kitten had well and truly developed claws. Sharp ones. I was tempted to test them. Intellectually and…yes…physically.

Unbidden, heat throbbed deep in my groin, stirring desires I’d believed were long dead until one glimpse of my wayward wife from a jetty in Bora Bora had fiercely reawakened them.

That unholy union of sexual tension and unanswered questions propelled me to where she sat, cloaked in secrets that mocked me.

Her slight tensing when I crouched in front of her unsettled me further, despite the fact that I should’ve been satisfied to see that she wasn’t wholly indifferent to me.

‘You want to know about the inconvenience your absence caused, Calypso?’

She remained silent.

‘Some newspaper hack got wind that my wife wasn’t in Agistros, enjoying her first weeks of marital bliss. Nor was she with friends, as she’d led everyone to believe. To all intents and purposes she seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth.’

A delicate frown creased her brows. ‘Why would that be of interest to anyone? Especially when you intended to banish me to Agistros for the duration of our arrangement anyway?’

‘You’re my wife. Everything you do is news. And appearing to have deserted your marriage was definitely newsworthy.’

She blinked. ‘Appearing to have?’

‘I have an outstanding PR team who’ve had to work tirelessly to put a lid on this.’

There was no hint of remorse on her sun-kissed face. Instead she looked irritated. ‘If you’ve managed to somehow spin my absence to suit our narrative then there’s no problem, is there?’

I allowed myself a small smile, one her gaze clung to with wary eyes. ‘You would like that, wouldn’t you? To escape every unpleasant fall-out from your actions?’

‘You don’t have the first idea of what I want, Axios.’

My name on her lips sent a punch of heat through me. Thinking back, I couldn’t recollect her ever saying it before Bora Bora. Not when she’d spat fire at me, not when she’d confessed her untouched state, and not when she’d been in the complete grip of passion. Certainly not when she’d asked me to take her with me to Athens.

There had been far too many times over the last year when I’d regretted not doing so—not because of that infernal hunger that had long outstayed its welcome, but simply because it would have curtailed her actions.

But the past was the past. There was still the future to deal with. And my new reality.

My son.

‘For the sake of probability, and if I were in the mood to grant wishes, what exactly would you want, matia mou?’

Wariness made her hesitate, but slowly defiance laced with something else pushed through. ‘I’d want a divorce. As soon as possible.’

Stunned disbelief rose in me like a monumental wave I’d once ridden on the North Shore, and then just as swiftly crashed on the beach of her sheer audacity and shock. It was all so very dramatic.

I couldn’t help it. I laughed.

Her pert little nose quivered as she inhaled sharply. ‘What’s so funny?’

Affront and defiance flushed her skin a sweet pink, drawing my attention to her alluring features. My wife was now all woman. An arrestingly feminine woman who’d just demanded…a divorce.

‘Why you, my dear, and your continued ability to surprise me.’

‘I’m glad you’re amused. But I’m deadly serious. I want a divorce.’

Humour evaporated as abruptly as it had arrived. Leaning forward, I grasped her upper arms and fought not to be distracted by her smooth supple skin or the need to caress her and reacquaint myself with her.

My once sound argument about staying away from her had backfired spectacularly. I’d left her on Agistros thinking that she’d be safe and I’d be saved from temptation. Look how that had turned out.

Even with sex off the table I should have kept her close. I could have prevented her fleeing. Instead I’d borne the subtle snipes of those who had been quick to point out my failure. Quick to compare me to my grandfather and test me to see whether I’d crack under the same pressure.

With Calypso gone I’d experienced a taste of what he’d gone through—sometimes even with members of my own family.

Now she was back…and asking for a divorce.

‘We seem to have veered a little off-track to be indulging in hypotheticals. You’ll recall that, according to the agreement, this marriage needs to last at least twelve months.’

‘Yes, I remember.’

‘Twelve ongoing months. Not twelve absentee months.’

She swallowed and my fingers moved, some compulsion driving me to glide my fingers up her neck, trace the colour flowing back into her cheeks. She made a sound under her breath, bearing a hint of those she’d made on our wedding night.

Before I could revel in it she pulled back abruptly. My hands dropped back to her arms.

‘My father hasn’t contested the agreement,’ she said.

‘So you took the time to check on his activities?’ Disgruntlement rumbled through me at the thought.

Her flush gave me my answer. ‘What are you saying, Axios?’

‘I’m saying the clock stopped the moment you walked out. But, fortunately for you, your father is no longer in the picture. For one thing he can’t prove that you’ve been an absentee wife—unless you apprised him of your intentions?’

‘No, I didn’t,’ she muttered, her eyes not quite meeting mine.

I’d long suspected that while she might have avoided contact with her father, her mother was a different story. But Iona Petras had remained resolutely closed-lipped about the whereabouts of her daughter.

‘Good—then the ball, as they say, is in my court.’

She met my gaze boldly, read my clear intent and gasped. ‘You mean you have the power to give me a divorce but…?’ Her voice dried up, a telling little shiver racing through her body.

‘But I won’t, sweet Calypso. Not until a few things are set straight.’

‘What things?’

‘For starters, my PR company didn’t make all the problems go away. While I frustrated the news media enough to make them chase other headlines, my competitors and my business partners were another story. Your absence fuelled enough rumours about instability to stall my latest deal.’

A peculiar expression that resembled hurt crossed her face. ‘So this is about stocks and shares again?’

The disparaging note in her voice grated. ‘Why? Did you want it to be something more?’

She stiffened. ‘No.’

Her firm, swift denial rankled, but again I dismissed it. ‘There will be no divorce. Not until I’m completely satisfied that there will be no permanent fall-out from your actions. And not until we’ve thoroughly discussed the impact this will have on Andreos.’

She stiffened. ‘Does it occur to you that I might be doing this for him? That this arrangement might not be the best environment for him?’

‘Then we will strive to make it so. You’ll get your divorce, if you wish it. It could be as early as a month from now or it could be the year you were supposed to give me. In that time, wherever I go, you and my son will go also. He will be your priority. But when called upon you will be at my side at public functions and you will play the role of a devoted wife. And you will do all of that without the smallest hint that there’s dissent between us.’

Her sweet, stubborn chin lifted in a clear defiance. ‘And if I don’t? What’s to stop me giving the newspapers what they want? Telling them the true state of this so-called marriage?’

Why did her rebellion fire me up so readily? In truth, very few people got to display such attitude towards me. Neo tried me at the best of times, but even he knew when to back down. The rest of my family fell in line, because ultimately I held the purse strings.

But it seemed my errant wife’s fiery spirit turned me on. Made me want to burn in the fire of it.

I caught her chin in my hand, my thumb moving almost of its own volition to slide over the dark rose swell of her lower lip. She shivered, this time unable to disguise her arousal. I intensified the caress, a little too eager to see how far she was truly affected. Blue eyes held mine for another handful of seconds before they dropped. But her breathing grew more erratic, her pulse hammering against the silken skin of her throat.

I held still, my groin rudely awakening as the little eddy of lust whipped faster, threatened to turn into a cyclone.

‘You really wish to defy me? You think that now you and your family have received what they want they can simply sit back and enjoy the spoils of their ill-gotten gains? Do you think that I will let you get away with it?’

She glared blue fire at me. ‘I won’t be ordered about, Axios. I won’t be dictated to like one of your minions!’

‘I would never mistake you for a minion. But a little hellcat, intent on sinking her claws into me? Definitely.’

For a charged moment she returned my stare. Then her gaze dropped to my lips.

A sort of madness took over. A breathless second later our lips met in a fiery clash, the hot little gasp she gave granting me access to the sharp tongue that seemed intent on creating havoc with my mood and my libido.

Caught in the grip of hunger, I slicked my tongue against hers, took hold of one hip to hold her in place. She attempted to smother her moan, attempted not to squirm with the arousal I could already sense. I needed more. Needed confirmation of…something. Something that bore a hint of the torrid dreams that had plagued me almost nightly for a solid year. Something to take away the disarming hollowness that had resided in me since I’d got the call in New York that my wife had fled Agistros.

My teeth grazed the tip of her tongue when it attempted to issue a challenge. This time she couldn’t hold back her moan. Couldn’t stop herself from straining against me, from gasping her need.

And when she did I took. Savoured. Then devoured.

Her moans fuelled my desire, and the scramble of her hands over my chest, then around to my back facilitated the urgent need to lay her on the sofa so I could slide over her, to once again experience the heady sensation of having Calypso beneath me.

Her nails dug in deeper as I lowered myself over her, felt the heavy swell of her breasts press again my chest. The recollection that she’d borne my child, that she still nurtured him, was a powerful aphrodisiac that charged through me and hardened me in the most profoundly carnal way.

Could I get any more primitive?

Yes, my senses screamed.

The deepening urge to claim and keep what was mine thundered harder through me, drawing me away from the naked temptation of her lips to the seductive smoothness of her throat, her vibrant pulse, the exquisite valley between her breasts.

It took but a moment to slide the thin sleeve of her sundress off her shoulder, to release the front clasp and nudge aside the cup of her bra to bare her delicious flesh to my ravenous gaze. To mould the plump mound in anticipation of drawing that stiff, rosy peak into my mouth.

Beneath me, Calypso’s breath caught. Her eyes turned a dark blue with the same fiery lust that was causing carnage within me, then snapped to mine and stayed there.

Slowly, with an ultra-feminine arching of her back that held me deeply enthralled, she offered herself to me, somehow turning the tables on me. Because for all that this was supposed to be a punitive lesson, a way to remind her who held the power now, after her actions had swung the tide to my advantage, I was caught in a vortex of desire so voracious I couldn’t have stopped even if I’d wanted to.

So I lowered my head and with a powerless groan sucked the bud into my mouth.

Savage hunger exploded inside me, all my senses lost as her fingers locked in my hair and held me to my delightful task.

‘Oh… Theos mou,’ she gasped.

The memory of our one night together, of her unreserved responsiveness and the unique way she’d expressed her pleasure, sharpened my hunger, sparking a desire to relive that experience. I slid one hand beneath her body, urged her even closer. She answered by arching higher, offering more of herself to me.

‘Tell me what you’re feeling,’ I urged thickly, aware that my voice was hoarse, barely intelligible.

She froze, the eyes that had rolled shut mere seconds ago flying open.

Watching her, I lazily caught that peak between my teeth, felt a carnal shudder unravel through her. ‘You taste exquisite.’

Arousal and denial warred in her face, and then her fingers flew from my hair as small but effective hands pushed at my shoulders. ‘No! Stop!’

For a moment I considered a different tactic. Negotiation. Talking her round to my way of thinking. Satisfying this need that dogged us both. But hadn’t my family and I given the Petrases enough in this lifetime? This was supposed to be the time to extract my pound of flesh after what they’d done to my grandfather. Besides, sex was what had led us here in the first place. Was I really going to fall into the well of temptation I’d counselled myself against a year ago when I should be dealing with the reality of my son?

The reminder was enough to propel me off her and across the room. Even then it took several control-gathering breaths to master my raging libido. It didn’t help that her reflection in the window showed her naked breasts for another handful of seconds before she righted her clothes.

When she was done, she rose. She didn’t approach—which was a good thing, because I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t have given in to the urge to finish what we’d started.

‘Axios…’

I gritted my teeth, the discovery that my name on her lips was its own special brand of hell driving my fingers through my hair.

This had gone on long enough. ‘This is no longer purely business, Calypso. I want to know my son.’

I caught another expression on her face—one that sent a different type of emotion charging through me.

I turned around, wanting to verify it more accurately, but whatever it was had gone, her face a composed mask.

‘Of course. I won’t stand in the way of that.’

Why didn’t that agreement satisfy me?

Why did that hollowness still remain?

‘Good. Then we shelve discussion of divorce until further notice.’

That gruff, shaken tone was gone. It was almost as if that little display of emotion over his son had never happened. As if the wild little tumble on the sofa less than five minutes ago was already a distant memory.

But, no…there were tell-tale signs. Signs I didn’t want to notice. Like how deliciously tousled his dark, luxuriously wavy hair was now, courtesy of my restless fingers. How colour still rose in his chiselled cheekbones.

And that definitive bulge behind his fly—

With a willpower that threatened to sap the last of my composure I averted my gaze from the pillar of temptation he represented, and reminded myself why we were here in the first place. Dear heaven. I needed to be done with this before the desire I’d believed eroded by distance and absence made a complete fool of me.

‘I need your word, Calypso.’

The implacable demand centred my thoughts. Reminded me that this wasn’t over. Contrary to what I’d believed, twelve months of living apart from him had done nothing to lessen my sentence. I was back to square one, with a child to think about.

A child Axios fully intended to claim.

‘Where exactly does Andreos feature in your grand plan?’ I asked, belatedly focusing on the most precious thing in my life. On safeguarding his welfare before I embarked on fighting for my survival.

Axios’s head went back, as if the question offended him. ‘He is my son. He will be brought up under our care with the full benefit of the Xenakis name at his disposal for as long as he needs it.’

Through all of this I’d held on to the secret fear that Andreos might suffer. Over the past year I’d meticulously researched the Xenakis dynasty, with Andreos’s needs at the forefront of my mind.

Outwardly, they appeared a close unit—but, as with most super-wealthy and influential families, rumours of acrimony abounded. Once or twice it had been rumoured that Axios’s status as CEO had been challenged by a daring cousin or uncle. None had succeeded, of course.

‘You give me your word that you’ll protect Andreos, no matter what?’

‘Of course. I vow it.’ His voice was deep and solemn and immediate.

Relief weakened my knees, and for some absurd reason I wanted to throw my arms around him. ‘Thank you.’

His frown deepened, speculation narrowing his eyes. I turned away before he could read my anxiety. Now wasn’t the time to think about my precarious health…about the tough road ahead. About the battle my grandmother had fought against cervical cancer and eventually lost.

And it certainly wasn’t the time to dwell on the fact that the pain in my abdomen remained, its presence edging into my consciousness with each passing day.

‘Possible cancer… Prognosis uncertain if you choose to keep your baby…’

Dr Trudeau’s words broke free from the vault I’d kept them in. Along with the frighteningly easy decision I’d made to keep my baby for as long as I could instead of chasing risky surgery. The tearful gratitude for every day Andreos had nestled in my womb, growing despite the unknown threat to his life and mine.

And his sweet cry the moment he was born.

I’d learned quickly that for my son’s sake I needed to compartmentalise. His keen intelligence and sensitivity, even at such a tender age, had focused me on giving him my very best—always. But giving him my best included fighting to remain in his life. Even if I had to temporarily entrust him to Axios in order to do so.

‘Do you agree?’ Axios pressed, his gaze probing mercilessly.

‘I’ll give you what you want on one condition. Take it or leave it.’

After a moment he jerked his head in command for me to continue.

‘I’ll stay until your precious deal is done. On condition that you don’t attempt to interfere in my relationship with my son.’

‘What gives you the impression that I’d wish to do anything of the sort?’

My shrug fell short of full efficiency under his heavy frown. ‘It’s been known to happen.’

‘Who? Your father?’

I could have denied it, kept up the years-long pretence. But time was too precious to waste on falsehoods. So I nodded. ‘Yes.’

Axios moved towards me, his frown a dark cloud. ‘What did he do to you?’

I hesitated now, because on the flipside I didn’t want to bare my all to him. The desire to continue living on my own terms hadn’t diminished an iota since my return to Greece. And even if I intended to agree to Axios’s demands I would always keep one small corner of my life free from his interference.

‘He manipulated every relationship I ever had in some way. I don’t want that to happen with Andreos.’

The grey gaze boring into mine stated blatantly that he wanted more. Mine declared I’d given him all I intended to.

‘I’ve seen you with Andreos. He thrives under your care. I’d be a fool to jeopardise that.’

Before I could breathe my relief he stepped closer, bringing that bristling magnificence into touching distance. I balled fingers that tingled with the need to feel his vibrant skin under my touch again.

‘You have my word I will not interfere. Will you give me yours?’

Again I was mildly stunned that it was a question rather than a declaration. But the searing reminder that giving in to one emotion around Axios was simply the gateway to a flood of other sensations I needed to keep a tight leash on, had me swallowing the desire.

‘I will stay for as long as it takes to give you what you need,’ I offered.

He accepted it with a simple nod, as if it was nothing to celebrate. And perhaps in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t. We were picking up where we’d left off with the added inconvenience of needing to put out more fires than he’d initially anticipated.

After several skin-tingling moments during which he simply stared at me, as if probing beneath my defences to read my secrets, I twisted away, eager to escape those all-seeing eyes.

‘I need to get back to Andreos.’

‘We’re not quite done, Calypso.’

About to ask what else we needed to talk about, I felt my tight throat close even further when he stepped closer. His scent curled around me, reminding me of what had happened on the sofa a short while ago. Had things really got out of hand so quickly? My body still hummed with unspent energy, and my heart hadn’t quite settled into its steady cadence.

‘I’ll come with you to visit my son.’

The throb of possessiveness in his voice sent my senses flaring wide with warning. What exactly that warning was refused to surface as we left his suite.

As it turned out it wasn’t necessary to return to the ground floor. Sophia was carefully navigating the stairs, with a sleepy Andreos in her arms. We followed her as she entered the opposite wing of the villa, where a nursery had been set up by a team of designers on the first day of my return.

Seeing us, she smiled. ‘We played for a while, but I think he’s ready for his nap, kyria,’ she said softly.

The sight of Andreos fighting a losing battle to stay awake drew a smile from my heart. Handing him over to Sophia even for such a short while had made my heart ache. I knew it would be a million times worse when I had to leave, but somehow I trusted Axios with his care. Sophia’s clear devotion to him was an added bonus.

I reached out for him but Axios stepped forward.

‘Do you mind?’ The demand was gruff but gentle.

In stunned surprise I nodded. Still smiling, Sophia handed son over to father and discreetly melted away.

The sight of Axios holding his son for the first time shouldn’t have brought a thick lump to my throat. The sight of his strong, powerful arms carefully cradling my baby, his throat moving in a convulsive swallow, shouldn’t have fired a soul-deep yearning through my body. A yearning for things to be different. For fate not to be so cruel.

Why? Did I wish for things to be different between Axios and I?

Absolutely not.

As for other yearnings—hadn’t I already been granted more than enough? I’d prayed for a healthy son and been given the child of my heart. I’d prayed for a little more time and had enjoyed almost four beautiful months.

But the thought of leaving him, even to fight for my health—

‘What’s wrong?’

I jumped, my gaze rising to see Axios watching me.

‘Am I holding him wrong?’

The touch of uncertainty in his voice caught a warm spot inside me and loosened another smile from me as I approached, unable to stop myself from reaching out, kissing Andreos’s forehead and cheek, breathing in his sweet and innocent scent.

‘No, you’re not doing anything wrong.’

Grey eyes so very similar to his son’s dropped to the now sleeping Andreos, and his chest slowly expanded in a long breath before he headed over to the brand-new, state-of-the-art cot set out for our baby.

With the utmost care he transferred Andreos from his arms to the cot, barely eliciting any protest from him. Arms thrown up beside his head in angelic abandon, Andreos slept on as his father draped a soft cotton blanket over him, drew a gentle finger down his cheek and straightened.

Still smiling, I glanced over at Axios—and my heart leapt into my throat. Gone was the gentle look he’d bestowed on his son. In its place was a bleak visage full of loss and yearning that made me gasp. Made that pulse of guilt rise again.

The sound drew his attention to me. When he took hold of my arm and steered me out of earshot I tried to think past the naked tingles his touch brought. To think how I could contain the relentless waves of turbulent emotion bent on consuming us.

‘I’d like answers to a few questions, Calypso. If you feel so inclined?’ he rasped.

Seeing no way to avoid it without collapsing the agreement I’d struck, I nodded.

His hand dropped to my wrist. ‘We’ll discuss this further over lunch.’

Lunch was an extensive selection of meze fit for a small banquet—not the intimate setting for two laid out on one of the three sun-splashed terraces.

Axios must have spotted my surprise as he pulled out my chair because he shrugged. ‘I didn’t know your preferences so I instructed the chef to prepare a large selection.’

‘Oh…thank you.’

His gaze rested on me as he lowered himself into his own chair. ‘Again, you sound surprised. Believe it or not I want things to go as smoothly as possible for both of us.’

The knowledge that this included simple things such as what I ate widened the warm pool swelling inside me. Even cautioning myself that it was foolish to entertain such a sensation didn’t do anything to stem it as I helped myself to pitta bread and tzatziki, feta cheese and chickpea salad and succulent vine leaves stuffed with lamb and cucumber.

‘Where was Andreos born?’

His deep voice throbbed with one simple emotion—a hunger to know. And for the very first time since my decision to live life on my terms, twelve long months ago, I experienced a deep stirring of guilt.

But along with that came a timely warning not to divulge everything. Knowledge was power to men like Axios. Men like my father. And every precious uninterrupted moment with my son was as vital to me as the breath in my lungs.

Although in the past four days since my return, Axios had seemed a little more…malleable. While the man who’d laid down the law and walked away from me in Agistros still lurked in there somewhere, this Axios tended to ask more and command less.

But still I carefully selected the bits of information that wouldn’t connect too many dots for him and replied, ‘He was born in a small clinic in Kenya, where I was volunteering. He came a week early, but there were no complications and the birth was relatively easy.’

He didn’t answer. Not immediately. The glass of red wine he was drinking with his meal remained cradled in his hand and his expression reflective and almost…yearning as he stared into the middle distance.

‘I would’ve liked to be there,’ he rasped. ‘Very much.’

The warm pool inside me grew hotter, turning into a jet of feeling spiralling high with emotions I needed to wrestle under control before they got out of hand.

But even as the warning hit hard I was opening my mouth, uttering words I shouldn’t. ‘One of the nurses filmed the birth…if you’d like to see it?’

What are you doing sharing your most precious moments with him?

He’s Andreos’s father.

Axios inhaled sharply, the glass discarded as he stared fiercely at me. ‘You have a video?’

I jerked out a nod. ‘Yes. Would you—?’

‘Yes.’ The word was bullet-sharp, and the cadence of his breathing altered as his gaze bored into me. ‘Yes. Very much,’ he repeated.

For the longest time we remained frozen, our gazes locked in a silent exchange I didn’t want to examine or define. Soon it morphed into something else. Something equally intimate. Twice as dangerous.

Perhaps it was in the molten depths of his eyes, or in the not so secret wish to relive what had happened upstairs ramping up that ever-present chemistry. Whatever it was, we’d brought it alive on that sofa and now it sat between us, a writhing wire ready to sizzle and electrify and burn at the smallest hint of weakening.

Forcing my brain back on track didn’t help. Hadn’t we been discussing childbirth? The product of what had happened in a bedroom the last time we were both present in one.

‘I’ll let you have the recording after lunch,’ I blurted, then picked up my water glass and drank simply to distract myself.

From the corner of my eye I watched him lounge back in his seat, although his body still held that coil of tension that never dissipated.

After a moment he picked up his glass and drained it. ‘Efkharisto,’ he murmured. ‘Now, on to other things. Arrangements are being made to equip you with a new wardrobe. My mother tells me the things you left behind are hopelessly out of date.’

I frowned, the change of subject from the soul-stirring miracle of Andreos’s birth to the mundanity of high fashion throwing me for a few seconds. ‘I don’t need a new wardrobe.’

‘Perhaps not—but might I suggest you let the stylists come anyway? Who knows? You might find something you like for our first engagement on Saturday,’ he replied.

The last tendrils of yearning had left his voice, to be replaced by the cadence I knew best. One of powerful mogul. Master of all he surveyed. Despite the pleasant heat of the sun a cool breeze whispered over my skin, bringing me harshly back to earth.

‘What’s happening on Saturday?’

‘It’s been four days since you returned. It’s time we presented you properly to the world. My mother has organised a party in your honour. She was unwell when we married last year, and couldn’t make it to the ceremony. She’s anxious to meet you. And, of course, she’s yet to meet her grandson. Call this a belated welcome, if you will, but several business acquaintances will be there, so it’s imperative that everything goes smoothly.’

‘Is it really necessary to parade me before your friends and family?’

‘I think it’s best to put the rumours to rest once and for all. Then we can concentrate on our son.’

While his attention to Andreos warmed my heart, the prospect of being paraded before his family and business didn’t. ‘And how do you propose we do that? Is there a storyline I need to follow, chapter and verse?’

He smiled as if the thought of playing out a role so publicly was water off his back. ‘Leave that to me,’ he stated cryptically. ‘All I require from you is to present a picture-perfect image of loving wife and mother. I trust I can count on you to do that?’

For the sake of uninterrupted bonding with my son I would go to hell and back. ‘Yes.’

Perhaps my agreement was too quick. Perhaps the depth of feeling behind it was too revealing. Whatever, his gaze grew contemplative, stayed fixed on me.

And when he walked away, moments after the meal was done, I got the distinct feeling there were more bumps and curves on this peculiar road I’d taken than I’d initially realised.