doesn’t matter.’ His anger slashed the stillness. ‘What matters now is the future of these islands, and that’s nothing to do with you. There are bigger issues. The islanders are enraged. Giorgos and Mia have bled the place dry. I can do nothing to help and I’m stuck with this baby.’
I’m stuck with this baby…
She hadn’t known what power he had to hurt her until this moment. Something inside her died, right then.
He was Michales’s father. I’m stuck with this baby…
It didn’t matter. She had to get the baby away.
‘So…so what happens now?’ she whispered.
‘I try and figure a way out of this mess,’ he said wearily, as if repeating a tale he was tired of telling. ‘The easiest thing to do would be to walk away, but if I do the monarchy will crumble. That’d be a disaster. Giorgos has borrowed to the hilt and most of the island is forfeit if we default. As Prince Regent, I can try and get the economy on its feet. I can service those loans and try to get the land titles back.’
‘You can do that?’
‘I can try,’ he said grimly. ‘Do I have a choice?’
‘You’d rather be King,’ she said and received another flash of anger.
‘What do you think?’ he demanded. ‘I’d like to be King like Giorgos was King? Oh, I’d like his powers. If I was King or Crown Prince instead of Prince Regent, I could restructure the loans and sell royal assets overseas. Did you know Giorgos has properties in Paris, in New York, in London? All over the world. Sold, they’d be worth billions. They’d keep the islanders safe, but as Regent my hands are tied. And your presence helps nothing. Go home, Lily. I don’t need another problem.’
‘But what happens to Michales?’
‘He’ll be cared for. Please leave.’
Dear God…
How could she explain things to him when he looked at her as he did now? And would explanations help? If he knew the truth and still made her leave…
She daren’t risk it.
Confused, she gazed again at the sleeping baby. That this tiny bundle of perfection could be the result of loving this man…
There was no tenderness now. Alex’s voice was implacable. ‘Go away, Lily,’ he said again, his voice lowering to a growled threat. ‘With the way the islanders are feeling, if you show yourself outside these grounds you’ll be lucky to avoid being horsewhipped.’
‘I’m not to blame for what Mia’s done.’
‘You’re her sister. I have to think you know her better than we do.’
‘I hardly know her,’ she whispered, touching the soft baby cheek again. There were so many conflicting emotions playing here. ‘Alexandros…’
‘I don’t think you understand. There is no discussion. You need to leave.’ His face was stern. Impersonal.
The man she’d once thought she loved had disappeared.
But what was at stake here wasn’t a relationship. It couldn’t be. What was at stake was her baby. The passion she’d once felt for Alex had to be put aside. It was a memory only, she told herself. It had no basis in fact.
‘I want a say in how Michales is raised.’ Good, she thought. She’d said it. Maybe in time she’d even manage to tell him the truth. Only not now. Not today, when she felt weak and bereft and torn.
‘It’s up to your sister to agree to your access,’ Alexandros told her. ‘If she takes back the role of mother, then of course you can take on the role of aunt.’
‘I want more.’
‘You can’t have more. My people have been betrayed by what your sister has done.’
‘So they hate me?’
‘They don’t know you. But you look like her. So no, you can’t have access. Contact your sister instead. Drum some sense into her. Make her be a mother.’
‘And meanwhile…’ she swallowed ‘…will you be a father to Michales?’
‘Are you joking?’ He shook his head in disbelief. ‘I didn’t like his father and I can’t abide his mother. I’ll make sure there are good people raising him, but he’s nothing to do with me.’
‘So he’ll be raised how you were raised?’
‘How the hell do you know how I was raised?’
‘You told me, Alex,’ she said flatly and he stared at her.
‘I must have,’ he conceded at last. ‘That one night…I hardly remember.’
It needed only that. A night that had changed her world, and he hardly remembered.
‘Look, what is this?’ he demanded. ‘Lily, we slept together but you left the next morning without even a goodbye. Why bring it up again now? I have to think you got what you wanted.’ He sighed again, looking weary of the whole business. Weary of her. ‘I’ll see you get reports of the baby’s progress—even though your sister says she doesn’t want anything to do with him. That’s all I can do.’
‘But he’s your…’
She couldn’t say it. A maid was standing in the doorway, looking anxious. Looking at Lily in recognition.
‘Your Highness, you’re wanted downstairs,’ the girl said to Alex, but she was still staring at Lily. ‘I remember you,’ she said. ‘You’re the Queen’s sister.’
‘I know I’m wanted,’ Alex said grimly. ‘I was just saying goodbye to Miss McLachlan.’
‘Are you leaving, miss?’ the girl asked, looking confused.
‘I suppose I am,’ Lily said, fighting back tears. ‘But…I need to spend some time with Michales. Just a little.’
‘Take as much time as you want,’ Alex agreed, his tone once again implacable. ‘Cradle him all night if you want. See if you can make up for his lack of mothering. But you’ll stay out of sight of my guests, and you’ll leave by tomorrow morning. Goodbye, Lily. Get off my island. You can return with your sister or not at all.’
And, without another word, he wheeled and walked out of the room, leaving her staring after him.
Feeling ill.
‘Did someone give you the letter?’ the maid asked tentatively across the silence.
‘Letter?’
‘The Queen…your sister left only yesterday.’ There was awe in the girl’s voice, as if she still couldn’t believe such scandal. ‘She told me you were expected.’ She crossed to the vast marble fireplace and lifted
