it of these confusing thoughts.
‘I hope you’re not shaking your head because you wish to deny me your company?’
I attempted to control my bewildering thoughts before turning towards another one of Ax’s cousins.
At my blank look he said, ‘I’m Stavros. We met earlier.’
I nodded, attempted to smile. ‘Hello.’
His smile was reserved, but genuine. I found myself wishing for another smile. One that was edged in sizzling grey. I was really losing it.
‘Having fun?’
I shrugged. ‘I’m in a room full of some of the most powerful people on earth, sipping champagne and enjoying the status of hostess with the mostest. What’s not to love?’
As with most of the Xenakis clan, his expression grew speculative. ‘You sound…distressed. Is everything all right?’
About to answer, I looked across the room to where Ax had been talking to the trade minister moments ago. He was staring directly at me, as if he could see to the heart of my jumbled emotions.
That he could do that from across the room panicked me and irked me. Nevertheless, I had to hold on to what was important. And that was Andreos. Regardless of my personal situation, I couldn’t afford for anything to jeopardise my time with my child.
With a deep breath, I forced a smile and turned to Stavros. ‘I’m absolutely fine, Stavros. Sorry if I sounded a little off. Chalk it up to missing my baby.’
‘Ah, a little separation anxiety, ne? As the father of young children, I remember that state well, too.’
‘Yes… Speaking of which, would you mind excusing me? I’d like to call and check on him.’
This time Stavros’s smile was a little tight. ‘Of course. But I hope you’ll honour me with a dance when you return?’
For some reason his request made me glance at Ax. He was once again engrossed in conversation with a clutch of men who were no doubt hanging on his every word.
That spark of rebellion returned and I answered Stavros’s smile. ‘Maybe. We’ll see…’
Excusing myself, I wove through the crowd, my pinned-on smile beginning to fray a little more at the edges every time I was stopped by a well-meaning guest wishing to very belatedly congratulate me on my marriage and Andreos’s birth, while subtly probing for cracks in my demeanour.
True to his word, Axios had taken care of all the speculation and chosen the most direct explanation for my absence.
‘My wife wished to have a peaceful pregnancy and took the time she needed to safely deliver our son.’
Only the most daring would choose to probe my absence after that.
All evening I’d watched him hold court, effortlessly exuding power and charm over hardcore businessmen and moguls I’d only read about in the newspapers.
And while the wedding last year and the family gathering earlier had already shown me his authority and charisma, watching him speak to and mingle with some of the most influential people in the world truly rammed home to me the almost frightening power he wielded.
He was a powerful man whom my father had managed to bend to his will. A man whose reputation I’d put in jeopardy with my disappearing act.
Had I been fooling myself by striking a deal with him?
Enough! Running rings around my decisions was futile.
I stepped out onto the thankfully empty terrace of the grand hotel ballroom and called Sophia. Reassured that all was well, my thoughts flew as they often did when I thought of Andreos to the battle that awaited me. To the fear that my time with him would be cut short.
My hand dropped to linger over my stomach, to the dull ache residing deep inside…
‘Are you all right?’ Axios demanded with a gravel-rough voice.
I jumped and whirled around, hastily dropping my hand when his gaze moved to it. ‘You’re spying on me now?’
He sauntered towards me. ‘I came to check on you because I didn’t want you to feel neglected. And I haven’t forgotten that you fled your marriage after one day and didn’t return for a year,’ he returned with sizzling fire.
‘Because you were happy to leave me alone on your island without a care for what I wanted. Have you forgotten that? Did it even occur to you that I might want a different life for myself other than what you chose for me?’
For the longest time he didn’t reply. Then, ‘That was an error in judgement. One I regret,’ he intoned solemnly.
The unequivocal apology had the same effect as the one earlier. My jaw dropped. ‘You…do?’
‘Ne,’ he drawled.
For another charged moment he stared at me. Then his gaze dropped to my phone.
Almost dazedly I stared at it. ‘You can stand down your spies. I was simply calling Sophia to check on my son.’
A deeply possessive look glinted in his eyes. ‘He’s our son, pethi mou. Yours and mine and no one else’s.’
The very idea of Andreos being anyone else’s child but Axios’s was so profoundly impossible I almost laughed out loud. And then that notion faded under the weight of the electrified atmosphere crackling between us. The feeling of being caught on the edge of a lightning storm that never quite went away.
It didn’t take a genius to see that Axios was in an equally edgy mood.
Attempting to dissipate it, I waved the phone at him. ‘He’s fine, by the way. According to Sophia, he went down without a fuss.’
Axios shrugged. ‘He’s almost four months old. I believe that as long as he’s warm and well fed he has very little to worry about.’
‘It’s a little more complicated than that. He needs love and laughter. He’s also at the stage where he’ll really start recognising his mother’s absence.’
Bleakness flashed across his face, momentarily slashing my insides. ‘What about his father’s? And whose fault is it that I’m not fully equipped with that information, Calypso?’ His voice throbbed with raw emotion.
‘Axios—’
His hand slashed through the air a split-second before he closed the gap between us and settled his hands on my shoulders. ‘I want to move on from this. But there are questions you still haven’t answered.’
My heart dipped. ‘Like what?’
‘What’s the big secret about your whereabouts? I hunted for you high and low. My investigators visited Nicrete—discreetly, of course, since I had to protect my family from untoward gossip. The general consensus there was that Calypso Petras was far too level-headed, far too considerate to have made such a selfish move.
