own ends… How could Lily have guessed their intention?
And of course Lily had accepted their offer. It was the child’s best chance. In a royal household, she knew the baby would at least be well taken care of. Like Lily, the alternatives seemed unbearable.
He looked down at the almost sleeping Michales. His son. To not bring this little boy into the world… The child of two mature parents, conceived in what could almost be taken as love…
He thought again of the call she’d made to him in early pregnancy, and of his response, and he felt sick.
There was a drawn-out silence. Silence and silence and more silence.
She hated it. He could see it. She hated anyone knowing, but to tell him… It was making her feel exposed and frightened and very, very small.
‘But you survived?’ he said softly, finally, into the stillness.
‘So I did,’ she said humourlessly. ‘You think I’m lying?’
‘I didn’t say that.’ He shook his head. Definite. ‘My God, Lily… ’ Once again he put a hand out towards her but she backed even further. Standing against the French windows as if preparing to flee.
‘Let me finish.’ She hesitated, then forced herself to go on. ‘Part of this I’ve only heard from others,’ she said. ‘But I need to tell you. Mia and Giorgos paid for me to be admitted to a private hospital in France, a place known for its discretion. Mia arrived as I was getting really ill. I know now that her plan was to tell the people back on the Diamond Isles that she was pregnant and suffering complications. If my baby survived to term she’d take him as hers. Giorgos would bribe anyone who needed to be bribed.’
‘But how did she… ?’
‘I can’t tell you what I don’t know,’ she said bluntly. ‘I gather I ended up in a coma. I gather Michales was born. I also gather one of the nurses in the hospital became really troubled that I was lying untreated. Apparently, until Michales was born, Mia acted concerned, but after she took him I was left alone.’ She took a deep breath. ‘The nurse saved my life. She risked her job and contacted a doctor she knew who was doing groundbreaking surgery. He checked me out and figured he had nothing to lose if he tried operating. Mia had left my mother’s contact details for when I died. The surgeon contacted her for permission to operate—offering to do it for free.’ She managed a smile again. ‘Even my mother couldn’t knock that back. So finally I woke. The tumour was gone. Unbelievably gone. I had my life.’
He didn’t know what to say. He just gazed at her in awe.
‘Unreal, isn’t it?’ she said, half mocking. ‘Unbelievable. Parts of it I didn’t figure out myself until I arrived here at your coronation, and even now I’m having trouble coming to terms with it. But it’s okay. I’m not asking for belief. I’m not asking for anything. I just want to build boats and care for my son. I want to live.’
Her chin tilted forward again, pugnacious, defensive.
How could he believe such a story?
But then he thought of Mia. He’d been present at the wedding, and he remembered Mia’s mother as well. They were two of a kind. Grasping, greedy, social climbers. Flaunting their connection to the Greek royal family and to English aristocracy.
They were about as different from this woman as it was possible to be.
‘I won’t impinge on your freedom,’ he said softly and she nodded.
‘Good, then.’
‘But… no one came near you?’
‘Spiros and Eleni would have if I’d told them. I didn’t tell them.’
‘I would have if you’d let me.’
‘Would you?’
‘You can believe it. It’s true. Hell, Lily, you could have died.’
‘That’s what I expected,’ she said. ‘I guess nothing will ever be so bad again. Drifting into unconsciousness, knowing there was no return ticket. Knowing I had to leave my baby in Mia’s care.’
‘If I could get my hands on her… ’
‘There’s no joy down that road,’ she said simply. ‘Being angry just makes everything worse. Anyway… ’ she shrugged ‘… now you know. We can get on with it.’
‘With what?’
‘With our sham marriage. With doing what we have to do before I can go home.’
‘Where’s home?’
‘Where Michales is,’ she said simply. ‘I don’t care about places. I care about my baby. That’s all.’
SHE’D lied.
I care about my baby. That’s all. She’d known it was a lie before she’d uttered it but she wasn’t about to add her other… care.
Alex.
He looked appalled. It helped, she decided, that he looked appalled at what she’d gone through. When she let herself think about it, she was pretty appalled herself.
That he was horrified on her behalf… It did something to her insides. There was a warmth forming inside her—a glow that was starting to build.
She looked down at the bed, where he still sat holding Michales on his knee.
Her men.
Her family.
She’d never had family. Her mother had been entirely uninterested in her sickly daughter. Her father had been elderly when she was born and their relationship had been built on Lily’s role as carer. Mia simply didn’t want to be a part of her life.
But here… this man didn’t want her to care for him, she thought.
This man cared.
Um… no. He’d been horrified at an appalling story. Nothing more.
So don’t get your hopes up, she told herself severely.
Michales was starting to grizzle. After his swim and shower and feed he should be drifting into sleep.
So be a mother, she reminded herself sharply.
She lifted Michales from Alex’s arms, held him to her shoulder and rubbed his back.
He emitted one very satisfactory belch.
Alex’s brows hiked in amazement. ‘Is he supposed to do that?’
As an ice breaker it was great. The tension inside the room fizzled and died, and she found she could smile, too.
‘Better out than in, wouldn’t you say?’ She was laying
