there, glaring angrily at him, challenging him on every level, he knew he had to be there for his baby as it grew up. He wanted to give it all he’d never had. But it didn’t matter how much money he had, he didn’t know if he could do the one thing a father should. Love his child—or anyone.
How could he when he’d never known the love of his parents? And he’d always kept his distance from his grandparents, shunned their love, preferring to stay safe behind his defences even as a young boy. But he had a bond with them. Could he at least bond with his child?
Was he heartless? Was that why his mother had turned her back on him? Why his father had barely looked at him? Was it his fault?
‘I will be there for my child.’ He watched her for a hint of guilt, any trace of her deceit.
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
The fury in her voice overflowed, confirming his suspicions.
‘Drop the innocent act. You know who I am. For a woman with your journalist’s training it must have been all too easy to discover more about the father or your child.’ Venom spiked every word as he looked at her, suddenly becoming aware of the waves creeping closer to them. How long had they been discussing this? Hours? Seconds? He didn’t know. Only that it would change things and change him for ever.
‘I have only just looked you up on the internet—in the departure lounge at the airport, to be exact. Because, stupidly, I believed you were an island fisherman, living a simple life. There shouldn’t have been anything more to know.’ Her furious words were flung at him and her eyes sparked like fireworks. ‘You lied to me, used me.’
So the flame-haired temptress had a temper!
‘Just as you lied to me—using me, the “simple fisherman”, as a means to an end.’
‘I didn’t use you at all.’
‘So you deny you seduced me in the hope of getting pregnant with a child you planned to give to your sister?’
She gasped in shock, her acting skills well and truly on display. ‘Of course I do.’
‘In that case I won’t be upsetting your plans.’
‘And what does that mean?’
Her temper flared again. Begrudgingly he admired her spirit. She was even more beautiful when the fire of determination rose up within her.
‘Only that I have every possible means at my disposal and I will be a father to my child, no matter what obstacles you put in my way. I will remove each and every one to get what I want. My child. My heir.’
SERENA WAS SPEECHLESS. She blinked rapidly as if seeing Nikos for the first time. What did he mean? Her head began to swim as she tried to process what he was saying and she cursed her pregnancy-induced emotions, biting back hard against the urge to dissolve into frustrated tears.
This wasn’t going at all to plan. She hadn’t expected him to welcome her with open arms—not after his parting words—but the discovery of his deceit and his determination to overrule her was totally unexpected.
‘You let me think you were an island fisherman. One who shouldn’t have anything more to tell.’
She’d known coming back to Santorini wouldn’t give her all she really wanted, but never in all her wildest dreams had she imagined this scenario.
She looked at Nikos again, searching for the man she’d fallen in love with. The man who’d set light to the undiscovered woman inside her, capturing her heart and body.
‘Why?’ she asked simply.
‘It was for the best at the time.’ Each word was firm and decisive, his face a mask of composure.
‘I will remove each and every one to get what I want. My child. My heir.’
His words of warning echoed in her head like a haunting melody. It seemed that no matter how much she’d tried to be different from her parents, wanting only to have a happy family, she was heading down the same path.
Her parents had been forced to stay together by an unplanned pregnancy, a mistake. She had grown up carrying the guilt of being that mistake, knowing she had forced her parents to stay together. She was the reason they’d fought, the reason they hated each other now. She didn’t want her child to suffer the same guilt because of the mistake she and Nikos had made.
‘I am an island fisherman.’
He stepped towards her, his voice softer now, but instinct told her not to let her guard drop, that trouble was brewing.
‘But I am also a businessman. My office is in Piraeus and I live in Athens.’
‘So what were you doing on the island? Using the guise of a fisherman to lure women and bolster your ego?’ She couldn’t stop the words from rushing at him.
He glared at her. ‘Fishing was my grandfather’s trade, his business. I help out with the fleet that he started. And knowing your background I wasn’t going to disclose anything personal to you.’
‘My background?’ She was completely at a loss as to what he meant.
‘You are a journalist, are you not?’
She tried hard to process what he was telling her, but couldn’t understand why he’d kept the truth from her. Was it really because she had studied journalism? Did he really fear that? Or was it simply that he hadn’t wanted her to know who he was?
‘Why did you feel the need to hide it from me, Nikos?’ She couldn’t imagine the life Nikos really led. It was too far removed from the man she’d met, the man she’d fallen in love with. He was shattering every dream she’d had of him. ‘Why were you even here, masquerading as a fisherman?’
‘My life changed when I left the island, and my fortunes with it.’ He looked at her, his eyes glacial and hard, his expression unyielding. ‘Every year since, I’ve spent two weeks helping the small fleet of fisherman here on the island. It’s a way of staying connected to my grandparents. And you didn’t ask questions—which made a change.’
‘A change from what?’ He wasn’t making sense—or was it her jumbled emotions? She was tired. Thinking coherently wasn’t easy, but she forced her mind to concentrate.
‘From women wanting all they can get from me—financially and emotionally. It appears you are not different after all.’
‘You lied—you hid the truth—because you were afraid I’d want more?’ The words rushed from her before she could hold them back and his eyes narrowed in response, his mouth setting into an irritated line of hardness.
The stark question he’d fired at her earlier came back, its full meaning now painfully clear.
‘How much?’
That
