let him see how upset she was rapidly becoming as the fact that he might be serious about taking Danny away from her started to sink in. ‘But you didn’t want Danny six months ago. You can’t just decide to look after a child when it suits you.’
‘Don’t insult me,’ Nik said, looking at her squarely. ‘This isn’t about me—it’s about Danny’s right to be part of his real family.’
‘Are you saying I’m not his real family?’ Carrie gasped.
‘You’re not his immediate family,’ Nik said. ‘And you are clearly not a suitable guardian.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Carrie was shocked. ‘You don’t even know me!’
‘I know that I caught you stealing,’ he said.
‘I wasn’t stealing,’ Carrie protested, thinking about Lulu’s plaintive cry for help. She wasn’t ashamed of trying to help her friend. It was none of Nik’s business, but suddenly she decided to tell him everything. It would be better than having him speculate about what she’d been doing. ‘Lulu asked me to do it. She was worried Darren would start a row with her over a message she’d left on his phone, so she wanted to delete it.’
She looked at Nik, to see if he’d accepted her explanation, but his expression was still unreadable.
‘I realise it can’t have been easy, looking after a baby on your own,’ Nik said, abruptly changing the subject back to Danny. ‘But—’
‘It’s been perfectly all right,’ Carrie said quickly. ‘Wonderful, in fact!’ There was no way she’d ever admit how hard she’d found it looking after the baby alone, juggling work commitments and trying to make ends meet financially.
‘I’m his uncle,’ Nik said flatly. ‘You are his cousin.’
‘What difference does that make?’ Carrie demanded. ‘I was there when he needed someone. Nobody else wanted him then. Your father called him a brat…’ She hesitated, looking down at the cold grey marble tabletop. She didn’t want to remember her horrible meeting with Cosmo Kristallis. It was too hurtful to think about the way Danny’s grandfather had viewed him.
‘You met my father?’ Nik asked sharply. ‘When?’
Something in the tone of his voice made Carrie’s eyes fly back to his face. A muscle pulsed at his jaw and a line of tension creased his brow.
‘He came to the funeral,’ Carrie replied carefully. At that moment she felt more than a little afraid of how he might react.
‘Last November,’ Nik said, after a slight pause.
‘Yes.’ Carrie looked at him warily, wondering whether talking about his father and brother was painful for him. He hadn’t shown any sign of it, but it was impossible to know what was going on behind his implacable expression.
‘What did my father say to you?’ Nik asked.
‘Not much,’ Carrie replied cautiously. ‘He simply said that he felt it would be in Danny’s best interests if he remained in England with his mother’s family.’
‘Really?’ Nik gave a sudden ironic burst of laughter. ‘I knew my father, and I doubt very much that those were his exact words.’
‘What your father said wasn’t funny.’ How could he be laughing at a time like this?
‘I’m sure it wasn’t.’ There was a hard glint in his blue eyes. ‘But listening to you putting such measured, almost caring words into his mouth is amusing.’
‘Your father didn’t care about Danny at all!’ Carrie said. ‘He wished Danny had never been born!’
‘Probably,’ said Nik. ‘But I do not share his view on that.’
‘If that’s the case, where were you after the accident? You didn’t care enough to come then!’ She was so upset that she didn’t realise her voice was rising. Suddenly Danny made another lunge for her cappuccino.
‘Careful, Danny!’ She pulled him back, but in her haste her own elbow caught against the cup. It rattled in the saucer, and a moment later the table was awash with foamy coffee.
She jumped to her feet to avoid the flood of coffee, quickly checking none of the scalding liquid had come anywhere near Danny.
‘Hot drinks and babies—not a good combination,’ Nik remarked smoothly. He turned and lifted a commanding hand to catch the attention of the girl behind the counter. ‘We need a cloth here.’
Carrie hugged Danny and looked at the mess she’d made. Nik had got her so upset that she hardly knew what to think or say. She dabbed her paper napkin into the flood of liquid, but it was saturated in a second, and it didn’t stop the coffee running off the marble tabletop onto the café floor.
‘I have to go.’ She bent to pick up her bag, barely registering that it was sitting in a pool of coffee, and turned to retrieve the buggy—but Nik was already holding it. ‘I’m really sorry about the mess,’ she said, as the waitress appeared with a large cloth.
She turned and made her way outside.
‘We haven’t finished this conversation yet,’ Nik said, joining her back on the busy London pavement.
‘Yes, we have.’ She tugged the buggy away from him before he could react. ‘I’m taking Danny home.’
‘I’ll drive you,’ Nik said.
‘No, thank you.’ She glanced up the road, and relief washed over her as she saw a bus approaching. ‘Here’s my bus now. Danny likes the bus.’
Without waiting for a reply she hoisted the buggy up under her arm and, hanging on to Danny tightly, made a dash for the bus stop.
He laughed, and settled on her lap happily as the bus pulled away. Out of the corner of her eye Carrie could still see Nik, standing on the pavement. She stared straight ahead, resisting the urge to look. A shiver ran down her spine as the bus rumbled to a halt alongside him.
It was true that Danny liked the bus, but she could think of many nicer things than sitting cramped, with a buggy gripped awkwardly between her knees, trying to keep a wriggling baby out of the damp patch of coffee on her short red dress, all the while knowing that those piercing Greek eyes were fixed on her from behind the grimy window of a London bus.
She knew she should have stayed longer—to find out exactly how serious Nikos Kristallis was about taking Danny. But right now all she wanted was to be as far away from him as possible.
Nik watched the bus labouring through the heavy traffic. He knew that Carrie was aware of him, standing there, but she was looking forward, refusing to acknowledge his presence.
It was only a couple of hours since he’d met her, but already Carrie Thomas had become strangely significant in his life. She had known Leonidas while he’d been lost to Nik. She’d even met his father. And now she had his nephew.
Nik saw that Danny had spotted him standing there. He had no hesitation at all in staring right back at Nik. His bright button eyes were fixed on him, and he turned his head
