forced her to make at least some sort of introduction—but all her instincts told her not to say too much. No one at work knew anything about what had happened in Athens, and it paid to be as careful as possible. She didn’t want any speculation about Lucas and who his father was.
‘Why don’t you go for your lunch break?’ Carol suggested. ‘You probably have lots to catch up on.’
Kerry’s pulse was still racing and the palms of her hands suddenly felt damp. The last thing she wanted was to go off alone with Theo—but neither did she want to cause a stir at work. Her boss, Margaret, would be back from her emergency dental appointment soon, and chances were she would not be in a good mood. Kerry really needed her job, and she really did not want to give anyone fuel for gossip.
‘All right. I’ll get my bag.’ She stood up and walked to the office at the back of the shop, desperately hoping that she didn’t look as wobbly as she suddenly felt.
With every thump of her heart she felt Theo’s gaze burning deeper and deeper into her—through the protective veneer of her uniform, piercing through all the emotional barricades she had tried to build up since that devastating night in Athens.
Why was he here?
The office door swung shut behind her, shielding her from his sight, and her legs buckled beneath her. She clung to the edge of the desk, gasping for air and shaking violently.
Had Theo come to try and take Lucas away from her?
She’d never let that happen—her gorgeous boy was everything to her. She loved him more than life itself, and she’d never, never let Theo take him.
She took a deep, steadying breath and looked back through the one-way mirror into the shop. Theo was still standing there, as inscrutable as an ancient Greek statue, and Carol was obviously trying to engage him in conversation.
The sudden, horrifying thought occurred to her that Carol might innocently mention Lucas. With another judder of her already painful heart she grabbed her bag and burst back through the door. She had to get Theo away from anyone who knew her as quickly as possible.
‘Take as long as you want,’ Carol said, trying to be helpful. ‘I’ll send you a sneaky text if Margaret gets back.’
‘I won’t be long,’ Kerry said.
‘Don’t worry,’ Carol said. ‘Have fun. Enjoy your blast from the past.’
‘Thanks.’ Kerry slipped past Theo and pushed the heavy glass door open. She flashed her colleague a tight smile and walked away down the rainy street, leaving Theo to follow her.
Fun was the last thing she was expecting to have. And as for Carol’s unsuspecting use of the phrase blast from the past—all Kerry could think about was the more violent, destructive meaning of the word blast.
She desperately hoped Theo hadn’t come to rip mercilessly through her life, laying everything to waste and destroying the tentative happiness she had finally found.
Suddenly she couldn’t bear the agony of not knowing.
She stopped abruptly and turned to face Theo.
‘What are you doing here?’ she demanded.
‘I’ve come to take you back to Greece,’ he said.
CHAPTER THREE
THEO stood still, watching Kerry’s reaction to his announcement. For a second he hardly recognised her. Somehow she didn’t seem like the woman he’d spent nearly a year of his life with.
There were the obvious differences—the unflattering navy blue uniform, and the new way she had done her blonde hair, twisting it up into a tight knot at the nape of her neck with a long fringe he didn’t remember falling into her eyes. But the real differences seemed to be deeper, more profound than that. She looked older in some way, and the expression on her face was wary and troubled.
He frowned, momentarily disconcerted as he looked down into her eyes. He could have sworn that her eyes had been a soft clear blue, but now they appeared to be pale grey, as if they were reflecting the pastel colour of the rain-streaked sky.
‘Why would you say that?’ Kerry gasped. ‘I’m not coming back to Greece with you.’
‘Actually, you are,’ Theo said.
‘Why?’ she demanded incredulously. ‘Why do you want me to? And what makes you think I’d ever go anywhere with you ever again?’
‘Because you owe me that,’ he replied.
‘I don’t owe you anything!’ Kerry exclaimed, anger suddenly flaring inside her. ‘I gave up my career to be with you, and I never took any of the money you tried to give me. I used up all my savings while I was living with you, which made it really hard for me when I came back to London.’
She paused, racking her brain for any other possible reason he might think that she owed him. The very idea that he could want anything of her was ridiculous—he was one of the richest men in Athens.
‘I left all the expensive jewellery you gave me behind,’ she added, remembering how much that had hurt.
It wasn’t because of the cost of the items—for Kerry their value had been entirely sentimental. She’d thought they were genuine tokens of Theo’s affection for her. When he’d thrown her out so coldly, she’d realised that all the things she’d taken as meaningful in their relationship had obviously meant nothing at all to him.
‘I’m not talking about trivial monetary matters,’ Theo said flatly.
‘Then what—?’ Kerry’s voice dried up in her throat. Did that mean he had found out about Lucas?
She bit her lip, desperately hoping that he hadn’t discovered her secret. Surely he would have brought up something so important immediately? But perhaps he meant to string it out to torment her.
‘You interfered with matters that did not concern you,’ Theo said. ‘The consequences could have been tragic.’
Kerry drew in a shaky breath, remembering the awful evening of the accident.
‘No one was injured,’ she said in a small voice.
She deeply regretted that her involvement had caused Hallie to drive off with Nicco when she’d been drinking. But that did not change the fact that Theo and Corban had been planning to take Nicco away from his mother.
‘It’s a miracle no one was killed,’ Theo said. ‘But that’s not exactly the reason I’m here.’
Kerry stared up at him anxiously. What could be worse than causing a potential tragedy—something bad enough to bring Theo all the way from Athens to seek restitution from her?
‘Your meddling stirred up a vicious media circus,’ Theo said, as if that was on the same level as a tragedy. ‘The paparazzi had a field-day. They hounded my family relentlessly—Hallie and Corban in particular. It made things very difficult.’
Relief that Theo had not come about Lucas poured through Kerry—making her bold.
