the time you were getting married to have a child with another woman. My being pregnant was nothing but bad news on every level!’ Billie proclaimed emotively. ‘And maybe I didn’t care to be the bearer of such bad news, maybe I didn’t want to tell you what I knew you didn’t want to hear, maybe, just maybe, I had a little pride of my own...’
‘I would never have married Calisto had I known you were pregnant,’ Gio declared grimly. ‘I would always have put the needs of my child first.’
Billie was rocked by that blunt announcement and she frowned. ‘I don’t understand.’
Gio was beginning to grasp that reality for himself and his temper was on a hair trigger. ‘No, you don’t understand what you’ve done,’ he told her flatly. ‘Do you?’
‘What have I done?’ Billie fired back defensively. ‘I brought Theo into the world and I’ve looked after him ever since to the best of my ability. He has everything that he needs—’
Gio’s eyes flared golden as luminous torches, the force of his anger obvious in the harsh angular lines stamped on his darkly handsome features. ‘No, he has not. He has no father—’
Her brow furrowed. ‘If you want to play a part in Theo’s life, I’ll support that...if that’s what you’re worrying about—’
‘You think it’s acceptable to offer me a part?’ Gio derided in a tone that cracked like a whiplash in the silence. ‘You think it’s acceptable to let my son go through surgery without even telling me? To raise him here in a dump? To drag him to a shop while you work? To keep him ignorant of my language, his heritage, his father’s family, when you don’t even have a family of your own to offer him? Let me tell you now that nothing you have done is acceptable to me!’
Shaken by that comprehensive denunciation of what she had to offer her child and the fury he couldn’t hide, Billie backed off a step. ‘My home is not a dump—’
‘It is on my terms,’ Gio fired back unapologetically.
‘How did you know that Theo had to have surgery?’ Billie asked, thrown by Gio’s attitude, which was the exact opposite of what she had expected, and then finally making the leap to guess the most likely source of his information. ‘Oh, you’ve had us investigated, haven’t you?’
‘Why was my son over six months old before he received surgery?’ Gio demanded. ‘Hip dysplasia is usually recognised early.’
‘His wasn’t and when it was other treatments were tried first. You seem to know something about it—’
‘Of course I do—there’s a genetic link to the condition in my family. My half-sister and one of my full sisters were born with it as well as one nephew and one niece. It’s less common in boys. Theo having suffered it was almost as good as a DNA test,’ Gio spelt out with sardonic bite. ‘He is a Letsos in all but name—’
Billie lifted her chin. ‘No, he’s a Smith.’
Ramping down his anger, Gio looked at her, lustrous dark golden eyes semi-veiled by the thickness of his lashes. Even dressed in old jeans and a blue cotton top, her lush feminine curves sang a siren’s song to him. He hardened, knowing that, no matter how angry he was with her, he still wanted her on the most visceral level. Once had not been enough; once had not sated him. ‘I want my son,’ he said simply.
Billie turned pale, eyes flickering uncertainly over his lean, tight face, skimming uneasily over the lithe, lethal power of his very well-built body. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘It means exactly what I said—I want my son. I want to be there for him as my father was not there for me,’ Gio extended curtly, wide sensual mouth compressing on the grudging admission, reminding her that his background and his family had always been a thorny topic on which he was only prepared to offer the barest details.
‘And how do you propose to do that?’
‘By fighting you for custody,’ Gio countered, throwing his big shoulders back, standing tall. ‘My son deserves no less from me.’
Her brow furrowed, consternation and disbelief running through her in a debilitating wave as she collided with his fiery gaze. That visual connection seemed to make the very blood in her veins move sluggishly even while her heartbeat quickened. In turmoil, she shivered. ‘You can’t be serious. You can’t mean that you would try to take Theo away from me?’
‘I will not allow him to stay here.’
Anger powered by a deep sense of fear smashed through the wall of Billie’s astonishment. ‘It doesn’t matter what you allow. I’m Theo’s mother and what you have to say has nothing to do with it!’
‘You’re wrong,’ Gio told her succinctly. ‘I have every right to object to the manner in which you care for my son and I will be happy to fully explain to the children’s authorities why I believe my son’s current living conditions are unacceptable.’
Gio was threatening her. Gio was actually telling her that he was prepared to report her to the social services for what he evidently saw as inadequate or neglectful childcare. The very thought made Billie shake with rage, a flush running across her cheekbones, her chin up, her green eyes defiant. ‘Well, maybe you’d be happy to tell me because quite frankly I don’t know what your problem is!’
‘You are living with a prostitute and leaving my child in her care. I will not tolerate that,’ he asserted with icy precision.
Off-balanced by that condemnation coming at her out of nowhere, Billie sank weakly down on the sofa, her legs suddenly giving way beneath her. It had not occurred to her that a routine investigation of her life would also dig up Dee’s biggest secret. Pale, her clear eyes reflecting her strain and distress, she stared back at Gio. ‘Dee’s a bartender now. She’s put her past behind her...’
‘I don’t put a time limit on a past like that, nor do I want such a woman in close contact with my son or taking care of him,’ Gio delivered with inflexible cool.
‘People make mistakes, people change, turn their lives around. Don’t be so narrow-minded!’ Billie urged, stricken, appalled that he had uncovered her cousin’s troubled history and leapt straight to a disparaging conclusion.
Dee had got involved with an older man in her teens and had dropped out of school and ended up as a drug addict on the streets. Dee had been brutally honest with Billie about her past and Billie had tremendous respect for the amount of work and effort the other woman had put into making a fresh start for her and the twins.
‘I’m glad for her sake that she’s turned her life around but I still don’t want her anywhere near my son,’ Gio growled without apology. ‘How do you know she’s not still turning tricks at the bar where she works at night?’
‘Because I know her and how much she values what she has now!’ Billie slammed back furiously.
‘I want my son out of this house right now,’ Gio admitted. ‘I want the two of you to move into my hotel with me until we get this situation sorted out.’
Wildly disconcerted by that demand, Billie stared back at him. ‘No,’ she said straight away.
‘Say no and take the consequences,’
