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As he’d left Athens he’d kept telling himself he was only coming to see her about the newspaper article. Now he knew that had never been true. If he was honest, he’d wanted to see Serena, to ask her to reconsider, even as the plane had soared above the blue waters of the sea heading for London.
He hadn’t acknowledged it then, but he was now prepared to do and say whatever was needed to win her back. She was the mother of his child and he wanted her in his life.
‘I will be a father to my child—a full-time father.’ He couldn’t let his son—or daughter—grow up without him. He wanted to give his child what he’d never had: a family home.
Images of that butterfly all those years ago, as it fluttered its wings and flew away, became vividly clear. Was it the same for Serena? He’d bullied her into agreeing to marriage, exactly as his father had his mother—something he hadn’t known of until he’d read the article. He should let her go—but he couldn’t.
She shook her head. ‘I can’t do that, Nikos. I can’t risk our baby growing up thinking it is the mistake that keeps us together. I want our child to be happy and loved. I want to be happy and loved too.’
He heard the pain in her words and suddenly the puzzle of what his grandmother had meant hit him. The baby was the key—but not to his past. It was the key to happiness, and more importantly to love, because he would love his baby unconditionally. His grandmother had known that—but she’d also known, in her wise and old-fashioned way, something he hadn’t admitted.
He loved Serena.
Everything slid into place, as if a key was being turned in a rusty old lock, opening a door that had been closed for many years. Finally he could admit what had been there since the day he’d met Serena. It had been there since the first moment he’d looked into her beautiful green eyes.
Love.
‘Sometimes you have to take risks in life,’ he said softly as he took her hand, his fingers caressing where the emerald ring should be. He wished he’d brought it with him. He wanted to give it back to her, this time with love.
He was taking a risk—a risk he’d never taken since he was six years old. He was going to hold on to what he wanted—fight for it if he had to. He wasn’t going to lose her now. Serena was his. They belonged together.
The fury that sprang from her took him by surprise.
‘You have done nothing but deceive me since we first met, and now you come here and accuse me of selling stories about you. So give me one good reason why I should believe anything you say.’
He wanted to tell her how he felt, that he loved her, but the words froze on his tongue. The urge to reach for her and take her in his arms was overpowering. He wanted to kiss her and hold her tight, but he deserved her anger, deserved the pain that struck through him at the thought of life without her.
He had lied, concealing his identity not for malicious reasons but because for the first time since he was a teenager he was being liked simply for who he was—not what he had or could give.
‘When we first met you were like a breath of fresh air—a woman who was interested in me for me alone. You didn’t see the wealth of my business, my success or the way I lived, you just saw me.’
Finally he could speak, but he still couldn’t tell her what he needed to—the very thing that could change her mind about marrying him. He couldn’t believe it was so hard to say the words, but he’d never used them, and the thought of doing so left him emotionally exposed and vulnerable. Love had only ever caused him pain.
‘I didn’t see any of that because you didn’t let me—you covered it up. You lied, and that hurts, Nikos.’
Her sharp words felt like an attack, and before he could respond she continued.
‘Did I look like a journalist—one who would sell your story to the highest bidder? It wasn’t as if I introduced myself as such when we first spoke.’
‘Damn it, Serena.’ He crossed the room and took the paper from her, tossing it savagely onto the table. ‘I didn’t tell you who I was because there was no need.’
‘No. A few weeks of seduction was all you’d ever planned. But then what you’d most dreaded happened. Consequences. Something neither of us wanted. A mistake—one that hurts so much.’
Her voice was a mixture of anger and frustration, and he heard the wobble beneath its firmness and guilt slashed at him.
He recalled what she’d said about her childhood, about the guilt she’d carried, and finally understood her reluctance to marry him purely for convenience. He cursed himself for not seeing it sooner. But would he have seen it? He’d stubbornly refused to accept what he felt for Serena. He hadn’t been able to admit that the aching emptiness inside him when she’d left after the passionate night on the beach was love.
