AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fortunately it was only a matter of moments before they arrived at the villa. He led the way swiftly through the building to the suite of rooms that had been prepared for them. A cot had been brought in and placed close to a large bed that Carrie could use.
‘Shall I call the housekeeper to help you?’ he asked, speaking loudly to be heard over the incredible racket Danny was still making. ‘Her English is not good, but she has many grandchildren so she will know what to do. Is there anything else you need?’
‘I’m used to managing on my own,’ Carrie said, perching on a chair and offering Danny his beaker of water. ‘But perhaps someone could warm a little milk?’
‘Of course,’ Nik said. He took a step backwards, then turned and walked out of the room, issuing orders to his assistant.
He sat down in the adjoining room and opened his laptop. He would use the time to catch up on some work, and also keep an eye on the proceedings in the next room.
It was a long night. After his milk Danny settled down a bit, but not for more than a few minutes. Carrie walked around the room holding him in her arms. She tried laying him down in his cot while playing a gentle melody from a music box. She even tried rocking him in his buggy. The night wore on, but whatever Carrie tried Danny just wouldn’t sleep. She was beginning to look dead on her feet, and Nik was starting to think he should call the housekeeper to help.
Then, eventually, Danny’s head drooped onto Carrie’s shoulder and he was quiet. Nik watched her ease herself carefully down onto the bed, and miraculously Danny didn’t stir.
He saw Carrie’s eyelids slide down. She was so exhausted that she was asleep in a moment. Danny was sleeping too, nestled snugly against her, although he had slipped down and was supported by the bed, with his little tousled head resting in the crook of her arm.
Nik watched her sleep. He couldn’t help but admire her beauty as he looked at her jet-black hair spread out on the white pillow behind her head, her long black lashes making a delicate arc on the pale skin of her cheek.
The grey light of dawn was just forming outside, and it had been a long, tiring night. But it wasn’t quite over yet, and when a murmuring whimper caught Nik’s ear his gaze instantly flicked back to the baby.
Danny had started to stir again. In a moment he would be fully awake and howling at the top of his lungs.
Nik knew what he had to do. He crossed quickly and silently to the bed where they were lying. In her sleep Carrie had relaxed her hold, and it was easy to slip Danny gently away from her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE sun was streaming in through a chink in the curtains when Carrie woke up. She jerked into a sitting position and gazed groggily around the unfamiliar room. Her mind was foggy and for a moment she couldn’t remember where she was.
Then the previous day’s events came flooding back—Danny coming down with chickenpox, Nik bringing them to Corfu without her knowledge and against her wishes, and then, finally, the long night spent comforting Danny.
Suddenly she realised Danny
was gone. She stumbled to her feet and looked wildly round the room, but he was not on the bed or in the cot.
Nik had taken him! He was probably halfway to Athens, or wherever else he had a house, by now.
Maybe not, she thought, forcing herself not to panic. She had to keep her head until she found out what had happened. She hurried to the door, but despite her best efforts to stay calm, her heart was in her mouth as she opened it and burst through into the adjoining room.
She stopped in her tracks and stared.
The room seemed to be full of people gathered round the sofa, where Danny lay on his changing mat, having his nappy changed by an older Greek woman. Carrie guessed she must be Nik’s housekeeper, Irene, because she seemed to know what she was doing and was keeping Danny’s attention with a lively stream of chatter.
‘You’re awake,’ Nik said, glancing at her briefly before turning his attention back to the sofa, where Irene was slipping Danny’s legs smoothly into his sleepsuit and fastening the poppers with a deft hand. ‘I’ll send for some food.’
He issued a series of orders and a younger woman who had been hovering near the door hurried away. Irene scooped Danny up, then turned and passed him carefully to Carrie before leaving as well.
Carrie’s heart-rate had started to ease once she’d seen Danny was safe, but nothing beat having him back in her arms again, and she cuddled him tightly. He was no longer flushed and sweaty, as he’d been last night. He seemed much more settled as he curled up comfortably against her shoulder.
‘You frightened me, taking him like that,’ Carrie said. ‘What happened? Why didn’t you wake me?’
‘You’d barely had any sleep at all when he woke up,’ Nik said.
‘I would have managed,’ Carrie said, pressing her face into Danny’s curly hair. ‘That’s what looking after a sick child is like. You can get by on hardly any sleep if your baby needs you.’
‘It’s not necessary for you to risk my nephew’s well-being by running yourself into the ground,’ Nik replied. ‘You’re not on your own any more.’
Carrie stared at him crossly. She couldn’t stand his arrogant attitude, but she didn’t want to start arguing with him right over the top of Danny’s head.
‘Nevertheless, I want your word that you won’t take him from me again when I’m sleeping,’ she insisted.
