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‘Whoa! What are you up to?’ Nik
laughed, breaking eye contact with Carrie and hoisting Danny up more tightly in his arms.
‘He likes the water,’ Carrie said distractedly. Why had sharing a simple smile with Nik made her feel so strange?
‘He wants to get wet!’ Nik exclaimed. ‘I’ll take his shoes off and splash his feet.’
Carrie pushed her fringe back off her face and brought her attention back to the situation at hand. ‘You’ll have a hard time only getting his feet wet, but Irene packed a change of clothes, so don’t worry too much.’
Nik sat down on the pebbles, rolled up Danny’s trousers and pulled off his shoes and socks. He stuffed them into his pockets and rose smoothly to his feet, despite the shifting pebbles beneath him, and started making his way along the water’s edge, dipping Danny up and down so that his toes skimmed the water.
Carrie let her eyes run appreciatively across Nik’s broad back and powerful shoulders as he lifted Danny easily up and down over the lapping waves. The movement of his well-defined muscles under the tight black fabric of his T-shirt snared her gaze, making her heart start to beat a bit faster. She remembered so well how those muscles felt beneath her questing hands, as he lay on top of her, making love to her.
Her gaze slipped lower and she found herself admiring the athletic grace of his long stride. Then suddenly she was thinking about how those strong legs felt lying between hers. She remembered gripping his buttocks tightly, urging him on, pulling him deeper as he thrust inside her.
Her body trembled as echoes of the sensations that had overwhelmed her so magically rippled through her. She longed to feel that way again, to lie in Nik’s arms night after night.
‘The water’s not that warm yet,’ Nik said over his shoulder, speaking loudly to be heard over Danny’s squeals of delight. ‘But you’ll really love it here in the summer. It will be perfect then. In July and August the water is as warm as a bath, but the olive groves are cool and shady.’
Carrie stopped walking and looked at him, feeling momentarily confused. She’d been so preoccupied thinking about making love to Nik that she wasn’t entirely sure what he had just said.
He turned, still holding her with his eyes, and retraced his steps so that he was standing right in front of her. He lifted one hand and brushed his fingers across her temple, tucking the loose tendrils of hair back behind her ear. An automatic shiver ran through her, and she inclined her head to rest her cheek against his open palm. She returned his gaze, drifting dreamily in the blue depths of his eyes.
‘You look tired,’ he said, leaning forward to place a gentle kiss on her lips. ‘Sit down and rest for a few minutes while I play with Danny.’
She gazed back at him, pleasantly surprised by the tenderness of his kiss and slightly taken aback by his words. But it was true—she did feel unusually tired.
‘All right,’ she said. ‘Just for a few minutes.’ She released his eyes reluctantly and turned to walk back up the beach a few paces, to a place where the smooth pebbles formed a natural mound that looked comfortable for sitting on.
Nik smiled at her, as if her actions pleased him, then went back to dipping Danny up and down over the gently lapping water.
It was an enchanting bay, enclosed on both sides by cliffs and backed by the steep wooded slopes. The sea was a blissful shade of blue and the barest touch of a breeze ruffled her hair deliciously.
But the beautiful view didn’t hold her attention. All she wanted to do was feast her eyes on Nik, soaking up everything about the way he looked, the way he moved.
Just watching him made a funny feeling start to spread through her—and she wasn’t thinking about making love to him. Just being near him made her feel happy, and seeing him play so naturally with Danny filled her with hope for the future. He’d make a very good father for Danny. And for his own child one day in the future, if things worked out between them.
Carrie gasped and clamped her hand over her mouth. She’d been in Corfu for three weeks and she hadn’t had a period. Nik had made love to her the day after they’d arrived and they hadn’t used any protection.
She was pregnant!
An icy shiver ran through her and she hugged herself, despite the heat of the Greek sun.
She might be pregnant, she told herself sternly, trying to keep calm. She’d buy a pregnancy test, and then she’d know for sure.
But how could she get a pregnancy test? Nik had her locked up here like his prisoner. She wasn’t allowed off his property. She couldn’t even go to a shop and buy a test.
A nasty mixture of anger and despair coiled through her, making her feel sick to her stomach. That was a sure sign of pregnancy, she thought bitterly, ignoring the fact that she hadn’t felt sick a minute earlier.
She’d always wanted a child of her own, and had hoped that one day she’d be able to give Danny a little playmate. But not like this. It was too soon.
Nik controlled everything—Danny’s life, her life. He even controlled her ability to discover whether or not she was pregnant. If she had a baby she’d be putting herself more completely under his control.
What if it didn’t work out between them? If he wouldn’t give up on Danny, his brother’s child, he’d never, ever give up on his own child. He’d take Carrie’s child away from her as brutally as he’d forced her into marrying him to get possession of Danny.
She stared at Nik balefully. A moment ago she’d been filled with happiness while she watched him playing with Danny. Now her insides were filled with a horrible churning mess of emotions. She had to find out whether or not she was pregnant.
‘I need to go shopping,’ she called out to Nik. She started to get up, but her legs felt unaccountably weak so she stayed sitting down, staring up at him as he turned and walked towards her.
