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Theo took off his sunglasses and looked at Kerry, sitting on the second step, with the water lapping gently at her waist. His eyes followed the alluring shape of her hips below the surface, ran along her long slender legs down to her feet. Then his gaze tracked back up, roaming instinctively over her top half. She was wearing a pale blue bikini, which looked good next to her creamy skin. It seemed like a lifetime since he’d seen so much of her naked body, and a familiar surge of arousal powered through him.
On Drakon’s island he had thought that her breasts seemed fuller than he remembered, and now he could see that it was true. She was breathing quickly, and the rapid rise and fall of her chest made him want to reach down and slip his hands inside the pale blue cups of the bikini, caress her luscious breasts and tease her pert nipples. He’d done that many times before, and she had always responded by melting in his arms. In
fact it had been very rare that they had swum together and not ended up making love.
But right now he knew that Kerry was not pleased to see him. His arrival had startled her, and he’d seen her body language become defensive. She’d been like that with him ever since they took Lucas from the hospital—in fact her standoffishness seemed to be getting more pronounced.
It bothered him. He didn’t like coming into a room and seeing her whole body become tense and hunched inwards. Even though he knew that the changes in her behaviour were barely perceptible—that no one else would notice—it was an affront to his masculine dignity. She’d used to tremble like a kitten when he approached her, and look up at him with sultry eyes that had let him know just how much she desired him. It had made him feel as powerful as a lion—and he’d swept her up into his embrace knowing that she was burning for him to make love to her.
Now everything was different. On Drakon’s island the chemistry between them had still been there, but she’d held back—presumably because she’d been worried he might find out about Lucas. However, since he’d brought her back to Greece the atmosphere between them had been increasingly cold and difficult.
He knew that she didn’t want to marry him. If she had any feelings for him at all, or any desire to share his life, she would not have kept Lucas a secret from him. That knowledge was demeaning—like a vicious slap round the face.
The sound of splashing and giggling pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked down, letting his eyes skim past Kerry to his baby son.
His bright blue eyes were twinkling merrily, his curly black hair was glistening with water and he was splashing and chuckling energetically. To Theo’s untutored eyes he didn’t seem all that tired, but he didn’t know much about babies. If Kerry said he was tired then he probably was.
‘Let me take him while you get out,’ he said, putting his sunglasses into his pocket and reaching down to the baby.
He closed his large hands around Lucas’s warm little body and lifted him straight up and out of the water. Lucas gave a high-pitched squeal and Theo felt an answering bolt of alarm shoot through him—he’d moved too abruptly and frightened his son.
He held him up in front of his face and looked at him worriedly. But then Lucas squealed again, and suddenly Theo realised he wasn’t crying. He was excited. He’d enjoyed being flown straight up.
He found himself smiling as he gazed into his son’s face, and as they made eye contact he felt an unexpected wave of emotion roll through him. This extraordinary little person was his son—his own flesh and blood.
Then, at that moment, he realised he was dangling Lucas in front of him in what seemed an entirely unnatural position. Perhaps he should wrap him in a towel and hold him against his shoulder. He had to do something—but suddenly he felt awkward, and didn’t know how to manoeuvre the baby.
He turned to look at Kerry, but she was still sitting in the pool on the steps, hugging her knees up to her chest. Why wasn’t she helping him? Was she trying to prove something by letting him struggle alone?
‘Pass me that towel,’ he said.
Kerry bit her lip and stared up at Theo. Seeing him hold her son—their son—for the first time made a strange feeling run through her. She’d seen an expression of love pass across Theo’s face as he met his son’s eyes, and it had filled her with an uncomfortable mixture of emotions.
She was profoundly happy that Lucas would grow up in the warmth of such powerful paternal love—but at the same time it left her feeling unsettled and hollow. At one time she’d dreamed of Theo gazing at her with love in his eyes—now she felt confused and adrift.
Suddenly she realised that Theo was looking awkward—as if he was also finding the first time he held Lucas strange. To be fair, holding a squirming and wet six-month-old wasn’t the best way to start, and she should help him. But he had taken her by surprise when he’d swooped in and plucked Lucas from out of her grasp.
She pushed herself up out of the pool, trying to keep her back to Theo and her stomach hidden as much as possible, and stepped over to the sun lounger. She held the towel up, letting it unroll so that it was covering her stretch marks, and moved closer to Theo and Lucas.
‘I can take him,’ she said, reaching for the baby.
‘It’s all right,’ he said, holding on tight to Lucas. ‘I’ve got him. Just help me get that towel round him.’
Kerry hesitated. She needed the towel to hide her stretch marks—not to mention the extra weight she was still carrying on her tummy. But she couldn’t very well wrestle Lucas out of Theo’s grasp.
‘You can relax—I won’t drop him,’ Theo said caustically, obviously having misinterpreted her hesitation.
‘It’s not that—’ Kerry started, then realised there was nothing she could say that wouldn’t draw more attention to her situation.
She pressed her lips together and eased the towel around Lucas, helping Theo to get a better grip on him up against his shoulder. Then she let her hands drop and crossed her wrists self-consciously over her stomach, hoping that Theo would keep his eyes on his son.
It was a vain hope. A moment later he’d lifted his head and was looking at her over the top of Lucas’s black curls. His eyes ran appreciatively down her body, just as they had done so many times before, but then suddenly they stopped, locking on to her stomach.
A slight flash of surprise lifted his black brows for a moment. Then his eyes narrowed and his face became as dark as thunder as he continued to stare at her stretch marks.
Before she could react—turn away to hide, or pick up something to hold in front of her—she watched his expression change for the second time. From anger to disgust.
Then he spun on his heel and strode away, carrying Lucas with him.
