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But of course it hadn’t been all right. Six weeks later, when Kate had been having so much fun, free from the shackles of Kandy Kate, revelling in her freedom, falling in love, her father had had a heart attack. From which he had never recovered.
Returning to New York, Kate had found her mother in a dangerously unstable state, hurling accusations at her, saying that she was responsible for her father’s heart attack. That it would never have happened if Kate hadn’t been such a selfish, irresponsible child, going off to Europe and causing so much trouble.
Racked with worry and crippling grief since Bernie had died, Kate had soon had guilt to contend with too. She’d known her priority had to be her mother. That she’d have to do everything she could to try and help Fiona through this—stop her from sliding into utter despair. Her own heartache would have to be put aside. At least for the time being.
Nikos, too, had had to be locked away in her heart. And Kate had vowed keep him there until the dust had settled. Until she could find the right time. Until Fiona was strong enough to hear the news that she had fallen in love with a carefree Greek Adonis. That she was engaged to be married.
Kate had known for certain that her mother would need a lot of careful handling on that one...
But then Nikos had turned up and put the cat amongst the pigeons. With Fiona’s reaction to their engagement predictably volatile, Kate had stepped between them, taking the verbal blows as Fiona had demanded to know what Kate thought she was doing, bringing this good-for-nothing creature into their family, being so stupid as to imagine she could marry such a man. Didn’t Kate realise he was only after her money? Hadn’t Kate done enough damage already?
She had already killed her father. Did she want to have her mother’s death on her conscience too?
She didn’t really mean it, Kate had told herself. It was the shock talking... Intense grief coupled with Fiona’s fragile mental health made her say those hurtful things.
But it had still been a desperate situation, and Kate had known she had to focus all her attention on her mother. She simply hadn’t had the energy to worry about Nikos right then. Hadn’t he made everything worse by turning up uninvited, anyway?
So Kate had pushed him away, minimised his significance in her life as she’d battled to cope with the trauma all around her. She’d seen the hurt in those deep brown eyes but had refused to process it. She hadn’t been able to cope with any more stress. Nikos was strong...their love was strong, or so she’d thought. Later she would explain, make it up to him. Her mother was her top priority.
And on top of all that there had been something else niggling away at Kate. When exactly had she had her last period? She hadn’t been able to remember for sure, but knew it must have been before her father was taken ill. The thought of telling Fiona she was pregnant with Nikos’s baby was too stressful to contemplate. Her mother would go berserk.
Kate had genuinely started to worry that Fiona’s prediction might come true. She might be responsible for her mother’s death, too.
So Kate had squashed down any excitement, banished any silly dreams about the beautiful baby she and Nikos might have, and convinced herself the test had to be negative. Which was why she’d been so relieved when it was. She had genuinely thought Nikos would be too. How wrong she had been!
His bitter, vicious reaction had taken her completely by surprise. To this day she still didn’t know what had triggered it. But she had no intention of asking him now. You didn’t poke a hornets’ nest unless you wanted to get stung.
Even though they had both refrained from dragging up the past again since Paris, Nikos was far from letting Kate off the hook. The whole time they had been together on this phony honeymoon—wherever they went, whatever they did—he monitored her every move, his eyes all over her, all the time. Part alarming, part seductive, Kate didn’t know which was the scarier emotion. But she did know that the power of those deep brown eyes set her body on fire, quickening her pulse, tightening her core, and that whenever she looked up to find him staring at her she felt the sweep of his gaze skitter over her skin.
Like right now.
