AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Except...there was a desperate but determined note in her voice that tugged at him. She wanted her baby—their baby—and that fierce look in her eyes didn’t seem feigned. His team had told him she’d signed those papers willingly, yet...that didn’t gel with the pale woman sitting in his bed. Who’d presumably come all the way from London to seduce him and then blackmail him, purely to get her baby back.
‘What do you mean I took him?’ he demanded. ‘Youdidn’t want him. You signed all those documents and you—’ He broke off as she abruptly shoved herself off the bed and stormed over to where he stood, the white sheet still wrapped around her trailing in her wake.
She stopped in front of him, her dark gaze fierce. ‘Ididwant him. But when those...people arrived at my flat, it was the day after I’d given birth and I was shell-shocked. I couldn’t take in what they were saying, then they...they said I could come to Kalithera too, but I... I thought it was a lie, so I refused. Then they gave me some documents, and I signed them, but only so my son would be safe. But I didn’t want to give him up, Ididn’t.’ Her whole body was trembling, her eyes glittering. She looked as if she were preparing to throw herself in front of a truck. ‘Why did you take him?’ She took another step, their bodies nearly touching.‘Why?’
He did not know this woman. He’d never known her. Yet he’d spent a year thinking about their one encounter, and last night he’d spent hours enjoying the gift of her body, hours giving her pleasure and letting her give the same to him.
He had no reason to believe what she was saying but...
She hadn’t faked any of the orgasms he’d given her, he’d stake his life on that. Her pleasure had been real, and this fury and the pain he could see beneath it...they were real too.
You took her child away from her.
The sting of shame became a thorn, piercing him, along with a guilt that cut even deeper. He knew that fear and anguish himself, had experienced both the moment he’d discovered Leo’s existence.
You thought it was only money she was after. But she didn’t want to give him up. You should have tried harder to find her. You should have tried harder, full stop.
Oh, he knew. He knew very well how much harder he should have tried. It applied to everything he did, and yet it seemed no matter how hard he tried, it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.
How many more mistakes will you make? Are you sure Kostas wouldn’t be a better king?
No, he couldn’t think that. He wouldn’t. Kalitherawasbetter off with him on the throne and, besides, he had to deal with what was happening in the present, not his own insidious doubts.
However, there was too much anger in the room and they both needed a bit of time and space to compose themselves. Certainly, he did.
He stayed still, arms folded, staring down at her. ‘We need to talk.’
‘I don’t want to talk. I want to—’
‘You’re white as that sheet. You’re tired. And you’re naked. I think you’d feel better after you’ve had a shower, got dressed and had some breakfast.’
Her gaze flashed and her mouth opened, no doubt to keep on arguing with him, but he went on before she could. ‘Besides, I need to ascertain you are who you say you are and various other things.’ Her mouth opened yet again, but again he went on. ‘Or would you be happy talking to a complete stranger about the private details of your baby?’
She gave him a furious look. ‘You don’t need to be so condescending. I’m not a child.’
‘I am well aware of that, believe me.’ He raised a brow. ‘Unless you’d like to discuss our son while you’re stark naked and still smelling of sex and me?’
She flushed, yet her stubborn little chin remained lifted.
Good. Anger suited her. He liked that she wasn’t so pale and had stopped trembling. Perhaps he should keep her angry. It was better than her fear and anguish. Those he didn’t like, not at all.
‘You really don’t care about those photos?’ She was still looking at him defiantly.
‘No,’ he said with absolute truth. ‘But I can’t imagine why you’d want to resort to taking pictures of me when a simple phone call would have sufficed.’
‘You think I didn’t try?’ she shot back. ‘I didn’t actually want to blackmail you, believe it or not, but every call I made to the Kalitheran embassy in London, every email I sent, they all thought I was lying. I even went in there myself, but then they called Security and threw me out.’ The acid in her tone bit deeper. ‘Apparently when you’re a poor nobody, no one believes you when you tell them that you’ve had their king’s child.’
He could well imagine. His reputation was so rock solid that the very idea some strange Englishwoman would have had a night with him and borne his child would have been laughable.
But a nobody? She was hardly that, not having come all the way from England to Kalithera to blackmail himandalmost succeeding. Naive perhaps, and obviously scrappy and determined. But very muchnota nobody.
He eyed her, lingering on her silky, pale hair and how it flowed over her shoulders, then further, where her hands gripped the sheet. He’d only have to tug gently, and it would come away, leaving her naked...
Predictably, his body hardened, and he could tell by the way she flushed that she’d picked up on his thoughts. Her fingers tightened on her sheet even as her gaze drifted down over his chest and her luscious mouth opened slightly.
The familiar electricity of their chemistry began to build again, sparks arcing between them, and it took effort to push it away this time, but he managed.
He wouldn’t compound the errors he’d made last night by taking her again. Not that it would have been appropriate anyway. She was still distressed and, besides, they had more important things to discuss.
