The Greek Billionaire’s Love-Child Read online

Helen put the bowl of crisps carefully down on the wall. ‘Ella, he came after you. What’s the situation with his wife? Did you ask him? Are they heading for divorce or something?’

  Ella glanced at her colleagues, all laughing at something Rose had said. ‘His wife is dead. She died in a car accident fifteen years ago along with his daughter.’

  And she was still reeling from the discovery.

  He’d lost his family.

  No wonder he was cold and emotionally detached. It was probably the only way he could survive.

  ‘Oh, my God, that’s terrible.’ Helen lifted her hand to her mouth. ‘How can he work in the emergency department? Doesn’t it remind him?’

  ‘I’ve no idea. I don’t know the details. He isn’t exactly given to talking about his feelings.’ And that hurt more than she could have imagined possible.

  A relationship without trust was just sex, she thought numbly.

  ‘So why did that magazine publish wedding photographs?’

  ‘It was the anniversary of the accident, or something. I think he gave money and opened a children’s hospital in Athens.’ She gave a twisted smile. ‘Unfortunately I didn’t bother reading the words that went with the photos, so I missed the bit that mentioned the accident.’ And she’d hurt him.

  ‘That’s really sad,’ Helen said quietly. ‘But it was obviously a long time ago. He must be over it now, Ella.’

  ‘Is he?’ Ella thought about what she knew of him. ‘I don’t think so. And do you ever really get over something like that? I’m not sure you do. You live with it. You cope, because you have to. It explains a lot about the way he is—the fact that he won’t commit to anyone. I’ve looked him up on the internet.’ Ella kept her voice light. ‘He has a reputation for moving around. He doesn’t stay in the same place for long, or with the same woman.’

  Helen touched her arm in a gesture of female solidarity. ‘Ella, he came to find you. That has to mean something.’

  ‘It means a great deal of inconvenience.’ Ella toyed with her glass. ‘One of us is going to have to leave.’

  ‘That’s a bit extreme, isn’t it? You work really well together. You’re a fantastic team.’

  ‘We were a fantastic team.’ Ella corrected her softly. ‘We were a lot of things. But the only thing we are now is over. I honestly don’t think I can work alongside him. I feel dreadful about his wife and daughter, of course I do. But he kept so much from me, Helen. He kept a whole life from me. I can’t be with a man like that. At the moment I can’t even bear to talk to him.’

  ‘Well, if that’s really the way you feel then things are about to get a little awkward,’ Helen muttered, her eyes fixed on a point further round the harbour wall. ‘That deliciously sexy man of yours has just parked his equally sexy car on the street and is striding towards us as we speak. He isn’t exactly the hesitant sort, is he? Oh, my—I’d forgotten just how breathtaking he is to look at. If I had him in my bed I’d keep the lights on and my eyes open. I’m sorry, Ella, but it’s really hard to feel sorry for you. Rich, clever and a body to die for. The gods tripped when they made him and spilt all their gifts in one place.’

  Ella turned, saw Nikos, and the glass of juice slipped from her hand and shattered. Mortified and exasperated with herself, she stooped to retrieve the pieces only to find herself hauled to her feet by strong, determined hands.

  ‘Theos mou, do you want to cut yourself to pieces?’ Incredulity and concern lighting his dark eyes, Nikos raised a hand and attracted the attention of one of the bar staff. A young girl with a cheerful smile and a blonde ponytail immediately hurried over to deal with the glass while Helen tactfully melted away and joined the group gathered around the large wooden table.

  Wondering what Nikos was doing there, Ella looked at him warily. ‘If you’re about to lose your temper again, I’d rather you didn’t do it in public.’

  His dark, speculative gaze rested on hers. ‘You don’t think I have reason to be angry?’

  ‘Maybe you do. I don’t know. This whole situation is—’ She broke off, uncomfortably aware that she’d been horribly tactless earlier. Whatever their differences, she couldn’t bear the fact that she’d hurt someone. ‘I didn’t know about your wife and child. I’m sorry. I—I’m sorry if I upset you.’

  Before Nikos could respond, Billy, the paramedic, strolled across to them.

  Ella sighed. It was going to be impossible to have a conversation here. They had no more privacy than they’d had at work.

  ‘Good to see you here, boss.’ Billy grinned at Nikos and slung his arm around Ella’s shoulders in a friendly gesture. ‘Is she too drunk to hold a glass? Can’t take her anywhere. One drink and she’s anybody’s. What were you drinking, beautiful?’

  ‘She isn’t anybody’s—she’s mine,’ Nikos said in a cool tone, ‘and she’ll drink what I buy her.’

  Billy took one look at his face and removed his arm from Ella’s shoulders with exaggerated care.

  ‘Obviously a man of taste. Given that you’ve got bigger shoulders than me and you’re about a foot taller, I’m going to concede defeat.’ With a good-natured grin, he wandered off to join the group gathered round the table, leaving Ella with burning cheeks.

  ‘Thanks for embarrassing me.’

  Nikos glanced at her, unrepentant. ‘He had his arm round you.’

  ‘He was being friendly.’

  ‘You’re too naïve to know the difference between friendly and flirting.’ His tone was pleasant but his eyes glinted midnight black. ‘That was flirting.’

  ‘So what if it was? He was just having fun. What’s wrong with that?’

  ‘Nothing.’ Nikos rested a lean hip against the wall, his voice deceptively mild. ‘Providing he has no wish to fulfil his full life expectancy.’

  Ella gave a strangled laugh. ‘You’re such a contradiction. You stand there all sophisticated in your, oh, so expensive suit and yet underneath you’re so primitive you should be wearing a loincloth and wrestling lions with your bare hands.’

  Nikos shrugged. ‘I know how to protect what’s mine.’

  Shocked by the slow, dangerous curl of awareness in her stomach, Ella breathed deeply. ‘I’m not yours.’

  ‘You’re carrying my child.’

  ‘And that means that no other man can speak to me?’

  ‘He can look,’ Nikos drawled softly, ‘but he can’t touch.’

  Ella shook her head in disbelief. ‘As I said—primitive. You’re a doctor. You’re supposed to heal the sick.’

  ‘I would have healed him—’ his smile was dangerous ‘—after I’d beaten him up for being too familiar with you.’

  The knowledge that he wasn’t married changed everything, even though she didn’t want it to. ‘You’re behaving like a caveman.’

  ‘He is interested in you. It’s only fair to let him know that he doesn’t stand a chance in hell. I saved him from disappointment.’

  ‘How do you know he doesn’t stand a chance?’ Ella felt her heart race in a rhythm all of its own. ‘It’s my decision who I see. I’m not your property, Nikos. Our relationship is over.’ He’d lied to her, she reminded herself desperately. And he was clearly incapable of emotional commitment.

  Maybe he wasn’t married, but as a partner he was bad news.

  His dark eyes locked on hers. Those clever, all-seeing doctor’s eyes. ‘You’re carrying my child.’

  The sexual chemistry between them was so powerful that she couldn’t breathe. ‘That’s a separate issue.’

  ‘Not to a Greek male.’

  ‘It’s a little late to be possessive, Nikos.’ She shook her head. ‘What are you doing here, anyway? Why did you come here tonight?’

  ‘To say the things I should have said this afternoon and didn’t. I’ll get you another drink. Then we can talk.’

  ‘In public?’

  He gave a faint smile. ‘I hoped it might force us both to be calm and rational.’

  Aware of the curious stares of the rest of the group,
Ella fixed a smile on her face. She watched as he strolled over and greeted everyone, his comments delivered with a light, masterly touch that guaranteed his immediate acceptance into this group of strangers.

  There was warmth and a large dollop of deference in the attitude of the rest of the team and Ella gritted her teeth because his charisma and unmistakable leadership qualities had had a similar effect on her at one time. Progress and equality had apparently done nothing to diminish the attractions of a powerful man, she thought wryly, and Nikos Mariakos wore responsibility as comfortably as he wore the sleek designer suit that skimmed his broad shoulders.

  He addressed a few words to the group, made them laugh with an astute observation and then secured his place as one of them by inviting them to order at his expense.

  It was a mark of respect and an acknowledgement of his reputation and seniority that someone offered him a chair, but he declined, spoke to someone behind the bar and then settled his lean hips against the harbour wall, next to Ella.

  Her hand was on the wall and he placed his over it, long strong fingers covering hers in a gesture that said ‘mine’ as clearly as if he’d sprayed the word in red on the bricks.

  A few months ago Ella would have found such a macho display amusing. She also would have found it hopelessly flattering, although she would never in a million years have admitted it to anyone. Now, when she turned her head, her eyes were mocking. ‘Unreconstructed Greek,’ she murmured, and he gave a wry smile, his fingers locking with hers.

  ‘Perhaps. In some things at least. Have you eaten?’

  ‘You put me off my food.’

  His laugh was soft. ‘Your heart may be broken, but I see your spirit is intact.’ He glanced briefly towards the others but they’d already lost interest and were now involved in a heated debate about the use of the air ambulance.

  Ella was painfully aware of the press of his hard thigh against hers, the gentle caress of his fingers on hers. For her own protection, she wanted to snatch her hand away but she didn’t want to draw the attention of the group.

  ‘This is a low trick because I can’t slap you in public. What is it that you want, Nikos?’

  ‘You.’ His gaze was focused on her mouth. ‘I want you, agape mou. Back in my bed, where you belong.’

  His words robbed her of breath. ‘Why?’ It was hard to keep it light. ‘None of your relationships have lasted more than six months. I’m already past my sell-by date.’

  His hand tightened on hers. ‘I think we have already proved that it is dangerous to jump to conclusions.’

  The touch of his hand was enough to make her insides clench. ‘You walked out on me. There’s no way I’d be foolish enough to get involved with you again, Nikos.’

  ‘We are involved. The child you are carrying links us together.’

  It was dark now, and the tiny fairy-lights illuminating the pub made the atmosphere magical. Behind them the masts of the boat clinked in the breeze and the air was filled with everything that was summer—garlic from the pub, the salt from the sea and the cool breath of wind.

  ‘This isn’t going to work, Nikos.’ Ella spoke softly, acutely aware of the curious looks they were receiving from other members of the department. ‘Why did you come here?’

  ‘If you don’t know why I came,’ he replied, ‘then you don’t know me at all.’

  ‘You’re right, I don’t know you. I spent six months with you and then discovered that you weren’t who I thought you were. You didn’t mention the money.’ She swallowed, not wanting to deliberately hurt someone but aware of the enormity of what they were dealing with. ‘You didn’t mention that you’d lost your wife.’

  He was still. ‘You want to have this conversation here?’

  ‘I don’t want to have the conversation at all. We have nothing to talk about. We had an affair. Now it’s over. It happens. You can see your child, Nikos, if that’s what’s worrying you.’ She rubbed her hands up her arms, chilled even though the night was warm. ‘We’ll work something out.’

  ‘Theos mou, you stand there offering me visitation rights? You think that’s what I want?’ His voice was fierce and Ella froze, horrified at the thought that people might hear.

  ‘Keep your voice down. I don’t know what you want. I thought you wanted to see your child. But if you don’t—that’s fine, too. I suppose your latest girlfriend would take a pretty dim view of having a relationship with a guy who has a baby in tow.’

  Nikos made an impatient sound. ‘I do not have a girlfriend. Since we parted I have been working in Athens at the children’s hospital. And that is enough talking about the past. We need to talk about the future.’

  Keeping the lock and chain firmly on her dreams, Ella blinked back tears. ‘We don’t have a future, Nikos.’

  ‘Be careful…’ he gave a dangerous smile, his fingers trapping hers ‘…or I might just choose to prove you wrong in public.’

  They stood for a moment, a host of things unsaid, and then Rose strolled across to them.

  ‘Your car is attracting quite a crowd, Nikos.’ She cast an amused glance towards the group of teenagers who were loitering on the street, gazing in awe at the sleek lines of Nikos’s high-performance sports car. ‘Dare I ask how the meeting with the hospital management board went? I suppose they turned you down?’

  Dragging his hot, burning gaze from Ella’s face, Nikos turned his attention to Rose, visibly struggling to concentrate. ‘From next Monday the budget will cover three extra nurses for the summer months, one of them paediatric trained.’

  Rose gave a gasp of shocked delight. ‘You’re joking.’

  ‘There is no humourous side to health service staffing,’ Nikos drawled, and Rose stood on tiptoe and hugged him impulsively.

  ‘You’re a genius. Oh, sorry.’ Embarrassed, she sat down and cast Ella an apologetic look. ‘It’s just that we’ve been so stretched and our numbers seem to go up every summer. What did you say to them?’

  ‘I appealed to their sense of reason,’ Nikos said silkily, and Ella rolled her eyes.

  ‘You bullied them.’

  ‘I was forcefully persuasive,’ Nikos countered, and Rose laughed.

  ‘I love that. Forcefully persuasive. Remind me to adopt that approach next Saturday night when the department is full of drunks. Forcefully persuasive.’ Grinning with delight, she wandered back to the table to pass on the happy news to the rest of the team.

  ‘So now you’re a hero.’ Her stomach churning, Ella abandoned all hope of relaxing. ‘Well—given that you’ve secured extra staff, no one will miss me if I leave. I’m going to hand in my resignation tomorrow.’

  ‘There is no reason for you to resign.’

  ‘I cannot work alongside my ex-lover.’ Suddenly Ella felt exhausted.

  Pregnancy or stress?

  Below her in the harbour the family on the boat were putting the children to bed and Ella swallowed down the lump in her throat as she noticed the tiny stuffed bear in one of the windows.

  They were a family.

  Whatever that meant.

  Her mind flew back to the moment that she’d discovered that she was pregnant. She’d been too devastated by what she’d discovered about Nikos to feel excited about her own news.

  And even knowing that part of it had been a misunderstanding, there was no getting away from the fact that he had lied about the money. And he hadn’t trusted her enough to share the details of his past.

  Secrets.

  ‘You’re tired.’ Nikos straightened, slid a possessive arm around her shoulders and uttered a smooth apology to the rest of the group. ‘We’ve been apart for rather too long. If you’ll excuse us…’

  Ella resisted the temptation to brush him off simply because she didn’t want the gossip.

  As they walked along the street, the crowd of teenage boys hovering around Nikos’s car parted with silent deference.

  ‘Great car, man,’ one of them breathed enviously, and Nikos made a masculine comment about cylinder
s or something equally unfathomable, and Ella took advantage of the brief distraction to make her escape.

  ‘I’ll leave you to it. My super-charged, no-cylinder pushbike is chained to the railings back there. I’ll give you a head start so that I don’t dent that massive ego of yours by overtaking you.’ She turned to walk away but he closed his fingers around her wrist, anchoring her to his side.

  ‘You are not cycling home in the dark.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Don’t goad me, Ella,’ he growled. ‘I will give you a lift. And then I’ll arrange to have your bike collected and delivered to the hospital.’

  ‘How?’ Ella kicked against his tendency to take control in every situation. ‘Don’t tell me—you have a team of staff just waiting to do your bidding.’

  ‘Just get in the car.’

  She wanted to argue, but the truth was she was so exhausted that she wasn’t sure she would be able to pedal as far as the boat.

  With the luck she’d had so far today, she’d end up in the canal.

  This time, she thought, he can take charge. Just this time.

  ‘This isn’t a car, it’s a spaceship.’ And it was gorgeous, she thought weakly. Sleek, elegant lines. Expensive. Sophisticated. Out of her league.

  ‘Ella,’ he said tightly, ‘just get in.’

  Too tired to argue, Ella sank into the luxurious leather seat and he settled his lean, athletic frame in the seat next to her, pressed a button and the engine started with a throaty growl.

  ‘I don’t know why you’re so angry with me,’ she muttered. ‘You were the one who walked out on me.’

  ‘We’ve talked about this enough for one night.’

  ‘Is this a billionaire car? It’s only got two seats—you were ripped off.’ Her tone flippant, Ella suppressed a yawn and let her head rest back against the seat. ‘So where are you staying? Do you realise that when we were together you never let me see your home? I expect you were living in some fancy house, weren’t you? Why didn’t you want me to know?’

  ‘Because money changes everything.’

  ‘I wouldn’t know.’ Ella closed her eyes. ‘I’ve never had any. Where are you living now? Don’t tell me. You own a luxury penthouse with a sea view?’