The Diakos Baby Scandal. Natalie Rivers
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like that. There wasn’t a disagreeable bone in her body. She was gentle and graceful, and she hated drawing attention to herself. Theo valued every minute he spent in her enchanting company.
He’d first spotted her nearly a year earlier, talking to a group of tourists in the foyer of one of his hotels. Her long blonde hair, wide blue eyes and honeyed complexion had initially caught his attention, but once he’d spent an evening with her it had been her gentle charm that had utterly captivated him. After the cut and thrust of his high-paced business life, time with Kerry was the perfect refreshing antidote.
Now he was hurrying back to her, waiting for him on the roof garden. He knew how much she loved it there, and he hoped the pleasant surroundings would ease her distress. But if she was still upset when he reached her, he would pull her into his arms and make love to her until she forgot her worries.
He found her standing with her back to him, looking out over the city towards the Acropolis. The second he took another step towards her she seemed to sense his presence and spun round to face him, her hair bouncing about her shoulders as she moved.
‘Is everyone all right?’ she asked urgently. ‘Hallie and Nicco? People on the street where she crashed?’
‘Everyone is fine,’ Theo said. He pulled her towards him, but her body was filled with tension and she didn’t sway into his arms as he had expected. He leant closer, swept her silky hair away from her neck and pressed his lips to the sensitive skin below her ear. ‘Forget about it now—it’s all under control. Let me take your mind off your worries.’
‘Where are they now?’ Kerry asked, standing even straighter and stiffer than before. ‘Are they all together?’
Theo stepped back and looked down at her. In the time they’d been together Kerry had never once refused his lovemaking. She was so deliciously responsive to him that it made sex even more exciting and satisfying for him. Even thinking about the way she dissolved into a pool of desire at his slightest touch made him hot and ready for her.
Usually a simple look from him was enough to have her melting willingly into his arms. For her to be so immune to him she must be really concerned.
‘Yes. Corban has everything under control. At any moment they will be flying out to the island—away from the press,’ Theo said, skimming his hands up the bare skin of her arms with the lightest of touches. ‘You can stop worrying about them now—and let me make you feel better.’
Kerry stood tall and drew in a deep breath. She had to talk to Theo—to tell him what she had done. And she had to ask about the conversation she’d overheard him having with Corban.
Then, after that, she still had to tell him she was pregnant. It was almost impossible to believe that only a couple of hours ago she had been running to tell Theo the amazing news that they were going to have a baby—and then everything suddenly seemed to become horribly confusing and wrong.
‘Let me see if I can think of something new…something interesting,’ Theo said, his voice deep and sexy, as he reached out to pluck a couple of beautiful pink roses from the trellis beside them.
Kerry drew in a wobbly breath and looked at the gorgeous blooms in Theo’s large, sensual hands. Only last night he had carried her out to the roof garden from their bedroom, peeled off her lacy nightclothes and laid her naked under the stars. Then he’d scattered her body with rose petals before making long, slow, exquisite love to her.
Now the heady fragrance of roses was already filling her senses again, and her body was burning with the need to surrender to his lovemaking. She knew that she would soon forget everything in the bliss that he would give her.
But she couldn’t surrender to her desires. It wasn’t right when there were still so many concerns in her mind. She had to talk to him.
‘Stop. I need to…’ She hesitated, then pushed his hands away and took a step backwards. ‘Earlier this evening I heard you talking to Corban. You said he was to take Nicco away from Hallie.’
‘Yes. It’s a shame I didn’t give my brother that advice yesterday,’ Theo replied. ‘Then tonight’s fiasco would have been avoided.’
‘How can you be so cold?’ Kerry gasped. ‘Someone could have been seriously hurt tonight—or even killed!’
‘Exactly,’ Theo said. ‘That could have been averted.’
‘Not by depriving a mother of her child,’ Kerry said.
For a moment she couldn’t help thinking about her own mother—how she’d been utterly devastated to have had her baby taken away from her. Feeling like a worthless failure at only sixteen years old had made it impossible for her to get herself back on track. Her life had spiralled into depression and self-abuse. She’d turned to drink, then drugs—and eventually died alone of an overdose in squalid conditions.
For Kerry it was made worse by the fact that she hadn’t even known who her mother was until it was too late to help her. Instead she’d been grudgingly looked after by her grandmother—the very person who had taken her away from her real mother. And for Kerry’s entire childhood she’d made her feel unwanted and unloved.
‘I know you are concerned about Hallie and Nicco.’ Theo’s clipped tones showed signs of tension. ‘My brother and I are in your debt for raising the alarm—if you hadn’t come to us so quickly things could have been much worse. But my conversation with Corban was private. How we choose to take care of our family is none of your concern.’
Kerry stared up at him. A muscle pulsed on his shadowed jawline. His eyes were dark and troubled. She had to tell him what she had done—but she was apprehensive about how he would react.
‘Hallie is my friend,’ she said. ‘Of course I care about her. And Nicco.’
‘You must trust me to do what is right for my family,’ Theo said, studying her intently. Suddenly his eyes narrowed and the set of his expression hardened.
‘You told her. Didn’t you?’ he demanded.
Kerry’s heart jolted and her eyes widened with alarm.
‘Yes.’ Her voice was hardly more than a whisper—but she held her head up and met his gaze steadily.
‘You had no business doing that.’ Theo’s expression was dark. ‘It did not concern you.’
‘Of course it concerned me!’ Kerry responded, suddenly filled with anger on her friend’s behalf—and on her own mother’s behalf.
‘No wonder you were so desperately worried—your actions put many people in danger tonight,’ he said. ‘Someone could have died. My nephew could have died!’
‘I didn’t realise she’d been drinking,’ Kerry said. ‘Not until—’
‘Don’t try to explain what you did.’ Theo’s voice cut through hers coldly. ‘I’m not interested.’
‘But—’
‘I’m not interested in your excuses,’ he said flatly. ‘You put my nephew in danger.’
‘I never meant to,’ she said. ‘That was the last thing I wanted.’
‘You listened to a private conversation that did not concern you,’ he said. ‘Then you went behind my back and took the situation into your own hands.’
‘Hallie is my friend,’ she said.
‘And what am I to you?’ he demanded. ‘You should have come to me first.’
‘You… I…’ She stumbled hesitantly, suddenly unsure of herself.
It was true that if she’d spoken to Theo about what she’d overheard then Hallie wouldn’t have taken Nicco in the car. But that didn’t change what she had heard. And Theo had made it clear that he saw nothing wrong with what he and his brother had been planning. They probably still intended to take Nicco away from his mother.
‘I