The Diakos Baby Scandal. Natalie Rivers
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wish, then he was going to need Kerry.
‘Thank you so much for all your help,’ the customer said, pushing open the glass door of the travel agent’s and letting in a blast of cold, rainy air.
‘I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful holiday. I’ve only been to Crete once, but I’d love to go back there,’ Kerry said, as the customer stepped out onto the wet street.
For a brief moment she let herself imagine how good it would feel to sit on a beautiful sandy beach, with nothing to do but rest and play with her six-month-old baby boy, Lucas. But that was a fantasy that wasn’t likely to come true any time soon—not with all the bills she was struggling to pay on her own.
It was fourteen months since she’d returned from Athens—since the devastating night when Theo Diakos had brutally ripped out her heart and trampled it underfoot. Arriving back in London had been a nightmare. Trying to pick up the pieces of her broken heart—with no job, no money and nowhere to live—had been truly awful. And on top of everything else she’d been pregnant.
‘It’s nearly time for your break,’ Carol said now, pulling her out of her thoughts. ‘Are you sure you don’t mind taking early lunch again?’
‘When you’ve been up since five a. m., this doesn’t seem early.’ Kerry laughed. Lucas—as adorable as he was—had taken to waking with the rising sun.
At that moment the shop door opened again, and another blast of cold air whooshed in, making an icy shiver run through her.
‘Ooh! I can’t believe it’s June already,’ she said, as she pulled the collar of her uniform jacket more snugly across her throat and looked up to greet the customer who had just walked in. ‘Good morning. Can I help—?’
Her heart skipped a beat and she felt herself go cold all over as she stared up into the face of Theo Diakos.
He was looking straight at her, with an expression of dispassionate assessment on his darkly handsome face. His black brows were drawn low, casting his eyes into shadow, but his penetrating eyes bored right into her.
Kerry drew in a shaky breath and felt her heart jolt painfully back into action. She knew she was staring—but she could not drag her eyes from him. If was as if she couldn’t quite believe Theo Diakos was really standing there.
He was a tall and imposing figure. The size of his athletic body seemed to fill the entire doorway, and his magnetic presence seemed to fill the entire shop. He was wearing a dark suit, which was covered with a sheen of summer rain, and his black hair was damp and glistening with fine water droplets.
What was he doing here?
Had he found out about Lucas—his baby son?
‘Can I offer you some assistance?’ Carol asked, breaking the silence and walking around to the front of her desk. ‘Would you like to see a particular brochure, or are you just at the ideas-collecting stage?’
A flash of almost feverish humour cut through Kerry like a sharp slap to knock her out of her stunned state. The idea of Theo Diakos—billionaire property tycoon—walking into a high street travel agency in a London backwater to book his next package holiday was laughable. Ludicrous, even.
No—he was here for a reason.
‘I’m here to speak to Kerry,’ Theo said, never taking his eyes off her for a second.
‘Oh. You two know each other?’ Carol paused, obviously surprised, and looked at Kerry questioningly.
She was still staring at Theo. He was so familiar, but at the same time like a total stranger.
She had been so utterly in love with him—but it had turned out she’d meant nothing to him. Nothing at all. In one horrifying evening she had discovered that his soul was made of stone, and that there was not even one ounce of compassion inside his hard, unyielding body.
He’d conspired with his brother to take a little child away from his mother. And when Kerry had made the mistake of getting involved he had not given her an opportunity to explain herself. It had been the first time in nearly a year that they’d had any sort of disagreement—but he’d simply thrown her out. Without a moment’s hesitation.
‘Carol, this is Theo. He is from Athens.’ Kerry’s natural politeness forced her to make at least some sort of introduction—but all her instincts told her not to say too much. No one at work knew anything about what had happened in Athens, and it paid to be as careful as possible. She didn’t want any speculation about Lucas and who his father was.
‘Why don’t you go for your lunch break?’ Carol suggested. ‘You probably have lots to catch up on.’
Kerry’s pulse was still racing and the palms of her hands suddenly felt damp. The last thing she wanted was to go off alone with Theo—but neither did she want to cause a stir at work. Her boss, Margaret, would be back from her emergency dental appointment soon, and chances were she would not be in a good mood. Kerry really needed her job, and she really did not want to give anyone fuel for gossip.
‘All right. I’ll get my bag.’ She stood up and walked to the office at the back of the shop, desperately hoping that she didn’t look as wobbly as she suddenly felt.
With every thump of her heart she felt Theo’s gaze burning deeper and deeper into her—through the protective veneer of her uniform, piercing through all the emotional barricades she had tried to build up since that devastating night in Athens.
Why was he here?
The office door swung shut behind her, shielding her from his sight, and her legs buckled beneath her. She clung to the edge of the desk, gasping for air and shaking violently.
Had Theo come to try and take Lucas away from her?
She’d never let that happen—her gorgeous boy was everything to her. She loved him more than life itself, and she’d never, never let Theo take him.
She took a deep, steadying breath and looked back through the one-way mirror into the shop. Theo was still standing there, as inscrutable as an ancient Greek statue, and Carol was obviously trying to engage him in conversation.
The sudden, horrifying thought occurred to her that Carol might innocently mention Lucas. With another judder of her already painful heart she grabbed her bag and burst back through the door. She had to get Theo away from anyone who knew her as quickly as possible.
‘Take as long as you want,’ Carol said, trying to be helpful. ‘I’ll send you a sneaky text if Margaret gets back.’
‘I won’t be long,’ Kerry said.
‘Don’t worry,’ Carol said. ‘Have fun. Enjoy your blast from the past.’
‘Thanks.’ Kerry slipped past Theo and pushed the heavy glass door open. She flashed her colleague a tight smile and walked away down the rainy street, leaving Theo to follow her.
Fun was the last thing she was expecting to have. And as for Carol’s unsuspecting use of the phrase blast from the past—all Kerry could think about was the more violent, destructive meaning of the word blast.
She desperately hoped Theo hadn’t come to rip mercilessly through her life, laying everything to waste and destroying the tentative happiness she had finally found.
Suddenly she couldn’t bear the agony of not knowing.
She stopped abruptly and turned to face Theo.
‘What are you doing here?’ she demanded.
‘I’ve come to take you back to Greece,’ he said.
CHAPTER THREE
THEO stood still, watching Kerry’s reaction to his announcement. For a second he hardly recognised her. Somehow she didn’t seem like the woman he’d spent nearly a year of his life with.
There were the obvious differences—the unflattering navy blue