by Jennie Lucas
He betrayed her family...
...and now she’s having his baby!
New York waitress Daisy is heartbroken to learn the man she’s found unimaginable pleasure with is Leonidas Niarxos. He’s the billionaire she holds responsible for her father’s death. Betrayed, she flees without telling him the truth she’s just discovered—that she’s pregnant!
Five months later, Leonidas discovers Daisy’s baby bombshell. His heir will want for nothing, and that means marriage vows! Daisy may be penniless but she’s not a pushover. Leonidas must prove himself worthy before she says “I do”...
USA TODAY Bestselling Author
“So it’s true?”
Leonidas’s voice was dangerously low, his black eyes gleaming like white-hot coals in the twilight. He looked down at her belly, bulging out beneath the long, puffy black coat. “You’re pregnant?”
Instinctively, she wrapped her hands over her baby bump. There was no way to deny it. How had he heard? She trembled all over. “What are you doing here?”
“Are you, Daisy?”
She could hardly deny it. “Yes.”
His burning gaze met hers. “Is the baby mine?”
She swallowed hard, wanting more than anything to lie. But she couldn’t. Even though Leonidas had lied to her about his identity, and lied about Daisy’s father, she couldn’t fall to his level. She couldn’t lie to his face. Not even for her child. What kind of mother would she be if she practiced the same deceit as Leonidas Niarxos?
USA TODAY bestselling author Jennie Lucas’s parents owned a bookstore, so she grew up surrounded by books, dreaming about faraway lands. A fourth-generation Westerner, she went east at sixteen to boarding school on a scholarship, wandered the world, got married, then finally worked her way through college before happily returning to her hometown. A 2010 RITA® Award finalist and 2005 Golden Heart® Award winner, she lives in Idaho with her husband and children.
Books by Jennie Lucas
Harlequin Presents
Christmas Baby for the Greek
Her Boss’s One-Night Baby
Claiming the Virgin’s Baby
Conveniently Wed!
Chosen as the Sheikh’s Royal Bride
One Night With Consequences
Claiming His Nine-Month Consequence
Secret Heirs of Billionaires
Carrying the Spaniard’s Child
Secret Heirs and Scandalous Brides
The Secret the Italian Claims
The Heir the Prince Secures
The Baby the Billionaire Demands
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
Jennie Lucas
Penniless and Secretly Pregnant
To Pete—Then, Now and Always
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
EXCERPT FROM THE BILLIONAIRE’S CINDERELLA CONTRACT BY MICHELLE SMART
CHAPTER ONE
HE COULDN’T AVOID it any longer. He had to tell her the truth.
From the bed, Leonidas Niarxos looked out the window. Across the river, on the other side of the bridge, Manhattan skyscrapers twinkled in the violet and pink sunrise.
Taking a deep breath, he looked down at the woman sleeping in his arms. For the last four weeks, he’d enjoyed the most exhilarating affair of his life. After years of brief, meaningless relationships with women who had hearts as cold as his own, Daisy Cassidy had been like a fire. Warming him. Burning him.
For weeks now—from their very first, accidental, surprising night—he’d been promising himself he would end their affair. He would tell her who he really was.
But he’d put it off, always wanting one more day. Even now, after a night of lovemaking, Leonidas wanted her. As he looked at her, feeling her soft naked body pressed so trustingly against his, his willpower weakened. Perhaps he could put off his confession one more day. Until tomorrow.
No, he thought furiously. No!
He had to end this. Daisy was falling in love with him. He’d seen it in her lovely face, in her heartbreakingly luminous green eyes. She believed Leonidas to be Leo Gianakos, a decent, kindhearted man. Perfect, she called him. She thought he was a store clerk without a penny to his name.
Lies, all lies.
Maybe if he took her to his house in Manhattan first, it might soften the blow, he argued with himself. Maybe Daisy would be more likely to forgive him in his fifty-million-dollar mansion, while he offered her a life filled with luxury and glamour...
Forget it. Did he really believe that either love or money would make Daisy forgive what he’d done? After he revealed his real name, the only emotions she’d ever feel for him again would be horror and hate.
It had all been stolen time.
She sighed in his arms. Looking down, he saw her dark eyelashes flutter in the gray dawn.
He had to tell her. Now. Get it over with. For her sake. For his own.
“Daisy,” he said quietly. “Are you awake?”
* * *
Stretching her limbs out luxuriously between the soft cotton sheets, Daisy blinked dreamily in the pale light of dawn. Her naked body was filled with the sweet ache of another night of lovemaking. She felt delicious. She felt cherished. She felt like she was in love.
Was she also in trouble?
Her eyes flew open. You don’t know anything’s wrong, she told herself fiercely. It might be nothing. It has to be nothing.
But her ridiculous fear had already ruined their date last night, when Leo had gone to tremendous expense to take her to a way too fancy French restaurant in Williamsburg. She’d been miserable—not just afraid of using the wrong fork, not just uncomfortable in the formal setting, but haunted by a new, awful suspicion.
Could she be pregnant?
“Daisy?” Leo’s voice was a husky growl, his powerful body exuding heat and strength as he wrapped one muscular arm around her in the large bed.
“Good morning.” Pushing away her fears, she smiled up at his darkly handsome face, silhouetted by the rising dawn.
He hesitated. “How did you sleep?”
Daisy gave him a shyly wicked grin. “Sleep?”
Leo gave her an answering grin, and his gaze fell slowly to her lips, her throat, her breasts barely covered by the sheet clinging to her nipples. Over the sheet, his hand brushed her belly, and she wondered again if she could be pregnant. No. She couldn’t be. They’d used protection, even that first wild night four weeks ago, when he’d taken her virginity.
But as he softly stroked her body, her breasts felt strangely tender, swollen, beneath his sensual hands...
A sigh rose from the back of his throat as Leo reluctantly pulled away. “Daisy, we need to talk.”
Never a phrase anyone wanted to hear. She swallowed. Did her body feel different to him? Had he already guessed her fear? “Talk about what?”
“There’s something I need to tell you,” he said in a low voice. “Something you’re not going to like.”
His grim black eyes met hers, over his cruel, sensual mouth and hard jaw, dark with five o’clock shadow.
An awful new fear exploded in the back of her mind.
How much did she really know about him?
After a hellish year, Leo Gi
anakos had wandered into her life last month like a miracle, like a dream, all dark eyes, tanned skin, sharp cheekbones and a million-dollar smile. From the moment Daisy had first looked at his breathtaking masculine beauty, at his powerful shoulders in that perfectly tailored suit, she’d known he was a thousand miles out of her league.
Yet somehow, they’d ended up in bed. Since that magical day, they’d spent nearly every night together, whenever she wasn’t at work.
But it was strange to realize how little she actually knew about him. She didn’t know where he worked, or where he lived. He’d always evaded personal questions.
There were all kinds of good reasons why, she’d told herself. Perhaps Leo shared a tiny rat-infested studio with three roommates and was self-conscious about it. After all, not everyone had a wealthy artist friend, as Daisy did, who’d asked them to house-sit. If not for Franck’s generosity, Daisy would undoubtedly be sharing a studio with three people, too.
She hadn’t pushed Leo for details about his life. They were happy; that was enough.
Now, for the first time, a horrible idea occurred to her. Could there be some other, more sinister reason why he hadn’t told her where he worked, or invited her to his apartment? What if—could he possibly be—
“Are you married?” she blurted out, her heart in her throat.
Leo blinked, then gave a low laugh. “Married? If I were married, could I be here in bed with you?”
“Well, are you?” she said stubbornly.
He snorted, his black eyes glinting. “No. I am not married. And for the record, I don’t ever intend to be. Ever.” His voice dropped to a husky whisper. “That’s not the problem.”
Daisy stared at him. She was relieved he wasn’t married, but...
Leo didn’t want to get married? Ever?
She took a deep breath. “I just know so little about you,” she said in a small voice. “I don’t know where you work, or where you live. I’ve never met your family or friends.”
Pulling away from her, Leo pushed off the sheets and abruptly stood up from the bed. She enjoyed the vision of his powerful naked body in the rosy morning light. She drank in the image of his muscular backside, the strong muscles of his back.
Without looking at her, he reached down to the floor, and started putting on his clothes. Finally, as he pulled on his shirt, he turned back to face her. She was distracted by the brief vision of his muscular chest, laced with dark hair, before he buttoned up the shirt. He looked down at her. “Do you really want to see where I live? Does it matter so much?”
“Of course it matters!” Sitting up in bed, holding the sheet over her breasts with one hand, she motioned around the spacious bedroom with its view of the Manhattan skyline. “Do you think I’d be living in a place like this if my dad’s oldest friend hadn’t taken pity on me? So please don’t feel self-conscious, whatever your apartment is like. Or your job. Whatever it is, I will always think you’re perfect!”
Leo stopped buttoning up his shirt. Dropping his hands to his sides, he stared at her across the bedroom, silhouetted by the view of the East River and Manhattan beyond.
She realized he was going to break up with her. She could see it in his grim expression, in the tightness of his sensual lips.
She’d always known this day would come. Leo was ten years older, sexy, tall, broad shouldered and darkly handsome. Daisy had never quite understood what he’d seen in her in the first place. She was so...ordinary. How could a badly dressed, not very interesting waitress from Brooklyn possibly keep the attention of a man like Leo Gianakos?
And if she was pregnant...
No. She couldn’t be. Couldn’t.
Leo took a deep breath. “Would you like to come to my house? Right now? And then...we can talk.”
His voice was so strained, it took several seconds for Daisy to realize he was inviting her to his apartment, not breaking up with her.
“Sure.” She realized she was smiling.
No, quick, don’t let him see; he can’t know I’m falling in love with him.
It had been only a month. Even Daisy, with her total lack of romantic experience, knew it was too soon to confess her feelings. Turning her face away, she rose from the bed. “I’ll go take a shower...”
She felt Leo’s gaze follow her as she walked naked across the luxurious bedroom. Entering the lavish en suite bathroom, she tossed him back a single glance.
Before she’d even had time to turn on the water in the enormous walk-in shower, Leo had caught up with her, already rapidly pulling off his clothes. He kissed her passionately as she pulled away from him with a light laugh, drawing him into the hot, steamy water. They washed each other, and he stroked every inch of her. She leaned back her head as he washed her long brown hair. After she’d rinsed, she straightened, and saw the dark heat of his gaze.
Pushing her against the hot, wet tiled wall, he kissed her, and she nearly gasped as her sensitive, swollen nipples brushed against his muscular chest, laced with rough dark hair. She felt the hardness of him pushing against her soft belly, and yearned. Finally, he wrenched away from her with a rueful growl. “No condom,” he sighed.
As he turned off the water, and gently toweled her off with the thick cotton towels, in the back of her mind Daisy wondered nervously if it was already too late for that, if she could be pregnant in spite of their precautions.
Taking her hand in his own, he pulled her back to the bed and made love to her, gently, tenderly, after a night during which they’d already made love twice. She told herself it was their lovemaking which caused her breasts to feel so heavy, her nipples so sensitive that she gasped as he suckled her. That had to be the reason. There could be lots of reasons why her cycle, normally so predictable, was two weeks late... She couldn’t be pregnant. Couldn’t.
She pushed the thought away as Leo lightly kissed her cheeks, her forehead. Smoothing back her unruly brown hair, he cupped her jawline with his powerful hands, and lowered his lips to hers. His kiss was hot and sweet against her lips, so, so sweet, and she was lost in the breathless grip of desire. As he pushed inside her, she cried out with pleasure, soaring to new heights before he, too, exploded.
Afterward, Leo held her tight against his powerful body, the white cotton sheets twisted at their feet. Blinking fast, Daisy stared out the window toward the unforgiving Manhattan skyline, and heard the grim echo of his words.
I am not married. And for the record, I don’t ever intend to be. Ever.
His hands tightened around her. “I don’t want to lose you,” he said in a low voice.
“Lose me?” She peeked at him in bed. “Why would you?”
He gave a low laugh. It had no humor in it. “Let’s go to my house. And talk.”
“Talk about what?”
“About...me.” His serious expression as he got dressed sent panic through her. Nervously, she pulled on clothes in turn, a clean T-shirt and jeans.
“I’m not scheduled to work today. Are you?”
“I can be late,” he said flatly.
“Don’t clerks need to be at the store when it opens at ten?” When he didn’t respond, she tried again. “You won’t be fired if you’re late?”
“Fired?” Leo sounded grimly amused. “No.” He gave her a smile that didn’t meet his eyes. “Shall we go?”
As they left the apartment, he held the door open for her, as usual. He was always gallant that way, making her feel cherished and cared for.
When she was younger, and even now that she was twenty-four, boys her age always seemed to want quick, meaningless hookups, without bothering with old-fashioned niceties like opening doors, bringing flowers, giving compliments or even showing up on time. No wonder Daisy had been a virgin when she met Leo. Ten years older, powerful, and handsome like a Greek god, no wonder she’d fallen into bed with him the first night!
Now, as they le
ft the co-op building, going out into the fresh October morning, Daisy glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. She should have been thrilled he was taking her to his apartment. Instead, she had a weird sense of foreboding. What did Leo want to talk about? And which of her own secrets might tumble from her mouth—her love for him, her possible pregnancy or even the fact that she was the daughter of a convicted felon?
As they walked, sunshine sparkled across the East River with the enormous bridge and Manhattan skyline beyond. She started to head for the nearest subway entrance, two blocks away, when he stopped her.
“Let’s take a car.”
He seemed strangely tense. Smiling, she shook her head. “You can’t seriously want to get a rideshare, after all the expense of that fancy dinner last night. The subway is fine. You don’t need to bankrupt yourself trying to impress me.” She couldn’t help thinking how much she loved him for trying. “You’re already perfect.”
“I didn’t mean a rideshare.”
She heard a noise behind him. Frowning, she tilted her head. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
She looked around. “Sounds like a baby crying.”
“I’m sure there are children everywhere here. Its mother will take care of it.”
A baby was an it? Daisy’s forehead furrowed. Then she heard the soft cry again. Weak. More like a whine, or a snuffle. She turned toward the alley behind the gleaming waterfront co-op.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“I just need to make sure...”
“Daisy, it’s not your problem—”
But she was already hurrying toward the alley, following the sound. There had been a newspaper story just the month before about a baby abandoned in an alley in New Jersey. Thankfully that child had been found safely, but Daisy couldn’t get the story out of her mind. If she didn’t investigate this, and something bad happened...
She followed the sound down the alley and was only vaguely aware of Leo behind her. She saw a burlap bag resting on the top of a dumpster. The sound seemed to come from that. It was wiggling. She heard a weak whine. Then a whimper.